Thursday, May 4, 2017
Hi, everyone. “Quibbling” was the original title of “Eldersburg doesn’t need 7th grocer,” an op/ed piece that the Carroll County Times was kind enough to publish today under its “Other Voices” program. Our thanks to the Times. If you missed reading it, here, below, is the PDF print from today’s paper.
As always, your comments will be greatly appreciated.
Carroll County’s Director of Planning, Phil Hager
On November 15 of last year, two residents of the Homeland Condominiums met with Phil Hager. Mr. Hager is Director of the Carroll County Department of Planning and Secretary to the County’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The purpose of the meeting was to present to Director Hager a petition signed by 55 people who own or rent condominiums along Homeland Drive in Eldersburg. The Homeland Condominiums have a total of 70 units in three adjacent three-story buildings.
One of our readers has sent us a letter he wrote to Commissioner Doug Howard. It’s well-written and makes a number of good points. The more people who see it, the better. So here it is…
Almost without exception, the comments we’ve received from respondents to our survey have been in favor of anything but another grocery store. The problem, of course, is that the property owner (a company) has every right to do what it considers to be in its best interests – as long as that choice is within the zoning for the property.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Hi. Here are some notes related to Carroll County meetings and hearings that have bearing on the development of 22.6 acres along Liberty Road, between Georgetown Blvd. and Homeland Drive. The property includes 1503 Liberty Road, the prospective site of a new LIDL (“leedle”) that will be Eldersburg’s seventh full-size grocery store.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Later this evening – at 6 PM in Room 003 of the Carroll County office building at 225 North Center St. in Westminster – the County’s Planning and Zoning Commission is having a hearing at which the Commission will discuss a “text amendment.”
Future home of Baltimore’s next urban farm?
The other day, someone asked us how we would bring employers to Baltimore. It’s a good question that we’ve decided to answer in print.
Here, in no particular order, are some simple strategies that we think the state and/or city should be supporting. If you’re interested, you can buy us lunch at a cheap diner and we can talk about it in detail over some home-made cherry pie for dessert. (Can you tell that our principal writer is dieting and can’t stop thinking about food?)
For those of you who have been following the coming of a new LIDL grocery store to Eldersburg…
“Excuse me.”
Uh, sure. Did you need something?
“Yes. What’s a ‘Liddle’?”
Every once in a while, we come across a first-term elected official who means well, a good guy who has potential, but who somehow gets off track, who goes down a road, takes a wrong turn and can’t find his way home. Four years later, he’s out, a promising career in government ended early.
For those of you interested in the redevelopment of what used to be the Owings Mills Mall property, there’s a great article we recommend that you read. It’s called “An Uncertain Future.” It’s a highly informative piece that includes some choice quotes from Baltimore County Council Members Julian Jones who represents District 4 where the mall property is located and Vikki Almond who represents adjacent District 2.
Earlier today, President-Elect Donald Trump, together with Japanese businessman Masayoshi Son, CEO of the Softbank Group, jointly announced that Son will be investing a whopping $50 billion in the United States over the next 3 years, creating 50,000 jobs. What a crock.
…or “Wac-A-Molonomics” as we like to call it, but it’s hard to pronounce.
Now we finally understand President-Elect Trump’s keep-jobs-in-America policy. It’s his own special version of the classic arcade game, Wac-A-Mole.