Florida Comes To Columbia

Not the state, we're referring to the father of the Creative Class. WaPo once did a profile when Richard Florida came to work in these parts. Here's his site.

This note comes from a Talk correspondent:

The Chamber of Commerce is presenting a talk by Dr. Richard Florida next Thursday, April 23. According to their press release, "Florida will address the economic impact of the Creative Class, the core force of growth in our future economy. The Creative Class is expected to add more than ten million jobs in the next decade. His message is critical to Howard County as we develop the plans for Columbia’s downtown. The business community, community activists, students and elected officials will all benefit from Florida’s thought provoking messages."

The event is $25 and takes place at APL's Kossiakoff Center. You can find more information about the event on the Chamber's Web site, or about Dr. Florida on his Creative Class web site.

Rating The Police

From HoCo PD:

A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) will visit the Howard County Department of Police in April to examine all aspects of police policy, procedures, management, operations and support services, Police Chief William McMahon announced today. As part of the on-site assessment, members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public information session on Monday, April 20 at 7 p.m.

The Police Department must comply with more than 400 standards in order to gain re-accreditation status, a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence.

“Being a nationally accredited police agency is important because it tells our citizens that we are doing everything possible to offer them the highest quality of service,” said Chief McMahon.

The public information session will be conducted at the James N. Robey Public Service Training Center at 2200 Scott Wheeler Drive, in Marriottsville.

The assessment team is comprised of law enforcement practitioners from similar agencies in other states. The assessors will review written materials, interview individuals and visit facilities to confirm compliance with all CALEA standards. The assessors are: Team Leader, Assistant Chief Dan Bruno, Gwinnett Police Department (Ga.); Captain David Newlan, Cape Coral Police Department (Fla.); and Linda Kaus, Modesto Police Department, (Ca.).

Once the Commission’s assessors complete their review of the Howard County Police Department, they will report back to the full Commission, which then decides if the agency is to be granted re-accreditation status. Certification covers three years, during which the agency must submit annual reports to the Commission demonstrating continued compliance with all required standards.

Members of the public who cannot be present at the April 20 public information session, but would like to provide comments to the assessment team may call 410-313-2214 on Tuesday, April 21 between the hours of 1 and 5 p.m. Telephone comments and appearances at the public information session are generally limited to 10 minutes and must address the Howard County Police Department’s ability to comply with CALEA’s standards. A copy of the standards is available at police headquarters.

The local contact is Tamera G. Bulla who can be reached at 410-313-3229 or by e-mail to tbulla@howardcountymd.gov.

Anyone wishing to offer written comments about the Howard County Police Department’s ability to meet the standards for Accreditation may write to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc. (CALEA), 10302 Eaton Place, Suite 100, Fairfax, VA 22030-2215. For more information about CALEA, citizens can write to the same address, visit www.calea.org or call 800-368-3757 or 703-352-4225.

Foie Gras Vandals Caught On Camera

The owners of the Iron Bridge Wine Company restaurant on Route 108 told WBAL that a surveillance camera captured images of vandals taking part in what apparently was a second protest over the restaurant's decision to serve foie gras.

A recording of the incident has been handed over to the police, according to this report.

The owners said the vandals struck again on Monday morning, breaking two more windows and tried to get in through a side door.

“If people think they’re going to change our minds by sneaking around in the middle of the night and do childish things like bashing in our windows they’re incorrect,” Wecker said.

Wecker said his restaurant will not be threatened and his employees are even making light of the situation, wearing “got foie gras” T-shirts and adding more duck liver items to the menu.

It Takes A Village....

...to make a village -- or maybe not.

The HoCo planning board is apparently split about how much say local residents should have in the redevelopment of Columbia's village centers, according to this Sun story.

A proposal to allow major redevelopment of Columbia's village centers has so divided the Howard County Planning Board that members can't even agree how to describe their disagreement.

The board divided, 2-2, on the issue March 23 with one person absent. But Monday night, members were still arguing over what the description of their votes should say. After a closed meeting with a lawyer and a public discussion after that, the members agreed to try again to come up with a document they can sign to push the issue to the County Council.

"I've been very distressed at how this process has broken down," said board member Linda Dombrowski, calling it "a mess."

Community Consulting

We have watched for some time this back and forth over whether the Columbia Association knows what it is doing in bringing its reservation and payments systems online. You can read the Flier's latest dispatch here.

Which makes us wonder if folks on both sides might benefit by reaching out a bit more to all the resources in this community. Plenty of people know a thing or two about software around here. We've got colleges and community colleges all over. The county government and schools are trying to tackle the same challenges. And Columbia itself is home to one big national firm that seems like it might have a little expertise to share:

MICROS Systems, Inc. provides enterprise applications for the hospitality and retail industries worldwide. Over 220,000 MICROS systems are currently installed in table and quick service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure and entertainment, and retail operations in more than 130 countries, and on all seven continents. In addition, MICROS provides property management systems, central reservation and customer information solutions under the brand MICROS-Fidelio for more than 20,000 hotels worldwide, as well as point-of-sale and loss prevention products through its subsidiary Datavantage for more than 50,000 specialty retail stores worldwide. MICROS stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.

We not suggesting CA put out some bureaucratic RFP seeking input. But perhaps something more informal; we've seen many examples where groups of techies come together for a weekend to noodle a problem. And there are plenty of institutions in this town that could use some help.

Is There A BRAC Effect Yet?

These days, when just about everyone in the business world is slimming down, it can be hard to discern exactly what effect the Base Relocation and Consolidation process will have on development in the region, at least for the near term.

Check out this report from the real estate information firm CoStar, itself a corporate resident of our fair town:

CoStar says the big government contractor SAIC recently completed a lease for 171,000 square feet in Franklin Center at the Columbia Gateway office park, where it will consolidate several local offices.

The deal is the largest office lease in at least the past six months in the Baltimore market, although like other leases that have been signed recently, it is probably not a signal that leasing markets are turning around, brokers say.

The lease will leave a hefty amount of vacant space in its wake that is expected to be difficult to fill. SAIC currently has five offices in Columbia, according to its web site, many of which are in the same building park, known as Columbia Gateway, as Franklin Center.

A Dose Of BRAC Reality

Sometimes hearing all the hyperbole about the flood of jobs coming our way when the government consolidates operations at Fort Meade can be a bit much. But even we were surprised to read in the Flier this candid summation from a county official about the expected benefits from the Base Realignment and Closure process:

Groundbreaking is occurring this month on several new buildings at Fort Meade, and the first wave of jobs is expected in 2010, said Kent Menser, executive director of the county’s BRAC office. While there will be thousands of Defense Department jobs moving to the area through BRAC, expected growth at the National Security Agency, located at Fort Meade, and among federal contractors is also factored into the equation.

Because the process is spread out over several years, local residents will not notice any immediate impact.

“It’s not a tsunami, but phased growth,” Menser said.