|
|
|
About CCD
|
|
CCD is
comprised of a collection of diverse, independent, non-partisan individuals
who are involved at the grassroots level in Columbia & Howard County
with the intention of influencing the direction of Downtown Columbia's
redevelopment.
|
|
In October 2005, Howard
County hired a consultant to
conduct a Charrette in order to obtain input from the community with regard
to the future redevelopment of Downtown Columbia.
|
A group of over 300 community members participated in the
first day of a week-long Charrette process. On the first day of the
Charrette, citizens spontaneously and overwhelmingly affirmed the values
that guided Columbia’s
original designers - and that have made it the 4th best city in the country
according to Money Magazine.
|
As the
week-long Charrette progressed, it became clear that much of the
citizens’ input was dismissed or ignored by County officials.
Attention was instead steered into a plan many saw as pre-determined by the
Charrette organizers. Participants who were without ties to the development
community began to drop out.
|
|
CCD...making a
difference!
|
Over 200
people gathered at General Growth Properties last February to hear the
County’s draft proposal. Numerous community members stood to attest
firmly and publicly to the values and vision that seemed to have gone
missing from the plan.
|
|
CCD affirms its appreciation for the Howard County
elected officials who gave the community the opportunity to express
its views via the Charrette, particularly then-Councilmember Ken Ulman, who
proposed the Charrette. CCD appreciates the fact that the County has
continued to engage at least a few citizens in Focus Group discussions
about Downtown. However, CCD regrets that the focus group does not reflect
the diverse population and has excluded numerous interested citizens from
this process.
|
Finally, perhaps paradoxically, CCD appreciates that the
County’s draft plan strayed so far from what the citizens actually
said on the first day of the Charrette, as it is this chasm between citizen
input and the resulting County output that has spurred so much energy,
interest, and activism.
|
|
|
