Hey, Folks,
It’s Friday night in Columbia!
I’m sure you’re all atwitter trying to figure out what happenin’ joint you’ll be frequenting tonight. Will you go for “the hipster scene,” an impromptu cultural event or just hang out and feel the good vibes in your trusty neighborhood haunts?
In case you’re forgoing all the compelling choices on a cold night, such as tonight, and find yourself instead in front of your computer, scanning the local blog scene, I’m here to tell ya that CoFoCoDo, aka, “the community,” per their “Executive Summary: Framing the Future of Downtown Columbia” document, states –
We favor the continuing development of Downtown, but there are many models of diverse and vibrant downtowns. We offer Georgetown and Annapolis as examples of communities that do not rely on high density to provoke an exciting sense of place. These locations are especially interesting, and they exude excitement – even though their skylines rarely exceed four stories. It is important to remind ourselves that Jim Rouse’s dream was to create The Next America, built to a human scale, not another version of existing urban development.
(My bolds)
Pop Quiz Time:
How is Columbia like Annapolis and Georgetown?
My answer:
Um, um, … ahh … uh, well, um, Columbia is like Annapolis and Georgetown because, um, ooohh-oooh-oooh, I know! It has a protected historic district! Am I right? Am I right?
_____
You can read the entirety of “the community’s” perspective here. BTW, I use the term, “the community,” as it is what “they” call themselves. If you wish to represent your own fabulous self and wish a voice other than this coalition’s to be heard, WRITE. POST. Particularly if you’re a 13er.
This evening’s perspective posted by Jessie, who, even if told to believe that Columbia is like Georgetown and Annapolis in its “diverse and vibrant downtown,” would have to say, “Get real.“
3 Comments
February 17, 2007 at 4:27 am
Jesse and 2nd Gen posse et al,
I completely agree with your comments. Please reference my post from 19OCT06 .
Please also consider two other items: Georgetown and Annopolis are (among other things, port cities) located in enclaves supported by government entities, i.e. Georgetown = the federal government, Annapolis = the state government. It would be interesting if Co Fo Co Do would provide an example of a city that is not supported by a benefactor.
In addition, I beleive Georgetown and Annapolis provide a certain vibrancy because they are, essentially, college towns. Because of the high level of education of the Columbia population, many find the college setting alluring. I believe this holds true for the boomers as well as us 13th gen folks.
BTW, the beer was cold and the house was warm (although smokey in the bar) at Rocky Run tonight.
February 17, 2007 at 4:37 am
The link portion of my above post was a bit garbled. Please reference the following post:
Columbia Compass
April 2, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Georgetown and Annapolis have vibrant downtowns because they are _walkable_. They have beautiful interesting architecture on *gasp* high (especially retail) density streets with unique and varied merchants. Both have traffic that is so nightmarish that you are basically forced to park one place for the day and just leave the car there as you stroll about town.