Complaints dominate Ulman's first meeting with residents

The Baltimore Sun

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman thought his first public forum might draw few residents on a warm July evening.

Boy, was he wrong.

More than 150 people filled the cafeteria of Oakland Mills High School Wednesday night, and most of the 50 who signed up to speak were nursing festering complaints that they wanted to share with Ulman and the appointed county officials seated at tables behind him.

Interspersed among the grievances were rounds of applause for Ulman's decision to have the meeting -- the first in a series -- and his efforts to promote environmentally friendly development in a package of administration bills the County Council is to vote on Monday.

Jan Hansen started with an angry blast at Howard Transit's bus service for elderly and handicapped people, which she says has become worse since First Transit, a new operator, took over July 1.

"They hired the same people who were screwing up," she fumed, saying there are "major problems, the same as three months ago, six months ago, one year ago." The telephone system doesn't work, riders have been stranded, wheelchair lifts break down and air conditioning is iffy, she said.

"Starting tomorrow, we will make progress on this," Ulman said.

The list of problems spilled out over the next three hours, from Diane Butler's concerns about gangs and ugly utility wires to Glenna and Ted Green's complaint that, after two years, they've still not received a building permit for a house they want to build on Ted Green's grandfather's homestead in Ellicott City.

Ulman was hit with complaints about illegal immigrants, zoning violations, water service allegedly promised to Hugh Squires in Fulton a dozen years before the 33-year-old county executive was born, water rationing this summer, and loud music from the 65 bands playing in the Vans Warped Tour at Merriweather Post Pavilion, ruining Hugh R. Tousey's Wednesday.

Tousey lives across Broken Land Parkway from the venue, and said he was overjoyed to be able to tell Ulman directly about his problem, which happens whenever Merriweather erects outlying stages on the property for multi-band events.

"When I read this in the paper, I couldn't believe it. It's a gift from heaven," Tousey said about the forum.

Officials tried to answer each query. Robert M. Beringer, chief of utilities, said Aug. 20 is the current deadline for repairs to be completed on a major water pipe in Baltimore County that serves Howard County.

The construction forced the county to limit outdoor water use in some areas. A smaller pipe at U.S. 40 and U.S. 29 will then need to be repaired, Beringer said.

Familiar issues

Then there were the frequently discussed issues, including the church expansion on St. John's Lane that was part of the now three-year-old Comp Lite rezoning, the 23-story tower proposed for central Columbia, Turf Valley development and downtown Columbia redevelopment.

"I have no idea what's going on with downtown development," Phil Kirsch told Ulman, despite having attended the 2005 planning charrette and subsequent focus group meetings.

Ulman replied that a key traffic study is coming -- the first that will be paid for by the county rather than by a developer -- and that a new plan should become public in September. After six to eight months of discussions, the County Council will consider adopting whatever zoning changes are required.

A consistent complaint involved high-speed traffic in residential areas, something Ulman said he hopes to address this winter, when the county will again seek state authority to use speed cameras in residential neighborhoods.

Larry Blickman recommended that a section of Route 32 where Howard County police officer Scott Wheeler was killed while working on a speed enforcement detail should be dedicated in his memory by state highway officials.

Ulman agreed, saying he thought exactly the same thing as he drove past the white cross that fellow officers had erected in the highway median.

The public forum ran from 6 p.m. to after 9 p.m. The next morning, Ulman said he would do it again sometime, though not with the once-a-month frequency one speaker recommended.

"I was reasonably pleased" with the event, Ulman said.

larry.carson@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2021, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication | Place an Ad
72°