Introduction

I lived in Columbia for 19 of my almost 23 years of existence. The past 4 years I've lived in Ellicott City and I've learned just how special the Columbia Experience is not just for me but for all the 100,000 who call Columbia home. There are many issues involving the future of Downtown and what Jim Rouse would do. Columbia new comers and pioneers alike say they know the answer to the question "What would Jim Rouse Do?" I am not a Columbia pioneer, I was born in 1984 17 years after the formal dedication of Columbia and 21 years after the first 1039 acres of land was purchased by Robert Moxley for the Rouse company. I have spent countless hours reading and researching the history of how Columbia came to fruition and why. I try not to talk much about my personal life but I feel I must. I'm liberal but I'm also pro development, well pro smart growth. There are many parcels of land in Columbia that should be developed both Downtown and tucked away in the other nine Villages. Columbia was a solution to suburban sprawl and without the densifying of Downtown, Columbia would just have contributed to the sprawl. This blog isn't about Downtown it's about Columbia's villages and neighborhoods that may not have aged as well as some may have liked. What follows are my personal opinions regarding the future of said villages. I have always thought big, while others have squabbled about small little details I was thinking of big projects and coming up with predictions of the future and not settling for the status quo.