Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:16:024 -0500
From: Tom West
Subject: Fisking Pittsboro Matters: Let’s take a look at Columbia vs Chatham Park
This morning Leela Ellis told us about how the community of Columbia was a failure.
Here’s a look at Columia, Maryland via Wikipedia. You can read the entire wiki page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Columbia is a planned community comprising 10 self-contained villages, located in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents’ quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, rather than merely economics and engineering. Opened in 1967, Columbia was intended to not only eliminate the inconveniences of then-current subdivision design, but also eliminate racial, religious, and class segregation.
CRD accumulated 14,178 acres (57.38 km2), 10 percent of Howard County (located between Baltimore and Washington), from 140 separate owners.
Chatham Park is 7,000 cares and accounts for less than 2 percent of Chatham County
The urban planning process for Columbia included not only planners, but also a convened panel of nationally recognized experts in the social sciences, known as the Work Group. Meeting for two days, twice a month, for half a year, the Work Group suggested innovations for planners in education, recreation, religion, and health care, as well as ways of improving social interactions
The original plan, following the neighborhood concept of Clarence Perry, would have had all the children of a neighborhood attend the same school, melding neighborhoods into a community and ensuring that all of Columbia’s children get the same high-quality education.
In 2006, Money magazine ranked Columbia (together with Ellicott City , its neighbor to the north) #4 out of the 100 “Best Places to Live” in the United States. In 2008, Columbia and Ellicott City were ranked #8 on this list. In 2010, Columbia and Ellicott City were ranked #2 on this list. In 2012, Columbia and Ellicott City were ranked #8 on this list.
The U.S. federal government is the source of many jobs for Columbians. Several large U.S. Department of Defense installations and R&D facilities surround Columbia, the largest being the National Security Agency at Fort George G. Meade , and the Applied Physics Laboratory , both pre-dating the establishment of Columbia. Companies which have had research facilities in the area include W.R. Grace and Company and Westvaco. Further afield, many Columbians commute to government and government contractor jobs in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area.
Companies based in Columbia include W.R. Grace and Company , Sourcefire , PetMeds , MICROS Systems , Integral Systems , Corporate Office Properties Trust and the consumer research company Arbitron.
Population by Race in Columbia MD (2010) – White 55%, Black 25%, Asian 11%, Hispanic 7% Other 2%
As of the census of 2000, there were 88,254 people, 34,199 households, and 23,118 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,202.0 people per square mile (1,236.4/km²). There were 35,281 housing units at an average density of 1,280.0 per square mile (494.3/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 66.52% White , 21.47% Black, 0.26% Native American, 7.30% Asian, 1.63% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races. 4.12% of the population were Hispanic of any race. 2010 census had 99,615 people.
There were 34,199 households out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.7 males.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the CDP was $94,966, and the median income for a family was $107,210. About 3.4% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.7% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over.
Leela Ellis mentions that a “med-tech told me that she had moved from a place called Columbia so that she could give her children a safe place to grow and go to school.” Ellis failed to mention if this place called Columbia was located in South Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee or Maryland.
BTW, It is extremely sad to see that Leela Ellis chose to use the unfortunate murder of two people that recently took place in Columbia to push a political agenda. I will address this issue in a separate email.