The future of downtown Columbia is really the future of Howard County.
Members of Columbia 2.0, a new organization hoping to spark a communitywide and especially youth-oriented interest among residents for downtown redevelopment, communicated this outlook to County Council members this week.
“They contacted us and were interested in seeing what Columbia 2.0 was all about,” said organization co-founder Katie Dunn.
“We wanted to share our feeling that the whole revitalization of Town Center is not just a Columbia thing but a Howard County thing.”
General Growth Properties Inc. is proposing a massive plan to redevelop Columbia by creating five different neighborhoods in Town Center with 5,500 residential units and many more shops and offices.
Dunn and other co-founders David Yungmann and Mac Cassity chatted with Council Members Calvin Ball, D-District 2, and Jen Terrasa, D-District 3, but other council members are also expected to communicate with the group.
“It’s … invigorating when you have some young people interested — the ones who’ll probably be here in the next 20 to 30 years raising a family,” Ball said.
He said the founders really wanted to ensure they have a “seat at the table” when discussions happen regarding the future of Columbia.
Columbia 2.0 formed at the end of July with a dozen members and has grown to about 60 interested residents in just weeks, Dunn said.
Members plan to use blogs and social networking sites to connect with the younger generation.
“So much of the younger generation communicates through blogs, and that’s really what Columbia 2.0 is all about,” Dunn said.
The group will likely take GGP’s plans from its PowerPoint presentations and blog about it to promote a discussion among all county residents, young and old, Terrasa said.
The group is exploring having meetings around lunchtime with a relaxed atmosphere.
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