Downtown Columbia needs a big “Hug.” The statue in the Wincopin Circle overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi is at risk.Proposed redevelopment of Town Center could add up to 5,500 apartments and 6.5 million square feet of office space. That sure is progress.
But the current plan for growth proposed by Howard County calls for pounding a new road parallel to Little Patuxent Parkway right through the scenic circle with its famous, life-sized bronze statue of a joyous hug.
That would not be progress.
This history-making planned community still is young, as cities go. It must age gracefully. Destroying the very aspects that make Columbia so special and beautiful is the wrong way to do it. Redraw plans. Save “The Hug.”
