National Civic League

Three programs win Howard honors as All-America City Three ambitious civic programs helped Howard County win the prestigious All-America City Award on June 23 in Atlanta. Howard County and Ocean City were among the 10 communities honored with the National Civic League award, which recognizes communities working to overcome their problems. A 35-member delegation arrived in Atlanta late last week ready to brag about three efforts to make Howard County a better place: a free health clinic for uninsured patients; a student-run cafe; and a program that helps senior citizens stay in their homes.

For Howard County to overcome its many challenges, all sectors - government, business, nonprofit and the public - need to behave more like they did immediately after some of the area's worst crises, including Sept. 11, 2001, and the sniper attacks, a community relations advocate said last night. That message was delivered during a meeting of community and county leaders to chart a path for the future. During the weeks after a disaster, agencies collaborate, neighbors interact, residents donate and there is a general sense of cohesion in the community, said Christopher Gates, president of the National Civic League, a group that tries to foster better community relations throughout the country.

WASHINGTON -- With some common sense and caring, Congress could help America's communities become more livable.That's the claim of a freshman Oregon congressman, Earl Blumenauer. As an innovative Portland city commissioner and before that a state legislator, Mr. Blumenauer spent years championing such causes as neighborhood-based city planning, efficient land use, light rail and environmental recycling.Mr. Blumenauer lacks Washington ''clout.'' But he asks: Why couldn't Congress shift laws to give citizens meaningful input on land use and transportation decisions?

The Anne Arundel County auditor has criticized the county's purchasing office for breaking county law by not justifying some cases in which the county has awarded contracts without competitive bidding.The most significant complaints in Auditor Teresa Sutherland's recent report to the County Council concern "sole-source procurements" of engineering and professional services.These are occasions on which the county claims that only one company can provide a needed service and so avoids the required competitive process for selecting companies.

Washington. -- A cloud of gloom has settled among associates of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros. They fear that whether or not a special prosecutor finds that he tried to mislead the FBI, his political effectiveness has been irreparably compromised.Their reaction -- and ours -- should be different. It should be outrage that a case is being pursued against Henry Cisneros at all.Here is a man never accused of misusing his public offices, local or federal, for any kind of personal gain.

Howard County civic leaders will showcase three local programs in the All-America City Award competition this week, highlighting the considerable good they've accomplished with a free health clinic, student-run cafe and a program that helps senior citizens stay in their homes. They're also prepared to acknowledge to judges that two of the three programs are at perilous crossroads. The cafe recently lost its free lease. And the clinic has raised a fraction of the $350,000 to $400,000 it needs to operate next year.

In Howard County, community loyalties used to be very clear."You lived in Columbia, or in Howard County. You never lived in both," county planning director and native Joseph W. Rutter Jr. says.Over the years, that division has melted away, but others have grown up: between old and young, black and white, native and immigrant, rural and suburban, industrial and residential.Now, an effort is under way to create a vision for the entire county -- a blueprint drawn up by citizens to outline ways of creating a true Howard County identity with which everyone can feel comfortable.

Could restructuring the American city be one key to saving the American family? Could time off for parents to visit their kids in school lead to a revived citizen democracy?Richard Louv, a San Diego Union columnist, believes so, and his new book, ''Childhood's Future'' (Houghton Mifflin), makes the case.Today's American family, says Mr. Louv, is under siege. With parents working, overbooked and coming home exhausted, family time is Casualty No. 1. Many parents feel they're ''on a fast track to nowhere.

Atlanta -- Empowerment zones, crime and gun control, homeless initiatives, tax credits for the working poor -- are they adding up to something? Does the Clinton administration have a set of pro-city policies which, by any other name, would be known as a national urban policy?Henry Cisneros, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, claims it's so. The comprehensive set of urban initiatives that city leaders have long sought is finally taking shape, he argues.On the law-and-order front, Mr. Cisneros himself took part in a drug raid recently in a Boston public housing project.

WITH PRESSURE building for a reduction in the size of the City Council, the question arises: How bloated is Baltimore's 19-member legislative body? The simple answer: pretty darn bloated. That's not just compared with jurisdictions like Montgomery and Baltimore counties, which have far more people than the city but manage with far fewer legislators. Given historical and geographical differences, comparing the city with the state's largest counties is perhaps a classic case of mixing apples and oranges.