Village Residents

CHARLES VILLAGE residents who are afraid they will be ignored by a City Council delegation whose power emanates from East Baltimore have a right to feel threatened.That's unfortunate, but it is the truth. The aloofness of incumbent 2nd District council members Paula Johnson Branch and Robert L. Douglass show they are still angry that the New Democratic Club-2, which draws core support from Charles Village, did not ++ endorse them in the 1995 elections.Now that they have gotten fellow east-ender Bernard C. Young appointed to the seat vacated by new city real estate officer Anthony J. Ambridge, the council members may ignore the other part of the district.

A zoning bill that would change the way Columbia's village centers may be redeveloped should be ready for County Council introduction in April, though the county Planning Board still must vote on it. That vote is tentatively scheduled for March 12, after a third board work session last week on the issue that produced no formal decision. Board members spent most of the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, debating minor word changes in the measure, though all agree on the concept - to allow property owners in Columbia's village centers the right to propose zoning changes.

Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend strolled through Columbia's Long Reach Village Center yesterday afternoon with county police officials and village residents as part of her tour of 36 proposed crime "hot spots" in Maryland.County Police Chief James Robey hopes to get Long Reach village designated as a "hot spot" -- a move that would bring a federal grant of between $35,000 and $200,000.The money would fund state troopers in assisting county police in the neighborhood, installation of better street lighting throughout the village and other crime-prevention programs, Robey said.

A home improvement fair sponsored by the Village of Wilde Lake will be presented from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Slayton House.The fair is part of the Revitalization Project that has begun in the village.The pilot program will address issues facing the aging community.It is a joint project of Howard County, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., Comcast, the Rouse Co., the Columbia Association, NationsBank, Columbia Bank, Wilde Lake Village Board and village residents.The fair will feature contractors offering a variety of services.

Four angry Hickory Ridge village residents told the Columbia Council last night that many in their village are ignoring Columbia's strict covenants, a citywide trend that's threatening property values.The residents said they have worked for as long as two years to address violations in the Clemens Crossing neighborhood, but the response from village staff has been weak."People have lost respect for the covenants. They know people aren't going to do anything about it," said Carole Surbrook, urging the council to target more money and resources to enforce the strict property maintenance guidelines.

Two days after she and her young sons left their eastern Baltimore County house in a boat, Lakeesha King still didn't think it was safe to go back yesterday. So she kept her family -- 4-year-old Antonio, 10-year-old Marcus, her sister and her grandfather -- at Stemmers Run Middle School, Baltimore County's last remaining shelter for people displaced by Tropical Storm Isabel. King, 29, was grateful for all the donated food, clothing and cots. Scrabble and a coloring book were keeping her boys content.

NOT FAR FROM the Green Line, about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv/Jaffa, is the small village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. The name means "Oasis of Peace" in Hebrew and Arabic. It is built on land that was originally leased from the Trappist monastery of Latrun, which in 1972 agreed to lease about 100 acres to a Dominican monk who envisioned a place where Muslims, Jews and Christians would live together. The land couldn't have been more neutral and still be in the Middle East -- no man's land until after the 1967 war, it is literally on the so-called Green Line that marked the borders of Israel before that war, and had been the site of a series of bloody battles fought to a draw in 1948 between Jordanian and Israeli soldiers.

A Johns Hopkins University senior and a city planner have come up with an intriguing idea that would expand the commercial stretch in the 3100 block of St. Paul Street one block north. Such an enlargement would essentially create a new village center for students and nearby Charles Village residents.This idea has considerable merit. If a palatable detailed plan can be developed, enabling City Council legislation could be introduced within the next few months."We are trying to avoid outright rezoning," explains Chris Ryer, a city planner and Charles Village resident, who has been working on the concept with Peter M. Dolkart, a senior from Miami.

Vandalism of any type violates a community's sense of security, but vandalism based on hatred for a group due to race or religion is an act of violence.Such was the crime perpetrated by whoever painted swastikas on a photography shop in the Harper's Choice Village Center this week. Not only did the act harm the owners of the shop, Russian Jewish immigrants, it reverberated through Columbia and beyond. Residents are stunned that their community, modeled to encourage diversity and tolerance, would be targeted in this way.Those who gathered at a village meeting Tuesday expressed outrage and called for demonstrations of protest against the vandalism.

IT'S CLEANER AND SAFER, but not as clean and safe as residents want it to be. That may be the best assessment of the Charles Village special benefits district a year after it was created. The additional property tax residents voted to impose on themselves has been used to hire seven full-time security guards and three sanitation workers to supplement services provided by the city. The extra workers are getting good reviews, but they can't solve every crime and grime problem in the community.