Robert Tennenbaum, 72, not only lives in Wilde Lake, he helped design it as the Chief Planner & Architect for Columbia. A job posted on a bulletin board brought him to Washington and the Year 2000 Plan ultimately brought him, Morton Hoppenfeld and William E. Finley to Jim Rouse. Tennenbaum recalls the day when he Morton Hoppenfeld took him on the drive that would change the course of his career.
“So we're driving up 29, it was a two lane road. We get up to about 29 and Route 32, the old Route 32, and he said okay. He says okay look both sides until I say stop. So I looked at both sides, I see trees and fields, some stuff growing like corn and grass areas with cows and all very rural, very nice. Hilly land and oh there's a small subdivision, oh there's another subdivision. Then he said okay you can stop, when we got to 108, right up the road. He said, Finley and I are working with the Rouse Company, we're going to plan a new city here, would you join us? I said okay.”
Tennenbaum says one of the big problems in Columbia has to do with the affordable housing. He believes its a good idea, but the management and maintenance of some of the properties has become lax over the years.
"It's the people that come from the outside, from the inner city of Baltimore that come down and causes problems. Long Reach is a prime example of this. Too many section eights in one area, now that's a major problem that Howard County has not addressed.”
The issue of design review came up a lot in our interview. Tennenbaum comments that its a crucial step in the development process, one that has been overlooked in the past and has been the central focus of public planning meetings between the Howard County council, Columbia residents and General Growth Properties over the new 30 year master plan.
“Owen Brown was ruined when the village center was changed. It was a very nice village center. Giant owns it, and then when Giant wanted to increase the size of the supermarket, it totally screwed it up.
Tennenbaum says the Rouse Company, at least of the last 15 years should have changed their name to the bottom line company. When asked about General Growth Properties and phases, he explains that phases actually hinder development because the developers can't for see the future and need the flexibility to change their plans with the times. He believes the new GGP plan needs to be approved without phases.
Tennenbaum says that before Rouse Company sold to GGP, it was run by a bunch of MBA bottom liners.
“They [Rouse Company] totally ignored the community. And even the press didn't have the guts to go and say what are those bulldozers doing here? You never knew what was going to happen until the bulldozers came on the site and started scraping the land."
Tennenbaum is disappointed by some of Rouse Company's development decisions, including the gated apartments build around the mall. He says the four foot fence around the apartments is a joke, a marketing ploy and that it wasn't built with Columbia's principles in mind.
Though Tennenbaum left Rouse Company in the early seventies, he continues to fight to maintain Symphony Woods, village centers and the vision that Jim Rouse had for the city.
"The land sales guy, the guy who's trying to sell the land and create income for the Rouse Company would go to the top people and say the architects are causing problems. The top guys would say f--- em, you know, sell the land we need the money. That's what's been happening over the years.”
"It was getting late so Janis says why not go back to my hotel room and we'll do the interview there. So I went back and shared a bottle of whiskey with Janis and I actually had the opportunity to sleep with Janis. And my journalistic ethics combined with the fact that I didn't find her very attractive, kept me from making the point.”
Michael Oberman, 61, followed his girlfriend Marijane to Columbia eight years ago. He prefers Washington D.C. because of the subways, nightlife and the Ethiopian food, all of which are non-existent in Columbia.
Oberman runs Michael Oberman Consulting LLC and teaches nature photography at Slayton House. At 15, he started as a copy-boy for The Washington Star. By 19, he was a music critic and wrote the column "Music Makers"; interviewing artists like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and David Bowie.
“I also did concert reviews. My column had something at the end of it every week called Notes & Half Notes, which was my album pick of the week which led me to be on the mailing list of every record company and every record album mailed to me for free, so that was a big perk.”
When his brother left journalism for Mercury Records, he left for Warner Bros. Records and went on to manage artists such as Claude Jones. Oberman got his start in nature photography by shooting album covers.
“If somebody puts in the tag of great blue heron, the first photos that are going to pop up are going to be mine. I've got more great blue heron photos than maybe anyone in the world. In 2007, one of my photos was named one of the top 16 nature photos of the year by The Nature Conservancy and was in Parade magazine.”
Oberman says if you want to be a nature photographer, be patient.
"When people wander, nothings happening, that's when the eagle flies over that they miss.”
Like many residents, Oberman is polarized over the new 30 year master plan and doesn't think Columbia has kept up with the times by maximizing the drawing power of Town Center.
"We need more affordable housing for young married couples, young singles etc. But then you also needs jobs for them here where they're not commuting and there isn't a great deal of work to be had in Columbia.”
“I'm sure that the house we bought was one of those houses because it was already up and it was appeared sold but the sales person said oh it just fell through and I think I could get you this house.”
Lincoln has been an associate broker with Remax for 40 years. She first heard about Columbia in October of 1969, while working for a Missouri senator. Her husband spent his lunch hours searching for a house.
Like many early residents, the Lincolns moved to Columbia for the affordable housing. In November, they bought one for $18 thousand and moved in the day after Thanksgiving.
“People come here now largely for the schools, although I think a lot of minority people come here for the acceptance for the welcome that they have and the feel. I always notice mixed couples white man and black woman or the reverse would be very comfortable here.”
Lincoln is a staunch supporter of General Growth Properties and their plan to revitalize downtown Columbia. That's why she started Bring Back The Vision, a volunteer organization that educates the public about the new 30 year master plan.
“I think what we need is exactly what GGP is offering, which is a downtown that's walkable, where you can go from Symphony Woods to the mall to the lake front if you're willing to do that much walking. Where you can go and shop and sit outside and have coffee and wine with friends and that's what we miss and that's what we don't have and that's what we're not going to have unless people get behind GGP and it's effort. Stop seeing it as the greedy developer.”
You've seen him pedaling across Columbia. Who is the Columbia bike guy? 
"You could only get into Crofton through I think there were two gates on Route 3, two entrances. And there was a committee that went down, from what I heard, didn't see it, but this vigilante group went down with shotguns to protect the town itself.”
In 1972, Governor George Wallace spoke at Merriweather Post Pavilion and won 70 to 80 percent of the vote in Crofton. Berkowitz saw this as the handwriting on the wall.
In 1973, Berkowitz moved to Wilde Lake with his family where he met Ron Klein, a psychologist who was on the planning committee. Klein started the Family Life Center in Wilde Lake, a non-profit providing mental health services to residents where Berkowitz worked as an adjunct. Berkowitz says he served on low level committees with Barbara Russell.
“As far as I know, I knew of only one black family in Crofton, in fact they had a screening committee that my understanding was to not include minority groups coming into Crofton, so this was very very different.”
Berkowitz says he moved in next to a black family and learned that the first child born in Columbia had interracial parents. Our neighbors were friendly, he says, adding that they would often visit with their children.
Columbia, he says, has lost its small town feel and that along with the over-commercialization disappoints him. He says Columbia could do without the cookie-cutter housing lots as well.
“What they did get right was the quality of the schools and the racial mix I think has been very successful. I think the quality of the schools have lived up to the high expectations."
36 years later, Berkowitz has no regrets about moving to Columbia. He says the city is just want he and his wife wanted for their children.
