Cy Paumier

Go to any of the village centers and look around . . . what do you see? Most likely shops and concrete and bricks. Who worked on planning and designing those village centers? Cy Paumier did.

Paumier grew up in Canton, Ohio. He says growing up in Canton was somewhat similar to Columbia in the sense that the town had a concept of a village center and a black population close to 20 percent. Paumier received his bachelors in Ohio in landscape architecture. From there he went to Harvard for his masters in urban design.

By the time he was working on Nun's Island in Montreal, he heard about Jim Rouse and Columbia through the press. He moved into Bryant Woods in 1969 and went to work for the Rouse Company as land planner.

"The people that moved here in the early years were obviously pioneers in the sense that they knew they might be living next to an African American family or somebody else, some other nationality. So you didn't move here unless you were prepared to be a part of an integrated experience with people of all backgrounds. And I think that made for a rather exciting community. "

In 1972, with the economy in recession, Paumier left the Rouse Company and joined Land Research/Design International with several friends and former Rouse Company employees. LRD worked on The Woodlands among other projects. In 1976, LRD rewrote Columbia's zoning ordinance, mandating that no more than four town houses could be built in a row.

While on the topic of housing, Paumier comments that of all the townhouse developments in Columbia, his favorite happens to be the one where Elizabeth Bobo lives, in Harper's Choice.

So what hasn't worked in Columbia and what has? In Paumier's opinion, cul-de-sacs.

"Maybe the one thing that didn't work as well was the Cul-De-Sac which at the time everybody thought was God's gift to the city planners. But it turns out its probably safer to live on a Cul-De-Sac but it also doesn't help to encourage a sense of community because you don't get any linkage.”

Symphony Woods, he says was never fully realized because there was no real plan in mind for the open space area, no paths, no amenities, nothing but Merriweather Post Pavilion to draw people in and nothing after to keep them.

"No one's ever really cared enough about it to do a plan, CA hasn't been encouraged, nobody in the community has been saying we ought to create a great park there. So along comes General Growth [Properties], General Growth's got a couple hundred acres that they've got to develop right? They've got all the land in the world to develop, why don't they just focus on what they own. I mean they don't have to start taking CA's land . . . its crazy!”

Paumier agrees that 10 percent of the trees in Symphony Woods are dead and need to be removed. Sunlight, he says, is the key to a great park. With all of the trees, dead or alive, there isn't enough light getting through to make Symphony Woods a functioning park. Part of his plan is to remove the dead trees and install paths and a central water feature. He wants to see the woods become a children's park.

On the brighter side, Paumier says the education system has worked, the diversity has worked and the village center's he helped design still work.

"I think the neighborhood village concept is the single most important concept and to the extent that all but maybe one or two of the village centers are working.”

Patty Rouse: Memories of Columbia & Jim

Patty Rouse sits in a small windowless office, her shelves are stocked with binders and files, her desk is piled high with papers.

"I've never had a paid job, I've always been a volunteer. I'm a volunteer here, I'm not on the payroll here," she says as she surveys the room of her Enterprise office. The pale blue walls are littered with plaques and pictures.

Her office will become the archives she says, once she gets all the files organized. At 83, she comes to work and work she does. Everywhere I look are stacks of files, even the chairs are occupied by files. "I'm trying to get this office organized to the point that they can understand whats in what pile and I've got a list of what's in the different drawers."

"Jim retired from the Rouse Company but he wasn't finished working. And he wanted to do something else and he had been inspired by what a group in Washington was doing with low income housing. He really got organizing in 79 and we got started in 80."

The goal of the new company was "to see that all low income people in the United States get the opportunity, you don't give them the housing you give them the opportunity to get the housing and to see that all low income people in the United States, not worldwide but in the United States get the opportunity to get into affordable housing."

I was surprised to learn that Enterprise takes up the majority of the American City building with the exception of the ground floor.

Rouse was born and raised in Norfolk, Va. There she met Jim in 1973, a year later they were married. They used to play tennis together in those years and Rouse comments that Jim did all of the cooking, she did the dishes. She spent her free time potting but she never made dishes, she says she was never that good.

35 years later, Rouse has had a parkway named after her and her husband. She likes the convenience and closeness of Columbia. She jokes that her old while station wagon only has about 70,000 miles on it because everything is close by. People often ask her why she never moved home after Jim died. She smiles and says that Columbia is her home and that's why she's stayed.

Columbia's Underboss: Bill Finley

"Actually James W. Rouse and Morton Hoppenfeld got most of the public credit for the efforts. And that never bothered me. I knew and that Rouse said many times in public, "without Bill Finley, there would be no Columbia." During the high-speed pre-opening period 1965-1967, I had my fingers on over 100 projects in Columbia. I was good at that."

Finley was a World War II bomber pilot at age 20, completing 35 missions over German airspace. By June of 1951, Finley had created a degree in city planning and was the first person in the western United States to receive a BA and MCP for it at the University of California Berkeley. He was then recruited to be the first director of planning for the town of Richmond, CA.

Five years later, Finley had planned a new town in West Virginia and taught two semesters at Penn State. At 32, Finley was picked to head the National Capital Planning Commission where he would work with Morton Hoppenfeld and Robert Tennenbaum. Finley is perhaps best known for his work on Columbia as the manager of the Rouse Company planning workgroup.

Here is the best of my interview with Bill Finley:

Q: In retrospect, how does Columbia compare to any job prior or since?

A: "Working with Jim Rouse, Morton Hoppenfeld and Robert Tennenbaum and dozens of other creative people and having the support and funds to plan and build the beginnings of Columbia has been the professional highlight of my life. Rouse's idealism coupled with Morton Hoppenfeld's design creativity allowed us to put ideas into reality. I felt that the only planning worthwhile was that which ended up being built to serve people?

Q: Are there any memorable (specific) planning meetings you can recall and what made them memorable?

A: "Only the first night when every guest felt obligated to pour cold water on the idea of trying to plan for the 'perfect' city. I reacted strongly to their negativism and Jim went home depressed. Thereafter, everyone got the idea that we were serious in trying to get their positive input, with some exceptions."

Q: How did Foster City, CA influence the planning of Columbia?

A: "We learned from Foster City, CA that letting a new town become a municipality could result in the first few settlers overturning the long-range plan. It was a very important reason for keeping Columbia unincorporated and subject to county-wide rule. We guessed rightly that in a few years, our citizens would all but control the county. It was a gamble that paid off."

Q: Describe the impact of the republican controlled county government or Howard Research & Development's plan and the development process?

A: "The three man county commission were all very conservative. They had never even heard of a new town. They were not world travelers. The county attorney had to walk a fine line between his bosses and our development machine and the fact that we had paid cash for 13,000 +/- acres and weren't going away. Eventually, he was cooperative, I know that the county board members would have voted 2-1 to turn us down. It was a close call!"

Q: What were some of the most memorable concerns/pet peeves by the local neighborhood/homeowners associations?

A: "I actually didn't do much in dealing with the existing subdivision folks. We did have to answer the key questions about 'negros' and higher taxes. After that they were worried about property values and that no apartments would be built near them."

Source Remorse

"When you stand in the light of truth, the only place a lie can hide is under your feet."
-The Gonzo Journalist

Any journalism student will tell you that media law is a breeze. Memorize the terms, take the tests and forget most of what you learned after the semester ends, easy A. The last 24 electric hours have sent me to far corners of the internet. I've consulted experts, media law professors, even my old news editing text book.

Thursday night, Robert Tennenbaum took the offensive with a surprise attack on my senses. "Take down the post right fucking now," he shrieked. How do you explain to a screaming senior citizen that you're standing at a light rail stop in North Linthicum unable to check your blog, your email or even the MTA light rail schedule?

Shortly after the blitzkrieg, I got on the horn for technical assistance. Caller #5 had access to the internet and followed my step by step instructions, disarming the post and what I thought would be legal fallout. Then I recorded a statement as a podcast as a sort of personal PR move.

Statement


Almost a week later, I've received a lot of buzz about the "dust up" over the Tennenbaum post. Some people have commented anonymously that I have a one sided political agenda, or that I am portraying Tennenbaum as the "bad guy." Let me dispel the myths and half-truths.

This blog has no political agenda. When I interview residents about their Columbia experience, I publish quotes about what has worked and what hasn't. Robert Tennenbaum is not the bad guy. In fact I would encourage anyone who sees him to stop him and buy him a cup of green tea. I thoroughly enjoyed our interview, Tennenbaum has some amazing stories to tell. We may not have always agreed on things, but as the young people say, its whatever.

No Hard Feelings,

Jack Cole

Columbia's Architect: Robert Tennenbaum

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.”

Podcast: Tennenbaum Interview

Thursday February 26, 2009 at 7:42 PM. I returned a phone call from Robert Tennenbaum in which he threatened to sue me if I did not remove the interview I posted, then revised. I believe the truth should be presented objectively. That is why I've posted the interview files as podcasts. These are parts 1-3 of my interview with Robert Tennenbaum, Wednesday February 18, 2009 at the Lakeside Cafe.

Part 1 - CLICK HERE
Part 2 - CLICK HERE
Part 3 - CLICK HERE