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.”

Reporting On Symphony Woods

I spent the weekend lashing together a video package on Symphony Woods. What follows are the views of Columbia residents. Do you agree with the views expressed by residents?

Three Sides to Symphony Woods

This weekend, Ive been shooting a video package about Symphony Woods. I've walked around the various open spaces in Columbia, getting reaction shots from residents. I've interviewed Greg Hamm, Cy Paumier and Barbara Russell. Residents I've talked to seem to take one of three sides on the issue.

Some residents think General Growth Properties knows what's best for the woods and should revitalize the property. During my interview with Hamm, he stressed that the ZRA-113 plan was designed and influenced by GGP, and that the plan should not be seen entirely as GGP's.

Some residents think Symphony Woods should be left the way it is, the way Jim Rouse intended. Yes a third of the trees in the forest are dead. Yes few people actually use the park space. No, don't remove a single stump. Green space is a luxury in Columbia, and should be left undeveloped.

Finally, some residents believe Symphony Woods should be revitalized but not by General Growth Properties, claiming that the basis for GGP's plan is essentially to pull the company back from the brink of bankruptcy by acquiring the land and immediately selling it off to the highest bidder. These residents think the plan created by Cy Paumier should be enacted instead.

As a journalist, I believe in the subjective objectivity of each story, that its important to view the story from all sides. As a young resident with a vested interest in the future of my city, I'm not convinced GGP has the right idea or the right motives. I remember reading that two of Rouse's goals for Columbia were to respect the land and make money, obviously. I believe respecting the land is paramount. The market economy functions on the same rules as the natural ecology, adapt or die. I don't want to see any more development in Symphony Woods. I believe the woods should be revitalized, but not at the cost of residential and commercial units.

What do you think? Does it really matter that few people use the woods, that there aren't any paths running through the space? Do you care that the trees are dead and would you want them removed anyways? Are you sitting on the fence? Would you like to let it be? Or would you like to see what Symphony Woods can become?

Manpower Beats Back Repression

Remember when there was a cell phone store nestled between Starbucks and Three Brothers Italian restaurant? Probably not because its been replaced by Manpower. I've biked past it many times on my way to Supreme Sports Club in Owen Brown. For a while, I've wondered what its about. Today, notepad in hand, I walked in and found out.

Upon entering I was greeted by staffing specialist Patricia Izydore. The inside of the store vaguely resembles the eclectic look and layout of a cell phone store. A few pseudo offices and coffee tables line the floor to ceiling windows. Ironically, the three employees manning manpower today, weren't men.

Branch manager Debra Provencher says Manpower is a job placement business based out of Milwaukee and a fortune 150 company with 4,400 offices nationwide. Izydore says Manpower has been in Columbia for 30 years and was previously located in Symphony Woods next to Toby's Dinner Theater. The company, which worked out of the 6th floor of an office building in Town Center, moved to its present location because of increased visibility and traffic.

Manpower, Izydore says, works to pair clients with associates. Most often walk-ins are placed in temporary jobs primarily in administration and warehouse work as well as professional and technical positions. The retention rate by client companies hovers around 40 percent.

Anyone interested in job placement at Manpower needs to bring two valid forms of I.D. and complete work history for the previous 10 years. For more information, call (410) 290-5176.

What does repression have to do with Manpower? I remember hearing economists debate the semantics of our financial situation . . . the worst since the great depression or a pseudonym recession setting us up for the fall to follow.

Last Friday I sat at my desk, streaming On Point. My cuticles twitched in sync with my corneas. My attention wavered on the line between listening to Tom Ashbrook & rewriting page 33 of Fear & Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72. Solecism aside I thought repression seemed both logical and lexical.

It's fair to say Columbia feels the squeeze of Adam Smith's invisible fingers. Businesses press & fold like bills with pale faces, buried under Big cardboard Boxes. If you look hard enough you can find the silver edge in the empty windows. At a time when people seek and jobs hide, Manpower