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?

Michael Oberman

"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.”

Oberman frowns on the invasion of Columbia by big box retailers and the shape of the public transit system. He says the lake front is underdeveloped and can be improved dramatically.

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.”

Kathy Brodkin

Memories of the First Resident

“We had the first FHA mortgage in Columbia and they built a little square concrete step outside our back door as a gift for being the first mortgage and the first FHA mortgage in Columbia.”

Kathy Brodkin, 90, was the first homeowner in Columbia. Her husband Peter, who worked for The Baltimore Sun at the time had heard about the new town. The first time Brodkin came to Columbia, bulldozers were dredging Wilde Lake, eight months later in 1968, she moved with her husband Peter into 10713 Faulkner Ridge Circle from Baltimore City.

Brodkin grew up in rural Connecticut with an RFD postal number and a four digit phone number. If she missed the bus to school, she faced a three mile trek.

Brodkin had no concept of racial segregation until she went to an all white high school in Water Town, CT. She recalls the family housekeeper, a black woman, whom she respected like her mother and firing her babysitter in Baltimore because of a racist remark.

“We had found this really great babysitter for our kids and she was with us for a while. Then one day my daughter said something about a nigger and I was like where did you hear that?"

Before the Brodkins moved to Columbia, they never had diverse neighbors like Herbert and Marion Simmons who live near her to this day. She recalls frequent visits with her neighbors, like Ruteena Blake, the local president of the NAACP

“In 1968 to have a neighbor living across the street that was a black family, that was awesome, we were so excited when we found out were were going to get black neighbors!”

She also remembers the first Christmas in Columbia. Mr. B was Santa she says and all of the shops served alcohol to the adults while the kids received candy canes from Santa.

Of course the neighborhood had it's share of excitement from time to time, like the exhibitionist who went door to door exposing himself, or the Peyton Place neighbors.

“The people next door to me, the wife was out sneaking down the street in the back yards behind our fences and meeting the husband of somebody down the street. They were having an affair. And it was so shocking that they actually had to move, they were so embarrassed to be in the neighborhood.”

Brodkin says one year, after the fireworks at the lake front, she and her children picked up pieces of paper and bottles to clean up the area. That was the year Columbia lost its innocence when one of her children showed her a condom among the trash.

Sam Berkowitz

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. In the following days, riots ensued all over the country. Sam Berkowitz, a clinical psychologist, recalls the ripple effects in Crofton, Maryland.

"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.

Introduction

To many residents, Columbia is a town without a past. Before the Rouse Company developed the area, it was a patchwork of farms with pockets of real estate. Then in 1967, James Rouse unveiled his vision of what a town should be.

"Visions describe what best should be, could be - if and when mankind has the will to make them real." -James Rouse

This January, I had a vision of what could become an important conversation about Columbia through the voices of its residents. I decided to write this blog to capture those voices, and to create a conversation about the people who live in Columbia, all 97,000 of them.

I attended planning meetings for the new downtown, read through articles in Columbia Archives and spoke with residents. On February 1st, I began tracking down original residents with a copy of the 1969 phone book I obtained from the archives. Every resident with an e-mail address received a copy of this letter:
___________________________________________________________________
Hello Resident,

My name is Jack Cole. We spoke earlier on the phone. First off, thank you for taking my call. As you can imagine, I really only have about thirty seconds to get my point across before people usually end hang up.

I'm a graduating senior of journalism at Towson University and a resident of Owen Brown. This semester, I'm taking an independent study in the form of journalism through blogging. I'm in the process of creating a comprehensive review of Columbia, in all of its facets. Currently, I'm trying to get to know Columbia's first residents: who they are, where they came from, what they were expecting and whether or not their expectations were met.

I would like to set up a date and time when you would be available for an interview. The only days I am not available are Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I can be reached through e-mail at this address: jcole9@towson.edu.

Thank you for your time and interest,
_________________________________________________________________________________________________