Inducing Emotions

Induced Emotion, Re: PANIC

A woman from my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, was arrested for "inducing panic" at a local drugstore.

  

It seems that she became frustrated waiting for a clerk to ring her out.  So she screamed that the store was being robbed.  Her screams quickly brought a clerk to the checkout.  However, after the store crew realized her ruse, they called the law.  They had the impatient woman arrested for "inducing panic."

This story has made me wonder about all of the other possible crimes of inducing emotion.  Can I have my mother arrested for inducing guilt? Should my robo-calling elected official be arrested for inducing anger?   Should Max at Pasta Plus be arrested for providing such a great meal that he induces  gluttony and then lethargy?  And what about other small town bloggers, who are so much better chroniclers of local stories that they induce my envy?  

I say, "away with them all."  Anyone who causes such strong involuntary emotions should have to do at least a few days in the Laurel city jail, or some community service to help them kick their inducing habit.  

I will be waiting on my porch for Laurel's lawmen to book me for inducing boredom.  You may be called to testify.

The Giant Pool of Money: Housing Bubble Explained

According to the proposed FY2009 budget, the property within the city of Laurel is worth a total of $2,288,481,268. But of course this value is based on property assessments that were calculated while real estate in this region was surfing the housing bubble. The challenge will be to see how our residential and commercial real estate values fair over the next few years.

I have been trying to figure out this housing bubble business for months now. Two years ago, real estate prices were climbing to dizzying heights. Today they are wiping out in a death spiral.

Why? Where did all the money go? Who caused this problem? Should I blame West Laurel for this irrational exuberance? Is it Jack Johnson's fault? Will approving slots make it better? Why would banks arm wrestle each other to see who got to give a $400K interest-only loan to my unemployed tabby cat in 2005? Who got paid off? Why did we get left holding the litter box?

I'm a big fan of a radio program called "This American Life" hosted by Ira Glass. It is one of the best shows on public radio. They recently broadcast a show that answered all of my questions called, "The Giant Pool of Money." The show runs an hour and I recommend it to anyone trying to understand what caused the housing credit bubble. I found their experts easy to understand and compelling.

You can listen to the show on your computer or download it to your portable mp3 player via iTunes. I found it to be a valuable way to spend an hour. Besides, I don't have much else to do since my tabby cat's house went into foreclosure last month. Does anyone need a used litter box?

Main Street 2008

I've got a secret that I know I share with many of my neighbors in Oldtown. Please don't tell the Laurel Board of Trade organizers because they work so hard to put on a good festival. But I like it when it rains on the morning of the Main Street festival.

Over the 27 years I've attended the Main Street Festival I've learned that a soaking morning rain knocks down the crowds just enough. The festival is better when the crowds thin out. You can walk down the street and see the booths. You run into more of your neighbors and can have a chat without getting pushed downstream with the unceasing flow.

This morning's festival started in a heavy rain. The organizers, police, public works team, and the ever faithful Laurel Police Auxiliary were already working at o'dark thirty in a cold downpour.

I wish I had taken a photo of Auxiliary Police Officer Wayne Dzwonchyk this moning about 8am. He looked like a mud soaked dough boy in the trenches of France in WWI. The rain was running off of his hat and down his face as he sleepily flagged away yet another vendor's box truck.

The parade was soggy but everyone still had a good time. I especially liked the lawn mower racing team. All of our local elected folks made it out for the Parade. The ever dutiful 21st delegation from Annapolis braved the rain along with our County Councilman, the County Sheriff, our Mayor and all of the Laurel City Council members and marched down the street. Kudos too to the LHS marching band and the West Laurel Ragtaggers, they were all wet but still sounded great.

The skies cleared by 11 and the crowds were good but not unbearable. She-who-must-be-obeyed forced me to walk back up to Main Street at 3pm to eat a sausage sandwich and have a lemonade. Chalk up another Main Street Festival and Happy Mother's Day to all.

A few more quick pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/laurelnow/sets/72157604988638451/

Laurel Leader Barely Gets The Story

The Laurel Leader's web-only story about Laurel City Council member Mike Sarich's ethics case left me barely informed this week. Their headline says, "Ethics panel clears Sarich — but barely." Unfortunately, the Leader never tells me that the panel decided unanimously in Sarich's favor. In other words, he was found innocent of committing any ethics violation. Not one member of the five person panel voted for finding a violation.

How does a unanimous decision rate a barely? Woman found pregnant, but barely ... makes about as much sense. Guilt or innocence, pregnant or not, these conditions demand a yes or no vote. It is not fair or even ethical to vote for one side but then turn around and call it the other.

I'm not taking sides on this case. I agree with the Laurel Ethics Commission that the rules on soliciting non-profits needs to be rewritten, both in Laurel and in Prince Georges County. The rules that allow our elected officials to act as bag-men for developer dollars has got to be stopped. If developers want to give money to local organizations, let them do it all by themselves.

The Mayor was doing his duty as chief executive officer of the city in bringing the case to the commission. But as far as the Sarich case is concerned, the allegation was made, the evidence was weighed and the panel voted. No ethics violation was found. The process worked.

I hope the Laurel Leader does the ethical thing and they fix their story in time for next Thursday's print edition.

Your comments are always welcome. Click the comments link below to post your opinion on this issue.

-rick

Update 5/5/2008. The Leader changed the story on their website today. The comments to this post are flying furiously. The Sarich effect has returned. Anonymous is even back! See the comments section for the complete discussion. - grw

Hopeful Sign of Spring

A Sunday afternoon walk along the Patuxent River. The first sign of spring? Thanks to Gary H. for pointing them out.

Does anyone know what kind of flower this is? The flowers are about 1 inch long.

The NEW Mall at Laurel

It's not often you get to see the hidden hand of the market. But tonight the market manhandled the old Laurel Mall and proposed transforming it into something totally unique.

A standing room only crowd gathered at Laurel City Hall to hear and see renderings of the new mall. An impressive team from Somera Capital Mgt (developer and owner), AEW Capital (owners), General Growth (leasing and development), and Callison (architect) described the project and provided the back story for the redevelopment.

The developers explained what the community said in focus groups about the old mall and it was not pretty. Dead, dirty, disgusting were the nice words. One person was quoted as saying that the existing mall was a big disappointment for new folks and an embarrassment for the community. After establishing the low water mark, the team turned towards the transformation concept.

The architect presented a slide show explaining how they turned to Laurel's unique history for new design elements. Georgian architectural elements lifted from the train station. Brick facades and stone are reminiscent of Laurel's early mills. Lots of brick, wrought iron and features from turn of the century color palettes. The pageantry of Thoroughbred horse racing lend an air of fun and color to a children's playground.

Mayor Craig Moe introduced the team and explained how the city is committed to redevelopment. Karl Brendle, Laurel Director of Development and the Mayor created a form of land use planning called a revitalization overlay zoning that was one of the first of its kind in the state. The City Council approved the award winning approach by quickly turning it into law. This is the kind of amazing and innovative policy wonk stuff that Laurel does so quickly and well. Mega kudos to the Mayor, Council, Bob Manzi the city attorney, Karl Brendle and the whole city team. Kudos also to the capital providers and developers for having faith in Laurel.

Here is the Leader's awesome same day coverage of this story.

More to come from me but here are the architect's renderings. Please use the comments section for your comments and questions.

UPDATE - I forgot to mention the new 16 screen state of the art movie theatres!