It’s annoying how every politician in HoCo falls back on anyone who is in any way associated with developers is evil. Developers are neither good or bad, every development project needs to be looked at individually on its merits. On top of that, MD has a huge housing shortage and we do need developers to build more homes. Ideally more diverse types of home such as apartments, townhomes etc, so middle class folks can afford them not just endless McMansions contributing to sprawl.

More common? Maybe. More accepted? By whom?!

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EDIT: Everybody downvote me if you accept racism!

Reddit, you disgust me.

Not only were we the safest, this is at least the fifth year running

Or and see if you can follow, when you call everything racist, you are simply and at the very minimum a fucking idiot.

I loved our two years at Paragon in the Costco/Trader Joes shopping center

Some of Kittleman's instagram ads look racist to me.

That’s essentially the thrust of the Kittleman campaign. Blast Ball and deflect from everything Kittleman did while in office.

I would recommend a little further north in maybe Ellicott City or even Catonsville. My parents live in HarCo and I do that drive semi frequently. From Columbia (where i am now) it feels like a longer haul than it did from EC or Catonsville

I agree it wasn't coded racism - but the people who believe Columbia is becoming less safe (who this ad plays to) are racist in general (judging by the Nextdoor and Facebook comments under articles). So - he might not be racist, but he's happy to court their vote.

'He made the calculation: The biggest complaint a lot of people had about Kittleman was that he was basically giving the greenlight to anything developers wanted. By turning down the campaign contributions, any time the damage he did while Exec his supporters can just say "He's not accepting Developer money, so that's not true." That was worth more than developer money. Personally I'm not falling for it - but I can see how that would sway some people who aren't impressed by Calvin Ball and don't realize some of the issues they attribute to Ball are directly the result of Kittleman.

I agree - I don't think it's racism (coded or otherwise) in the advertisement. That said - the idea that Columbia is getting more dangerous does have serious racist undertones when you look at the comments section on Nextdoor or Facebook anytime a crime happens. I do think Kittleman is tapping into that sentiment and fear stoking - but that is what his base wants.

It's somewhat depressing that Balls' rebuttal add is effectively "I've increased the police force, Columbia isn't unsafe - and hey democrats - I spent money on education." Personally, I was hoping for more from Ball the last few years - but the answer isn't Kittleman who I think caused a lot of issues that we will probably be unraveling decades from now.

Agreed. This is a nice place in a great location.

I’ve been really disappointed by Kittleman’s campaign. He’s gone very negative and most of what he is saying is incredibly misleading.

Check out the link below. Crime was actually higher under Kittleman than it was under Ball. Kittleman is heavily pushing the fact they homicides are higher under Ball, but the homicide rate is incredibly low under both of them. Whether there are 6 homicides in the county of 11 there is an incredibly small number of homicides in a county of 330,000 people. It’s ridiculous for Kittleman to constantly harp on a homicide rate of 1 homicide per 33,000 residents. It’s nothing but pure fearmongering.

Kittleman’s claims regarding taxes are similarly misleading. He talks about taxes skyrocketing by 35% but what he doesn’t reveal is that he is talking about the firetax which went from .176% to .236% so basically 6 one hundredths of a percent which is equivalent to $25 per month on a $500,000 home.

Kittleman also loves to hit Ball on accepting developer donations. What he mentions less is that he accepted developer donations in the past and opposed public funding of campaigns when the county council considered the CEF. Kittleman only came to oppose developer donations when it became a convenient talking point and he knew there would be a groundswell of donations from wealthy residents in western Howard county who are desperate to get Ball out of office.

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I saw most of their debate.

Ball > kittlemen but I don’t see any hidden racist whistle dog w kittlemen

The crime fear platform doesn’t really work in Howard county but neither does their anti abortion or election was stolen platform so I guess he went with crime

The only reasonable comment here.

Either way, there will be tears.

LOL. Everything you people don’t agree with is racism. Try singing another song. That one is worn out.

Edit: Cancel culture loves to down vote.

Eaves Columbia Town Center. Great location, pet friendly and you can walk everywhere

Definitely a bad choice. My sister in law lived there and it was trash!

Calvin Ball’s commercial has super irritating music but his message has been a lot more positive.

It’s going to be a really close election (if the signs around the county are any indication) and maybe Kittleman is pulling out all of the stops.

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Well…..current America….racism is now more accepted. And if you call it out…you are woke