Election rules are posted by each village in Jan-March (varies by village).

The best that could be done is for residents to start demanding resignations in Resident Speakout at the CA Board meetings or try to get their rep recalled by their village board.

Villages can recall a board member by a vote of the village board. But I doubt any village board would be willing to do it. Though it would be something residents could lobby for - start a recall petition, get signatures, and take it to their village board and ask them to remove their CA rep. If you could get 200+ signatures that would be more than the average number of votes cast in most village elections! 😂

Think of Columbia as a weird place where the religious right takeover of the republicans never happened and the southern strategy did not take hold.

The republicans are democrats and the democrats are also democrats. There are some actual republicans but they are for the most part also democrats. There are progressives who kind of can’t stand democrats. They call themselves democrats. There is not much overt racism directed at individuals but there is a lot of accidental or systemic racism via the nimby thing. By in large I get the impression that people here largely want to do good, disagree on the details, mostly want to be welcoming but also kind like green space between buildings and wooded spaces. Re: protesting we’d go to DC for that.

It seems sometimes that surrounding areas are all trumpy and redneck (parts of jessup, out west on 32) but whenever I go somewhere that is actually like that I realize even the less (D) parts of MD are not full on crazy.

There are still isolated crazies occasionally running for school board.

Yeah and they're paid already.

Columbia is likely the bluest area in a blue county. With that being said, there are 3 types of Dems in the area: NIMBY Dems who are politically moderate, hate low income housing, and are in-line with Republicans at the redistricting level; Democrats who are open to the construction of low income housing no matter the environmental cost; and progressive Dems who are for low income housing only if it is sustainability built. Of course this is more simplistic than reality, but it is likely the main point of political discussion at the moment.

There are establishment-preferring residents on both sides of the aisle that are all for overdevelopment while not taking into account the environmental costs.

Even the local Facebook groups for the county are "separated" by political ideology despite not appearing to be separated at the surface level.

I’m fairly new to the area so admittedly not the best person to comment on this. But my early impression so far is that local activism and engagement exists but mainly takes place at the county level—that’s especially the case with the schools (just Google “redistricting, Columbia” ). Also, in Maryland in general, counties oddly have a lot of power and take on a lot of the governing responsibilities that cities usually handle in other states. Then there’s the obvious fact that Columbia is unincorporated and technically not even a city (also oddly common in Maryland), and is largely governed by an HOA and not a mayor and city council. I think that too inhibits local engagement despite advantages an HOA may offer. For evidence of this, just read the recent posts in this sub about the crusty HOA board members who reportedly are out of touch and get little done, yet are continuously elected and face little accountability.

Overall, I will say I do love the community so far. I especially love the bike trails and parks, which ironically, exists because of the HOA.

Being a suburb of DC, people are more politically active than most of the US. However it’s not like DC where everyone you meet is a lobbyist or works on Capitol Hill. It’s a very blue district and this past election, Democrats won across the board. That being said, there’s quite a bit of Democrat infighting as there are real substantive policy differences during the primaries on issues such as housing. Columbia is a non-incorporated community so the Columbia Association is sorta the governing body of it with the Howard County Council and Executive over them. Regarding demonstrations, I tend to see less of that. if there’s a big march it would be in DC. I do encourage you to get to know your County Council and go to meetings as that is the best way to make real change.

Outspoken progressivism mixed with a heavy dose of nimbyism. For example, I'm Asian and have never felt as safe and accepted in Columbia and Howard County at large but I wouldn't expect my lovely neighbors to actually participate in any activism or support other than hashtags and bumper stickers. I've had people that I've done charity work with later suggest where to live in Columbia so I wouldn't be next to low income housing. It's a funny dynamic how Columbia manages to feel both corporately manufactured but also so stinking nice. No wonder why people don't want to leave.

This isn't germane to the overall issue at hand, which is serious, but this statement in the article isn't correct and paints an inaccurate picture to people who aren't familiar with Columbia or Howard County: "effectively governed like a huge homeowners association with more than 100,000 resident"

The CA is not really like a full government. They manage the HOA rules for homes and businesses while maintaining large swaths of recreational infrastructure. But, they are not effectively governing Columbia. The county manages emergency services, the school system, local building codes, the courts, parks, roads, waste management, and more. That statement also neglects the thousands of people who live in Columbia's "out parcels" (that is, those areas not under the CA umbrella).

Could stop collectively paying CA fees. But, I realize that would take some significant level of organization.

I believe April typically but some terms are two years. In terms of action you can speak at a board meeting (virtual option available I think) or email the board.

https://www.columbiaassociation.org/about-us/leadership/board-of-directors/resident-speakout/

This is terrible. It makes me angrier because there seems to be nothing we as citizens can do to stop them.

Are there options to get rid of the board at this point before they waste half a million?

[deleted]

David Lomke www.lomkelegal.com

100% recommend it! We enrolled our then 7 year old mixed breed in it last year. Lots of work but so worth it. The change has been incredible. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about the course.

How do you run for this. Ngl this is crazy let the people work or tell us what the problem was.

So when are these elections? And can a neighborhood recall their member or something like that?

This is some bullshit.

Our experience with Coventry was outstanding.

Coventry school is outstanding for reactive dogs, but I think it's cheaper and easier to do their one on one behavioral consult. I have a dog with SERIOUS issues and Coventry was not the answer for us, but the trainer we went with is very well known around area and she was very happy with how they handle the dogs. The trainers all have masters degree in animal behavior

r/reactivedogs is a sub I just found - doesn’t answer your specific question about the school, but I found it helpful 🥰

I used Coventry School for basic training for one dog and loved the facility and instructors. The instructors were super helpful beyond just what the class was meant to cover. There were a couple reactive dogs in the class, so they explained the basic reactive training and referred a couple to that class instead.

For my beagle, we used Unleashed Joy only because the Coventry school didn’t have a class starting in the timeframe I wanted. We had a great experience with them. Like the other commenter mentioned - ours was held in a parking lot, but I think they’ve since moved.

Good luck!

River Hill and Clarksville are really nice, but I never understood the appeal of Glenelg. It’s so far away from everything and there’s nothing there but farms and McMansions on former farmland. You have to drive 20-30 minutes to get to anything, even grocery stores.