Talk:Columbia, Maryland

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Contents

[edit] Amitparikh's edits

I'm not sure that I agree with Amitparikh's recent changes. Here are my thoughts.

  • Does it matter that the hospital was recently renovated? Will it have been "recently renovated" for a person reading ten years from now? Perhaps a date of renovation would be more useful.
  • Ditto for listing the anchor stores in the mall - those are not the same stores that anchored the mall when I grew up in Columbia, so there's a history of change (as at all malls).
  • Style nitpicks: I think "dramatically" might be preferable to "drastically," which has a negative connotation. When I was a kid we always called it "CA" and 'not' "the CA." What's up with calling the Supreme Sports club "24/7" - does that matter?
  • What source said that many Columbia residents work for the government and nearby DOD facilities? Plenty of people around DC work for those entities, but I haven't heard any specific citation of percentage so I don't think this is appropriate to say.
  • Columbia is nowhere near a metro station. Public transportation to DC requires a car to get you to the metro, or a series of bus rides.
-Etoile 15:19, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

I guess it is late, but I'll respond:

  • Agree with date on hospital renovation.
  • Agree with date on mall anchors.
  • CA = "Columbia Association". I think all I was trying to say was "the Columbia Association".
  • Supreme being 24/7 was a major change. CA did it to compete with the new gym in town, Lifetime Fitness. There has been a lot of money spent by CA in recent months/years to improve the gym facilities in preparation for competition with Lifetime Fitness.
  • I don't have a source for DOD and government workers... I guess I just threw that in to inform people reading the article who are not from Columbia that government employment is a big thing in the DC Metropolitan Area, including Columbia.
  • Agree about public transportation.

Amit 15:04, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Census-designated place

Anyone know the Census-designated place area for Columbia since it would include about 5 zip codes. Or how do you find out? --Noitall 05:32, August 18, 2005 (UTC)

    • One very good source is the The Census Bureau website. Here, you will find more indepth information on Columbia and other CDPs across the country. Other great pages within the site include:

-- Moreau36 1153, 29 August 2005

Thank you. That was extremely useful for additional research. I can find the CDP for Columbia on the fact finder portion of the Census page, but I still can not find where the CDP area is defined. I assumed it was by area code, but I am not certain. Any idea? --Noitall 05:30, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] population

I think the population is 88,254 according to the Cenus Bureau 2000

And, yes I'm pretty sure it's a town not a city

[edit] more high schools

Mariotts Ridge high school info and more Resevoir High School info

[edit] revert

1. "Eastablished" is not a word, and opened is more accurate 2. Big box and suburb were already linked in the article. 3. automobile is a common noun that does not require a link.

dml 13:36, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
I admit, I didn't catch the mispelling, but I don't think you can argue that opened is more accurate. It makes it sound like an amusement park. -James Howard (talk/web) 14:04, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Columbia: the Pike and the town

Which came first, Columbia Pike, or Columbia, Maryland? If it's the latter, then how old are the portions called "Old Columbia Pike?" Or was there a Columbia, MD before the Rouse Co. built it into the town we know today? (A third, perhaps unlikely, scenario is the town was named as such to take advantage of the fact that the road was already named that way.) I assumed Columbia Pike actually referred to "Disctrict of Columbia", but those using the road may in fact be travelling to Columbia, MD. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 16:55, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

The Pike does in fact refer to the District of Columbia, it has that name in Montgomery County as well as Howard County. It dates from the early 19th century I believe. I recall reading Columbia was the name of a post office on Columbia Pike in the general vicinity of the current new town, and the subdivision of Columbia Hills, just northeast of the intersection of US 29 and MD 108 predates the new town of Columbia. dml 17:22, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
Various sources, notably Creating a New City, state that the project name was Columbia, as the area had previously been known as Columbia. When the it came time to pick a final name Columbia stuck. -James Howard (talk/web) 17:29, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Macy's vs. Hecht's @ the Mall

Hecht's was acquired by Macy's in 2006, and they have officially transitioned all Hecht's stores to Macy's stores. Although the sign at the mall may still say Hecht's, I believe it is prudent to reflect the recent change and acquisition. Amit 14:53, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Opening Paragraph

Not that I necessarily like suburbs myself, but to say the word "inexorably" seems to be biased against the phenomenon. The word "aloof" also seems inappropriate. Icemachine79 15:23, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Town or city?

[these comments moved from top of page]

In the opening paragraph it says "town" but in later paragraphs it says "city". Columbia has a "town center" but technically it is a city. Comments.


In the eyes of the Howard County and State of Maryland governments, I believe Columbia is technically a town, not a city, despite the fact that it has near 100,000 inhabitants. Columbia is not its own municipality, nor does it govern itself (though the Columbia Association itself has its own governing body). -user:bmortimer

Techncally, in the eyes of the Howard County and State of Maryland governments, Columbia is neither a town or a city. Columbia is unincorporated; it has no mayor, no city council, no separate school district. From a legal standpoint, Columbia is a series of neighborhoods and developments in an unincorporated area of Howard County. Of course, in practice, these neighborhoods and developments form a coherent community that is perceived as a unit by its residents; thus, the area is a census-designated place. But since it is neither a "town" nor a "city" in the way those terms are legally used in Maryland, we are left to fall back on how they are used colloquially, with the resulting inconsistencies. --Jfruh (talk) 21:17, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
There is in fact a sharp definition of what consitutes Columbia: it consists of that land under the control of the Columbia Association. Therefore Atholton and Diamondback are not part of Columbia proper because they both predate it and therefore are not bound by CA covenants. There are also some parcels here and there within the CA territory which they never acquired and therefore are not fully part of Columbia. For our purposes it's probably best to stick with the "new city" terminology just for consistency sake, as long as we are clear that it doesn't mean the kind of dense urbanization that people conventionally associate with the word. Mangoe (talk) 15:45, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
True, but that's a purely private arrangement -- in that sense, Columbia is essentially an enormous condominium complex or housing association. My point is that from the point of view of the state and county, there's no legal erected city (or town, or village, or whatever) of Columbia in the sense that, say, there's a city of Rockville. --Jfruh (talk) 04:10, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Neutrality

Please list all the neutrality issues in this section so that they may be addressed. Timneu22 11:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Since nobody has done so over the last five months, I'm removing the template. --Jfruh (talk) 22:00, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fixed list of high schools

I've checked the high schools against the attendance area map and made corrections accordingly. Mangoe (talk) 16:39, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Time for "fact" tags

This is quite short on citations. In particular the many claims for novelty need citation. Mangoe (talk) 02:58, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Just how big is Columbia anyway?

We have some geographic and demographic problems as it stands, because the census tract is a lot bigger than Columbia is. Judging from their maps, they are including Atholton, Diamondback, Holiday Hills, and the southern part of Clarksville, all of which predate Columbia and are not part of any of the "new citry" planning. The 2006 maps even include Savage, which is a century older than Columbia. It's quite misleading to talk about these areas as if they have anything to do with Rouse's vision, because they don't. They are merely fiats of convenience by the census, and even then the post office agrees that Savage and Clarksville aren't in Columbia.

I've added a little language to clarify this, but I think it needs more elaboration. Please add your comments on this matter. Mangoe (talk) 15:44, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

I guess that, in the absence of an actual municipality of Columbia, there are simply multiple ways to define "Columbia." The Census Bureau has one definition, and the Columbia Association has another. The problem is that its the Census's definition that is easiest to derive demographic data from. If you'd like to go through the raw census data and exclude those areas that aren't part of the Columbia Association, go ahead. Failing that, it might be easiest to just put a note on the demographic data to the effect that includes some areas not part of the Columbia Assocation.--Jfruh (talk) 17:15, 8 May 2008 (UTC)