28 Sep 2020

Downtown Columbia Update

Columbia Among Best Places To Live

Money Magazine has ranked Columbia 5th on its list of Best Places to Live.  The magazine’s annual review examines such factors as employment, housing, cost of living, quality of schools, racial and economic diversity and health and safety.  Columbia was included with 823 small cities under review by the magazine.  In past years, Columbia ranked first place in 2016, 8th in 2012, 6th in 2014, 2nd place in 2010 and received 4th place honors with Ellicott City in 2006. 

Artists Flats, New Cultural Center Featured

The Howard County Housing Affordability Coalition is hosting an information session on the proposed New Cultural Center (NCC) and Artists Flats affordable housing development. The virtual meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 1, 3:30-5 p.m.  Register here for the Zoom session. 

The NCC will provide a new home for the nonprofit Columbia Center for the Theatrical Arts, including Toby’s dinner theater, arts programming by the Department of Recreation and Parks, displays space for the Howard County Center for the Arts and event space rentals. Artists Flats will include 87 affordable rental units.  Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of the project’s principals: the County administration, Howard County Housing Commission and the Columbia Downtown Housing Corporation.

In the News

Ribbon-Cutting F45 Training, which emphasizes functional training achieved in 45 minutes, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 26, at its store at 10960 Grantchester Way, Suite 30, in Downtown Columbia. 

Free Trees Through a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation’s Community Canopy program, The Howard Hughes Corporation is giving away 400 trees to help Howard County residents lower energy costs, filter air and water, reduce storm water and green our neighborhoods.  Your two- to four-foot, one-gallon potted tree(s) will be shipped directly to your house, ready for planting at no charge courtesy of The Howard Hughes Corporation. The types of trees offered include Eastern Redbud, Red Maple, River Birch, Sweetbay Magnolia and White Dogwood. Reserve up to two free trees here.

Soulful The Downtown Columbia Arts and Culture Commission’s  Artistic Director, Darin Atwater, was featured in an interview by Tom Hall on WYPR last month, “Soulful Symphony’s Darin Atwater On The Struggle for Cultural Equity.” Atwater is the founder of Soulful Symphony, the first symphony in residence at Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Uma Ribeiro
Sabina Ta

Cultural Literacy The final event in the Residences at Vantage Point’s online series, Community Rising, focuses on cultural literacy.  Featured will be a TED talk video by two college students who authored a textbook, “Tell Me Who You Are,” followed by a conversation between Board of Education member Sabina Taj and Hammond High School junior Uma Ribeiro. The free event is set for Wednesday, Sept. 30, 7-8 p.m.  Register here.  

The Arts in the Age of Black Lives Matter Howard Community College’s (HCC) Arts Collective and the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) present “Meeting the Moment: Conversations about the Arts in the Age of Black Lives Matter,” a series of live, virtual conversations on equity, diversity, and inclusiveness in the arts. The conversations are set for Wednesday, Sept. 30; and Sunday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.; and will last approximately 90 minutes. The conversations can be accessed from the Arts Collective Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/artscollectivehcc.

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