Oakland Mills, Howard County, Residents, and a Park: Are We in this Together?

Last night I attended a Meeting of the Oakland Mills Village Board. They hosted a forum for residents to share their concerns about issues at Blandair Park, and for Rec. and Parks to address those concerns and say how they are working on resolving them.

I went to this meeting because I live near the park. We haven't experienced any real problems, and my family loves the park. But signs posted around my neighborhood suggested that I needed to come out to stop "lights, noise and crime." I felt that someone wanted me to be angry and fearful, and that bothered me.

Phil Engelke, Vice Chair of the OM Board, was the moderator for the meeting. He did an excellent job holding the evening together despite the difficult subject matter. The meeting was attended by representatives from Rec and Parks, Councilman Calvin Ball and his assistant Kimberly Pruim, and a host of residents, in various states of dissatisfaction.

Phil opened up the meeting by asking Emerson Hill resident Doug Bottamiller to outline the concerns of the neighborhood. Once he started to speak, my heart went out to him. He may have been a bit nervous, but it was clear he had worked hard to prepare and present the residents' complaints clearly and in a civil manner. He described houses and families overwhelmed by long hours of bright lights, air horns, p.a. systems and amplified music. He shared incidents of trespassing, illegal use of private parking, even stories of strangers relieving themselves in his neighbors' yards.

Next it was Rec and Parks' turn to respond.  While nice enough, Raul Delerme didn't really present the dynamic, resident-centric response that was needed. Throughout the meeting I saw more empathy and problem solving coming from the Village Board, and Dr. Ball and Ms. Pruim than from Rec and Parks.

I was a bit concerned when Mr. Bottamiller punctuated his presentation with "We were here first." I was also surprised that CA Rep Alex Hekimian's later in the evening statement eerily echoed Mr. Bottamiller's, an almost perfect match.  I went into the meeting hoping that the result would look more like "We're all in this together," not "We were here first."

But, I have to admit, I just didn't get the gut feeling that Rec and Parks is "in" this with the residents to the extent they need to be. The anger and fearfulness we witnessed last night comes from folks feeling they are not valued. The Rec and Parks approach came across as lukewarm and almost paternalistic. It is possible that with a better spokeperson, it might have had more success. I truly don't know.

Dr. Ball encouraged residents to give the County solutions a chance. He also said they should feel free to call him whenever a problem arises. I think he is going to be a very busy man. But his biggest challenge may be in getting Rec and Parks to think outside the box on this one.  In my opinion, this problem needs a creative solution that is tailored to the specific needs of this park and this neighorhood.

The best thing that happened last night was that the Village Board brought all of this out into the open for everyone to see. I hope that the residents who live near the park now understand that it's not just their issue. It's an Oakland Mills issue. We are truly "all in this together."

The Oakland Mills Village Board intends to keep the conversation going to make sure that progress is being made. And that is a very, very good thing.