A Diverse Community
During CA’s Board of Director’s meeting on Dec. 10, I was elected to be the chairperson of the Planning and Strategy Committee. We will hold another public budget forum on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Slayton House, 10400 Cross Fox Lane in the Wilde Lake Village Center. The public is welcome, we are always looking for your input.
On December 17 I attended and spoke (for myself) at the Howard County Board of Education meeting to promote the inclusion of the Lunar New Year into the public school calendar. I heard speeches from people having different ethnic and religious backgrounds and each one promoted calendar schedules that are more inclusive . Two words – “Rouse Vision” especially caught my attention. Columbia was founded on a vision of inclusion.
Here is a quote from the Columbia Association’s website that provides some background :
Columbia is a well known example of the New Town Movement in the United States. It shares similarities with Reston, VA, Woodlands, TX, Irvine, CA and others. But it stands out in its innovative approach to planning that included a 6-month period of inter-disciplinary meetings bringing together experts in fields as diverse as education, recreation, sociology, transportation, and religion as well as architects and engineers. Columbia is also unique for its purposeful goal to be an integrated community at a time before the Fair Housing Act of 1968 made it illegal to discriminate in housing based on race, color, national origin or religion.
This is the vision James Rouse, Columbia’s developer, had more than 50 years ago. Today, with everyone’s effort, we have a more diverse community than ever. This diversity ofrace, color, national origin and religion, is still unfolding in front of us. To honor our diverse community’s requests reasonably is a big, important and difficult task for policy makers.
It is important for us to learn from other communities. Sometimes, it is easy to see the differences rather than the commonalities. However, with civility in mind, our diverse community can seek common ground, promote harmony, and find peace together.
I want to say Happy and Prosperous New Year to all of you.
Chao Wu, Ph.D.
River Hill Representative to Columbia Council
Columbia Association Board of Directors
Email: superbwu@gmail.com Tel: 240-481-9637 Website: http://chaowu2016.com
Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.
