Author: Chao Wu

Chao Wu Maryland State Delegate, D9 ( Howard and Montgomery Counties)

Work, family and volunteer

A week ago when I met an old friend and he asked me: it seemed you had many volunteer work in CA, how did you handle them?

It is actually pretty challenging for me sometimes. So I have to optimize my time.

I put work and family first. I love my primary job and enjoy solving tough problems.  Right now, I am learning deep learning” this week and try to apply that to my work. It is amazing to know that computer programs with this technology can recognize images better than humans now. And I also need the salary to support my family. So I try my best to handle work-related stuff in the company and read personal email during lunch time. After returning from work, I spend all time with the family until they go to sleep.

Then after that, I am on my own. I spent some time reading news, especially technology, reading some work related stuff too just to refresh myself. Then I handle everything else, writing an article for the newspaper, researching some social topics I am interested in.

Some volunteer work, such as Board of Director of CA, is not so daunting. I need to listen to staff’s presentations, read CA’s reports, and meet some other BODs at weekend. At the same time, I will always tell local residents that I am their representative and would like their feedback on CA’s work. I think efficiency is the critical part.

Stay engaged with CA

As the vice chair for the planning and strategy committee, I attended our first pre-budget hearing at Wild Lake this Thursday night. It was very interesting to see how our residents see CA; how our programs benefit their life and what they expect from CA. There is a huge responsibility as a board member to make an informed decision on the next budget.

It is really important for us to get residents engaged into the decision-making process.

Some board members will visit each village in the following weeks and attend local village’s meetings.

Pot, Opium and Heroin

Tonight I heard an NPR program interviewing a lady, talking about the war on drugs. Whenever I heard the word opium, I thought about the Opium Wars–the evil wars brought by Great Britain in 1839 and 1856 and caused China to a down spiral for more than a hundred years.

Now the US is plagued by opium and other drugs. Around two weeks ago when I listened to Hillary’ campaign in New Hampshire, for the first time I knew the opium problem was really serious. After tonight’s NPR program, I am more worried.

Last time when I walked out of the CA headquarter after a meeting and smelt something different , N told me it was pot. It was the first time I smelt it, although it has been widely discussed in the media. Pot seems everywhere now.

It is the family, education and society together to curb the drug abuse. We should put prevention, pressure, shame and penalty on the heroin use. After somebody took heroin, it just destroys a person, a family, even several families’ normal life. There is no go-back strategy for the heroin use.

However, there is a trend in the society that pot is fine, and opium use is not your fault. This kind of attitude will lead to more drug abuse for sure. For kids from really rich families, they will be fine since their families can help them. For other kids, it will be lethal. It is NOT fine to try even a little bit. It is fine NOT to try it at all.

It it COOL, NOBLE and FASHION not to try drugs. These ideas should be flashing in kids’ circle.

Columbia Association spending II

Columbia Association’s Annual Report itemizes all vendor spending greater than $25,000. In order for you to have a sense of CA’s large expenditures, I have listed those greater than $300,000:

Vendor Paid Description
Autlex Electric 354,971 Electrical work-various facilities
BGE 1,388,306 Utility
Brinton Building Services, Inc. 1,112,752 Construction services multiple locations
Crawford Advisors, LLC 2,907,225 Benefit advisors
DLA Piper US LLP 312,379 Legal services
Fidelity Engineering Corp 344,749 HVAC maintenance and repair Ssrvices
Fidelity Investments 2,604,275 Employer/employee 401kpension service fees
JP Morgan Chase Bank NA 1,416,928 Procurement card payments
Marsh USA, Inc. 628,544 Insurance broker and insurance Premiums
Paetec 306,632 Telephone and Internet services
Redhead Companies, Inc. 376,937 Creative advertising services
Scott-Long Construction, Inc. 4,690,871 Hobbits Glen Golf Club construction services
Shapiro &Duncan, Inc. 399,208 HVAC repair and maintenance
The Baltimore Sun 338,895 Advertising and recruiting
Two Center East Business Trust 624,158 Rent-headquarters building
Whiting-Turner Contracting 4,134,136 Haven on the Lake construction services
Others ignored xxx Other spending less than 300,000
Total 34 millions Around 48% percent of total spending

The art of city management 

I have been involved with Columbia Association for a while. After my trip to my hometown in China, I notice the huge lag in the Chinese city management. Columbia Association is doing an excellent job managing the resources, solving the issues and improve our living environment.

It is an art to manage a city, even a small town. It needs get all the stake holders together to improve. The management plays a critical role in this process.  It takes  the city management’s initiative, courage, responsibility and devotion to improve.

Image

Back to Shanghai after ten years

Last time when I was in Shanghai, I met several old friends. Everybody was single and young. Now we are all married with kids.  Many more tall buildings have risen up too.

It is really not like the life here. For ten years, I did not see much changes at all. The 495 is as congested as before. I am not quite sure it is good or bad. Sometimes, I do feel a little boring.

Shanghai tower

Shanghai tower

 beverage ban and control

Howard county council is proposing beverage ban and control。I know it is always controversial for such kind of measure. In my company，free soda is provided. Once I suggested we should pay for the soda for the benefit of our health, one co-work accused me “social engineering”。

When I sat in an National Science Foundation panel in May，free soda was provided and bottle water was prohibited because of some federal law. It is ridiculous this happened in a  federal government agency ，right？

There is always a debate between personal freedom，personal responsibility and government control.

People Spoke Out (The Villager 2015-7)

People Spoke Out

by Chao Wu. The article is published in our Villager.

I am now serving as the vice chair of the Columbia Association’s (CA) Planning and Strategy Committee and also sitting on the Audit Committee. We are going to begin work on a two-year budget for CA soon. The budget will steer CA’s short term and long term projects and visions to guarantee that Columbia will continue to be the top place to live in America. Here are some recent developments in our communities:

At the Village Level

During the May 11 River Hill Board of Directors meeting, around 80 residents had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with four Howard County Council members. The residents focused their comments on the MD 108 Design Guidelines project. Many people spoke out on several key issues:

  • A need to set up a traffic light between Linden Linthicum Lane and Clarksville Pike. It is really difficult to make a right/left turn during peak hours.
  • An objection to the River Hill Garden Center expanding development and a proposal to align the Sheppard Lane traffic light (for example, perpendicularly) to provide a better view for drivers and lead to less congestion, and better safety around the school zone.
  • An objection to the Donaldson funeral home. The funeral home does not fit well with many surrounding residential homes, churches, and schools.
  • An objection to the continuous development at the intersection of 108 and Ten Oaks Lane. When the residents bought homes nearby, they were not aware that the area had been zoned for commercial uses approximately 10 years beforehand.
  • A problem at the Whistling Winds Walk Corner. In the morning, high school kids going to River Hill High School close their car doors too loudly when they are dropped off by their parents.

You can voice your concerns and send email to the following recipients:

Howard County Dept. of Zoning:  wmackey@howardcountymd.gov and rkudchadkar@howardcountymd.gov

County Executive:  akittleman@howardcountymd.gov

County Council:  councilmail@howardcountymd.gov

Board of Education:  BOE@hcpss.org and superintendent@hcpss.org

Your input will be greatly appreciated and hopefully our residents’ opinions will help the officials make the proper decision on these key issues. If you do not do it now, it will be even more difficult to have changes made to accommodate residents’ reasonable requests once construction has occurred. It is never too late to email or call our elected officials.

At the CA level

The CA Board of Directors and senior staff spent one and a half days at a retreat to discuss “trust” among Board members. It was a great opportunity to learn more about each other and hopefully this retreat will improve CA’s operations and management.

The CA Board has elected two new representatives to the Inner Arbor Trust Board: Dick Boulton and Gregg Schwind. The related Symphony Woods project previously created a contentious debate among CA Board members. We continue to guide the development of this project and hopefully we will soon have a wonderful central park in the downtown area to benefit Columbia’s residents.

CA is launching a membership and service satisfaction study. We are hoping to have a reasonable membership fee and quality services to improve CA’s reputation. In the survey presented by Club Intel, CA’s reputation is at the edge of falling to an unsatisfactory level (Zone of Pain). At the end of the year, more results will be presented to the Board which will take actions to improve CA’s image.

If you happen to read the CA Board meeting minutes, you may notice that CA headquarters will be relocated to a new location (away from downtown area) to reduce operating costs. One of my first important votes was to approve the moving budget, which was three times of the amount that was initially proposed. I voted yes, since I believed the staff was not prepared to provide a good estimate for such a big move in such a short time. However, I will keep a close eye on any future spending.

CA is really promoting an active and healthy life style through many activities. Trails, lakes and gyms are amenities all can enjoy this summer. CA’s outdoor swimming pools are open. Hobbits’ Glen Golf Course reopened May 31.

I have been busy channeling residents’ concerns to the proper divisions within CA. A muddy sidewalk close to the Columbia Gym, dying trees in the open space, and debris in Lake Kittamaqundi are all issues raised by residents that I have conveyed to the CA management team. Hopefully solutions to these types of issues will be resolved soon and CA will work with other stakeholders when needed. It is these kinds of small improvements that make our quality of life better.

Many debates around our community have been centered on the conflict between commercial development and the community’s desires. As we have more people move into our county and the county becomes more diverse than ever, what is our vision for the long term? I would like a balanced approach which cherishes the wonderful residential areas and welcomes robust development with a clear plan to preserve the high quality life of the community.

What is your vision for CA? Would you mind sharing it with me and others? Speak up.

 

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

The views presented herein represent the personal opinion of Dr. Chao Wu. They not necessarily represent those of the River Hill Board of Directors nor the Columbia Association’s Board.

Ellen Pao and Tim Hwang

After I read the post by Tim Hwang( graduate from our MD area) about the Asia American bamboo-ceiling effect

See http://fusion.net/story/136525/asian-americans-and-the-hidden-bamboo-ceiling-in-the-tech-industry/

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Hwang

and the high-profile litigation case by Ellen Pao,    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Pao

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I find it will be helpful for people to realize that minority, especially Asian American and women in the tech industry have to work extra harder to gain respect and a fair treatment.

Neighborhood development

I heard people talking about “I don’t want our neighborhood to be Route 1 or Route 40”.  I lived at College Park for quite a long time and felt Route 1 was really congested all the time. It did give me some feeling we are connected with people.

Today when I drove at Rockville along Route 355, I began to understand his words.

The man walking lonely along the Clarksville Pike

From the cold winter to the hot summer, I always see an old man walking along between Ashton and Clarksville. He is walking to work.  He is old and seems alone. The Clarksville Pike there is really narrow and has only two lanes. It is a little dangerous to walk in the side line.

One morning, there was very few traffic and I made a U-turn and stopped in front of him. I asked him whether he wanted a ride. He said thanks and he would reach his workplace shortly.  Then I said “have a nice day” and drove back to work as usual. That was the only encounter I had with him.

Today I saw him with a red-shirt, walking lonely at the narrow 108 again. I am thinking whether I can or I should start a kickstarter project and help him buy a car. I always respect and admire people who are working hard to make a living, to change the status or to make the best of their lives.