Was it really true?

Within 30 days of the July 2016 flood of Ellicott City, the county inspector walked up and down the street threatening each and every property owner that they would be “written up” and “fined $250 per day for each violation” if renovation and repair did not begin immediately.

Really?!

Howard County Public Works inelegantly lead the recovery process with fear mongering and bullying.

Here is the copy of the letter that I received as a property owner:

It was signed Shawn Kelly. I didn’t think it would be right to share his contact information here.

Within 30 days there were threats. 

Within 60 days construction must start. 

Within 90 days, property was to be repaired.

Really?!

Did I really get a threat letter to fix buildings that were damaged so far beyond repair that the assessment of damage cost over $50K in fees and required some of the most talented engineering and geo-tech minds AND one year of study to solve??!!

And when the solution came with a price tag of over two million dollars, was I really expected to come up with that two million dollars in the next 30 days?

Do you think that Howard County did any studies prior to sending out this letter? Studies on the cause of this “flood” within a similar timeframe? Do you think that they spent even a minute of time wondering if this may happen again, and maybe it wasn’t a good idea to be so quick to tidy everything up?

No understanding if this “flood situation” would be recurring was ruled out. 

No understanding of future potential for loss of life would be recurring was ruled out.

Nobody in a leadership role stopped to ask what EXACTLY made this happen or if Ellicott City would be safe from future floods. 

They instead decided to create a publicity campaign encouraging strength and perseverance on what would prove to be a flimsy foundation when the next 1000 year flood happened TWO YEARS LATER.

All at the expense of the property owners. Well, except for one of them.  More on that soon.

Weren’t all of our buildings historic?

Why would one guy (one partnership) get funding while everyone else didn’t? 

They must have been club members.