In 2016, my commercial investment properties on Main Street in Ellicott City were utterly destroyed by “a flood.” There is much debate over what caused this “flood.” Exceptional circumstances around events on my particular block had me in a legal battle with an insurance company. I may have been the only property owner that did… Read more: My Story Starts Here.

There is a happy ending to this story. I’m sure. I just don’t yet have it to share. Almost 30 years ago, I fell in love with a charming and historic out-of-the-ordinary town called Ellicott City, Maryland. I bought my first home about 7 minutes outside the old city where I ran my graphic design… Read more: This is a True Story.

When I began the permit process, a man at the permit office introduced himself as Adolphe Huriaux. When he pronounced his name, it was with a thick French accent. He insisted that he was my point of contact from that moment forward. He described a set of elaborate plans, not the sketch I had from… Read more: Adolphe Huriaux: When Inmates Run the Asylum

This was not an easy construction project. After about 15 years of not seeing or speaking with a former real estate developer client, I showed up at his office unannounced the day after meeting the nearly 100-year-old structural engineer who said I needed to reframe the building with steel I-beams.  As he walked through the… Read more: I Used My Hands on this Building.

Note from the author: this excerpt was removed entirely from this blog. We have beefed up security and updated this blog to remove the repetitive and edited content on January 1, 2023, to be sure that all original content is restored to its original publishing. When I settled on my first building, in the interest… Read more: Fences Make Good Neighbors

A couple years after the first building renovation, my company had grown so much that I found myself walking up and down Main Street looking for a second building. Call me a glutton for punishment. I looked at a few places. None worked. I consulted with the old client, the real estate developer who had… Read more: Becoming the Church Lady

After several years, it was time to retire Brook Group, my company that had grown within these walls on Main Street in Ellicott City. We divided my two buildings to be available for two separate tenants. Over time, a few tenants came and went. The last tenant owned a stable and reliable business and stayed… Read more: Welcome to the Concrete Jungle

Seven years passed, In June, 2016, the tenant vacated the property. I visited the buildings after being away from them for all this time. They smelled. I described the odor as mold. One of our guys described it as diesel fuel. I didn’t know the source of the odor, but we ran dehumidifiers and tried… Read more: Ooh That Smell

On July 30, 2016, I was out of town. At 9:30pm my cell phone started ringing. The first call was from my friend Michelle, an Ellicott City resident, she had bad news. “Something went terribly wrong in Ellicott City, there was a flash flood. Two were dead.” She could not get down to see the… Read more: The 1000 Year Flood

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… Read more: One Month After the Flood

Since 1967, the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) has provided the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. Federal agencies are required to disclose any information requested under FOIA unless it falls under one… Read more: Freedom of Information

After the July 2016 flood, my neighbor John Pacylowski kept me up to date with all of the activities of the city, either by phone or by text. He shared when various officials walked up and down the street measuring progress of each and every building. He would send me snapshots and updates of progress, often explaining… Read more: A Tribute to John Pacylowski

On August 24, 2016, a text arrived from John Pacylowski, sadly the last time I heard from him. He was distraught. I know this because we hopped on a call as soon as the text arrived. John learned that Don Reuwer, a Howard County developer, bought the once condemned Burgess building, in distress, from the Burgess… Read more: The Inner Workings of Historic Main Street

This blog was updated on January 3, 2023, to remove redundant content. Redundancy prevents sites from being crawled by google, thus allowing content to become popular in the search engine results. Why didn’t the local government do more earlier to prevent flooding? They possessed studies from years before the 1000-year flood that the city was… Read more: Howard County Government Failed Its Taxpayers

On April 15, 2019, I had my day in court. Well, not exactly. I attended my deposition. I was ready; I had a story to tell. In walked opposing counsel Craig D. Roswell, raised in Howard County, who looked like he could be a club member. He went out of his way to share how… Read more: What Was That?