Lakefront Film Festival postponed
Founder cites poor marketing, lack of interest, plans to try next year
HOWARD DIGESTThe first-ever Lakefront Film Festival, scheduled for Thursday through next Sunday, has been postponed until next year.
The festival was to have featured independent films to be shown in downtown Columbia and was organized by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African- Americans in Film, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring the next generation of African- American filmmakers.
Organizers say the first festival will now be held July 25-28, 2019.
Festival founder Tim Gordon, executive director of FAAF, said he decided late last month to delay the festival until next year due to poor marketing this year and a lack of interest in the event. Screenings had been planned at Howard Community College, Wilde Lake High School and AMC Columbia theaters.
“We ran into a situation where we were looking at the promotion of the festival and I didn’t think we had done a strong enough job in promoting the festival,” he said. “I’d much rather present it in our first year from more of a position of strength as opposed to not marketing it correctly and getting off on the wrong foot.”
This year’s festival had attracted major sponsors, including the Howard County tourism office, Howard Hughes Corp. and Industrial Bank. Gordon said sponsors plan to stay on for next year and that he hopes to add more.
Council urged to freeze Ellicott City development Ellicott City residents and shop owners are supporting a proposed County Council bill to freeze development for a year in the Tiber River watershed. Many have pointed to growth in that area as a factor in the worsening flooding in recent years.
At a Monday hearing, the council was urged to place longer and larger restrictions on development. Some people wore T- shirts and had signs that read “Protect Community,” the words in a logo scrawled under a rain-soaked umbrella.
The bill was introduced last month by Ellicott City Democrat Jon Weinstein in response to the deadly May 27 flood in historic Ellicott City that damaged some shops and businesses. It was the second such flood in less than two years.
Officials said the moratorium is meant to give the county time to study hydraulic issues, stormwater management, zoning regulations and the effect of past and future developments on the watershed, including public facilities such as roads, schools and government facilities.
A similar bill proposed after a 2016 flood was not enacted.
Bill Withers, who lives in the historic district, testified that the bill needs to be ironclad and stop development.
“When it floods, people die,” he said.
“The proof is not in the pudding, the proof is in the waivers. If you can be very specific about what’s allowed and what’s not allowed, I think that’ll give this teeth moving forward.”
Council members said they were open to considering changes and amendments, which will be discussed at a session Monday. The council will also take more public comment next week.
Support voiced for mobile home tax repeal bill Wielding signs that featured Rich Uncle Pennybags — the mascot of the Monopoly board game — residents came out Monday night to show support for a County Council bill that would repeal the county’s tax on mobile home rental sites.
The tax currently affects about 1,100 residents, who pay on average $45 per month. Rent for a mobile home is an average of $700 a month, compared to more than $1,500 a month for an apartment in Columbia.
The average mobile home resident earns $30,000 a year, according to Rick Robinson, general counsel for the trade association the Manufactured Housing Institute. Robinson testified in support of the bill.
The tax is 10 percent on the first $300 of rent and 5 percent of all rent above that amount and is collected by mobile home park owners as part of the monthly rent.
The bill is not a property tax and does not reduce the mobile home park’s property taxes.
Residents including Amy Lamke, a 52- year-old single mother who has lived in an Elkridge mobile home park for 13 years, testified about how the repeal of the tax could help their lives. Since living in her home, Lamke calculated, she’s paid at least $7,000 in the tax, money that she said if she’d had, she would have used to pay for tutoring and after-school activities for her daughter.
More than 20 people sat in the audience to show their support for the bill, cosponsored by Democrats Jen Terrasa and Calvin Ball. Terrasa’s office has calculated that the tax brings in $614,000 in revenue to the county each year.
The council could vote on the proposal as early as July 27. kamagill@baltsun.com
The festival was to have featured independent films to be shown in downtown Columbia and was organized by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African- Americans in Film, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring the next generation of African- American filmmakers.
Organizers say the first festival will now be held July 25-28, 2019.
Festival founder Tim Gordon, executive director of FAAF, said he decided late last month to delay the festival until next year due to poor marketing this year and a lack of interest in the event. Screenings had been planned at Howard Community College, Wilde Lake High School and AMC Columbia theaters.
“We ran into a situation where we were looking at the promotion of the festival and I didn’t think we had done a strong enough job in promoting the festival,” he said. “I’d much rather present it in our first year from more of a position of strength as opposed to not marketing it correctly and getting off on the wrong foot.”
This year’s festival had attracted major sponsors, including the Howard County tourism office, Howard Hughes Corp. and Industrial Bank. Gordon said sponsors plan to stay on for next year and that he hopes to add more.
Council urged to freeze Ellicott City development Ellicott City residents and shop owners are supporting a proposed County Council bill to freeze development for a year in the Tiber River watershed. Many have pointed to growth in that area as a factor in the worsening flooding in recent years.
At a Monday hearing, the council was urged to place longer and larger restrictions on development. Some people wore T- shirts and had signs that read “Protect Community,” the words in a logo scrawled under a rain-soaked umbrella.
The bill was introduced last month by Ellicott City Democrat Jon Weinstein in response to the deadly May 27 flood in historic Ellicott City that damaged some shops and businesses. It was the second such flood in less than two years.
Officials said the moratorium is meant to give the county time to study hydraulic issues, stormwater management, zoning regulations and the effect of past and future developments on the watershed, including public facilities such as roads, schools and government facilities.
A similar bill proposed after a 2016 flood was not enacted.
Bill Withers, who lives in the historic district, testified that the bill needs to be ironclad and stop development.
“When it floods, people die,” he said.
“The proof is not in the pudding, the proof is in the waivers. If you can be very specific about what’s allowed and what’s not allowed, I think that’ll give this teeth moving forward.”
Council members said they were open to considering changes and amendments, which will be discussed at a session Monday. The council will also take more public comment next week.
Support voiced for mobile home tax repeal bill Wielding signs that featured Rich Uncle Pennybags — the mascot of the Monopoly board game — residents came out Monday night to show support for a County Council bill that would repeal the county’s tax on mobile home rental sites.
The tax currently affects about 1,100 residents, who pay on average $45 per month. Rent for a mobile home is an average of $700 a month, compared to more than $1,500 a month for an apartment in Columbia.
The average mobile home resident earns $30,000 a year, according to Rick Robinson, general counsel for the trade association the Manufactured Housing Institute. Robinson testified in support of the bill.
The tax is 10 percent on the first $300 of rent and 5 percent of all rent above that amount and is collected by mobile home park owners as part of the monthly rent.
The bill is not a property tax and does not reduce the mobile home park’s property taxes.
Residents including Amy Lamke, a 52- year-old single mother who has lived in an Elkridge mobile home park for 13 years, testified about how the repeal of the tax could help their lives. Since living in her home, Lamke calculated, she’s paid at least $7,000 in the tax, money that she said if she’d had, she would have used to pay for tutoring and after-school activities for her daughter.
More than 20 people sat in the audience to show their support for the bill, cosponsored by Democrats Jen Terrasa and Calvin Ball. Terrasa’s office has calculated that the tax brings in $614,000 in revenue to the county each year.
The council could vote on the proposal as early as July 27. kamagill@baltsun.com
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