In case this is helpful and not too wonky, I will share that affordable housing is generally defined using a percentage of area median income - to see what is "affordable" at various percentages check out the link below. If you are in market rate housing (unrestricted), it does fluctuate with the market without an affordable cap and to your point, is might often not feel affordable.

Using this chart, your two bedroom unit would be affordable at the 80% of area median income level if it were priced at or below $2090 a month including utilities. Bedrooms are priced with an "estimate" of 1.5 people per bedroom (no matter how many people are actually living there). For a two person household to be eligible to rent that apartment with two bedrooms, they would need earn at or below $74,320 per year. As area median income changes (it usually rises, but sometimes it goes down) the limits change. The basic idea nationwide across many programs is rent + utilities should be about 30% of people's income to be considered affordable. Some of the details vary, but this is generally how most programs are structured. There is only one meaningful program that creates affordable housing at scale throughout the country and it is the low-income housing tax credit program. It's kind of a misnomer, because if you look at the income limits below you can see many are not low - they actually span a broad range of jobs including many public servants.

https://dhcd.maryland.gov/HousingDevelopment/Documents/rhf/2022MDIncomeLimitsRents.pdf

Libraries have expanded in a lot of new exciting directions over the past years - cool summary here and it encompasses things the county is already doing on some level in various spaces (makers space - Glenwood, DIY rental Elkridge, stop by East Columbia any day after school to see what a hot spot that is with teens and school aged kids for learning)- I suspect this library will be showcase that folds many things together.

https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/technology/2-st-century-lbraries-changing-from-the-ground-up-lj210616

Village board is also critical this year- several villages have a slate running (that I don’t recommend) that are aligned with status quo.

You might want to try the Merriweather area for 6 months and make sure this does not have what you are looking for first? It's totally different from a big city, true, but that area is more and more walkable, happening and young these days - a reverse commute to Baltimore if done 5 days will cost you a minimum of 10 hours a week, probably more like 13. DC I don't even want to speculate on but it will take forever. I'd just see if its totally necessary first.

Regarding your lawsuits comment. The posted 990s reveal legal fees (and if I recall correctly business consulting) as a percentage of the total budget (excluding depreciation) for recent years posted. It was frankly a little surprising to me the proportional amount.

If you want to look at financials, these are not up to the minute, however many 990s are here (they are a publicly available document for any nonprofit, IAT posts to their website, but you can get for any NP via guidestar or similar). https://innerarbortrust.org/financials

Page 11 and page 29-30 for the most recent 990 posted for 2021 will give you a view of that year by expense type.

From listening to the CA board meeting it seems like at least part of the issue is the most recent fiscal year (different from calendar year) 2022 audit has not yet been produced, yet at the same time IAT is being considered for more funding. I believe the 2022 fiscal year would have ended April 2022 (based on the FY listed on the 990s), and from listening to the discussion at that meeting, it sounds like the audit for that year has not been provided to CA. There were a number of comments at the meeting indicating these funds were needed for paying for the audit, amongst other items. It is not clear to me from listening to the CA discussion if the IAT audit provider for the year that is needed has been hired or engaged yet.

Door knock for the candidates in other villages. Figure out who in your network lives in their neighborhood and specifically ask them to vote and provide information on how to do so.

I think Cat and Dog in Owen Brown will fit the bill; my experience with them is not super current, but I found I had longer wait times there than my pricier and more convenient vet that I'd switched to, but noticed that their value was much better.

Co-sign Joan is great!

The school system cannot keep teacher aides employed - you could work at that job- I think it’s minimum wage but very rewarding and they’d possibly be happy with short term help. A contractor hires the employees- you are not employed directly by school system. Apply here: https://www.socialserviceconsultants.com/prospective-employees then call nearby elementary administrators and ask if they have openings at their school and let them know you completed an app. (It expedites process)

Also Wilhides

I know Whole Foods has; can’t recall if you can smell first and acknowledge they don’t count as local.

Echoing that making sure neighbors are aware and vote in village elections is paramount. Barely anyone votes- which makes every single vote very impactful.

One plus of Columbia not noted above is many (not all) of the power lines are buried and you avoid issues with power loss that we saw this past week. I think an exception would be areas like Allview, etc, so not everywhere in Columbia.

Thank you for this comment! I can’t stand when people call schools better or worse based on who attends them. It’s pure test scores and socioeconomics. I also prefer to be in one of these schools over a school with a more homogeneous socioeconomic population.

I believe April typically but some terms are two years. In terms of action you can speak at a board meeting (virtual option available I think) or email the board.

https://www.columbiaassociation.org/about-us/leadership/board-of-directors/resident-speakout/