Episode 21: Confronting Overdevelopment: A Call to Action for Harford County Residents

Just imagine waking up to see a massive four-story apartment complex blocking your serene view of the Fallston Village Center – a reality that the residents of Harford County may soon face. Let's delve into the looming threat of overdevelopment that bill 23-011 failed to prevent. If the idea of traffic congestion and aesthetic impacts stir unease in your mind, don't just sit there! We urge you to raise your voice at the public input meeting on August 11th at the Chenowith Activity Center – your opinion could make all the difference. 

We're not just about discussing issues; we're also here to empower you. Think one person can't make a difference? Think again. Tune in as we explore how your single act of bravery can set off a chain reaction, bringing about change where it's most needed. Ever heard of the bystander effect? Well, it's about time we conquer it, together. We also share inspirational stories from Team OD, illustrating how individual action can galvanize community response. So, are you ready to stand up for truth, justice and community well-being?

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

We are, we the people of Maryland. Our mission is to advocate for your right to control your livelihood, your property, your family and your destiny. Our vision is to provide an organized outlet for Americans who are frustrated by government overreach. Thank you for listening to the Live Free Die Last Podcast.

Speaker 3: 0:39

Hello Hartford County Patriots coming to you from the we the People Studios. As always, we are in the Freedom Pod. I can tell you that we've recently had the Freedom Pod out. We limbered up the 50 cows, fired off the 10 millimeter cannons. We were having a good old time. But now it's back to bringing the news to the Patriots of Hartford County. You can, as always, you can check us on our website at wethepeopleofmdorg. You can smash the subscribe button. There isn't one of those, but there's a donate button and if you have a real good tip on one of these guys, you can look over your shoulder and sneak over to PO Box 13 in Forest Hill, maryland. Drop something in the box and we'll make sure we take care of it Tonight, today, whatever it is, you don't know what we do. We got some Patriots in the house, as always. We got Big Josh. You're needing Patriots. We got Winston Smith War is freedom Right from the pages and Travis Sunday, the man of many children.

Speaker 2: 1:51

That is right, doing our part. Doing our part to make Social Security solvent.

Speaker 3: 1:59

All right, there's a lot going on, but we're going to do a short podcast tonight specific to one borough in Hazard County. It's the Falston area.

Speaker 4: 2:13

Yep, there's a lot going on. I really think that just taking a couple of minutes to focus in on this not only bringing awareness to what's happening, but also bringing awareness to this opportunity for Patriots to come together and showing that Patriots are coming together, is a huge, huge step for the county. It's not only happening in Falston, but it's happened throughout the county. We truly need this county to come together, step up community to community and all now come together and say the corruption, the overdevelopment, the things that are going on, the power that's being held over top of us, it's not welcome and it cannot happen and this county cannot survive if it continues this way, all right.

Speaker 3: 2:54

So somebody give us an overview of what's causing all the ruckus.

Speaker 4: 2:57

Oh, I might as well just dive right into it, but specifically what we're talking about is the Falston Mall, the Falston Village Center. Currently there's a proposed plans to have two four-story apartment complexes, each with a hundred residents inside, with a parking garage underneath and a huge parking lot adjacent to that Major, major issue. Where are we?

Speaker 3: 3:20

talking. Where is that going to go?

Speaker 4: 3:23

This is, as I mentioned, Falston Village Center. It is Route 1 in 152, right in the heart of Falston.

Speaker 3: 3:30

By the Falston Mall. Yep, so they're going to tear down Jeans Evergreen Place, the old Jeans Evergreen.

Speaker 4: 3:36

In the building right next door they're going to build these two buildings. I mean, they're going to be so close to 152 that when you come up 152 from 95 now, the first thing that you're going to see in the skyline is going to be two huge apartment buildings. Wow, it's not only an eyesore, but it's also the traffic and congestion there cannot handle this, and I know I'm getting into a little bit of the weeds here, but Are these going to be like executive office buildings Very expensive, ritzy office buildings?

Speaker 4: 4:07

No, they're apartments. They're not even listed, as Hickory was told. They're luxury apartments. These are garden apartments, so these are what were allowed. So let me take a second here.

Speaker 4: 4:17

A few podcasts ago, we dove into the bill 23-011 that was not passed by the County Council at their last session in June. Well, as a result of that, here is the first thing that popped up and we predicted this. We actually, I think, as a group here, predicted this that if this bill did not pass, that this piece of property would be up for apartments in the B3 Zoned Area in Harper County. And here we are. That bill was not passed. Before the legislation opens back up because our county council is currently on summer break, they're now having a public input hearing on this project to implement these two apartment buildings.

Speaker 4: 5:08

So, taking that a little bit further and you know, I know we'll mention this date a couple times, but it's very important not only the people of Fauston and District B, which also includes Abingdon and it creeps up into, like the Forest Hill, jarrodsville-ish area a little bit we all need to be on August 11th at the Chenoweth Activity Center right there off of 152 in Fauston. It's at 6 pm, there's a public input meeting and this is a chance where the public can come out and actually voice their opinion before it hits the legislation, before it hits the development advisory committee. You know people are saying this is a done deal. Well, there's things going on that I really think that this property is still in question. I think this was pushed through too fast and I think that the people you know, if we come together, we can have an impact.

Speaker 2: 5:57

I would say that, even if you are on the pro-development side, that you should look at how people are going to get in and out of there. That whole intersection is a mess right now, as it is.

Speaker 2: 6:14

And if you look at what they built up in Hickory across you know, caddy, quartered from the Royal Farm Store and the Taco Bell and the Lodge there and the Redners at 543 and the Bypass there's you probably got a couple hundred people living in that one apartment complex on the other side next to the Fleet Management Place for the county and there's not a single crosswalk. You got people walking over to a grocery store. You got three restaurants, four restaurants. You get a gas station. You got like four or five other businesses there. You get the shooting range and people are crossing the road to get to that stuff and if you look up there it's like it's like Frogger up there, some, some way.

Speaker 3: 6:59

Isn't that the problem? The infrastructure it's poorly planned.

Speaker 2: 7:03

They never, they never consider until after it happens.

Speaker 3: 7:05

Well, here's what the developers will say well, that's the state's property. It's up to them to develop the infrastructure. We know, you know what. We need a building moratorium in Harford County. And then what we can do is you can have all team OD go in Lobby andapolis for all the upgrades they need before they get any more buildings, because the traffic and all is horrendous. And if you live up here and you have to deal with it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And Fauston, unfortunately, is kind of a hub and a gateway for all of us to get to 95. It's going to be a complete disaster.

Speaker 4: 7:39

It's the first stop since when you get from Baltimore County. So anything that's happening in Baltimore County that's leaching over into Harford County, it's hitting this area, it's hitting that intersection. You bring up a great point of. You know, infrastructure cannot handle this. Well, where are the studies? When were the studies done? You know again, I'm getting down into the educational pieces for the community, but I'm saying is, the community needs to educate themselves. We need to not only come together but we need to educate. Who's doing this, who's being involved and what are the ramifications of this happening?

Speaker 3: 8:08

Well, I'm sure the studies were done under barriers to religion. We know at that time there was a lot of studies done during COVID and other times. It didn't make any sense. So the studies you know I don't want to use the word corrupted, but the studies are useless. They need to make sure that they have accurate information going forward.

Speaker 2: 8:27

When you say Barry, would you be referring to the former Blank check Barry.

Speaker 3: 8:35

Yes, the post turtle himself.

Speaker 2: 8:36

Rhino extraordinaire.

Speaker 4: 8:39

That's it. You know we can Continue to exist in the destruction that's happening as a result of these bad decisions that have been that been made, and this is not to, you know, to bash somebody. This is this, is, I see, a positive situation, or, excuse me, looking at this in a positive way, in a negative situation. If we do not come together as a county, you know if, if Fauston and district view does not come together and stand up against this, you know we are even further lost than we thought we were before, because it takes the people to fix this situation.

Speaker 3: 9:12

I would encourage Others to come out as well. Not just Fauston, I mean I'm forced to has been ravaged lately.

Speaker 4: 9:20

Yeah and, and let me tell you, if you don't stand up, you're next and, you see it, you have first till standing up, you have Perryman standing up. The city of Aberdeen has said some things recently, you know, and done some things. So there are different communities. It's time for these communities to start, you know, working together on the big picture to making sure that if something is going to, you know, if there's a good piece of legislation to protect us, we need to educate ourselves. We don't need them to adding amendments to these petitioner, to these legislations Do to let their developer buddies, you know get a win.

Speaker 3: 9:53

You're right. Let me bring up a good point. So I'm patting myself on the back before I give a point. That's not really right.

Speaker 1: 9:58

I apologize.

Speaker 3: 9:59

So what I want to say is what, what the developers and the council people like to say that are in favor of this. They go. Well, you know this is economic development. If you go and think about property rights, the counties and the places that are in doing well financially, you know we got the Montgomery County and all they want more, more, more. They always want more money. So more development costs you more money. They are full of you know what, when they tell you that this is the way to economic Security, it's not. It's gonna cost you a fortune. It's gonna cost you more in policing. It's gonna cost you in public transportation. It's gonna cost you in schools Everything you can think of is gonna go up.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Well, this, have we ever talked about the the term NIMBY on this podcast? We have not. So NIMBY is a Purgatory.

Speaker 3: 10:52

I checked the freedom pod computers and they are very fast, and NIMBY did not show up.

Speaker 2: 10:58

Gotcha. Well, nimby is a Purgatory of against people that you know may, in particular or in general, oppose some sort of development, and that means not in my backyard. So sometimes people that get up and talking about places like this, like oh much NIMBY's man.

Speaker 2: 11:18

Well, before you dismiss us as a bunch of NIMBY's, like, think about the, this kind of stuff, think about the traffic, think about how it's gonna affect your life. I drive it up and down 152 every single day and, honestly, with the amount of traffic that's on there, I mean it really should be a four lane going all the way up. You know from.

Speaker 4: 11:39

Well, it is actually zone to be four lanes all the way up throughout and again, that's a whole different thing. I personally don't believe that we should be putting four lanes on 152 the whole length of it. That will be the destruction especially with the expressway.

Speaker 2: 11:52

Yeah, the amount of current traffic on there, the same thing with 22. I'm not. I'm not advocating or that we build more because of that, but the sad thing is that somebody's gonna have to die either in Hickory or one of these places. Somebody's gonna get run over because there was no crosswalk there, because there was no light, because up, you know, I'm jumping back from Fauston over to Hickory, but people are going 70, 80 miles an hour up the bypass and and you're you know, you got a person with a kid trying to navigate their way around seven, eight lanes of traffic and a stroller.

Speaker 2: 12:26

In a stroller at in the dark, you know, people in their defense might not even be able to see the person very well until they're right on top of them. Even if they're not speeding, it is dangerous. I think this is public safety. Someone's someone's going to get hurt or killed or you know, tragically, yeah, before they do anything, and I it's. It's just a shame that we, you know, build first, plan later. That seems to be the mentality. How dare you question Michaeler's rights?

Speaker 3: 12:55

They will tell you. They will tell you that they don't build first and plan later, that the planning is impeccable. But we can see that it's not Folks. You got eyes, you do things you think.

Speaker 2: 13:07

Don't believe you're lying eyes, John.

Speaker 4: 13:09

Right, well, even looking at this. So people need to educate themselves. So this project is going through. This is going to set precedent. You know, in Hartford County's area or in Fauston's area, the fact that this piece of legislation that I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast in June was not passed, here's things that are slipping through. You continue to go down the line. The developers are going to get what they want. The elected officials are going to, you know, say there's nothing that I can do. But again, just know that there are things that we can do and we need to kind of come together. I saw some signs popping up in Hartford or in Fauston, and I've seen them pop up left and right. They simply state no apartments in Fauston, stop the sprawl.

Speaker 3: 13:58

Yeah, we can help them if they want put a petition on our website or something.

Speaker 4: 14:00

Yeah, and I think that that's what really needs to happen. But also the people need to come together. And I'll mention the date one more time because I know we're kind of getting this one closed out. But August 11th, 6 pm. The Chenoweth Activity Center in Fauston on 152,. We need everybody to show up and make sure their voices are heard. What day is August 11th? Oh yeah, that's another one. It's a Friday night at 6 pm and right at dinner time. Also, I think that there's a lot of sports activities happening that night at the Fauston.

Speaker 3: 14:28

Park Center. Well, they really want to make sure that people are informed.

Speaker 2: 14:30

So they want to hear us. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 4: 14:35

Well, they need to hear us yeah.

Speaker 3: 14:38

Well, I think they're going to hear something. Do we have anything else, Mr Smith?

Speaker 1: 14:46

not that I can think of.

Speaker 3: 14:48

Mr Sunday.

Speaker 2: 14:50

Mr Sunday would like to say thank you for this band of patriots standing up, being manly men and women being that too.

Speaker 3: 15:01

There's none here, but there are women and kind. Yeah, I was very strong Women here in this freedom pod.

Speaker 2: 15:08

I appreciate you all standing up for truth, justice and the American way, just like Superman.

Speaker 3: 15:16

I feel like I'm loading the 50 cal.

Speaker 2: 15:19

Let's do it again.

Speaker 4: 15:21

My only thing is don't be scared. It's not worth being scared, doing what's right over what's wrong, good over evil it's worth it. Just don't be scared.

Speaker 2: 15:31

Sometimes you got to be the guy, sometimes you got to be the first one. Sometimes, when you see people doing nothing, what do they call the effect, the bystander effect, when you see somebody getting beat up or robbed or something, and everybody stands around and just pulls their cameras out or does nothing?

Speaker 4: 15:47

It's a marathon.

Speaker 2: 15:48

Sometimes you got to be the guy. That is the impetus, that is what will free people up and give them the courage that will give others courage to come and join you when they see you standing up and doing something. Maybe they were close and just needed that little push. And you standing out there and having the courage to go out on your own, others will follow.

Speaker 3: 16:12

I think we're going to get some good people Good people join the cause out of this whole thing. So don't forget team OD. The crooked move you make, every corrupt breath you take will be watching.