She called and supposedly someone coming out toady

Good luck, my friends without water are off Washington Boulevard. Part of their road is very icy with several hit and run car accidents so far. When I last spoke to them about an hour ago they still not have water but other neighbors did, it didn’t seem to affect the entire block.

Do you have a community resource or center that can provide updates or a warm place with water? I’m by Saint Agnes hospital, all the centers, neighborhood groups and everything that would help are gone. My house is chaos with people right now, happy chaos, but help from the city or neighborhood group would be welcome.

Columbia’s trying to attract younger professional crowds. They’ve built so many damn apartment buildings there for the last ten years. They’ve got the renovated live music venue, some bars, lots of restaurants, the all important Whole Foods 🙄 and a very good shopping mall with a movie theater. even through malls should all be dead, this one is thriving.

And it’s rather equidistant from both cities. There’s a MARC train station near Columbia that can take you to DC and Baltimore. And each one is like a 30 minute drive on the highways.

Binge Christmas movies and ice cream? Sorry, not any great ideas.

Can relate on the friend group though. Just came to the realization I haven't really made friends here, and am struggling to figure out how. lol.

> As we know the surrounding counties are building building building, homes and stores, but no infrastructure. Every new housing development and strip shopping center add additional burden to the electric grid.

Seems like a good incentive to pass some sort of new construction tax that goes toward building new green power generation. Make exceptions like for affordable housing.

No I think pig town is super far from me, I’m a little confused now ;)

If the party wall is of brick, that has to be one sensitive neighbor. I can understand more if its just a gypsum party wall. Though cursing is never the first go to tool. I find there are a lot more people using foul language these days. At work the f-bomb is used in the same manner as some people over use "like".

I lived in Columbia for a year. This was in 1983, it was very surreal. Mostly because it attracts a certain type of people who are not real. My parents lived there for 12 years. It was good for them after they down sized from a large house to a town home. My father's health was failing. Still I thought the neighbors were AI creatures who were there as part of a government experiment or sci-fi film.

Educated guess at what may have happened...

Your water meter probably froze. There is a freeze plate on the bottom of it and when water in the meter freezes it expands to prevent damage to the water itself. This makes it a cheap and fairly easy repair. The bad thing is that when it thaws out you're still not going to have water as the plate is a single use part that breaks when it freezes. There will be a big leak at the meter and your street will be flooded with water coming from your meter. Which will turn to ice tonight.

I would try to find a water meter key and place it ready to turn off the water. Take a hair dryer to the meter to thaw it out. If it starts gushing water turn your water off and file a 311 request for a broken freeze plate / no water. You'll have to go a few days without water before it is fixed.

Also possible, but less likely - you have a frozen pipe inside the house. This can turn into a catastrophe if you don't catch it quick. Try to inspect the plumbing where it enters the house. Does any of it look cracked? If so, you need to turn off the water with the aforementioned key and it's your problem to resolve, not 311's.

If you cannot locate a key you can use a wrench. Just have it pre-positioned prior to dethawing the meter because the area around the meter will be flooded with freezing cold water and you'll have to stick your hand in it to shut it off.

EDIT: Just saw you're a renter. Not your responsibility but your problem for sure. I would not mess around with this, inform your landlord.

Along these same lines of homelessness and housing inequities. I landed on a document, put out some years ago about the city's quiet program of getting out of the housing business. ALl of this was part of the implosion of the high rise city apartments. That the new plan was to have few or no city owned public housing, but to provide vouchers for people to fend for themselves in the private sector. I am thinking that the rapid rise of street people was also seen during this period of getting out of the housing business. Below is the site. I would like to hear others opinion on the article.

https://abell.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Housing.update.1007.pdf

Frozen pipes seem likely after last night's single digit temps. If you have access to the service in the basement, there may be a hose bib where it comes into the house. Open that gently and see if there's water coming into the house. If not, the problem is outside. No water is worthy of an emergency plumber call, don't let the landlords tell you otherwise.

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Yeah it’s not the most exciting place to live but there’s enough shit to do and you’re a short drive from two major cities. Life could be a lot worse than living in Columbia, Maryland. I’ve lived in all three: DC, Columbia, and now Bmore. I’ve hated none of them.

I'm near there, possibly the same problem

Exactly.

My sister came to visit me recently and said she keeps her thermostat at 77. I was shocked. She lives in Georgia.

I keep my thermostat at 62, and use a small ele radiator in my bed room to keep the cats comfy at 66. Are most people keeping their home temp low or are they walking around in T shirts & short. Still it sounds like our electric system has no wiggle room. As we know the surrounding counties are building building building, homes and stores, but no infrastructure. Every new housing development and strip shopping center add additional burden to the electric grid. Not to mention $$ overtime and out of state repair workers when the ele lines go down. We all foot that added cost.

“Healing Back Pain” Dr John Sarno

Me and you both. I walk around in multiple layers and spend any time not toileting, eating, or walking under a blanket. There is nothing else I can do.

You want more natural gas? Pull my finger.

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Interested to clarify. You’re working in Hamden or Hampden?

That’s going to be hell

u/tEnPoInTs left a great, comprehensive answer as far as a Reddit post can get!

Mount Vernon is a great area, and we're really privileged. With all of the restaurants, art, events, walkability–plus the city gives us more resources/keeps their eye on us more than other communities, it's a nice place to be.

I've lived here since I was 18 (8 years) after moving from Cleveland and it's fine. "Be pleasant, but also mind your business" kind of deal like any other city.

Baltimore is a lot more casual compared to DC's 24/7 corporate grind mindset. There's a lot more *ahem* charm here.

People love to sensationalize and bitch about the bad, but out of every place I have lived, Baltimore has one of the strongest community support networks in the country. Despite droves of people looking down on this city without knowing it, the people come together with support for one another.

u/Appropriate-Algae-82 if you and your partner have not already, ask your jobs about commuter benefits to see if either of you get discount tickets, gas/parking stipends, etc! The neighborhoods north or Penn are decent too, and you might get more bang for your buck in places like Remington or Old Goucher. Different options from apts, condos, and row homes in all.

You’re probably not the target of the message, the issue is the people who want to be able to wear shorts inside in the dead of winter

I'm in charles village and none of my water is working