Free Movies at Regal

If you're looking for something to do with the kids that's free this summer, Regal in Constant Friendship is having its free family film festival again this summer. If you want a seat for a more popular movie, get there early, as a lot of daycares bus in their kids. And dress warmly. Sometimes it can be very cold. I once sat through Clifford's Big Movie with two kids on my lap to keep warm.
They will also confiscate any snacks you take with you in an effort to make you buy $6 buckets of popcorn. I've seen them check purses and try to take sippy cups. Be warned! But at least the movies are free.

Here's the schedule. Some are G and some PG. They all start at 10 a.m.

06/17/2008-06/18/2008 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G)
Ice Age: The Meltdown (PG)
06/24/2008-06/25/2008 Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - Veggie Tales (G)
Evan Almighty (PG)
07/01/2008-07/02/2008 Everyone's Hero (G)
Bee Movie (PG)
07/08/2008-07/09/2008 Arctic Tale (G)
Shrek The Third (PG)
07/15/2008-07/16/2008 Running Free (G)
Hairspray (PG)
07/22/2008-07/23/2008 Clifford's Really Big Movie (G)
Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)
07/29/2008-07/30/2008 Mr. Bean's Holiday (G)
Happy Feet (PG)
08/05/2008-08/06/2008 Charlotte's Web (G)
Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep (PG)
08/12/2008-08/13/2008 Wallace And Gromit (G)
Surf's Up (PG)

And We're Back

We at TAA apologize for taking an unexpected break from the blog. Thanks to our loyal reader(s) who asked what we were doing and asked us to write.
The break resulted from happy occasions (hurrah to a certain Edgewood High School graduate wandering around OC this week) and sad (a small victim of a 5th disease outbreak at Abingdon Elementary -- and yes -- you can have a high fever with it!)
We can't write much today, as TAA's full-time job is preventing it in part because TAA is finding it difficult working with "off-shored" new colleagues with a completely opposite schedule (you know, they're on Indian time).
We do have enough time to give a shout-out to Edgewood graduates and a nice graduation ceremony.
Also, congratulations to all the Harford Ballet Company for excellent performances on Saturday/Sunday, especially Shana O'Brian who choreographed a new piece to "Rhapsody in Blue." Really exciting to watch.
And special praise goes to TAA's own "bluebird" who performed outstandingly while having 5th disease. (She wasn't contagious! Don't worry!)
Don't forget the upcoming meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Conference Center to discuss the Constant Friendship zoning. We are hoping to attend, but because all of our plans in the last week have changed, we can't make any promises.
There also are some new comments on the Plumtree post. It looks like there are actually at least 3 parcels being discussed. Check it out.

Constant Friendship: A Troubling Development

In case you missed it, in last Wednesday's Aegis there was a notice of a community input meeting concerning Constant Friendship Lot 3. Although they had a county url in there to get more information, I couldn't find anything on the county Web site so I e-mailed them. I got a call from someone from the county, and she said they hadn't been yet notified about the meeting. I told her I was concerned about the increasing traffic and she said, "You know, all that was decided in 1987."
Today I received an e-mail response from Frederick Ward Associates, who sent me a PDF of the development. While I thought it might be another building behind Target because of the location, I was shocked at what I saw. It's not one building, but FOUR, with a huge parking lot. It is equally as big as the Target site, and it will use the same access road, on Arundel Court (the back entrance to Wal-Mart, first entrance to Target)
Once we figure out how to post the PDF, we will.
The meeting is set for 6 p.m. June 5 at the Ramada Conference Center in Edgewood. If you'd like more information, contact Kevin Small at ksmall@fredward.com or 410.838.7900.
While I understand that we need businesses -- don't we also need a way to get in and out of them safely? And how long must we hear everything was decided on 20 years ago?

Road Closures

As of 12:30 p.m. today, U.S. 1 was closed in two spots: at Reckord Road and at Hickory Avenue. I'm guessing this is due to the deluge.
To get all the latest road closures click here.

Plumtree Zoning revisted

Just got an interesting comment on an old post about Plumtree Zoning. The anonymous comment says that Aldi owns the land by the baptist church on the corner of Rte. 24. My question, to you anonymous, if you're out there: The information you saw, does it specifically say that an Aldi's warehouse is planned, or that it is owned by Aldi? My hopeful theory of the day -- Aldi's owns Trader Joe's. So maybe a TJ's is coming there?

Constant Friendship Box Store Update

A sign at Constant Friendship now proclaims a Mattress Giant will be the new neighbor to PetSmart and Lowe's. In the bad news department, aforementioned sign has 3 blank spaces for additional businesses. I guess we'll have to wait until those are filled in to find out what's coming.

The Harford County BRAC Tour

An article in The Examiner listed places that were on the tour of Harford County for military families from New Jersey. Four busloads of them. Are Harford County taxpayers paying for this? Think about the cost of gasoline alone for four buses. Who was absorbing the cost for this road trip was missing from the article. I thought the entire idea of "winning" BRAC was that people were going to come here, regardless.
Sights on the tour: Ring Factory Elementary, Patterson Mill High School; businesses in downtown Bel Air; Harford Mall, the “big box” retailers and the museums and shops of downtown Havre de Grace; and concluded with a visit to model homes at Bulle Rock.
I guess they missed the lovely sites on Rte. 40. I wonder if the big box retailers included Constant Friendship?