Tick Tock, Tick Tock

TAG's first deadline for 2,500 signatures on their referendum petition is FRIDAY at 4:30 p.m.  In an article posted on the Baltimore Sun website, Russ Swatek expresses little concern on having 2,500 signatures, but says it is up in the air whether 2,500 of the signatures they've collected will count.  I'm sure petition wielders have kept the high standard for signatures in mind during their rounds, but it seems a fair presumption that a number of names will be knocked out.

We can also presume that reporter Larry Carson was not a petition signer:

The massive, three-decade plan, passed unanimously by the Howard County Council in February, would transform central Columbia from an auto-dominated, disconnected series of aging buildings and a shopping mall into a lively urban downtown.

If creating a lively urban downtown was just a piece of legislation away, what the heck took us so long?  May I suggest the next item on the agenda to be the "end of homelessness"?  I'm not attacking the plan, but rather this interesting brand of journalism that melds "analysis" with "fact" with "editorial."  Isn't that what blogs are for?

UPDATE:  As a reader pointed out, a later version of Mr. Carson's article includes an "alternate ending":

The three-decade plan, passed unanimously by the Howard County Council in February, would transform central Columbia from an auto-dominated, disconnected series of aging buildings and a shopping mall into what proponents say will be a lively urban downtown.