Councilwoman Allison Pickard talks Glen Burnie revitalization to anyone who will listen.

This summer, when they were randomly seated at the same table at a cook-off, The Millersville Democrat pitched her ideas to Tom Riford, Maryland’s assistant secretary for commerce. By the end of the meal, Riford said he had to see what she was talking about with his own eyes. The two organized a tour of the area.

So on Thursday afternoon, in the whipping wind, Pickard gave him a walking tour of Glen Burnie. She walked him around the town’s center, talking about her vision of a community come to life and all the plans she wants to finally mobilize.

“There are a lot of plans in binders on shelves, but not a lot in action,” said Pickard, vice chair of the County Council. She wants to change that.

Pickard has applied for a $50,000 grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development that would fund a planning and zoning analysis of the area, which would help everyone involved better understand how the space might be optimized.

And on Wednesday at a Glen Burnie town hall, she’ll announce a task force committee made up of residents, developers and business owners to help strategically materialize her vision for the town’s center.