Whichever meeting Ned Carey is attending, whether it's the boards for county schools, Harbor Hospital or the Chesapeake Arts Center, he says he volunteers because of his love of Brooklyn Park.

He loves his home because it feels like a small Midwestern town in the middle of a big city. Not only has he lived in Brooklyn Park all his life, but so has his wife, Pam. The Careys live in the same house he did as a boy.

"It's the people. It's the location. A lot of the people who've lived here lived here when I was growing up," Mr. Carey said, adding one of his 90-year-old neighbors has lived next door to him since he was a boy. "I...