Just a few newsy tidbits gleaned from our local paper of record today. Visit http://www.capitalonline.com/ for the stories, but below are comments/reactions:
Shootings in Eastport--CP was woken up by the rapid fire sound of automatic gunfire. It was not the first time...not by a longshot...Two men hospitalized. Neighbors coninue to be terrorized. Some local activists continue to use statistics to show that public housing residents are not disproportionately connected to crime....gun lovers will continue to say that guns don't shoot people, but people do....meanwhile, we are still down 22 police officers, partially due to war in Iraq to fight terrorism....WAKE UP MR. PRESIDENT, we are being terrorized here!!!!
Two Tenants Quit Market House...This is not surprising. Our city officials have conspired to mess this up since the process of renovation began a few years ago, and as usual, Mayor Moyer plays the blame game.
Perhaps most telling is a letter from one of these now former tenants to Site Realty, manager of the property:
"In our minds the continuing friction between Site Realty, the mayor of Annapolis and the negative press over this friction, and Site Realty not correcting a major flaw in the construction of the building greatly impacted the potential customers for the Fractured Prune," the letter stated. "Who would want to walk into that building, it looks like a nuclear waste treatment dump."
Money for Our Bay...While environmental and Bay advocates press for more funding to address the degradation of the Bay, at least one Delegate brings up the old social versus private issue again. From The Capital:
Delegate Steve Schuh "said in an interview that he doesn't think it's fair that environmentalists have to find new ways for the government to raise money for their programs.
"We have all these things we try to do. We want public safety, we want higher education, we want pre-K through 12 education, we want health care for the poor, we want social services for the poor. When was the last time the police were asked to go out and find new funding sources?" he asked.
Well Mr. Schuh, the first question is do WE want all these things, or do I and others want them and you don't??? I have a little trouble with a Republican financial manager from chic Gibson Island (where the guard keeps undesirables out and average home value is....how many millions again?) saying he wants things for "the poor." Why doesn't he open up his mansion, presumably a waterfront one, on Gibson Island, which has its own country day school, for the unwashed masses? While he lounges at his private island, these "poor" folk might be lucky to get some unshaded beach among the crowds at Sandy Point Park.
Is cleaning up OUR BAY one of "their programs" as he puts it? We have a system that has allowed him and his neighbors to get rich and to have more access to the Bay and enjoyment of it thanks to private property rights, all upheld by government, but clean air and water are social rights and social property. He and other rich people have amassed wealth by using and abusing natural resources more than others, and by passing on costs (i.e. wastes and effluents) to the "environment" for centuries. Now they whine about having to pay their share. Does he think his home values will rise if the Bay dies?
And then there is the "Watchdog" story of a resident of Bloomsbury Square, a unique public housing community. The particular resident, who has been living in this place for 28 years (!) is complaining about people running the stop-sign near her home. Turns out, she got all riled up about this after SHE WAS CAUGHT doing the same thing, but in Eastport, and fined a hefty $153. Well Ms. Davis, how fortunate that you have been in public housing for 28 years and now have your own brick, waterfront home in downtown Annapolis. I agree that running stopsigns is a serious and dangerous problem, but did you only start complaining about the apparent lack of enforcement once you got a ticket??? And while I'm on it, what about the violent crime in Bloomsbury Square???
Perhaps Delegate Schuh and this woman should participate in a home swap. The lawmaker will be able to walk to his office, and the Bloomsbury Square resident won't have to worry about crime or stopsign scofflaws. After all, the only way on that island is past a guard booth or by boat, which is not allowed either.
2 Comments:
Dear CP,
It sounds like Mr. Schuh was asking a rhetorical question in the sense of since WE do demonstrate a serious demand of our government to clean up our environmental disgraces, why is it up to the environmental lobby to find the sources when the people at large support this cleanup? So it should be prioritized over certain other funding allocations such as raises for representatives, new parking garages, wasteful beauracracies like the SHA, new roads for new traffic. Since the state does not want to compromise it's agenda of pissing money away at an ever-increasing rate we have to come up with funding for the programs we demand through new levies.
BW (is that your real name?) Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately we have a number of other like-minded legislators here in Maryland.
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