WHAT'S WRONG WITH LEFTOVERS?? CHICKEN OF THE SEA??

What's for dinner? According to The Capital, changes in meal policies that led to food shortages recently at the Naval Academy have now been fixed. The USNA must have gone all out in a major pr effort to show Mids are now back to chowing down as usual. While at first they said there was a food shortage, now they are saying no....????

However, the final note in the story struck CP as most odd. AFter writing that one meal requires over 3,000 lbs of chicken breasts, "For sanitation reasons, leftovers, such as the chicken breasts that remained on the table last night, must be discarded as waste and cannot be used, even in soups, she said."

What's wrong with a few leftovers? You think sailors in all the history of all the navys in the world ever had it so good? Never ate leftovers? Threw away food at sea?
Some people actually live off leftovers. CP hopes the chicken breasts met military specifications and were not sold by a former Admiral, now in the poultry business. Oh...it was a slow news day......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

MORE ANNAPOLIS GOVERNANCE BY PRESS RELEASE: We need leadership, not letter ship

Here is another one of Mayor Moyer's news releases.....readers will note that CP has often opined about our abyssmal regional transportation planning and testified as such at public meetings. Herewith are Mayor Moyer's latest...:

Mayor Ellen Moyer and City of Annapolis Director of Planning and Zoning Jon Arason recently attended a hearing on the Baltimore Regional Draft Plan Transportation Outlook 2035.

Okay-they went to a meeting. At the LOCAL public hearing attended by ANNAPOLIS residents, Mr. Arason left in the middle. The only other city official was Alderman Sam Shropshire.


In a letter to Ken Ulman, the Chairman of the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, the Mayor expressed her lack of faith in the plan as currently designed- "This plan needs to go back to the drawing board,” wrote theMayor. “Transit needs (to be) the highest priority, not road building... we need to build on what we have to insure connectivity with everymode of transportation. At a time when we are trying to convince people to leave their car at home it is disappointing to see a plan that infact accentuates the car. It is more disappointing that the plan accepts a congestion increase for all roadways at 258% and focuses on road building with transit commuting unchanging at 8% for more than thenext 20 years. This plan is backward. A solid transportation plan is not about the car (which this plan clearly is), it is about the people. Until we shift our thinking to people needs for connectivity, reliability and convenience, we will continue to invest in piecemeal projects leaving us with a faulty multi-model infrastructure or no connecting network at all."


The Mayor is correct, but the record reflects very clearly that she has done little or nothing in this regard. We have a bus system and it is shrinking, shrinking and shrinking, mainly because the Mayor and her Transportation Director failed to act for nearly five years knowing that federal funds were being pulled. Besides, the Mayor never rides on our buses and says she does not like buses. And, she is the one failing to cooperate and communicate with the Anne Arundel County to develop regional plans. The best thing she can do HERE AND NOW is to get a new transportation director who actually is here and cares about here.

The Mayor also stressed that the current plan does not include strategies for using and building on existing resources. “Annapolis has a Department of Transportation with 28 buses, yet transit links within Anne Arundel County and to the Eastern Shore to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore are not even considered.” The Mayor also noted, “...the absence of transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects for the Capital City. The East, West and North, South national trails cross in Annapolis. Do we not coordinate with the national trails and the East Coast Greenway for completing connections for alternative means of transportation? The 21st Century requires new ways of looking at transportation.

Again, she is right, and her heart is in the right place--but this is just a letter! And a late one in fact. To make progress requires her to lead the citizenry, and work with us to make our voices heard together--and that means working with our District 3o delegation and County Council. Where has she been? While we were speaking out at the local public meeting, and her appointed department director left early, she was in.....Paris.

I recently returned from a visit to Paris, a much larger and more international city than Baltimore. Getting around Paris is easy -by foot, bike, scooter, boat, bus, taxi, train or subway. Maryland is one of the richest states in one of the world’s richest countries. Why then create a transportation plan that acts as if we are a poor area with no resources and no vision?”

Ces't bon! It took a trip to Paris to figure this out? Local activists have been trying to tell her this for years, but get off the rail thing, will you please? Does rail even require commentary? What about our own local transportation plan., Madame Mayor--you don't even know what we have here because you don't like buses. You like water taxis and their potential is extremely limited. The trails you made are not acceptable for real bike transportation because they are too narrow and have stairs and obstructions. Our bike lanes are limited, poorly maintained and constantly violated. Your free bike loaner program is a joke.

What we need is leadership. Not letter-ship.

ANNAPOLIS RECEIVES SUPERIOR BOND RATINGS--THIS SHOULD BE OF INTEREST

Just in from Ray Weaver, Public Information Officer for Annapolis:

The City of Annapolis Director of Finance Tim Elliot is pleased to announce that the City received an outstanding 4.27% rate on its recent$28.9 million bond issue. The winning bidder was BB&T Capital Markets.They were one of ten bidders with rates ranging from 4.27% to 4.39%. The rates were below the AAA bond buyer index for today and very good when current market conditions are considered.

This sounds like great news, and CP is sure every homeowner can appreciate what a good rate such as this means, but not being an economist, it is very hard to say how this translates into solid benefits for taxpayers. CP inquired of Mr. Weaver in his role as PIO, but was told to contact the Finance Director for such details. Perhaps staff reporters at newspapers, or maybe even ERIC SMITH, can take the time to delve into this, but CP thinks it is incumbent upon our own government to expain this is real terms to real people. What standard ratios are used in small cities to determine solvency and debt ratios? Will this mean our budget growth is slowed? How many dollars per year does it save over having a higher rate? etc...etc...

HOW DO YOU ENVISION ANNAPOLIS? Or, What will Landry say about our landwet?

A world-class group of leading thinkers in the field of urban planning are coming to Annapolis to present a series of what are called "Conversations for Change." Spearheaded by former Historic Annapolis Executive Director Greg Stiverson, the mission of enVISIONing Annapolis is "to empower citizens to take an informed, creative and proactive role in defining a vision for the future that preserves the best of the past while enhancing the quality of life for future generations."

Sounds good to CP.

Charles Landry, who is described as an "urban futurist" and author of The Creative City and The Art of City Making kicks off the six-program series on Sunday, September 16 at Maryland Hall. Landry will "explore the roles of citizens and culture in creating dynamic, self-sustaining 21st century cities.

This is a most-welcome opportunity for our little town by the Bay and CP wonders, what does it take to get citizens involved? For information, visit:
http://www.envisioningannapolis.net/.

EASTPORT RESIDENTS TALKING--AND DOING TOUGH ON CRIME

The Eastport Civic Association has started a safety taskforce with a handful of active committees focusing on providing information. working with our local government, identifying lighting needs etc. For information, contact Lee Finney at lee.finney@world.att.net.

REPUBLICANS---THE PARTY OF IDEAS--AND MOST OF THEM BAD ONES...

Okay- so CP exaggerates.

CP is extremely grateful that he is not involved with any internal local political warfare, unlike just about every local Republican right now, or so it seems. Our friend at Annapolis Politics attended last night's GOP meeting which you can check out here: http://annapolispolitics.blogspot.com/2007/09/aa-county-gop.html

Whew! Airing their dirty laundry in public! But CP would like to share this tidbit where Annapolis Politics wrote, "Republicans debate in the realm of ideas. We believe in individual responsibility and lack of government control whenever possible. The entirety of conservative ideology stems from here. AP fears that this charade will remove focus from the real meaning of being a Republican at a time when we can least afford it. "

Please! Please keep fighting and debating and arguing. We want to see GOP disunity especially at this time when you can least afford it. Heck-why should the D's have a stranglehold on disunity and fractionalism?

CP must respectfully disagree with AP. The R party is not a party of ideas, but like all parties, is a party with some ideas, but in the case of the R's, most of them are bad. For example, invading Iraq. Would that be under the good idea list or the bad idea list?


How about privatizing social security. Hmmm....social? private? social? private? Well, which one?

Here is my take in very general (and sort of tongue in cheek) terms about Republican ideas: 1. I've got mine. Go get yours--which I will of course work to make nearly impossible. 2. If I've benefitted from years of government and social controls at your expense, why should I be harmed now because government wants you to have some benefits? 3. I believe in socialism---for me. For you, capitalism will be fine. (Think about this--corporate bailouts, cutting taxes for the rich, all kinds of tax write-offs, etc.)

As for this supposed R belief in lack of governmental control wherever possible, that always seems to end when someone wants to, say for example, smoke a joint, or when a man wants to have sex with a man, or when an unmarried man and woman have sex, or when anyone wants to do anything in their bedroom or what an R thinks is immoral, etc., etc.....

And let's not forget that it was President Bill Clinton himself who said, "the era of big government is over" (not that we actually believed it, but he did bring the deficit to almost ZERO) while Dubya himself has presided over the largest military and bureaucratic expansion in history and raised our deficit to astronomic levels. Oh--and Bush did all this with R's running Congress. And finally, do you feel that our bigger and bigger government under all these years of R domination has led to more or to less governmental control in our lives???

Read my lips--no new ideas.

Okay bring it on. I know the conservative bloggers will have my scalp now. CP does not love or hate any political party. He just sees the Dems as generally being the lesser of two evils. Sort of like poison or suffocation.

WASHINGTON POST CHIMES IN....ON CRIME

The Washington Post has discovered there is crime in Annapolis. See this article (sorry-you will need to copy and paste)
C:\Documents and Settings\Paul\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\L3ETCYMW\Annapolis's Anxiety Has Outpaced Crime Rate - washingtonpost_com.mht

A few things stand out from this article. As expected, Mayor Mayor continues to point her finger and rail away at critics:

"We're doing a variety of different things to secure public safety," Moyer said, "and a continuous drumroll of a handful of malcontents or people who are running for public office doesn't serve the public well."

(Well Madame Mayor, a handful of news releases does not serve us well either! Were you referring to CP? We hope so....CP is now officially a malcontent because he is about the only one left NOT running for Mayor)

The article goes on to say:

"Although some Annapolitans fear that Moyer's policy statements have reinforced the image that the city is in the throes of a crime wave, there is a consensus that the initiatives address long-standing issues."

There is a consensus? Huh? How could a reporter say such a thing? What consensus? Did he do a poll? Talk to a hundred folks at random? CP's consensus on this is REPORTERS SHOULD REPORT!!!

"Another concern is police recruitment. Annapolis and other jurisdictions are struggling to recruit and retain police personnel as officers continue to be deployed to Iraq through National Guard commitments. Five officers from the department have gone to Iraq this spring, Moyer said. Annapolis has 110 officers, she said, about 22 fewer than the city budgeted for."

The Mayor has finally figured this out...we think. The reporter should know that it is improper to end a sentence in a preposition, as in "about 22 fewer than the city budgeted for." The correct way to write that would have been, "about 22 fewer than the city budgeted for--you suckers!"

While CP is on prepositions and crime, here is a punny joke:

Q: Why is the electric chair period furiniture?
A: Because it ends a sentence.

Well--we are Capital Punishment, so there is a pun about capital punishment.

Consider Using the N-Word Less; Voluntary actions didn't get us civil rights, and they won't fix the climate

The above is the title of an article by Maryland and global activist Mike Tidwell that readers can view at this site: http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/09/04/change_redux/index.html

Making an interesting comparison between how drastic action was needed to end national civil rights abuses, Tidwell argues that we must be equally committed with global warming challenges. There is no proper "feel good" way to turn around the massive ship of overconsumption that is withering our planet. Drastic action is needed.

MAYOR MOYER--EQUAL WITH DUBYA IN THE POLLS....We'll fight in the shade

While CP is the first to concede that the CP polling system is totally unscientific, irreproducible and devoid of any empirical validity whatsoever, we shall never-the-less report that Mayor Moyer's performance is, well, it is what it is. With the final votes counted (the amazing sum of 13--a most lucky number) we see that about one quarter of respondents say she is, "Great for some-awful for others", while three-quarters give her a decided thumbs down or agree that she is "...terrible, like Marion Barry's last term".

Well, fortunately it is her last term too, but that still means two more years of finger-pointing, stonewalling, rancorous arguing and an overemphasis on sister cities, planting trees and otherwise ignoring important municipal matters. Oh, and let's not forget the upcoming gala anniversary celebration of our city, is it the three-hundredth? The three hundred-fiftieth? CP cannot keep count. Reminds him of Sparta--you know, as in "300."????? As one of King Leonidas' soldiers supposedly told the Pesians in reply to their threat to shadow the sky with arrows, said:

"Then we will fight in the shade"

Sounds good to me.

SO- DID THE SEGWAY MAKE A DIFFERENCE OR WAS THE COP ON THE SEGWAY ALSO VIOLATING THE LAW??

According to The Gaithersburg Gazette http://www.gazette.net/stories/090507/gaitnew211044_32393.shtml a police oficer riding a @#%^^#*&() Segway contraption recently made an arrest:

"At about 2 p.m. a police officer riding a motorized Segway vehicle on a park path behind the high school saw a male on a motorcycle ‘‘dirt bike,” Wagner said. The officer pulled in front of the man’s motorbike, which was stopped, then approached him to say that motorized vehicles are not allowed on the path, Wagner said."

According to the story, the officer chased the man on foot and arrested him. Let's restate this:

"A police officer riding a motorized Segway on a path approached a man to tell him that motorized vehicles are not allowed on the path."

Did the Segway make a difference in this apprehension? Not likely. All it did was give a law enforcement officer an opportunity to break the very law he was enforcing. It gets worse. A Segway may not be classified as a motorized vehicle but as an EPMD or Electronic Personal Mobility Device. They are legal on sidewalks in MD thanks to an underhanded and misleading p.r. campaign by its inventors before it was even patented--in 35 states no less! But if a "dirt bike" can endanger you or me on a path or a sidewalk, why not a cop or anyone else on a Segway?

REMEMBER--ONE OF MAYOR MOYER'S PLANS TO FIGHT CRIME IS TO BUY OUR POLICE MORE OF THESE ^#&&$#)))@^%%+(( contraptions!!

WE ALL HAVE TO TAKE OUR LUMPS....or THINK AND GROW RICH--FILTHY RICH

From today's Baltimore Sun, a piece about a Maryland man who just won the big lottery:

"Bartlett, 40, declared his intent to take a lump sum of about $48.6 million, or $32.6 million after taxes, rather than an annuity, which would pay him $3.7 million a year until 2032. Lottery officials said the winner would receive his check in seven to 10 days.Bartlett said he won't live extravagantly. He'll still shop at Wal-Mart and eat at McDonalds, he said, and has no plans to give away the money outside of family.The Wicca devotee has also said he wants to help improve a New Age gift shop he considers his spiritual home and focus on teaching. Wicca is a nature-based religion."

I guess he is now a Lumped Proletariat.

Oh yeah. CP loves these stories about regular folks becoming instantly and fabulously wealthy, and who say they won't change. Many such stories have been documented of the exact opposite happening to others who were similarly "lucky". Some of them ended up broke and in despair. Hey--this would make a fascinating movie.

CP is not a millionaire, nor does he play one on tv, nor does he go to McDonalds or Wal Mart. However, if he won the lottery, he'd be there in a second in a brand new Ford Explorer, just to take advantage of those deals. NOT!!!

No doubt, these big-box paragons of the American consumer culture will gobble up this story and rebroadcast it to the masses. Meanhile, won't it be fun to see how his "New Age" business--his "spiritual home" will be affected? I guess this guy must have read, and sold a few copies of "Think and Grow Rich" or "Wishcraft". Heck--it worked! Or was it just the odds???? If this Wicca is a nature based religion, maybe this fellow will buy up undeveloped land in Maryland and give it to the Nature Conservancy--or build a stone circle upon it?

MORE BAD TRANSPORTATION NEWS

CP just received this bad news from The Annapolis Department of Transportation (and indirectly from the County):

The last day of service for Annapolis Transit's Kent Island Shuttle and the C-50 South County Connection is Friday, September 28, 2007. Below is an important notice from the Anne Arundel County Office of Planning & Zoning, Transportation Division regarding the C-50 closure:

City of Annapolis has notified the County that it will no longer operate the C-50 route. The last day of service will be Friday, September 28 and will end with the last scheduled run of the day.The County deeply regrets that this service will end and is making every known effort to match this route's users with other means oftransportation. If you are using this route to make a work trip, please contact the Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association at 410-269-7433(RIDE) to discuss car and van pool opportunities. If you are using this route for shopping and/or medical trips and you are 55 years or older, or you have a disability and are 21 years or older, please contact the Department of Aging and Disabilities at 410-222-4222 or4826. The County is also investigating other possibilities and if any of possible, you will be contacted so that you know what we have learned.C-50 Route, Office of Planning & Zoning, Anne Arundel County2664 Riva Road MS6403, Annapolis, MD 21401


CP is especially saddened since he helped to plan and open the SOuth COunty route and executed the marketing and special events to annouce its arrival. Unfortunately (not for the Annapolis DOT) CP was away when the public meeting about this was held. CP tried in various forums to urge the County to either encourage or force the SOuth COunty users of their very expensive van paratransit service to use the regularly scheduled and less expensive Annapolis Transit service, but this fell on deaf ears. It would have provided a higher level of service for less money, but hey-that's not what government is about...is it? According to insiders, the City continues to refuse to sign the annual agreement with the county allowing it to accept a subsidy for the oepration fo Annapolis Transit.

DON'T EXPECT ARTMA (Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association) to do a darn thing. It never has, except to take about $60k per year from the County and pretend that it serves a useful purpose. CP would love to hear about your experiences with ARTMA.

A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT ANNAPOLIS H.S. BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

CP always attends the requisite Back to School Nights and this was the first at a high school.

Notes:
A big crowd!

Positive!

Principal Don Lilley needs to polish his public speaking skills. Please, energize and inspire me!

Why should I care about the neo-fascist NJROTC Program? (the portly guy in the khakis kept reminding us in his speech to "nevermind this and nevermind that..."???? The NJROTC students spread throughout the halls have more ribbons, garlands, epaulettes and medals hanging from their lapels, shoulders and heads than Sergeant York or the recently deceased Admiral Fluckey.

I wish they would have made sure we all had maps instead of just leaving them on a table where they could not be found.

Why do we have portable classrooms? How come they could not put numbers on them?

TEACHERS-- very positive! Mainly young and energetic. Very impressed. Met one teacher in the hall who was so positive she kept referring to The New Annapolis High. One concern--teachers who say the purpose of a class is for the students to pass those standardized tests. Okay, this is not the purpose of an education. In fact, it often detracts from an education. Let's get that out of the way......(all that ridiculous No Child's Left Behind....what's wrong with their Right Behinds?)

GOOD things are happening in our schools. Please send your children to them and support them (the schools and teachers, not the overpaid, meeting-attending educrats at Riva Road)

MAYORAL "PODCASTS"

This just in from Ray Weaver of the Annapolis Mayor's Public Information Office....The new City of Annapolis Podcast is at: http://www.annapolis.gov/info.asp?page=10922 This week; News about a new e-cycling program in the City of Annapolis, the Mayor talks about her recent crime initiatives and information about the upcoming Queen Anne's Ball to celebrate Charter 300 and Annapolis Alive!"

CP NOTES: This may be one of the best means of our city government communicating with we the people. It is up to us to listen and to respond, either through these pages, in Letters to The Editor of our newspapers or to the Mayor directly.

SIXTH HOMICIDE IN ANNAPOLIS THIS YEAR

.....occurred on Marcs Court in Bay Ridge Gardens.....maybe we should, like, uhhmmm, maybe we should have a meeting or something...pass a resolution....and while the killings go on, how much longer will it take before a majority of us begin to understand that IT IS GUNS THAT KILL PEOPLE!!!!! (Perhaps a majority do, but the NRA is too powerful???) How often are murders committed with sticks, knives or fists? Sure, they happen, but one person with one gun, especially the military style rifles that are so readily available, can kill easily from a distance.

all it takes is a finger and a flick
even a handgun can do the trick!
22, 36, 45 or 9 mm....Take your pick!

CP predicts the news about this will settle down. Nope, murders in Annapolis make the news one day and are forgotten the next....unless it happens in an open, public place or the victim is white or if white residents witnessed it.

If, as Mayor Moyer continues to contend (mistakenly I might add...), the national norm is onepolice officer per thousand residents, we should ask her and the Police Chief, what is the national murder rate per one thousand residents, because right now, we have just under .20 murders per thousand residents.

A QUICK LITTLE PLUG FOR THE DEMOCRATS

Sarah Flynn, President of the District 30 Democratic Club reminds area Dems of various events and volunteer opportunities throughout our area through email reminders. Some of the various things coming up include:

Thursday, September 6, 7:30 p.m. Monthly meeting of the Anne Arundel Democratic Central Committee, Chesapeake Room, Riva Heritage Facility (2nd Floor), 2664 Riva Road in Annapolis. Our club's representative to the AADCC is Lee Finney (lee.finney@att.net) and elected members from District 30 are Kory Blake, Anne Sieling, and Chuck Weikel. See http://www.annearundeldems.org/ for more info.

Friday, September 7, 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. Almost 7:30 Friday Morning Democratic Breakfast. Eastport Yacht Club, 317 First Street, Annapolis. Oz Bengur, a leading Turkish-American and speaker on US-Turkey relations, businessman, and former Congressional candidate, will speak on "Recent Elections in Turkey and Their Impact on U.S. Policy in Iraq and the Middle East." Cost: $5. To receive notices of upcoming speakers, contact Edie Segree at easegree@comcast.net.

Saturday, September 8, 12 Noon to 2:00 p.m., The Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center 1st Annual Authors Luncheon, Saluting Local and Regional Authors, Book Sales and Signing, Wiley H. Bates Heritage Park, 119 South Villa Ave., Annapolis. Cost $35.00 per person. For more info contact Program Coordinators Clarence Ross, Sr. at (410) 804-9500 (cell) or (410) 269-5359 (home) and Vincent O. Leggett (410) 269-7815 (home) or (410) 570-1187 (cell), e-mail: Vincent425@comcast.net. Proceeds from this event will support the on-going educational, historical and cultural programs offered by the Bates Legacy Center. There are also opportunities for corporate sponsorship of this event. All donations are tax-deductible.

Sunday, September 9. Door-knocking in Baltimore for Michael Sarbanes, civic activist and former head of the Maryland State Office of Crime Control and Prevention, candidate for Baltimore City Council President (http://sarbanesforbaltimore.com/). Join County Council members Josh Cohen and Jamie Benoit, Alderman Sam Shropshire and others for an afternoon of door-knocking, two days before the September 11 primary. The local contingent will depart for Baltimore at 10:30 a.m. from a secret, undisclosed location in Annapolis. To participate, e-mail Josh at eastportjosh@yahoo.com.

Sunday, September 9, 4 to 7 p.m. Wine and cheese fundraiser for Bill Richardson for President campaign at the Eastport home of Cindy Saunders, 531 Second Street, Annapolis. DVD, discussion, strategizing, etc. Minimum donation is $10. RSVP/questions: contact Cindy Saunders at 410-268-2199 or cynthiamsaunders@msn.com.

If you'd like to be placed on this mailing list, contact Sarah at: sarahflynn@comcast.net

Click here for a link to District 30 Democratic Club

ALL WE NEED IS ANOTHER BRIDGE???? WARNING: DANGEROUS CURVE AHEAD

The Capital urges the Governor to consider building another span to cross the Bay Bridge. http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_31-30/OPN

Puhleeze, somebody pass me the antacid. Before 1952, there was no bridge. Then we built a bridge. Then it brought development, which brought traffic. We built another bridge in 1972. It brought more traffic. Now the folks whose heads are stuck back in the sands of the 1950's want to build more bridges and more roads. That will in turn bring about more traffic and then more calls for yet more bridges! Even if gasoline were cheap and readily available, would this be a good roadmap for the future?

Alas, cheap fossil fuel is coming to an end. HUMANS-PREPARE NOW! As with streakers--the folks who used to strip naked and run in public places in the early 1970's, OUR END IS IN SIGHT.

All this in a world coming to grips with a human-induced and perhaps severe, global warming trend and in an area rated nationally for its unhealthy air. (Hint-making it easier to drive is not the answer)

LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT----ROADS AND CARS ARE THE PROBLEM. THEY ARE NOT ITS SOLUTION.

Now that CP has vented, allow him to climb off his high horse for a second. The skeptics among you are asking, okay CP, what is the answer? We'll all find out soon enough. The circle is closing. Time is running out. Sorry the picture is not prettier, but business as usual, as in applying 1950's solutions to 21st century challenges will not last. Sorry, I guess I could not climb off my high horse, but it's time we climbed out of our cars...

AA COUNTY GO'V'T SUPPORTED ACTIVITIES--A BUNCH OF PLUSES-ONE MINUS

Government can be a force for good. CP believes in active, liberal government to promote the common good, to stimulate beneficial activities and to make a more civil society. Here are just a few examples of why:

CP was pleased to attend and testify at the recent public hearing on the future of the County's lease of the Naval Academy Dairy Farm. Councilmember Jamie Benoit (D-4th) and Park and Recreation Director Frank Marzucco did a fine job outlining the situation and potential development of the farm for public-minded activities. Also in attendance were County Attorney Jonathan Hodgson and top-Leopold aide Alan Friedman. CP does not care what The Capital may say--if these three county employees make this farm work right for everyone's benefit, who cares if they make $100k per year or more? And CP was quite impressed by Councilman Benoit's hardwork and commitment. (Yes, Benoit did pay for his own beer afterwards--as did CP.)

Not only was the Navy farm a good example of government in action, but CP and at least a thousand other folks enjoyed Saturday night's Annapolis Symphony Orchestra's concert at Quiet Waters Park. It was free...well sort of...nothing is quite free of course. The evening was perfect and so was the music. CP just wishes that the two cars promoting co-sponsor's Nighttime Pediatrics did not have to park on the hill, blocking the view and the soundwaves. Note to Nighttime--thanks for your support--but why detract from the event you help to make possible? Traffic and car control---what a mess! Too many people coming in too many cars--and arriving too late. Then while everyone walks back to their cars, a long line of slow moving traffic drives ALONGSIDE them....This must be fixed..PUHLEEZE!

THE FARMER'S MARKET CP has always enjoyed this Saturday morning market at Riva Road and Truman Parkway, but its popularity is begininning to detract. As with the Park concerts, traffic and traffic control is a nightmare, although County Police are thankfully on hand to direct. CP almost feels like Yogi Berra when he said, "Nobody goes there anymore--it's too crowded." Fresh produce, fresh bread and jam, flowers, herbs...all produced locally! It's also open on Tuesdays, but on a much smaller scale.

AND ONE NEGATIVE...WILL SOMEONE IN COUNTY GOV'T PLEASE HELP??? County-trained master gardeners were on hand t the Farmer's Market to answer gardening questions. They had a sign warning that "Mulch volcanoes kill trees." Mulch volcanoes? Yeah-you know, when a huge pile of mulch is "volcanoed" around a tree's base? We see this at almost every commercially landscaped development--malls, strip centers, new home developments, yet it is bad, bad, bad for our trees. The one Master Gardener that CP spoke with was angry that a long stretch of median in county-owned Bestgate Road near the Mall is lined with dozens of trees, if not a hundred or more, each piled up with an unsightly and unhealthy mulch volcano. This Master Gardener said county officials promised the would be corrected--in early July. Why should we taxpapyers be paying to slowly kill these trees we just paid to plant on one of our roads? PLEASE HELP! PLEASE REMOVE THESE KILLING MULCH VOLCANOES.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND OTHER LOCAL BLOG MAKE MARYLAND'S TOP BLOG LIST

For the second time, Capital Punishment has made BlognetnewsMaryland's most influential blog list, this time at the number 20 spot. Fellow Annapolis blogger Annapolis Politics came in at the number 18 spot. We'll try harder.