Why does Mayor Moyer want to spend city funds to buy a golf course? This one has my head spinning. Can somebody explain this one? Can you Mayor Moyer?
As if the police station and Market House problems were not enough--now we need a golf course?
I got a call from the American Institute for Cancer Research today. While the guy on the phone was asking me if I would help them by mailing 16 letters to neighbors on my street, whose name he mispronounced, I went online to learn more.
This outfit raised about $39 million in 2006, mostly from public donations and actually gave away only about $5.3 million for research. About $26 million went to public education programs. That left about $13.5 million for all their supporting services. I looked further.
Grants really only totaled about $4 million because the remaining $1.3 million went to items such as salaries, professional fees, travel and entertainment. Hmm.......
I looked further. The lion's share, for supposed public health education, went to $6.2 million for postage, $2 million for salaries, $4 million for professional fees.
However, most of the annual report is filled with photos of people in lab coats mixing pipettes and looking in microscopes and spinning centrifuges (That's fancy scientist talk by the way). I guess the photos of the lawyers sunning in Cozumel at a conference would not have gone over too well.
See for yourself at www.aicr.org/site/DocServer/AIC_2006_Annual_Report.pdf?docID=1261
I asked the caller who he actually worked for, and since they always hesitate, he said he was calling behalf of the AICR, but when pressed, admitted he works for a telemarketing firm. I also told him I was on the national "do not call" list and he was violating federal law. He said that the law does not apply to non-profits.
That's some non-profit! And yet I wonder, what will happen if we actually do find a cure for cancer? All these bureaucracies will have to quickly find new work. Maybe restless leg disease or reactive airway disorder or broken hangnail syndrome. That's what they did with The March of Dimes when we licked Polio. It went on to birth defects! The lab folks must be thinking, "Hey if we cure this thing, we'll be out of work."
And finally, I doubt my neighbors care what I think. A letter from me would likely be discarded unopened. (NOTE--you may be receiving a phone call from these people.)
Visit: www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3264
PS The next day I got a call from the Cancer Fund of America. So I went to www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3416
to learn more about them. This is a scam too! It's just a fundraising operation.
Moral: Be Careful!! Give Your Donations to Local Charities You Can Trust. I recommend that you donate to the Annapolis Capital Punishment web blog. After all, it all gets spent locally.
A few days agao, CP pulled out a Police beat story about a pregnant woman whose three children were found wandering around by police on a school day. Somewhat seriously, CP suggested she made a good case for forced sterilization. (Original post at A Strong Case for Forced Sterilization.....Three and a half kids....more to come?)
Here is a response from Sandee Bruneman
This is the first time I've read your blog. I didn't have a strong reaction to anything until I read the police beat story about the "3 1/2 kids." Because you know how I formed my family, I imagine you would know why I reacted strongly to your suggestion about "affordable abortions." I am assuming the mother was either Black or Latina and without an involved father figure. I'm about to make a sweeping generalization, but I think I have enough experience with these cultures to do so: abortion is not an option most of these mothers would choose, even if readily available. The more children they have, the more money they get. The women in this situation I have encountered will tell you they are very devoted to their children, despite how they treat them and/or neglect them. They are unfortunately perpetuating the cycle in which they were raised. Unless Soc. Services removes the children from the home, the options available to them for relief - abortion, adoption, birth control, foster care, even day care - are culturally viewed as abominations.
As you may guess, I am vehemently against abortion, however, if the alternative is another abandoned, abused, neglected, and/or drug addicted soul wandering the streets, then it might be a better solution. I am all for "forced sterilization" of many of these women who are in the prison system because DSS finally got around to investigating their crimes and got law enforcement involved. But a better alternative would be a reform in the welfare system to cut off the funds for women who are "serial procreators" in order to support themselves. Sex for many of them is their only available form of payment for drugs and/or attention from the "desirable" men in their lives. Of course I'm biased as all my children had birth mothers who fall into this category.
______________
Sandee: Thank you for your letter. It pains all of us to see people "perpetuating this cycle" and yes, social and governmental reforms are indeed in order. If a woman is indeed devoted to her children, how then can she neglect them or treat them in such a way? I don't have the answers, but I know there are many mis-perceptions and we don't really have a community conversation about this. However, if we boil it down to choices individuals make, and I believe that ultimately, that is what we must do in life and take responsibility for our own actions, than we must look at women in such situations and ask them, "How can you continue to let yourself become just a baby factory?" It sounds harsh and cruel and insensitive, but today, more than ever, there are options available for women in these situations.
Here we have one person who is neither responsible for herself, her children or our society and with three neglected children, she is having a fourth. And who will pay for all her medical care? And who will pay for so many other things these children will need? And who pays for all the additional social resources needed to educate and raise these children? And who pays when these kids misbehave and disrupt and bring down our schools? I do not ignore the many reasons why this sad situation has come about, and there is plenty of blame to go around, but in our culture of victimization and our movement toward becoming a "nanny society", we must never lose sight of the fact that ultimately, each of us has the power to make such decisions.
Tonight our educrats, many of whom are the beneficiaries of this "self perpetuating cycle" and "nanny system" are hosting a group of forums where I think they are going to tell us it is the school's fault that African American children are failing and falling behind in schools. Hmmm...guess they'll demand more privileges and more money. But I'll be there to speak out. I hope others will as well. It's not the school's fault. It's the fault of the larger society as well, but mainly it's the fault of the parents--such as the neglectful mother who has "3.5" kids.
Thank you and let's keep up the conversation. Paul Foer aka "CP"
Paul,
CP is pleased to promote the following:
Sunday May 18, 2008 3:00pm, Reception to follow concert
St. Luke's Episcopal Church,1101 Bay Ridge Ave,
Eastport, (410) 268-5419
Please join us for a special concert to benefit community arts programs for those most deserving!
$20 minimum donation, tax-deductible, RSVP requested, first come/first serve
Dear Friends and Community Members:
I wanted to extend an invitation to the annual benefit and Spring concert for Creating Communities -- we are grateful to partner with St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Eastport (next to athletic club) who have graciously offered their lovely church. We are celebrating our official 501(c)(3) designation and are excited to continue the major impact we have had in the community over the last year.
In 2007, we delivered a six-month program of art and music for adults with debilitating mental illness at Arundel Lodge, a three month program for children with emotional problems, an after-school arts program at Bates Middle to name a few!
Please donate generously so we may achieve our goals of serving Annapolis and Anne Arundel County with the arts. 2008 will see us documenting the stories of Holocaust survivors and WWII vets in Anne Arundel County, piloting an in-room patient art cart at AAMC, an arts mentorship camp at Maryland Hall and work with Arundel Lodge.
In peace,
Rob Levit 410-279-3809 (call for info, reservations, donations, questions)
Founding Director, Creating Communities
www.creatingcommunities.net – Harnessing the power of the arts for the community
Rob Levit, Artist-In-Residence, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts
www.roblevit.com
rlevit@comcast.net
Phone: 410-263-6265
Cell: 410-279-3809 (business only)
Music for events/Creativity programs for schools and business
2007 Community Trustee Award, Leadership Anne Arundel
2006 Annie Award for Performing Arts, Anne Arundel County
CD sales: www.myspace.com/roblevitjazz
The below release is an interesting development from a group originally created to address serious crime issues in Eastport. It seems that they are beginning to understand that crime-fighting was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the mismanagement of our municipal affairs. This below news release is really interesting, but I am not sure I completely agree with it or understand it, although I fully support the goal of transparency in government. After all, we're talking about a budget and I can hardly balance a checkbook.
On the face of it, I believe that the City is probably fairly well managed in terms of financial operations and have said this before. It has been confirmed by our consistently high bond ratings, but there are underlying, structural issues--major issues. Unfortunately I think there are probably only two people in city government who really understand the budget in its entirety, and again, this is a strong case for us becoming a City Manager form of government, as I have consistently supported. I find it hard to believe that the city's budget has grown the way this release claims it has grown. It's unusually difficult for this city to raise revenue due to the high percentage of nontaxable property. Cities always have trouble raising revenue, but unlike the federal folks, we can't print money. I don't think we have a philosophy of economizing or a management ethic that promotes efficiency. I speak from eight years of experience as a city employee, and I know for certain that efficient use of resources was never on the front burner at the Transportation Department. Some call it tax and spend. I think that probably fits the philosophy of the mayor and the majority of city council members. Jule Stankivic is probably the most consistently fiscally conservative member but Republicans Paone and Cordle probably lean that way as well.
However, fuel prices are way up and health care costs continue to grow. It's not cheap to provide good services, and in many respects, we provide good services to a populace that has a high demand and a high expectation. I could go on, but let the Eastport folks have their say:
Press Release - May 8, 2008
Annapolitans United Against Crime
Contact: Stanford Erickson
202 297- 3419
The same Annapolis Mayor who spent months denying that there was a crime problem in Annapolis, who said we should trust her on the management of the Market House, is now attempting to steamroll a budget through the City Council that calls for a 20% increase in raises for her personal staff along with a 4.56 percent cost-of-living increase for most city employees, said organizers of the Annapolitans United Against Crime."
"We started this organization to stop the gunfire in Eastport, but as we have studied the proposed City Budget, which is to be voted on May 12, to determine if there is enough money being funneled to prevent crime, it soon became apparent that mismanagement of public safety is just the tip of the iceberg of how Annapolis is autocratically undermined by Mayor Ellen O. Moyer," said Cindy Cole.
“Mayor Moyer is the CEO of our city, she proposes a budget but the City Alderpeople are responsible to all of us Annapolitans for spending that is reasonable during times in which our costs are going up and our tax-based property values are declining,” said Babe Feldman, a steering committee member of Annapolitans United Against Crime (AUAC). “We are looking to the City Council to not rubber stamp the Mayor’s budget but to thoroughly vet it, justify it and explain to us, the voters, the budget they ultimately approve.”
While the mayor is not receiving a raise herself, the budget for the Mayor's Office alone includes $171,036 in salaries for new positions that is on top of $86,725 in pay increases for existing positions, said Julie Mussog who heads up the Budget Committee for Annapolitans United Against Crime. “The overall amount of pay increases in the Mayor's Office is 14 percent.”
The cost-of-living adjustment for state employees in 2008 is 2 percent and for federal employees 2.3 percent.
“During Moyer's term, the Budget has gone from $29 million to $81 million,” said Bob McWilliams, also a member of the AUAC steering committee. “That is a 279 percenn increase or 19 percent compounded annual growth rates while the population of Annapolis has stayed about the same. According to information provided by a budgetary city official, the capital investment per citizen (CIP) for Annapolis today $4,369 per capita versus $2,156 for Rockville taxpayers, $1,150 for Baltimore taxpayers and $3,201 for Hagerstown taxpayers.”
“In reviewing the budget, one of the first items that came to my attention was the lack of serious effort to hold city departments accountable for explaining increases and for justifying them with measurable objectives,” Julie Mussog. “For most Departments, the goals and objectives are fairly abstract and do not well represent what the Departments actually do. I was most disappointed to see that the police department’s number one goal was continuing the renovation of Department Headquarters, since that seems to fall under central services not the police department. The number two goal was continuing to address community concerns. There was no reference to recruiting goals.”
“I was pleased to note that there is an additional $50k allotted for police recruitment in next year’s budget,” said Mrs. Mussog. “I hope that will go a long way to filling some of our 20+ open positions. But I also was surprised that this year’s budget for the police department includes the salary for all 20+ open spots, and since these spots were never filled, that should have been an almost $2M surplus in their budget this year. Knowing that it is unrealistic to hire over 20 officers in one year, we could just hold the budget steady and allow the police department to reallocate these funds into technology until more officers can be hired. According to the ICMA, these technology investments should go a long way to enhancing public safety.”
Stanford Erickson, also an AUAC steering committee member and credited with creating the title “Stop the Gunfire in Eastport Now”, suggests that citizens need to ban together and create a new taskforce called, “Stop the Mismanagement of Annapolis Now!”
It has gone from bad to worse and despite our efforts to have a city economic development office or department or whatever, this city-owned property is another black mark on this embattled Moyer Administration. Recently a few tenants left--in the middle of the night. Poof! And they were gone.No need to recount the scene here. If you're an Annapolitan, you know about it. So, what is to be done?
Here's an idea. What if it could become a combination multi-modal transportation center and police station and visitors center? Imagine if this became the place for tour buses to disembark, for Greyhound and for the downtown city buses as well as the commuter buses to Baltimore? Would this work? How about if we had bike rentals going on there?What if we added a 24-hour, police sub-station and then had a full-service visitors center in there as well?
Click on the survey on the upper left. And please, feel free to write in comments.
Alderman Dave Cordle, a chief investigator with the States Attorney for AA County and reserve Army officer, as well as a putative candidate for mayor, is a voice for public safety in Annapolis. He is also a voice for strongly criticizing political opponents, which of course is no big deal, except when it turns vicious and mean spirited. CP previously reported on how Cordle attacked local Democratic activist Chuck Weikel for his efforts to help immigrants gain citizenship and register to vote, saying he was helping illegal aliens to vote and "alter our way of life." Cordle stood behind his words and although he offered no proof of such activity, insisted it was a fact. One would suppose that perhaps somewhere, illegal aliens may be voting, but that charge seemed out of line, especially coming from an elected official and law enforcement officer.
Now comes the latest salvo in which Cordle writes a "Dear Chuckie" letter to Weikel. Read the barrage below, beginning with an email from Weikel to Alderman Sam Shropshire:
-------------- Original message ----------------------
This just in from www.ILIVEONCLAYSTREET.com
First, see what has just been posted about the recent murder on Pleasant Street, a cross street of Clay Street. That's of course the bad news.
Now for the good news from blogger Timm:
Please spread the word, I know this email needs to get to more people
than it is because a few had mentioned they didn't find out about last
weeks incredibly successful dinner until it was too late. Please
everyone know that this Thursday night at 630pm The Clay Street Supper
Club returns! This week we are setting up on the corner of West
Washington and Northwest Street. Come join us!
There is one rule, bring food and if you can't bring food then you are
more than welcome to eat what we have but, you have to eat with us.
There is no grab and go!
We will see you Thursday night at 630pm.
If anyone has any questions please call Timm Grins at 443.857.8775.
CLAY IS GOOD. Spread the word.
www.ILIVEONCLAYSTREET.com
An alert CP reader sent us the following:
I just took The Bush-McCain Challenge -- an online quiz to see if you can tell the difference between George W. Bush and John McCain. Check it out, and see if you can do any better than I did!
http://Bush-McCainChallenge
"BK" Arnold
Go ahead and try it for yourself. The more I look at McCain, the harder he is to figure out. I just don't understand why so many rightwingers are unhappy with him for supposedly not being conservative enough for them?
Congratulations to ourselves. We are now an official town on Craigslist, the popular internet site does, well it does just about anything...check it out: annapolis.craigslist.org/
Send any interesting Annapolis stories about your experiences on Craig's List to foerp@msn.com.
See especially the part about The Shredder Truck. Maybe somebody will be schlepping all the lease negotiation notes and papers for The Market House
K E E P I N G Y O U I N F O R M E D
May 6, 2008
| What's Below |
| May 15 ECA Meeting Speakers |
| Shredder Truck Coming to Eastport |
| Save the Date: Coconut Ball |
| Buy Your Home & Garden Tour Tickets |
ECA General Membership Meeting Thursday, May 15 The Eastport Civic Association's May membership meeting will take place in the gym of Eastport Elementary School. Join us for coffee, snacks, and a chance to browse displays provided by members of the Eastport Business Association, starting at 6:30 p.m. This will give ECA members a chance to learn more about the businesses in our neighborhood. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m., and will feature important guest speakers:
|
June 7 - Protect Yourself from Identity Theft Shredding is the safest way to dispose of your personal documents. In the coming months, the Eastport Civic Association, in partnership with the Eastport Business Association, will bring a shredder truck to Eastport. On Saturday, June 7, the services of the shredder truck will be provided free of charge to ECA members between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The truck will be parked in the lot of the Eastport United Methodist Church, 926 Bay Ridge Avenue. Check your emails for updates and guidelines in the coming weeks. |
| Save the Date for the Coconut Ball Saturday, May 31 Annapolis Maritime Museum Beach 6 - 10 p.m. |
More baaad, baaad news from our Market House. It seems that a bunch of tenants quietly moved out in the wee hours of today. It was rather intelligent of them to first enjoy the brisk sales of a lovely spring weekend with the various Annapolis Alive and Maritime Festival activities. Oh well. They're gone. Another sad chapter in a seemingly endless, sad story is closed and we move on to the next chapter.
It's a good thing Mayor Moyer has been so excited about turning her enconomic development office into an economic development department while all this has been going on. Did this mean that her crony appointee Mike Miron now gets an even bigger salary? Of course he was just one player in this debacle and there is blame to go around to all sides. It's just so odd that in this administration, incompetence and negligence just seems to get ignored if not rewarded.
See, the city is trying to succeed (ostensibly) in the real estate management business, but it is failing and can hardly manage its own municipal affairs. So, it goes and uplifts a whole bureaucracy in order to help other business manage their affairs better.
Hey--here's a thought. What if a similar thing happens at our police department? I mean, considering the mess-up on Taylor Avenue with the contracting and renovations, what if one morning the whole police department just slipped out of town? Nawwww....(But it does beg an interesting question. Were the lights on and doors open with trucks coming and going early this morning and if so, did anybody see or hear what was going on?)
See The Capital: www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/05_05-14/TOP
COMMUNITY FORUMS TO ADDRESS DISPARITIES
IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, DISCIPLINE, AND SPECIAL EDUCATION
Community forums designed to address disparities in education and update residents on the progress of an agreement between the NAACP, RESPECT, Inc., parents, and other concerned citizens and Anne Arundel County Public Schools will be held at seven locations across the county on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
The forums, which run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., will be held at the following locations:
New Life Fellowship Baptist Church, 7605 Harmans Road, Hanover (Old Mill and Arundel clusters)
Ralph J. Bunche Community Center, Mill Swamp Road, Edgewater, MD 21037 (South River and Southern clusters)
Asbury Town Neck United Methodist Church, 429 Asbury Dr., Severna Park (Broadneck, Old Mill, and Severna Park clusters)
Jacobsville Elementary School, 3801 Mountain Road, Pasadena (Chesapeake and Northeast clusters)
Annapolis Middle School, 1399 Forest Drive, Annapolis (Annapolis cluster)
Lloyd Keaser Community Center, 5757 Belle Grove Road, Brooklyn Park (North County cluster)
Boys and Girls Club at Freetown Village, 7820 Darrell Henry Court, Pasadena (Glen Burnie and Northeast clusters)
In 2004, the NAACP, RESPECT, Inc., and about 20 individual parents issued a formal complaint to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) regarding the disparities in academic achievement, disproportionate expulsions and suspensions, disproportionate identification, and placement of African American students in special education.
The United States Justice Department mediated an agreement between the complainants and AACPS that was signed in September 2005. The primary terms of the agreement include ensuring parity for African American students and have been amended to align with the 2012 goals in AACPS’ current strategic plan.
Community representatives from the OCR Advisory Committee and AACPS staff will share student data and information about the achievement gap, discipline, and special education in their neighborhood schools. They will lead a discussion about how the school system and community can work together to close the gaps and support students in the school and in the community.
Students will take part in the panel discussion and showcase their talents by providing entertainment. All residents are encouraged to attend to support these students and to discuss ways in which Anne Arundel County Public Schools and its partners can ensure the success of all children.
The below is an unedited letter CP received from Annapolis. Although I continue to deplore anonymous letters, they are sometimes worth publishing. Read it. Believe it or don't believe it. Take it for what it's worth. However, the fundamental issue continues to be that violence-prone, drug dealing in our public housing "communities" remain at the center of our local skyrocketing crime. If our elected officials and law enforcement organizations cannot get a handle on this, we have to start wondering who are the real criminals.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Another Homicide in Annapolis!!!":
I lived in annapolis until i was 20 years old i lived the street life that you hear about i have had 4 freinds die in last year and it aint going to change open air drug market nobodys hideing it i did my share of dirt. Its not nickel and dime millions of dollars a week go through these neiborhoods i live in baltimore now and baltimore has nothing on bs annapolis has annapolis has city,state,county and federal police the feds are the only thing keeping it from getting out of hand it has always been like this nothing same story every year
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