Annapolis Capital Punishment

And now, in anticipation of Monday's speech, a poem:

Let us all listen and learn
What is the state of our city?
Money all gone or money to burn?


Ellen will say that it's pretty
We know her words we must spurn
I'll bet the city's state is shitty

And speaking of something to burn
What will she say, Ellen "O." Ellen?
We're not closer to Heaven...but Hell'n!!

I can just imagine the speech: "The state of the city is good. Finances are sound, we are well managed, crime is down...."

Well, maybe. Here are my thoughts.

Look for her to express scorn and anger, point fingers and play the blame game. It's her thing. She'll begin with finance and talk about our tax rate and our favorable bond rating. She'll try to paint a pretty picture about our budget and ignore the fact that she made it grow almost as fast as health care and education...way beyond the cost of living and inflation increases. She'll talk about the stimulus "shovel-ready" project requests she has submitted (we'll want to see those details for sure...), but I'll bet they are mainly Ellen O. legacy building projects.

The mayor may make some remarks about the Market House, but will brush it with how she is handling the situation in a proper manner. She may say how nice it is to have City Dock working so well--and I am told it came in under-budget and under-cost, so yes, that is nice. She may make mention of progress related to the Sailing Hall of Fame. She may ignore the debacle continuing at the police department renovations and she may not say a word about how we are in danger of losing our accreditation. The fire department may not be getting accredited either I have been told.

She'll probably tout how well the construction of the new recreation building is coming along--and it does appear to be progressing. She will likely talk about parks and trees--those are her pet projects. She will probably not talk about our frighteningly threatened water and sewer infrastructure or how much that may cost to repair.

I doubt she'll discuss the huge number of contractual workers she hand picks that cost us millions
of dollars and I doubt she'll say a word about our mismanaged transit system, our county-city relations or relations with the state. At least she can report that we have nice relations with our many sister-cities.

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