Annapolis Capital Punishment

The following is a guest editorial written by Duncan Hood of Annapolis. As always, we must remind readers that the views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher of this blog:

Well, well. rampant greed and unbridled development move forward in our community once again. A short while ago, I read with great dismay of the ousting of the Mexican Cafe' from its Forest Dr. location to make way for a CVS drugstore. Not a needed addition to the community, no, this CVS will be relocated from the Hillsmere Shopping Center, a whopping ½ mile distant. This is progress?

The Mexican Cafe' has been a landmark in our community for years. Its funky, off-beat atmosphere and inexpensive food have packed the place ever since its opening. This is one of the truly unique and fun social centers of our community. It was one of the hallmarks of Annapolis,one of so many that have now fallen under developers' blades.

A trip to Annapolis at one time was fun, exciting and different. It was an off-beat combination of an historic town, anchored by the Naval Academy, St. John's College, and the yachting and legislative industries that lent Annapolis our unique signature and vibrancy. We had a grocery store, an exciting Market House with over 30 vendors anchoring our waterfront, Fawcetts Boat Supply was a hub of activity for the boating community, we actually had two hardware stores, and we had the charm of being a picturesque town where people lived and worked. We even had actual watermen landing catch and selling it from the Market House. Annapolis was a place to visit and experience for people in our region, nation and the world.

Over the past years we have squandered away our uniqueness and vibrancy due to inept management of our resources and a failure of planning to anticipate social and environmental consequences in the pursuit of a fast buck.

When will all this end? Remember when there was a forest on Forest Drive? Why not put a Walmart overlooking the bay in Bay Ridge? How about a Duty Free shopping complex where Jimmy Cantler's Riverside Inn is?! Yeah, and Fawcett's is moving out next week, let's put a Harrah's Casino at the head of City Dock. That way people will have enough spare change to feed the slot machines in all of the T-shirt shops and tattoo parlors that will soon blossom downtown. Maybe we could even hire actors to pretend they live and work down there too!

It's time to realize that we are deeply, fundamentally threatened by rampant development and urban sprawl. Daily, our uniqueness being eroded away, property by property, square foot by square foot, community by community. We in this country, have millions of miles of strip development, coast to coast, border to border. Anywhere, USA, looks just like Anywhere-else, USA. Where is our identity? Where is our lifestyle? Where is our sanity? Where is our sense? We need businesses contributing to our communities as well as profiting from them; businesses that fit into our communities instead of stamping them out.

What can we do to push back against this kind of development? Two things: First, we can vote with our wallets. Shop locally. Who are the local businesses around you; Zu Coffee,  Grumps, those in The Market House? How can you structure your trips to patronize them? I shopped entirely downtown this holiday season. It was fun, engaging, and I was appreciated by all shops I visited. Conversely, we can avoid big box expansion by not shopping in those big box stores. You can find local businesses and plan your shopping trips by visiting the Annapolis Sustainable Business Alliance: www.annapolisfirst.org . See who's near you and visit them.

Secondly, on a governmental scale, it's time to create and implement modern, sensible and operational planning and zoning policies that not only take physical elements into account, but that also address the social and cultural uniqueness of our community. Until we push back on both of these fronts, we are truly doomed to an endless cycle of development and decay into a morass of vanilla-sameness. That would be a shame indeed.

Duncan Hood

Ward 7Annapolitan, Eastporter


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