Seasons

We’ve posted a photo of Drawbridge in Season.  Here’s one of Drawbridge Off-Season:

Still Relevant

What do we want our legacy to be?  Do we want it to endure?  After all, what’s the point of having a legacy if it’s not an enduring legacy?

Do we want to emulate the Founding Fathers who created our nation or perhaps the Greatest Generation who fought and won a war against evil to protect that nation and the world, or would we aspire to emulate the Know-Nothing party of the mid-19^th century which would have undermined the great strength of our nation?

Hillel the Elder, a scholar who lived around the beginning of the Common Era, is quoted as saying (with slight modification), “If not us, who?  If not now, when?”  These questions still apply all these centuries later.

As an individual, I want to make a difference.  As a group, we can turn that difference into a positive and meaningful change.  By ‘change’ I mean that we can alter the course of decline and deterioration of our community that is being fostered by greedy developers who have no interest in a meaningful and positive future for our community.  What do you think developers and special interests wish for when they blow out the candles on their birthday cakes?  How about this?  They wish for a passive electorate and a low-information community, one that is unwilling to make the effort to express an opinion or to get involved.  Is that a wish any of us want to grant?

I want to find positive paths to a future where we can grow old and our children can grow up.  Yes, I will criticize where I see short-sightedness and questionable actions by developers, elected officials, or our neighbors.  But I won’t leave it there; I will make every effort to turn lemons into lemonade.

Many of the problems that face our community are manmade.  We created them.  We  can reverse them.  We have the intellectual might.  We have the technology.  All we have been lacking is the will and commitment to influence change.

Let me once again applaud Annapolis for approving the Solar Farm.  A multi-win:  A source of revenue for the City, a reduction in fossil fuel use, and a smart re-use of a landfill.  It took a long time across multiple city administrations, to get the job done.  That’s the kind of fortitude we need.  Much of what we need to do will not be fast and will not be easy, but it is necessary.

We need to change P&Z efforts.  We need to promote and protect open space and our forests.  We need to ensure the purity of our air.  We need to minimize storm water run-off.  We need to continue to find new sources of revenue for the City.  We need to employ technology to inform planning and policy decision-making.

For all of this we need the support of our elected officials.  Some of them will rise to the occasion.  Others will not even rise to the level of mention of an asterisk.  It is their choice.

[Originally posted in 2015 and still relevant now.]

City Council

The Agenda for the Monday October 24 City Council meeting can be found in SHARE:  Community Announcements.

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MRE Tug of War:  Saturday 11/5

MRE Event calendar can be found in SHARE:  Community Announcements

It’s Been a While

Remember…  all photos welcome, whether buildings, streets historic sites or mood shots.  Here is clouds over marina.

Open Letter

From Alderman Arnett (not received until Tuesday afternoon, too late to attend the Monday meeting):

Ward 8 and Friends

Annapolis Chief of Police Mike Pristoop is under attack. I want you to know that I support for him and the police officers that risk their lives each day to provide us protection. I hope you will join me in that support.

You may have seen an editorial in Monday’s Capital by Carl Snowden. Sadly, Mr. Snowden’s editorial was full of false information. Today’s headline was “Group votes no Confidence in the city chief.” The group voting no confidence is the Caucus of African-American Leaders. I support their right to their opinion.

However, I want to make it crystal clear that I have confidence in the Chief and the force he leads. And I don’t have confidence in some leaders of the Caucus, whom I believe are acting with ulterior motives.

The City Council Public Safety Committee is meeting Monday evening at 5 PM in Council Chambers. I ask that as many of you as possible come to that meeting as a show of support for the Chief and his officers.

As it happens, there is good reason to come to the meeting in any event as the agenda includes discussion on Community Policing; Progress on Police Initiatives (body cameras, etc.); and a draft Council Resolution in support of the Police force and Chief.

So please, if you can make it, do come out Monday evening to support the Annapolis Police Department and hear about their accomplishments.

Ross

 

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City Council Agenda for last night can be found in SHARE:  Community Announcements.  Sorry it’s late being posted but if you are interested to know what was discussed, there it is.

If you did…

For all of you who took the anonymous Survey we posted 10/5, thank you for participating.  If you haven’t yet taken this opportunity to spend, literally, 5-10 minutes to check off 10 questions, what are you waiting for?  The hyperlink is at the end of this short post.  Please let us know what you think.

We continue to see previously announced development projects ramp up, and brand new projects announced.  This is a cycle with no end in sight and not necessarily a negative as long as the community is involved.  But in many cases, citizen participation is relegated to the occasional town meeting.  Have you ever been to one?  They appear to be participatory meetings. Informed, interested community members do attend and we are given the opportunity to ask questions and to give opinions that are not recorded.  Remember that.  The sponsors of the meetings, alderpersons, give answers to the questions.  The meetings concludes.  There are no minutes of these meetings.  There is nothing put down in black and white to build on, so they do not produce cumulative results.  In my view they are not consequential.  They ARE necessary, just not sufficient.

We’re all busy.  No one feels they really have time for one more commitment.  But ask yourself, is the need to determine the future of the community, where we raise our children and live our lives, a great enough incentive and motivation to do something?

Is it?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8QJ2CS7

Just click on the above link to go to the Survey (or Ctrl+Click).  Thank you!

SURVEY: What Do We Value?

(Please take the short 10 question Survey at the end of this post.)

This year is ending as last year ended.  We continue to see previously announced development projects ramp up, and brand new projects announced.  This is a cycle with no end in sight and not necessarily a negative as long as the community is involved.

What are we able to do to ensure the community has a voice in this process?  Shouldn’t we have a fair shake, along with government representatives, project proponents, and the planning, zoning legal/consulting establishment?  We need to maintain an active participation, early and often.

In many cases, citizen participation is relegated to the occasional town meeting.  Have you ever been to one?  They appear to be participatory meetings. Informed, interested community members do attend and we are given the opportunity to ask questions and to give opinions that are not recorded.  Remember that.  The sponsors of the meetings, alderpersons, give answers to the questions.  The meeting concludes.  There are no minutes of these meetings.  There is nothing put down in black and white to build on, so they do not produce cumulative results.  In my view they are not consequential.  They ARE necessary, just not sufficient.

We’re all busy.  No one feels they really have time for one more commitment.  But ask yourself, is the need to determine the future of the community, where we raise our children and live our lives, a great enough incentive and motivation to do something?  Is it?

And when, if not now?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8QJ2CS7

Please take a few minutes to complete the anonymous survey attached to this hyperlink (Just click on it or Ctrl+Click).

 

 

 

 

Comment on Projects GC 9/29

We posted Balance on 9/14, from which a Capital Guest Column, entitled Projects Need Environmental Goals, was published Thursday, 9/29.  Several people have been kind enough to tell us they enjoyed the column and one of them, Diane Butler, sums up their comments:  Thanks you!

Mr. Sherman,

I couldn’t  agree with you more! I am shocked at the lack of a coordinated effort to improve  our environment as we pursue these projects.  We are missing a great opportunity.

Please  call me some time and I will fill you in on what I and others are working on in that respect.

Diane Butler