The Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC) is a unique organization. Its membership apparently has a household income well above the median for the community as a whole. More than that, it also has leverage with the current political establishment and other community decision-makers. But the AYC is not using its privileged position to help the community impacted by its huge Eastport expansion project.
One (Bad) is selfishness, which is a negative trait on its own. The AYC is selfish because it is keeping all its resources to support the membership. But that’s natural, you say. Well, yeah, as an immediate focus. But here’s the deal: The AYC also benefits from a tax exempt status, and that puts it in a different category. It’s a totally other question whether or not it actually deserves that status.
The contribution that the AYC provides to the community is essentially pennies per month per member. Their interest is narrowly focused on expanding their facilities and their membership. And they are attempting this while trying to circumvent a free and open community discussion on their real project proposals.
The Other (Greed), is even worse that selfishness. Greed is the inordinate desire to possess more than one needs and the proposed Eastport AYC projects are also taking much more from the community than most realize. They are attempting to take our quality of life and lifestyle away from us. They want to keep everything they have and also greedily take what we value. Their greed is threatening to strip the tranquility from our community.
The expansion project will bring with it increased traffic, noise, odors, congestion, parking problems and an impact on air and water quality, all of which is detrimental to our community, now and for the future. The costs of cleaning up their ongoing mess will be ours to pay, with essentially no economic benefit for the overall community. The proposed project will bring only low-paying seasonal jobs, with no multiplier effect for other local businesses. It will eliminate middle-income housing on adjacent streets.
Moreover, recent planning efforts basically nullify part of their original public presentation. Now, instead of a small pool service lunch counter they have a massive full-service restaurant.
As I have previously stated, there should be a moratorium on all the projects proposed for Eastport until the 2nd and 3rd order cumulative impacts can be assessed. More and more of the City’s response seems to be in support of the developers, with fewer and fewer opportunities for the public to have a serious impact on the outcomes.
The City’s reflexive response to development is that the revenues resulting from these proposals are needed, a response demonstrating that our politicians are lazy thinkers. They are going for the short-term low-hanging property tax fruit.
It is up to us to make sure that those who have so much, and take so much, but give back so little do not define our community. Our community should be so much more. How do we define ‘community?’ It should be broadly based on the good we can achieve. On knowing which organizations should be recognized and supported for helping bring about a furtherance of community. How do we best balance our natural efforts to protect the quality of what is ours against the greed of those who would over-develop for the profit they can put in their pockets? How do we promote the ideals of those who help define the community we wish to have in the future?
What would I like to see the AYC do? How about following through with studies to seriously develop environmental baselines (not the self-serving statement they originally presented). These in-depth studies should establish daily and seasonal environmental limits that the project will be expected to maintain. The current status of these community and environmental components must be standards to be measured. Those metrics must be a non-negotiable baseline. Once again, they are traffic, noise, odors, congestion, parking, air and water quality. They need to be maintained or improved, but not diminished.
I challenge the AYC leadership and membership to stand before the community and declare that the proposed project is all there is and all there is going to be. That they will not ask for waivers, exceptions, expansions or changes, or any other such thing.
Eastport is not a new community. We’ve been around a long enough time to have seen multiple transitions, from economics based on farming, on bay resources, on trade. But most recently economics has become focused on increasing the property tax base.
And the project proposals just keep on coming. And the community keeps on being steamrollered. How about electing political leadership capable of thinking through opportunities for something besides increasing the tax base by developing every available open space?
For example, maybe a technology based economy?
eastport defined 
Why all the hate towards AYC, Harold? Is it NIMBYism, jealousy, fear or what? Your first charge is that AYC is selfish and doesn’t support the community. You admit that its prime directive is to serve its membership, but then you gripe about its tax-exempt status. My guess is that AYC has a special tax-exempt status because it is a non-profit organization. Are you against tax-exemption for all non-profits or just ones that abut your property? In any case, I bet AYC still pays plenty of taxes. AYC is one of Annapolis’ largest employers. As such it must pay a lot in employment taxes. Those employees, in turn, live in the community, pay taxes and contribute to the local economy (as all workers do). When the Eastport facility development is complete, it’s likely that AYC will employ even more people. AYC operates year-round. Yes, they likely have some seasonal jobs (like sailing instructors for the youth programs), but my understanding is the vast majority of employees work pretty much full-time. Speaking of youth programs, did you know that quite a few are open to the public? I didn’t, until recently. Taken together, AYC makes a direct contribution to the community that amounts to more than “pennies per month per member.” Then there is the indirect contribution to the community. Eastport has a lot of maritime-related businesses. AYC members have boats and those boats mean the local maritime industry has a ready source of customers. Are you against promote maritime businesses in Eastport? Attracting boaters and their families can’t be anything but a positive contribution to a city that identifies itself so closely with its history and culture as a seaport town.
So we are left with your real complaint: AYC wants to take away “our quality of life and lifestyle.” Baloney. This boils down your fears that AYC’s development of property it owns and has owned for a long time, will disrupt your status quo, your “wa.” No question that a year of construction will be disruptive. But after that, what will you have? You’ll have four fewer decrepit houses on Burnside replaced by a lot more trees, landscaping, and facility that attracts families and others interested in living healthy lifestyles (besides the pool, there will be a fitness center). Along the way, new storm water management and other environmentally friendly features get built in. Old healthy trees will be preserved and new trees and landscaping will be added. If I were a Burnside resident, I would expect that my property value would only go up after all these improvements. But don’t take my word for it. Check out all the requirements the city has placed on AYC to make sure the environment is protected and nearby residents are respected.
You remind us that Eastport is not a new community. AYC isn’t new to the community either. It’s origins date to the 1880s and it hasn’t lasted this long by “steamrolling” its neighbors. From what I read in the paper and from people I’ve talked with, the community has been informed and consulted all along the way as plans for AYC’s Eastport properties have progressed. This development isn’t the tragedy for the community that you make it out to be. In fact, I’d be surprised if AYC is at the top of the list of most residents’ concerns.If you’re really concerned about the Eastport community, why not direct your energies toward addressing the crime and violence that is happening in and around Eastport’s low-income housing?
Found this: http://www.hammondwilson.com/news/articles/annapolis-yacht-club
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