Chief Johnson Steps Down

Police Chief Joseph Johnson is leaving the Annapolis City Police Department after almost 14 years of service. While embattled at times, he has generally been well-respected. This probably won't make hiring the 20 or so officers the Department needs to get to full force any easier.

College Creek Then and Now

Following up on the last post, I am going to post a snippet from a 1913 Maryland Geological Survey map of Anne Arundel County. But first things first. Apparently, what we now know as College Creek was then called "Dorsey's Creek."


1913
The road crossing the tip of the Creek is Clay Street, maintaining basically the same configuration as it does today. At that point, however, it was likely a short bridge crossing. The headwaters forked, with one branch heading south toward West Street, and the other heading west, towards what is now Admiral Heights. Former rail lines, running east-west and north-south can be seen criss-crossing the confluence.

Below is a current aerial, with the historic rail lines drawn, roughly, in white.


2005
There is clearly a huge area of fill where the Glenwood Apartments sit, as well, interestingly, to the north, where Calvary Methodist Church and St. John's College are currently located.

The Great Glenwood Gorge

For three years, the sinkholes in front of the Glenwood Apartments, located off Clay Street in Annapolis, have been expanding. And, for three years, the Annapolis Housing Authority, who owns the property, and the City of Annapolis have dawdled on how to handle the situation.

Below are photos of the site from the Capital.


Photo by J. Henson
The City Administrator and acting director of Public Works, Bob Agee, said after his employees went out to the sinkholes last year, they couldn't devise how to stop it, or what was even causing it. Here's a hint courtesy Google Earth:


To the right is College Creek. In the center are the Glenwood Apartments, with the location of the sinkholes marked with ovals. To the left, marked roughly by the pentagon, are the headwaters of College Creek. Notice how they disappear between this point and the Creek? That's because they have almost certainly been piped under the fill that forms the foundation for the parking lot on that side of Glenwood. Chances are, the pipes have failed, the soil is washing out into College Creek, and the land is subsiding. Viola, sinkholes!

So what is this right way to fix this mess? How about "daylighting" the stream [pdf]? Pulling out the fill, peeling back the stream banks, and restoring the waterway will mean losing some parking (most of which has been lost for the past three years), and may mean placing a bridge or large culvert where Clay Street crosses it, but, it will arrest the degradation, prevent the additional siltation of College Creek, and be an amenity for the residents of Glenwood.

Let's hope the parties involved get their act together before damage to the foundation of the apartment complex does occur.

More Market House Madness

Just when you didn't think things could get any worse with the Market House situation in Annapolis, the management company operating the facility sues the City for $2 million. Site Realty Group, which won the lease for the prime property on Annapolis' harbor a couple of years ago, is suing the City for $2 million, alleging that the bungled air conditioning situation has cost them lost rent. They are also asserting that the City didn't allow them to rent sidewalk space to vendors.

With regard to the insufficient air conditioning, the City's defense appears to be that they had negotiated a situation with Site Realty whereby the unit would be fixed in January 2008, after the heavy shopping season. In the case of the absent sidewalk stalls, the Mayor claims never to have been made aware of such provisions. To be fair, I had never heard discussions of sidewalk rentals mentioned before either. Of course, I've never read the contract.

My understanding is that the situation is so bad now, that the Market House will be closed during weekdays through the winter. How the City can continue to screw up this situation, which really should have been a boon to downtown, is beyond me. It's almost as vexing as how the Mayor can allow those who got the City into this mess to stay in its employ.

Capital Homicides

The nine murders in Annapolis this year mark an unfortunate record. The Capital has deemed it the top local story of 2007, and I'm inclined to agree. The nonchalance with which this sort of violence is accepted by both the City and the communities in which it is occurring is increasingly frustrating.

Details describing the victims and their murderers (where they have been identified) can be found here.

Historic Eastport in Pictures

As is so often the case, wonderful treasures that give us a glimpse back into the past of our beloved region were sitting buried away in someone's forgotten storage pile.

Thankfully, when the owner's of the Dawson Gallery came across their stack of photos of 1930s Annapolis and Eastport, they turned them over to historian Ginger Doyel, who is working on an historical account of Eastport. Some of the photos, taken by Annapolis photographer Howard Hayman, and additional details can be found on the Capital on-line here.

Whole Foods Bags Plastics

Despite a public relations campaign that extended to interviews with the highest echelons of the national press, Annapolis Alderman Sam Shropshire was unable to muster the votes necessary to get his plastic bag ban bill passed in the Annapolis City Council. At the same time, however, the Whole Foods in Annapolis voluntarily stopped offering plastic bags.

Now, the entire corporation is looking to phase out plastic bags by early 2008. The company will still offer 100% recycled content paper bags and will sell reusable "Better Bags", made from 80% recycled plastic bottles.

The move represents a welcome trend in the retail sector, to move away from disposable bags and packaging to reusable materials. Other retailers, such as Ikea, are now charging customers 5 cents per bag.

Surely, there are those who will object to such a move, claiming that it limits their choices unfairly, or that they got good use out of those plastic bags. And there may be some truth to that, but there is no good reason that all consumers, particularly those who bring their own satchels, should be subsidizing the cost of everyone else's "doggy bags."

Paone Wins Ward 2 Seat

Anne Arundel County Prosecutor, Fred Paone (R), won yesterday's special election in Ward 2 with a plurality of the vote. Vote totals (and percentages) are below:

Paone (R) 427 (45%)
McKerrow (D) 358 (38%)
Jennings (G) 162 (17%)

Mayor Proposes Green Building Standards

On the heels of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' call for green building standards throughout the region, Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer has introduced a bill that would "require all new construction and major renovations of any buildings greater than 10,000 square feet meet green building standards set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rating system."

The bill would require that new homes, and major home renovations meet at least minimal LEED standards as well.

The public hearing on the bill will take place in January 2008. If passed, Annapolis will join Washington, DC and Montgomery County, MD as local jurisdictions requiring some sort of green building standards.

The Annapolis Gun Project?

In the wake of yet another shooting in the City of Annapolis, again in one of the public housing neighborhoods, it's long past time to start wondering if we shouldn't change the way that we approach violence in our communities, particularly drug-related violence. The capacity of local municipalities to affect the supply side of the drug equation is essentially nil, which to my mind, is a good thing. It's a waste of time and money.

So what can Annapolis and Anne Arundel County do on the demand side, and how might they be able to reduce the violence associated with drugs? Let's not forget that 8 people have been murdered in Annapolis so far this year (and an astounding 269 murders have occurred in Baltimore in 2007).

One program that has been remarkably effective elsewhere is the Boston Gun Project, which has focused on getting young gang/drug trade involved men to put down their guns by involving local clergy, the law enforcement staff, and community leaders in an "intervention" of sorts. The full results of the program in Boston can be found here [pdf], but even a sampling is impressive: a 63% reduction in youth homicides, a 32% decrease in "shots fired" calls, and a 25% decrease in gun assaults. My only question is: why aren't we trying this here? Why aren't we trying this everywhere?

Ward 2 Special Election

The filing deadline was yesterday, and it now looks like the field is set in the special election to replace Alderman Mike Christman (R).

Karen Jennings - Green Party
Debbie R. McKerrow - Democrat
Fred Paone - Republican

The special primary election will be held in Ward 2 on Nov. 27, the special general election on Dec. 19.

Council Circumvents Community on the Annapolis Neck

At last Monday's County Council meeting, Councilman Cohen's colleagues failed to give him the votes to update the zoning on a property in his district. In fact, they deliberately lined up against it. The zoning change, the product of long negotiations between the Annapolis Neck Peninsula Federation and the developer, the Samaras family, would have converted a 6 acre parcel on Forest drive from 2 acres of commercial frontage with 4 acres of residential in the rear to 6 acres of commercial with more forest cover, better stormwater management, and architectural oversight by the community.

Now, some are claiming that the Council Members who blocked the change conducted a backroom deal with an adjacent property owner who has failed to negotiate with community groups.

Left from the Capital's account is the sudden (and ominous) reappearance of former Zoning Director Joe Rutter, a close acquaintance of the property owner in question. There's no way we've heard the last of this sordid situation.

Public Housing Board Anticipates Vacancies

Come July, Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer will have the opportunity to appoint three new members to the seven-member Housing Authority Board which administers the public housing properties in Annapolis.

Given the Mayor's ongoing tussle with outgoing Authority Chair, Trudy McFall, over addressing crime in the public housing communities, there is speculation that Moyer make seek more compliant appointees.

Apparently, acknowledging the crime in public housing, and asserting that its presence has anything to do with a lack of effort on the part of the City constitutes a "political" assault. According to the Mayor, "There are members of the board that continue to blame the city. Any new rap that a couple of people want to put on the city for political reasons doesn't serve anybody."

Speculation is, McFall may throw her hat into the ring for Mayor in 2009. Other potential candidates include Alderman Sam Shropshire, Democratic Central Committee member, Chuck Weikel, Alderman Mike Christman, and former Delegate Herb McMillan.

Ward 4 Results Spur Democratic Reflection

The closeness of the election results in the recent Ward 4 aldermanic race, where Anne Arundel Teachers' Union head Sheila Finlayson (D) narrowly bested relative unknown, James Conley (R) 247 to 212 has some in local Democratic circles re-considering their place in the Ward. The results are all the more surprising given that Finlayson had local political savant, Kathy Nieberding, managing her campaign. Nieberding, who managed both of Ellen Moyer's successful campaigns for Mayor, is the closest thing the City of Annapolis has to a true political strategist.

Annapolis' Housing Authority Gets a Bright Idea

In the midst of increasing energy prices, Annapolis Public Housing Authority recently took an important step in reducing its bill to BGE: It transferred some of the responsibility for energy costs to the tenants. Public housing residents are still provided with a stipend based on the size of their unit, but they are responsible for paying the energy costs that exceed that amount. Previously, residents had no incentive to conserve or use energy wisely.

I suspect the significant hikes in BGE's rates will have a similar effect on the population at large.

Finlayson, Arnett Win Annapolis Elections

According to unofficial election results from the City [pdf], Democrats Sheila Finlayson and Ross Arnett have won the special elections for the Aldermanic seats in Ward 4 and Ward 8. Congratulations.

Annapolis Special Election Tuesday

The election to fill the Ward 4 and Ward 8 seats on the Annapolis City Council will be held this Tuesday. The races pit Democrat Sheila Finlayson against Republican James Conley in Ward 4, and Democrat Ross Arnett against Republican Frank Bradley in Ward 8.

Fire Suppression in Annapolis

The Capital said it in Friday's paper, and I would like to affirm it and add to it here: The City Council and Mayor absolutely have to find a way to get sprinkler systems installed throughout the commercial corridor of historic Annapolis.

Sure, there will be some complaints from property owners, a share of whom work to extract as much as they can from their multi-million dollar property without having to maintain their aging structures. And, no doubt, there will be concerns from tenants about increases in rent. These objections are legitimate and deserve consideration, but in my estimation, they take a back seat to the fact that a significant blaze or two could destroy everything in Annapolis that so many forward thinking people have done over the past 300 centuries to preserve. There's no question that Annapolis is more than old buildings, but there's also little question that if Annapolis consisted largely of architecture like the modern entrants on Main Street and the Bank of America building on Church Circle the City would be poorer off for it, and its appeal would suffer.

All of this is to say nothing of the benefits to human safety that accrue from mandating the installation of sprinklers. For instance, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where sprinklers have been mandated for 15 years, the City has seen the civilian fire fatality rate reduced by a minimum of 50 percent [pdf], and millions of dollars in cost savings as a result of the absence of fire-related interruptions in commerce.

This is an idea whose time came a decade or two ago, and is well past overdue. Requiring sprinklers will allow property owners to convert their second and third floors to residential space, will dramatically decrease the likelihood of a catastrophic fire in the district, and will help enhance and protect our gem of a City for the next 300 years.

Annapolis Kicks Off Greenscape 2007

The City of Annapolis is preparing to move forward with its 16th annual clean-up and beautification of the City, Greenscape. The program truly is a model that would be great for the County to adopt as well.

To learn more about GreenScape 2007, contact the Annapolis Recreation and Parks at 410-263-7958 or view the City's Web site at www.annapolis.gov.

New Annapolis Blog Kicks Off

Former Democratic candidate for the Ward 8 Aldermanic seat, Paul Foer, has started up his own blog focusing on Annapolis issues. Capital Punishment "offers a progressive, political focus on local issues in the historic state capital of Annapolis , MD and environs. It strives to be a thorn in the side of the status quo, an alternative voice and a watchdog on the local media--especially The Capital... of course." Check it out.