DNR Blunders, Guided By Politics Rather than Science

Tuesday's Capital reported that the Department of Natural Resources is poised to remove a "botched" oyster reef in Sillery Bay, in the Magothy River. The truth of the matter is there is nothing "botched" about the recently installed reef at all, aside from the fact that at least three navigationally impaired souls ran their boats aground on it.

Now, at the behest of pitchfork wielding boaters and a misguided Delegate, DNR is going to spend some $40,000 additional dollars to rip the reef out (they spent $150,000 to install it) and get back to the business of building failed oyster reefs "at least 8 feet deep." Somehow, they even managed to get the Magothy River Association on board.

Perhaps those managing the resource and others ostensibly concerned about the success of the oyster fishery Bay-wide will eventually get a clue and look the successful aquaculture operations on the Choptank River, where, believe it or not, they are growing oysters at the surface. And to those who would say, oyster reefs shouldn't be a hazard to navigation, I would direct them to the words of Francis Louis Michel, a Swiss visitor to the Chesapeake in 1701, "The abundance of oysters is incredible. There are whole banks of them so that the ships must avoid them. They surpass those in England by far in size, indeed they are four times as large."

At this juncture, I think we need to ask, "Are we going to manage the fishery for beer addled boaters or for the success of the organism?"

Pork as "Protection"

Chalk up another local pork barrel project masquerading under the guise of "security spending." First, it was the tank that would protect Annapolis from the famed Al Quaeda Panzer Division. That was $1.4 million down the drain. Now, the County is applying for a $670,000 federal "grant" to buy a special boat that will allegedly "patrol Anne Arundel County waterways" attempting to "detect biological or chemical attacks and respond to nuclear explosions." According to Cathy Vitale, whose husband is a firefighter, "the boat will benefit the County." Sure it will. Sounds like a delightful place to have fundraisers.

Now first things first. County taxpayers foot the bill for federal "grants" just as surely as they do for the money the County spends, it's just that it gets to go to Washington first, and get mingled with the dollars from taxpayers in the other 50 states. If one considers this a waste of our tax money, we certainly shouldn't be burning the dollars of Montanans and Californians on it either. And, it is a waste.

The County already has a fire boat, the Lady Anne, that "patrols during major events like fireworks, sailboat races and the Bay Bridge swim." That would seem to mean that the other 362 days a year, it's free to putter up the Magothy, Severn, and South, looking for ill-intentioned ne'er do wells. Is it? If so, I've never seen it happen.

The ridiculousness of this whole episode is compounded by the fact that the County Department of Inspections and Permits is still relying on citizens, rather than its own inspectors, to catch violations along the waterfront, because it lacks the will or the money to purchase an inspection craft to patrol the most environmentally sensitive areas in the County, its 480 miles of shoreline.

So, while we're off asking for federal handouts for fire boats to sniff the trail of unlikely boogey men, we continue to allow the very real destruction of our County's natural resources on a daily basis for want of the ability to provide real monitoring.

County Incompetence Costs Big Money

The failure of the Owens' administration to properly spend $40 million in collected impact fees has cost county taxpayers nearly $500,000 in court, and could potentially costs millions more.

By not spending the money quickly enough, and in the appropriate locations, the County has opened itself to several costly lawsuits where developers and residents are seeking the return of their funds. In addition, funds that have been available for badly needed infrastructure upgrades have gone unspent.

Anne Arundel's Flying Circus

Today's Capital reports on what has to be one of the most preposterous giveaways of state money in this writer's recent memory. Lee Airport, owned by the Lee family of Edgewater was the recipent of a state grant from the Maryland Aviation Administration in the amount of $170,000 to help design and carry out changes to the airpark and runway. To my mind, if the state's going to be handing out $170k in corporate welfare, there had better be a pretty substantial reason. There isn't.

What precipitated the need to change the airpark? The fact that the Lee family is trying to develop the adjacent property, which is currently farmland. About a year ago, the Lee's, using the coercive force of their lawyer, "negotiated" with the community to get zoning changes approved by the County Council. Turns out these zoning changes, which will allow a Harbor Center-sized commercial development on the farm plot, may cause the creation of structures which impede the flight path. So, we have a situation in which a family has played hardball with local environmentalists and the community, to use their land more profitably, and has now turned to the State to help them salve the self-inflicted wounds to their airport. They stand to gain millions of dollars on the sale of the former farm properties, and yet they are using tens of thousands of our tax dollars to refurbish their airport which has been impacted by the decision. We've been gamed, folks.

County Waste

Let one thing be clear, I don't oppose government spending in principle, but I do oppose spending public dollars on patronage, unnecessary baubles, and hubris. It's seems like we've recently been hit by a "perfect storm" of misspent funds.

Earlier this year, our Honorable County Executive, Janet Owens, spent $2,312.50 putting her name on five "Welcome to Anne Arundel County" signs shortly after being elected to her second term. Though she's currently limited from serving another term in the position, some curious observers have asked coyly, "does this mean she has higher aspirations for 2006?"

Now County residents are hit with a report yesterday from The Capital that Owens spent $2,518, Sheriff George Johnson (anointed heir to the Executive throne) spent $865, and the Fire Chief, Roger Simonds (recently under fire for using overtime money for an unauthorized warehouse renovation project) spent $155 in taxpayer dollars sending holiday greeting cards to friends and associates (donors?) over the past couple of years. Apparently, Owens has offered a mea culpa, paying back her sum from campaign funds, and perhaps inadvertantly admitting the nature of such personal correspondence from our elected leader.

Today we learn that the County School Board is paying someone $650 a month to give the public access to their meeting agendas over the internet. In a world where you can't watch television five minutes without being proffered internet access and webhosting for $19.95 (or less!) per month, this conjures up sketchy memories of $900 hammers for the Pentagon. Thankfully we have some real sharpies on the Board, like Konrad Wayson, who offered flatly, "There are other options out there, ... It may be well worth looking at those." Indeed sir, it may. Perhaps next time the County could do us taxpayers the favor of looking at other options before it forks over $650/month for $20 internet service.

Any of these incidents alone might hardly be worth comment, but a pattern certainly seems to be evolving here. We'll be keeping watch.