53 beers on tap

This week on "Perversion in Howard County"

Yes, I know everyone charged with a crime should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.  But wow, this guy really makes it hard for me to believe in a free and open judiciary.

Longtime readers of this blog will know how I feel about pedophiles... right up there with rapists and any member of Rupert Murdoch's genome.  So I guess some guy from Rockville working as a climbing instructor in Columbia has been sniffed out.  Too bad some kids had to suffer first.

That there are multiple charges filed and that a high bond was set for this guy tells you there's fire causing all that smoke, true believers.  No pentalty is too strict for this freak.

HoCo parents: please try not to kill your children

Amazing that this article even needs to be written.  But in a county that sent Bob Flanagan and Bob Kittleman to the General Assembly for decades, and that currently elects intellectuals such as Gail Bates and Warren "I'm hungry" Miller, I guess it shouldn't be surprising.

Here's the upshot.  Don't leave your kids alone in hot cars.  Especially infants and toddlers, but, helpful hint, moms and dads-- NO children ought to be left alone in hot cars.  If you do, you ought to be imprisoned.  That is all.

Oh noes! HoCo's high schools aren't the besterest!

I thought all the ill-conceived articles about the HoCo were written in the Howard County Sun.  But the normally perceptive Sara Toth nuked the fridge on this gem.  Not one for the resume file, Sara.

So, Newsweek magazine didn't list any HoCo high schools among the nation's best, although several HoCo high schools have made the list in the past.

My humble, understated response: who the hell cares????

I think it's fair to say that HoCo has a good public school district.  The Howard County public school system has a lot of cachet with college admissions officers (how do I know this?  I have a kid going to college in fall 2012; I've asked the admissions officers) So regardless of where the HoCo may rank on some ridiculous ranking, ANY high school in the HoCo offers an opportunity for a graduating senior to go to a very nice college.

So I think Sara missed the point on this one.  She should have performed an analysis of where graduated seniors from HoCo high schools are headed.  Especially compared with peers in neighboring jurisdictions.   Safe to say she'd have found that graduates from ALL county high schools were going to some nice places.

Belmont find a use for it, or take it out back and shoot it

So I read this article about the county purchasing the Belmont property.  Whoop-de doo.

There is no more overrated parcel of land in Howard County than Belmont.  The visions for what to do with that property have been legion over the years, especially within the last decade.  And no so-called "vision" has taken. At all.  So now the county has purchased it.  To what end, we don't know right now.

Here's what I suggest.  Find the use for the Belmont property that serves the need of the citizens of Howard County the best.  Perhaps it is something related to Howard Community College.  Perhaps the property could be sold to a potential winery operator.  Perhaps it could be something else.  Anyway, if the county can not find a use for the property to which all parties can commit, sell the property to a developer and build houses.  Raze the property and cut the county's losses.  And allow it to be a property that all Howard County can enjoy.

There has been enough hand-wringing over Belmost over the last 10-15 years.  When it was the hospitality education site for HCC and the home of the Iron Bridge steeplechase races it seemed the property hit its stride.  Apparently no more.

So, HoCo-- take as much time as you need to decide what to do with that site, but if you can't figure it out, kick it to the curb and build, baby build.  That's what I say.

Howard County election districts: let's try something new

Much has been written lately about the current County Council redistricting.  Some have suggested adding two at-large members to the Council, as Montgomery County has, who would be elected countywide.

At the same time, there are growing concerns that our school board elections are not always yielding the best candidates.  The current countywide system of electing school board members have brought some...shall we say, interesting... characters to the board lately.  And while we shouldn't change the entire system because once in a while an election puts someone on the board who winds up being possibly a pain in the neck or a jerk (thanks, Brian Meshkin!) we should be aware of the need to elect the best and the brightest.  We also need to be aware of the fact that various areas of the county are represented on the board.

So here's what I think we should do.  And I advocate the charter amendments, legislation, etc. needed to make this happen.

We should divide the county into seven districts of about 40,000 people each.  The rough geographic boundaries of the districts could be:

Oakland Mills, Long Reach, Kings Contrivance, Owen Brown

Hickory Ridge, Wilde Lake, Dorsey's Search, Town Center

Harper's Choice, River Hill, Clarksville

Savage/North Laurel/Jessup/Hanover

Elkridge and eastern Ellicott City

western Ellicott City tthrough West Friendship and Lisbon (following I-70)

Highland and all other parts west (Dayton, Glenwood, Cattail Creek area, etc.)

Go ahead and assail me on these boundaries.  I'm going off of geographic commonalities here.  And all of these loose boundaries do create some socioeconomic diversity, with the possible exception of the two west county districts.

These districts become the Councilmanic districts, as well as School Board election districts.

Keep the staggered elections for School Board Districts.  Elect four in one election cycle (Presidential or Gubernatorial) and three in the other for six year terms, not four.  Keep the Council election cycles as is. 

Keep the three term limit for Council members and limit School Board members to two terms.  So twelve years of total service for either office.

This would be the theoretical sequence of elections: dates used for convenience:

2012: elect Board in Districts 1,2,3

2014: elect Board in Districts 4,5; elect all Council members

2016: elect Board in Districts 6,7

2018: elect Board in Districts 1,2,3; elect all Council

2020: elect Board in Districts 4,5

2022: elect Boardin Districts 6,7; elect all Council

And then the cycle repeats.

So what the hell have I created?

I've created a system where Council and Board members are directly accountable to their local constituencies.

I've reduced the number of residents per representative from almost 60,000 to about 42,000 or 43,000.

I've created a system where on a rotating schedule, Council and Board members would be elected from the same district at the same time, sometimes.  This would allow the debate over the quality of our educational system to constantly develop.

I've probably created a system that everyone who's reading this thinks I've gone completely cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.  Or, have I???

Have at it readers!  There's gotta be something in this plan you like, or don't like. 

 

 

More nasty insects in Howard County

No, this post isn't about the former membership of Taxpayers Against Giveaways.  It's about the dreaded emerald ash borer.  For those of you who like the brown marmoseted stink bug (I probably butchered that) you'll love the emerald ash borer!  Read about it here.

Wowza, this is exactly what we need in this county... not.  Another Bug With Attitude.  Looks like this pesky varmint is staking its claim throughout the state though, as is the aforementioned stink bug.

 

 

Happy Father's Day!

I wish all current and future fathers out there a happy healthy, peaceful Father's Day!

This is a different Father's Day for me-- one like I've never had before in my life, and I hope to never have another one like it.  I can't share all the details here, gentle readers, but perhaps one day I will.  A few of you are aware already.

Looking forward to a nice dinner this evening with the family; spending the day blogging, reading, cleaning, thinking, and watching the US Open.  In other words, exactly what a Dad should do on Father's Day-- whatever he wants!  Well, almost at least.

Back to the normal tomfoolery tomorrow!

Dyer will fight on

OK, there's totally nothing surprising about this article, but that still doesn't mean I have to like it!

So Allen Dyer's going to appeal any decision the State Board of Education may make to remove him, and moreover, he's going to run for election in 2012.

On the second score-- it's a free country and as long as he's eligible to stand for office, that's fine.  It's up to Howard County's voters to accept or reject his candidacy for office.

On the first score-- really?  Are you freaking kidding me?  For all that's holy, why?

I love to Brian Meshkin apologizes to him for characterizing his behavior as that of a pain in the neck or a jerk, but then Allen Dyer turns around and calls the decision to remove him, which received five votes--a majority-- of the board, "stupid".  And if you liked that little high-minded exchange, fans of the great show "Meeting of the Minds" with Steve Allen should really look forward to the quality of debate and discussion on the School Board should Allen Dyer remain in office or, sorry to say, be re-elected.

Dirty pool

I'm not sure how I feel yet about this legislation which would allow local swim clubs to receive a 100 property tax credit-- a pretty nifty benefit of operating a swim club, ya gotta admit!  But I will tell you what I do see here-- a screwed up story of supply and demand.

Outside of CA property and private gyms (such as the YMCA in Ellicott City), apparently there exist only seven facilities for swimming in the county; the county-run one at the Roger Carter Center and the six nonprofit facilities that would be subject to the legislation.  In looking at a handypdandy map of the county, except for the Mt. Airy facilty, the other five exist within a short drive of a CA-managed pool.

It's very nice that Courtney Watson, the sponsor of the legislation, is looking into a possible way by which CA could be included in the legislation.  But she shouldn't feel obligated to do so.

I fault Rob Goldman of CA for not being astute enough to look at the marketplace here.   What if CA's pools competed directly with these privately-operated facilities?  Obviously the other facilities are having problems operating; hence the legislation.  I'm guessing that although the CA facilitiy would be a bit further away, a membership option could be designed for pool access only that would allow residents from a nearby community access to the CA pool nearest them.  Heck, for a premium they could enjoy access to all CA pools, meaning no more bumming guest passes off of CA resident friends and family.  And to you CA purists who think that CA has no business marketing to non-CA residents... how do the golf courses sustain themselves, exactly?

What an idea!  Glad I thought of it.

 

Broadband begins...but could be more

OK, so this article is pretty cool.  It discusses the opening of the logistics center for Central Maryland's Inter-County Broadband Network in Elkridge.

I'm all for upgrading the data backbone.  But what would really make me all tingly would be the establishment of many, many more free wireless hotspots in the county than those that currently exist.

Awesome that free wi-fi is provided by the Howard County Library and many businesses.  Here's a list of places in the county where I'd love to see free wi-fi, available to the public for its use:

Every Howard County School

Howard County General Hospital

Every Columbia Association facilty (yes, including the pools and all the village centers)

Every police and fire station

At least the larger County Parks (Centennial, Rockburn, Western Regional, Blandair when built)

The Howard County Fairgrounds

I know not all of these locations are public venues, though most are. 

In fact, note to Howard Hughes Corporation: wouldn't it be spiffy if all downtown Columbia were a free wi-fi hotspot?  As well as being at least carbon neutral?  No, I'm not on anything.