Why Street Cleaning is a Good Idea

There has recently been a thread on the Mt. Washington List Serv (to subscribe, click link on right) exploring the question of street sweeping. This is being brought up as one aspect of the Strategic Neighborhood Action Plan (SNAP) and the question is being raised: how much street sweeping do we want?


The initial reaction from a lot of neighbors seems to be negative. Sweeping means that cars have to be moved to allow the equipment to access the curb areas. Naturally, nobody wants a parking ticket because they forgot, and how dirty can streets really get? What is the point?


Well, it turns out there is a reason why cities all over the world have expensive fleets of street sweeping trucks. Actually, there are lots of reasons.


It turns out that street sweeping makes streets last a lot longer. When cars and trucks drive over lots of sand and gravel on the road surface, it grinds away at it and ultimately destroys the road. As the street begins to crumble, it generates even more gravel and thus accelerates the whole process. We have many, many streets in Mt. Washington that are falling apart. We beg and plead with the City to come and re-pave. (I have been told that the wait is now seven years to get your street repaved.) How can we ask the City to come and fix our streets while at the same time refusing to cooperate with the basic maintenance that those streets require?


Something I did not know is that street sweeping is also considered a safety issue. Brakes don't work well on dusty, sandy, gravel-covered streets. Tires simply slide. Makes sense.


And then we get to the environmental aspects. As you probably know, all of the storm water run-off goes into the Western Run, down through Mt. Washington Village, and into the Jones Falls. Ultimately it makes it all the way to the Bay and beyond. It turns out that the silt and sediment running off of our streets isn't so great for the watershed. The sediment clogs up everything from gills to streams. And that's just the gravel and sand. I'm not a biologist, but my guess is that sweeping up leaves and other veggie matter is also beneficial in terms of bay preservation and restoration.

Or maybe we'd all just prefer not running the risk of a parking ticket and to heck with it. Really?

Kerpelman Gets Good Press

Mt. Washington legend Leonard Kerpelman got a nice write-up in the Gazette today. You can read it here. Is it any wonder that certain insiders are calling for our new Northwest Park to be re-named "Kerpelman Park at Nachlas Yards?"

What Are Your Thoughts on Street Lighting?

I am curious about what people think about the street lighting in our neighborhood. A lot of it is kind of ugly, and could be considered overkill. Highway lights hanging over little median triangles seems a bit much. And you could argue that the neighborhood is overlighted in some places. There seem to be a number of full sized phone poles that serve only to support a lamp. Does that make sense?

Do these lights shine into your house? Would you prefer to have a better view of the night sky? Is this something that matters?

On the other hand, lighting is good for walking on winter evenings, and provides at least a perception of security. Some folks don't see so well at night and could use the help when driving. What are the positives of street lighting, and how could those positives be improved further?

What do you think? More? Less? Less ugly? More in certain spots?

Please post a comment and I will publish them as they come in. Thanks!

Bummer: Bromwell Cops a Plea

The Sun reports that former Senator Tommy Bromwell has agreed to plead guilty to charges of accepting bribes. While this really doesn't come as a big surprise--the man was taped by federal agents admitting all sorts of stupid stuff--I am disappointed. I wanted a trial. I wanted a big trial. With lots of media and hoopla.

Why? Simple. Because Bromwell was neck deep in Slots Sleaze.

He told the feds--on tape--that he was "Joe DeFrancis' whore in the Senate." This of course begs the question about who the current whore might be, but that's another discussion. He also explained how slots would start off at the tracks. Once the hunger for more revenues became too much to bear (like in a week), they would go to OTB locations, convenience stores, and day care centers. OK, maybe not day care centers (they need better lobbyists), but you get the idea. We like to call this "the Bromwell Plan," and it really reflects how slots have metastasized in other states.

The trial would have been in full swing right when Senate President Mike Miller hopes to be holding his special session on budget issues and our desperate, desperate need for slot machines. Which would have been a delicious juxtaposition. No matter. Slots have never lacked for sordid details and unsavory characters. Slime seeks its own level.

Legg Mason Tax Breaks

Legg Mason looks like it stands to get about $33 million in tax breaks for their new building in Harbor East. It's easy to become outraged by this kind of taxpayer generosity. But in defense of Legg, they are a long-time stalwart of the Baltimore business community. Chip Mason could have sold out to a NY or Boston-based asset management firm, but he and his board elected to maintain local control. They deserve credit that you can't give to countless other executives from Alex Brown to Mercantile to MNC.

And if you ask me, we should be supporting our asset management industry. Maryland is becoming an asset management Mecca with many powerful players like Legg and T.Rowe here in Baltimore, and Calvert and Rydex in Montgomery County. But it should be Maryland as a state supporting these businesses with incentives, and also in other ways. For instance, the state of Maryland has something like $5 billion in an EAFE Index fund, a foreign stock index investment. The fund could be managed by any one of the four of these companies, but for whatever reason it's run by State Street in Boston. This makes no sense when we could be creating jobs and prosperity right here at home.

The tax break for Legg passed the City Council's Taxation and Finance Committee yesterday with Rikki Spector's vote. What I'd like to know is why the state is bending over backwards to save the pathetic and antiquated horse racing industry and letting Baltimore City struggle to keep the booming asset management industry here and healthy. And is the City Council doing everything it can to get the state to help us? After all, a prosperous Baltimore benefits all of Maryland.

Slots and Lobbying

I have heard comments recently regarding a potential slots bill that would limit slots to Laurel only. Some people have shared with me that this would be a good thing for Mt. Washington and Baltimore. Theoretically, we'd get some cash out of the deal, but without having to suffer with a large slots casino here in the neighborhood. Sounds great! Right? Well, not really.

As most of you know, I am a stockbroker in real life. I try to understand how businesses work. All businesses want to grow. Casino and gambling businesses are no different. But what makes them unique is that their growth is highly regulated. They can't just decide to add another location like Starbucks. Their road to growth goes directly through Annapolis. They must lobby their way to growth. And the cash flow generated by sucking money from the pockets of Maryland families provides just what they need.

Last year was not what I call a "Slots Year." The issue didn't really come up in the legislative session, and I had the luxury of largely staying out of Annapolis. (For anyone who has forgotten, I serve as Chairman of StopSlotsMaryland, the state-wide coalition fighting gambling legislation.) But the gambling industry never sleeps. Lobbying spending figures have been released, and here is a short list of gambling interests and what they spent last year:

Laurel Racing Assoc.........................................................$318k
Maryland Thoroughbred Horseman's Assoc................$134k
International Game Technology....................................$60k
Multimedia Games...........................................................$60k*

And in contrast:

StopSlotsMaryland............................................................$0.00

So what does this have to do with slots at Pimlico? The decriminalization of slots at ANY location will only be the first round. Once slots are legal anywhere in Maryland, Pimlico will be an obvious and inevitable target for the very first round of expansion.

Slots aren't good for Maryland. They aren't good for our neighborhood. They aren't good for ANY neighborhood. Just one very good reason for us all to insist on a fair, progressive, and legitimate revenue package for our state.

* I believe that Multimedia Games is a lottery contractor, but for me it all boils down to the same thing.

Virgin 2-for-1 Deal Ending Saturday 7/21

If you are interested in getting a voucher for discounted Virgin Festival tickets (dues paying MWIA members ONLY), Saturday will be you LAST opportunity.

MWIA President Mac Nachlas and I will be staffing the MWIA membership table at the Mt. Washington Swim Club on Enslow Road this Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm. We will be accepting membership payments and issuing vouchers.

Festival promoters I.M.P., who have generously provided this great discount, need our finalized list next week. Once the list is finalized and submitted, there will be no more vouchers offered.

Dues are $25, and the voucher will allow you to buy up to four tickets at the 2-for-1 price.

Vendors Database

If you look to your right at the "Useful Links" section, you will notice a new link for "Neighbor Recommended Vendors." This is a database that was set up by Aaron Sherber (yes, another Aaron). If you have a good experience with a vendor (roofer, painter, landscaper, whatever) you can add that information to the database.

It is password protected so that it doesn't get choked with spam postings, but you can email Aaron Sherber and he will give you the login information. If you are a list-serv member, you can search for the login and password there as well.

The New Wesley Plan

click drawing to enlarge image

The Wesley Home has been working on a new plan for the entire facility. As part of the deal that turned the UB Fields into the Northwest Park, the Wesley bought the density rights that had been associated with the fields. They intend to upgrade the whole facility and plan to tear down everything that currently exists on the site. The new building fronting West Rogers Avenue will be no higher than the current structure. The plan also calls for the entrance to be moved to Enslow Road, which should take traffic off of Rogers. There have been some community meetings, and the Planning Department has been looking at all of this carefully.



Here is the PDF of the new plan. The MWIA is following this closely. One big issue is that this thing is pretty close to the pool and could kind of loom over it. The other thing is that it becomes much more important to re-work the Greenspring/Northern/Enslow intersection.

At the Deadline

I went down to the Board of Elections last night to wait, watch, and observe. A couple of council members, a few candidates, and a handful of reporters waited out what turned out to be a painfully uneventful evening. Beer is the only remedy.

More later.

Lower Property Taxes in the County

My father lives in Columbia--in Howard County--and I figured he was paying nice low property tax rates. After all, between State and County taxes, he pays 1.126% of assessed value. In contrast, we in the City pay 2.24%.

But I found out today that he pays much, much more than the stated rate. In addition to the State and County portions, he also pays water and sewer charges (above those on his water and sewer bill). He then has to pay the Columbia Association for maintenance of public spaces. When you add all of this up, he is paying 2.1215%.

But get this--there's a LOT more. He then has to pay a $175 "Trash Fee" for garbage collection. In addition, everyone who has a property that borders a street with a sewer or water main pays an additional "front foot charge." Then he has to pay $600 a year to his Home Owner's Association. Tack on top of it the fact that the Columbia Association dues are not tax deductible like ordinary property taxes, and all of a sudden our 2.24% doesn't look that bad.

At the end of the day, Baltimore City taxes may actually be LOWER than the taxes for a comparable house in Columbia. Who knew?

Google Strikes Again

Well, today is the final day to file if you want to run against Rikki Spector and take your rightful seat on the Baltimore City Council. Heck, if you're reading this you are probably more than qualified. Maybe MUCH more than qualified.



If you'd like to see who has filed so far, you can click here. The sad news is that it looks (at least so far) like nobody is going to bother trying to unseat Rikki "Divine Right" Spector. But read that filing carefully and check out the phone number Rikki gives in her filing. Care to guess where that phone number actually rings? Why not Google it and see what you get HERE.



Hint: it looks a lot like this:

I don't recall ever seeing any yachts floating down Park Heights Avenue, do you?