Section: OPN

Market House is a saga that has no end

Will we ever hear the end of the Market House saga? Mayor Ellen Moyer surely won't. Her administration's mishandling of its operations will dog the mayor long after she leaves office. The recent exodus of one of the vendors opens yet another chapter. Chip Miller had leased nearly half of the market for four shops and was hoping to open more, but in the middle of the night he moved everything out to avoid eviction. He says he was losing money.

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Published on 05/12/08

A city golf course purchase? Idea sounds really subpar

The Capital Editorial Board

The news that the city of Annapolis is pursuing the purchase of a golf course is enough to scare a ghost. Isn't this the same administration that bungled the Market House? Although details are sparse as yet, Mayor Ellen Moyer confirmed to The Capital that, based on support at a recent City Council retreat, she is proposing to buy the 77-acre golf course in the Annapolis Roads community for $4 million. She wants to maintain its recreational us...

Published on 05/11/08

Guest Column: Hillman garage project a promising idea

By Chuck Weikel

Being involved in the Envisioning Annapolis process over the past year-and-a-half has been invigorating and challenging. We've had distinguished speakers and urban planners present views of the future that challenge us to make Annapolis' tomorrow exciting and dynamic. As The Capital has pointed out, citizens must work together to carry forward many of these ideas.

Evaluations of the Envisioning Annapolis designs by four archite...

Published on 05/11/08

Guest Column: Superintendent: Budget puts schools, council in tight spot

By Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell

On the day County Executive John R. Leopold delivered his fiscal 2009 budget to the County Council, I was privileged to participate with other education, business, government and military leaders in a forum sponsored by the Fort Meade Alliance. It focused, in part, on the work force needs of the business and government sectors and the ways in which school systems can meet those needs. If Anne Arundel County Public Schools is to be a key player in...

Published on 05/11/08

Editor's notebook

WORKING CLASS - When the subject comes up, often in stories about school budgets or union negotiations, the salaries paid to teachers often spark a Editor's notebook WORKING CLASS - When the subject comes up, the salaries paid to teachers often spark a spirited back-and-forth in letters to the editor.

Some writers (usually people with no school-age children or direct contact with the schools) insist that, given their 37.5-hour contracted wo...

Published on 05/10/08

Doghouse rules need common sense - not a rewrite

If you have a dog - any dog, be it Chihuahua or St. Bernard - that is ever let out in your yard, you had better have a doghouse. That's the law in Anne Arundel County, and the subject of a dispute between Animal Control officers and a local activist who was recently cited for not giving her dog shelter. This is one of those all-too-frequent occasions when you wonder if government employees have nothing better to do than chase down homeowners who ...

Published on 05/09/08

Looming high school diploma gap must be addressed

The Capital Editorial Board

Without enforceable measurements, rules or penalties, government education goals are just exercises in rhetoric. But when there are specific rules, governments can paint themselves - and lagging students - into a corner. That's happening now, as the date draws closer when Maryland's high school class of 2009 is going to be required to get minimum scores on four standardized exit exams in order to get high school diplomas.

This is posing...

Published on 05/08/08

Editor's notebook

DISASTER - Maryland's two U.S. senators, Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, are just doing their job by asking the federal government to declare a "fishery disaster" for the Chesapeake Bay's blue crabs. But last week's announcement was still a melancholy moment. Any "disaster" that has befallen the crabs, though it may fit the appropriate federal criteria, is hardly an act of God. It's a long-term failure of environmental management and a failure t...

Published on 05/07/08