Section: OPN

Editor's notebook

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:00:00

BRIDGE FEES - As motorists sit in holiday backups on the Bay Bridge, they are surely wondering how the Maryland Transportation Authority can justify increased fees - enacted for no other reason than to raise $60 million in revenue for the authority.

Commuters who use the E-ZPass system will have to pay an extra monthly charge of $1.50. If they lose their transponder, it will cost more to replace.

Tolls on the Bay ...

Our Say: Declaration's bold message still rings out

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00

Whatever might have been going on in the faraway American Colonies, 1776 was a banner year in English letters. Adam Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," the cornerstone of modern economics, was published. So was the first of the eventual six volumes of Edward Gibbon's "A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

Whatever you might think of some of Gibbon's ...

Guest Column: Balancing future budgets will be a challenge for the city

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00

There has been a lot of attention to the city's fiscal situation in The Capital and on the blogs. Unfortunately, sensible talk on the fiscal challenges facing the city has been in short supply.

In a nutshell, the city is facing flat revenues from all sources: property taxes, fees, state and county transfers. At the same time, spending continues to rise unchecked. The resulting shortfall will require unpalatable choices: tax...

Our Say: This time, county shouldn't be kept in dark on fly ash

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00

After the environmental mess Constellation Energy Group made in Gambrills, we hoped we had heard the last of the words "fly ash" for a while.

We were much too optimistic.

The energy-producing giant, the corporate parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., ultimately deposited 2.4 million tons of fly ash - the powdery residue from the burning of coal - at a former sand and gravel mine in Gambrills. And the nearby groundwat...

Our Say: 150-year sentence not as enormous as Madoff's crimes

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00

Normally, giving a 71-year-old man a 150-year prison sentence would be extreme judicial overkill. But there's nothing normal about Bernard L. Madoff.

So we join the applause that broke out in a Manhattan courthouse Monday when U.S. District Judge Denny Chin gave the maximum penalty to the financier who concocted what was probably the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. Madoff's swindles wiped out some $65 billion in wealth that ex...

Our Say: Arundel Mills needs to beef up security Bridge repairs

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00

There used to be a time when going to the shopping mall was completely safe. Shoppers may have heard of occasional shoplifters and loitering teenagers, but rarely did they hear of muggings and shootings. Criminals obviously saw it differently.

Last week's mugging at Arundel Mills points out the need for shoppers to be aware of their surroundings and understand that crime can happen to them.

It also points out the need for mall...

Guest Column: Public deserves the facts when it comes to zoning enforcement

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00

Every citizen who values informed debate on public issues must be appalled at the level of innuendo and outright misinformation being used by proponents of the pending County Council bill to prohibit our zoning enforcement officials from investigating anonymous complaints.

Elected officials, and those aspiring to public office, owe the people a truthful debate on this issue without resorting to tactics better suited for a propaganda mac...

Editor's notebook

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00

GOP FALLOUTS - Joyce Thomann, president of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County, recently compared President Barack Obama to Hitler in a diatribe about his health plan. If her intent was to get attention, she succeeded - but she got much more than that.

Thomann wrote on the organization's Web site that the president and the German dictator had a "great deal in common." She included Hitler's blit...

Our Say: State's hands tied when it comes to size of CEO salaries

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00

We cannot blame lawmakers for being upset with the compensation given to executives with Constellation Energy Group. Consumers have been whacked with unprecedented increases in rates and some users are being cut off because they can't keep up with their bills. Why should executives get big salaries?

That's the pitch made by Sens. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County and James Brochin of Baltimore County, who wants the attorney gene...

Guest Column: A doctor's determination to practice medicine

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00

How should medical doctors respond to the oncoming health care crisis? The amount of money spent annually is approaching $2.5 trillion; yet, our citizens are not better off than other countries.

While we are at the center of the controversy, we have little or no control. Our education - high school, college, medical school, 6+ years of training - adds up to the 26th-grade. Then we pass an exam - or certification. The document hangs on o...

Editor's notebook

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00

FURLOUGHS - Although school officials have announced that employees would take off three unpaid days, other county employees will not. Even city employees have escaped furlough days despite cuts in their budgets and dire economic warnings.

Businesses suffering the same economic woes have reached the conclusion that furlough days are necessary to protect more jobs. Except for the furlough days in the school system, local...

Our Say: Bridge inspection recommendations should be followed

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00

It is reassuring to hear an independent review panel has found that inspections of the Bay Bridge are in line with national standards.

State officials shouldn't use that as an excuse not to implement the 18 improvements the eight-member peer review panel suggested in its review of the Maryland Transportation Authority's bridge and tunnel inspection program, however.

The group spent eight months comparing the MdTA's ins...

Our Say: Armed with a plan, Pristoop is taking a bite out of crime

unknown@hometownannapolis.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00

There are few things as positive - or rare - as a decline in crime. That hasn't always been the case in Annapolis where year after year crime seemed to rise often enough to draw a collective yawn from residents.

Not so this year when the story was just the opposite - a decrease in crime. In fact, in 2008 crime had reached its lowest point in 20 years. Now, that's really good news.

Police Chief Michael Pristoop says that, a...