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Oh Yeah....now our embattled mayor of Annapolis is selling paperweights celebrating 300 Years of elected government! Here is what the official city news release says (with CP's comments in parentheses):
Don't miss this opportunity to purchase the Official City of Annapolis Charter 300 Medallion celebrating 300 Years of Elected Government in the City of Annapolis. (Who would want to miss this opportunity to make fun of our current elected government?)
This limited edition sure to become a collectors item! (Without a doubt. Did they mean "is sure to become" or "edition sure to become"....The one lasting "impression" of the failed Moyer Administration. Only ten million of these rare items have been struck. Be the first in your ruined sidewalk, pockmarked, bullet-ridden street to have one.)
$60 for the Certified Silver Medallion from Northwest Territorial Mint. A proof quality piece of 1 Troy Ounce of Fine Silver. (As in Ellen of Troy?)
$25 for the lovely and practical nickle paperweight. Makes a great gift for anyone, anywhere that loves the City of Annapolis. ($25? Why not just send one to each of the suckers who sent in their sidewalk tax instead of refunding them their money? Those of us that still love the City of Annapolis do not necessarily love its elected government....which is what this celebrates)
Please fill out this form, make checks payable to City of Annapolis, and mail to: (Oh yeah, I can't wait to send in yet more money....) City of Annapolis Attn: Karen Engelke Special Projects Coordinator (Interesting...so that's what a special projects coordinator does? What if our government loses money on this? The best way to celebrate our elected government will be to elect a new one in November, 2009. Let's all send more money in to our government!...Dear Aldermen--How did this one slip through the cracks? Why did we not at least let local retailers do this? Our police headquarters is not yet done. The Market House debacle continues. Our buses air conditioners do not work. But we've got medallions. How much of our tax dollars will be sunk into this one? I could go on and on, but...what's the use?)
("NO CELEBRATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION....on a medallion"
CP has long contended that our region suffers from an unusually disproportionate distribution of wealth. In other words, there are folks with fancy waterfront homes, luxury cars and yacht and there are folks who can barely afford bus fare--right here in Annapolis and AA County.There are plenty of folks who have way more than they need and a lot of people who have nowhere near enough. This is the most pressing issue and indeed, is also the most fundamental cause of most of our social,educational and crime challenges. What happened to the idea of "trickle down economics" or "a rising tide lifts all boats"? See this article in The Capital for a discussion of a report just released by The Community Foundations of Anne Arundel County (CFAAC) which documents the social problems exacerbated by having too many rich people and too many poor people.
I suppose the odds are not too high that as soon as you graduate high school, you might get sent to Iraq where you can supposedly defend freedom. That's because we don't have a draft, which if we did, we might not have a war, or we might see it differently. Furthering that argument, if we were forced to pay for it NOW, we might not be having it either. But closer to home at Annapolis HS, we learn that three students who briefly sat down in a hallway to protest the war, got cuffed by police and sentenced to ten days of suspension.
Okay, let's put this into perspective. More US soldiers have died in Iraq than there are students that go to Annapolis HS. We have been fighting in Iraq for longer than it takes someone to graduate high school. We let students go to high school, then we ship them off to Iraq to kill and be killed. Our schools suffer from lack of funding, our economy is teetering, the dollar is weakening, people are losing their homes, our international prestige is sliding away, gas prices are soaring, many AHS students live in housing projects where they hear gunshots--and get shot and even murdered.....and we have to lock up a few students for sitting in a school hallway.
Contrast this to the Vietnam era when we had a draft and for most purposes, had to pay for the war. The young people went nuts, and their protests eventually brought about an end to the war. And our country seems to have collective amnesia about every lesson we should have learned from that folly. So, after all these years in Iraq, trillions squandered and many thousands dead,we seem to forget all the lies foisted upon us by Bush and Cheney Incorporated. Instead, we take a few students who sat down peacefully and suspend them for ten days.
Perhaps, yes perhaps, if cooler heads prevail, we'll get a massive student protest going and maybe we'll shut the whole school down for ten days. That might make a point. As the parent of an Annapolis HS student, I'm all for it. It might make the lessons my son is learning about US government and history all the more meaningful. And if he gets suspended for ten days, we'll go visit all the war memorials in Washington, stroll among the gardens of stones at Arlington, visit our Senators and Congressman to protest. He might learn more than he does in school. Read about it in The Capital.
Local Republican leader Michael Collins pines for the good old days of former Housing Authority Director Pat Croslan in a guest column in The Capital titled "Want to cut crime? Bring back Pat Croslan." Collins makes a direct correlation with violent crime and management of HACA.
While CP agrees that Ms. Croslan was a tough leader trying to restore order and efficiency to our long-beleaguered public housing, I don't think it is simply a matter of who holds the position of HACA executive director that really counts. Collins goes a bit into the history of Croslan's removal, blaming Democrats including Mayor Moyer and House Speaker Busch. It seems accurate to me, but CP is concerned that Republicans will and indeed are making the long festering issue of public housing into an essentially politicized debate. First they claim the Democrats have made a mess of it. True. Then they claim that Democrats will never clean it up. Maybe true. Then they seem to be (or at least Collins is, and maybe others as well...) that Republicans are needed to wrest control and save us.
I have heard enough grumblings from Republicans and am trying to sort out the emerging picture. We cannot allow the public housing debate to be led by or to get mired in a game of Republican-Democratic mudslinging. A good Democrat or a good Republican can lead us out of this mess. Don't make it a party thing anymore than it may already be a party thing.
While many Democrats have allowed this wound to fester, I'm not going to concede that a change of leadership to a Republican will matter. And frankly, when it comes to fixing public housing, Annapolitans are not concerned with the party either. We want meaningful results. Many folks have suggested to me that by somehow keeping thousands of people locked into public housing, Democrats maintain a powerful voting bloc. This seems to have become a bit of urban folklore in these parts. I have no doubt there has been some hanky panky but the essential argument is hard to swallow.
The argument seems to go like this--As long as Democrats keep people in public housing segregated for generations living off the public dole, even subjected to mismanagement, inefficiency, poverty, crime, violence, gunfire etc., etc., they'll vote to keep the Democrats in control because it's goodto live under a welfare state. Can anyone gather hard data to show voting patterns or show a correlation here? It sounds like a research and a philosophical nightmare. The potential pitfalls are mind boggling. I would not even know what kind of model to apply to analyze this. Critical theory? Marxist? Hegemonic? Free market? Social-democratic?
What disturbs me most about Collin's piece is not his call for better management, but that he does not call for a major overhaul, elimination or transformation of public housing. Maybe that's because after learning from Democrats, he and other Republicans can get more use out of maintaining public housing for their own political purposes than if it were drastically changed. I guess the big question is do we cut crime and poverty by redistributing wealth to make everyone equal or by giving everyone an equal chance to become unequal? Or by eliminating private property and have the people--or the government own everything? Or by letting everyone fight amongst themselves to get more?
I don't know. All I know is that there is no good answer to this as long as it is based along party lines. We all end up losers as long as we have the shame of public housing poverty and despair alongside the shame of conspicuous consumption and opulence. Read Collin's piece here.
Aaaaah.....the Sunday paper. Lots of ads. The comics. And controversy.
1. FOR THIS WE HAVE THE FIRST AMENDMENT???? The Capital now has the local hospital writing, laying out and paying for the "Health and Fitness" page. Editor Tom Marquardt admits he is "not entirely comfortable with the arrangement" after stating that, "We don't have a health reporter to write about medical issues..." Tom, that's the problem! Get a health reporter! Oh, that would cost money while the new arrangement makes money. Hmmm.
Maybe they should try this model in the entertainment section. The restaurants could write their own reviews. What about with government? Fire the local government reporters and just have the mayor and county executive's staff send in a report every day with a check. After that, we'll just change the name of the newspaper to more accurately reflect the collusion between the state and the media. We'll call the paper PRAVDA. It means "truth" On the other, the paper is considering welcoming columnist Amy Goodman as a regular contributor. That would be a most welcome and interesting development.
2. WHEN THE SCHUH IS ON THE OTHER FOOT.... In a guest editorial, Delegate Steve Schuh of elitist, gated Gibson Island protests that "...Maryland is dominated by the Democratic Party". That's because the people elected them Delegate Schuh. Poor Mr. Schuh is upset about partisanship. I guess those folks on Gibson Island who have been used to owning everything for so long now think the system is unfair once it starts allowing for other to compete with them to own a piece of the big pie.
He notes how 73% of General Assembly members are Democrats. Yeah--well that's because the people elected 73% of them as Democrats. He is upset that leaders of both houses of Maryland's legislature, as well as cabinet members and judges are Democrats. That's the system Mr. Shuh and it was done just the opposite way when Mr. Ehrlich was governor. Did you complain about partisanship control at that time? I don't recall Mr. Schuh complaining about this when George Bush Inc. owned the White House and both houses of Congress. Nor did he complain when both houses of Congress conspired to keep Bill Clinton from being more effective. Mr. Schuh failed to mention how our county is headed up a Republican and the majority of the County Council is Republican as well. Does that not reflect a Republican majority? Nor did he mention that until recently, our governor was a Republican.
I guess it's too bad for Mr. Schuh that Gibson Island cannot be a state. That would certainly guarantee a Republican majority.
3. A MESSIANIC SCIENCE TEACHER AT ANNAPOLIS HIGH.....We read with little more than a raise eyebrow about this one in today's paper until we came to the part where this supposed science teacher said he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Uh oh. CP promises to look into this more....
Extra! Extra! You've already read all about it. Once again it is my distinct displeasure to bring the following "old" news to your attention. The Washington Post's Arundel Extra section is full of puffery, rehashed and re-aggregated news stories, press releases and generally useless information. I have opined about this before, and here goes again, as today's Extra tells us that crime is down in Annapolis!
Oh, you knew that already? Of course you did. You knew it from many other news sources days ago because they come out daily and the Extra comes out weekly, er should I say weakly? Not only is the news stale by Thursday, but the Post actually pays a reporter to rehash it without telling us anything new. In this case, they missed the big picture, which is what a weekly should be all about. Many crime stats are down, if you only look at 2007 compared to the really bad crime stats of 2006, but all in all, our crime rates are way higher than comparable cities and at or near historic highs despite close to zero population growth.
The Post's Ray McCaffrey completely missed that Annapolis citizens are on the verge of rebelling (okay so I exaggerate a bit) about gunshots and violent crime and what they perceive as sluggish local government response. But worst of all is Mr. McCaffrey's complete reliance on official news sources. He quotes Mayor Moyer, Police Officer Hal Dalton and Alderman Ross Arnett as well as FBI figures but not a single one of the outspoken and increasingly active citizens who are concerned about crime.
In fairness to Arnett and McCaffrey, the lawmaker was quoted as saying, "I'm not sure that statistics are telling the whole story here or the right story." Well, that does beg the question as to what is the whole story, does it not? So I ask you, Mr. McCaffrey and editors, what is the whole story? We are waiting. The Post may call this journalism. I have another word for it. Read it for yourself.
Last week’s CP poll elicited responses from 57 readers who were asked “Would You Support A $600k State Study of Rail Service Between Baltimore and Annapolis That Will Cost Billions to Build?” The General Assembly is considering a bill that was introduced as a result of a City Council resolution. It’s probably DOA due to the price tag.
The big question, as far as CP is concerned, is why we don’t have commuter express bus service RIGHT NOW? The two issues cannot be divorced. Why spend money to study rail if we don’t even have an express bus? What better way to study and assess demand than from running buses? It appears as if the bill’s champions in city government, Alderman Shropshire and Alderman Stankivic, have completely ignored the relatively easy and inexpensive way to quickly get buses on the road. Instead, they are fixated on rail--light rail to be exact. CP wonders whether or not they even know what makes “light” rail “light”? Hint--it’s not fewer calories, but to my mind, buses will be more filling and taste better.
It now takes 25 minutes to go from the terminus station at Cromwell to the Convention Center, so we ask, how long will a trip take from Annapolis (where exactly?) to the Convention Center? At that speed, probably 1.5 hours. So, let’s do the math. $600,000 to study what will cost billions to build and a decade to complete or $300,000 to get a whole lot of buses on the road NEXT MONTH that will go from downtown Annapolis to downtown Baltimore in about 45 minutes.
We could do both-yes? We could get buses going and study rail, but instead there is no talk of buses. Remember that Alderman Shropshire, a man who represents one ward in tiny Annapolis that is ten miles from the Bay Bridges, is still fixated on building a third bridge! More people from all over the country cross the Bay Bridges in an hour than voted him into office in his ward.
The real question remains, why does our City Council ignore our ailing bus system that serves us here and now, but presses the State to study a rail service that will at best, only come into Annapolis for less than a mile?
Your answers:
“Definitely Yes” 15 or 26%, “Probably Yes” 6 or 10%, “Do Not Know” 1 or 1%. “Probably No” 4 or 7%, “Definitely No” 12 or 21%. And finally, 19 or 33% of you favored, “Immediately Re-Start A Low-Cost Express Commuter Bus Service First”. Therefore the definitely or probably yes folks tallied 36% while Bus folks got 33%. The definitely or probably no folks mustered 28%. Perhaps I simply should have asked “Do you or do you not support reinstating the express commuter bus service between Annapolis and Baltimore?”
This week’s poll, once again will focus on the primary elections, but it’s so much more interesting now that the races have been whittled down and there is no clear winner. Therefore, Maryland will once again be thrust into the spotlight! As always, thanks for voting and please vote when this poll is up later today.
Thanks to an Annapolis City Council resolution pushed by Aldermen Shropshire and Stankivic, MD Senator John Astle (D-30) has introduced legislation asking for the state to commit funds to study linking Annapolis and Baltimore by rail as well as some sort of service from Annapolis to Parole. Remember Parole--it's the city that's about to eat Annapolis? It could have been the crowning example of Smart Growth, but instead we get, well, we'll see.
What bothers CP is the fact that this goes on while our city and city leaders continue to ignore the fact that we already have a bus system, a fairly good one in fact for a city this size, but much needs to be done to improve it. In other words, we are ignoring what we own, control and can fairly easily improve while we go to the state to ask for a lot of money to consider doing a really big thing. Consider the fact that Ms. CP (yes I "borrowed" that moniker from AP)has to commute by car to her job in Baltimore, but she would prefer an express commuter bus. However, Governor Ehrlich scrapped that route in a "cost saving" measure. Have our good Aldermen said a word about that? No.
As with many of you, CP has a love-hate affair with The Capital. As meaty evidence of this, CP often refers readers to articles in The Capital. While it would be nice if they did the same for CP, I'm not holding my breath. The Capital does many things well and provides important, yes even crucial news for us, but it is far from ideal. The biggest disappointment is that with all its resources and strengths, it just does not seem to "get it" half the time. The quality of reporting ranges mainly from adequate to acceptable, with a few notables at both ends of the entire range. Earl Kelly, Eric Hartley and Nicole Young stand out as real positives, but it is too heavy on sports and fluffy stuff for my taste. We are fortunate that it is a far cry better than many, if not most small town newspapers. However, as with all papers, change is in the air, and with this paper, it may be big and it may be imminent.
Capital editor Tom Marquardt opined about this, so CP took the liberty of using his words and changing key words in them to make a defense of blogs. Geeze--I hope I am not guilty of plagiarizing because I could not afford to fight this legal battle. On the other hand, it would be great publicity for CP.....
CP respects Mr. Marquardt's abilities and candor and gives him credit for many of the long term improvements that have taken place at The Capital. Below is CP's highly modified version of Marquardt's recent column, changed of course, to favor blogs, rather than newspapers. I do this to make a point that there are many types of blogs and bloggers, some good and some not so good, but that is true of newspapers as well:
Those of us who write blogs are still confident that we can continue to prosper. The reason, simply, is that people still want to know what is happening in their communities and blogs are in the best position to satisfy them. Who else has the unfiltered and unfettered viewpoints to cover everything from an insider's perspective?
Sure, there are plenty of newspapers such as The Capital that recruit aspiring writers to cover local news. That's fine - but do these outfits live up to their supposed standards? Are they capable of writing serious stories? I know of one that instructs its staff to avoid anything negative if it's about an advertiser, even if it means covering up controversy. I don't think this is what readers want.
There will always be a need for choices in local news, but I don't see blogs out of the picture. We know we have to embrace newspapers and satisfy people who prefer a newsprint to a computer screen. Our platform and even our people may be changing - but not our mission to produce the most comprehensive news report possible.
There are still a lot of people who would rather hold a computer mouse than a newspaper to get their daily fix of local news. Until that changes, you'll still find us on your computer.
Don't give up on us. We have a lot of new ideas and stories for 2008 that we hope will make your investment an even greater value.
Readers may wish to see Marquardt's original words here.
It's a familiar and was once a welcoming place for visitors and residents in Annapolis, but now the beleauguered Market House stands partially empty and with a jury-rigged HVAC system it's a testament to the incompetence of our local government. Now Annapolis Politics reports that our City Council will soon have a special closed session to discuss a legal issue to do with the Market House. See here.
Mayor Ellen (O) Moyer will do a top-down review of the performance of all her appointed officials and their effectiveness in running city departments by hiring an outside consultant. The report will be sole-sourced to a relative of one of her top aides. Somehow the report will be sequestered while it undergoes review and revision. While this is going on, so-called City Administrator (can you say "sinecure"?) Bob Agee will be on an extended trip with various well-paid city consultants/cronies to plant a million trees in a hundred sister cities all over the world.
It is axiomatic (cool word huh?) that the news media may not necessarily tell us what to think, but they do tell us what to think about. In other words, the editors don't of course, decide to cause a major car crash or burn down a major building, but in another, equally important sense, they decide to make "news" of it or not. At the end of every year, as is customary, our local editors, who in their role as "gatekeepers" of the news, have already decided on what to report, how to report, how much prominence, depth, duration or salience to give to the news, then go on to tell us their thoughts about what are the top ten news stories of the year. Can you say ironic?
CP has long been a supporter of and advocate for public transit on a personal and professional level. We could address many pressing issues in urban America if more of us used and advocated for our bus systems, but CP knows that among other things, racism has often played a big role in the unwillingness of many residents to get on a bus. I believe, of course, that such fears and concerns are almost always unfounded and unsupportable. You are invited to read Baltimore Sun's columnist Gregory Kane's latest column which considers two recent events on Baltimore's MTA buses. One of them was a violent, mob act that may be a racially motivated hate crime. The other--well, read it for yourself.
The newest member of the Annapolis City Council is Fred Paone who ran on the Republican ticket. Although only 947 Ward Two residents voted (the big disappointment, although not unexpected), Paone had what I believe to be a surprisingly strong victory.
Official results:
Fred Paone 427 Debbie Rosen-Mckerrow 358 Karen Jennings (Green) 162
CP thought the results would have been closer and that Jennings was going to do better, but on the other hand, she received about one out of every six votes, not bad at all for a third party contender in a three-way race. Rosen-Mckerrow who edged slightly ahead of Paone in one of the two precincts, was certainly hurt by the appearance of Jennings in the race. She lost by 69 votes, had almost twice as many as Jennings, but in the previous Ward Two race, she lost by 44 votes, in a two-way race. Rosen-Mckerrow is a an Annapolis native, and Paone is a long time Annapolitan. While there may be some folks (Democrats but not likely Republicans)complaining about this, I see this as a positive development, as long as we're going to have partisan local elections. Green are making inroads in Maryland, and Jennings had a stalwart group of them backing her.
Although CP sponsored a candidates' forum, I took no other role in the campaign nor did I endorse, support or favor any candidate. I think we should all thank the three candidates for their commitment and willingness to serve. I don't think that either Jennings or Rosen-Mckerrow are going away (please keep up the good work), and we all expect continued involvement from them. As for Paone,I wish him the best and urge him to consider moderating the strident tone from his campaign. He was certainly a vibrant, entertaining presence in the race, and if he can follow through on his campaign rhetoric, he'll bring a welcome if not brash, as well as serious voice to the council.
However, he, like any other City Council member, is just one of nine votes. In order to be effective, he'll need to figure when to form voting blocs with the other, overwhelmingly Democratic members, who he took to task, however obliquely, but repeatedly, in his campaign. He is likely to be a quick ally of his long-time colleague, David Cordle, and perhaps Democrat Ross Arnett and Independent (fiercely so...) and fiscally conservative, Julie Stankivic.
I hope that all City Council members will rise above the growing swell of Mayoral campaigning and positioning for a race nearly two years away and focus on the important municipal issue of the day, namely public safety and transportation.
Annapolis Politics is worried that a proposal being considered to improve building codes to reduce global warming impacts will cost money. Here is what Brian Gill says:
“There is certainly not consensus about climate warming….”
He also says:
“Folks, this stuff is expensive. First, home prices will go up, as will commercial rents, which we will pay for in the form of higher prices. Also, we will no doubt have to fund another inspector in city government to make sure all of the buildings are meeting the new green code.”
Brian is right to be wary of more and more government, especially as practiced by both our liberal, Democratic Mayor Moyer and that of our hyper-conservative, Republic President.
He is incorrect to be wary that global warming is occurring or that government should not take action. There IS consensus that global warming is happening and that it is human induced. The only people outside that consensus are politically motivated and unwilling to face facts, science and reality.
As you might have heard, there's a pretty big Middle East peace conference going on now in Annapolis. It's usually the custom in these sorts of events for local officials to welcome the foreign delegations attending, as Gov. Martin O'Malley has done for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his retinue. For some reason, Brian Griffiths thinks this is a travesty:
Governor O'Malley has been a catastrophic failure in his scant ten months governing this state. His record on domestic issues has been a record of setback after setback, lessening the standard of living here in Maryland. His presence in the middle of the peace process is nothing more than that of an abscess, an unwanted growth that does harm and not good. The State Department should take steps to make sure that O'Malley's record of failure, and his record as someone who goes out of his way to avoid building consensus does not taint an already fragile peace process.
By that logic, of course, we ought to keep President Bush as far away from Annapolis as possible, but now I'm just being snarky.
The Capital announces the launch of a new section called "My Time" which is their reaction no doubt to having to pay actual professional reporters as well as concerns that regular folks are just not reading their paper. See here for an explanation of their launch: http://www.hometowna...
Yawwwwwn. Big yawwwwn. If it's any indication of what we can come to expect, I think I'll just expectorate. Blaah! Smiley faces, sports, kids, more kids and reading to kids. I'm gonna have a cuteness attack. Is not there not already enough sports and smiling kids in the paper?
It's outside of Annapolis and outside of our price range…CP received the following email invitation and provides it here as a public service in support of Friends of Ellen Moyer (yeah sure…):
“Dear Friends,
On behalf of Mayor Ellen Moyer and her Special Guests, I'd like to invite you to our Annual Holiday Gala in the seasonal splendor of Homestead Gardens on Friday, December 14, 2007 at 8:30 PM. This festive event will feature live music and dancing, along with gourmet hors d'oeurves and desserts by Ken Upton of Ken's Creative Kitchen. Please take a moment connect to www.mayorellenmoyer.com for this special invitation, along with all event details.
Our special guests for the evening include Senator Ben Cardin, Congressman John Sarbanes and Mrs. Dina Sarbanes, Comptroller Peter Franchot, Attorney General Doug Gansler, Speaker Mike Busch and many other dignitaries.
General Tickets are only $60 per person. Event Sponsors are $1000 and Event Patrons are $500. Checks are payable to "Friends of Ellen Moyer" and mailed to: Friends of Ellen Moyer, Attn: Kathleen Nieberding, PO Box 3527, Annapolis, MD 21403
Formal invitations will be mailed out next week. Please, if you haven't already, send me a quick email with your mailing address so I may add you to my database. And if you would be so kind, please RSVP for the event by December 7th to [email protected]
Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Regards, Kathy Nieberding Gala Chair, Friends of Ellen Moyer Committee Kathleen M. Nieberding Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage 410.212.1051 [email protected]
By auth: Friends of Ellen Moyer, Clarence Goldberg, Treasurer www.mayorellenmoyer.com”
Annapolis Politics has displayed a collection of vacant and “for lease” storefront photos from downtown Annapolis to make a point about its future. See "A Sign of things to come" at http://annapolispoli... While I do not completely agree with his dire assessment nor his description of downtown’s “lackluster transportation” I am very concerned and have blogged before about how political and business leaders do not seem to grasp the coming storm. We cannot nor should we not try to compete directly with Parole, the Mall and other developments. We have a lot of transportation options but they are not properly marketed while we focus too much on parking and “parking problems”. What we must do is focus and “capitalize” on what makes downtown special and unique. In addition to its inherent colonial charm and scenic waterfront, what I am referring to is its walkability, rather than moving cars and storing cars and more cars.
Annapolis Politics has produced these photos as a means to spur some discussion, but downtown has always been high turnover and stores coming and going. However, it does appear to be higher than normal.
CP has long bemoaned the fact that the weekly Anne Arundel Extra section of the Washington Post is an anemic bore, consisting mainly of press release regurgitation, sports scores, crime and home sales listings and occasional an actual story or feature requiring a reporter to give the appearance of having done some work. What a disappointment. CP grew up with the Washington Post each morning and the old Washington Star in the afternoon. CP has known many of its editors and reporters and their families, among them some of its most celebrated "stars". It's just an incredible newspaper, so why does it put together such a pitiful excuse for a local insert?
Here is just one example to make this point taken from today's section, The Post decided it needed to report on what is already "old" news, the resignation of Alderman Mike Christman. A caption under a picture of Christman says he did not offer a reason for stepping down. Wuh? It's been reported everywhere else. How about the fact that he has sold the contents of his home and moved to Australia where his wife got a job (hmmm...Annapolis? Australia??? decisions, decisions...). Does that count for a reason?
Three of the ten paragraphs refer to the last special election in the city, almost a year ago, but what is missing is what is so ridiculous. There is not a mention of which candidates have stepped forward to declare their intention to run. That's what most folks want to know--who is running? Democract Debbie Rosen Mckerrow and Green Karen Jennings were not even mentioned in this story. What is wrong with The Post? Click here and judge for yourself.
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