It would appear that over the summer Mr.Delauter tried his hand at a creative writing class. Either that, or he’s been reading our posts and wanted to see if he could pull it off. Usually imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Usually…
If you would trouble yourself, dear readers, to once again drag yourself over to THAT website and read his attempt at humor we would be in your debt. If you can’t stomach it, we more than understand, and will do what we can to sum it up. We would quote, but The Tentacle has some verbiage indicating that it does not allow that nowadays. Can it actually be verboten to quote an elected official who is carrying on at length about his elected role? Seems like probably no.
Apparently Kirby is a Seinfeld fan! Who knew? So are we! Apparently he never watched a single episode because his imagined dialogue between Jerry and George is way off the mark. He opens his piece with a discussion of the episode where Jerry and George pitch the idea to NBC that their show will be about nothing. He then equates himself to the NBC executives as to how it feels to be him up on that dais. Clueless. The only one that knows the council is all about nothing. How lonely it must be for him. Such an existential crisis.
Now, let’s move on to the imagined dialogue between George and Jerry. The first gripe is about having to be civil. Because we all know how hard that it is for him to be civil. Then there’s some really neat discussion about how George lied about being an architect and it’s the same thing that’s going on in Frederick County politics. He being the exception of course.
Then there’s talk of the ethics commission. And Karl Bickel is equated to a criminal and it’s all very nasty really. But what choice does Kirby have with all the lies? He’s not able to be our Vandelay salesman any more. (He knows that was a made up company, right?) The last part is particularly amusing. Kirby is upset that there is a Democratic majority on the council. (There isn’t!) This is so very sad for him, but I don’t remember any sympathy coming David Gray’s way a few years back. He then ends with: Bad FNP! Lies, lies, lies! Or something along those lines. (Please read this for yourself, pretty please!)
You know what? Let Kirby equate the current county council to Seinfeld. It was one of the most successful TV shows in broadcasting history. And here we are, 20 years later, still watching and talking about it. If Kirby is equating himself to the clueless executives, he’s admitting that he doesn’t get it. And speaking of nothing, what has Kirby done? Has he accomplished anything other than becoming Twitter famous? If you want to be part of the solution Kirby, then stop being part of the problem.
Pull in your welcome mats, Urbana! Quickly! (Does anyone else find it curious that the Party of Lincoln!!!! is not the Party of Hoover?Or Davis or Bacon? Please don’t let it just be us who are perplexed…)
So remember last week when we had ournice little BOE meeting? The PTA Presidents exchanged contact information and one of our favorite readers told us that members of both PTAs gathered together at the end in a circle of solidarity. Who would want to ruin that!? That’s right, state delegate Kathy Afzali.
Let’s highlight a section of this letter:
The 2014 changes to Prevailing wage is impacting the entire State and you may have heard an elementary school in Frederick County must be back burnered because of significant costs increases as a result of the changes.
Have you heard?! Back burnered? Anyway, one more section please:
This Wednesday night beginning at 6:45 I will be meeting with the Urbana Elementary School PTA and explaining to them how they have been caught in the crosshairs of the law with regard to the county’s need to choose between them and Hillcrest.
So, let’s see here…a few questions? Is the Hillcrest PTA getting access to this same information? And why the hell is this the approach to solving this problem? We are not really going to advocate for lower wages in order to solve this are we? Because there is a little bit of a problem with low wages and subsequently poverty in this country. Maybe Del. Afzali has heard of it? This post is excellent to read in its entirety. Let us highlight this one section for now:
If the minimum wage had just kept pace with inflation since 1969, it would be around $10.70 today. If it had kept up with productivity growth, it would be $18.72. Meanwhile, if it matched the wage growth of the wealthiest 1 percent, it would be $28.34.
While the value of the minimum wage has fallen — thanks largely to congressional inaction for long stretches of time — the wealthiest 1 percent are doing quite well, thank you. Their real earnings have skyrocketed 275 percent over the past 30 years.
Remember how Henry Ford made a whole business based upon paying workers who could afford his products? It has been described as the mass production of consumers. Wouldn’t we hope to pay people who work for our community enough to be participating in the local economy? Shouldn’t this be especially popular with those people who are in the same party as those who think the local economy should be based on home building?
Realizing that the directive from ALEC compels Del. Afzali to do counterintuitive things, maybe she could focus on how the economy works for working class people instead of trying to divide and conquer the PTAs to her advantage. Maybe just implore our governor to do the honorable thing, and fund the schools.
It is time again for our favorite part of our week. We just love our drinking games, especially when we have fun new concoctions for our readers to try. So grab your agenda and follow along. As always, this game is for giggles, not for becoming intoxicated to the point where you actually need to call Billy for a ride home.
If Billy bows to the flag at the opening of the meeting, make yourself the usual, because the name fits the behavior.
If Billy decides to once again abstain on a budget transfer shoot back the kicker, have two if he does so after a prolonged period of questioning. Because we know we want to kick something.
Time for County Executive appointments. If one of the three amigos asks any unreasonable, illogical question, shoot back an Absolut train wreck.
One of our faves, Roger Wilson, is in the house again! If Billy asks him any irrelevant questions about something he “read about in the Frederick News Post” that morning make yourself a shut the hell up.
Next up is the introduction of a bill to amend the ethics ordinance. No, it’s not just about Kirby, but his law is in there. So if he tries to derail the whole thing to get back at everyone for putting him in the poor house, have any variation of the Four Horsemendrink.
Second reading of the sewage bill. If there’s any more discussion of not going after people who rack up fines because it doesn’t make good business sense slam back a day old bath water punch!
We’ll skip ahead to public comments because we don’t want you to die. Take a sip of a last word concoction every time a good citizen gets up to speak.
Yup. Hang on to your hats, locals, it’s gonna be a crazy ride to follow this one.
Political notes in the FNP today (Sept. 11, 2015) has struck irony gold. Shreve has filed a PIA request to find out what he could simply ask Bud Otis about. The topic is what he believes to be a super secret deal trying to make the Monrovia Town Center development age-restricted. This would spread out the traffic concentration to different times of day maybe, and not stretch the schools any farther than they are now–not a terrible idea, really!
What is just knee-slapping hilarity is that Billy seized on the idea that they could just make MTC age restricted during the council discussion last meeting. That would be the one about what the heck they were going to be able to do to alleviate the FACT letter taint (Mr. Smith and his dumb letter writing: will he learn?). Over and over, to the point of exhaustion. In his ever exasperated tone. Never you mind that it would be impossible take that direction at that point in the process (and you really have to ask yourself how this continues to confuse an experienced elected official).
Is this part of the Fantasy Conspiracy League Draft, hosted on Facebook by the Billy/Kirby/(Chmelik? please definitively distinguish yourself, man) faction of their party? Who can say for sure, but as they say, “It would be irresponsible not to speculate…”
” And you lady bloggers shouldn’t be bothering your little heads with all this man business. Go make my dinner!”
Dear voters,
Paul Smith does not care one bit that you didn’t want him for your state delegate. You big meanies! What? You didn’t want Mr. Smith up in Annapolis tearing apart our social programs and dismantling the state government?! Well, don’t expect Mr. Smith to go hide in the corner. Oh no, he’s going to use the power of his word processor to stay relevant! Remember a few months back when we had so much fun with hisletter to the council about getting reimbursed for his legal fees? Well, as one of our good friends remarked, “What a gift this letter is!” Let us begin (you can click the images to enlarge):
Aren’t there some names missing from this list?
Ah, the title page. Now look! This isn’t from C. Paul Smith private citizen! This is from the law office of C.Paul Smith! But we are really confused. Aren’t there three more people on the county council? Are they so repugnant to him that he can’t even be bothered to address them by name? So what “serious concerns” does Mr. Smith have about 520 N. Market Street? Let’s look at the next page:
That’s a lot of words!
Now, uninformed county council members, let Mr. Smith give you a history of this building. (The capitalization and moniker “Young Board” is all C. Paul Smith, not us).
…this building had been used by the County government by its Citizens Services Division for many years. The division director’s office was there, as was the Child Advocacy Center, the Human Relations Commission and a Head Start classroom. The Young Board of Commissioners was able to reduce the size of County Government by approximately 500 employees. One of the results of this shrinking was to consolidate many county services into fewer buildings, making 520 North Market Street available to be sold.
Ah, isn’t that sweet? We shrunk the budgets and manpower of these agencies so we could shove them all into one building. And it was the Young board that did it! So shouldn’t they get some kind of compensation? Or at least some gratitude you ingrates! Now, from what we can tell, Paul is trying to make two points with this letter. The first is that Jan, is “unilaterally” overstepping her power as County Executive in making land deals. And the second is, he doesn’t think she should be “giving” this building away. Let’s continue with the letter before we pick it apart.
Page 3!And finally, the startling conclusion!
So here are some of the main points from this mess:
With regard to the sale:
It should be observed that in most major corporations, the authority to sell or acquire major assets is routinely reserved for boards of directors, and are not matters of routine management that the chief executive officer has authority to do unilaterally. The same principle should apply in our county government-the Council should be required to confirm any such major disposition, sale or acquisition.
The proposed use of this County asset is clearly the transfer of a County asset that would amount to a give away of that asset. …; in fact it is worse than a sale–it would be giving away a major County asset.
Why do you think no one has made a reasonable offer to purchase the building? That is because there does not appear to be a market for what the building can provide. This building is not compatible for normal housing. It would be difficult for a developer to make this building into a profitable housing project.
With this background, now the County Executive wishes to draw from County resources to help subsidize a housing project that the private sector would not touch.
It would appear that Mr. Smith has some very strong opinions about this property and Jan’s “plans” for it! But nothing, readers, beats this conclusion:
Executive Gardner’s unilateral decision to turn 520 North Market Street into a “mixed income workforce housing” project is a decision that exceeds her executive powers and it is a bad business decision.
Those who don’t understand market and economic forces should avoid involving themselves in economic development projects.
That’s right, County Executive Gardner! The only things you understand are diapers, dinner and keeping my suits clean! Don’t involve your delicate little mind in these man decisions! But wait. Could it be, perhaps, that everything is this letter is untrue? Could that be possible?
Hmm, August 24, 2015. Before Paul wrote his letter. And what’s that check mark? Oh yeah, refer to the county council.
Next page please:
What’s this? Maryland law already states that the county council must approve the sale of surplus property? I thought that this was a unilateral move. And why doesn’t he know the law?
Shall we continue?:
Wait?! $1,600,000? But Paul said it was worth $1,000,000. Return the money immediately! You people don’t understand market and economic forces!
Not done yet:
Ah, an open and transparent process. And a joint venture between whom? I don’t see Frederick County on that list.
And finally:
I don’t understand. Paul said there were no reasonable bids. What’s all this then?!
As far as we can tell, unless our female brains are failing us, every single issue addressed in this letter is wrong. It’s as though he had no knowledge at all as to what was happening with this property. None! And we do remember listening to a very recentcounty council meeting about this very issue. Therefore, Jan did not act unilaterally, numerous people wanted the property, bought it for more than what he claims it was worth, and is there one single valid point in this whole thing?! We can’t figure out why he wrote this letter. If his intent was to embarrass Jan it certainly backfired. The only person that should be embarrassed by this letter is C. Paul Smith, Attorney at Law. Therefore, Mr. Smith, we are going to have to ask that you leave government to those who actually understand what they are doing. Thank you very much.
Oughta be a short post to address, “What could go wrong with an elected sheriff?” And here’s why I should be able to finish this with just one sentence: do you ever wonder if you stick a sign out in your front yard supporting the opposition (or write a position like I’m throwing down here) if you’ll still be okay if you need help? Any possible situation in which that answer could be no should not exist. This should be easy to understand in a county where we talk about conflict of interest on a near daily basis.
The word “sheriff” is a portmanteau of “shire reeve,” which was the tax collector in medieval England. In some states, the sheriff is also the tax collector. (Is this notion maybe a bit antiquated?)
We’ve had some particularly sticky sitchumawaytions in the shire. Makes ya kinda-like wonder if we are definitely getting the best deal out of choosing the law enforcement the same way you choose a high school cheerleading squad. Not a clue in the world what was learned on the crazy Texas field trip: it sure as shoot could not have been that pestering every Latina eating lunch is good policy.
Some pros and cons of elected law enforcement are available here.
Critical points from all that reading material linked in blue include, “Inertia is a powerful inhibitor to reform.” (Indy Star, Dec. 18, 2007). Medieval holdout inertia, no less. Competence counts in law enforcement, and this is not always something best judged at the polls (http://forums.e-democracy.org, Elected vs. Appointed Sheriffs).
For good measure, the police department up in Thurmont received some acknowledgement for thoughtful and proactive efforts. We’d like to pat Chief Greg Eyler on the back, as well. Leaves me dreaming of a cutting edge stance with regard to how we hire law enforcement leadership.
Psssst…it should have the contraction “it’s” instead of the possessive “its” here. We didn’t make it. Education matters, evidently!
We were afraid that last night’s Board of Education meeting was going to turn into an ugly us vs. them shame fest.( If you want to watch the meeting, clickhere to get to FCPS’s TV channel). Thankfully, we were all so very wrong. First off let’s give an old yokel tip of the hat to Board of Education President Brad Young for setting the tone of last night’s meeting:
There has been a misrepresentation that this is an either/or situation. I don’t want to see this as one vs. the other. Both schools are needed.
This entire board 150% agrees that both schools are needed.
Just for you Mr. Young. Thank you for setting the tone for what could have been a very contentious meeting.
County Executive Jan Gardner also spoke:
We need to advocate together for our community’s needs. We are all in it together.
The Frederick News Post also reported that the speakers also kept that tone of togetherness. At the end of the meeting, it was reported, that the PTA Presidents exchanged contact information. Way to go ladies!
Brad Young, and others, have told us the main reason that we have these money problems is due to the prevailing wage. Back in 2014, the State passed a law that if they provided more than 50% of the school construction bill, wages need to be set at a certain level. This is why Frederick High’s costs have skyrocketed and also why these construction projects are in jeopardy. Now, before anyone villianizes the prevailing wage, let’s all remember to look at the big picture. We have a huge problem in this country of good folks working hard and not having enough money to pay their bills. If the prevailing wage measure helps with that, then it’s a good thing. We need to find a way to pay people well and get what our school system needs to educate our children properly.
So what can we do?
As we reported yesterday, we can petition Governor Hogan to release some of the education funds that he’s been holding on to. Click here to get to the petition.
Jan said she is going to work on raising the impact and school development fees so the developers pick up their fair share of the price tag. These builders shouldn’t be allowed to come into our county, make huge profits, and then leave us with clogged roads and overcrowded schools. When her bill comes to the county council, make sure they hear your voice. We suspect there may be, umm let’s see, at least three people who will be against this.
Email, call or visit our state and local officials. Here’s a nice listof all of them. Make sure they know how you feel about school funding in our county. Because……..
Frederick County residents ought to be very concerned with what is going on with our schools. Teachers are leaving because the salaries here are not competitive, and do not align with the workload. The state under Governor Hogan’s leadership is no help, withholding funds from communities all over the place. Sign the petition, please.
Schools are crowded. Crazy crowded. Certain people (for same, for shame) want to build houses willy-nilly while we pit communities against each other in a frankly disgusting way, because everyone is so desperate. No one wishes for their kids to attend schools under these conditions. Adding portable classrooms does not add toilets and gymnasiums and computer labs and libraries. Who is going to sashay into a neighborhood with a trailer park for an elementary school and spend $500,000 on a house? (Not this guy, tell ya that for sure.)
Butterfly Ridge Elementary is intended to relieve overcrowding at Hillcrest Elementary School, which in June was at 144 percent of its state-rated capacity. Waverley Elementary School, also in that area, was rated at 149 percent capacity.
Urbana Elementary School and Centerville Elementary are at 138 and 152 percent of state-rated capacity, respectively. (Frederick News Post, September 5, 2015)
Do we need to point out that homeschool is not a realistic option for that many people? For some we probably do…
The Board of Education is holding a public hearing on the FCPS master plan of capital projects at 7:30 today (that’s Wednesday evening, Sept. 9th, at 191 S. East St., Frederick). They will be working to decide the outcome here, and boy we do not envy them, not one little bit. Everyone should be getting treated better, especially in a matter that is so critical to nearly everyone involved, whether you have kids or you don’t. Schools are the cornerstones of our communities. They prepare our children for their path forward in life. They protect your real estate investments. (TLDR: there is a correlation between per pupil spending and property value). In low income neighborhoods schools feed kids and do what they can to provide opportunity. In communities of recent immigrants, they teach English as a Second Language (something we apparently as a county feel PATHOLOGICALLY PASSIONATE about; Local Yokel has written volumes on this, rivaling the length of the Oxford English Dictionary maybe).
The locals of your most devoted mommy blog are totally down with this very tired mommy crusader.Folks in the city government have given voice to the needs of the community in the western part of the city, and it is up to the people who have less representation down in the Urbana area to make their voices heard. Everyone deserves better. It is sad contemplating the outcome of this. No matter what, it ain’t gonna be pretty, but we particularly dislike the taste of what is going to inevitably look like class warfare, even if it is not.
We are all familiar with last week’s county council meeting’s outcome. The Monrovia Town Center process is starting over from the beginning. We wrote about it, the Frederick News Post wrote about it and today Billy wrote about it:
Great Gods on Mount Olympus hear our cries for mercy!!!! So many things to point out here folks. Let’s do a nice bullet list:
Why is Billy using the Fox News lie “Fair and Balanced”?
Paul Smith very specifically said in hisletter that he WOULD not submit an affidavit. And refused to even talk about it with the Frederick News Post. Why would he come and testify before the county council?
Then there’s Blaine who said it was a “boldface lie” that he was invited. But somehow his fellow BOCC member, David Gray, was able to find out the day of the hearing and had no problem standing in line to testify. Maybe Blaine feels as though he needs a special engraved invitation to speak.
And Kirby…what the hell are you talking about rudderless? Perhaps he needs one of these:
It’s under R.
Finally Billy uses this quote from the judge’s order:
Read the Judges instructions on page 3, the last 3 lines: “Therefore, this Court must remand the matter to the County for further proceedings, including testimony, to resolve the issues raised in this Opinion“http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/280736
I don’t see how this proves his point. In fact it seems to support starting the process over. This is how the council has chosen to deal with the problems with the record, these two need to get over it and get on board. The vessel isn’t rudderless. Just because you don’t like the course, Kirby and Billy, doesn’t mean it isn’t going anywhere.
Maybe these guys need to stop using social media. Then again, it provides us with an endless source of information.
frederick local yokel 