Have a concern about development in your area? Better lawyer up!

March 19, 2016March 19, 2016 fclocalyokel2 Comments

How dare you question the developer?! — How cute! County citizens thought they had a voice!

For years we labored under the delusion that the 1st amendment mattered. Along comes Roy Stanley’s lawsuit and shatters that illusion. It’s really silly to admit that we whole-heartedly believed that American citizens were allowed to assemble and petition the government. In fact, our urbanite education kinda instructed us that it was our duty to do so. Some nonsense about it strengthening our democracy and making sure the most powerful voices didn’t always win out. It makes us blush because we now realize that we have been stuck in our post adolescent idealistic phase for a couple of decades.

Perhaps we should thank Mr. Stanley for waking us up and making us face the harsh realities of the world. We get that Mr. Stanley wants to move on with his development. And while we don’t agree with his premises about C. Paul Smith’s FACT letter, nor do we think he will win, we get why he would sue the county government. What we cannot imbibe, and what has shattered our faith in American democracy, is that fact that he decided to add members of RALE to his lawsuit.

For those of you not familiar with RALE (Residents Against Landsdown Expansion), please visit their website. In short, they are a group of concerned citizens in Monrovia. They banded together because they were concerned about the amount of development and lack of improvements that were being proposed in their neighborhood. They have faithfully attended every meeting, spoke their minds (especially Steve McKay) and called foul when they believed certain political officials were not only listening to developers, but were in cahoots with them.

We here at the Yokel were lucky enough to get a copy of said lawsuit. Count III is the only part that we see that includes RALE, though we are still not exactly sure why. See for yourself:

COUNT III DECLARATORY JUDGMENT (all Defendants)

149. Plaintiff adopts by reference the allegations contained in Paragraphs 1 through 148 of this Complaint with the same effect as if herein fully set forth. 150. This is an action for declaratory judgment pursuant to § 3-409 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, for the purpose of terminating uncertainty or controversy between parties with antagonistic claims that will likely give rise to imminent or inevitable litigation. 151. There exists an actual controversy of a justiciable issue between the parties involving the rights and liabilities of the parties. The County Council is determined to force the Plaintiffs to present their rezoning application anew to the Planning Commission and then to the County Council, and the Plaintiffs maintain that the County Council has violated the Court’s March 10, 2015 Order, violated Maryland’s impermissible change of mind rule, and denied the due process to the Plaintiffs. 152. The actual controversy between the parties is within the jurisdiction of the Court. 37 153. The antagonistic claims between the parties indicate imminent and inevitable litigation. 154. A declaratory judgment by this Court will terminate the actual controversy between the parties. WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs, 75-80 Properties, L.L.C. and Payne Investments, LLC, respectfully request that the Court enter an Order: (a) Declaring that the purpose of the Court’s Order of March 10, 2015 was to direct the County Council of Frederick County to conduct further proceedings, including testimony, to resolve the issues raised in the Court’s March 10, 2015 Order, i.e., to determine what significance, if any, the FACT Letter played in the former BOCC’s approval of the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center; (b) Declaring that the statements of Councilmen Shreve and Delauter at the June 9, 2015 public meeting of the County Council that the FACT Letter did not have any impact on their decisions to vote to approve the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center, together with former Commissioner Young’s Affidavit submitted to the administrative record to the effect that the FACT Letter was not a determinative factor in Commissioner Young’s decision to vote to approve the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center, effectively resolves the question as to the significance of the FACT Letter; (c) Declaring that the testimony and Affidavit of the decision-makers, Councilmen Shreve and Delauter and former Commissioner Young, establishes that the FACT Letter was not significant in that the FACT Letter did not have any effect on the votes of a majority of the 38 former Commissioners to approve the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application for the Monrovia Town Center; (d) Declaring that since the FACT Letter did not exist when the Frederick County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of the Plaintiffs’ PUD rezoning application, the County Council violated Maryland’s impermissible change of mind rule by remanding this matter back to the Planning Commission with instructions to the Planning Commission to review the Plaintiffs rezoning application again from the beginning; (e) Declaring that County Council has taken a patently unreasonable amount of time in addressing the Court’s March 10, 2015 Order, that the County Council does not have a valid reason for the unreasonable delay, and that the delay violates the Plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment rights against deprivation of property without due process of law; and (f) Granting such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.

Are we to discern that they want the court to get rid of all antagonist influences? If others have problems with this development, are they not allowed to voice those concerns? And this FACT letter…how can anyone take Young, Shreve and Delauter’s word on this? We hope, like in the case concerning Trout Run, that our fellow citizens ,who are guilty of nothing but voicing their concerns, are stricken from this suit. Can you imagine the precedence it would set if all developers had to do was to reach into their deep pockets to silence the dissenters with litigation?

Speaking of litigation if you would like to help RALE out go to their website and click donate.

The path back to power is long and rambling.

March 18, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Man, how bad is it when even Donald Trump doesn't like you? — Man, how bad is it when even Donald Trump wants to distance himself from you?!

Yokels, if you’ve been with us from the beginning you know that Blaine Young is the reason that we started this little blog. As we read his letter to the FNP entitled:

Blaine Young: ‘Work together, or nothing will get accomplished’

we knew we had to do something. Our first instinct was to go on an angry, drunken rampage through the streets of Frederick. Cooler heads prevailed and we instead decided to start a blog on the corruption and down right craziness that exists in our local government. For almost a year, certain characters have kept us very, very busy. Even the one that promised we wouldn’t be hearing from him for 10 years.

In fairness, or because they wanted us to have an endless stream of material, someone at the FNP has given Blaine a column. It’s always terrible, and today was no exception. Let’s begin with the title:

What does ‘open for business’ mean anymore?

Sorry Hoots, but if we had to endure it so do you.

Didn’t he hear that when Jan took down the “open for business” signs all local businesses, especially hot dog stands, were required to shut down? I mean really Blaine, get with it.

The first few paragraphs are dedicated to educating us to how Democrats ruin everything. Of course! Republicans, on the other hand, would like to get rid of ALL regulations, except those that protect the public. To do otherwise would be picking the winners and losers. Then we are treated to his views on government services (Keep in mind folks, this guy was in charge of our government for 4 years and wanted to become our County Executive. Man we dodged a nuclear weapon!):

Sometimes the government would even go into business competing against the private sector, such as a golf courses, health and fitness, aquatics, nursing homes, entertainment, hotel and conference centers — just to name some categories close to home.

So is it his contention that the government provides recreation and medical services just to stick it to local businesses? There couldn’t possibly be other reasons could there? Like cost, accountability and equal access? Hmm, let’s continue….

112ai2 — Sorry Sprinkles, we’re almost done.

His enlightened views on the tax code:

The tax code is a mess on all levels, local, state and the federal, but we created this mess. We desperately need tax reform and a simpler, more equitable tax code. I’d propose either a flat tax or fair tax. But this will never happen, because politicians would lose the power to directly benefit those who helped elect them.

Sigh, then he meanders his way back to Maryland. You know the most business unfriendly entity on the face of the Earth!? Because folks, no Fortune 500 companies operate out of Baltimore. Thankfully, though, the Gods of fortune have heard Blaine’s cries for help:

It was a major step to elect a governor who understands how business works. Gov. Larry Hogan actually owned and operated a business that employed people. Now, no disrespect to other small-business owners, but unless you have a business location and employ at least a handful of people, it’s hard to understand the everyday challenges that a business owner encounters. In my opinion, career politicians who have never owned a business are the core of the problem, and this needs to be addressed if we are ever really going to have a government that encourages free enterprise instead of stifling it.

download — Hey Guv, Blaine wants to know if there are any open positions on your staff.

We are happy to know that Governor Hogan employed people instead of let’s say baboons. Business people of course have a perspective to bring to the table. But not the only perspective. So is Blaine actually advocating that business people are the only ones qualified for public office? It sure seems so. Things haven’t been working out so well on that front though:

We have very few business people serving in elected office or who ever aspire to serve. When I look locally, I can only find one, and they are trying to drive him out of business or out of office.

Who, pray tell, is he referring to? A real stumper!

Well, Blaine has a solution to all of our anti-business woes. There’s only one person brave enough to strip all regulations, ban all governmental functions and get this country back on course again! Are you ready folks?!:

This is why I believe Donald Trump has hit a nerve in this election cycle. Some people say we need a successful business person who tells it like it is to straighten this country out. Now, we always want to start at the top to fix our problems but it’s Congress and the state Legislature that needs to be changed first.

“Some people”:

Do these mysterious “some people” really think that Trump is qualified to run the free world because he’s run a trazillion businesses into the ground? Is it a fair trade to elect a racist misogynist xenophobe to the highest office because he’s employed people? How can that be a reasonable action to propose? Oh yeah right, it’s Blaine.

If you do get a chance to read the article, MAKE sure you read the comments. They’ll give you a chuckle or two. In all fairness, not everyone was upset about this column:

Why is everyone always calling Billy? Stop it people!

Local Yokel strays from the local..sorta.

March 10, 2016March 10, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Our faithful readers know we like to stick to the local. There’s so much going on in these here parts that we don’t usually stray beyond our borders. However, we feel the need to expand our net in order to help explain something that happened in our fine county yesterday.

We’ve heard that a group of fellas took to their truck, finely decorated with that symbol of Southern lost causes, and yelled obscenities at people of color who were walking down Market Street. We are smart enough to know that this could happen for a variety of reasons: drunkenness, stupidity, feeling they are entitled to their hateful opinions because someone running for our highest political office gives them the cover to do so.

It’s the latter we are going to focus on.

When Donald Trump first ran for office, it seemed like a gimmick. Some rich, bored, former reality show star just trying to get attention. It has evolved, over the last few months, into something decidedly less optimistic. Mr. Trump’s “politically incorrect” campaign has given license to those with awful viewpoints to sing them loud and unashamed. By saying the truly awful things that he does, Trump is taking us on a backwards train towards bigotry.

I am sure most of us have lamented the term “political correctness” at one time or another. One thing that we seem to forget are the reasons why we changed the way we talk. For one, we cleaned up our act so one group of people would not be made to feel inferior to another. Let’s not kid ourselves. Language matters. A lot. For a moment stop and think of all of the horrible words used to describe and address African Americans, Women, Asians and Latinos over the course of the 20th century. Pretty terrible aren’t they? There are good reasons as to why its not okay to speak that way anymore. Then along comes Donald Trump who tells people that its okay to express their bigotry. More than that really, he’s made people feel as though they are the ones who are oppressed when they can’t “tell it like it is.”

Where has this shift led us? Well so far: increased attacks on Muslims, 3rd graders taunting their classmate, high school students chanting, “Build the wall” and a myriad of other unfortunate cultural changes.

We get that people feel insecure when economic and educational opportunities are scarce. It’s scary that we live in a unpredictable world where people can shoot or blow you up because of their extreme religious viewpoints. And like the old plantation owners of the failed Confederate republic, Trump feeds into those insecurities and prejudices by turning attention and blame away from where it really belongs…people just like him. Trump, and other greedy fear mongers, are responsible for middle class jobs being shipped overseas. They are responsible for driving people of different backgrounds further apart. All Mr. Trump has offered us is a blame game and false solutions that will only tear this country further apart.

Now back to the local. Frederick, like anywhere else, has always had its racists. And only those people in the truck yesterday can attest to their motivations. One thing is clear though; Trump has paved the way for these kinds of people to feel comfortable in spewing their truly disgusting thoughts. There’s still time to stop this trend. Who is with us?

2016-03-10 (1) — Pay attention to who liked this as the person who posted it is no longer relevant in Frederick County politics.

Frederick County is a mysterious place this week!

February 18, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

I bet we can solve this in 30 minutes or less!

Quite the intrigue here in Frederick this week! First we had Kirby’s declarations of unconstitutionality concerning his sad, lost county contracts. Now, at last night’s joint BOE meeting, we learned that Kirby has a mysterious developer all ready to finance one of the two needed county elementary schools.

Why the mystery you may be asking? Well, just shut up!!! Kirby has his reasons!!! He won’t tell us, but why should he? It couldn’t be because there are some pretty outlandish conditions associated with this, could it?

What we learned from watching, and today’s FNP article, is that this all has the smell of back door school privatization. Not only would this school be leased back to the county, which has been been a bad deal throughout the land…Well, just look:

Cost savings may also come from custodial and maintenance operations being handled by the private sector, the councilmen said.

So here we go again! Remember all this privatization crap when Blaine came into office? Now, Tony and Kirby invite it to rear it’s ugly head once again. Here’s a great quote from an NEA analysis on privatizing school support services:

There is less accountability to the residents of a school district by their elected representatives when vital services are taken over by private contractors. Contractors tend to focus on performing only the tasks contained in their work descriptions, which is understandable because they are hired only to perform specific narrowly defined jobs.

By contrast, school district employees tend to view themselves as a vital part of the system of education, and provide numerous “intangibles” that enhance the quality of their work and the educational experience of children in school.

School district employees routinely perform a range of tasks that are not typically thought of as being in their official job descriptions but that are vitally important in providing a high quality education for children. [i] The great majority of educational support workers live in the school district where they are employed, and they feel responsible to their neighbors for the quality of their work.

Most private contractors base their sales pitch on the premise that they can provide the same or greater service at lower cost

Here’s the full NEA article and a great point sheet about the risks involved in such an endeavor.

Kirby and Tony cannot treat the school system as they do their contracting and excavating businesses. It’s not the same on any level. Our children are not commodities that can be moved around on a spreadsheet. They are unique human beings with a variety of talents and needs. And quite frankly, if we don’t get this part of their lives right and educate them properly, then we as a society will feel the repercussions for years to come. We must not allow the promise of a badly needed school lead us down a path of high costs, poor services and low wages. For this low wage, low cost thinking that has led to the elimination of many middle class jobs in this country.

We do need good discussion and solutions as to how to finance not only these two schools, but schools that will be needed down the road. It will have to be a combination of private and public funds and it must be a priority. It should not be a back door dismantling of our public education system all in the guise of saving money. We cannot let these gentlemen get away with that!

As for who the developer is, we really have no idea. But that is not going to stop us from speculating wildly and naming Roy Stanley. Should we start a pool?

Billy explains his abstentions-still makes no sense.

January 25, 2016January 25, 2016 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

What must be going through Councilman Shreve’s brain when he sits at his computer to pen his excuses for the Woodsboro times? Does he really expect anyone to relate to this stream of consciousness b.s. ? I mean really folks, does he really think we are this dumb? Let us start with excuso numero uno:

December, 12 months in office. #1 duty of the County Council is to provide budget oversight. So far, after 12 months, we still have not hired a Budget Director. I have protested this repeatedly by abstaining on all budget related votes, over 60 times this year. (I refuse to do hunger strikes : )

Ha ha! As if Billy’s not going to eat for you jerks!!! So, why did he vote “yes” for Trout Run? And why vote against the minutes? Because it’s all a very convenient bunch of crap. Billy must have been hungry when he wrote this because there’s this:

I’m not a big government guy and don’t propose hiring employees just to have them, but if you are running a restaurant, you need a cook, dishwasher, and server. The Council inherited a $550 million dollar budget and a population of 240,000. An entity this size requires staff to handle the day to day operations on day one! We aren’t running a coffee shop; we need employees.

But you just said a coffee house/restaurants need employees. Wouldn’t the better analogy be: like a coffee shop, we need an adequate number of employees to make sure things run smoothly. OHH OHH! 25 word job-posting digression time:

Billy’s Speech Writer

Must be able to take endless non sequiturs and unrelated analogies and translate them into standard English. Overtime a must!

Any hoo! Back to the article. There’s lots and lots of complaining about Mike Gastley, and how they had to put all the numbers into Kirby’s work budget software (what the what). And they still, even though they were on the BOCC for four years, weren’t able to make heads of tails of it all. What we find most interesting about this whole written catastrophe is what Billy leaves out. He omits the name of the very person that Billy and Kirby put forth. A person who not only vacations with one Councilmember, and tailgates with another, but one who is living with the very person who lost to Jan! Look at his complaint about Mr. Gastley:

How can we believe he will support the Council and not the County Executive? Is this the right person to provide checks and balances to the County Executive? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now, can we believe that this person that Billy and Kirby put forth will provide the the appropriate support to ALL of the members of the county council? That this person would also, without bias, take information from the County Executive’s office and relay that to the council? I think we can be safe to say: NOOOOOOOOO! Maybe–just maybe–Billy would have just a shred of credibility if he had not put this name forward. But hey, since when has Billy ever worried about that?

Blaine Young’s favorite things (season 1, episode 1)

November 5, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

Ding a ding dang. When did Blaine Young get a gig on the BOARD OF CONTRIBUTORS at the FNP?

WTFudge? — What a hot mess. But, this should promise plenty of localyokel inspiration.

This buffoon did remind a yokel that we need to give a huge shout out to some public commenters at last Tuesday’s meeting. We had well thought out statements from several of our dependable, well-informed, engaged residents, and thanks go out to them again for keeping on top of our county business and keeping our representatives in check. Democracy doesn’t work without involved citizens.

Particularly the PTA Presidents of Hillcrest and Urbana Elementary Schools should be lauded for staying through a long meeting in order to have the chance at the very end of the night to speak up, in a united voice, about the needs of their students and school communities.

Blaine has decided to take to the keyboard in defense of the have nots’ right to be equally exposed to potentially carcinogenic (who can say? not the federal government at any rate) turf. Turf which has also been linked to higher frequency of concussions and sprained ankles, burn, and a malady called “turf toe”…whatever that is. In the sun a turf field gets as hot as Qatar. Women athletes of FIFA have pointed to artificial turf as a blatant point of discrimination, as the men would never be expected to play a single beautiful game in a World Cup tournament on anything inferior to natural grass.

He's so generous with the construction projects. — He’s so generous with the construction projects.

And moving right along, what is all this noise about sports for anyway? This same logic should apply first and foremost to sorely needed school construction. The primary purpose of schools is education (duh). Before we get involved in complaining that FCPS builds new sports stadiums according to modern standards, and old stadiums are old–this is really as stupid as it sounds, isn’t it?–we should be hearing Mr. Young advocating for modern *school* buildings in Middletown and Urbana and Waverley, where they are still using open concept floor plans as though it is 1970. Or for the students of Centerville, who started out with a shiny, happy new school that could hardly begin to hold all of them. And for the students of Hillcrest. If memory serves, the portables are now so old they are visibly decaying. How is anyone supposed to take this Blaine Young turf war seriously? Kudos again to Hillcrest and Urbana’s PTA communities for not turning a shared need for construction funding into their own turf war.

Your October 20 drinking game: Libraries, Agriculture and Marijuana oh my!

October 20, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

And that's not how you read! — And that’s certainly not how you read!

If you had to drink copious amounts of wine to get over this past weekend’s Letters to Editor extravaganza, you may just want to observe this week’s game. What LTE’s ? Well, Blaine’s of course, but that’s par for the course. The one that had us all in a tizzy was the “letter” that waxed nostalgic about the good old days when people formed posses and kicked everyone’s butts. You know, the days of milk and honey when your friendly gun did no harm and certainly way before that devil Obama taught all our sissy children to run and hide from gunfire instead of charging the gun man head on. Man those were the days!

Sorry Snickers! We will try to be better!

If you were blissfully ignorant of all that apologies, apologies! We’ll get on to the game. Grab your agenda, DO NOT call Billy (unless you have something funny to say) and remember this is all in good fun. Click here to watch it live.

Consent agenda looks really interesting. Lots of Billy’s pet causes: Library, Family Partnership, Parks and Rec, Housing and Community Development. Will this all pass without a hitch? Of course not. If Billy tells us to go the now defunct Borders to buy a book or in any way decides to criticize the purchase list of the library slam back a Ernest Hemingway Special.

Next up we have the first reading of an amendment to appeal the Agricultural Rights Transfer Ordinance. If there is any complaining, even a sigh, about overturning another Blaine deal drink some Bitch Juice!

Time for Public Comments! For everyone that decides to complain about the county taking back the nursing home, take a sip of your Zombie, since that’s what that kind of talk makes us feel like.

Whoop Whoop! Council member comments! We hear that Fireballs are popular with some of the members. Therefore, if anything untoward should happen, slam back the Fireball shots at will!

Last item is a hearing about the growth of Medical Cannabis here in Frederick county. So far we seem to be aligned with Billy on this issue. (Not sure if our motives are the same, but hey, we’ll take what we can get!) Also, not sure how the other members feel (looking at you Tony), so if there’s any dissent on giving sick people the relief they need, have a shot of some cannabis vodka.

Hey Carroll County, wanna make a deal?

October 17, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Hey Carroll County neighbors! How ya doing on this crisp Fall morning? Many of us over here in Frederick have a proposition for you. How about a little land deal, specifically the section of Union Bridge that FORMER BOCC President Blaine Young now occupies? Please take this proposal under serious consideration, we’ll let it go for pennies.

We have spoken of the previous bitterness that Blaine exhibits when Jan fixes his monumental mistakes. And with all earnestness, we here at the Yokel hoped he would find new purpose in his lawn care business and would leave us all the hell alone. Alas,one look at this morning’s Letters to the Editors shows just how naive we were. The only consolation we receive is the comment section which is on full blown anti-Blaine alert . We are not even going to pick apart the letter since it’s a bunch of nonsense that doesn’t deserve the time we would waste. However, we will say that chuckling occurred when he stated that money saved could have been used towards schools and roads. Does he think we are all new here?

Before we sign off, a shout out to Harvey Burnsteel of Thurmont who wrote a great LTE about Mr. Shreve this morning. Here’s our favorite part:

Shreve’s performance to date, further supported by his letters to the editor, is barely above poor. We citizens of Frederick County deserve better representation than this.

Agreed Mr. Burnsteel, we all deserve better.

It’s time for more B.S. from B.S.

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

Sometimes we have to wonder if Stanley Snow hired a Pavlovian psychiatrist to bring about some kind of wild dog response whenever Billy hears the word Aurora.

Seriously folks? Why is Billy so gung ho for Aurora all the time? (And we know this isn’t the exact Pavlovian method but it’s fun!)

So what has Billy done now some of you may be asking? First let’s take a tour of Councilman Billy Shreve’s Facebook page. Take your Dramamine and fasten that seat belt because it’s going to be a rough one.

Part One:

Officially from the desk of Billy Shreve!

Part Two:

Then we have this charming little discussion:

And folks this is funny:

Billy claims that he’s posting a building permit, but clear as day:

What's that say at the top? — What’s that say at the top?

So lessons learned from Shreve’s Facebook page:

-Jan’s a Nazi, or Joan of Arc, or falling on her sword, or fill in the blank.

-Billy can’t read the titles of his documents or just hopes people won’t click and read.

-Jan is using eminent domain right now this very second.

-Billy cares about the poor residents of Citizens/Montevue and Jan does not.

Then today on THAT website Billy is a guest columnist. He issues a Call to Action that he and Kirby are leading against Jan’s fight to return the nursing homes to county control. Read if you dare.

Months ago, we had many questions about the continuing care agreement that the BOCC signed with Aurora. Remember this language:

IV. FUTURE INDIGENT CARE. In addition to Aurora’s continuing care obligation for the subsidized MALF residents required, above, after leasing CCRC’s Facility Business Assets and Real Property as defined in the Asset Purchase Agreement Aurora shall accept new assisted living residents requiring financial assistance, to the extent MALF beds are available, provided County agrees to pay, and continue to pay, Aurora’s full private pay amount in place at the time of each admission. The County’s commitment to fund these additional MALF residents must be reflected in a separate written agreement between Aurora and the County shall not be required or inferred by any provision of this Agreement.

To the extent that beds are available has always been a sore point for us. Can’t Aurora just fill up all the beds and not have any for the indigent? And let’s not forget that Jan’s reasons for not making the last payment was because the price negotiated for the care was for a greater number of patients than is currently receiving care. Why doesn’t that get the fiscal outrage machine in motion?

And let’s not forget that this whole sale may have been illegal according to the State. You see Maryland contributed $200,000 to the building of the new facility and as a result was supposed to have a say on what happened to it. Blaine showed up in Annapolis and with much drama tried to hand the Division of Public Works a check for said amount but was refused. Learning that not everyone can be paid off. And let’s not forget this nice LTE from a member of the Maryland Commission on Aging. A lot of good points raised.

And this whole eminent domain thing is not set in motion yet. Jan has made it very clear that she is still trying to negotiate with Aurora. Billy and Kirby, on the other hand, want no discussion. They don’t even want to admit that there may be a little bit of a problem with this deal. So really where do their interests lay?

Don’t forget tonight’s the night of the hearing. 7:00 at Winchester Hall.

Nobody puts Paul Smith in a corner!

September 11, 2015 fclocalyokel3 Comments

” 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 his letter 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? — 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! — 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.

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 — 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 approve the sale of surplus property? I thought that this was a unilateral move. — 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! — 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. — 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 bids. What's all this then?! — 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 recent county 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.

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Blaine Young: ‘Work together, or nothing will get accomplished’

What does ‘open for business’ mean anymore?

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