The legislative priorities part was interesting

Holy moly, it’s that magical time of the year where the council members must send legislative priorities for Frederick County up to the County Executive’s office so that they can be included in the upcoming public hearing regarding these priorities. Some highlights below.

Kirby sent out a press release about his wish list, which we have already told you all about. He suffers from a special condition wherein he has no idea that he lives in Maryland and not Kansas not Texas. It was his turn to go first, but he was whispering to his neighbor and so they called on Jerry to go first, and there were words exchanged about it being ineffective and useless but still everyone wanted to support Delegate Krimm’s efforts to do something about derelict properties.

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Then when M.C. asked Kirb-o if he was ready to take his turn now, Billy piped up to ask who was running the meeting and asked if Bud was going to start doing it now. We learned he extols the “bar stool manners” one day when he was whining about people criticizing him on Facebook (gosh, we wonder who criticizes him so much…). That is theoretically like saying what you would say to the person next to you at the bar, but in practice seems to be treating everyone like he’s a mean drunk. We heard he’s a teetotaler; it’s just an analogy, people.

Taking to Facebook to confirm our suspicions correct, apparently the reason he wants to put forth something that has already been taken up in Annapolis was just to try and take the teachers down a notch. Also, Billy called the teacher’s union like organized crime, because they obligate non-union teachers to pay a fee to the union for taking advantage of the contract negotiation process, even if they aren’t going to pay dues and join in the process. So as you plainly see, this is exactly like Tony Soprano.

We might be able to help a fella out here. While we don't know Bud, and we don't call people because we don't like people, we do know that he is a Seventh Day Adventist and that they are kind of groovy in some regards. One of which being that they are pacifists, which means they are unlikely to be interested in shootemup solutions.
We might be able to help a fella out here. While we don’t know Bud, and we don’t call people because we are all kind of antisocial, we do know that he is a Seventh Day Adventist and that they are kind of groovy in some regards. Groovy meaning they are pacifists, thus unlikely to be interested in traditional shootemup solutions.

Oh, what else happened last night? That’s right, school vouchers turned everything all upside down. Sound explanations were made about how private schools don’t have to accept all kids, so if you send some of them to school with a voucher then the remaining kids in the public school system will be those who are most expensive to educate. Tony complained about people having to send kids to the school near their house, and how it’s unfair that you can’t get on a bus and go to whatever school you want. Which is frankly insanely at odds with his willingness to tax and spend, because of the massive public investment that would be necessary to facilitate transportation in this vision. Much like with school vouchers and charter schools, these ideas can only benefit those who can afford both the time and actual physical resources required to transport kids to LaLaLand Perfect Elementary. Suddenly Billy was claiming to be looking out for the poorest in society–so long as they are not too poor to afford a reliable car and gas money–and deriding Bud for being able to send his kids to private school.

Kirby had his other stuff about school funding, too, and they rewrote his thing about reallocating funds from one construction project to another so that it was appropriately nonthreatening to good policy, and sent it on ahead. Probably having sensed they needed to do something…anything…to make him a place at the grown up table.

There’s more worth reporting, but we’ve invested enough time and emotional energy in this meeting already today, and you’re still getting a bargain if we cut it a little short.

Last night’s meeting: an embarrassment of riches

Great Suffering Sappho!

Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. Legislative priorities. Jerry Donald deserves the award for understanding representative democracy. Thank you sir, for pointing out that we should promote priorities that impact county level government. We elected these people, however imperfect, to do the job of county council member. Not state delegate, not congressperson. Not to create a direct democracy and get everyone’s input on the already random list of potential priorities, such as:

  • Defunding Planned Parenthood (again, not county business)
  • Promoting concealed carry (Just in Frederick County, or what? Is Kirby with his anger management struggles really the poster boy for this issue? David Gray and Doug Browning might need a GoFundMe for some Kevlar)
  • Voter ID laws–shot down in Texas! as a poll tax.
  • Speculating about the ordinances that shut down Emmitsburg’s hot dog stand so they may be repealed (Why not just ask the owners? Are we pro salmonella?!?!)

And speculate we MUST! Community members in the area suggest that it was a problem that their port-o-pot wasn’t handicapped accessible. In which case, why not just get the ADA compliant port-o-pot?

Beef N Buns in paradise seems like maybe they solved the same issue by not having public restrooms. I don't know who wants to investigate that. Maybe someone in the State House?
Beef N Buns in Paradise doesn’t have public restrooms. Maybe that solves the problem.  Should we take that idea to the state and see what’s up?

We heard from M.C. Keegan-Ayer that the Board of Elections is not aware of any incidences of voter fraud in Frederick County, but maybe they should investigate that one super interesting public commenter who would not give an address, and somehow voted in multiple council districts within Frederick County. *But NOT for Kirby!!!! Even if he lives in a cardboard box and does not have an address or a driver’s license, he deserves to be able to vote. Just not for everyone.

At any rate, many thanks to the many amazing speakers and caring citizens in Frederick County. You make us proud to live here.