Thursday, July 27, 2006

Comp Lite appeal denied...

The Examiner reports today that Maryland's Court of Appeals denied the Comp Lite referendum case. The story is short on details about the court's reasoning for the decision, but it does say that COPE will continue to fight the legislation enabling the zoning changes.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trying to find the upside of these insane decisions, and thinking that maybe when citizens see what's coming to their neighborhoods, they will be motivated to vote this election.

We've lost more than simply comp lite. We've been stripped of control over our own future. A couple of years ago it was the supreme court decision on eminent domain, exercisable by a exerting the interests of commercial entity. Nothing has been done to reverse that incomprehensible decision, and now we're down to the local level.

Recall the story where a person was asked why the nazis weren't stopped: "Because they were only coming for the Jews, and then they were only coming for the Catholics, by the time they came for me, no one was left to fight."

It may require much energy, time we don't have, smarts we are tired of using. But we must at some point work to change our own government. Voting is all we have remaining. Vote them all out of a job and we can rest for the following years.

Now is not the time to rest. It's time for work.

Anonymous said...

Rhetoric is nice ut when you vote someone out, someone else is voted in. And since only Calvin Ball is running for re-election, who exactly are you voting out? Just him? He's only been on board for a few months...

You're next suggestion?

Anonymous said...

Excellent points, Mary. I agree with you completely. The citizens in this state have been stripped of their ability to fight corruption. Referendum drives are almost always shot down by a judge over a minor technicality. But, remember which party has been in control of this state for the 40 years prior to Ehlrich's election, and Howard County for the last 8 years. The worst part is the blatant arrogance of Ken Ulman when asked about the referendum and COPE's ongoing battle. He blows it off like he did nothing wrong and it's all politcal attacks. He thinks he's going to get away with it, but I think he pissed off too many people and they aren't going to roll over this time. I think it speaks volumes that Angela Beltram is from the same party affiliation as Ulman and Guzzone, and she's disgusted by their actions. It's time for the citizens of Howard County to end his political career now, before he can grab more power and cause more harm to the County.

Anonymous said...

My next suggestion would be some light reading. You're should be Your. -5 grammar
:)

Returning to the topic, perhaps Mary wasn't referring just to the Council races? After all, there are other offices being filled by election this fall.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I type too fast and don't proof before I send (Hence the "ut" instead of "but" in the first line) Otherwise my grammar is just fine, but thanks for being concerned.

Why would she make sweeping references to all elected offices just because she's dissatisfied with the county zoning decisions? Are the school board members to blame? How about booting out the clerk of court while we're at it? That certainly would show them!

Don't get me wrong - I'm not happy about the comp lite petition being denied on a technicality either - I went out of my way to sign it. But just to say vote them all out? I was being serious when I asked who does she have in mind to replace them. If you can't promote someone better, someone who is at least hopefully on the ballot, then it is all rhetoric and pretty worthless. If people don't like the others running - then they need to impress upon the people they think would do a better job that they should run. Or better yet, step up to the plate themselves and just stop waiting for everyone else to solve their problems for them.

Pretty typical - "I'm going to complain so I sound like an activist, but I'll stay on the sidelines long enough where I don't actually have to do something..."

Nice.

Anonymous said...

For those who want to move past unproductive personal attacks:

Citizen rights are critically impaired. We cannot own land predictably, we cannot move into neighborhoods with a future we can help form, and government is spending like money comes from a bottomless pit (reference the school board paying an exorbitant amount for software that doesn't function).

We must vote, show up to meetings so that the message is clear, and compare what candidates say with what they've actually done. The wisdom to make a better selection is finding out what they’ve actually done. To me it’s very simple; vote for the person who has behaved with integrity, rather than incumbents who say one thing very convincingly, and do something completely different.

Voting is our one last unimpaired right. It's critical to retrieving all the citizen rights intended for people in this country.

Anonymous said...

Mary - it wasn't so much as a personal attack on you as it was the sweeping generalizations that tend to get people riled up with no plan to go forward. And I admit I shouldn't post past midnite because I get a little cranky - so sorry about that. (Like the little dig I got for grammar, something at a reasonable hour I take pride in...)

Your comments above make more sense and ask for more civic responsibility than the first. I have no problem with evaluating our officials - it is part of their job after all - and I have no problem voting them out if they're not working for us. But let's make sure the guy/gal behind them isn't even worse. Don't just vote "Not so-so" when the other guy isn't appreciably better. That's all.

Anonymous said...

Oh, you'd like to continue...I'll play.

Whew, glad it was just your after-midnight self, that makes it even more benign.

Consider using a nom de plume, rather than anon. Maybe you could use two or more, depending on the time of day:)

Could be the influence of the neighborhood (ends with a 'wood'?).

Anonymous said...

I don't know who you think I am, but no, doesn't end in 'wood. And anon works just as well as any other with less typing.

You said in your earlier post that we should move past the unproductive personal attacks... I was really commenting on your unproductive general attack. If you took that personally, can't help you. But the rabble rousing doesn't go over well with me.

Have company - have to go now