Thursday, November 12, 2009

Code Words

Anthony Jordan is challenging Calvin Ball for his District 2 council seat in next year’s countywide elections. He was one of the first Republican candidates in the county to toss his hat into the ring.

Recently, in answering a question ostensibly about safety concerns on his website from someone named “Doug” Anthony wrote that safety is his number priority and then added, “When I say this, I am not only referring to the proper funding and staffing of our fire and police departments but also the proper evaluation of development projects in terms of long term consequences.”

What exactly does he mean by “proper evaluation” and “long term consequences?”

One of the hot button issues in District 2 is the proposed Walgreens at the corner of Route 175 and Thunder Hill Road. Opponents of this development have argued that a pharmacy in this location is unsafe. Is this an example of using slightly veiled code words in an attempt to pander to the anti development crowd?

Just asking.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe 'proper evaluation' means that the county would start following it's own rules, like that of petitioning government. Maybe it means evaluation of taxpayer dollars that are ALWAYS required following residential density increases. Maybe it means independent funding of road impact and safety analysis. I could go on....

Anonymous said...

Jordan also says: "Crime has obviously increased in our county. Police appear to be short staffed and overworked."

Actually, the crime statistics on the HoCo Police website shows that crime has been pretty flat.

http://www.co.ho.md.us/police/docs/crimestat08.pdf

Bob O said...

Maybe he's just being a politician, and floating a balloon to see how the public reacts.

PZGURU said...

Drug, gang, and homicide activity seems to be on the rise, especially in Columbia. Maybe you're looking at stats too broadly?

PZGURU said...

The "proper evaluation" means not waiving regulations for certain developers and attorneys. I know of many instances where traffic studies were allowed to be "rigged" so as to not trigger road improvements. The worst example is the funeral home on Guilford Road, just west of Route 1 intersection. The owner, a minority businessman accused the County reviewer of racism when the traffic study was deemed inaccurate and that intersection improvements at Route 1 were needed, as well as frontage improvements along the funeral home property. Someone in the CE office and Council Office over-ruled the reviewer and the developer got a free pass. As a result, the required safety improvements were NOT done.

Anonymous said...

anon, according to the doc you yourself posted, calls for police have rising 10,000 annually in four years. WTF do you CALL THAT?!!

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:47, do you know how to read? Calls for police increased by 10,000 in FOUR YEARS. Keep in mind that is CALLS, not crime. Actual offenses increased just 1,000 in four years. That seems kinda flat to me.

Bob O said...

Route 32 North?