Ward 2, Report
April 6, 2004
April has come in with a bang. The trees are budding or blossoming, and its
time to consider our yards, tree boxes, and other beautification projects. With the Community Tool Shed becoming a
reality, you should consider stopping by and seeing what tools we have
available (by the end of April) BEFORE you rush off to purchase some more tools
to clutter YOUR basement. In fact, you
might even wish to consider donating some of your old tools to the Community
Tool Shed. In the next few months, we
will try to provide a Community Tool Shed newsletter that will give out
information on tools available, hours of operation, volunteer staffing needs,
help with small renovations, and a lot more.
Stay tuned.
The following is a report on some of the activities,
developments and concerns in the past month:
1.
Sincere
condolences to Councilmember Haamid whose husband passed
on Sunday, March 28, and was funeralized on
2.
James
Booth, Assistant City Manager. In
my last report to you, I neglected to introduce you to our new Assistant City
Manager, Mr. James Booth. Mr. Booth has
been on board now for almost a month. He
has already made his presence felt by assisting the City Manager in preparing
the 2005 draft City budget. If you have
not met him please stop by and welcome him to our fair City.
3.
New
Police Officers.
I also failed to tell you that we have three new police officers who are
at work on your behalf. The three new
officers are Officer Wendell Fabian,
Police First Class, with Platoon 2 and Officer
Joey Toto, Police Officer, with Platoon 1 and Jeremy Perkins, Police First Class with Platoon 2. Look for them in your neighborhood.
4.
Joe’s
Emporium—Sweeping the Avenue 2004 – Lots of activities
going on in the City so mark your calendars and save the dates. April 17 – Youth Service Day: Cleaning up the Town Center 9am to 12noon; May 22 --
Beautification Day, Green Spaces
9am to 2pm; June 1-4 -- Sweeping the Avenue Community Clean-up (working four
days in sections of the City to clean up 4 to 8pm and on June 5 Sweeping the
Avenue celebrates Mt Rainier Day.
5.
The
budget process has begun. On
March 23, the Mayor and Council discussed the process to be used for preparing
this year’s budget. Each person will
review the budget and submit questions to staff; consider what ways the budget
can be amended to help reduce current taxes, and improve services. You still have time to email me with any input
you have on the budget for this year. A
copy of the current budget may be obtained from City Hall, and you may request
a draft of the 2005 Budget. This would
be useful to you, if you plan to kind of follow along with us as we begin this
process.
6.
Fundraiser
at Franklin’s in Hyattsville. March 22 was Joe’s Emporium Day at
7.
Essays
for the “If I was Mayor Contest” were reviewed on
March 24 in
8.
The
Tool Shed Committee The Community Tool Shed Committee has
not met since January. We have been in
contact via email, and a new member has been added, Nathan McCall who recently
moved into the City. In addition, on
Monday, April 5, the City received the check for the Community Tool Shed from
the County. TOOLS can be purchased and
put into use. Look for more on this in a
special email to come after the Easter holidays/Spring Break for the kids.
9.
Several seniors in the area have raised
questions about Comcast Cable and
whether or not the City has to continue with them. For the record, the City has a franchise with
Comcast that requires Comcast to rebate a portion of the money that they
collect back to the City. Currently,
Comcast rebates about $16,000 to the City.
In exchange, Comcast has sole exclusive cable rights in
10.
Beautification
program. Jack Engel is still working on
this project and residents are still NEEDED to
participate in the project. Jack will
supply seeds, and it is expected that participants will maintain any planted
areas coming out of this project. For
further information contact Jack at (301) 779-7956.
11.
Seniors’
Emergency Preparedness Commission (SEPC) – This is a new committee being
formed in the City, and Regina Wardwell has agreed to chair
this Committee once it is approved by the Mayor and Council. The purpose of the Committee is to collect and
create a database of names of all Mount Rainier senior citizens as well as
local expertise of residents that can assist the City and seniors in times of
emergency, e.g., Hurricane Isabel, terrorist attacks, etc. This Committee NEEDS your help. If you know a senior, please provide us with
their name, address, telephone number, a contact person, and any medical
conditions that would warrant immediate assistance. We also need to know people with walkie-talkies
and four wheel drives that would be willing to work with this committee and be
available when and if the need arises.
This committee also needs participants to help collect, organize and
maintain this information. If you are
interested and can give a little of your time, please contact
12.
Regular yard waste schedule back in
effect on Mondays. Note: Bulk trash is picked up on Mondays, but you
MUST call by
13.
Property
Inspections.
We are still short one inspector in Public Works. Because of our shortness of staff, routine
property inspections are not occurring.
If there are particular problems that need to be addressed, please
contact Mr. Ed Gabay so that he can schedule an appointment or make other
arrangements for addressing the problem.
If there are problems with our trees, PLEASE contact the Tree Commission
members.
14.
The
Tree Commission. Members of the Tree Commission
made a presentation to the Mayor and Council on Tuesday, March 23. They have been
extremely busy since being appointed. The
members of the Tree Commission are Sandra Joseph, Chair,
15.
MRBA’s
quarterly meeting was held on
16.
The
Mount Rainier Day Committee is also busy at work
and need more committee members and volunteers. The Mount Rainier Day festival is scheduled
for Saturday, June 5. If you have time
and want to be on this exciting committee, please contact Ophelia Baxter 240-393-1187, Barbara Goliday 301-537-6046, or Robert Taylor 301-779-2172 or just come
out to one of their meetings. Meetings
of this Committee are held each Thursday at
17.
ATHA
met at
18.
Mount
Rainier’s Parent Group –
19.
20.
Urban
Renewal Plan – The Mayor and Council continues to
work on the proposed Urban Renewal Plan.
At the last work session many of the questions that were raised were
answered by Ms. LaVerne Jones from the State, and other City residents who
served on this Committee. Go by City
Hall and look at the proposed plan. It
is a work in progress, and your input is needed. The City’s Charter (Appendix 1) requires the
City to have an Urban Renewal Plan in place to carry out some of its authorities,
e.g., demolition, eminent domain, etc.
21.
Lt. Governor Steele was in the County, and promised to make the overpass
at Peace Cross a reality. Delegate Doyle
Neimann in a recent letter to the City stated that the needed $10,000,000 was
budgeted to make this happen. The work
should begin around September 2004. The
overpass will move the CSX railroad over traffic on
22.
Minority Businesses. Are you a
minority business? Or would you like to
start a business? Well, here is some
good news. Floyd Wilson, a former County
Council member has recently been appointed Executive Director of the Minority
Business Development program for the County.
This group offers help and assistance in getting your business off the
ground and certified in the County. This
is good news because certification makes you eligible for certain grants,
benefits, and
23.
Bass
Liquors -- At the last Council meeting, by
unanimous vote, the Mayor and Council requested that the City
Attorney research, with all deliberate speed and effort, all possible avenues
in which the City of Mount Rainier could assist and cooperate with Mount
Rainier citizens who have petitioned to protest the 2004 renewal of the Bass
liquor license. Among other things, we
would like advice on the feasibility and the process required for the City to
become a party to this challenge mounted by the citizens, and if so, request
that the City Attorney represent the City before the liquor board hearings in
regard to the 2004 license renewal challenge.
The Mayor and Council request that the Chief of
Police and Director of Public Works appear to provide testimony at any hearing
held by the Prince George’s Board of License Commissioners regarding 2004
renewal of the Bass liquor license. We
further request that the Chief of Police and Director of Public Works prepare
any material submissions, including, but not limited to, photographic evidence
with detailed narratives, statistical evidence and staff testimony about crime,
health, public safety and traffic concerns associated with this establishment,
in cooperation with the City Attorney, with all deliberate speed and effort.
Acting on the above
motion, the City attorney has recommended that “The City Council should hold a
public hearing concerning the license renewal protest and then, assuming that
the Council desires to oppose the renewal of Bass' liquor license, pass a
Resolution providing for the City to oppose Bass' 2004 liquor license renewal
and setting forth in the Resolution, supporting reasons for the City's
opposition to the license renewal. The guidelines the Board of License
Commissioners applies to a license renewal are essentially the same as those
applied to the grant of a liquor license.
She concluded that
the significant guidelines for the City comes from the Liquor Board’s Rules and
Regulation No. 46, Board of License Commissioners for Prince George's County,
Maryland, are:
A. That the
granting of the license is necessary for the accommodation of the public;
and
B. That the
granting of a license would not adversely impact or unduly disturb
the peace, safety, and harmony of the neighborhood.
In addition, on March 24, an appeal
hearing was held at City Hall regarding the violations issued to Bass’s owners
by Public Works. Sitting on the appeals panel
were
Finally, in
my last report, I asked to hear from you on this issue. Four residents responded, two for working to
get Bass out of the City, and two for following the process to make Bass clean
up its act and become a contributing corporate citizen. Responders were new and old residents. There is still time for you to let
me hear from you on this one.
Bob Wardwell and a group of citizens are
forming a committee to meet with Bass Owners in a non-confrontational meeting
to see if the two entities can have a more positive relationship in resolving
their differences and work more effectively in the best interest of the City
and its citizens. They will also be
looking at opening communications between the City and Bass Liquors.
April 15 – Tax Day
is upon us. If you have not filed your
2003 taxes, NOW is the time to do so.
Remember you can always apply for an automatic extension, if you know you
are not going to make the April 15 deadline.
The extension will give you until August 15 to file.
New Email Addresses – The Mayor and Council and City staff have new
email addresses. Please use them for
anything pertaining to City business.
The new email addresses are:
Bryan Knedler - bknedler@mountrainiermd.org;
Carol Gandee - cgandee@mountrainiermd.org;
Malinda Miles - MMiles@mountrainiermd.org;
Pedro Briones - PBriones@mountrainiermd.org;
Last
month was busy. I attended the PGCMA
meeting at the
Finally,
if you have a meeting coming up and no place to host it, consider contacting
City Hall. The Mount Rainier Library,
Mount Rainier Police Department, and City Hall may be available to you for your
meeting. You will never know if you can
use it for your gathering, if you don’t call.
The number to call is 301-985-6585.
Speak with the City Manager…she will be able to answer all of your
questions.
Have
a HAPPY EASTER and a WONDERFUL Spring Break!
Historic
Mount Rainier Maryland --- http://www.mountrainiermd.org
Mount Rainier Police Department -- http://www.mountrainiermd.org/government/mrpd/index.html
Bunker Hill Volunteer Fire and Rescue
Company --- http://www.mrvfd.org