Jimmy's Ward Report's Ward Report Dec 23 2007 - Monday, December 24, 2007

More Money for Volunteer Fire Department and Tree Removal


The Council voted to appropriate $6,000 additional dollars to the Bunker Hill Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company so they could purchase some needed equipment so their newly purchased fire truck (pumper) could be put into service as soon as possible. With the number of fires in our community over the last couple of years, it is critical that we have every possible piece of equipment accessible in case of a fire. You can see the new fire truck and read about our local fire company at www.bhvfrc.com.



The fire station on Rhode Island Ave. is serviced both by full-time County fire department employees and volunteer fire companies from the Mt. Rainier and other surrounding communities. They work together to put out fires in our City.



We also have $10,000 more money in our tree budget. There are a lot of dead trees that are in danger of falling. Furthermore, when we remove a tree our ordinance says that we should also remove the stump but we have not been able to afford the stump removal in the past. The Council went on record that we would do everything possible to remove the tree stump as well as a tree when it is taken down.


Leaf Pick-up


Leaves have been collected throughout the City. If you still have leaves to be picked up they can be put in plastic bags and will be picked up along with yard waste on the 2nd Monday of the month.



Spanish Edition of The Message


For the first time, we have a Spanish edition of Mt. Rainier’s newsletter, "The Message". The City is sending out copies to people who request a Spanish edition or whose names and addresses are sent in. If you know anybody who would appreciate a Spanish edition of the town newsletter, please call City Hall at 301-985-6585 or send me an e-mail with their address and I will make sure it gets sent out. If you would like copies of the Spanish edition for yourself to give out to neighbors who do not read English please let me know.



There was some discussion at the Council meeting as to whether it was worth the time and effort to have a Spanish edition of The Message. I feel it is a good use of the town’s resources: both to allow everyone in town to understand developments in the community, and to make sure people are well informed about regulations on trash, recycling, building codes, etc. There was also discussion as to whether it is unfair to translate only into Spanish, when there are other non-English speakers. At this point the Latino population in our town is considerably greater than any other non-English speaking minority. When there are other groups (Chinese, Haitian, etc.) that grow to 10% or more of Mt. Rainier’s population, we should certainly discuss having another edition of The Message.



English is still the official language in our country, but that does not mean we should not improve the communications between all the people in our community. When my grandparents were growing up in New York City English was often not the main language in the home. There were newspapers printed in many different languages. Political flyers and official notices were often done in different languages. But their children, my parents, spoke perfect English, and I never heard another language in my home. My point is that just because we help with the communications of the people who do not communicate in English does not mean that we aren’t encouraging people to learn English. I assume that the second and third generations of our Latino neighbors will speak English at least as well as my own children.



Sanctuary Resolution


Councilman Briones introduced a resolution “Reaffirming the Importance of Immigrants to the Mount Rainier Community and Providing Sanctuary for Immigrants from Local Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws”. Since this is a somewhat controversial resolution, the Council voted to have a public hearing on February 12th at 7 PM so residents could express their views on the matter before the Council votes on it.



Briefly the resolution states that our City actively welcomes “ethnically diverse populations, both native-born and immigrants, whose collective cultures, languages, heritage, arts, cuisines, backgrounds and viewpoints enrich our community..” It mandates that no City employee shall inquire into the citizenship of a City resident, bars discrimination against any person based on citizenship or immigration status, and prohibits the release of information regarding citizenship to another government agency.



There was a lot of discussion at the Council meeting as to whether or not we should be encouraging ‘illegal immigrants’ in our community and whether we should treat all our residents the same if they are in our country legally or not. I personally support the resolution though I believe we should have a full debate in our community before the Council votes on the issue.





I quote here from Councilman Briones explaining the intent of the resolution:



“My intent in introducing this bill is NOT to encourage or condone any illegal activity. My intent is to tell all immigrants that live in our community that, as a condition of getting police protection, garbage pickup, or building permits, we don't care and won't ask how you got here so long as you are a law-abiding, contributing resident of Mount Rainier.

”Surely we can all agree that our national immigration laws and policies just plain stink. At the national level, we've turned a blind eye to businesses that regularly use and rely on cheap, undocumented labor, yet we attack the hardworking immigrants themselves and build fences rather than go after businesses and policy makers that permit this labor situation. Until we have a national immigration policies that are fair and humane and don't turn a blind eye to certain corporate sectors that encourage (and whose profits benefit from) undocumented labor, we will continue to have immigrants who come here to be part of the same American dream to which you and I ascribe.

”Our Police Department already has a policy that they do not condition our residents' safety on whether or not you have a green card: when anyone calls for police protection, our officers show up regardless of whether you are a Council Member, Senior Citizen or undocumented Migrant Worker. All I'm hoping to do is pronounce this as good policy and extend it citywide to Public Works, Code Enforcement and City Hall. Until we have national immigration policies that work, there's no reason why our poor, hardworking immigrant communities need live in constant fear that the police officer, garbage collector or code enforcement officer is going to turn them over to the feds. THAT is un-American and smacks more of oppressive, dictatorial societies where every neighbor is an informant. I'm sure none of us wants to live in that kind of society.”



Personally, I love Mt. Rainier's diversity and feel that we should do everything possible to overcome the barriers that separate us in our community whether it is young from old, black from white, gay from straight, house owners from renters, and English speaking from non-English speaking. I think this resolution moves us in that direction. I, of course, am interested in what others think on the issue.



2007 Accomplishments


I’ve been a City Councilman for a little more than seven months. There is a lot of work that has to be done in our community and one can easily get overwhelmed. I had a long list of things that I wanted to get done but decided to focus on a few things that I could accomplish. These are some of the things that I feel proud of having accomplished in the last year.



1 – Improving communications! I’ve worked hard on this. I’ve visited over 500 people in Ward 1 (both before and after I was elected) and collected over 400 e-mail addresses. I’ve sent out over twenty e-mail reports about Council activities and mailed three of them to residents who do not use e-mail. I’ve gotten great feedback about this and I’m convinced that improved communications makes us a better community.



2 – Opening up discussions! I’ve helped broaden the discussions beyond the Council (and the few people who attend or watch the Council on TV) to the whole community on the issues surrounding development on Rhode Island Ave.



3 – A Collective Bargaining Contract for Our Public Safety Officers –

I first got actively involved in Mt. Rainier ‘politics’ when there was a proposal to abolish collective bargaining for our City’s employees. Due to a lot of public criticism of the proposal (which I was proud to have helped organize) the Council withdrew the proposal. A few months ago a new contract was negotiated that treats our public safety officers with the respect they deserve while letting us work within the constraints of our town’s budget. I think the contract has helped the morale of public safety officers and other city employees as well, since many of the benefits negotiated for the police were passed on to other employees.



4 – Attending every Council meeting from beginning to end! (I can’t honestly promise to do this 100% of the time over the next 3 ˝ years but will try.)



I’ll just list a few of the others accomplishments for which I was a moving force.



5 – Spanish edition of The Message

6 – Holding a Council at Rainier Manor instead of City Hall (hopefully we’ll do at least one of these meetings in 2008)

7 – Extending the limit on parking meters from one to two hours on parts of Rhode Island Ave.

8 – Introducing and passing legislation that makes sure that there is a written notice on traffic citations before they are doubled and quadrupled.



The Mayor described other accomplishments of the Council as a body in the last issue of The Message.



In my next e-mail I'll discuss my 2008 New Year's Resolutions.



Happy Holidays and A Much Needed Vacation


I want to wish everybody a happy and safe holiday season. I will be in town until Jan 1st but then on a two week vacation. If you need any assistance I would suggest you e-mail Ward 1 Council Member Alta Morton (altamm1@yahoo.com), Mayor Miles (mayormiles@malindamiles.com), or City Manager Jeannelle Wallace (JWallace@mountrainiermd.org).