Jimmy's Ward Report - Friday, April 10, 2009

Mount Rainier Police Officer Chosen As Maryland Employee of the Year – Chief Michael Scott reported that Corporal Eddie T. Murphy has been selected to receive the Maryland Municipal League’s Municipal Employee of the Year Award at its 2009 annual conference. This is why:



At approximately eight o’clock p.m. on Wednesday April 30th, 2008 CPL Murphy along with additional Mount Rainier Police units responded to investigate the report of a 911 disconnect in the 5500 block of Newton Place. When he arrived on the scene Murphy was met by the parents of a 10-month old baby boy who was unconscious and had stopped breathing. In their haste and confusion to get their child medical help the boy’s parents had mistakenly been cut off from rescue personnel, and were justifiably frantic to get him the medical help he so desperately needed.



Corporal Murphy immediately took command of the situation, instructed other responding Mount Rainier Police units to summon fire/rescue personnel, and began administering CPR to the unconscious child. Within a short time CPL Murphy’s CPR efforts were successful. The child regained consciousness and began to breathe on his own. Once the child had been revived, CPL Murphy continued to monitor his breathing and reassure his parents until paramedics arrived. There is no question that CPL Murphy’s quick and decisive actions saved the baby’s life.



Council Passes Ordinance to Ban Couches from Porches – The City Council, in a 3 (Knedler, Briones, Morton) to 2 (Miles and Tarlau) vote, voted to prohibit the placement of upholstered furniture outside of a building (porches, decks and carports). I voted against the proposal though there were definitely some good arguments as to why the ordinance made sense. I feel that the ordinance is not really necessary and a little too much over regulation. We did have a tragic fire as a result of a lit cigarette in a couch on an outside porch and there are porches where badly deteriorating couches are an eyesore and can be a home for pests and vermin. But I have not seen any statistical evidence that upholstered furniture on porches is a particular cause for house fires, and the fire departments in our area did not weigh in on the issue. Furthermore I think the main problem from pests and vermin comes from trash cans without lids and garbage on the street. I have spent time driving around and there are a lot of porches where residents have placed couches and upholstered chairs. Most of these porches are not an eyesore and are used as a place to sit outside and relax and talk to neighbors. I think we want to encourage people to use their porches, and if placing an old couch on a porch encourages that, it is a good thing. I really did not feel we needed a regulation on this issue. I hope people change their mind on this issue in the future and we can re-visit the ordinance.



Council Expands Historic Preservation Tax Credit - The Council adopted a new city historic tax credit. Councilman Knedler has summarized the tax credit:



“If you receive a certification from the state for the state historic preservation tax credit, you simply need to bring a copy of that to City Hall within 90 days of the date on the letter to get the city tax credit of 10 percent of the project's value (that would be on top of the 20 percent provided by the state).

”In addition, the city now has a 10 percent tax credit available for windows and doors (including storms), if 1) your home is deemed architecturally or historically significant (almost all our homes will qualify unless they have been badly damaged with alterations over the years); 2) you get prior approval from the City Manager (who will seek advice from the city's Design Review Board on each project); and the new windows or doors are compatable with your home's style.

”So, for example, if you spend $10,000 on new windows (and have prior approval for those windows), you will be eligible for a $1,000 tax credit against your city property taxes. Remember, your home does not need to be old and historic to qualify in most cases.”




Dedication of Mount Rainier’s Peace Garden – Saturday May 2 at 10:30 AM: Little Friends for Peace announces that there will be a dedication of a Peace Garden at 30th Street and Arundel Road. The garden will have a “Peace Pole and Peace Table with Benches’. It will be there to enjoy, to meet at or to resolve a conflict.




New Trash Truck Arrives - Public works announced that the new trash truck is now in use. This should mean that there will not be any delays in picking up trash on weekend as their now is a back-up truck in case one of the ones in use breaks down.




Budget Discussions Move Ahead - The Council had two work sessions on next year’s fiscal budget and will have a public hearing on the budget and tax rate on April 21st. Right now the Council is proposing to keep the tax rate the same (which it has done for at least the last two years). While we do currently have a reserve of over $1 million, we feel that with the decrease in housing values, the revenue to the city may go down next year and we do not want to cut back on the essential city services (trash pick-up, recyclables, public safety, etc.) that our residents need. This year we will have to dip into our reserves for about $100,000 to keep everything going and to pay for the interest on the loan used to purchase the Bass property. I am still hoping that we will put money in this year’s budget to help with the clean-up of the downtown area on weekends and to jump start the facade program that was promised to city businesses a number of years ago. Come to the meeting on April 21st and make your feelings known.



City Election Monday May 4th - Petitions were turned in on April 6th and Mayor Miles is running unopposed. In Ward 2, Pedro Briones is not running for re-election and Ivy Thompson is running unopposed. In Ward 1, former City Council member Carol Gandee is running against incumbent Council member Alta Morton.



Police Emergency Number – 301-985-6565 – I really recommend that people put that number down in their cell phone and post it on the refrigerator. We have recently had a couple of incidents of people calling 911 and there being a delay in having a Mt. Rainier police officer dispatched to the problem. We will be having a work session to try and find out why there is a delay in having calls transferred from 911 to our police department, but meanwhile I would really recommend that everyone use the direct number for the Mount Rainier dispatch office.




City Approves Skate Board Park – After many community meetings over a period of over two years, the City Council approved a design for the skate board park at the corner of Otis and Wells Streets. The County plans to have it built by the end of June of this year. It will be for beginner and intermediate skate boarders and be more of a plaza than a full scale skate board arena. The County has also promised to do a lot of landscaping to make it a pleasant area not only for skate boarders but for neighbors in the community.