Announcements

Community Clean Up – The Halethorpe Improvement Association will hold their annual clean up on Saturday, May 4, 2002. Containers will be available at Halethorpe Elementary School for household waste, yard waste and miscellaneous junk. No tires or hazmats permitted! Contact Joe Kinsey at 410/242-6697 for additional information.

UMBC Quadmania – This year’s event will be held on Saturday, April 27, 2002 from Noon until 10:00 p.m. The headline act this year is Busta Rhymes who will be performing from 8:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. The area near the Fine Arts Building will be used for the festivities. UMBC, Baltimore County, State Police and private security will be on hand. The University has advised us that this is a ticketed program, limited to 5,000, most of whom will be UMBC students.

CPHA Rally for the Region will be held on June 6, 2002 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Time and contact information will be posted to the web site.

Vision 2030 meetings are scheduled for a number of dates in Baltimore County. Please see the link on the web site for the time and location most convenient for your organization.

The Southwest Housing Advisory Group’s Housing Expo 2002 will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2002. In addition to real estate professionals, representatives from the Home Depot and the Loading Dock will be on hand to offer home improvement tips. Trolley tours of the local communities are also on the agenda. For more information, contact Robbie Farschman at 410/887-2909.

The Zoning Commissioners hearing for Shane Hayes (Second Ave.) petition for a variance to park a commercial vehicle on a parking pad in the front/side yard has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 30, 2002 at 2:00 p.m. GACA has provided a letter of support to The Halethorpe Improvement Association in their effort to prevent the variance.

Betty Reidel – We recently found out that Betty had an accident at home and is now at the Care Center at Charlestown. If you would like to send her a note, or stop by for a visit, the address is 707 Maiden Choice Lane, Room N-127, Catonsville, MD 21228.

Our local elected officials provided an update on the legislative session which recently ended in Annapolis:

Del. James Malone

Construction on the MARC station on Southwestern Blvd. Is now scheduled to start on May 1, 2002. In a related matter, preliminary discussions have been held concerning a proposal for a new stop near the City/County line somewhere in the vicinity of St. Agnes Hospital. It is thought that a stop there may alleviate some of the cut through traffic in Arbutus as commuters living north of us may elect to use Wilkens Ave. to access that station.
An announcement regarding the joint Baltimore County/Maryland State acquisition of the Mears property on South Rolling Road is expected soon. A traffic study will also be conducted on South Rolling Road due to the increased utilization of that corridor. In addition to the projects presently under construction (homes near UMBC on Wilkens Ave., the assisted living facility, and the proposed homes on Keech Road), the Catholic Relief Service is looking at expanding and moving to the Oblate Sisters of Mt. Providence site on Gun Road. Rolling Rd. is also seeing an upsurge in use during the Beltway widening project.
Senator Cardin is continuing his effort to have those homes and businesses in Baltimore County but served by the 21229 Post Office moved into the 21227 service area. GACA has provided a letter of support as has the Kensington Community Association. As some of you know, it was thought that one of the reasons for the 1990 Census undercount was due to a problem with mail delivery affecting a large portion of the County 21229 sector.
UMBC has been approved for funding to construct a Public Policy Building.
Del. Malone announced that he will seek re-election as a Delegate this year.

Sen. Edward Kasemeyer

The legislature approved the Thornton Commission proposal for $1.3 billion dollars in aid to education. Funding will be distributed over a multi-year period. Part of the funding will be derived from the increased cigarette tax.
The proposed sale of CareFirst to a California health care company was the topic of a number of bills in this year’s session. The legislature removed the “golden parachutes” which were part of the deal and would have provided millions to key players such as William Jews. In addition, the State is requiring that the acquisition be made in cash, and payment made to the State based on the sale of the non-profit also be made in cash, as opposed to stock. The Insurance Commissioner will not have the final authority on the sale which must now be finally reviewed by the legislature.
Legislation passed with amendments this year which will prevent the insurance industry from linking homeowner’s and automobile insurance premiums to consumer’s credit ratings. Homeowner’s insurance rates will be completely disconnected from ratings, while automobile insurance may be marked up by 40% on an initial sale, but must not be increased on renewal.

Del. Donald Murphy (or the Republican rebuttal)

Delegate Murphy reported that the Omnibus Security Act of 2002 enhanced the ability of the police to wiretap suspects, but did not include such basic security measures as linking the length of a driver’s permit status to the subject’s visa status. Following September 11^th, it was found that a number of the hijackers had valid driver’s licenses, even though their visas had expired.
Non-English speaking individuals are entitled under a new law to an interpreter if their linguistic background comprises 2% or more of Maryland’s population.
He did not support the $2.8 million dollar study to be done on the MAGLEV and will lobby against further advancement of this proposed project at the White House on April 25, 2002. Del. Murphy believes that there are a number of State and Federal officials who are promoting this $4 billion project to provide high speed (200+ MPH) service between Baltimore and Washington. (It should be noted that Del. Malone voted against HB 1431 as well.)
HB 3 and HB 4, touted as Maryland’s “get tough on drunk driving bills” were in fact rather modest. Del. Murphy thinks that the first, intended to discourage open containers of alcohol is intrusive in that it prohibits carrying an opened bottle anywhere in the passenger compartment, even if it is totally inaccessible to the driver. The second bill, which enhances sentencing for second offenders, in actuality provides only a maximum of five days incarceration, which may be accomplished by home detention.
He did not support the Thornton Commission bill which mandates full day kindergarten and eliminates an elected school board in Prince George’s County. Also, due to a tax cap in place in Prince George’s County, funding for that county will be provided by other jurisdictions within the State.
The use of booster seats for children up to age eight was passed, but will be applicable only to Maryland licensed drivers.
Additional powers were granted to the Comptroller to collect use tax on purchases made outside of Maryland by Maryland residents.
Del. Murphy opposed the restoration of voting rights to convicted felons.
He concurs with Sen. Kasemeyer on the CareFirst issue.
Del. Murphy stated that he felt that the redistricting process was handled in a vindictive manner by the Governor’s office. As the issue is now before the Courts to determine the validity of the newly created districts, he has not made a decision as to whether to seek re-election.

Our primary agenda item for GACA was consideration of a marketing brochure for the Arbutus area. We have been advised directly by the Halethorpe Improvement Association that they do not want to participate and so any marketing effort will solely target the Arbutus communities. From the responses garnered at the meeting, we have decided to move forward with designing a brochure. UMBC has offered their services and Robbie Farschman of the Office of Community Conservation is looking into the availability of funding. It was also suggested that local realtors might be interested in contributing.

Over the next few months, those members who expressed interest will review the prototype brochure and suggest changes and refinements. We were pleased by the overwhelmingly positive response to the idea.