Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Mayor Indignant About Resident's Crime Concerns

In case you are vacationing in the Bahamas, and your cruise ship only allows you 2 minutes of internet access each day, and you loyally check only this blog for your news, allow me to update you with regard to citizen outrage over crime.

Eastport residents, upset over being put to sleep buy gun-shot lullabies, have formed a task force leading a fight for real solutions to the problem:


(The person sitting down in the photo is none other than CP, boldly representing the blogging contingency, as your's truly was boldly cheering the UMD women's basketball team in their first home victory over Duke in a decade.)

They showed up in force to protest the city's lack of effectiveness. Their mantra includes the charge that the mayor lives in denial about the problem. In my humble opinion, this has been true twice. She originally denied that there was a problem, explaining that we already had 3 times the number of officers than the national average. She seems now, alternatively, to deny that she has not been adequately addressing the problem.

This is my 5th post today, so I'll let someone else write:

At the January 14th Annapolis City Council meeting, I spoke as a
representative of the “Stop the Gunfire in Eastport Now” Task Force. My
remarks specifically acknowledged that the Council alone does not bear sole
responsibility to address these problems. Further, I offered our help to
come up with a plan and solutions. There were nearly 100 witnesses to my
statements, and I distributed written points in advance that underscored our
recognition that all of us need to work together to solve this
problem.

The January 16th edition of the Baltimore Sun reported:

After the meeting, Mayor Ellen O. Moyer criticized the group's strategy,
saying that instead of acting as "problem solvers," they were acting as
"rhetorical bomb throwers." "What I don't get from them is an indication
that they want to partner in any way," she said. "To assert that we're ignoring
the issue is plain folly."

The Mayor’s comments reveal one or more of the following: (1) she did not
listen to my remarks or read the written points, (2) she is so defensive that
she was unable to hear our pledge to partner with all stakeholders including
her, or (3) she is trying to spin our efforts in a way that justifies ignoring
this critical situation.

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