[CGC] No meetings, just news

[Administrator]

- See Mary McCarthy's blog and Andrew Langer's blog (links are on the CGC 
site) for a report of the July 6th Town Council meeting.  The Town Council 
would like to see the increase to five members on the ballot and has 
directed the Town Attorney and Town Manager to meet with the petitioners.

- Here is an interesting editorial from the Baltimore Sun:

Who's minding the Shore?
Originally published July 5, 2006

A while ago, an anonymous wag ordered up a batch of bumper stickers printed 
with what has to go down as one of the most ignored sentiments in the recent 
history of adhesive humor: "Welcome to the Eastern Shore. Now go home!"

>From Elkton to Crisfield and places in between, newcomers are settling on 
the Shore as though the state's portion of the Delmarva Peninsula had been 
kept under wraps for ages. So much new development is under way or planned 
that the region faces an extraordinary jump in population, from 425,000 to 
585,000 in the next 25 years, according a story reported by Sun writers Rona 
Kobell and Chris Guy. As dramatic as a 38 percent general increase in the 
number of residents is by itself, it's more astonishing to learn that some 
towns are anticipating - even welcoming - growth that will more than double 
their size. Do they really know what they're getting into?

With little guidance from state planners and during nearly four years under 
a governor whose philosophy of growth management is pronounced "laissez 
faire," small towns encountering growth questions have had to wing it on 
their own. Too often, part-time town councils have fallen for the 
developers' compelling but specious argument that growth, usually through 
annexation of county land, balances budgets. In fact, growth often threatens 
budgets because providing municipal services to new neighborhoods costs more 
than the taxes collected. And what's the prescription for that ailment? 
Higher taxes.

Developers aren't the only ones who pressure local governments for more 
construction. As more residents crowd into an area, the demand for more 
amenities grows louder. Need proof? Drive through Easton, Cambridge and 
Salisbury. While the road is straight, you may think you're driving in 
circles because the scenery is almost the same.

In the near-absence of meaningful support from the state level, rural 
governments might have considered looking for help from the Maryland 
Municipal League, which lobbies the General Assembly on behalf of towns, or 
the Maryland Association of Counties, which represents the interests of 
counties. Don't count on it. The two organizations often are at odds with 
each other, particularly on matters that deal with land annexation and which 
base of taxpayers - the town or the county - will have to foot the bills for 
new schools and roads. The lack of cooperation between these two groups 
cries out for a regional approach to planning based on what is good for the 
Shore as a whole.

Historically, the Eastern Shore has been both proud and defensive of its 
physical separation from the rest of the state. A few times it has even 
debated whether it should secede from Maryland. People on the Shore have 
fought and won major development battles - against a Wal-Mart in Kent County 
and against a plan to convert Wye Island in Queen Anne's County into an 
exclusive village. If there was ever a time when it should show a little 
backbone, it is now.

Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun