Dale Mumford - A Tough Leader For Tough Times

Ridgely's election is in April but it's time to start talking about it now. Currently, Ridgely is dealing with extraordinary problems. Add to this the international financial problems that will soon be coming to town and we're going to need extraordinary leadership. Fortunately, we already have a tried and tested candidate willing to step up to the plate. Dale Mumford has announced that he will register on Monday to run for the commissioner seat being vacated by Chuck Hunter.

Dale Mumford was our commissioner from 1997 - 2003. Working together with commissioners Jare Wallace and Lou Hayes, our gem of a town entered an unparalleled renaissance. The farsighted leadership of that time saved and restored the Ridgely House, built the skate board park, enacted ordinances which promoted the renovation of homes on Central Ave., brought two new banks and the Ridgely Technology Park to town. Less glamorous but equally important he dealt with the long failing waste water treatment lagoon, repairing the crumbling 1912 terracotta sewer system and entered into a program with matching state grants to rebuild our side walks.

Dale was also a town manager for several north Caroline County towns. He retired recently, both honored and loved by the people he had served. Dale Mumford knows town management inside and out. With Dale, we will have a Ridgely government that is truly a "government by and for the people".

Inauguration Reflections

The inauguration of Barack Obama was immensely emotional and a source of pride to many including yours truly. It was hard not to be swept away by both my coworkers and citizens of Cambridge watching his swearing in and address. It's more than a truism to me that electing an African American President means that we have come a long way.

I remember the segregated South that I moved to in 1959. There were signs posted by the KKK welcoming travellers to North Carolina. At my Greensboro school, a schoolyard game was called "nigger pile" where all the boys would chase down some unlucky victim and all pile on him. Ironically, I remember in 1964 when the schools were to be integrated one of the toughest kids on the schoolyard told us that we couldn't call our game "nigger pile" any more. He didn't want "no trouble". A bit crude but "blessed are the peacemakers". We still played our same old game but without a name. With equal opportunity, white and black boys unlucky enough to be caught suffered through this schoolyard hazing.

Today, Greensboro, North Carolina, the site of the first Sit Ins and KKK shootings, has a brand new Renaissance Park in the center of its downtown. It's peaceful and full of citizens of all colors in what has become a destination location in the city. No, it's not utopia, but we really have come a long way.

The President's address was powerful. He didn't hide the fact that we are entering very dangerous times and this certainly wasn't a Reaganesque "morning in America" moment. Yet, like Reagan, his words were uplifting. I along with those around me for that moment felt assured that he was going to lead us through these tough times.

As he pointed out, we certainly do need to once again find strength and enter a new era of personal responsibility. For it is also "we the people" through our excesses who share blame for the problems we face.

Good feelings aside, parts of his address concern this old lover of the America of constitutionally limited government. Despite his assertion to the contrary, the debate about whether government is small or large enough is hardly over. This is a question as old as the Republic and a core concept of our Constitution. While I appreciated the President's insistence that poor performing programs would be cut, he doesn't seem to understand that ever growing government entitlements undermine the other pillar of his program and vision. The greatest enemy of an era of new personal responsibility IS ever expanding government. This was the harshest lesson from my own urban activist days in Philadelphia. There, every program under the sun was available but there it was also increasingly more difficult to organize people to fend for themselves. The natural energy of the free citizen willing to take personal responsibility for their problems had been sapped by the very programs meant to empower them.

This President is brilliant so it's hardly an over site. Many think that the time of limited government is past. After eight years of the "conservative" Bush administration expanding the federal government beyond even LBJ's wildest dreams, these folks may have a point. Also, electorally, tax consumers (reinforced by the now likely amnesty for illegal aliens) may soon OUT VOTE tax producers. What do folks who don't pay taxes care about the future of limited government? More taxes mean more programs for them. There is a flaw in this picture, however. Only the most brute force of a rapacious tax revenue hungry majority could sustain this scenario for a while. Ultimately it would collapse like the Soviet Union because it would be the best example of the worst kind of "taxation without representation".

So here I am conflicted, proud of America's great accomplishment, and yet concerned about the future of its greatest accomplishment, our Constitution and the concept of limited government supported by sturdy self reliant citizens.

Childhood Sight From Smell

the smell of a coal fire in Cambridge
took me back to Shamokin today

from there on down the pike
to where the locomotive graveyard used to lay

from Pottstown down to Philly
where little men on the Schuylkill row toy boats

to the Parkway of sycamore
down Broad Street south full of feathers and floats

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Abigail and Taylor in South Philly on New Years with Mummers.

Happy New Year

Mummers
Originally uploaded by toby.gearhart

Every New Year since colonial times the Mummers have paraded through the streets of Philadelphia. Originally, they went door to door dressed like "wenches" and "asking" for drinks. By the 1890s the sequin and feather clad string bands were added and you have the show pretty much as it is today.

Of course, in 1995 yours truly and his better half marched with the Goodtimers and even won the 10th prize for best couple.

It's the oldest urban folk tradition in America and an all day party on Broad St. from South Philly to Center City. Be there! Happy New Year. (Click on the photo to see more of the Mummers.)

Planning And Zoning Blues II

The new scaled back plans for Ridgely Park presented to the planning commission raise a big question.

We are told that the plan reflects today's economic realities. We are also told no one is going to build anything for a while because of the state of the economy. In other words, nothing is going to get built until things get better.

The cutbacks in the plan presented Wednesday would require us to change many time tested town ordinances. If nothing is going to get built until prosperity returns, why should the developer plan represent today's recession reality? In other words, our ordinances should remain the same because if anything does get built it will be built in a time of returning prosperity. The developer will be able to afford to adhere to ordinances that are now deemed to be too expensive. Let's keep Ridgely, Ridgely!

Planning And Zoning Blues

At our planning and zoning meeting last night it was made clear that Ridgely Park won't be happening any time soon. Even if the project could start by February, it would not be desirable to do so because of the state of the economy.

We are over such a barrel because of the loan for the waste water treatment plant that there are those who say we should take whatever we can get. We are probably protected from this threat because nothing of either a good or sorry calibre is going to get financing for years to come.

Last night the scaled down project that was presented was very different from what we had previously approved. We would have to change both ordinances and our comprehensive plan to accommodate it. This isn't something to be undertaken lightly, since these laws are the means by which Ridgley has maintained its enviable quality of life over the years.

There are financial questions as well. We would still get the regular fees per house such as parks and recreation, public safety, and water/sewer. However, because of the reduction in scale, we no longer have the leverage to negotiate for money for streets and the extra $1 million which was to cover the new water tower and other necessities.

This project has been controversial. The burden of new development and the traffic and use of services it brings, were offset by an excellent plan and amenities. Now, that is no longer the case.

Elm Street, Ridgley Park's developer was invited back to present more complete plans. One thing we now all have is time, and we should not waste it by gutting our comprehensive plan and ordinances that have kept Ridgely such a fine small town. When good times return, we don't want a pack of rapacious developers to come here to take advantage of watered down planning and zoning ordinances.

Carraige House Moved, Budget Amended; Charter Change Needed

Photo by Candy Schwardon

(L- R: J.O.K. Walsh, President Caroline County Historical Society; Nancy Gearhart, Ridgely Historical Society; Mickey McCrea, builder and move director; Mike Peter, Mike's Custom Homes (handing check for the move); Ridgely Commissioner Kathy Smith and William Tarbutton, contractor)

Persistence pays off. Despite many hurdles Buck Herzog's carriage house has been moved to safety. Mike Peter the developer of Ridgeway estates has paid for the project. Despite the best efforts of our town administration to derail its preservation, dedicated residents simply wouldn't give up, and were able to at NO COST to the Ridgely taxpayers, save this piece of town history.

Other town issues don't present such a happy picture. The amended emergency budget for Ridgley spreads the pain all around. From the town manager's office, to the police department, and the public works department, there are now four fewer employees in Ridgely. This measure is meant to address the town budget deficit that has been growing over the last two years. Next fiscal year will be even more difficult when the effects of the global financial meltdown visits town. The only possible bright spot on the town's fiscal front, is the possibility that a scaled down Ridgely Park may be built. The new proposals will be presented at the town planning and zoning meeting this Wednesday at 6:00 PM.

Until Ridgely addresses the problem of its inadequate charter, we can expect a never ending round of problems that will lead to the need for emergency budgets. Our three commissioner system has not able to manage our unelected town managers. It has taken an extraordinary effort on behalf of the commissioners and citizens to reign in the budget. Arguably this effort would not have been needed if the town finances had been managed properly to start with. Remember, our elected commissioners passed balanced budgets which simply weren't adhered to.

I've been involved in Ridgely in many ways over the past 12 years and am in a position to pass judgement on whether or not our system works. And, it doesn't work very well. We need a system that provides for proper representation of all parts of town as well as a clear line of command that puts the Ridgely citizen's and their elected officials in charge all the time. The same common sense checks and balances that our federal system is based on are absent in Ridgely. In fact, the town manager isn't even mentioned in our 1937 charter. Our charter needs a 2008 reality check.

We need a strong mayor commission form of government and we need a ward system of representation. To devise such a system certain ground rules are needed. Communities or neighborhoods shouldn't be split up. Lister Estates is a neighborhood and Central Avenue is also a neighborhood. These citizens should be included in their respective ward as one group.

A fair ward system would establish a first ward in the old town (between 480 and the Railroad Park ) which includes all of Central Avenue east to the town boundary. In addition, the small area north of the Railroad Park including North Central, North Maple and North Maryland would be part of this ward. A second ward with all of Maryland Avenue west to the town border. The third ward would be Lister Estates and the fourth ward would be Oak View and Greenridge. These wards are equal in population with cohesive communities and each would have their own commissioner, who must live in the ward they are to represent. A fifth commissioner or mayor would be elected at large, representing the whole town. The mayor's vote would be the tie breaker on this five person commission arrangement. The town manager, or more affordably, the various consultants needed for the position, would be specifically included under the charter as positions under the supervision of the mayor and council.

Elected representatives, particularly the mayor, need to be paid for their effort. This isn't a high school beauty contest. I've known commissioners who put in over 40 hours a week. I also have known commissioners who are clueless, and can't wait for the commission meeting to adjourn. The discussion recently about the commissioners giving up their salaries, only reinforces how much of a token they have become with regards to the town manager (who is paid quite well). Only the current crisis has served to wake up our commissioners to again use their dormant powers. We the voters need to be vigilant and make sure the clueless variety of commissioner faces opposition at election time.

Finally, terms of office should be increased to four years with some of the commissioners up for election every two years. Yearly elections politicize too many issues here. The mayors term should be six years. And, there should be no term limits, since the only way the elected officials can counterbalance unelected administrative officials, is through their continuity in office.

To change the charter, a plan like the one outlined above needs to be submitted to the residents of Ridgely for a vote. The commissioners of Ridgely would have to authorize any vote and any group of citizens may head up such an effort.

The above suggestions are a practical way to introduce time tested American methods of good government into our town polity. Success will mean that a workable government will return to Ridgely, and an end to "emergency" budgets and other "seat of the pants" methods of administration.

Merry Christmas!

Photo by Candy Schwardon

Our 5th live Ridgley Nativity has brought the Christmas spirit to town. Merry Christmas from all the actors, calves, and Danny the Donkey. The not pictured musicians, choir; pastors, Denzil Cheek, Norman Carroll, Woody Woodworth, Carolyn Bunting; director, Nancy Gearhart, and the all around production supporters, the Jake Thomas family, also wish you a Merry Christmas.

Ideology Meets Reality

There might have been a lot of better ways to solve the American automakers potential collapse. However, the collapse cannot be allowed to occur. In our imperfect world, ideology must sometimes be jettisoned. We face a Depression or worse if something isn't done. The following, just in from Politico, reports what may be the President's most important contribution to stopping this financial fiasco:

Politico - Mike Allen - 12/12/08 9:36AM

Facing the potential bankruptcy of iconic American firms, President Bush on Friday abandoned his longstanding objection to using using the Wall Street bailout fund to help save G.M., Ford and Chrysler.

A frustrated Republican congressional official said: "If only they had said this last week, we could have saved ourselves a full week."

Ten hours after the Senate rejected a separate lifeline for the automakers, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement it would be "irresponsible" to let the companies crash. So she said Bush will "consider other options," including the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program that Congress created for the Treasury Department in October.

"Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms," Perino said in a statement. "However, given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options if necessary – including use of the TARP program — to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers. A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy, and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy at this time."

A Republican senator told Politico that Vice President Cheney had told senator Thursday that it could be "Herbert Hoover" time if the bailout failed, which it did several hours later.

Democratic congressional leaders had urged Bush to take that step, but Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other administration officials insisted the original bailout was limited to the financial sector. The beginning of Perino's statement was: "It is disappointing that while appropriate and effective legislation to assist and restructure troubled automakers received majority support in both houses, Congress nevertheless failed to pass final legislation. The approach in that legislation provided an opportunity to use funds already appropriated for automakers, and presented the best chance to avoid a disorderly bankruptcy while ensuring taxpayer funds go only to firms whose stakeholders were prepared to make the difficult decisions to become viable, competitive firms in the future."

Perino ended by saying: "While the federal government may need to step in to prevent an immediate failure, the auto companies, their labor unions, and all other stakeholders must be prepared to make the meaningful concessions necessary to become viable."

Ford has said it can operate without federal money for now, but analysts said General Motors and Chrysler might not make it to Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20.