Business as usual

The bill before the state legislature to limit the number of liquor licenses issued is a really stupid idea. It is nothing more than a hand out to current holders of liquor licenses. But perhaps the most frustrating thing is that the benefit is obvious to liquor store owners and anti-drinking groups, so they all come out in droves to support this foolish bill. The harm caused by the bill will be to consumers of alcoholic beverages. The harm to these consumers is virtually undetectable to them because they may not realize that the reduced competition may lead to higher prices. Furthermore, the harm to any one consumer may not be worth their time to learn about the bill and speak out against it, whereas the benefit to any one liquor store owner is much greater. Therefore, no critics of the bill have shown up to speak out against the bill.

A bill that would cap the number of licenses at one per every 2,600 residents is under consideration by the county's General Assembly delegation, though sponsors Dels. Warren E. Miller and Guy Guzzone say they are open to other ways of achieving the same end. The 11 state legislators heard no discouragement at Tuesday night's annual hearing at school board headquarters for bills that would apply only to Howard County. (Emphasis mine)

This is a classic example of how politicians use rational ignorance to please special interest groups. The ideal piece of legislation, from the point of view of a politician, is one in which the benefits are obvious to those who benefit, and the harm is completely off the radar screen of those who are harmed. This legislation fits that mold perfectly.

Great use of government power, or not

In Montgomery County, there is a law which makes it illegal to sell Christmas trees before December 5th in residential zones. A house of spirit worship (or "church" as such places are known) got popped with a violation last year, and they were informed that the signs advertising the tree sale were illegal as well. As an admission that the law is stupid, the $500 fine was waived.

This is such a typical illustration of government stupidity. I love it!

It turned out the good folks at North Bethesda United Methodist were in violation of a little-known county law that prohibits Christmas tree sales in residential zones before Dec. 5. Officials were tipped off by an anonymous caller. The inspector also made Scott take down banners that advertised the tree sale because, it turned out, they, too, were illegal. In the spirit of the holidays, however, he didn't levy the $500 fine.

The incident prompted much head-scratching. With the possible exception of the anonymous tipster, no one in county government seemed to realize that such a ban existed. Shortly after last year's shutdown, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) pushed the County Council to repeal the ban.

But nearly a year later, the council has not acted. There was at least one public hearing, but for now, the law remains on the books.

Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), who supports lifting the ban, said efforts to repeal the measure were lost in the shuffle of more-important legislative matters.

There was speculation that the law might have been enacted because of safety concerns, and some fire officials said safety was an issue. But the county's chief fire marshal concluded in a memo this year that repealing the law would not "compromise fire safety."

Scott said the church could have waited until Dec. 5 to start selling trees but decided that the idea, like the law, was absurd.

Free parking

Just curious: did the free parking in downtown Ellicott City make it easier, more difficult or have no impact on finding a parking space? It seems like making parking free when a higher volume of cars is expected is not very smart.

Climategate

I am still trying to digest all the “climategate” hoopla, and it is a pretty significant development for those interested in science and the politics of global warming. Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, and it seems like there is enough evidence uncovered to suggest that the alleged scientific consensus was oversold. It was a pretty good argument to make that since the global warming skeptics weren't published in peer reviewed scientific journals, those skeptics shouldn't be taken seriously. We know now that there was political maneuvering going on to pressure scientific journals to publish only those papers from non-skeptics.

I was never very skeptical of the warming trends or even that the trends were caused by humans, although I was always skeptical of how the government would be able to do anything to reverse the trends. Now I am extremely interested in what the skeptics have to say.

Range Voting

I have already blogged about one idea to change the way in which we vote, and here is another. It's called range voting, and I like it because it gives the voter to express an opinion about all candidates, rather than going all in on one candidate. It's certainly not new (it's what is used in beauty contests, the Olympics, etc.), but it is not used in voting for political candidates.

It seems like after 200+ years of this republic, we could make some improvements to the process. I wish ideas like this would get more traction. Sadly, they won't.

Own it

I just noticed that the Department of Recreation and Parks has a photo on its website of someone using the skate park, but the photo was taken before the skate park was spray painted in graffiti. It seems strange that the Department of Rec and Parks would claim to embrace the graffiti as urban art, but not mention one word about it on their website or have such a misleading photo of the park.

If their policy is to let anyone who cares to do so spray paint the skate park, while at the same time stereotyping all skaters as Krylon-toting outlaws, they should at least have the courage to own that policy and have pictures of it on their website. Jeez.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they embrace profanity as urban poetry and motorcycles as urban bicycles.

Ha Ha

Explore Howard reports that the grace period on enforcement of the tanning regulation will be extended by about two weeks. The extension was necessary because Peter Beilenson and the Howard County Health Department can't get themselves together enough to meet their own timelines on their own regulations. They have been tardy in sending out paperwork to tanning salon owners.

Meanwhile, Bruce Bereano, a lobbyist for the Indoor Tanning Association, has promised a holiday gift to the county council in the form of a lawsuit over how this ridiculous regulation was rammed through without any council approval. You know the government has overstepped its bounds when I am cheering for the lobbyists.

Healthy Howard

It is becoming clear that most of the County Council does not understand the Healthy Howard Access Plan. They seem to be judging it on its intent, not its actual benefits. To his credit, Greg Fox is only person that seems to have a reasonable stance:

At the breakfast, Fox criticized Ulman's launching new initiatives such as the Healthy Howard program for the uninsured, Fox's favorite fiscal whipping-boy. The program has received $1 million in county funds over two years.

After listening to council Chairwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, a West Columbia Democrat, praise the slow-starting health program for identifying more than 1,000 applicants who turned out to be eligible for existing insurance programs and for being "innovative" and "fabulous," Fox's retort was a laugh line.

The software used to find the 1,000 applicants health insurance cost $68,000 and, according to Healthy Howard, has a useful life of 5 years. Therefore, the major benefit Sigaty is speaking of that Healthy Howard has produced has an annual cost of about $13,600. The remaining $500,000 that was spent by Healthy Howard (with another $500,000 committed for the following fiscal year) has essentially gone to support the bureaucracy that is Healthy Howard.

So when supporters of Healthy Howard talk about all the people that HHAP as hooked up with government subsidized insurance, just know that the cost of those activities represent less than 3% of the $500,000 the county has given HHAP for a year's worth of operations.

Also, we will probably see some higher tax rates to pay for the influx of people into the subsidized insurance programs.

Half a billion

The Baltimore Sun reports that the Howard County government, despite receiving a AAA bond rating, has half a billion dollars worth of unfunded retirement obligations. You may recall from a year or two ago that there was a big brouhaha about the unfunded retirement health benefits to be paid to retired county workers. The future value of those obligations has ballooned to $826 million, the present value of which is $460 million. This means that the Howard County government has promised the present value of $460 million worth of benefits (about 25% of the total budget!) to it's workers without funding those promises first. Therefore, future taxpayers are stuck paying the bill for services provided to previous taxpayers.

Ulman initially planned to set aside $10 million to start chipping away at the liability, but instead used that money to plug other budget holes. It seems like when economic times are bad, it's easy to put off payment until the fiscal picture improves. And yet when economic times are good, there's always something else that they'd rather spend the money on.

Politicians are experts at exactly one thing: sticking the next generation of taxpayers with the bill for what was consumed today.

Time flies

I didn't realize it had been two weeks already since the last edition of And Then There's That, but it has. This week's show was another success. One of the topics of discussion was the graffiti at the skate park, and the question was raised as to what a 'bikini-clad-she-devil' looked like, because the HoCo times reported that there was one there. Well, she looks like this:


Btw, next week's show will feature Mary Kay Sigaty as a guest, who will be the first currently serving elected official on the program. That should be pretty interesting.

I'll be curious to see if the County leaves the plywood sheets up which border one side of the skate park, because they serve no purpose other than to be blank canvases for the graffiti artists (they are supposed to reduce noise). You can clearly see these decorated plywood sheets from Rt. 108, which is what first got my eye as I drove past back in September. The park would look a heck of a lot better with these sheets removed.

Urban Art

Explore Howard has an interesting report on the skate spot, which as I have blogged about before is covered in graffiti. What I thought was the most interesting part was the comments made by the man who is in charge of the $30 million Recreation and Parks budget, Gary Arthur. Arthur said, and I am not making this up, that he expected the graffiti to occur. And in fact, he considers it to a form of “urban art”.

We knew it was going to happen," Arthur said. "Instead of constantly battling to try to keep it clean, this time we decided we would let it be if they keep it in line and as long as it's maintained and the presentation isn't vulgar."

And later..

It's kind of urban art," Arthur said. "OK, you can express yourself on this facility. You use this facility. It's art that represents something for you and your friends."

If Gary Arthur is telling the truth, and he did in fact expect this level of graffiti and knew that his policy would be to allow it to occur, who did he tell? Were the park's neighbors informed? Was the County Council informed? The County Executive? It seems to me that if this was expected, it is a very material fact about the park and it should have been considered more carefully.

In fact, the rules of the skate spot suggest that vandalism is not allowed. I guess graffiti is not vandalism, which is good to know. You heard it here first, kids.



Many of the park's neighbors are displeased about the noise levels from the park, and the visual appearance certainly does not make them feel any better. I seriously doubt the park is much of a boost to their home values, either. As one neighbor pointed out, it is unlikely that Mrs. Ulman, any council member, nor any Rec and Parks board member would be very thrilled to have this park in their neighborhood.

Also, does this mean that I can get a can of Krylon and express myself artistically at the skate park? I think I will add a Mr. Burns tag next to the Bart Simpson tag. On second thought, I better leave that to someone with more artistic talent.

Naughty BOH

Baltimore County is considering a tanning ban similar to the tanning regulation approved by the Board of Health in Howard County. But there is one important difference: the Baltimore County ban is going through the County Council rather than being back doored through the Board of Health as the Howard County Regulation was. Although I stand firm in my view that a ban on minors using tanning beds is completely ridiculous, at least Baltimore County has the integrity to channel it through an elected body before it becomes a law.

Sadly, Peter Beilenson, Ken Ulman and the Howard County Board of Health lack that same level of integrity.

Same difference

An otherwise pointless article in the Baltimore Sun reiterates one thing that I completely agree with: there is very little difference between Democrats and Republicans. This is why we shouldn't be surprised when a seemingly odd couple like Warren Miller and Guy Guzzone team up to increase the profits for liquor store owners. Both parties are essentially identical, although the small differences do become a big deal on certain issues. I wish the two parties would fight much more so that they would be deadlocked and get less done. Most of what they do is detrimental to society, so a decrease in productivity is a great benefit.

The Sun article focused on the similarities of State Senator Alan Kittleman and State Delegate Guy Guzzone.

The two [Kittleman and Guzzone], who formerly served together on the Howard County Council, agreed at least 90 percent of the time, Kittleman said after an audience member asked if the rival politicians could fight less and cooperate more. It's just the 10 percent of disagreements that get all the publicity, he said. "There's nothing wrong with criticizing somebody. We're fine. We don't hate each other. We disagreed," Kittleman said. That's good for the final product, not bad.

"We have to work together," Guzzone agreed. "We have to balance the budget each year." Guzzone couldn't resist one more little zinger, though.

"Ninety percent of the time, you were right," he told Kittleman, to laughs.

Most Bird Houses are Illegal in Howard County

The Baltimore Sun has an article about the proposed honey bee legislation here. As a hobby beekeeper, I guess I should be more interested in this legislation (ZRA 117) since one of my hives is within 200 feet of a neighbors house, but I really don't have anything interesting to add. My other hives are well outside of the 200 foot range and I would be happy to move the one "illegal" hive if my neighbors protested its proximity to their home, law or no law. Like most laws, I think the existing law is pretty stupid.

The one thing I will add is that I'm pretty sure that bird houses are illegal under the current law if they are within 200 feet of an existing dwelling on a different lot:

4. Required Setback for Certain Farm Uses
In all districts where farming is a permitted use, the following shall not be allowed within 200 feet of an existing dwelling on a different lot:

a. An animal shelter including a building, shed, roofed structure or movable shelter that houses or provides protection for animals other than household pets

Keep in mind that bee hives (which are nothing more than stacked wooden boxes with lids) meet the definition of an animal shelter as interpreted by DPZ, so I think a good case can be made that most bird houses are actually illegal in Howard County under this same interpretation.

Wow.

Treading water

The advocates for a 50 meter swimming pool are nothing if not tenacious. A recent newsletter (.pdf) of the Columbia Clippers is a call to arms for swimming advocates to continue to push for the 50 meter swimming pool despite the bleak economic outlook. The newsletter puts an extremely misleading and disingenuous spin on the Aquatic Feasibility Study (.pdf):

While the study is inconclusive insofar as what type of facility (-ies) to pursue at this stage, it acknowledges that there is great demand and a real need for some type of public swim facility (-ies) in the county.

Of course some people demand a 50 meter pool. That does not mean that the county government should use tax dollars to provide one. People demand strip clubs, drugs, BMWs, etc. Should tax dollars be used to provide those things? If public demand is so high for a 50 meter pool, why are no private investors clamoring to build it?

According to the Aquatic Feasibility Study, a 50 meter pool will require taxpayers to come out of pocket about $2 million dollars annually to cover the operating deficit and debt service on a 50 meter pool. Regardless of the economic climate, that is a burden taxpayers should not have to bear.

I think the Department of Rec and Parks needs to get themselves together and take care of the assets they have now (like this eyesore of a park) rather than wasting more money on other projects.

It's like this and like that

Be sure to check out "And Then There's That", a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Wordbones and a local attorney. The first show included a discussion of the push to limit liquor licenses, a chat with a political guru about local politics, and ended by asking random people in Lakeside Cafe about Jim Rouse's vision. The hosts had great rapport and the show is very entertaining. It's only a half hour long and well worth the time.

Listen to the show!

Arrogance

I have to admit, I am very surprised that the Board of Health approved the youth tanning ban. No one elected the Board of Health, so they have to be a pretty arrogant and self righteous bunch of people to think they have the moral authority to force their will on others. Really, it is truly fascinating that a group of people can be so full of themselves and at the same time have such a low opinion of the general public. Even if I thought that youth tanning was a bad idea, I wouldn’t have the audacity to force others to bend to my will as this Board of Health has done. This is no different than the government banning gay marriage, drugs, abortion, or any other activity between private citizens with no social consequences. Tanning is not a public health issue, it’s a private health issue that affects only those who choose to tan.

Think about it. Who would even allow their own physician to make decisions like this for themselves or for others? And Howard County allows the Board of Health, none of whom were elected and many of the members of which are not even doctors, to make social policy. Wow. That seems pretty dumb.

Beilenson led off the hearing by telling the board that "indoor tanning is quite simply bad for you." He called scientific arguments to the contrary "junk science. Don't let the tanning industry play games with the science as tobacco did before them," he said. Board members appeared to accept that.

"I feel this whole issue is based on a preponderance of scientific evidence," said board chairman Robert Sheesley, a former director of Baltimore County's Department of the Environment. Sheesley said he had used indoor tanning beds as a youth. "I've had numerous pre-cancerous conditions," in later life, he said.

Other board members said they considered the impact on tanning salon business owners and arguments that Maryland's new law requiring parental permission in person for minors to tan indoors is enough protection, but ultimately rejected them.

"Even if we are able to save one life it seems to me worthwhile," said board member Sue Song, who also said she's no fan of unnecessary governmental controls.

"We don't give our children permission to drink or smoke," added board member Vanessa Foreman-Islam. Approving the ban is "the safest bet" given the evidence of rising skin cancers, especially among young women.

Ken Ulman and Peter Bielenson pursued this absurd regulation in an effort to get their names in national spotlight. The Lance Armstrong Foundation even had a blog post about Howard County’s new regulation. It’s great that groups like the LAF work to find a cure for cancer, but special interest groups like the LAF are the worst imaginable groups to advocate for social policy. They view cancer in a very emotional and irrational manner.

Fortunately, a lobbyist has threatened to challenge the authority of the Board of Health to approve ridiculous legislation such as this. Normally I despise lobbyists, but I wish this one the best of luck.

Awesomeness

The below video is the first of five Youtube videos of Milton Friedman being interviewed on the Phil Donahue show in 1979. All five of these videos are totally awesome. Friedman concludes the fifth video with this very wise statement, which is just as true today as it was then:

Because you can find some valid function of government doesn’t mean that everything government does is valid. And the problem today is not that we have too little government, but much too much government.

Working hard for special interests

State Delegates Warren Miller and Guy Guzzone are helping the Licensed Beverage Association make sure that we pay as much as possible for liquor by decreasing competition among liquor stores. The Licensed Beverage Association is the same association that works to make sure we cannot get mail order wine, like from the Zagat Wine Club.

The bill limiting the number of new licenses for liquor stores, though not for restaurants, was requested by the county's Licensed Beverage Association, whose members are always worried about close competition. A recently approved license for a new store in a shopping center on U.S. 40 near St. John's Lane drew protests from residents and nearby store owners, though the license was granted.

Del. Warren E. Miller, a Republican, and house delegation chairman Guy Guzzone, a Democrat, are sponsoring the bill, but both said they wanted to spark a public discussion and haven't settled on exact provisions.

"It's mostly to give the association the chance to make a case," Guzzone said. Miller said he's had complaints about some areas where there is "an overwhelming number of licenses, one on top of another."

Angela Beltram, a former County Council member who protested the St. John's liquor store, said there are seven other stores within two miles of the new one. She said the proposed law might be a good idea, though she hasn't studied it. "Somebody has to set a limit," she said.

This is a classic example of "do gooders" aligning with business interests to maximize business profits under the guise of saving society from some "evil" product. Another coalition of Bootleggers and Baptists.

Saving money for a change

It's hard to believe that the county government uses 1,000 cell phones, but changes may be made to the phone policy to save taxpayers as much as $500,000. It appears that the county has been paying $90 a month for people to have cell phones that use them 15 minutes a month. I find it hard to understand why public safety and emergency workers need 700 cell phones. Oh well, it is at least refreshing to see Ulman saving money rather than spending it. With a $2 billion dollar budget, there are many more ways to cut costs.

According to Ulman, budget director Raymond S. Wacks and chief administrative officer Lonnie Robbins, the idea is to switch from having the county obtain cell phones for employees and County Council members to having it pay a monthly stipend of either $40 or $90 to workers deemed to need the phones.

That could allow some to use one phone, rather than one for personal use and a second phone for county business.

"It just gets away from record-keeping," Robbins said.

In addition, the county would reduce the number of cell phones from the roughly 1,000 now used by county workers. The changes, expected to be announced in a few weeks, would save money and eliminate county record-keeping required by the Internal Revenue Service, Ulman said. Wacks said cost savings can be achieved.

"We're paying $90 a month for someone to use the phone for 15 minutes a month," Wacks said. Moving to a two-tiered system, Robbins said, could get employees who do need a phone but don't use it much the lower monthly stipend. Instead of maintaining a separate county phone, the money could help pay for the person's personal phone, leaving the record-keeping to them.

Robbins said most of the phones - about 700 - are being used by public safety and emergency workers, though each County Council member also has one.

To drift a little off topic, one of the arguments for a single payer health system is that government would increase efficiency by reducing administrative costs. Ha!

Reality check

“I believe, certainly, the owners of this property that brought this into the neighborhood are culpable on some level. That party doesn’t take place, the shooting doesn’t take place.”

-County Executive Ken Ulman in an Explore Howard article justifying why he wants to harass the homeowners where the Halloween shooting occurred with petty violations.


Do you know what else prevents these types of incidents? A criminal justice system that actually works like it's supposed to.

Johns Hopkins criminologist Doug Ward said cases such as Dixon’s — which show escalating criminal behavior with no rehabilitation — present a problem for law enforcement all over the country.

“This is a big problem everywhere,” he said. “We call it a criminal justice system, but it’s not much of a system. There are competing interests here. You have police officers who are trying to build good cases .... and you have a so-called correctional system, where part of the goal is to keep them in prison and part is to get them out as quickly as possible to free up beds.”

Ward said oftentimes parole and probation agents — who are supposed to keep a close eye on newly released inmates — are too overwhelmed by large workloads to do an effective job of monitoring ex-cons.

“Parole and probation agents are supposed to keep watch over them,” he said. “In a lot of cases, it doesn’t happen, and this is one of them.”

Noddin’ my head like yeah, shootin’ my Glock like yeah

It’s a party in the Fiefdom of Ulman!

Ken Ulman personifies everything that I despise about government. There were a lot of poor choices that were made by various parties which led to the shooting of two people during the infamous Halloween Party. I am sure the HOA of that neighborhood will crack down on residents who rent out their homes for parties. I am sure the family of the deceased victim as well as the family of the injured victim will each get their day in court with whoever proves to be negligent. I am sure the shooter will spend some time in the slammer.

But none of this is good enough for Ken Ulman. Ulman is actually wasting taxpayer resources by having his staff research various ways in which they can harass the owners of this home with B.S. like not having a rental license:

“I’ve instructed my staff to look at every possible angle of the situation that brought this mayhem into the neighborhood,” he added. “I believe, certainly, the owners of this property that brought this into the neighborhood are culpable on some level. That party doesn’t take place, the shooting doesn’t take place.”

Later…

He’s asked departments, including police; fire; zoning; inspections, licensing and permits; finance; health; and office of law, to determine what violations apply to the Halloween incident and past incidents at the address, possibly including liquor licensing, underage drinking, zoning violations stemming from the use of a house as a commercial establishment, and permit violations, since there was not a rental license on file for the residence.

Ulman said he acknowledges that there are many instances when a party can unexpectedly go awry, but that he believes there is a pattern of misuse at the Manorstone Lane house. He added that he is unsure if any new legislation is necessary to prevent such occurrences in the future, but would consider proposing legislation if current laws are deemed insufficient.

“We’re going to look at every possible violation that occurred in this situation,” he said. “We’re just untangling the web right now. This raises all kinds of questions.”

Ulman is like the father of the balloon boy that will do anything to promote himself. The Howard County Police can bust down the door of an innocent person, shoot a family dog in cold blood, and Ulman is completely impotent to do anything because it might upset the beloved police union. Nine months rolls by and not a peep from him or any of his staff, as if everything is just great. Yet three days after this shooting he is running his mouth to the newspapers about how he plans to harass homeowners who are obviously in financial difficulties and are already facing major legal issues.

What a coward.

More skate spot pics

Below are some additional pics (first batch here) of the new skate spot at Centennial Park North. This summer when it opened, a park official said that the skate spot cost about $130,000 which less than typical playground equipment, making them an attractive way to add new park features for relatively little money. This is how the skate park looks today:















Remember kids: safety first!

Pet exemption

A Michigan Congressman wants to give pet owners a $3,500 tax break. The article was not specific, but I assume this would be an above the line exemption like the one for dependents. While I love tax breaks and I am a pet owner, I abhor tax breaks that target special interest groups like this one would. Many critics of the measure agree:

But not everyone thinks Congress should throw pet owners a bone.

"If you choose to have a pet, you should take care of it," Katrina Ulrich says.

Yeah, very true. That's the same way I feel about the exemptions that parents get every year for their kids. At least pets are deficit neutral, the government doesn't have to spend a lot of money to deal with the social costs pets. Kids on the other cost the government mega bucks, and parents actually pay less than they otherwise would.

I'll be curious to see how consistently the arguments against this exemption are applied to kid-related exemptions.

Health care round up

I read two interesting articles on health care this week:

The first is this awesome blog post. Four main points as follows:

1. Insurance is not part of the solution; it’s part of the problem.
2. Somebody has to say no.
3. A public option can only make things worse.
4. It’s always the poor who get screwed.

The second is this NYT article, my favorite part is as follows because it reminds me of what happens when you give a mouse a cookie:

Health reformers start with the problem that some people are expensive to insure, because of pre-existing health conditions. Their solution is to require insurers to sell insurance to everyone (a policy called guaranteed issue) at the same price (called community rating).

This solution, however, causes another problem. For healthy people, insurance is now a bad bet. A person without significant medical needs has an incentive to wait — to buy insurance later if and when he gets sick, a decision that raises the cost of insurance for everyone else. This problem, according to the reformers, calls for another solution: a mandate requiring people to buy health insurance.

But this mandate leads to yet another problem. Requiring an expensive purchase like health insurance can be onerous for low-income families. So the health reformers offer subsidies.

Which brings us back to marginal tax rates. If large health insurance subsidies were offered to all Americans, regardless of income, the program’s cost would be exorbitant, requiring substantial increases in explicit taxes. So, instead, the subsidies are phased out as income rises. As a result, we get implicit marginal rates like those in the Senate Finance bill.

Halloween shooting

I just heard on the news that the Forest Glen house in which two people were shot during a Halloween party was being rented for the purpose of throwing the party. That's pretty interesting. I hope there was a very large security deposit.