Doing it right

Someone told me that the skate park in Montgomery County is far superior to the Howard County skate spot because it doesn't have a speck of spray paint on it and it's protected by a high fence, so I went to check it out. I'll have to take their word for it about the lack of graffiti, because the park was covered in snow today. However, it seems pretty obvious that the Montgomery County skate park is much better than the half-assed skate spot in Howard County. The park did cost $750,000, which in my opinion is beyond excessive, but at least a part of that was paid for through fundraising efforts.

I don't like Montgomery County at all. The local government is far too big and they spend money on everything imaginable (they even have 50 meter Olympic swimming pools). In fact, their public school budget is larger than the budget for the whole Howard County Government (although since they are a much more populated county, that fact by itself is not very meaningful).

But, they seem to have done a much better job with their skate spot. The first thing I noticed was the giant fence to protect the ramps from vandalism. The park is also much larger than the small skate spot that Howard has. Also, according to the website, fees are charged to use the skate park (a season pass is $50). Users also need to sign a waiver and provide an emergency contact form. If there are some people in Howard County who think the skate park is such a great resource, perhaps they can put their money where their mouth is and pool their resources to do a skate park right:



I noticed that tagging is against the rules:



Someone did vandalize this sign in a somewhat clever manner (OK, not really) by turning an "N" into a "G":



I know this pic kinda sucks, but the park is well protected by the fence, it's tough to get a good shot with a cell phone:



I saw this sign on a nearby baseball field. It wouldn't be socialist Montgomery County without onerous rules that make little sense. Government has a heavy hand:



However, Howard County has it's own strange rules. While they allow kids to vandalize the skate park, they do not allow people to chip golf balls on the baseball field next to the skate park:



If Howard County wants to build more skate parks, they should actually do some research first so they know what they are doing next time. Also, if people in the community really want these parks, leverage that demand by soliciting private contributions to build them. Also, don't be afraid to charge user fees. If it's worth it, people will gladly pay.

Referendum/Petition

This video, while certainly not a scientific study, provides good evidence that it's easy to lead people into signing absurd petitions. This has local relevance in regards to the anti-Harris Teeter petition that grocery store labor unions and others were gathering signatures for.

Not everyone signs, but many people do. What kills me is the woman who first appears at the 1:53 mark who ends up signing. Ughhh.

D'yer mak'er

School board member Allen Dyer has his panties in a bunch because Howard County pays approximately $500,000 to bus certain religions private school students to their private schools:

He said the school system is constitutionally barred from providing transportation to a select group of private school students. "If we bus some private school students, we bus them all," he said. "We can't pick and choose which ones we want to bus."

Of course, Dyer wants to cut this funding, not offer transportation to all private school students. While I agree with Dyer in a pedantic sense, this is not an issue that it makes sense to run up the flag pole. The parents who send their children to private schools save the county a whole lot of money every year. These same private school parents are also taxpayers who pay a large amount of taxes each year to support a public school system that they don't even use. These folks are not free riders who are exploiting taxpayers in any sense whatsoever. If anything, parents of public school children owe parents of private school children a HUGE debt of gratitude.

The 2010 operating budget for the school system is $788 MILLION dollars, which is 56% of the total operating budget. If Allen Dyer wants to save taxpayers money, there is ample opportunity in a budget that size. Instead Dyer wants to focus on mind numbing issues like the copyright authority of the school board:

In May, Dyer asked the state board to review the county's policy on royalties. Dyer contended the school board cannot collect royalties because it does not have copyright authority. However, the state board dismissed his appeal on the grounds that it has no jurisdiction over the policy in question.

"A ruling on (federal) copyright laws and their use or applicability to public documents is far beyond the legal purview of this board. Copyright law is not a law enforceable by this board," the state board wrote.

Dyer said in late November that he planned to appeal that policy to the Howard County Circuit Court.

Get real.

More naughty than natty

Courtney Watson raises the seemingly legitimate point that graffiti at the skate spot is probably illegal:

Graffiti at the skate spot -- which remains on the pavement and ramps -- also concerns County Council chairwoman Courtney Watson, who represents Ellicott City. Under county and state laws, graffiti is considered defacing public property and is a misdemeanor punishable by fines and imprisonment.

In a letter to Recreation and Parks leaders Dec. 2, Watson said that if officials want to make an exception for graffiti at skateboard parks, then the matter should be brought to the council and residents should be able to weigh in.

Makes sense. Yet at the same time, the Board of Health (or as I call them, the Naughty BOH) does not need to run any of their enforceable regulations by the County Council. That seems pretty dumb. The tanning regulation is a much greater concern to me than graffiti at the skate spot.

Killing the golden goose

On Jon Weinstein's facebook page, he makes this statement:

Sometimes facts can be inconvenient... Check out this article by a non-partisan group that shows Maryland's millionaires are not fleeing the state like some would like us to believe.

He is referring to Maryland's "millionaire tax", which is a 1.5% extra tax on income over a million dollars. When the tax was imposed for 2008, there were 30% fewer millionaire taxpayers than in the previous year. Some people have used this to suggest that millionaires are fleeing the state to avoid the tax, but Jon points to an article which essentially says that this is probably due to a general decline in economic conditions as opposed to millionaires fleeing the state.

The incorrect conclusion to draw from this, which I am concerned that Jon has drawn, is that it's OK to have the rich pay more than their fair share because the rich will just grin and bear it. He is oblivious to any unintended consequences.

This article points to another type of millionaire tax, one that may be used to finance whatever sort of "health care reform" politicians are able to concoct (hmmm, the rich are asked to pay for a whole lot of crap, eh?). It also lists three inconvenient facts on why it is bad policy to douse the wealthy in additional tax burden:

The proposed millionaire surtax is politically attractive because its direct burden would fall on a very small group, roughly 0.3 percent of the population. Moreover, this group is extremely wealthy and could undoubtedly afford to pay additional taxes. For three reasons, however, the proposed surtax would be bad tax policy.

First, it would significantly increase marginal tax rates for the affected households, giving them greater incentives to reduce their taxable income through various avoidance strategies. Even with moderate responsiveness to incentives, the revenue generated by the surtax would be significantly smaller than the burden that it would impose on affected taxpayers.

Second, the surtax would significantly increase the marginal tax rate on saving and investment by the affected households, whether done through corporate or noncorporate firms. The impact would be magnified because these households, despite their small numbers, account for a large portion of national saving. The resulting drag on capital accumulation would lower real wages for workers throughout the economy.

Third, the proposed surtax reflects an unsustainable approach to tax and fiscal policy. As commentators across the political spectrum have recognized, the existing fiscal imbalance cannot be addressed without imposing sacrifices on a broad segment of the population. Any new spending programs, such as those in H.R. 3962, will impose additional burdens. By linking these programs to a tax imposed on only 0.3 percent of the population, the bill obscures that fiscal reality. If the programs in H.R. 3962 are worthwhile, they are worth paying for in an open and broad-based manner.

Beware of any politician who wants to cut open the golden goose to get more golden eggs.

Go on, git!

Happenings in Columbia seem to driving too many decisions around Howard County. It was noted over at Columbia Talk that one of the reasons schools have been closed all three days this week is because the sidewalks in Columbia are not cleared. Maybe I'm being too much of a hard ass, but it seems dumb to close schools due to some snow on the sidewalks. Crap, we'd probably be speaking German right now if my grandfather's generation got to stay home from school over some snow on the sidewalk. And just curious: what percent of the student population has to walk to school? I can't imagine that it's anywhere near a majority in a county as suburban as Howard.

And Columbia seems to be taking up a significant share of the government's time as well. Being a County Council member is supposed to be a part time job (as in 20 hours a week or less), but back when the citizens panel was looking at the compensation of elected officials, Mary Kay Sigaty claimed to be working 60 hours a week. I think the other two Columbia based Council members, Jen Terassa and Calvin Ball, were putting in more than a part-time job worth of hours, too. As someone who despises government, I don't appreciate this. In a very real way, they are expanding the size of government beyond what was intended.

All of this suggests that perhaps Columbia should be its own city, distinct from the rest of Howard County and outside the reach of Howard County Government. Columbia already has its own distinct zoning laws (New Town Zoning) which was granted to allow Rouse to build Columbia in the first place. Columbia also has a third of the population of the county. Maybe it's time for Columbia to break on through to other side where it can be a planned new urbanist paradise completely distinct from the rest of HoCo.

Uh, yeah

This is a great example of government waste. Part of a $1.1 TRILLION dollar spending bill, about 9% of the national debt, includes a $1 million earmark to build a center to be used to train health care workers. In justifying this expenditure, Senator Mikulski claims that we are facing a "serious shortage in health care workers". At the same time, the president of Howard County Community College claims that enrollment in health care classes has been "skyrocketing". I realize all of this is anecdotal and none of these people probably have any idea what they are talking about, but if true this seems like an example of the market working. New trainees are preparing to meet increased demand (or replacing a dwindling supply or whatever). I'm not sure why it is necessary for the government to intervene here based on the justification given.

It seems obvious to me that Mikulski and Cardin are just spending money on crap to make certain people happy, and offering lame rationalizations to support these expenditures. I know $1 million isn't much of a trillion dollar bill, but a million dollars here and a million dollars there soon adds up to real money. It's clearly too much to ask United States Senators to actually have a meaningful debate on anything. They'd much rather play Santa Claus with other people's money.

Happy Elfin' Holidays

My wife showed me this AWESOME SNL spoof of one of my favorite movie scenes ever:



To get the full humor you may need to brush up on the original. Hit the bricks, pal!

All I want for xmas

I am beginning to worry that tanning lobbyist Bruce Bereano is not going to deliver his holiday gift to the County Council in the form of a lawsuit over the moronic tanning legislation. I'll be super bummed, I was really looking forward to that.

"Broccoli" with a "no" at the end

Be sure to check out the latest edition of the podcast “And Then There's That”. Those guys really do a great job with that show. The guest this week was Vic Broccolino who, among other things he does in the community, is the CEO of Howard County General Hospital. So natch, the topic centered on health care. One of the items discussed was the Healthy Howard Access Plan, of which Mr. Broccolino is a Board Member.

Allowing me to engage in some confirmation bias for a second, one of the reasons I think the HHAP is so popular nationally is because people do not understand it, and they assume it's something it is not. They think it's insurance, when in fact it is no such thing. That's why I was unsurprised when one of the co-hosts of the show called Healthy Howard an organization that “aims to provide health insurance to those that aren't insured”. Mr. Broccolino quickly corrected him. (Side note: Since HHAP is not insurance, I am a little confused as to why their audit shows that they incurred $75,000 in incurred but not recorded (IBNR) expenses, which is an insurance industry term. Maybe someone who knows more than I do about the insurance biz can fill me in).

Mr. Broccolino himself had one minor misunderstanding with respect to HHAP. He thought that the computer program that determines if potential HHAP enrollees are eligible for government subsidized insurance was provided by the Federal government. In fact, the program was purchased from a private California company for $68,000.

One of the things that surprised me about the recent budget meeting is that not one person showed up to lobby for more funding to HHAP (at least the newspapers did not mention it). Also, I am waiting to see what state tax consequences there will be from the folks that HHAP is funneling into subsidized insurance plans. I am sure there will be some higher taxes or cut services somewhere else.

Anyway, the show is pretty cool so check it out. The next guest (Jan 8th) will be Parks Director Gary Arthur. That should be interesting as well.

It's snowing!!!

Meta-rules

This is an interesting blog post. Sometimes the rules that govern the democratic process need to be changed before other rules can be changed. BRAC is actually a good example of meta-rules that were changed to make military bases more efficient. I think there are numerous opportunities to improve meta-rules at the federal, state and local levels. But it's so much work and the odds of success are so slim.

I'm SOOO skeered

The most absurd thing I read today, in defense of the horse racing industry:

Thing is, the recreational horse industry needs the racing folks. They share horses, trainers, vets, farriers, feed growers, hay suppliers, tack shops, arenas and eager enthusiasts. Lose racing, and the whole culture could come crashing down.

There you have it. If we lose the horse racing industry, no one will want to own horses anymore. I read it in the Baltimore Sun so it must be true.

Let the horse racing industry die an honorable death. The resources that get burnt up for racing can be put to a higher and better use. Saving a dying industry that few people want makes us poorer, not richer.

Good news on the medical marijuana front

Congress has finally agreed to support the legalization of medical marijuana that DC voters passed in 1998. This sets a good precedent for other states to start legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, and hopefully for recreational purposes as well. Nothing is more arrogant than a bunch of politicians telling sick people what types of medicines they can use.

This also means that it takes the federal government about 3 generations to begin to fix their most obvious policy blunders. Yay?

Divisive statement of the day

Partisans, on both the Republican and Democratic sides, are so silly and full of themselves. They agree on 90% of the issues, but make a big deal over the other 10%. But thank goodness for partisanship, because if not for the inefficiencies created by the mindless bickering of partisans, we'd be slaves to government already. That's why I thank politicians for ignorant and divisive statements like this:

Ulman said that Republicans' views of voters are "wrong. People in Howard County are so educated and are so in tune with what's going on" that they can't be swayed by Republican arguments, he said.

Way to "assume the best" Ken!

Spending vs. tax cuts

A superb editorial in the NYT discussing tax cuts vs. more government spending. My favorite part:

When devising its fiscal package, the Obama administration relied on conventional economic models based in part on ideas of John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian theory says that government spending is more potent than tax policy for jump-starting a stalled economy.

The report in January put numbers to this conclusion. It says that an extra dollar of government spending raises G.D.P. by $1.57, while a dollar of tax cuts raises G.D.P. by only 99 cents. The implication is that if we are going to increase the budget deficit to promote growth and jobs, it is better to spend more than tax less.

But various recent studies suggest that conventional wisdom is backward.

One piece of evidence comes from Christina D. Romer, the chairwoman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers. In work with her husband, David H. Romer, written at the University of California, Berkeley, just months before she took her current job, Ms. Romer found that tax policy has a powerful influence on economic activity.

According to the Romers, each dollar of tax cuts has historically raised G.D.P. by about $3 — three times the figure used in the administration report. That is also far greater than most estimates of the effects of government spending.

Of course, government spending plans have the benefit of politicians getting to play Santa Claus.

Walking in a Krylon Wonderland

The county removed the graffiti panels from the skate spot at Centennial North. I have to say, the skate park sans graffiti panels, while still trashy looking, is a significant improvement from what it looked like before.



The Department of Rec and Parks is monitoring the graffiti and removing images that are vulgar or profane. Below is a shot of some of the "art" at the skate spot. This exact same drawing was at the park when I visited six weeks ago, so I presume this image did not meet the Department of Rec and Parks definition of vulgar or profane, which says a lot:



This is how the Howard County Government maintains assets that our tax dollars paid for. You would think that with a $30 million parks department budget, they could do better than this. You'd be wrong, of course.

A budget thought

I recall that when Healthy Howard was being planned, one of the provisions added was that enrollees had to be uninsured for a year or so because the planners were afraid that small companies would drop their health insurance plans and encourage employees to enroll in HHAP instead. In retrospect, it's almost laughable that such an exodus from health insurance was expected. At any rate, perhaps public funding should be reduced substantially during this budget cycle, but at the same time loosen up the silly requirement that enrollees be uninsured for one year before joining the plan. That way, HHAP can sink or swim on its own merits and without burning up another million dollars of our tax money.

Investigation: FAIL

This was unexpected:

Several charges against the 22-year-old accused of firing 21 shots into a crowded Columbia Halloween party — killing one young man and paralyzing another — have been dismissed.

On Dec. 1, Howard County District Court Judge Pamila Brown dismissed the counts related to the shooting and paralyzing of Nathaniel Quick, 22, of Columbia.

Brown found during a preliminary hearing that no probable cause existed for police to accuse Devon Dixon, 22, of Elkridge, of shooting the bullets that left Quick paralyzed, though the judge found that probable cause did exist for police to accuse Dixon of shooting and killing another partygoer, Aaron Brice, 19, of Silver Spring, according to prosecutors.

“The judge decided there was no probable cause” in Quick’s case, Howard County Assistant State’s Attorney Kim Oldham said.

Although I have to wonder what the judge was thinking, it sounds like the Howard County Police Department really dropped the ball on this one. If I were County Executive, I would be more concerned about finding out what happened in the Police Department rather than harassing the homeowners with petty violations:

Dixon’s attorney Tony Garcia said he argued for dismissal of the charges because he felt the police department’s statement of charges provided little evidence linking his client to Quick’s injuries.

“There was almost nothing mentioned about Mr. Quick,” Garcia said of the statement of charges presented in court. “My interest isn’t to grandstand or punish the state’s attorney’s office. My client’s life is on the line. To take the bare minimalist approach certainly doesn’t speak highly of how they value this person that was killed. I don’t believe it’s anyone’s fault, per se. I believe it’s the state as a whole. When you don’t even produce crumbs, you can’t have us deduce there was once a sandwich.”

Science vs. Religious "Science"

I am currently reading Richard Dawkins latest book: The Greatest Show on Earth. It is a book whose sole purpose is to lay out the evidence for evolution. I haven't finished it yet, but already I highly recommend it. It's pretty awesome. Anyway, I was struck by this passage:

One of the nice things about science is that it is a public activity. Scientists publish their methods as well as their conclusions, which means that anybody else, anywhere in the world, can repeat their work. If they don't get the same results, we want to know the reason why. Usually they don't just repeat the work but extend it: carry it further.

It struck me because this is exactly the opposite approach taken by many of the climate scientists involved in the so-called “climate gage” e-mail scandal. The e-mails admit to destroying original data, using statistical tricks to hide trends and pressuring scientific journals not to publish skeptical papers. One of the most compelling reasons for me not to take climate change skeptics seriously was the fact that there appeared to be a very strong consensus of scientists who were very much alarmed. Now we know that that consensus was, at least to some degree, manufactured. This is the sort of behavior one would expect from creationists, not scientists. Perhaps even more concerning is the lack of play that climate gate seems to be getting in the media.

Just an interesting contrast.

Budget hearing

On December 16th, there is going to be a FY2011 budget hearing. If you are a productive member of society, you probably have better things to do than sit around for several hours for a chance to ask for less spending while listening to special interest groups wax on about pet projects they want funded "for the community". You know, like libraries to help the poor and less fortunate that just so happen to cost $30 million and have rooms shaped like iPods.

Fortunately, you have the option to take 5 minutes an submit your budget comments online. Just make sure you submit online testimony early (at least a couple of days in advance), otherwise it won't get read.

I'll be darn curious to see how much funding, if any, gets doled out for Healthy Howard Access Plan during this budget cycle. My guess is that HHAP will get another $500K.

Bad Babs

People who think that government intervention will decrease health care costs are extraordinarily naive.

The Senate took the first tangible step Thursday in what will likely be weeks of wrangling over health care, approving a measure by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski designed to enhance insurance coverage of mammograms and other screening tests for women by making them free of charge.

Making medical procedures "free of charge" does not make them free, it simply means someone else will have to pay for them. When others are footing the bill, services will be over-consumed, therefore raising costs of the procedures (or requiring that patients accept lower quality screenings or have to wait a long time to get the screenings). This is as certain as the law of gravity.

Like a true politician, Mikulski's prepared statement for the press uses all the popular buzzwords (even stupidly referring to health care as a "women's issue") while overlooking all the unintended consequences that will result from this mandate on insurance companies.

"This amendment makes sure that the insurance companies must cover the basic care that women need at no cost," she said. Mikulski called health care "a women's issue" and demanded "universal access" to "key preventive services" for women, including annual screenings for heart disease and diabetes.

I have deep sympathy for anyone who believes that a bunch of politicians are going to meaningfully reform health care, considering those same politicians haven't figured out that current government regulation (perverse tax incentives, licensure of doctors, the FDA, etc.) is what makes health care such a mess to begin with. As any good doctor will tell you, you can't treat a disease until you make the correct diagnosis.

Things that make you go hmmmmm

The most curious sentence I read today (from this article in Explore Howard):

Police declined to comment on where the three were coming from.

That seems like a strange thing for the police to be silent on, but for now I suppose the police should get the benefit of the doubt on why they are keeping that detail under wraps. I am sure it will come out eventually. Ken Ulman was intent on going after the homeowner after the Halloween shooting, so we'll how consistent he is in this case.

Legalize it

Here is an interesting rundown of states that have legalized medical marijuana. These laws still seem unnecessarily stringent to me. Some Maryland legislators have brought forth legislation to help sick people in Maryland, but the bill didn't get anywhere. Hopefully that will change soon. What really needs to happen is for arrogant and stupid government officials to quit wasting our money on a ridiculous war on drugs that they are destined to lose. But I guess medical marijuana is at least a baby step in the right direction.