Jury voting

I love to hear alternatives to our system of voting and/or our system of government. There are so many good ideas out there that are unlikely to happen just because we are so set in our way of doing things. Substantial improvements could occur in the governing process if there was a way to experiment with some of these ideas. I like this idea that I read about today: jury voting.

I wish there was a way to test ideas like this and see how they would work in the real world.

Love this quote:

Modern politics is just as you should expect it to be when votes are cast by ignorant people taking advantage of a low-cost source of emotional gratification.

That seems to describe both the average voter and average political figure fairly well under the current framework.

Budgets according to Allen Dyer

Ordinarily, I like people with contrarian ideas. Often, contrarian ideas are shocking at first but are actually supported by science (like the notion that running shoes are bad for your feet).

However, some people are just contrarian and have ideas that are less than intelligent. Allen Dyer, for example, loves to be different even though his contrarian positions are absurd. He was the lone dissenting vote on the school board budget. His major (and only stated) objection to the budget is that public funds are used to bus kids to private schools (I explain why I think this is dumb, here). Dyer instead wants the $537,000 that it costs to bus private school kids used instead to teach kindergarten kids a foreign language. And, at least according to Dyer, the $537,000 is enough to cover the costs of kindergarten kids learning a foreign language. The problem comes when those kids move onto 1st grade. Now we need to come up with ANOTHER $500,000. But wait, there's more. When those kids move onto 2nd grade, we need to come up with ANOTHER $500,000. And so on for several more years. This is essentially how Allen Dyer himself described the situation.

So Dyer essentially wants to put the school budget another $500,000 in the hole every year for the next nine years or so.

Luckily, the other school board members are able to see how nuts Dyer is:

Ellen Flynn Giles, board chairwoman, and several other board members objected to Dyer's plan. "These are not the types of things that you discuss when you approve the budget," she said. "[His proposal] was not supported with a plan for how those funds would be used."

I hope Dyer enjoys using his school board position as his contrarian soapbox. I have a feeling this term will be his last.

Welcome to the nanny state

It appears as though the arrogant and paternalistic County Council is set to mandate residential sprinkler systems in new construction.

Sprinklers obviously don't pay for themselves through lower insurance rates, otherwise everyone would be putting them into their new homes without a mandate to do so. What sense does it make for the County Council to force people to spend money on something that does not balance increased safety with increased costs? Every one of us can make ourselves safer at some cost. We could purchase a safer car. We could eat a healthier diet. Only through extreme arrogance and self-righteousness could pencil-pushing County Council members think they can make effective decisions for us given all of our alternatives.

Also, if sprinklers are such an obviously good decision that people are somehow not smart enough to make on their own, why not require them in existing homes as well? Are the lives of people in existing homes less valuable than the lives of people in new homes, Mary Kay Sigaty? Are you equating the extra cost of installing sprinklers in existing homes to the cost of a human life, Mary Kay Sigaty?

Another concern of mine is that I watched the "debate" on this issue on the county government channel. I believe the debate regarding sprinklers occurred on February 17 (just a few days ago). There is no way that the Council was able to do anything besides wink and nod at each other since then, and yet they appear to be on the cusp of approving this mandate. During the debate I saw, there was mass confusion among those providing testimony as to how much sprinklers even cost!

If this mandate is approved, the County Council will have proven themselves to be a paternalistic body that is easily wooed by anecdotes from special interest groups.

Yo, County Council members. I mandate that each of you resign your seat so you can go to the gym and workout three nights a week. It's for your own good. What's that? I don't have the moral authority to tell you what to do? Hmmm, funny you should mention that...

Get your fermentation on

I'm not the biggest fan of public libraries, but I did notice that the Glenwood Branch has a "Science of Homebrew" class coming up on March 8th. You have to register for it in advance. I make beer and wine from time to time, and it's a lot of fun (also a lot of work cleaning bottles, pots, etc.) This might be a good class for a newbie to see if it's something worth trying.

Shout out

Shout out to HoCoMoJo for putting up video coverage of Trent Kittleman's formal announcement as a candidate for County Executive, as well as their video coverage of Liz Bobo's legislative update. HoCoMoJo is on the only place I have seen to have video coverage of these events. With election season upon us, it's nice to have them out there videotaping stuff that the other information outlets (like Explore Howard and the Baltimore Sun) seem to ignore. HoCoMoJo has also been prolific in their snow related twitter updates. I'm also a fan of the "And Then There's That" podcast they produce with Wordbones as a co-host. There still seems to be a lot of potential from that site that remains untapped, but things appear to be moving in the right direction.

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

I am still irritated at the County Council over the bill that could mandate sprinkler systems in new homes. Watching the “debate” about this bill on television confirmed many of my personal biases about our dysfunctional government. The only people that offered testimony were special interests: several fire department personnel spoke in favor of the bill, and one spokesperson for a home builders group (who actually had a good argument but was perhaps the most inarticulate person to walk the face of the Earth) spoke against the bill.

I should offer a response to a question that Mary Kay Sigaty raised, because although I find it to be completely absurd, it may appear to be legitimate to people who don't watch Milton Friedman debates on YouTube for fun. After the hack for the home builder group smartly said that the decision to put a sprinkler in your home should be a personal choice and not one that's mandated by the government, Mary Kay asked him this question: “Do firefighters have the personal choice to go into a burning building?”

The home building hack lamely replied something like, “No, they don't have that choice.”

The only problem is that this response is not actually true.

Obviously firefighters have the personal choice to enter into the firefighting profession, but that's not the substantive response to MKS's question. Much more importantly, the incident commander who is on the scene and in charge of the firefighters needs to make a decision: do the risks of the task at hand exceed the rewards? In other words, is going into this burning building an acceptable risk? If the building is fully involved in flames and no one is trapped inside, obviously it makes perfect sense to let the home burn. Be sure to spray some water on it at a safe distance from the outside- burn it down with grace so the pictures in the newspaper show that you're doing something. The insurance company will replace the destroyed home with a brand new one.

If the building is fully involved and someone is trapped, it probably still makes sense to let the home burn and not go inside. The likelihood of a successful rescue must be measured against the chance of sending a crew of firefighters on a suicide mission. As I recall from my firefighting days, the problem an incident commander faces in such a situation is not a lack of firefighters willing to take the risk, it's actually the opposite problem. Many firefighters will volunteer to take unacceptable risks- particularly if one of their own becomes trapped.

In other situations, people may be trapped in dangerous scenarios, but thanks to proper training and good equipment, a successful rescue can reasonably be expected. This is why Howard County provides financial resources to the fire department and why firefighters are considered heroes.

Mandating that people put sprinklers in their homes is not a good idea. I would venture to say that $150 worth of smoke detectors and a home evacuation plan (which costs nothing but some time to develop and practice) makes you FAR safer than just having a $4,000 home sprinkler system. I doubt that anyone from the fire department would suggest that a sprinkler system takes the place of smoke detectors and an evacuation plan. And I am not suggesting that smoke detectors be mandated. The government should not be mandating anything. Personal responsibility and consequences cause people to make the best decisions.

Might I suggest that if you don't have enough smoke detectors, you make a trip to Home Depot and pick some up. No need to end up like this dude.

I need to get the hell away from these people

I just spent a half an hour watching a county council session where Council Bill 5 was discussed. CB 5 is a bill that could require sprinkler systems in single family homes. According to one of the fire department spokespeople, sprinklers add about $1.60 per square foot to the cost of a home. I'll take that as an accurate figure, even though it seems absurdly low for a home not on public water (which would require a pump and tank to allow the sprinklers to work). So let's say you have a 2,500 square foot home (pretty modest for HoCo), you are looking at an additional expense of $4,000.

Is it right to require a prospective homeowner to pay for a $4,000 sprinkler system in their new home? Maybe that person would rather be extra careful not to burn their house down and spend that money on something else. That $4,000 could be put to a range of other uses. Perhaps the homeowner would prefer to put that money into a safer car (since there is much greater chance of being killed in a car accident than a house fire). Perhaps the homeowner would prefer to put that $4,000 into a home gym to keep themselves in physical shape. Or maybe they would rather have granite counter tops. Whatever. The point is that a sprinkler system is not necessarily what the prospective home builder would want to spend their money on. It is extremely arrogant for the county council to think they have the moral authority to spend our money for us.

Mary Kay Sigaty asked the one person who expressed concern about the price of sprinklers something like "how can you put a value on human life?" Guess what, Mary Kay? By spending your evenings with your fellow council members instead of working out a the gym, you are putting a value on your own life.

And of course, all the fire department spokespeople where there to make the case in support of this bill. Interestingly, not one of them suggested that fewer firefighters would be needed if sprinklers were mandated in new homes. It's funny how that works, huh? Many of the fire department representatives were not even from Howard County. Despite that, one fire department union guy from Ohio gave a shout out to the Local 2000, which is the Howard County fire department union. Unions are out to benefit themselves, not the public. The Local 2000 makes that case very nicely. I used to be a volunteer firefighter in HoCo, and it was well known among volunteers that if the Local 2000 officials could snap their fingers and make us all go away, they'd do it in a second. Why did they want to do away with volunteers? To make the public safer? Uh, no. To create more jobs for themselves, natch.

Seriously, County Council. Mind your own freaking business.

Update: A statement about the hypocrisy of an unnamed council member and related comments have been removed, since that appears to have begun generating more interest than the merits of the argument I am making.

Ulman wants you to pay for services you don't receive

A tax break failed to pass the Maryland General Assembly that would give a tax credit to those who pay for sewer service but do not receive sewer service. This makes sense to me, but some people like Ken Ulman and Guy Guzzone believe that people should have to pay for services that they don't receive:

State Sen. Allan H. Kittleman's third annual attempt to get Howard County's General Assembly delegation to approve a utility tax break bill failed Wednesday, with only the county's three Republican legislators backing it. The bill would have given county government the ability to grant the break to people who get public water but not sewer service.

Ulman administration officials have said that carving out a tax break for one group of people would set a precedent for similar tax breaks for other groups who do not directly benefit from a particular tax.

I love this indirect quote from Budget Director Raymond Wacks:

Budget director Raymond S. Wacks has suggested that if the tax break were to be approved, people without children in county schools, for example, might want to pay less taxes than those who do.

Why is he saying that like it's a bad thing? Doesn't it, like, make perfect sense that parents who use public schools should pay more in taxes than people who do not use public schools? Did Mr. Whacks fall out of the illogical tree and hit every branch on the way down? Using that stupid logic, why not just charge everyone in the county for water and sewer, even people with wells?

Happy Valentine's Weekend

From Graphjam.

Thanks, snow crews!

The roads are in pretty good shape. Thanks to all the county employees and private contractors who were operating plows and other equipment, you earned your overtime. Sadly, the government will take a large portion of your pay to waste it on nonsense. Oh, and if you are a county employee, they will be furloughing you later this year. But even though the administration does not appreciate you, I certainly do.

This county has plenty of money to spend on nonsense like the Healthy Howard Access Plan, recycle bins, tanning regulations and other absurdities, so I don't want to hear one peep from any of them about not being able to pay for stuff that government actually has legitimate cause to do, like snow removal:

The cost of cleanup from the storm has yet to be seen, but Watson says she expects it will be at least double the $350,000 spent following a Jan. 30 storm.

Prior to last weekend’s storm the county was already $1.3 million in the hole for snow removal this season.
Watson said the county will find the money to cover the debt, most of which will come from a contingency fund.

“If you can’t rely on your government now, then when can you?” Watson asked.

Indeed.

Master of thievery

Like everyone else, I am sure that the late Senator John Murtha had some admirable personal qualities. But being the "King of Pork" and a "master of pork barrel politics" is something that he should be ashamed of:

Elected to Congress in 1974 from a southwestern Pennsylvania district that has been economically devastated by the decline of the nation's coal-mining and steel industries, the gruff and jowly Murtha was beloved by his constituents for tapping billions of dollars in federal money to seed new industries there.

He was revered among Democrats -- and even some Republicans -- for his skill in using the power of the federal purse to make kings and deals. A right-hand man of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), he was considered one of the most influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill and credited with her ascension.

Critics dubbed Murtha, the chairman of the powerful subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the "King of Pork" for the volume of taxpayer money he could direct to the area around his home town of Johnstown. Most of the largess came in defense and military research contracts he steered to companies based in his district or with small offices there. (Emphasis mine)

If Senator Murtha was a con-artist who traveled the country stealing from others and bringing the money back to his hometown to share with the town folk, he would be a hated as a criminal. He would even be jailed. But because he, along with other Senatorial scumbags, are able to pass their thievery off as "public service", Senator Murtha is instead viewed as a hero. With all due respect to the dead, good riddance.

Mattracks = Awesome

Who wouldn't love to have some Mattracks on their 4x4 this week in HoCo?

Oh snow you didn't

Oh snow you did!

So far, the state and county road crews have done a great job getting the roads cleaned up, all things considered. But it sounds like the road situation will deteriorate:

The governor told reporters today that unlike the weekend storm where state highway crews were able to clear the interstates and major highways to bare pavement, crews will only make interstates and major roads passable.

He says highway crews cannot put snow on the shoulders of the interstates, because they are already covered with two feet of snow from the weekend storm.

E-mail from Ulman

I'm just passing the following info along...

Dear Neighbors,

In the aftermath of the largest snowstorm in recorded history for Howard County, we have been working around the clock to clear our streets and return things to normal as soon as possible. We have called in all resources across the County to help and we are making good progress toward our goal of plowing all roads by tonight.

As another potential snowstorm looms on the horizon, I am writing today to ask for your assistance. All around us, our friends and neighbors are working just as hard as County crews to keep up with the demands of snow removal. However, because of the extreme nature of this storm, many residents are physically unable to shovel their homes and cars out from the snow.

I have already heard many great stories of residents working together to clear snow for neighbors who cannot do so on their own. This is the spirit of community and cooperation that help make Howard County so great, and I am hopeful that we can continue this effort as we brace for another storm.

If you have a neighbor in need of assistance, please lend a helping hand. It is time for us all to be proactive as good neighbors. Check in on your neighbors to make sure they're alright. If there is a house on your street that hasn't been shoveled out, see if that neighbor needs your help. Now more than ever, we need to pull together as a community and help each other through this storm as well as the next.

Also, please take a moment to share this message with your friends, family and neighbors.

If you have an urgent situation, you can call our hotline at 410-313-2900, and if there's a life safety emergency, dial 911.

Ken

Don't worry, bee happy

The Planning Board is not a fan of ZRA 117, which is the legislation to reduce the required setback for beehives. The Sun reports that the Planning Board has recommended that the Council reject the ZRA. I've mentioned this ZRA before.

Bees are now in the same zoning category as farm animals in Howard, which means the hives must be at least 200 feet from an adjoining property, a rule so restrictive it prompted an outpouring of support in November from beekeepers across the Baltimore area advocating for a change. They insist that honeybees are harmless and haven't caused any problem if not disturbed, even in urban neighborhoods in Baltimore.

But board members were leery of having bees close to other homes, especially in heavily populated areas such as Columbia.

"It's best to leave it out of New Town," board chairwoman Linda Dombrowski said during a discussion before the 4-0 vote.

"The idea of having beehives in the back of town houses just doesn't make sense," agreed Tammy Citaramanis.

The Planning Board has shown themselves to be quite ignorant about honeybees, which is something that I know a little bit about. Honeybees are actually the most harmless when they are swarming, because they have no hive or honey stores to defend. This is the only time in which they could possibly congregate in large numbers on someone else's property. I have actually had swarming bees crawl up my pants leg and not sting me. When not swarming (on average, honeybees swarm only once a year but management techniques by the beekeeper can reduce this), honeybees are working. They are taking nectar and pollen from flowers, or doing chores around the hive. They have no time or incentive to attack children and the elderly, despite what uninformed people may assume. In my opinion, dogs are actually more dangerous than honeybees.

I seriously doubt that anyone on the Planning Board could articulate the difference between wasps and bees. In fact, wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are NOT BEES AT ALL. Hopefully the County Council will prove that they are a bit more informed than the Planning Board.

State of Emergency

The snow has apparently created a "State of Emergency" in Howard County. One of the things this does is extends the ability of certain police powers:

This declaration serves several functions including making more state resources available to the County's Emergency Management Division, extending the availability of certain police powers, and better positioning the County to receive federal reimbursement for resources used during this historic snowfall.

I wonder what that means? It's a little scary that the HCPD is clearly in the more alpha position than the County Executive in Howard County. In fact, the HCPD does not take the County Executive or executive staff members seriously. The police union has essentially purchased the CE. So it's just great the PD has been given more powers.

Well said

The way to solve problems is not by electing the right people, rather it is to make sure the wrong people have incentives to do the right thing. Sadly, this is something that Democracy (and our Republic) is not able to do thanks to rational ignorance and numerous other problems.

Even more sadly, meta-solutions that may fix the process are unlikely to take place.

This is why I believe that efforts to unseat incumbents are doomed from the start. I'd be thrilled if I were proven wrong, but I won't be. :-(

Idea from outer space

I think the Howard Astronomical League is really awesome. I love science related stuff, so this club sounds like something that is right up my alley. However, it is really annoying when clubs like HAL put their hand out and start begging for tax dollars.

HAL is restoring an antique telescope, and they have been unable to raise enough private donations to complete the restoration. Therefore, HAL members have convinced our "generous" legislators to give them in excess of $25,000 in tax dollars to fund this restoration. Fix it with subsidy, right? Of course, they use all the buzzwords like "education" and "public-private partnership" to rationalize this expenditure that they are unwilling to spend their own money on. It seems shockingly stupid to me to fund a project like this with public funds, especially during economic times like these.

Given a recent letter to the editor from a HAL club member, it is apparent that some of the HAL club members do not understand the difference between public and private:

This so-called pet project is not a private endeavor. The Observatory Project is a partnership between the men, women and children who make up our not-for-profit educational organization, and the county to further public education, science education in particular.

Ummm, yeah. That does not mean that your project is not a private endeavor. What's more, Howard County already spends more than half of the total budget on education (without any required economics courses, interestingly. I think that's how they manage to keep most people fat, dumb and happy.)

You want to steal my tax dollars to refurbish your telescope? I'm sorry HAL, I'm afraid I can't do that.

However, if you'd like to make a donation to this interesting project, do so here.

New drinking game

I watched two minutes of the County Council meeting tonight, and I swear Courtney Watson must have said "amendment 1 to 21" ten times during that period.

That got me thinking, what County Council keyword would make the best drinking game?

Meanwhile, Wordbones is now on a twitter frenzy.