Letters
October 2005

Campaign promises don't add up

Seth Grimes is running for mayor of Takoma Park. On one level, Grimes is an attractive candidate: he is good at asking tough questions about how our city operates. But it is a big step to go from gadfly and activist to political leader. The voters of Takoma Park would be well advised to examine Grimes' pronouncements carefully to determine whether he would lead us where we want to go.

Take his fiscal policy. For the past year, Mr. Grimes has sounded a constant drumbeat on taxes. Apparently, he is trying to whip homeowners into a frenzy about the effect of rapidly rising real estate values on their tax bills. By repeating a mantra that taxes are too high, Grimes is making an implicit promise that he will lower them, or at the very least, not raise them. Sounds lovely--until one takes a look at the other promises Grimes has been making.

For one thing, Grimes has promised not to cut any existing city services.

For another, Grimes has proposed increased spending by the city. An example is the attention he has been devoting lately to the issue of police staffing, which he feels is insufficient. Now, it might well be a great idea to expand Takoma Park's police force, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that hiring more officers would cost more money. Furthermore, Grimes is conveniently disregarding the enormous difficulty that Takoma Park has with recruitment, as it competes against other area departments offering better compensation and benefits. So if Grimes is serious about a larger police force, he will not only have to pay for more officers, he will have to pay each officer more. More officers times higher pay = even more money.

Grimes has also decried previous underspending by the city on road repairs and other maintenance. The clear implication is that Grimes will be spending more of our tax money on this item, not less.

With a tax-increase or service-cut ruled out, the only apparent alternative is to fund new spending through new borrowing. But wait! Grimes has apparently ruled out that eventuality by attacking the City Council over the past year for issuing bonds to pay for capital expenditures. Despite the eminent reasonableness of taking on limited debt to finance capital investments, Grimes (along with his pals in the misnamed Sustainable Takoma) has opted to exaggerate the impact of debt service on property taxes.

Here we have a candidate who is committing to hold the line on taxes, keep his hands off services, increase spending, and eschew borrowing. When I have pushed Grimes to show me how this all adds up, lo and behold, he reaches for the proverbial deus ex machina: free money from "administrative savings" and more free money from Montgomery County in the form of tax rebates.

Sure, every organization can be made more efficient. But promising to run a government on such unrealized savings is the reliable refuge of let's-have-a-free-lunch politicians.

As for additional rebates, the state of Maryland gives enormous power to counties and little to municipalities. If Takoma Park is persistent and exerts maximum political leverage, we just might get a few more bucks from the county. But I wouldn't bet the bank - or the city's budget - on it.

(Incidentally, if anyone can succeed in squeezing some money out of Rockville, it is Kathy Porter. She - not Seth Grimes - has connections all over the county and state, not to mention the respect and credibility to make things happen. Whatever talents Grimes may offer, one can hardly expect doors to open for him they way they do for Porter.)

So, back to the fundamental question: how does it add up? The fact is that it doesn't!

It is inevitable that Grimes will break at least one of his fiscal commitments. Who will get sold out? Will it be the tax-cut crowd, whose bills keep going up to fund Grimes' programmatic promises? Will it be patrons of the library or recreation programs, when a budget ax falls to make room for higher police salaries? Or will public safety take a hit, when the force is disbanded (as advocated by Grimes' campaign treasurer Jack Carson) to produce a tax cut?

I would surely prefer to know now rather than after Seth Grimes is mayor.

-- Keith Berner, President
Between the Creeks Neighborhood Association
Takoma Park, MD

Fully fund the civic building!

As members of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board, we urge the Montgomery County Executive and the County Council to fully fund the Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza, as originally proposed and designed.

A new Civic Building/Veterans Plaza fulfills the County government's promise to replace the Armory and Kuhn Park, which were demolished in 1998 to make way for downtown Silver Spring development. This project, originally scheduled to be open in 2003, has been delayed five years to expected completion in 2008.

As you know, the County Executive and County Council increased the size of the civic building 25%, without increasing funding, by adding the Roundhouse Theater School and offices.   In addition, the project budget was not increased to compensate for the fact that building costs have risen far faster than general inflation.   To make up the current funding shortfall of approximately six million dollars, the County wants to cut portions of the project specifically designed for community access, use cheaper building materials and eliminate the skating rink/pavilion.  

We believe that these project reductions are wrong, ill-advised, and contrary to the spirit and energy that our community has brought to this vital centerpiece of our downtown area.

The County provided extra money for other county projects when they were under funded. The County Executive and County Council should show the same level of commitment here.

Funding must be provided for:

• Civic Building Community Spaces: Community spaces within the Civic Building, including a Great Hall with Fixed Stage, Atrium, Art Gallery and Community Meeting Rooms should be built as originally planned.
• Ice Skating Rink/Pavilion: The Ice Skating Rink and Pavilion should be built as promised.
• Finishes: The Civic Building and Plaza must be built with the high- quality materials originally specified to ensure it fulfills its goal as the landmark anchoring the downtown.

The County Executive and County Council should use creative leadership to secure funding for the project and fulfill their promise to Silver Spring.

The revitalized downtown has been a resounding success, to date. But we cannot rest on our laurels; Silver Spring is still a work in progress.   The Civic Building/Veterans Plaza--the heart and soul of Silver Spring's downtown revitalization and the community's top priority--must be built as promised.

-- Robert Hicks, Jr., Jon Lourie, Alan Bowser, Esq., Graciela Jaschek, Victor Salazar, Charlotte Coffield, Korey Hartwich, Mark Woodard, Kathy Stevens, Jose Vasquez, Mitch Warren, Deborah Spielberg, Marilyn Seitz, Eric Hensal, Phil Olivetti

Keep Community Policing!

In response to the letter in the September Voice recommending disbanding the Takoma Park Police force, I wanted to expand on the "facts" presented in that letter as well as express my own opinion on the value of community policing.

I come to this debate from a biased perspective, before knowing the facts, I believe community policing is the right solution.   Here in Takoma Park we live in an economically diverse urban area surrounded by other economically diverse communities.   Most homeowners here are better off than the vast majority of their neighbors, both within Takoma Park and in the surrounding neighborhoods.   I live here partly because my kids and I have less opportunity to bury our heads in the sand about the fortunes of others in our country.   One of the costs of being better off economically is that we tend to be targets of crime.   Another reason I live here is the strong sense of community and neighborhood that Takoma Park offers.   People look out for each other even when they don't know one another personally.

Our community police force helps keep us safe through the officers' knowledge of the neighborhoods and patterns of activity.   They know the hot spots and the times of day when there is likely to be trouble.   According to a recent article in the Takoma Newsletter, some officers even know the cars in their beat.   When there are problems, the response is incredibly rapid.   My family and I know.   We've experienced both crimes against ourselves as well as our property.   I doubt that a much larger police force headquartered outside of the city would be as effective keeping crime under control.

As for the facts, I think it's valuable to discuss the facts objectively so that we can reach well-founded conclusions as a community.   I started with the CNN/Money report referred to in the September Voice.   The purpose of the report was to identify the "Best Places to Live" in the United States.   The authors of the survey used facts as well as subjective information to rate the communities in their survey.   According to their report, in Maryland, Gaithersburg and Ellicot City were the only finalists for Best Places to Live.

Rather than present only the CNN/Money data that supports my position as the authors in the September letter did, let me present the data from all of the surrounding communities that were surveyed so that people may draw their own conclusions.   Then I'll tell you why I don't think we should use this data in a debate about community policing.

The data from the CNN/Money report show that Takoma Park is a riskier place to live than the average place in the country and substantially more risky than the best places.   However, the report also shows that Takoma Park is a less risky place to live than Washington, D.C. or Hyattsville, and is mixed with respect to Kensington.   Finally, the reported data suggest that Silver Spring is safer than Takoma Park.

So what's wrong with the data?

First of all, if I were making a decision on the effectiveness of my local police department relative to others, I would want to use facts that law enforcement agencies use, such as FBI data.   Police departments are audited continuously, and I'm sure both the Takoma Police department and the Montgomery County Police use a much better methodology than that of CNN and Money Magazine.  

Second, I would ensure that I'm comparing jurisdictions appropriately.   As it turns out, the CNN/Money report based the community data on Zip Codes.   The Silver Spring data presented includes data from the primary Takoma Park Zip Code of 20912.   The Takoma Park data includes data from Zip Codes in Silver Spring and Wheaton.   In other words, CNN/Money's definition of these communities does not correspond to Police Jurisdiction, nor city boundaries.   I would want a much cleaner presentation of Takoma Park statistics versus neighboring communities before I drew conclusions.

Third, the effectiveness of any Police Department is integrally related to the socio-economic status of its population as well as the population density of the area.   I would not expect that a Police Department in an economically diverse urban area would be able to keep crime as low as in a sprawling middle income suburb.   Takoma Park is an urban suburb that serves as a buffer between Prince George's County, NE Washington DC, and the rest of Montgomery County.   Regardless of how it is policed, I would expect the community to experience higher rates of crime due to its unique geographic position.

Finally, it's my understanding that on average, the officers in our Police Force are paid relatively less than their colleagues in other departments.   I would certainly expect that you get what you pay for in policing, just as you do in many other venues.

I did not have time to determine more reliable sources of information for this letter.   But just to show how the statistics are depicted by other surveyors, I dug this off the Internet:

Melissa Data (www. Melissadata.com) presents the number of crimes per 10,000 population based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics.   According to this source, Takoma Park had 496 crimes versus a Maryland state average of 668 and a national average of 472.   Hyattsville achieved a score of 591 and Washington DC had a score of 717.   Data were not available for Silver Spring or other nearby Montgomery County cities as they are not incorporated municipalities.

To conclude, I think that it's worthwhile to debate whether community policing is the right solution for Takoma Park, even though in my gut I believe community policing is the right answer.   However, I suggest that we continue the debate once we have all been presented with good clean facts.   Perhaps an enterprising Takoma Voice reporter could interview the police departments or mine the FBI data and lay out appropriate facts presented objectively so that we can all reach conclusions that are well-founded.   It may also be that the city government has completed similar analyses that could be made available to the public.

-- Nancy Atwell
Takoma Park, MD

Cut out dissection

Having been an educator in Maryland, I believe we owe it to our students to teach them respect for life.

This may sound obvious, but every year, students in biology classes across the country are told to "dissect or fail." Sadly, many go along with it, even though they believe killing and cutting up animals for classroom projects is wrong, because they feel they have no other choice.

Today, modern, humane alternatives to animal dissections, such as CD-ROMs and "virtual" dissections, are readily available. A number of organizations will even loan dissection alternatives to students and schools that cannot afford them. (Although, in the long run, these alternatives are actually cheaper: Once a dead animal is dissected, there is nothing to do with the body but throw it out. Computer programs, discs, and other options can be used again and again.)

It's time to take the death out of life sciences. Whether you're a parent, a teacher, or just a concerned citizen, you can help "cut out dissection" in your local schools. Find out how at TeachKind.org.

-- Richard McCollim
Baltimore, MD