I want to give a big thank you to those of you who helped with flyering for the Town Hall meeting. We had a good turnout with some new faces.

There are a few pieces of legislation up for a public hearing tomorrow: one being the budget and the other being an Ordinance that would change our zoning to allow cannibus stores to be opened in the City (pending state law changes to allow more permits). 

Also of note is that the Annapolis Neck Peninsula Federation is hosting a community meeting at the library to discuss the County’s proposed PAL park expansion. The adjacent and downstream community have a few concerns they would like addressed. The community meeting will be on May 31^st at 7pm.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know about a fundraiser supporting the re-election of County Executive Steuart Pittman that will be held in Ward 7, at Caliente Grill on June 7^th at 7pm. This fundraiser is being hosted by former Ward 5 Alderman Jared Littman and our former Ward 7 Alderman Ian Pfieffer. I am proud to support and endorse Pittman for re-election. He has proven more than capable to bring us through COVID, and also lived up to his campaign promises to address over-development in the County. He has absolutely been the best County Executive for the environment since I’ve lived here (in the past 22 years).

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

First of all, I’d like to invite you to our Tuesday Ward 7 Town Hall meeting. This will be held at 7pm at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. The first half of the meeting be a discussion with our Annapolis Police Chief, Edward Jackson, who will be joined by the City Council’s Chair of our Public Safety Committee, Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell-Charles. During the latter half of the meeting, I will give an update on Ward 7 issues, including details on our proposed budget, before being joined by our County Councilwoman Lisa Rodvien. We will then both take questions in an open forum. I hope to see you then! And a big thank you to everyone who has helped with distributing flyers in your neighborhood!

As for our Monday Council meeting, this will be your first opportunity to provide public comments on the budget. I’ve provided details and links below. Other than that, we don’t have much going on at this particular meeting.  

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Town Hall meeting May 10th 7-8:30pm at the Annapolis-Neck Library

Happy Earth Day! Looks to be a beautiful weekend. I hope you find some time to be outside and take a hike in one of our City Parks.

We don’t have any legislation up for a public hearing at Monday’s Council meeting, but feel free to send me your thoughts on anything listed that’s up for a final vote.

Ward 7 Town Hall meeting!!

After a long pandemic-induced hiatus, I’ve scheduled a Ward 7 Town Hall meeting. Please mark your calendar for May 10^th, 7-8:30pm at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. As usual, I could use help distributing flyers. If you can help with this in your neighborhood, please let me know as this would be a huge help.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

This Monday we will be resuming our in-person Council meetings, just in time for the Mayor’s State-of-the-City remarks and his introduction of the FY23 budget.

Ward 7 Town Hall meeting

After a long pandemic-induced hiatus, I’ve scheduled a Ward 7 Town Hall meeting. Please mark your calendar for May 10^th, 7-8:30pm at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library. As usual, I could use help distributing flyers. If you can help with this in your neighborhood, please let me know as this would be a huge help.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

After a few of my remarks, you will find a summary of what’s on the agenda for Monday’s Council meeting. This will be our last virtual meeting.

Recognition of Ward 7’s retired Rear Admiral

Of special note is that we will be providing a Council Citation/recognition of Ward 7 (BayWoods) resident Rear Admiral Guy Shaffer, for his continual contributions to our community. He has been instrumental in getting the effort started to protect Carrs Beach, finding a home for Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB), and supporting the Annapolis Maritime Museum's Moyer Park campus. 

Police Advisory Board nominations needed

The City of Annapolis Mayor’s Office is seeking individuals to serve on the Anne Arundel County Police Accountability Board (PAB), which is being created in compliance with Maryland state law and must be seated by July 1, 2022. The Board creates an opportunity for community members to play a critical role in accountability and transparency in police practices and policy in Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis. In addition to reviewing individual cases, Board members may take an active role in serving as liaisons between Annapolis communities, the City of Annapolis, the Annapolis Police Department, the Police Accountability Board and the Administrative Charging Committee. Civilian oversight is an evolving process, as recent events in Anne Arundel and beyond have emphasized the need for resident input in law enforcement and community policing, making the Police Accountability Board’s work more important than ever. If you are interested in serving on this board, please let me know.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Here’s a summary of what’s on the agenda for Monday’s Council meeting. This will be virtual but I think we are set to resume in person meetings in April.

I’d also like to let you know that I will be scheduling a town hall meeting for probably late April or early May. I’d like to do it outdoors at the Annapolis Maritime campus at Moyer park.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Good morning!

Hillman Garage & City Dock replacement projects

Tomorrow we will be voting on a Resolution that would express Council support for the execution of the concession agreement with Annapolis Mobility and Resilience Partners, LLC (AMRP) to finance, design, build, operate, and maintain a new parking garage at 150 Gorman Street, the location of the current Hillman Garage. The new garage will expand parking spaces from 525 spaces [CORRECTION – 425 spaces] in the current garage to 590 spaces, and will include improvements such as electric vehicle chargers, gateless entry and exit, robust stormwater management, and parking space availability information. In this scenario, the private partners would be taking on the debt and risk of constructing the new garage, and they would be paying off that debt through the future garage and parking fees. The City would essentially get a payment in lieu of these fees to cover the lost revenue on our end. I have given this considerable thought and I do currently support the proposed public-private partnership. Besides all of the experts on staff and hired by staff being in agreement that this is a good deal, one of the things that helped convince me was when I factored in the point that we really can’t afford to do both the City garage and City dock redevelopment (to adapt to sea level rise) on our own utilizing City bonds. Just one of those projects would put us over our debt ceiling. While I’m sure we will get some help from the State and possibly federal governments, their help likely won’t change this fact. Furthermore, this P3 structure places most of the risk with the private partnership, not with the City or taxpayers.

Campaign to save Carr's Beach in Ward 7

Here is an article by the former Capital Gazette editor-in-chief Rick Hutzell regarding the effort to save Carr's Beach in Ward 7. This is something we have been working on for a while now, so thanks to all of you who have been advocating. Please reach out to your State representatives to ask them to continue fighting for money to help accomplish this goal of preservation.

Hillman Garage Closing for Rebuild in Late March 2022

New Website to Guide Residents and Visitors. AccessAnnapolis.com Provides Information on Parking and Transit Options.

Re-districting of Ward boundaries

Brooks Debose with The Capital has spoken to his editor and they are allowing their stories on the Ward re-districting efforts to be available to the public free-of-charge. So please review and send any comments to the re-districting committee.

Annapolis redistricting task force seeks voter input in first public hearing

Annapolis task force releases three draft redistricting maps for public feedback

Annapolis residents weigh in on proposed ward redistricting maps at public hearing

Environmental internships available

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the Chesapeake Research Consortium's C-StREAM paid internships provide interns with a $6,000 stipend, a $1,000 housing and transportation allowance, as well as funding for professional development activities such as conferences, training, supplies, and travel which can be extended throughout the following school year! Contact Randy Rowell for more information.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob

Good afternoon! I hope you have found an opportunity to get outside today and enjoy this mild weather before winter returns tomorrow! I have a few updates for you along with a Council meeting briefing for Monday.

We have six pieces of legislation up for a public hearing, which I’ll describe below. But I want to start off with an update on the Parkside Preserve (aka Reserve at Quiet Waters) pollution saga. If you care about this issue, care about our Park, I implore you to sign up to testify at our virtual Council meeting on Monday, to help support the emergency Resolution I’ll be introducing.

Another pollution emergency in Quiet Waters Park – emergency Resolution needs your support

I’ve mentioned previously how a development off Old Annapolis Neck Rd, in our Ward, has been sending pollution into Quiet Waters park. This is entirely preventable pollution that the contractor, Reliable Contracting Inc, has been discharging because they are not and have not been following our environmental regulations. The City’s Department of Public Works is the enforcement agency and they have not escalated enforcement or held this contractor accountable, and now we have had a fifth instance of pollution entering the park. (You can get a detailed chronology/summary here)

I’ve drafted an emergency Resolution whose purpose is to express the Council’s will that the City to utilize the laws we have passed to their fullest extent to secure compliance. If the City staff won’t do their jobs the Council needs to step in. I have an additional amendment that would express that we resolve that Reliable’s permit be suspended (or revoked) pending a full review by the City and the public, and requiring that a new agreement be drafted to ensure compliance and responsiveness to the public concerns.

But to get this passed I need your help. I need your testimony (limited to 3 minutes) at the meeting. My colleagues on the Council need to know how this has been impacting you, how pollution of our park is unacceptable, and how you want them to stand up for our Ward and support us on this. Our Council meeting will be virtual so it couldn’t be easier to sign up to testify. Just fill out this form and click the “live testimony” box. The meeting starts at 7PM and I expect the general public testimony period to start around 7:30, but that could be more or less.

Stay healthy and stay safe,

Rob