Town Meeting Sept. 6

The rubble heap at the corner of East West Highway and Baltimore Boulevard was the big topic last night at the town meeting. The Developer talked about his plans and his problems and apologized for the unsightlyness and slow progress. Ekherd is now out of the project and he has 2 potential tenants he is working with. The church is to be demolished next spring. The rubble will be used to fill the hole the church building leaves. He considered adding a screen to the fence so that it wouldn't be so unsightly. Several town residents and business owners spoke of their concern and had suggestions to resolve the rubble. One council member stated that since the demolishion codes were waived there was nothing we could do. When all was said and done, it appears that the developer will look into seeing what, if anything, he can do and report back to the Mayor within 2 weeks. Suggestions made by the townspeople seemed to be too expensive for the developer. I agree that the rubble heap is an eyesore. However, I think there are other factors that are more important. The psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, proved that the environment invites mischief in his now-famous "broken window" hypothesis. High grass, piles of junk and trash, peeling paint, standing graffiti all contribute to criminal behavior. "Criminals, the theory suggests, respond to their immediate environments," writes Malcolm Gladwell in the Washington Post. "They take advantage of situations that seem to invite deviance. And communities that clearly articulate and enforce a standard of public behavior and order can discourage criminal activity."
So, the developer is paying out $13,000 per month in expenses right now and can't consider spending any money to clean up the site. If we have criminal behavior due to the site, then we would have to spend money to increase our police force to handle the increased crime. It is a fact that crime has increased in the past year. Where would that money come from? I guess we need to raise taxes to pay for a larger police force. Businesses close to the site are losing revenue. How do they handle that? Bankruptcy? Change of location? Now, the town will lose more of the tax base that these businesses bring in and how will we pay for that? Higher taxes again?
Now, if we have criminal activity and we have a drive by shooting and a stray bullet kills one of us. Well, we can't put a price tag on a human life can we?
Seems to me that the town is paying a much higher price and taking a much higher risk than the developer.
Cleaning up that site right now needs to be priority number one. I urge all residents and businesses to keep on top of this project and don't let up until it is cleared and cleaned.

Here is my story about keeping things cleaned:
Simon and I operated the Riverdale Bookshop for many years in the Town Center. There was a stop sign out front with a little island around it. The island was just gravel and dirt and looked pretty ugly. People would walk by and throw trash, cars would drive over it. It was a mess. Simon and I would go out and pick up after them pretty much on a daily basis. This gets old. Who wants to pick up after grown-ups every day? We thought about it and decided that maybe if it looked better people wouldn't do that. We got our friends together, we dug up the gravel, we bought some mulch, people donated plants and we landscaped the little island. We called it "The Stop Sign Garden". Well, Lo and Behold, guess what? People stopped throwing trash around the stop sign. People stopped and admired the nice flowers and plants. People asked if they could have a bulb or two of the beautiful Iris plants. A few hours of work turned the whole thing around. It works!