Commentary

On behalf of the dedicated people on the city of Frederick’s Charter Review Committee, I am writing to express our frustration about the delay and disjointed “management” of our report and recommendations from the time it was delivered to our elected leadership on Dec. 1, 2023, to the present. More importantly, perhaps, it is truly disheartening to have certain of our elected officials criticize us in public meetings for purportedly “doing a disservice to the process” by failing to appear and make presentations to explain our intent as to some of our recommendations.

Imagine, if you will, a ferry leaving City Dock in Annapolis. Now another right behind it. One is a small electric-powered boat making the short trip across Spa Creek to Eastport, where the people on board can walk or bike around what was once a waterman’s village and is now home to a museum, places to eat, marinas and millionaires.

In the final weeks of his life, 99-year-old John Valancius received a beautiful medal for what 19-year-old John Valancius did as an American soldier in France. On April 8, in a brief ceremony in a Pennsylvania restaurant, a French diplomat presented him with the Légion d’Honneur, pinning the medal to his lapel and thanking him for his role in liberating France from German occupation during World War II.

Are we done with the Marilyn Mosby drama now? Can the people of Baltimore move on? Can Our City of Perpetual Recovery recover from this episode and get focused on the future? There’s a whole downtown that needs rejuvenation, vacant houses that need to be renovated and a population that needs to grow. The incumbent and so-far-corruption-free mayor just won his primary election, and for a Democrat that means another term, so there’s promise in that.

Midway through presenting results of their research into a microgrid for Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, searching for balance between solar and diesel, one of the midshipmen paused as slides of complicated graphs and charts appeared out of order. It’s May 1, the first day of summer whites at the Naval Academy. High up in a third-floor classroom of Hopper Hall, the slightly flustered mid asked his colleagues to go back. Go forward. Go back.

I am responding to David Plymyer’s criticism of my effort to reform the Baltimore County Planning Board. My legislation requires members of the Planning Board to be confirmed by the Baltimore County Council. This change would allow the public to weigh in on a nominee’s qualifications and temperament. The recent decision to compensate planning board members makes it even more imperative that the right members serve on this body.

One of the biggest stressors for my husband and me as new parents was the prospect of finding affordable childcare. If you’ve watched the news, talked to parents, or scrolled through social media, you’ve probably heard the complaints. I had, as well, but it was an entirely different thing than a lived experience until the birth of our daughter. The prospect of finding someone to trust with your child and paying them thousands of dollars each year is daunting.