Commentary

In the MoCo360 “Local Views” council member (Dist.6) Natali Fani-Gonzalez opines how she sees her proposed ZTA23-09 as “a big win for the rural economy and the Agricultural Reserve.” I do not share that view, and neither do the Montgomery Agricultural Producers or the Montgomery County Farm Bureau, nor do the local civic associations in the Ag Reserve (Montgomery Countryside Alliance and Sugarloaf Citizens Association). www.mocoalliance.org/news.

It is often said that things can be done well or they can be done in a hurry, but usually not both. With that adage in mind, our organizations urge Maryland’s elected decision makers to chart a deliberate course during the upcoming session on issues related to siting ground-mounted solar on agricultural lands. The state has legislated aggressive goals for renewable energy generation, and the bulk of that generation seems poised to come in the form of ground-mounted solar arrays on agricultural fields.

Sections 2 and 3 of Article 4 in the Bylaws of the Maryland State Board of Elections make it clear what type of behavior is considered acceptable for the men and women who serve on the five-member panel, which supervises how elections are handled in the Free State. A board member can’t, for example, manage someone’s campaign or serve in a political party post. He or she can attend a political event but can’t publicly indicate they are an elections board member while there. One can sign a petition but not solicit signatures.

No one likes a zoning hearing. That’s a fact. No journalist ever relished one, no lawyer rubbed his hands in glee and no nervous property owner ever, ever wished for endless hours of talk about land-use law. Which leads me to an interesting question. Does Gavin Buckley control the weather? If you wanted to focus the public’s mind on a zoning hearing, it would be the one that starts Thursday. The Annapolis Planning Commission will hold the first of two hearings on the largest public works projects in city history.

I asked Sandy Rosenberg, the longtime state delegate, why he thinks voters should give Sheila Dixon, a former Baltimore mayor who left office in disgrace 14 years ago, a second chance at running city government. Answer: Under Mayor Brandon Scott, city agencies have been either slow or unresponsive to community needs and to Rosenberg’s requests for help for constituents.

For most adults living in Maryland, how to get from one place to another — from home to work, for example, or to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment — isn’t a major concern. Oh, we’ll gripe about gasoline prices (currently hovering around $3.07 per gallon of unleaded regular, roughly 26 cents from one year ago, according to AAA). But the chances are good that we have access to one of the 5 million vehicles registered in the state.

Developer David Tufaro and other members of the Inner Harbor Coalition hope to place a measure on the November ballot blocking the plan by developer P. David Bramble to build two luxury apartment towers along the water at Harborplace. I’m not surprised that they’re also considering legal action to stop the plan. Last Tuesday, Tufaro told The Brew that “there are a lot of potential legal issues that we’re exploring.”

If you live in Baltimore, nearly one out of every three people around you is affected by a mental health condition. They probably haven’t sought out the support they need, and it isn’t just because that care costs money. Struggle is built into the fabric of Baltimore’s story. Ours is a city where violence and lack of opportunity feed off one another to produce poor mental health.