Commentary

About a month back, I spotted my neighbor Tim Hamilton working after dark in his yard. He was wearing a headlamp to see, and the sight of a man raking leaves under a powerful spotlight was unusual. Turns out his trees had dropped their cover two weeks ahead of schedule. “The leaves in this area may vary in intensity of autumnal colors, but they fall like clockwork,” said Tim, who keeps a precise garden journal.

The long, good deed is done. The last of the children of Marylanders killed on 9/11, a dozen boys and girls who received financial aid from the Maryland Survivors Scholarship Fund, have graduated from college. Established in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks to help the grief-stricken families of victims, the fund closed shop last week. Mission accomplished. The long, good deed is done.

Congratulations to Gov. Wes Moore (D), the Maryland Stadium Authority and the Orioles on getting a deal done that ensures the Orioles will play in Camden Yards for at least 15 more years. I can’t wait for opening day. In August when I first wrote about public ownership of the Orioles I thought a lease would be signed well before the end of the year. But when I went to The Warehouse at Camden Yards on Monday to see the special meeting of the Maryland Stadium Authority, it was clear that fans, taxpayers, and city and state government had been driven right up to the edge of a cliff by the Orioles’ Managing Partner John Angelos.

Reviewing the big stories of the year to determine what individual or organization made a significant impact on the state and deserved the title of Marylander of the Year, it quickly became clear that most were continuations of big stories from last year, including the tragic level of gun violence in Baltimore, the highs of an Orioles’ winning season, the urgency of ensuring access to abortion care and the righteous battle being waged to give survivors of sexual abuse the means to hold their abusers accountable.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively minor issue, generally more an annoyance than a serious problem facing local government. It is not comparable to the need for good schools with good teachers to educate our children. It is not like the need for a well-trained police force to protect us from crime. But the humble sidewalk — when it is a broken, uneven and dangerous mess in need of repair — can just rankle someone’s soul.

The number three is essential in baseball. You get three strikes and you’re out, and you get three outs each inning. So it’s entirely fitting that the new lease for Oriole Park at Camden Yards required three announced decisions. The first came in September and flashed on the O’s scoreboard, but it turned out to be woefully premature. The second leaked Friday, Dec. 8, only to be nixed by Senate President Bill Ferguson.