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- Maryland /
Regional
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Homeless shelter gets Annapolis appeals OK
(Baltimore Sun)
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Health care
group expo sponsor
(Cumberland Times-News)
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- National /
International
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America's uninsured haven't shown collective power
(Washington Post)
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- Opinion
- ---
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- Maryland /
Regional
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Homeless shelter gets Annapolis appeals OK
- Panel rejects claim that plan barred by city code
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- By Tyeesha Dixon
- Baltimore Sun
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
-
- The Annapolis Board of Appeals has upheld a
Department of Planning and Zoning decision to allow a
homeless shelter to be built on Hudson Street, despite
contention from a local businessman who said the shelter
does not conform to the city zoning code at the proposed
building site.
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- Michael Roblyer, who has a law firm on Willow Street
near the proposed shelter site, filed an appeal in
February that the Light House Homeless Prevention
Support Center, which is scheduled to start construction
this summer at 10 Hudson St., could not be built in a
BCE, or business corridor enhancement, zone because of
the way certain terms are defined in the city code.
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- The Light House shelter, run by Annapolis Area
Ministries Inc., stands on West Street and is the only
facility of its kind in the city. The new building would
include 500 beds, according to floor plans presented by
the project's architect, and would include office space
on the first floor, with dormitory and apartment-style
living spaces on the second and third floors.
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- The project's supporters, however, argued that the
way the new shelter would be built conforms with city
code and that Planning and Zoning Director John Arason's
January decision to allow the shelter in the zoning
district was the correct one.
-
- The crux of Roblyer's argument was that the floor
plans of the new building, which differ from those of
the current shelter, do not fit under definitions of
allowed uses under the city code.
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- Right now, city code in that zoning district allows
buildings with nonresidential use on the first floor,
and residential occupancy on second and third floors - a
business on the first floor and apartments on the
subsequent floors, for example.
-
- Roblyer argued that even though the new shelter
would have residential occupancy on the second and third
floors, they would not be considered "dwelling units" as
defined by the code. He called the project a
"bifurcation of one use," noting that all floors of the
shelter work in conjunction with each other, despite the
separation of the office and living spaces.
-
- "The city already decided where a homeless shelter
fits in the zoning code," Roblyer told the board, citing
a 1990 zoning decision that allowed the shelter to be
built at its current West Street location.
-
- Arason said the code allows for interpretation, and
that when he made his decision, he did not read the code
in that manner.
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- At Tuesday night's hearing, Roblyer said, "It was
with reluctance" that he decided to file the appeal.
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- "The question before the board is not whether the
homeless need to be helped. … The question before the
board is whether the particular permitted use … was the
proper decision, and is it reasonable under the totality
of the circumstances in this case."
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- But several business owners on Willow Street,
including Roblyer, fear the shelter will decrease their
properties' value.
-
- The shelter would be built partially in the city
(Hudson Street) and partially in the county (Willow
Street).
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- "It's just our opinion that property values will go
down surrounding the homeless shelter," Roblyer said.
-
- Bonnie Davis, who lives on Willow Street, next to
where the shelter is to be built, testified against the
project at the hearing.
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- "They talk about being good neighbors, but I've
never met any of them," Davis said.
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- "I know it's morally right to take care of our
homeless, but is it right to shove the rules aside to do
good?"
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- Elizabeth Kinney, chairwoman of the capital campaign
for the new shelter, said the building will raise
property value in the community.
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- "We intend to be extraordinary neighbors," Kinney
told the board.
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- Harry Cole, executive director of Light House, said
the building will not attract lines of people outside,
nor will it draw unscrupulous crowds.
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- "We're going to have the most beautiful building on
the block," Cole said.
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- "The people that we serve go to work, then they come
home. … They're not there hanging out."
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- The appeal was one of several hurdles the project
has had to overcome. Earlier this year, some city
council members opposed giving tax breaks for the
project, pointing to a poor economy and much-needed
revenue. The council ultimately decided to grant a
portion of the breaks requested.
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- Cole said the poor economy has been by far the
biggest obstacle facing the project.
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- "We're doing OK when you compare us to most
nonprofits," he said. "But it definitely has had an
effect on our ability to raise the income that we need."
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- As for the appeals decision, the board will issue a
written opinion in 60 days.
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- "I feel very happy and gratified that we got a
favorable decision and that we can keep moving forward
with offering more services with our clients," Cole
said.
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- Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.
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Health care
group expo sponsor
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- Cumberland Times-News
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
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- CUMBERLAND — Allegany HealthCare Group, the newly
formed local company recently chosen as the successful
bidder to purchase the Allegany County Nursing Home, has
signed on to become a presenting sponsor for the
Wellness Expo for the area’s first marathon festival.
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- Scheduled for Sunday on the Canal Place Festival
Grounds, the expo will be a daylong effort to promote
healthful lifestyles and wellness before and after the
Mountain Maryland Marathon presented by Life Fitness
Management.
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- A portion of the proceeds from the marathon and all
entry fees from the 5K for United Way will benefit the
Allegany County United Way. To date, 352 entries from 14
states have been received for four scheduled running
events: the marathon, half marathon, 5K for United Way
and kids’ marathon. A free 400-meter tot trot will also
be held, with registration on race day.
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- Allegany HealthCare joins Rehab First as presenting
sponsors of the expo.
-
- Other major event sponsors include Life Fitness
Management, GO106 radio, Allegany County Department of
Tourism, LaVale Veterinary Hospital, Community Trust
Foundation, Western Maryland Health System and the
PharmaCare Network.
-
- Members of the new nursing home operating group
shared that the event’s goals of wellness education and
increasing awareness of the benefit of fitness attracted
them to offer a sponsorship commitment prior to assuming
an operating role at the facility in July.
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- “Being a partner in the effort to provide better
health care in Allegany County was a goal we shared with
the commissioners from the beginning of our bid to
operate the nursing home,” Allegany HealthCare partner
Bill Freas said.
-
- Freas said that Allegany HealthCare became aware of
the Wellness Expo and marathon through the commitment of
Rehab First and its managing partner, Rob Boyle.
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- “We believe that a healthier community requires a
commitment to the continuum of care from childhood to
old age,” Allegany HealthCare partner Scott Rifkin said.
“So it made total sense for us to provide some support
to the energetic new Mountain Maryland Marathon Club,
the United Way and other event sponsors who are reaching
out to all age groups with a message that promotes
healthier lifestyles.”
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- Local nonprofit organizations or agencies that are
interested in presenting wellness, nutrition or other
health-related services at a table during the Wellness
Expo should contact Lucas Owens at Life Fitness
Management at (301) 729-2275.
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- Several free table spaces are still available.
-
- Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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- National /
International
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America's uninsured haven't shown collective power
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- Associated Press
- By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
- Washington Post
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
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- WASHINGTON -- If the uninsured were a political
lobbying group, they'd have more members than AARP. The
National Mall couldn't hold them if they decided to
march on Washington.
-
- But going without health insurance is still seen as
a personal issue, a misfortune for many and a choice for
some. People who lose coverage often struggle alone
instead of turning their frustration into political
action.
-
- Illegal immigrants rallied in Washington during past
immigration debates, but the uninsured linger in the
background as Congress struggles with a health care
overhaul that seems to have the best odds in years of
passing.
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- That isolation could have profound repercussions.
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- Lawmakers already face tough choices to come up with
the hundreds of billions it would cost to guarantee
coverage for all. The lack of a vocal constituency won't
help. Congress might decide to cover the uninsured
slowly, in stages.
-
- The uninsured "do not provide political benefit for
the aid you give them," said Robert Blendon, a professor
of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard
School of Public Health. "That's one of the dilemmas in
getting all this money. If I'm in Congress, and I help
out farmers, they'll help me out politically. But if I
help out the uninsured, they are not likely to help
members of Congress get re-elected."
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- The number of uninsured has grown to an estimated 50
million people because of the recession. Even so,
advocates in the halls of Congress are rarely the
uninsured themselves. The most visible are groups that
represent people who have insurance, usually union
members and older people. In the last election, only 10
percent of registered voters said they were uninsured.
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- The grass-roots group Health Care for America Now
plans to bring as many as 15,000 people to Washington
this year to lobby Congress for guaranteed coverage.
Campaign director Richard Kirsch expects most to have
health insurance.
-
- "We would never want to organize the uninsured by
themselves because Americans see the problem as
affordability, and that is the key thing," he said.
-
- Besides, added Kirsch, the uninsured are too busy
scrambling to make ends meet. Many are self-employed;
others are holding two or three part-time jobs. "They
may not have a lot of time to be activists," he said.
-
- Vicki and Lyle White of Summerfield, Fla., know
about such predicaments. They lost their health
insurance because Lyle had to retire early after a heart
attack left him unable to do his job as a custodian at
Disney World. Vicki, 60, sells real estate. Her income
has plunged due to the housing collapse.
-
- "We didn't realize that after he had the heart
attack no one would want to insure him," said Vicki. The
one bright spot is that Lyle, 64, has qualified for
Medicare disability benefits and expects to be getting
his card in July.
-
- But for now, the Whites have to pay out of pocket
for Lyle's visits to the cardiologist and his
medications. The bills came to about $5,000 last year.
That put a strain on their limited budget because they
are still making payments on their house and car.
-
- "I never thought when we got to this age that we
would be in such a mess," said Vicki, who has been
married to Lyle for 43 years. "We didn't think we would
have a heart attack and it would change our life
forever."
-
- While her own health is "pretty good," Vicki said
she suffers chronic sinus infections and hasn't had a
checkup since 2007. "I have just learned to live with
it," she said.
-
- The Whites' example shows how the lack of guaranteed
health care access undermines middle-class families and
puts them at risk, but that many of the uninsured
eventually do find coverage. Lyle White has qualified
for Medicare, even if the couple must still find a plan
for Vicki.
-
- Research shows that nearly half of those who lose
coverage find other health insurance in four months or
less. That may be another reason the uninsured have not
organized an advocacy group. At least until this
recession, many have been able to fix the situation
themselves.
-
- "The uninsured are a moving target," said Cathy
Schoen, a vice president of the Commonwealth Fund, a
research group that studies the problems of health care
costs and coverage.
-
- But even if gaps in coverage are only temporary,
they can be dangerous. "Whenever you are uninsured, you
are at risk," said Schoen. "People don't plan very well
when they are going to get sick or injured."
-
- Indeed, the Institute of Medicine, which provides
scientific advice to the government, has found that a
lack of health insurance increases the chances of bad
outcomes for people with a range of common ailments,
from diabetes and high blood pressure to cancer and
stroke. Uninsured patients don't get needed follow-up
care, skip taking prescription medicines and put off
seeking help when they develop new symptoms.
-
- Such evidence strengthens the case for getting
everybody covered right away, Schoen said. But she
acknowledges the politics may get tough. "It certainly
has been a concern out of our history that unorganized
voices aren't heard," she said.
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- On the Net:
- White House:http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/health_care/
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- Health Care for America Now:http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/
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- Commonwealth Fund:http://www.commonwealthfund.org/
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- Institute of Medicine:http://tinyurl.com/dm8gnn
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- © 2009 The Associated Press.
-
- Opinion
- --
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State can't
stop global warming
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- Baltimore Sun Letter to the Editor
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
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- Once again The Baltimore Sun congratulates Gov.
Martin O'Malley for supporting a bill that seeks to
arbitrarily reduce Maryland greenhouse gases by 25
percent by the year 2020 ("Turning green," editorial,
April 5).
-
- I suppose that sounds like friendly legislation to
anyone who believes emission limits on the people of
Maryland will make any difference in the alleged climate
change of planet Earth. But in fact, legislation like
this simply asks the people of Maryland to take on all
the pain for absolutely no gain.
-
- Even if you believe in the idea of global warming,
it is obviously a global issue, not a local issue.
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- What matters are not just the emissions from
Maryland but emissions worldwide. And, according to data
from the Global Carbon Project, from 2000 to 2007, total
greenhouse gas emissions worldwide increased 26 percent.
-
- During that period, China's carbon emissions
increased 98 percent, India's 3 percent and Russia's 10
percent. U.S. emissions increased only 3 percent.
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- Because of such emission increases in the developing
world, unilateral actions by the United States will have
little or no affect on the global climate.
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- And actions taken by the state would have absolutely
no affect.
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- Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the
economic consequences of efforts to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, which could be large and very negative.
-
- My suggestion is that whenever someone claims that
Maryland must take action with respect to climate
change, the common sense questions that the people of
Maryland should ask themselves are: "How much will these
actions by Maryland change the temperature on the
Earth?" and "What cost, in treasure and jobs, would be
acceptable for that achievement - and who, exactly, is
being asked to pay?"
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- Joel Rosenberg
- Ellicott City
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- Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.
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Reasons abound
to reject WTE
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- Frederick News-Post Letter to the Editor
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
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- I am disappointed to read in The Frederick News-Post
of April 8 that only one member of the Board of County
Commissioners opposes the so-called waste-to-energy
incinerator. FNP pundits notwithstanding, I would have
thought that every American would understand the
ecological responsibility that we have to reuse (i.e.,
recycle) primary materials rather than burn them and to
resist triggering asthma in the children of 15 schools
located within a 5-mile radius of the proposed
incinerator site.
-
- I was able to stay for only half of two nights'
contentious testimony when this proposal came up for
public comment before the BoCC. Five parents, themselves
asthmatics or parents of asthmatic children, linked the
illness in their families to their prenatal proximity to
such an incinerator.
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- Apart from the health problems associated with the
upper-air release of superheated heavy metals and known
carcinogens, the BoCC is actually proposing that we
bring in out-of-county engineers and workers to build a
half-billion-dollar incinerator that will have to run,
at tremendous cost, whether or not it is full.
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- We will be paying off this bond issue for decades --
though the costs have historically run to significant
overruns to add to this $500 million total -- regardless
of what new technologies are developed to better recycle
and commercialize materials that are now being thrown
out, or would be burned.
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- This incinerator is being planned even as my
neighbors do not benefit from the recycling programs
that have been only partially phased in so far in
Frederick County. These neighbors, as taxpayers, pay for
county recycling despite not being served, in addition
to incurring personal expense by visiting recycling
centers in their effort to do the environmentally
responsible thing -- unlike our BoCC.
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- There is a reason that no so-called WTE incinerator
has been built in the last 14 years in the United States
-- in the health threat from emissions, in the cost
overruns, in the hidden costs written into the contract
putting them in business and ourselves in debt for
decades, and those factors do not even take into account
the overcrowding of our roads that will occur as tons of
junk are daily trucked here from Carroll County, the
proposed 40 percent partner in this travesty. No energy
offset can offset the health costs; the huge, long-term
debt; or the start-up costs of this ill-advised project.
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- The BoCC argues that they do not have jurisdiction
to legislate recycling, with fines for noncompliance.
Funny, the town of Thurmont has mandated recycling for
some years now. Are they so much smarter that the rest
of the county, or than the BoCC? Shouldn't their model
be followed?
-
- The answers are several: Fully phase in recycling,
as the public has repeatedly requested; fine
noncompliance past the 20-30 percent of nonrecyclables;
maintain FreeCycle stations for the donation and reuse
by others of usable goods that are frequently tossed;
ban overpackaging at the commercial source; ban
disposable diapers and give tax incentives to diaper
services; provide composting facilities at apartments
and education for homeowners on how to reduce their
organic waste; provide recycle-cans in public places as
Europe has done for decades.
-
- Some of these measures may be about as popular as a
physician-ordered diet, but self-discipline is rarely
popular even when urgently needed. Besides, do we want
to live with the alternative?
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- Cathy Bodin writes from Emmitsburg.
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- Copyright 2009 Frederick News-Post.
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Hemp hemp hooray?
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- Frederick News-Post Letter to the Editor
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
-
- To those who are not aware, Reps. Ron Paul and
Barney Frank introduced HR 1866 on April 2. This bill,
if passed, will amend the Controlled Substances Act to
exclude industrial hemp from the definition of
marijuana, and the state will be left to determine its
uses.
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- I'm not going to go into any detail or create any
illusions that the U.S. can compete with China, Russia
or India in industrial hemp cultivation, or that it will
solve all of the world's problems. It may turn out to be
another emu or alpaca, or turn into a hideous,
state-engulfing weed like kudzu.
-
- But this is a chance for people to make their voices
heard, in support or opposition. They should write, e-mail,or
petition their representatives about this bill in one
way or another. Because I'm sick of their complaining.
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- Frank Williams
- Brunswick
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- Copyright 2009 Frederick News-Post.
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America can’t wait another year for health care reform
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- Cumberland Times-News Letter to the Editor
- Sunday, April 12, 2009
-
- To the Editor:
-
- While many in Washington are focused on the economy,
the truth is we can’t truly fix our economy without
fixing health care.
-
- Rising health care costs are hitting those
struggling in this economy both families and businesses
small and large. The hardest hit are those of us that
have had to close our doors after over 20 years in
business.
-
- If we don’t reform health care now, health care
costs are going to continue to skyrocket and insurance
premiums could be doubled within 10 years.
-
- We simply can’t afford to wait another year for
health reform. The cost of doing nothing is too high.
-
- Please encourage our politicians to do something
now.
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- Marsha Conlin
- Rawlings
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- Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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