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The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
May 10, 2013
The Dispatch
Forever In Memory Of Our Founder, Dick Lohmeyer (May 25, 1927-May 5, 2005) The Dispatch, Serving Greater Ocean City Since 1984, Is Published By Maryland Coast Dispatch Inc. Weekly On Friday Mornings MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 467 Berlin, Md. 21811 PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 10012 Old Ocean City Blvd. Berlin, Md. 21811 PHONE: 410-641-4561 FAX: 410-641-0966 WEBSITES: www.mdcoastdispatch.com www.facebook.com/thedispatchoc J. STEVEN GREEN Publisher/Editor editor@mdcoastdispatch.com
HOW WE SEE IT
Savings Not Enough For Skate Park Move
It’s been a rough spring for the Ocean City Mayor and Council, and the public bashing the group has been receiving of late continued this week during the skate park discussions. The proposed two-month closure and reduced off-season operations of the Ocean Bowl Skate Park recently resulted in an online petition being created to protest the move, which will save the city about $20,000. About 500 people have shown support for the skate park on the local high school senior’s online petition. The city’s plan is to continue to operate the skate park seven days a week during daylight in the summer months. After Labor Day, the city will keep it open on the weekends, holidays and during all county school days off. However, it will close during the months of January and February under the current plan. After significant public outcry in recent weeks and a number of public speakers deriding the move at this week’s meeting, the Mayor and Council has decided to form a skate park committee to study operations during the summer months and to give feedback to the council at some point during the summer. It’s important to note the city is budgeting for the $20,000 cut from the skate park and at this time plans to move forward with the service reductions. The formation of the skate park committee is a step in the right direction, and a similar group of stakeholders working with city representatives was successful in reaching a compromise over the city’s surfing beach policy earlier this year. It would seem logical to conclude the skate park committee will not return with the recommendation to close the facility at all during the winter months, but there have been several references to low usage data that from a business perspective have city officials favoring a reduction in operations. Committee members will reportedly get to review that information during one of the upcoming meetings. It’s often said government needs to be run like a business. In some cases, that methodology applies, but there are times when there must be exceptions, and the skate park situation is one of those instances. The numbers might say usage at the skate park is light during the times the city is considering shutting it down. However, it’s not always about the data. It’s about the community and providing a service to the youth that is important. The savings ($20,000) pales in comparison to what the city stands to lose in community pride and confidence in the council to make decisions for the betterment of the local residency. We hope the city ultimately scraps this plan altogether and leaves the skate park alone. The small expenditure reduction is not worth the negative reaction and community sentiment that has resulted in this proposal.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
SHAWN J. SOPER News Editor Sports Editor
ssoper@mdcoastdispatch.com
JOANNE SHRINER Staff Writer
joanne@mdcoastdispatch.com
TRAVIS BROWN Staff Writer
travis@mdcoastdispatch.com
SALES DEPARTMENT
TERRI FRENCH Account Executive Entertainment Editor
terri@mdcoastdispatch.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Parking Decision Justification Flawed
Editor: Since 1983, my wife and I have owned unit #308, Ocean Place Condominium, a 100-unit building between 145th and 146th Street. I am well-familiar with parking availability and usage in the area. I am writing to oppose the city’s proposal to charge for parking on 146th Street, between Coastal Highway and the ocean. The proposal is based on erroneous facts, among them: Erroneous Fact #1: Open spaces in the parking lot means that Ocean Place owners/renters do not have to use adjoining streets to park and will not be adversely affected by a parking charge. Ocean Place’s legal structure differs from numerous other O.C. condominiums in that parking spaces are not a part of the common area available for use by all owners and renters as determined by the condominium association board (the “Board”). Instead individual parking spaces are deeded to unit owners (either one or two spaces per unit) and are available for their and their renters’ use, only. If a space is open in the lot, that space is not available for use by unit owners who have filled their one or two deeded spaces and other vehicles from those units must seek parking on the adjoining streets, 145th and 146th Streets. As a two-bedroom owner, I have two deeded parking spaces and frequently house three family members with vehicles; one must park on the street. Consequently, open spaces in our lot do not necessarily mean that parking is available. Because the parking spaces are deeded to the owner, just as the condominium unit is deeded to the owner, the Board is without authority to alter this legal framework through the by-laws, and could not authorize “open” parking any more than it could authorize an owner to occupy another owner’s unit simply because it was not being used. Erroneous Fact #2: 146th Street parking would target out-oftowners, not local unit owners/renters. The fact that on any given day cars with non-Maryland tags are parked on 146th Street does not mean that they are not Ocean Place owners/renters. Ocean Place owners reside in Delaware, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and elsewhere in addition to Maryland; renters come from those as well as farther off locales. 146th Street divides Maryland from Delaware, a densely populated area from a (relatively) sparsely populated area. Ocean Place has 100 residential units on the block immediately south of 146th Street; private homes sit on the block immediately north of 146th Street. It stands to reason that Ocean Place owners/renters would be most affected by the proposed parking fee. Erroneous Fact #3: The city may treat similarly situated individuals differently where there is no reasonable basis for different treatment. As explained in Erroneous Fact #1, above, the Board has no legal authority to permit open parking on a parking lot consisting of deeded parking spaces. Other condominiums operating under the same legal restriction border streets where parking is free. The city may impose reasonable parking restrictions and rules; but it must do so in a nondiscriminatory manner. The city has articulated no reasonable basis for treating parking on 146th Street any different from 143rd Street, 138th Street, etc., etc. Defending a legal challenge to the policy would be costly for the city, and, I believe, ultimately unsuccessful. I urge you to investigate, determine the facts of parking availability and usage in the 146th Street area and apply a city-wide parking policy that addresses the concerns of residents and ultimately treats them fairly and equally. The factual premises being used by the city to justify a parking fee on 146th Street are flawed, and it follows that the policy is a flawed one, in need of reversal. Lawrence E. Rubin Ocean City
JEANETTE DESKIEWICZ Account Executive
jeanette@mdcoastdispatch.com
MANETTE CRAMER Account Executive
manette@mdcoastdispatch.com
ART DEPARTMENT
CINDY WARD Art Director
art@mdcoastdispatch.com
JENNIFER T. O’BRIEN Graphic Artist COLE GIBSON Graphic Artist Webmaster
BUSINESS OFFICE
PAMELA GREEN Bookkeeper Classifieds Manager
classifieds@mdcoastdispatch.com
The Maryland Coast Dispatch (USPS #015125) is an official and legal newspaper for Worcester County. Periodical postage paid at Berlin, Maryland, and additional mailing offices.. The Maryland Coast Dispatch, 10012 Old Ocean City Blvd., Berlin, Md. 21811, is published weekly on Friday mornings, 52 weeks a year. Subscription rates are $75 per year, $55 for six months. POSTMASTER: Please send change of address to Maryland Coast Dispatch, P.O. Box 467, Berlin, Maryland 21811. Maryland Coast Dispatch offices are located at Route 346 and Graham Avenue, Berlin, Maryland.
Defending Council
Editor: Just prior to the election in November, Mr. Tony Christ, a supporter of the former council majority, made allegations against Mayor Meehan. He stated that the mayor had misused his city credit card at BJ’S restaurant and bar. He claimed that the mayor was partying up at BJ’S with his friends SEE NEXT PAGE
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