Strange Bedfellows

Councilman Vince Gardina has removed the political bumper stickers from the back window of his county- owned vehicle.

We reported here two weeks ago that Gardina, a Democrat, tricked out his county-owned Ford Escape Hybrid with stickers supporting two other Democrats - Frank Kratovil, a candidate in the 1st Congressional District, and Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Placing the stickers on the county vehicle violated the rules governing the use of the vehicle, which bar the display of political paraphernalia. Drivers of county-owned vehicles are also prohibited from affixing other types of bumper stickers or otherwise altering the vehicle without permission.

This photo of Gardina’s vehicle was taken by a reporter outside the Old Courthouse before last night’s council meeting.

Gardina also ran afoul of the rule two years ago. In 2006, Gardina was asked by his fellow councilmen to remove a bumper sticker supporting Martin O’Malley’s run for governor from the county-owned Jeep Liberty he was driving. He did remove that bumper sticker.

Gardina, speaking after last night’s council meeting, explained the recent faux pas, saying “I’m just passionate.”

“When I make mistakes, I make mistakes,” he said with a grin.

The site of a former gas station in Towson is slated to be the next honor for the county’s Olympians.

County Executive Jim Smith announced over the weekend that he wants to turn the site of the former Shell Station off the Towson Roundabout into Baltimore County Olympic Park.

Smith, in remarks made during Saturday’s festivities honoring Michael Phelps and other Maryland Olympians, said he would re-dedicate the empty lot currently now Towson Circle Park.

“This park will have special recognition of all Baltimore County’s Olympic medalists,” Smith said in an Oct. 5 release of his remarks from the night before.

The land used for the park has a somewhat controversial history.

In August 2007, the county paid $500,000 to Motiva Enterprises. The agreement came after about three months after Smith announced he would use the county’s condemnation powers to acquire the site. Motiva Enterprises, which operated a Shell station on the site, has been involved in cleaning up gasoline contamination there and is expected to continue those efforts through 2009.

Councilman Vince Gardina, a Democrat who represents the 5th District, including Towson and Perry Hall, praised the idea. When the initial announcement was made in 2007, Gardina said he expected the spot would become “a quiet oasis.”

“When you’re in the midst of a desert, anything can be an oasis,” Gardina said.

Bryan McIntire, Gardina’s Republican council colleague, painted another image of the future greenspace at one of the county’s busiest intersections.

After voting to approve the sale in 2007, McIntire suggested another name to me for the park - “carbon monoxide park.”

Given media reports of heavy smog in Beijing during the Olympics this summer, perhaps McIntire’s name is apropos.

What happens to the theater at Towson Circle III when it closes for good?

It’s true, ground hasn’t even been broken on the Heritage-Cordish project that includes a county-subsidized and county-operated parking garage, but members of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority board are thinking of the future.

Under the agreement with the authority, Heritage can convert the space so long as it meets zoning requirements and generates at least 70 percent of the parking the theater would have, George Hale told the board in response to a question asked by Hannan Sibel.

The agreement prevents Heritage or a future owner from converting the theater into operations that would be less profitable for the garage, such as a self-storage business.

“As a practical matter, what we all know is that the theater ultimately will close,”Donald Hutchinson said during the board’s Sept. 25 meeting.

Hale and others agreed.

“A lot of them don’t make it as long as they think they are going to make it,” Sibel said.

“On the other hand, they are a pretty good anchor for an investment property,” Hutchinson said.

Heritage was in discussions with up to three theater operators. That number is now down to one. The term of the lease could be 10 to 20 years, Hale told the board.

“And the length of our relationship with Heritage is?” Hutchinson asked.

“Kind of perpetual,” Hale replied.

“It’s like a marriage, only we can’t get a divorce,” Pittler added.

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If the Baltimore County Revenue Authority transfers the Gunpowder Falls Golf Course, it won’t be because they got a better deal on a related amusement tax reduction.

Les Pittler, an attorney and member of of the authority’s board, said he had an informal conversation with Fred Homan, the county administrative officer, about agreeing to increase the period in which the county would not collect amusement taxes from the authority from three years to four.

“That really isn’t on the table,” Pittler told the board at it’s Sept. 25 meeting.

“It’s never off the table until the deal is done,” countered Hannan Sibel, the board’s chairman.

“It’s off the table,” Pittler said. “I’m not sure why, but my guess is Fred considered the proposal that was sent to him as ‘the proposal’ and he has told me he is in agreement with that and that’s what it will be.”

Pittler added that the county “is not adding any funds to the agreement.”

Last month, the county and the authority agreed, in principle at least, to a three-year moratorium on the collection of amusement taxes from the authority plus eight more years of payments at half the current rate, or about $2.6 million.

The authority bought the Kingsville course in 2004 for about $2.1 million in cash. Since then, the quasi-governmental agency spent $1 million or so on improvements. Not everyone on the authority’s board thought the amusement tax agreement was the best deal.

“We’re willing to cooperate with the county if that park is important and necessary. We’re going to work hard to work it out with them,” Sibel said last month. “I don’t think we can afford to give it away.”

Then, Sibel and other board members hoped the initial deal was a jumping off point for more negotiations. Last week, they learned Homan is not budging from the deal as proposed.

Pittler told Sibel and the rest of the board last week that he believed the county’s offer was final.

“I told (Homan) as far as I was concerned, as one person, that I would be in favor of moving forward” with the agreement, Pittler said.

The Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association issued a statement applauding a county decision to reduce the fees charge to the public to obtain copies of police reports. (Our story can be found here.)

“I commend Baltimore County police for their decision to simplify the process for getting copies of police reports,” John Murphy, executive director of the association, wrote in an e-mail. “These are public records, and people should be able to get any police report at reasonable cost and without explaining why they want them.”

Patuxent Publishing Co., which publishes this Web site, requested that the county review both policies because they appeared to be in conflict with the Maryland Public Information Act. In 2005, the county reviewed and ultimately reduced the per-page cost for copies of public records from $1 to 50 cents per page as the result of an inquiry from Patuxent Publishing Co.

Last week, the county reduced the fees from a flat $10 per report to 50 cents per page. Officials also said they would no longer require people to explain why they are requesting a report.

That requirement is still listed on the police department’s Web site. Bill Toohey, a police spokesman, said last week that the department would work quickly to implement the recently announced changes.