Frustration boiled over during Thursday’s council budget hearing on the school system budget, as councilmen attempted to find out if air conditioning was ever planned for the recently renovated Ridgely Middle School. (more…)
If the County Council had a protocol expert or an official historian, either job would no doubt fall to Councilman Bryan McIntire.
McIntire, the council’s lone Republican, has fashioned himself a reputation on the council in both these areas.
Want to know the origin of the flag that looks like a Maryland flag with a Union Jack inset in the upper left-hand corner? McIntire is your man. Want to know the proper placement of the U.S. flag? Again, ask the councilman. (more…)
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.
Many of us loved Pez as children (I still do). As adults, collecting Pez dispensers is not just a hobby but big business.
And what could be more fun if you live in the County Council’s 3rd District than to have your very own Councilman Bryan McIntire Pez dispenser?
OK, so it’s not really the councilman. The fun candy dispenser pictured above is actually Republican presidential candidate John McCain. It’s available from Herobuilders.com and looks a lot like Baltimore County’s only sitting Republican Councilman.
The Oxford, Conn.-based company offers a line of action figures and candy dispensers that look like political figures. You can get “Beach Blanket Obama” and “Schoolgirl Sarah Palin.” For those of you who want a little change with your sugary treats, the bipartisan company offers a”Barack Obama Pez Candydate” model as well.
You can also have the company build action figures that “look, dress and talk like you.”
Maybe that set of councilmen and county executive figures you’ve been wanting for Christmas is just a click away.
The sign outside the council conference room advises visitors to turn off their cell phones.
But sometimes people forget. Sometimes, even councilman forget.
Just a few minutes into today’s council work session, Councilman Bryan McIntire’s cell phone chimed out the familiar opening bars of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
“What does Mrs. McIntire have to say,” Council Chairman Kevin Kamenetz joked.
It is not unusual for McIntire’s wife to call during a work session meeting.
“Out of deference to you, I’m not going to answer it,” McIntire said as he silenced his phone. “I’ll have to pay for that later.”