County Executive Jim Smith is all about making public statements of support for various causes that involve a dash of color.
Today, Smith announced he was ordering that the Old Courthouse in Towson be bathed in purple lights in a show of support for the Baltimore Ravens making the playoffs this weekend.
A few years ago another show of support didn’t quite go as planned. (more…)
A look back at the politics and government stories of 2008 in the words of those involved. Look for part three of four tomorrow.
April
• “The highlights are slim,” County Executive Jim Smith said April 16 about his proposed $1.72 billion budget for fiscal year 2009. Smith called called it “austere” as it offered no cost of living raises or other frills. The budget is on pace to produce a $14 million surplus and the county is not furloughing employees this year as is the state and other local governments. (more…)
Jim Smith became one of the onlookers at his own press conference to announce the purchase of four new digital license-plate readers that will be used by county police.
The car-mounted cameras link to a laptop inside the patrol car and can capture and read license plates on vehicles moving at up to 100 mph or when the police car is moving at 60 mph. The system then checks the tags in a national crime database and alerts the officer if, for example, the car or tags have been reported stolen or expired.
Smith was beaming as he made the announcement but soon reporters and television cameras were crowding around the police car used in the Dec. 18 demonstration in Loch Raven Village. Smith couldn’t help but join and acknowledge that the gear was going to get all the attention on the noon, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. (more…)
A press conference on county homeland security preparations was a little more exciting than County Executive Jim Smith planned.
A fire alarm sounded about 10 minutes into the press conference held in the the bowels of the Old Courthouse in the county Emergency Operations Center. (more…)
County Executive Jim Smith will make a rare appearance before the County Council later today.
Smith will be wearing his other hat, as president of the Maryland Association of Counties, when he appears with David Bliden, who is retiring executive director of the association.
The pair will speak for 10-15 minutes about the successes of MACo in advocating for the interests of local jurisdictions including Baltimore County, according to a source familiar with Smith’s appearance. (more…)
The ongoing scuttlebutt about President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet has generated an interesting scenario that’s filling e-mail boxes and has local tongues wagging.
It seems to have started after Republican Del. Pat McDonough talked about a musical chairs set of appointments during his Saturday radio program on WCBM.
It goes something like this:
Attorney General Doug Gansler, who co-chaired Obama’s Maryland campaign, is in line for a big-time appointment from the incoming president, most likely to the Department of Justice. From there, Gov. Martin O’Malley would appoint County Executive Jim Smith to replace Gansler. To complete the cycle, the County Council would replace Smith with out-going Council Chairman Kevin Kamenetz, who already has the needed votes. (more…)
Baltimore County government appears to be the one calm spot in a storm of state and local government deficits.
Several counties and Baltimore City are combating projected deficits with furloughs and hiring freezes. But County Executive Jim Smith says such moves will not be necessary for this budget year or for the next which begins July 1.
“I have been going around to our employees and telling them that because they have been reading about what’s going on every place else,” Smith said. “They have been reading about what is going on in . … I want them concentrating on the good work that they do for Baltimore County.”
Here’s a little of what county employees have been seeing: (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.
As a child, I was often told my mouth would get me in trouble.
A few weeks ago, after Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal, I was speaking with a county spokeswoman about the inevitable county tribute.
Being the smart aleck that I am, I suggested recycling the orange 8s that were painted on streets around the county in July 2007 in honor of Cal Ripken Jr.’s induction into the baseball Hall of Fame.
Those 8s were painted with orange paint bought at Home Depot. The expectation was that, in a year or so, wear and weather would erase them. But they’re still there, including the two painted near the Old Courthouse - one on Washington Avenue, the other in the intersection of Pennsylvania and Baltimore avenues.
“You could paint them gold,” I said, believing my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek. Apparently, Ed Adams, the director of the county Department of Public Works also made the suggestion about the same time.
This morning, County Executive Jim Smith and Debbie Phelps, the swimming star’s ever-present mother/stand-in, officiated over repainting of the 8 in the intersection of Pennsylvania and Baltimore Avenue gold (technically, it’s goldenrod, I’m told).
It’s been a long time since I thought about Fernando Lamas. No, not the actor but the character played by comedian Billy Crystal based on the actor.
Crystal, in character, once said, “You know, my dear, my father used to say to me, ‘Nando, don’t be a schnook. It’s not how you feel; it’s how you look.”
County Executive Jim Smith reminded me of the Lamas character when he light-heartedly talked about the importance of scheduling a vacation before you get your emergency triple-bypass surgery.
As ‘Nando would say: “Remember, my friends. Saludos, it’s better to look good than to feel good.”
And in case you slept through the 80s, Youtube is here to help. Ah, the internet — just the way Al Gore intended.