Supporting Communities, Preserving Resources and Enriching Lives… Changing Maryland for the better!
June 11, 2012
Septics Chesapeake Bay, governor o'malley, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, patuxent river, richard hall, Senator Bernie Fowler, Steny Hoyer Leave a comment
Bernie Fowler, the former Calvert County commissioner and Maryland state senator, told his father as a young man that he had no desire to go into politics or to sell whiskey for a living. He did the former, didn’t do the latter. He also didn’t say he ever wanted to go into public relations, but you had to marvel at his ability as a pitchman Sunday when he attracted 250 people in mid-90 degree weather to St. Leonard to pay tribute to a … river. More
October 31, 2011
Comprehensive Plans, Land Use, Planning Legislation, Smart Growth, Uncategorized carroll county, Maryland Association of Counties, maryland department of planning, planmaryland, richard hall, smart growth 7 Comments
By Richard E. Hall, Maryland Secretary of Planning
Duck hunting on Eastern Shore, Maryland
Plenty of people have urged me not to attend today’s forum about PlanMaryland sponsored by the Carroll County Commissioners at the Pikesville Hilton. People who concur with us that PlanMaryland is a long-overdue idea, and even some who are less enthused, say the event is one-sided, not a public meeting and not worth our time. Their concern is that my attendance would legitimize the commissioners’ invited speakers, whose views against smart growth and climate change are well-documented. Even the executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, a group that has voiced many concerns about PlanMaryland but has continued to work very seriously with us on it, said of today’s forum , “The potential for negative repercussions from this event … is very significant.”
The reason I’m accepting my invitation is simple: I’d rather engage than not.
May 4, 2010
Comprehensive Plans daniel burham, jim rouse, make no small plans, richard hall 1 Comment
A colleague passed along an interesting piece by a Midwest urban analyst, Aaron M. Renn, about lessons of the Burnham Plan. That phrase might draw blank stares around these parts (And by these parts, I mean Maryland, not the state Department of Planning offices). But in Chicago, they’re in the midst of a reverential centennial celebration of Burnham’s plan, considered one of the landmark documents in urban planning. More