I sometimes look back at my schedule on any given day and am thankful. The scope of my job is broad, and its impact significant. Friday was one of those days.
Deale Library/Community Center - At 9am I met at the South County Senior Center with the leader of Southern Anne Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development leader Mike Shay and our Libraries CEO Skip Auld to discuss turning the Deale Library into a Library/Community Center. We prevented the land next to the library from becoming a housing development by purchasing it and planning for a community park. Extending the library out for community activity space with a view of that park would be a fulfillment of the vision residents presented in the 2001 Deale/Shady Side Small Area Plan. We discussed in detail the process, timeline, and vision, and we all left inspired.
Greenbury Point - In the car after that meeting, I made a scheduled call to Navy Captain Homer Denius, the person who oversees Navy facilities in the area, including Greenbury Point. I told him that our Recreation and Parks team had engaged a consultant to draw up a scenario to improve public access and environmental stewardship at Greenbury Point, that we planned to present the idea to community leaders in the coming days, and I didn’t want him to be blindsided. I assured him that we understood that the Navy had not yet agreed to lease the property to us, but that before presenting a formal proposal we needed a vision and community support. We agreed that our team and his team would meet soon to discuss the process.
Affordable Senior Housing - Next I made a call to our Deputy CAO who does land use, Janssen Evelyn. I asked him to connect with Greenstreet Housing, a Salisbury-based affordable housing developer whose state- and county-supported project was at risk of failing due to our county’s definition of Senior Housing being inconsistent with the HUD definition, and different from any other county. Janssen was about to log into interviews for our Economic Development Corporation CEO position, but promised to call them when he finished. He let me know later in the day that Jenny Jarkowski, our wonderful new Office of Planning and Zoning Director, is aware of the problem and working on a solution. He also told me that we have some very good EDC candidates, and that I’d have a tough decision to make.
Agricultural Preservation - Then it was coffee at Rise Up with a father and son team who are committed to helping the county meet its Green Infrastructure Master Plan land preservation goals by purchasing farms and putting agricultural easements on them to prevent future development. They showed me photographs of a 130-acre farm littered with old equipment and junk that they’d like to clean up and preserve, but need to know in advance whether it will qualify for the state and county easement purchase programs. They can’t get the county to do the soil tests and rankings without purchasing the land and then filing an application, but can’t purchase the land unless they know it’s eligible for the programs. I told them that I support their efforts and would ask for the pre-application assessment to be done. PS. Done!
Library Foundation Ice Cream - Some of what I do is to promote a good cause, but also is quite fun. My noon visit to Always Ice Cream fit that bill. The Library Foundation had worked with Mark and Adam Cohen, the hip young owners of the growing business, to create a flavor that’s a play on the book Give a Mouse a Cookie. Give a Moose a Cookie is a delicious mix of moose tracks and cookie dough ice cream, and Mayor Buckley and I ate too much. But that’s ok. 10% of proceeds goes to the Library Foundation.
Holy Temple Cathedral - Remember Sojourner-Douglass College? If not, it’s because they closed in 2016, and in 2018 their satellite Edgewater campus next to Central Middle School was sold to Holy Temple Cathedral. It’s a magical place led by former school principal Bishop Wilbert Baltimore. They are the site of the Coretta Scott King Memorial, a Head Start program, and a thriving food distribution center. They showed me their plans for reconfiguring the space, and gave me a tour of the Head Start during nap time when all the little kids were actually sleeping, or pretending to be. I did my own visit to the Memorial when I got there early. What a peaceful space.
St. John’s College Mitchell Gallery Reopening - This was a big deal. It’s the only American Alliance of Museums accredited art gallery in our county, and it took place in a big empty room with nothing but white walls. Museum Director Peter Nesbett, Board Chair Saladin, St. John’s President Demleitner, Congressman Sarbanes, yours truly, Mayor Buckley, Senator Elfreth, and two impressive students gave some nice remarks about publicly accessible art to an audience of about 150. Then we were presented with our tools: big black markers and black paint. I drew a big heart with the word UNITE in it, the UN on the left side, the TE on the right, and the I in the middle. Darryl Locke, who had just wowed the audience with his personal story of art being Desire unleashed by vanquishing Fear, surrounded my heart with things that actually looked good. I had a new friend.
Crownsville Hospital Memorial Park - My busy day hadn’t allowed me to join Congressman Sarbanes on his tour of the Crownsville property, but at the gallery opening I learned that our mission was more than accomplished by my surrogates, Janice Hayes-Williams and Chris Trumbauer. The Congressman told me that his head was spinning with ideas about the wonderful things that could happen there. When he said, “This should be a national effort,” I smiled. “Yes,” I said. “We will tell the story of how America treated mental health, and we will show that there is a better way.”
As my Chief of Staff, Jeff Amoros would say, we have 1,386 days left in our term to finish what we started. Let’s not waste time.
Until next week…
Steuart Pittman
Anne Arundel County Executive