Question for Tommy McKay

[Oz (Premo)]

Originally posted by smcdem
No no I am not saying that at all. What I just want to make it clear Julie IS NOT controlled by developers. I honestly am I a big environment guy, I support 1-20. But what is done is done..work with it!!

What does 1:20 mean to you, smcdem?

[Christy (Premo)]

Originally posted by Nodnarb


People send their kids to private schools because they can. Nothing wrong with that.

I send my own kids to private school, so I agree there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They are MUCH better than public schools. It's amazing how private schools manage to turn out better educated kids on a substantially smaller budget than our public schools.

I merely find it amusing that smcdem is so smitten with Ms. Randall because of what she's supposedly done for "education", when the reality of it is, he doesn't have a clue. He's not had the misfortune to have to attend St. Mary's County public schools.

[smcdem]

Originally posted by Nodnarb


What does 1:20 mean to you, smcdem?

It means a lot!! If i want to come back to St. Marys after college, I do not want to return to an area that has turned into Waldorf.

[Oz (Premo)]

Originally posted by smcdem

It means a lot!! If i want to come back to St. Marys after college, I do not want to return to an area that has turned into Waldorf.

So you don't know what 1:20 means.

Do you know what these zoning ratio's are intended to do? (Hint: It's not to keep St Marys from turning into Waldorf.)

It's much more complicated than 1 home for every 20 acres. It's all about RPD's and DD's, and other catchy acronyms. If you don't know what they are, and how 1:20 applies to them, then you don't have enough knowledge to determine that 1:20 is any better than 1:3 or 1:5 or 1 in 1/4. MetComm doesn't have the infrastructure to support development in the DD's. The school system doesn't have the facilities to support the development of First Colony, which is in a DD. But lets get back to your assertion that you are for 1:20 when you have no comprehension of what that means.

How about people who own 3/5/10/16 acres in an RPD? Guess what happens to the nice, large piece of property that they wanted to build a house on one-day? If its in the RPD, and 1:20 goes into effect, guess what the value of that property just became? ZERO! Sorry buddy - Your 18 acre lot won't support a home based on our zoning laws. Go live in Wildewood on a quarter-acre lot with your beautiful view of 8 trees and your neighbor's deck.

Is this what you really want to support? Taking people's property rights away?

Get a zoning map. Figure out how many people own parcels less than 20 acres in the RPD's. (Or even 10 acres if you want to go to that last-minute backstab attempt through the newspaper that you referred to.) Now, go tell those people that their lots will be worthless, but they should vote for Randall. If you come back in one piece, without bruises, I'll vote for her!

I'm really not picking on you. You're 15, and I think its cool that you participate, and have an appetite for this stuff. But you also need to make statements based on knowledge and understanding of what you are commenting on. That is how people will come to respect what you have to contribute to a conversation.

[Ken King (Premo)]

I wish some of you supporters of candidates would get your facts straight or at least understand the issue (as Nodnarb has clearly pointed out in his posts about the zoning issue).

Smcdem says, “50% of our local tax dollars go to EDUCATION.” The facts based on the approved 2003 budget is that the total operating fund is $203,390,215 of which the Board of Education gets $54,534,715, using simple rounding techniques (to the nearest tens of millions) it appears that education only receives 25% of the local tax dollars.

He also says, “Over the past four years St. Mary's County Public Schools avg age as gone down from 30 yrs to 18 yrs.” Considering that there are 25 schools within the county there would have to have been ten built within the last 4 years to achieve that change. So please name ten new schools, not the ones that were renovated, just new ones.

He then asks, “How can you "fully fund" education when you say your going to lower taxes at the same time?” Simple you make decisions not to support superfluous spending. This years budget has $1,215,740 to Non-Profit Private Entities. Additionally, the county gave $5,868,372 for the Naval Air Museum/Visitor Center. Why should the county do that with the people’s money? Cutting these items results in a 3% reduction to the total budget. Not too difficult is it?

[Oz (Premo)]

Originally posted by Ken King
I wish some of you supporters of candidates would get your facts straight or at least understand the issue (as Nodnarb has clearly pointed out in his posts about the zoning issue).

I was just hoping to get answers to the 2 direct questions that I asked smcdem, after giving him a few more things to think about.

As for the average school age stats - I believe that some of the schools have had so much construction, that the school board actually considers them as new schools. And by your numbers, there probably are 10 facilities that have been overhauled and expanded in the last 4 years. Good or bad, they have spent a bunch of money on capital projects. Unfortunately, we still need a new elementary school to catch up with the needs of the population.

[Ken King (Premo)]

You're right they have overhauled many of the schools but as for building new ones I can only think of one or two that were completely replaced. Even if they were renovated they are still the same "old" school and they didn't get any younger in age.

Again you are right about the growing need for new schools. As the population expands we will need a couple more elementary schools and maybe another middle school and high school within the next ten or so years.

For 2003 I see no new schools budgeted based on the Capital Improvements Fund. The main use for education is an addition/renovation at the Tech Center and Margret Brent (just under 13 million of the 15 million in the budget).

[Oz (Premo)]

Originally posted by Ken King
You're right they have overhauled many of the schools but as for building new ones I can only think of one or two that were completely replaced. Even if they were renovated they are still the same "old" school and they didn't get any younger in age.

I don't disagree with you at all... But, I do think that those are BoE numbers. I could take a cheap shot at public school mathematics, but I won't.

[Oz (Premo)]

Originally posted by smcdem

It means a lot!! If i want to come back to St. Marys after college, I do not want to return to an area that has turned into Waldorf.

smcdem - since you didn't answer my questions above, (or were you busy reading the zoning map?) what would you say if I told you that the zoning ordinance might make St Mary's County, and more specifically Mechanicsville and the California/Lex Park corridors look MORE like Waldorf, and 1 in 20 might have a greater effect on that process? If you know what 1 in 20 is intended to do, you might even agree?!?