Public meeting - NO EXCUSES!!

[DooDoo1402]

Originally Posted by vraiblonde

All the greenie granola stuff is stupid, but whatever.

- To enact a "keep right except to pass" law in Maryland.
More nannying crap. First the red light cameras, then the speed cameras, then they want to keep slow traffic to the right so road ragers can zing past them and get a ticket. Yeah, real smart. Ya'll enjoy paying your fines.

I'm starting to really hate Maryland.

I am in agreement with this issue. Many other states have this and it works! Get the banjo-playin slow drivers out of the left lane unless they know how to drive! This is long over-due!!!!

[FaP]

[migtig]

So who went?

I can tell you, it was the people who wrote the proposals, and their support groups (read unions in some cases), the politicians and staff, and about 4-5 unaffliated average St. Mary's county citizens.

What a freaking sad and pathetic turn out. However, the ones who did turn up, kudos to you.

Some very good points were made by all. I even saw in some cases the POV of the person who made the proposal, even if I didn't agree with it.

For the ones of you worried about the mortgage proposal, the delegates said it isn't going to happen. Noway they'd propose it.

The greenie stuff - sounds as if they are researching some of it but not others. Some MD counties already have the tax credits, so there is a standing precedent in MD for it. No new law is needed. Tommy McKay said they are looking at the financial impact on it.

There were some other interesting things - the union stuff for the school fascinated me. Oh excuse me, the "bargaining unit" stuff. The MD election process depressed me.

But, some key things I heard that made the most impression on me:

Without actually saying so directly, the delegates made the impression that not only will St Mary's County, and the state, lose even more funding for current programs and jobs...but there very well may be a huge tax hike on the horizon. Look for it after the first of the year.

Also of note was the fact, that as I said before, the place wasn't packed, but it was filled with special interest groups of some kind or another. I think everyone needs to ask themselves...are these the people that best represent you and your thoughts to the State Delegates? If not, then maybe you need to make that effort to go to these types of things more in the future, to have your voice heard. At the least you should go and listen, like I did, so you can form your own impressions of what's happening from first hand information. You can always contact your delegate afterwards with your thoughts.

[awpitt]

Originally Posted by migtig

So who went?

I can tell you, it was the people who wrote the proposals, and their support groups (read unions in some cases), the politicians and staff, and about 4-5 unaffliated average St. Mary's county citizens.

What a freaking sad and pathetic turn out. However, the ones who did turn up, kudos to you.

Some very good points were made by all. I even saw in some cases the POV of the person who made the proposal, even if I didn't agree with it.

For the ones of you worried about the mortgage proposal, the delegates said it isn't going to happen. Noway they'd propose it.

The greenie stuff - sounds as if they are researching some of it but not others. Some MD counties already have the tax credits, so there is a standing precedent in MD for it. No new law is needed. Tommy McKay said they are looking at the financial impact on it.

There were some other interesting things - the union stuff for the school fascinated me. Oh excuse me, the "bargaining unit" stuff. The MD election process depressed me.

But, some key things I heard that made the most impression on me:

Without actually saying so directly, the delegates made the impression that not only will St Mary's County, and the state, lose even more funding for current programs and jobs...but there very well may be a huge tax hike on the horizon. Look for it after the first of the year.

Also of note was the fact, that as I said before, the place wasn't packed, but it was filled with special interest groups of some kind or another. I think everyone needs to ask themselves...are these the people that best represent you and your thoughts to the State Delegates? If not, then maybe you need to make that effort to go to these types of things more in the future, to have your voice heard. At the least you should go and listen, like I did, so you can form your own impressions of what's happening from first hand information. You can always contact your delegate afterwards with your thoughts.

Thanks fo rthe update. I didn't go because I'd already spoke with a couple of the delegation members and had my concerns addressed.

You mentioned Tommy McKay. What role did he fill last night?

[migtig]

Originally Posted by awpitt

Thanks fo rthe update. I didn't go because I'd already spoke with a couple of the delegation members and had my concerns addressed.

You mentioned Tommy McKay. What role did he fill last night?

This was my first meeting like this. Reps from both the state and county were there.

Basically, from what I understood of the process, some proposals only affect St. Mary's. Those are easier for the delegates to make into laws or get passed. In those cases though the County reps have to be on board.

Some things are state wide proposals, and it would take either the team of delegates to sponsor or one delegate with some of his pals to sponsor, to get it through, and then it may fail. Seems (my impression) the St Mary's county delegates are too conservative for the State of Maryland.

So some of the proposals were directed towards St. Mary's county only. Tommy McKay had numbers researched (such as how many schools we had in the county, how many people would be involved in the union proposal, etc.) and he also commented on occasion as to whether things may be viable for St Mary's. Such as the windmills having an adverse affect on the operations out at PAX and the green credit being viable, but may not be feasible at this time due to financial constraints. Basically, he supplied some information to the Delegates. He didn't say yea or nay on anything.

[Inkd]

I was there but left close to the end of the proposal for the school nurses collective bargaining. I wanted to stay but could not keep my eyes open any more. It was interesting to hear about the nurses and the collective bargaining and was very depressing to hear about the electoral votes. I was happy to hear the mortgage interest deduction would get dropped although it was quite disheartening to hear about the budget problems and the fiscal problems the state is in, I hate to be impacted by something I had no hand in. I'm glad I went, it was good to finally lay eyes on people i've only read about and I came away with a slightly different point of view of some of them.

[foodcritic]

Originally Posted by vraiblonde

- To enact a "keep right except to pass" law in Maryland.
More nannying crap. First the red light cameras, then the speed cameras, then they want to keep slow traffic to the right so road ragers can zing past them and get a ticket. Yeah, real smart. Ya'll enjoy paying your fines.

I'm starting to really hate Maryland.

I have to admit I like this. I hate nothing more than people driving slow in the fast lane. Especially trucks!!!!