Jim Crow is alive and Well in Calvert County

[exnodak]

They'd reject it about twice, maybe. Then the Attorney General would get involved. It would be held.

But, since you've determined that there's no hope, I have to agree with you. I have no doubt we'll be reading these same threads for the next 20 years.

I served on the last committee. To begin with, the committee was flooded with insurgents by the HOA and BOCC to frustrate its progress. Despite their efforts we managed to collect all the signatures we needed to file the petition. At the last moment, the insurgent detractors pushed to kill it without any real good reason.

I supported not filing the petition for one, and only one reason: The connector road going past Patuxent High would have been one of the boundaries. That road had not been built yet. I was told by reasonably trustworthy people and I believed it true at the time, that if the petition were filed and the municipality successfully started it would be in debt for that road before the first dollar of revenue could be collected. Some translate that to mean we took too much territory. Doesn't matter now.

It also doesn't matter how I feel about the hope for a municipality. If a committee is formed, I will support it.

 

[OmyGawd]

1. He who represents himself has a fool for a client Agreed, but I did manage to keep 4 attorneys busy for more than 2 years and got judicial admissions of everything I was looking for. All that for a very small investment. Winning was not the only objective.

2. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Agreed. I have spent more than 10 years and thousands of hours on the subject. I doubt any other person has made a similar investment.

Again your case was thrown out. Oh well, nothing like tilting at windmills and getting spun off by the blades every time. If you got what you wanted why have you not gotten your changes? If winning wasn't the only objective then what was it?

 

[officeguy]

The main source of revenue for Towns is the property tax along with a piece of the State Income Tax.

One downside would be, while you're getting rid of HOA fees, would be the imposition of a Town property tax. But the County property tax would go down for the Town properties (you may have noticed the Beaches have a Tax Differential, that's the lower County tax).

Upsides would include having and controlling their own Zoning, they could zone a commercial area if they chose. Controlling Code Enforcement, building codes, inspections, etc. Having their own (or contracting with the Sheriff like the Beaches) Police Department. Either option costs around $100K/year/officer. Being eligible for State and County grants, which could go to roads. That gets rid of the roads STD and they wouldn't have to bring them up to County specs.

They would also be able to have a form (there are a couple different formats) of Council/Mayor government. Ideally they would have multi-year terms. That promotes a bit of stability unlike the current new elections every year Board.

As I've said, what they have now isn't working and hasn't since it became a year round development.

Agree, lots of upsides to it. But the town ends up being responsible for a lot of stuff as well. Most of the MD towns were incorporated in the late 1800s early 1900s, back then, building a road meant to pay a couple of guys with shovels by the day and to just build the darn road. Today, the maze of regulations that apply to muncipalities make everything they touch prohibitively expensive. The existing towns were able to build their infrastructure back in the days, Lusby would have to start from scratch. Bringing the decrepit infrastructure in the ranch up to legal standards is going to be a big chunk of change. Yes, there are grants to be had, but to get those, you got to hire consultants, lawyers, grant-writers, some more lawyers etc.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

Not really for grants, I can't think of one in North Beach the attorney has been involved with.

In any event a municipality needs an engineer, at least partially. In North Beach the grants are written by the Town Treasurer.

As far as roads go it's cheaper to build from scratch than retro-fit, something every governmental body finds out.

This isn't meant to be snarky but your objections are the same ones always used and are what stops anything from being accomplished, and I don't mean incorporation but across the board. The roads need fixed? Well we'd have to hire an engineer and they're expensive. The clubhouse needs repairs? We'd have to hire a contractor and they're expensive. Oops, time for a new election.

 

[officeguy]

This isn't meant to be snarky but your objections are the same ones always used and are what stops anything from being accomplished, and I don't mean incorporation but across the board. The roads need fixed? Well we'd have to hire an engineer and they're expensive. The clubhouse needs repairs? We'd have to hire a contractor and they're expensive. Oops, time for a new election.

Just being realistic. The folks living there are too dysfunctional to pave the roads while they are organized through an HOA. What makes us think they would do a better job doing it as a muncipality ?

Quite an egg the developer left Calvert county there.

 

[exnodak]

Again your case was thrown out. Oh well, nothing like tilting at windmills and getting spun off by the blades every time. If you got what you wanted why have you not gotten your changes? If winning wasn't the only objective then what was it?

If you want to pay for the transcripts and read them, you will find out.

 

[BernieP]

1. He who represents himself has a fool for a client Agreed, but I did manage to keep 4 attorneys busy for more than 2 years and got judicial admissions of everything I was looking for. All that for a very small investment. Winning was not the only objective.

2. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Agreed. I have spent more than 10 years and thousands of hours on the subject. I doubt any other person has made a similar investment.

so you admit you wasted the courts time and taxpayer money
You'll make a fine politician
Irrelevant inflammatory rhetoric - check
wasting taxpayer money - check.
you'll make a fine democrat, maybe some day you can succeed Steny Hoyer

 

[exnodak]

so you admit you wasted the courts time and taxpayer money
You'll make a fine politician
Irrelevant inflammatory rhetoric - check
wasting taxpayer money - check.
you'll make a fine democrat, maybe some day you can succeed Steny Hoyer

If anyone wasted any public money it was them. They could have had the case turned in their favor if they could have produced the one document I was requesting. Instead they swamped the court with motions to dismiss which is what took them two years to accomplish.

In that 2 years they revealed enormous amounts of evidence that , in and of itself, was indictable but not subject in my charging documents.

No waste, but when someone else decides they want to "tilt at windmills" I will be there to hand them what I have on a silver platter.

 

[OmyGawd]

If you want to pay for the transcripts and read them, you will find out.

Why waste my money? You spout about winning and still won't tell us what you won. Whatever you won it got you nowhere. Keep up the good work.

 

[huntr1]

Nobody bars me from the polls for fees, fines, or the height of my grass when I vote in State elections that are state supervised.

So cut your grass and pay your fees and then you can vote in your HOA elections.

 

[Beta84]

Nobody bars me from the polls for fees, fines, or the height of my grass when I vote in State elections that are state supervised.

I'm sorry, but I think you're missing the point. There are rules and regulations, wherever you may be in this country, that can bar you from voting if you break them. There are plenty of potential fees & fines that could bar you from voting in state elections. They just appear different to you because you don't recognize your HoA as an established authority, even though I'm sure the paperwork you signed when you purchased your home said otherwise.

You bought a home in a community that has an established set of rules. You also bought that home in a state that has an additional set of established rules, within a country that has even more rules. Let's say you decide to break a rule...not mowing your lawn. You're apparently barred from voting in your HoA until you follow the rules. If you don't pay HoA fees, same thing, right? So you're disenfranchised until you make amends (in this case, paying), right?

Now let's say you decide you don't want to follow a federal or state rule. You're talking money, so let's talk taxes. Say you choose not to pay your state and/or federal taxes. If charges are pressed and you continue to refuse payment, you'll likely end up in jail so you can make amends. Guess what that means? You're going to be disenfranchised (remember, this means you can't vote). By opting to not pay, you're going to lose that vote in the state elections that you claim doesn't require fees or payment of fines. It may not be your HoA fee, but there are fees and fines that you accepted by moving to the United States (federal tax) and moving to Maryland (state tax).

You can move out of CRE so you don't have to pay HoA dues, you can move out of Maryland to avoid the state tax, and you can leave the USA to avoid the federal tax. The choice is yours. If you don't want to pay and follow the rules, there are other countries that will accept you. Feel free to pack your things. Otherwise, live by the rules levied on you. Sorry for your troubles but in this case you're wrong. If you still feel like you're right, the next thing you should take on are taxes and speeding tickets.