Editorial: Library Rebuilding

There is plenty to be angry about the recent troubles at the Kent County Public Library. After months of the county looking under almost every sofa cushion for quarters to balance a recession damaged budget, the KCPL unexpectedly disclosed only last month that the library had a serious budget imbalance of almost $200,000. At a time when municipal finance was at its most strained, this was the last thing anyone wanted or expected to hear.

The causes were several, but they were compounded by lax accounting standards and the failure of fiduciary oversight on the part of the Kent County Public Library Board.

And there has been hell to pay. A respected librarian has left with his reputation in jeopardy. Library board members have felt harsh criticism from the community, and the library staff has been demoralized and, in some cases, even harassed.  As one county commissioner said, ‘It’s just ugly, and we don’t like ugly here.”

But since we don’t like ugly here, let’s not be ugly. Yes mistakes have been made, but now corrective procedures have been established and are being adhered to. The Library Board, clearly sobered and shaken by recent events, has apologized to the community, and has developed a reasonable plan for the governing body to have a fresh start in stewarding the organization. With all that in mind, it’s time to move on to the rebuilding process.

The first place to start is to remember how valuable a part this library plays in the life of our community. Every day very committed librarians come to work for modest compensation to help our children read, to help teens complete homework assignments, to provide young families with free quality programming, and to assist retirees in maintaining both their intellectual interests and their connection to the community at large. In fact, almost half of the county’s population has some interaction with the library each year.  It has been, and will continue to be, one of our greatest success stories in Kent County.

Someone once said that a library is the medicine chest of the soul.  Let’s not lose sight of this as we start to heal and move beyond this difficult moment for our community.

Letter to Editor: What We Need for County Commissioners

Editor:

Thanks to the League of Women Voters’ forum on Tuesday night, it’s crystal clear that of the eight candidates for Kent County commissioner, three clearly outclass the others. With experience and institutional memories, they grasp details, understand the broader issues, and can explain them all—in plain English.

Two are Democrats.

In this Age of Austerity, our county’s big problem is how to achieve equitable formulae for channeling state funds back to Kent County, particularly dollars per public school pupil.

We need three county commissioners who can develop a credible case for changes in state funding and have sufficient political persuasiveness and savvy to make the case in Annapolis.

We also need a state senator and three delegates who speak Democrat and who can back our commissioners in pleading Kent’s case to the legislature and administration. If memory is the mother of wisdom, four more years with a tag team of obstreperous, conservative Republican clowns representing us in Annapolis would be a mistake. A big one.

Grenville B. Whitman

Open Letter from Jack Stenger, President of Kent County Public Library

The Kent County Public Library Board of Trustees is keenly aware of the adverse publicity we have received since late June and the extensive coverage of the Library management and finances. We deeply regret the financial situation we are experiencing. We take responsibility for this and we extend sincere apologies to our patrons and the Kent County Community for our failures.

It is time now for the Library Board to comment directly on the situation and actions it has taken since late June.

All of us who use the Library and its branches know that the Library has considerable strengths on the operational side which serve the community well:

• Chestertown’s refurbished, pleasant facility.

• Strong, dedicated staff.

• Good technology for client services and web usage.

• High usage.

• Community programs.

• Very good marks on service.

These strengths do not offset the problems which face the Library today. The Trustees acknowledge that the Board has been deficient in two extremely important areas over an extended period which have brought us into the current situation:

• Financial oversight

• Internal board processes

We want to share with you the actions we have taken or are undertaking to address the problems.

1. The following corrective actions have been taken at the Board and Library management levels:

• The Library Executive Director’s resignation has been accepted.

• All members of the current Library Board have agreed to present letters of resignation to the Kent County Commissioners, effective December 31, 2010. The delay in replacement of the current Board is intended to allow continuity of operations during an orderly recruitment of new Board members.

2. The following actions have been taken to improve financial controls and decision-making at the Library:

• The Kent County Finance Office has taken over bookkeeping and check-writing functions for the Library. They will also prepare regular financial reports for the Board.

• Future financial reporting will clearly distinguish between restricted grants or capital project

funds and general operating funds. This was the central failure which led to the current crisis.

• A consultant will review the KCPL Board bylaws and general Board processes for adequate management controls.

3. The following actions have been or will be taken to restore current and future financial health to the Library:

• The current year’s budget is being reviewed for areas of immediate potential savings. Near term cost reductions are painful, but necessary. No reduction in full time staff is contemplated at this point, although the Library Executive Director will not be replaced immediately.

• Beyond the current year’s budget, it is clear that the Library operates at a deficit. It has historically and will continue to do so in the future. Additional community support for the Library is urgently needed. The immediate need is as high as $187,000. This sum is necessary to provide on-going budget relief and pay off accumulated obligations. The Board will organize a campaign to increase community support for the Library to a sustainable level.

There has been much conversation about the Library and many would like to know more. To further communicate with the Kent County community, the Board will host a public meeting at the Library on Wednesday, September 1 at 7:00 PM to answer questions.

The Library is part of what makes our community special. It is a resource, a community meeting place, and an institution for all ages and economic levels. The Trustees understand that we have a duty to protect the resources and to provide sound management of the Library. We pledge to do our very best to reestablish trust in the management and future of the Kent County Public Library.

W. Jackson Stenger
President of the KCPL Board

Publisher Note: A Comment on Comments

Letter to the Editor: Standing Firm on Library Board

To the Editor,

To set the record straight, my resent absence from library board meetings was the result of a number of serious personal and business-related circumstances throughout much of  2009.  I was advised by my attorney not to participate in any public forum or role until these issues were resolved.

I have no intention to resign from the Kent County Library Board of Trustees unless the state of Maryland, Kent County Commissioners, or our Rock Hall Mayor and Council request that I do so.

I am not a fair weather type of person. I accept the responsibilities and challenges that come with the current library situation, as I have with similar situations with my business and my several volunteer roles in the Rock Hall community.

I do not believe that my resignation would solve the problem at hand. It my intention to re-engage with the library board to solve these problems, not walk away from them.  I will strive diligently towards resolving the current budget problems within the County Library system and look foward to a time when we can move pass this unfortunate situation.

Yours,

Robin Wood Kurowski

Letter to the Editor: Not So Fast on Library Judgements

The current financial problems at the Kent County Public Library are a serious matter involving substantial budget imbalance which seems to flow from relaxed oversight by those charged with supervision of spending. As the facts become known, it appears that responsibility for these failures can be distributed widely through many levels of state and county agencies, the library board, hired auditors, and the library director. There’s plenty of blame to go around.

But calls for termination of the director, Jerry Keiser, only make him proxy for the large crowd who should share the blame. He is, after all, the one person involved who is trained for and experienced in running a library on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Keiser inherited a deficit, and though it has grown in recent years, he has also brought a vibrant new pace to Library staff spirit, activities, and programs and overseen a renovation of the Library building that came in under budget.  His commitment to improving our community is clear and ongoing, and to cut it off with a change in administration (which itself involves substantial new costs in time and dollars for advertising, interviewing, etc.) will more likely delay a resolution and repair of the damage. The present Library staff is sharp, motivated, and unlikely to be improved by a stranger come newly to town.

What’s needed are substantial changes in policies and practices. These should not be hard to figure out but they will involve hard work, extra effort, and some unhappy choices. I have served several terms on the board of the Friends of the Library, with ample opportunity to get acquainted with library personnel over the years. These are very good people, smart enough to fix these problems if they have appropriate guidance on accounting policies and practices. A punitive approach will not accomplish what needs to be done, which is to keep this gem of a library in motion and help it continue to serve the intellectual and cultural growth of our community.

Chuck Engstrom
Millington, MD

Op-Ed: Vote Republican in Queen Anne’s September 14 by John Lang

If you don’t like how things are going in Queen Anne’s County and want real change, I have a proposal. No matter what your political leanings are — left, right, bent both ways — vote in the Republican primary on September 14.

That’s where every vote for county commissioner will count the most. That’s where there are clear choices between pro-development and slow-development candidates.

On the Democratic side, every seat for county commissioner is either uncontested or there’s not a lot of doubt about the outcome. Neal Jackson, Paul Gunther and Jack Broderick have no primary opposition. Longtime political watchers in Queen Anne’s believe Howard Dean and Winn Krozack will win nomination, too, because they are much better organized than their opponents to this point. Barring unforeseen events, that’s the Democratic ticket in the fall.

The real game is in the Republican primary — where there are real choices.

If you’re pro-growth, vote for Steven Arentz, Robert Mansfield, Richard Smith, Phil Dumenil and Dave Olds. Those are the Republicans endorsed by Business Queen Anne’s, the voice of developers, which is running ads for them in The Update.

If you oppose unfettered growth, the Republicans to support are Frank Frohn, David Dunmyer and Robert Simmons (there are no Republicans unfriendly to developers running for the two remaining seats, in Districts 3 and 4).

The Republican primary is where you can back a good guy and maybe knock off a bad guy – whichever your inclinations.

To decide on the Democrats – hint: Gunther and Dean are endorsed by Business Queen Anne’s – hint: Jackson and Krozack are favored by conservationists – you can wait for the general election on November 2. They’ll still be around to kick around.

Of course you can’t vote in the Republican primary if you’re registered as a Democrat (and vice versa). And if you are registered as independent you can’t vote in either primary.

Pssst: You can change your registration. You can go to the county Election Board on Commerce Street directly across from the courthouse in Centreville and switch parties. Or you can do it online: go to www.qacelections.com, click on voter registration application, fill out the short form and mail it in. You’ve got until August 24.

I did this just the other day. It took only a few minutes and, for the first time in my life, I walked the streets as a Republican. It felt kind of strange. It felt like . . . power to the people!

John Lang

Op-Ed: A Small System Cannot Negate a Great System by Dr. Barbara Wheeler

The Kent County Public School system is the smallest school system in the State of Maryland with a student population prekindergarten through grade 12 of 2, 236. Even though our staff and student populations are small, there are lessons that we can learn from larger school systems. Many of the larger counties such as Montgomery County, Baltimore County, and other systems in Maryland are able to offer instructional opportunities for their children that we cannot offer because of our size and resources. As superintendent of schools, I do not accept this as OK. Our students will live and work with people from all over the State of Maryland and across this world, perhaps in person or virtually. To the fullest extent possible, we have a responsibility to provide programs that will allow our students to be competitive, not just on the Eastern Shore but everywhere. Large counties often have the resources to pilot programs and strategies that we can replicate after the “bugs” have been worked out.  Networking with professionals from other counties, large and small, provides a different perspective as well as different resolutions to issues.

Maryland, along with 23 other states, have decided to replace their mathematics and English/Language Arts standards with a common set of national standards. Ultimately, curricula and tests will be crafted that embody the new standards. The State of Maryland has had a state curriculum for a number of years, but the new common set of standards will require that what we teach is aligned to the national common standards.

How our children achieve on these standards will measure the effectiveness of the instruction that students receive in Kent County as compared to every other system in the nation. The educational stakes are high. We must prepare our children to compete so that they have the same choices for employment opportunities or college acceptance as students who are in larger and, perhaps, more affluent counties.

Yes, we are small in size but not in brainpower. Our job is to provide the tools that will empower our children to be great! YES WE CAN!

Letter to Editor: No FASTC in Kent Please

To the Editor:

Is it “Fire-Ready-Aim” when the feds ask about possible Kent County locations for a Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, a facility for training in explosives and fast driving, otherwise known as “boom-and-zoom.”

Glad my spouse and I don’t own a 1,250-acre parcel here — otherwise, we’d probably just be reading our pardon-me letter from Development Director Van Pelt: “Pardon me, Mr. and Ms. Whitman, but I’ve already volunteered your property to the feds!” (But this backasswardness is OK because, as the Kent News reports today, Van Pelt explained, “We didn’t have time to talk to landowners.”)

And our Three Wise Men, the county commissioners? Heck, they wrote to Senator Mikulski months ago to say that Kent County would l-o-v-e to have the center if Queen Anne’s didn’t!

Will Fire-Ready-Aim become our county’s new SOP! I hope not because I’ll have to change my political allegiances “FASTC”!

I also sincerely hope that Van Pelt and the three commissioners are really just going through the motions of being politely cooperative with powerful feds without actually harboring any serious intentions of welcoming the unpleasant prospect of “boom-and-zoom” in Kent County!

Bravo, Wayne Gilchrist (“fight them tooth and nail”) and the Chester River Association’s Bob Parks (“start off on the wrong foot”)! I’m with you on this one!

Gren Whitman

Op-ed: Chestertown Zoning is Hurting Our Downtown by Peter Newlin

It is time Chestertown jettisoned its one-size-fits-all approach to our downtown marketplace zoning.

For the past year our architecture firm has been researching the economic plight of Park Row, and more broadly, what can be done to nurture our downtown economy.  That research has led us to realize Chestertown’s current commercial zoning has been undermining the preservation of some valuable historic structures and the economic viability of certain neighborhoods downtown.

Zoning is arguably local government’s greatest power to shape our future.  Zoning restricts private property rights by defining what activities a person may conduct on one’s property. These restrictions act like a spigot on the local economy, which can flow only through the channels zoning expressly permits.

Communities should shape their zoning restrictions with laser focus on the benefits they intend to produce and an eagle eye out for their harmful consequences.  Some do.  Others stumble along with outdated restrictions and deleterious consequences to the local economy. Chestertown falls into the latter camp with regard to its downtown marketplace zoning.

Our downtown is a pedestrian marketplace populated by buildings of many different use-types and dates of origin.  We should be shaping our zoning, neighborhood by neighborhood, to nurture the microeconomics of preservation, and promote diversity of small business downtown, but we aren’t.

Our downtown marketplace zoning C-2 (Central Commercial District) is generally appropriate in Chestertown’s downtown core (High Street & Cross).  Most of Chestertown’s core commercial buildings were built or remodeled after the fire of 1910, which burned much of downtown.   These are typically storefronts on the ground level with offices or residential above.  Not surprisingly, that is exactly what C2 zoning was created to allow.

Chestertown’s C2 zoning dates from the era of suburbia, before historic preservation was commonly understood to bring value to the public realm.  Suburban zoning shapes “progress” by opening the economic spigot only to the (somewhat subjective) “highest and best use(s)”. It segregates uses, for example to prevent dwellings from taking up street frontage in a retail district.  This segregating approach is not a good fit with an historic marketplace that has grown organically into a rich mix of building types and uses.

Chestertown’s C2 zoning identifies its “Purpose” as “compact and efficient development.”  There is no mention of historic preservation, nor any concern shown for:

• Whether the business uses C2 allows are likely to damage their historic environment, or
• Whether one of the uses C2 prohibits might be necessary to fund historic preservation

Yet Chestertown’s historic fabric is the most-often cited reason visitors come downtown. It is the trading base of our downtown economy.  Shouldn’t its preservation be a central zoning concern?

C2 zoning governs areas of 18th and 19th century structures as well as 20th, but does not take into account the uses these historic buildings were built to accommodate. For example, the five dwellings between Andy’s (now Lulu’s) and Mill Street (pictured below) are all zoned C2 Commercial, which prohibits any residential occupancy on the ground floor.

Some are “grandfathered” and so are still inhabited as houses, the first floor included. Others have been remodeled for retail with storefront windows, their porches removed.  The Chestertown’s Historic District Commission (HDC) now prevents owners from removing their porches or putting in storefront windows. That’s a good thing for the integrity of the Historic District, yet it impinges on property values and revenue streams since it prohibits exterior alterations that are essential for retail. Zoning restrictions are taken seriously by prospective buyers, and as a result, our High Street owners of intact dwellings get a double whammy: their property value depressed and their revenue opportunities restricted.

Let’s consider Park Row.  Last June my wife, Gale Tucker, and I purchased the stucco a building there, the stucco one with half moon windows (pictured below) last June and Since then we, Chesapeake Architects, have been studying Park Row extensively.  It is a neighborhood spiraling downward that creative zoning can help revive.

Park Row fronts on Fountain Park, a hub for visitors and locals alike.  The Maryland Historical Trust has deemed all five of Park Row’s 19th century dwellings to be of “High Value” (although they no longer use that term).  These historic houses, fronting on a park, should be prime real estate.

According to “Chestertown: An Architectural Guide,” the yellow building (pictured below) on the corner of Park Row, across from the Post Office, was “Probably built by William Slubey, local merchant, in the late 18th century or early 19th … [It] is the oldest along Park Row … [and] one of the few remaining five-bay, 2 ½ story clapboard dwellings in town”.

This historic house has suffered serial remodeling in vain attempts to adapt it for commercial use.  The building has good visibility but its historic windows and small rooms are not suitable for commercial use.  Tenants have come and gone. As often happens when zoning prohibits a building from being used as historically intended, the property value declines, which in turn depresses neighboring property values.

Dave Ferguson, one of our most prominent preservationists, recently told me he had wanted to buy this building some years ago to restore it as his home.  However, as previously noted, C2 zoning prohibits occupying it as a house.  Since then, its historic interiors have been removed in yet another remodeling for retail.  C2 blocks restoration, in favor of commercial remodeling.

The Pippin Hotel next door (on the right above) is built in the Mansard style as a boarding house.  Typical of the late 19th Century, it has a porch across its front. Porches attract visitors downtown, but C2 zoning pressures for their removal since first floor spaces behind porches lack commercial visibility. C2 zoning forces dwellings to compete for commercial tenants without being able to offer the assets commercial tenants need: the storefront windows, signage opportunities and high visibility.  As a consequence, our historic houses bring in so little revenue their owners are hard put to fund their upkeep.  Shabbiness results, and that’s bad marketing for business.

Along Park Row, the offices and the retail tenants are, in aggregate, open for business less than a third of normal hours.  Park Row is an economy in failure mode.

This is the perfect time to address both issues – how zoning can nurture historic preservation and support the economy of our marketplace neighborhoods; Chestertown’s Planning Commission is busy revamping our zoning now.  There are two fundamental questions our planners could be asking to promote our downtown economy:

• Does our downtown zoning encourage as many different types of small business as possible?  We need as diverse a mix of Businesses and Business Owners as we can get downtown to appeal to as broad a spectrum of customers and clients as possible.
• Does our downtown zoning offer alternative revenue streams for building owners?  Our historic buildings are the trading platform of our downtown marketplace.  They are our most compelling asset – the economic structure we have inherited, our biggest marketing draw in the present, and what we need to preserve if we are to thrive in the future.

Instead, on March 17th and again on April 28th Chestertown’s Zoning Administrator told the Planning Commission he recommends: “RB (Professional Office) for Park Row.”  Chestertown’s RB Zoning permits single family houses side by side with professional offices.  Clearly the Zoning Administrator sees no reason to prohibit first floor residential on Park Row.

The only use that already exists on Park Row which RB zoning would not permit is retail.  However, two of the property owners on Park Row are deeply invested in retail operations.  These existing uses would be “grandfathering” under RB zoning, but that still entails a taking of Park Row’s rights to retail which have prevailed for decades, for example, the right to expand their operations in the future.

A prohibition of retail would have a chilling effect on all retail in the vicinity, for the Town Arts building on Spring Street, for instance.  These businesses are invested in the growth of an Arts Community.  No one can tell how that future will unfold, but what justification can our planners have for prohibiting it?  We need more creative investment opportunities, not less.

After all, art galleries are one of the few retail businesses that can inhabit a house without damaging its historic fabric.  Art galleries can be an instrument of historic preservation.  And they contribute to making Chestertown interesting to experience, which is key to drawing visitors downtown.

Thriving Historic Districts everywhere — Annapolis, Frederick, Hagerstown, Alexandria – are solving such zoning troubles by creating mixed-use neighborhood zoning shaped to nurture their historic buildings. What exactly that mixed-use zoning allows varies widely because planners begin by identifying the particular resources (on-going businesses, historic buildings, etc.) present in a specific neighborhood, then figure out how zoning can be shaped to help them thrive.  Creative zoning can help these properties become sufficiently attractive investments, so their owners can fund their upkeep.  Historic buildings require substantial cash flow for preventative maintenance.

Shouldn’t historic structures be allowed to be used as historically intended?  The original use – full residential, for example – adds to a building’s potential revenue stream, which aids historic preservation and maintains the historic district’s vitality.

From the point of view of Invested Capital, Park Row consists of:

• Two historic dwellings (on left) suitable for residential use, but not for office or retail
• Two units which have been remodeled for retail use, the duplex with storefront windows
• And two buildings (on the right) both of which have office tenants

Park Row’s owners have almost unanimously requested a new class of downtown zoning in their written application to the Town, as follows:

Chestertown should consider creating a new zoning class for downtown business neighborhoods like Park Row.  To reflect its applicability, it might be named:

HD-MU:   Historic District – Mixed Use

The purpose of this HD-MU zoning is to enable income-producing occupancies in neighborhoods of the Historic District that are composed of historic houses of “contributing” value, within and adjacent to Chestertown’s Downtown commercial district (adjacent to C2 Zoning).  HD-MU would give the owner the option of residential occupancy on all floors, as well as office and limited retail.  That additional residential use will help sustain the preservation of the historic structures, whether owner-occupied, or rental.  Park Row is a case in point, but HD-MU zoning can help nurture other downtown neighborhoods, too.  Some of Cannon St?  South Queen St?  Calvert St?

Allowable retail occupancies can be limited in size and intensity, for example, to (only): craft stores, art galleries, jewelry stores,  anything trading in small objects that doesn’t require large truck deliveries, masses of customers and won’t generate trash by the dumpster load.

Professional office occupancies can be allowed as in RB zoning.  Most residential occupancies can be allowed, including small apartments and boarding.  B&Bs might be a conditional use because of their parking needs.

It’s worth remembering, almost all of what’s good about Park Row came into being before Chestertown had any zoning (before 1974), most notably the five 19th Century buildings of high historic value.  As the attached drawing SE/5 shows, what has hurt Park Row’s historic structures most is the 20th Century remodeling for retail merchandizing.  Otherwise, Park Row has continued to be a mixed-use neighborhood of residences, retail, and professional offices.  That these occupancies co-exist side by side is not the problem.  The problem is, the Town’s C2 zoning does not permit the five 19th Century dwellings to be occupied as historically designed.  Three and a half decades of C2 zoning is one of the reasons Park Row is in trouble.  That may be true for other neighborhoods downtown too.

Neighborhoods are the product of their own micro-economics and micro-history. C2 zoning, a pretty good match for the 20th century storefronts in our downtown core, can be reworked to be better at encouraging business diversity and at nurturing historic preservation. However, at the fringes of our downtown core we have retail and office activity overlapping high-value historic dwellings (Upper High Street, Park Row, and the 200-300 blocks of Cannon). These areas are well placed to act as transitional neighborhoods between the bustle of downtown retail and the peace residential neighborhoods seek.  HD-MU zoning (if that’s what it gets called) can provide the desirable transition between the two.

As a community of small businesses in a historic marketplace, we can help minimize the drag zoning places on our delicate economy.  Our Planning Commission can provide leadership by asking downtown business owners, property owners, and preservationists for their input:

• What restrictions are truly necessary to nurture our businesses? And where?
• What sources of income to preserve our trading base?  And where?

A democratic review of these different points of view will slow the re-zoning process, that’s true.  It will also help our business owners’ and property owners’ bottom lines.  These financial improvements will last decades – short term planning pain for long term economic gains.

In a Historic District, every neighborhood should have zoning that supports its economy and heritage.  Our downtown marketplace will flow more efficiently with the zoning faucet is turned on.

Peter Newlin is past-Chair of the Kent County Building Code Committee, and a past-member of Chestertown’s Historic District Commission.  He has been a downtown property on Church Alley since 1978, practicing architecture. Peter and his firm, Chesapeake Architects, have won regional, state-wide and national awards for  town planning, energy conservation, historic preservation and contemporary design. Copies of the Park Row Study can be found by clicking here (slow download)

Letter to Editor: System Worked with Defeat of FASTC

Editorial: WC’s New President and Charting the Course

It’s not that hard to imagine what the Rev’d William Smith, the founder and first president of Washington College, was thinking when he arrived in Chestertown in 1780 to begin his new job. Beyond the stress that comes with any move, regardless of the century, and the discomfort of a long horse ride between Philadelphia and Kent County, it’s a safe bet that the good doctor was a bit bummed as he reflected on how his circumstances had changed in such a short period of time.

Along with his mentor (and later arch-enemy) Benjamin Franklin, Smith was considered only a few years before as one of the “it” guys in the very small, elite world of colonial higher education and Anglican church circles. Acting as Provost, Smith, along with Franklin, had successfully launched the College of Philadelphia (now U. of Penn). He had surrounded himself for decades with the best and brightest of America’s intellectuals, scientists, and artists, including his former students and faculty such as Rittenhouse, Rush, Peale, and Penn. He never seemed to go lacking for intelligent dinner conversation and better than average libations. With his prestigious membership with the American Philosophical Society and the Masonic Order, Smith had no doubt envisioned a long life at the very top of Philadelphia’s social hierarchy, when the city itself was only second in size to London in the entire United Kingdom.

And yet, as the result of colonial politics, his almost comical rivalry with Franklin, and a serious addiction to alcohol, events had changed dramatically for Dr. Smith. Forced into exile, Kent County offered one of the few safe harbors at his disposal. It’s not hard to sense he had a feeling of resignation as he approached Chestertown.

It’s remarkable then, given these twisted circumstances, that Smith found it within himself to create an entirely new form of liberal arts education with the founding of Washington College. Perhaps feeling liberated himself from the church-governed higher education model, Smith launched the first secular college in America with a breathtakingly new approach to undergraduate education.

Rather than the traditional preparation of church ministers, which all universities at the time were focused on, Smith envisioned an institution dedicated exclusively to educating an entirely new class of citizens for the fledgling country. Stating that the task at hand was to train the college’s students to “think well,” Smith had an instinctive feel for a new nation needing “thinkers” capable of not only knowing the correct answers, but asking the right questions.

So sure was Smith’s conviction that he raised a significant sum of money, recruited George Washington (and his name for the school) to the Board of Governors, and moved forward to build what was considered at the time to be the third largest building in the new country. He modestly had created a building design with classroom and dormitory space for two hundred students. By comparison, Harvard College had approximately one hundred students at the time.

From this remarkable beginning, Washington College has always been dependent on all subsequent presidents to refresh Smith’s original mission in the context of contemporary life. It is perhaps the College’s most consistent and most awaited ritual for a new leader to outline the road ahead for the college community. That tradition now belongs to Dr. Mitchell Reiss as the College’s 27th president.

Washington College could not have found someone more qualified to assume this responsibility. Dr. Reiss comes to Chestertown with a stellar resume and exceptional academic and foreign affairs experience. He was certainly capable of commanding professional opportunities equal to, or far greater than, running a small liberal arts college in rural Maryland. It is comforting to know that he chose Washington College.

One key aspect of his experience that should be immediately felt in the community is his background as a diplomat. His ability to successfully negotiate and steward the peace process in Northern Ireland with Protestants, Catholics and the British government should make the College’s faculty, eager to resolve difficult issues such as co-governance of the College, quite encouraged by his appointment.

We were also pleased to note Dr. Reiss’s undergraduate degree from Williams College in the small town of Williamstown, Massachusetts. Williamstown and Chestertown represent a rare breed of small towns with liberal arts schools that have grown together over centuries. We can think of no better orientation for the new president as he embarks on building new bridges to the greater Chestertown community as well as the creation of a new waterfront campus in downtown.

But it is Dr. Reiss’s primary challenge, which in many ways surpasses those facing Smith in 1780, that makes his installation as president so interesting and so important for Washington College and the entire community. And that is to make the convincing argument for the continued importance and value of a private liberal arts education. For unlike William Smith, Dr. Riess and the College must compete for the best students with the quite crowded private college sector in the Northeast, but also with the ever-improving public university system, the for-profit education industry, as well as the emergence of online programs offering professional degrees at a fraction of the cost of Washington College’s tuition and fees.

Conversely, Dr. Reiss has an equally unique and historic opportunity to present the case for Washington College’s relevance in the 21st century. Unlike any other time since Dr. Smith’s building was erected, the College has never been in a better position, nor at a better moment in its history, to carry forward the founder’s intent to train citizens for the challenging stewardship of democracy. Just as founder Smith knew that a fragile new country would not survive without the emergence of an educated citizenry, undoubtedly Dr. Reiss must be musing on how a citizen must “think well” in the context of a world of profound environmental, political, and social turmoil and change that will surely test this country’s leaders in the decades ahead.

At the beginning of the Joseph Conrad story, “Initiation” an elderly sea captain, gazing over a harbor filled with boats of all types, is overheard saying to no one in particular, “ships are all right; it’s the men in `em.” Conrad was suggesting of course that while most ships float, it’s more important to know where the captain is taking her.

Washington College’s boat is now waiting at the dock, with a fresh coat of paint, impatiently awaiting word on which way to sail. As President Reiss charts his course, we offer words of warm welcome and steadfast support for the task ahead.

Letter to Editor: World Cafe Next Steps

To the Editor –

Thank you to the Chestertown Spy for the coverage you provided for the June 15th Chestertown World Café. For those who are unfamiliar, the Town of Chestertown took the opportunity of a new decade and the challenges of an economic downturn to bring the community together for a World Café at the Chestertown fire hall to get a “finger in the wind” assessment of a desired direction for the future.  A World Café is a way for community members to have meaningful conversations, think long term, and identify common ground ideas from which to work. This exercise in democracy provided a forum for civil discourse around important issues and was an opportunity for over 160 attending community stakeholders to use conversation as a way to strengthen relationships and build trust.

This event was one of several similar events through out the Delmarva Peninsula lead by Sustainable Delmarva this spring. Sustainable Delmarva (www.sustainabledelmarva.net) focuses on local communities as the catalyst for regional change and works to strengthen communities’ ability to vision, plan, and work together to realize an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable path for all.

At this time, copies of the World Cafe final report are available at the Chestertown Town Hall and can also be found online at www.sustainabledelmarva.net/current_delmarva_projects.html. The report includes the “who, what, when, where, how” of the event, the major themes distilled from the table reports, transcriptions of the table reports and the notes written on each table’s paper cloths, and next step ideas submitted by the event participants.

The major themes defined in this report encompass a wide rang of issues including opportunities for youth, affordable housing, job opportunities, transportation, healthcare, and racial and cultural division, among others. The next step suggestions were heavily in favor of holding more “conversations” in the near future, holding in-depth planning meetings around World Café themes, and direct outreach to those under-represented at the World Café event.

Ripple effects from this event can already be seen. Mike Hardesty from the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College will be working with organizations and leaders in the community to discuss ways to address the issue of racial, cultural, and social division. Additionally, in effort to encourage better communication with the community, Mayor Bailey will have a table at the Chestertown Farmers Market once a month to for questions and discussion and will be establishing a town e-mail newsletter service. Also, Mayor Bailey will be using a grant to develop and distribute a brochure that lists all of the youth programs and activities available in the community.

In effort to keep the conversation going Chestertown World Café blog has been established: http://ctownworldcafe.blogspot.com/2010/06/great-world-cafe.html.  The Chestertown World Café planning committee will also meet one more time to discuss next steps, but the Town and its community members as a whole need to work to decide this now the report is complete. Anyone who wants to attend the planning committee meeting should e-mail me at jhicks@sustainabledelmarva.net.

My recommendation for next steps is for the community to sponsor a Future Search conference (www.futuresearch.net) around one of the World Café major themes. A Future Search conference is 2.5 day meeting that brings together people who represent all parts of the issue to better understand the issue, determine common ground vision for the issue, and develop concrete, action-able plans to move closer to realize the vision.

Jennifer Hicks, Project Manager
Sustainable Delmarva

Letter to Editor: Queen Anne’s Needs Leadership after FASTC

To the Edior:

As Senator Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.”

Here are the facts:  Queen Anne’s County is now being taken over and “ruled” by a political action group, the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association, QACA.  Many innocent, uninformed citizens are falling ‘’hook, line, and sinker’’ for their faux leadership and doctrine.  At the moment, and during these past several years, there has been no leadership in our County, in our town of Centreville, not even in the newspapers, or in the volunteer service groups within.  We are in sad, sad, shape when so many are being lead by the few who hide, unnamed, resting behind their check books and membership, within this “underground” organization.

Time to open your tightly closed eyes and see what is happening now in our County!  You need to see what is ahead if you do not make yourselves aware and stand firm, voting against this manipulation of candidates, commissions, and political organizations.  These newcomers to our County have nothing but time and money to spend on gathering and grabbing control of our political operations here within the County.  Few of them support our County in any way other than to glorify themselves ,  fund and prepare law suits, and tell us all how we should live.  They are retired, living here, and have taken it upon themselves to save us from ourselves!  The question is—what is their contribution to our area?

The defeat of FASTC is only the start and the beginning of what lies ahead!  WAKE UP!  These undermining people will filtrate into our political elections, into our operating commissions, and into our way of life. The few in this group will BUY leadership in all of these areas.  Is this the kind of leadership we need in this County?   Well, that is a question that you alone as a voter and citizen can answer.  Either you stand up, be  heard, and STOP this buy-out of Queen Anne’s County—or these political action members will speak for you.  YOU may not like what you will hear but it will be too late then.

The “silent majority” in connection with the FASTC project was deafening.  Where were the honest, hard-working, taxpaying, good citizens of our County?  Where were the parents of the generation who have grown up in Queen Anne’s County and attend schools within?  Where were  the small and large business owners,   or the professionals?  Where were the groups of volunteers who keep our fine services in action at the ring of a siren?  Where were YOU ALL?  Now, everyone is sorry.  They are sad that this marvelous opportunity has passed our fine County by.  Well, guess what?  The move to action has just begun with QACA, the “squirrel chasers”, and the Ruthsburgers!

There is not a county on the Eastern Shore who would not have almost traded in their waterfront or farm land for an opportunity such as being selected for the location of FASTC.  It was not hard to see what a marvelous opportunity this Center would have been.  Sure, we heard all the list of rumors that went around and around—most of them were false and unproven.  Fear is a terrible thing.  The unknown is very threatening to those who did not take the time to understand and learn about the issues.  The crying, the yelling and the closed minds did our County in!  The so-called leaders did not hear the citizens, the people who put them in their offices. How sad- shame on us.  We got just what we deserved in the end.  NOTHING.  And, nothing  seldom goes away.

Here was a golden opportunity to contribute and prove what a fine, intelligent group of citizens we are—we could have shared our BEST with the State, Country, and the  World.  Instead, we will put an iron curtain around Queen Anne’s County.  We said in the end—we cannot handle such a challenge,  and this Center frightens us.  There was never a positive word!  Many were so scared by it that they  could not think outside the I’s and me’s.   They could not recognize that it would be a great advantage to all of us, to the State, and to the United States to welcome the Center to our perfect location.  This was being a GOOD neighbor in our troubled World—they could not think outside the Ruthsburg box.  What a gift we had to give!  But few saw it that way—so sorry for those who could not get farther than their self-centered world.

Instead, those of us who want more for our community are left feeling passed over, again.  Our Commissioners made a political decision which was faulty based on misstatements and political pressures.   The screaming, maddening crowd was lead and financed by another small political action group of the very rich, and most just sat by enjoying the circus of events.  Our local member of Congress stood by watching, dithering which way to move. Our elected Commissioners offered no direction but plenty of negative comments, and then our one Senator got red in the face, ranted, yelled, and fled in fright while the other Senator was out of sight!  The lady Senator made it over here for the last hurrah but was too busy to bother to attend any of the public meetings—even though she was ON the Shore the afternoon of one of those gatherings.  She was too busy to attend on her way over the Bridge!  Not important enough, I would ask?

Begin to sweep up, put the chairs away, and turn the lights off!   This was another fine show by our County!  Are you proud?  I am not, either.  It has been a very bad show of the citizenry from start to finish.  A wonderful opportunity was wasted by US—less business, less job opportunities, less input by intelligent people, less educational centers and opportunities, and same old, same  old  County.  We have done it again!  Queen Anne’s County has ended up at the bottom of the list.

So look around!  Get your eyes open wide because in the near future your decisions are going to be made for you in this County.  We are loaded with debt so expect your taxes to rise. If you do not think so, wait until next year!  Watch the upcoming elections and watch the money tossed around to get those in office who will bring this County to a complete shut down. NO growth invited! The QACA will gladly make the moves and take over the governing and decision making—they will quietly sneak up on you, the voter, and fill the seats with those who will do exactly as THEY want with OUR County, putting a STOP to any progress.     We will have ample farm land, plenty of FOR SALE signs, plenty of GOING OUT OF BUSINESS signs, and plenty of young people unable to find any job opportunities!   We are allowing this to happen right in front of our faces.  Time to get involved—and time to SPEAK UP and recognize what is happening before it is too late.

Janie Eby Ashley (Mrs. Sydney G. Ashley)
Centreville   MD

Spy Op-Ed: Having defeated FASTC, Queen Anne’s Must Show Leadership by Stephen Meehan

News that the U.S. State Department had decided to move the FASTC project to another state was disappointing. Despite wide public support, State Department officials could not risk losing the FASTC project altogether to protracted litigation with Queen Anne’s Conservation Association, Inc. (“QACA”) with the Recovery Act expenditure clock ticking, even though they are knowingly establishing a “sue us and we will leave” precedent.

I disagree with Senator Mikulski that the process worked.  How could it, when the process was hijacked before it could be completed. Gone are the 1,800-acre Bay Restoration component, hundreds of jobs, opportunities for local businesses including sheltered employment programs for the disabled, upgrades to the deadly 301/304 intersection, and broadband from Wye Mills to Elkton.

The FASTC demise is QACA’s crowning moment of an effort that started with their big wins in the 2002 County Commissioners’ election and has continued with the 2004 Commissioners’ board expansion and more success in the 2006 election. QACA has created a political environment that allowed them to rewrite the county’s economic story through legislation and litigation.  Unfortunately, the QACA economic plan has proven unsustainable.  The results are a shrinking commercial tax base, stunted residential tax revenue, and growing public debt service. Yet, the FASTC departure only strengthens QACA’s grip on Queen Anne’s County.

The facts have not changed: unemployment and underemployment remain high, there is little local opportunity for high school graduates, and private investment is stagnant.  While there is cheering in Ruthsburg, residents elsewhere ponder how to maintain our schools, roads, and public safety and meet the county’s school construction and public facilities agenda without meaningful economic development or increased taxes at a time when the folks at home cannot face another bill.

QACA’s victory over FASTC comes with it the responsibility to show leadership in creating jobs and meaningful economic growth without fear of a lawsuit so that our community has a broad tax base that supports the public’s demand for services without more tax burden.

Stephen Z. Meehan practices law in Chestertown and is spokesman for the Eastern Shore Leadership Council, a 501(c)(3) organization that works for sustainable local economies and job growth.

Spy Eye: The Slow Death of Kent Plaza

While it is true that the Kent Shopping Plaza has never looked particularly healthy during its fifty-plus years as Chestertown’s shopping center,  images of despair are starting to fall on the North Chestertown property. Owned and seemingly neglected by Baltimore landlord David Cordish, whose other properties have won national awards and the praise of design critics, Kent Plaza stands today as an embarrassment for both the town and the Cordish Company.

Letter to Editor: Chester River Association Not a Fringe Group

I noted your article about the farmer letter to Gov. O’Malley in today’s Spy. I wanted you to know that I sent the attached letter to CRA farmer members. Parts of it were quoted in the Delmarva Farmer. I do not want anyone thinking that CRA is a “fringe” environmental group. We have an active farm program that encourages farmers to participate in programs that help the environment plus make/save money. The best way to get our grain farmers to embrace the environment is through economics not legislation/enforcement.

Bob Parks
Executive Director
Chester River Association
410-810-7556 x300

Dear Farmer member:

I wanted to report encouraging news to you about the Chester River and to thank you for the work you have done to make it that way. Enclosed is the CRA 2009 Report Card which grades the Chester River and its tributaries. The Report Card is showing that there has been a slight but measurable improvement in water quality. I am also enclosing a copy of the cover page of the 2008 Report Card so that you may make the comparison for yourself. It is significant in that of the eight watershed organizations that use this University of Maryland sponsored format, the Chester River was the only one to show water quality improvement.

Why is the river healthier? It is as a result of your work planting cover crops, implementing nutrient management plans and other best management practices. As responsible stewards of the land you make a difference.

Also know that other individuals and organizations are doing their part too. Examples are the residential community with septic upgrades and upgraded wastewater treatment plants (Chestertown). Three Bridges and Old Mill Stream branches on the Corsica showed huge improvements because the state, county and Town of Centerville have worked so hard on them. Riley’s Mill Branch in Morgnec is healthier because of changes at Velsicol and the new treatment plant in Worton. And Chesterville Branch is healthier because of the hard work and dedication to the environment shown by Angelica Nurseries.

As children will say on a long trip, “are we there yet?” No, there is more to be done, but it looks as if we are on the right track. Hopefully the switchgrass projects and GreenSeeker work will contribute to even more improvement in the future.

Now is the time to enjoy our progress and at the same rededicate our efforts to improved water quality. Thank you for your hard work and stewardship of our land and know that your efforts are making the Chester River healthier.

Sincerely

Robert W. Parks

Letter to Editor: Defense Spending a New Test for Kratovil

After his cynical vote on health care, I’m looking for another issue by which to judge Congressman Frank Kratovil, and I’ve found one—the recommendation to cut military costs by $960 billion by 2020 by the “Sustainable Defense Task Force,” a bipartisan group of defense and budget experts appointed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), in concert with Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).

With our First District “Blue Dog Democrat” seeking re-election, now would be a good time to ask this spending conservative and deficit hawk:  (1) if he’s heard of the Sustainable Defense Task Force’s recommendations and (2) if he supports them. It’s time to ask his opponent, Andy Harris, the same questions.

Some of the task force’s recommendations for savings include:

• Reducing U.S. nuclear arsenal to 1,050 warheads deployed on 450 missiles and seven submarines—save $113 billion;
• Lowering U.S. military presence in Europe and Asia to 100,000, and total military personnel to 1.3 million—save $200 billion;
• Replacing costly and unworkable weapons systems, such as the F-35 aircraft, MV-22 Osprey, and the “Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle”—save $138 billion;
• Reforming military health care—save $60 billion; and,
• Cutting “unnecessary command, support and infrastructure” funding—save $100 billion.

Kent County’s three commissioners are wrestling with spending cuts and a tax increase—and doing a reasonably skillful and sensitive job under difficult circumstances—and it’s not hard to see the connection between the bloated military budget and Kent County’s sparse budget for next year!

Grenville B. Whitman

Op-Ed: Does Chestertown’s Planning Commission Respect History? by Holly Geddes

If you think Diane Daniels and I respect each other, you are correct. I hope her wish comes true and we can, as a town, respect the history of Chestertown specifically and all small, historic towns in general.

I am concerned that the Planning Commission, however, does not respect the history of the development of towns generally or Chestertown in particular and that raises questions. Historically, towns were built with the expectation that if you worked in town, you lived in town. Conversely, if you lived in town you worked there, too.

You might live above your shop. Or you might live next door to your business. The density of stores would cluster around one or two corners. As you moved even a half block from that center, businesses and shops would be built next to each other and finally, folks would find themselves in residential spaces.

In the 1800 and early 1900’s, folks worked from home in a way that has only recently come back to fashion with home offices. So you often see the layout that is present on the west side of High Street above Lulu’s. In almost all towns with historic districts in the state of Maryland this pattern is respectfully recognized in a zoning designation that is called a “central zone”, a “hybrid zone” or a “mixed use” zone. Mixed use does not refer to the use of a single building. It refers to a zone or cluster of buildings.

Understand that zoning became an issue in Chestertown around the 1980s, about the time the Tidewater Inn in Easton was thinking of expanding to our town. For what ever reason that expansion did not occur. But the zoning created for it has remained to the detriment of some property owners. Also understand that the purpose of zoning is to prevent harm to the citizens by making sure that the use of property does not present a health, safety or other threat.

Here are a few important questions: As a town, do we want to honor the history of the development of Chestertown by having a hybrid/ central/ mixed use zone? Do we believe in the right of people to use their private property to their own benefit? Do we want to preserve the heritage of this town?

So, we can designate the current “commercial” district or some part of it to recognize the growth of town. We can understand that the top of High Street, Cannon Street and Park Row and other areas were built with a mix of businesses and homes. Or we can require the space to choose between being residential or commercial. Our Planning Commission has disregarded town history by choosing the second option.

The second choice condemns the owners of property that does not fit the new designation to lose income and limit activities to those chosen for them by the town government. The cost of changing a shop into a home or an apartment into a shop is too expensive to be workable. The choice between the two designations means that half the area will not make enough profit to be able to do regular maintenance let alone restoration. This degrades the appearance of the transition parts of town. It also means that as the property value goes down, the property tax revenue also goes down. Everyone in town suffers.

My question for the Planning Commission is, “Why would you do this?” You are rewriting the zoning schemes right now. Why not do it properly and respectfully? Why deliberately restrict people from the use of their property in the most profitable way? No one is asking to put in anything that is harmful, unhealthy or of high nuisance problem on these transitional spaces. You have required Mr. Kirby to put just such a transitional zone into his plan for Stepney Manor. Yet a block of citizens has petitioned the town to include this transitional zone on their street and you have said it is impossible. There are quite a number of questions here. Maybe you can answer them before the zoning plan goes to the town for approval.

Letter to Editor: Government’s Role in Downtown’s Future

I very much appreciate the tone and substance of the recent editorial about the future of Chestertown. I agree whole heartedly that this is the time to reposition our economic structures. I also appreciate the article in the Kent County News about Jack Steinmetz and Cindy Genther.

Unfortunately, we do not have a governmental agency to work specifically on economic development for Chestertown. We do however, have expertise in this field through SCORE, Main Street and the Chamber of Commerce among others. As long as we can collaborate and not factionalize, this should be enough. The mindset that I prefer is that we work together and share the efforts to preserve the culture of the town as we enhance its strengths.

When talking about preserving the history of Chestertown there needs to be balance between preserving the elements that are valuable and becoming frozen in a particular time. The truth is that everything changes. Any of us older than 10 years knows that changes happen. Some things go about change slowly, some more rapidly. The real question is who will direct the change and in what direction?

The process of economic development examines what works and what are the challenges we face. Then the actions that follow can improve where it is needed. The Main Street program is a federal and state program meant to bring economic development and prosperity to towns and neighborhoods. It is an organization of citizen volunteers who can bring resources to our town. The resources include access to grant money and a proven method of development and enhancement of local town economies. As the president of Main Street, I want to hear from everyone about directions that can be supported not only by the town and county governments, but by the state and everyone who lives, works or in any way enjoys Chestertown.

The first step in this process is to determine the will of the people. I personally support the town sponsored meeting called the World Café on June 15, at 6:30p.m. to be held in the Chestertown Fire House. We need you to participate and express your point of view. We hope to see all the diverse perspectives in this county. If you can’t come, encourage someone from your neighborhood, club or business to come in your stead. [Refreshments @ 5:30 p.m. R.S.V.P. by June 8 jhicks@sustainabledelmarva.net ] For more information, please check: http://www.sustainabledelmarva.net/current_delmarva_projects.html .

After the results of the World Café are available, it will be time for all of us to get to work on whatever projects we identify as supportive of a strong economy.

Just so you know my viewpoint, I have a couple of personal preferences for projects. The first is to help the Historic Society get the museum and accessible library / research center they want. This would add to the authenticity of our claim to be a historic destination and would help anyone, including the history department of our esteemed college, do research on our town. It would also be a place to proudly display artifacts from our past.

Secondly, I think the entire county could become economically stronger by becoming more tech savvy. This would require extensive influx of technology infrastructure and knowledge. It would also give our citizens (especially our youth) jobs opportunities without disrupting our quiet lifestyle.

By infrastructure, I mean not only Wifi (wireless access for computers) to the town and county, but more importantly, to bring G4 (generation 4) highest speed, widest band fiber optic computer networking to us all. This would bring us the possibility of working from home, bringing in business that protects our environment, strengthen the customer base of the current shops and businesses and developing economic opportunities in a thousand directions.

Those are my suggestions. We need to hear what you think would work best in the efforts to make the economy of Chestertown and Kent County strong. The question is how can we make the changes towards strength that leaves the spirit of the town in tact? How do we enjoy Chestertown more?

Helen Geddes
Chestertown

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