Archive for March, 2011

Why did the Sun go after Jill Carter?

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Why did the Sun go after Jill Carter and not the other politicians with outstanding water bills? A quick search shows that “Frank Conaway” owns a house at 3931 Bareva road and has not paid his water bill since 6/3/2010. The current water bill balance at this location is $803.26. You can view a copy of the official water bill information for 3931 Bareva road here.  SDAT says “Frank Conaway” lives there.

So why talk about Carter’s outstanding water bill instead of Conaway’s? Carter is not filled with gimmicks, is coherent, and actually lives in the district she is supposed to represent.  Carter is one of the few decent elected officials in Baltimore while the Conaway family represents everything that is wrong with local politics today. You can read more about both Frank Conaways here.

Many people who do not follow local politics did not like what they read about Jill Carter a few weeks ago. They are entitled to their opinions, but I have to say that if people actually paid attention to politics and understood what Carter stands for they would realize that there are many other politicians who need to be picked apart, hounded, and investigated. If you think Jill Carter is the problem with local politics then you have no idea what you are talking about. 

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A summary of Otis Rolley’s Reservoir Hill meeting

Posted by ameister on Monday, March 28th, 2011

On March 15th mayoral candidate Otis Rolley visited Reservoir Hill and spoke to a room full of concerned citizens. In typical Baltimore fashion the giant neighborhood was able to produce less than twenty citizens interested in who the next mayor of Baltimore is going to be.  Every vote counts and one can be sure that every person in attendance will vote, but Mr. Rolley definitely needs to find some other ways to present his excellent ideas to a larger audience.

There are two Rolley quotes that summarize the political situation in Baltimore to me:

“I won’t need a transition team”

“I am not running for Governor”

Political Baltimore has become a place where supposed up and coming local political stars use their current elected positions to propel themselves to higher elected positions.  Transition team has become a code word for rewarding numerous friends and supporters with titles and responsibilities so they can supposedly help “leaders” take on new jobs.  Rolley simply does not believe in the cronyism and blinding political ambition that infests our city government. He already has plans to streamline some municipal departments where four people do the job of one person and three people do the job of one computer program.

Rolley mentioned that his department heads will have to be competent, committed, qualified, and love Baltimore. All current department heads will have to reapply for their former jobs if they wish to join his administration. Rolley did not specifically say that he will fire housing commissioner Paul Graziano, but it was clearly implied that the commissioners reign will finally come to an end at the end of this year if Rolley is elected.

I asked Rolley about the Madison-Park North housing project and he said that any housing department negotiations with a potential new owner should not be hidden from the citizens of Reservoir Hill. He said that in the past our leaders have kept communities in the dark about major developments and projects and have not looked for input from citizens. Rolley will keep citizens involved in the planning of their neighborhoods.

Some other interesting tidbits from the event:

  • There are way too many housing department deputy commissioners.
  • Open air drug markets are signs of lawlessness and will be specifically addressed.
  • Rolley quoted Ronald Reagan and said: “The greatest social program is a job”.
  • Rolley predicted that the current mayor will come out with numerous new initiatives and participate in many ribbon cutting ceremonies since this is an election year. Most of these things will be election year shows that will go nowhere and make no difference on the streets of Baltimore.

I hope all of you get a chance to hear Mr. Rolley’s plan. The fact that he actually has a plan makes him quite different than the status quo that we have all become so used to in Baltimore.

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Belinda Conaway receives a homestead property tax credit in Randallstown

Posted by ameister on Friday, March 25th, 2011

At this link and this link Belinda Conaway says she lives in Baltimore. Conaway is free to say what she wants to, but in order to clear her family name she is gong to have answer the questions I have listed below.

Before you read my questions I want to share some new information with you. Click here for a copy of some Maryland Judiciary Case Search information about the time police pulled over Milton Washington at Liberty Road and Buckingham road in Baltimore County. Milton Washington is Belinda Conaway’s Husband. This incident happened in March of 2010.   Mr. Washington is listed as living at 9810 Southall Road in Randallstown.

I visited the Baltimore County property tax search page and copied the following three screen shots:
Screen shot 1
Screen shot 2
Screen shot 3

The screen shots are from the Washingtons’ (Belinda Conaway’s married name) most recent online tax bill (that was paid in 2010). One can easily see in screen shot #3 that they are receiving over $700 in homestead property tax credits. This means they say they live in the house. One can also see that the sewer service fee is over $400. People are clearly living there. If you look up neighboring houses you will see similar sewer service fees.

So here are my questions:

Why has Belinda Conaway been receiving the homestead property tax credit in Randallstown for years if she says she lives at 3210 Liberty Heights in Baltimore?

Why did the Maryland case search say her husband lives at 9810 Southall Road in Randallstown?

If she still thinks she lives in the city then when will she be returning the thousands of dollars of past homestead property tax credits to Baltimore County and the state of Maryland?

Should a person who files for the homestead property tax credit in the incorrect jurisdiction be in charge of the Baltimore city council budget and appropriations committee (the most important city council committee)?

The simple question that sums up everything is did Belinda Conaway commit mortgage fraud or election fraud?

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I believe we’ve been deceived by the Conaways

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

The ironic title of this article was borrowed from the 2004 mayoral campaign of a guy who says he lives at the house pictured in the photo at this link.  That slogan is about to come back to haunt the Conaway family.

Parts of the following story have been picked up by WBAL TV and the North Baltimore Patch. Belinda Conaway makes some lame excuses in the stories located at those links.

For as long as I have maintained this blog I have pointed out the questionsable political practices of the Conaway family and Rikki Spector. Since the 1970′s these so-called leaders have maintained positions of power in the city of Baltimore. People have become so used to the last names of Spector and Conaway that they blindly vote for these people over and over again. Even when controversy starts to rear its ugly head these people are able to maintain a sense of power because of their firm entrenchment and the ignorance of many of the voters.

Over the last few years Rikki Spector has basically admitted that she does not really live in the 5th district of Baltimore that she is supposed to represent. She lives in a condo in what is now the 10th district. The media is starting to question her and people are starting to wake up, but the woman does live in the city of Baltimore. In theory she can play games and hang on to a shred of legitimacy because at least she is in the city still. I think that it is total BS, but it is the reality of the corrupt city we live in. Things will only change if the voters rightfully vote her our of office in September.

Now what if Rikki did not live in Baltimore? What right would she have to serve on Baltimore’s City Council? Yesterday I found out that as shameful as Rikki’s deception is that 7th District city councilwoman Belinda Conaway’s is worse. This document shows that Belinda Conaway has not lived in Baltimore since at least 2006- before she was re-elected to represent Baltimore’s 7th district. If the information provided by Conaway for the document is false then she is guilty of fraud.

Belinda K. Conaway’s married name is Belinda K. Washington and she lives in Randallstown according to documents that she has signed. You can look up “9810 Southall Rd, Randallstown, MD 21133″ on SDAT and see that this house is listed as her “Principal Residence”.

Belinda K. Conaway should immediately resign from Baltimore’s City Council since she does not reside in Baltimore according to legal documents that she has signed.

It is a shame that the media did not realize this obvious Conaway conspiracy a few years ago. Belinda Conaway (a married woman who is over 40 with children), Frank Conaway Jr. (a divorced man who is over 40 with children), and Frank Conaway Sr. all say they live at “3210 Liberty Heights Avenue  Baltimore, MD 21215″ on various official state of Maryland election sites. You can view them here, here, and here.

I have run by 3210 Liberty Heights  and I have noticed the political signs from 2010 ground into the front lawn because they were never picked up. One would think a house occupied by so many politicians would have someone in it who was willing to pick up the signs after November and properly dispose of them (after she spoke with WBAL a witness confirmed that the signs had finally been picked up). On SDAT this house is listed as the “Principal Residence” of Frank Conaway Sr. It is possible that he could live there. The most important point is that Belinda Conaway does not live there according to legal documents that she has signed and in order for her to represent the 7th district which conveniently includes that house in its upper northwest corner, she has to really live there and not in Randallstown.

We all know that Frank Conaway Sr. loves to send out political propaganda with the faces of his entire happy family on them. He has his three bears slate gimmick even though there are four Conaways (Papa Bear, Momma Bear, Sister Bear, and Brother Bear). Oddly enough this link shows that Momma Bear Register of Wills Mary Conaway does not even live with her husband or children. She says she lives at “6810 Cross Country Blvd Baltimore, MD 21215″. It is listed as her “Principal Residence” on SDAT. This link shows that Mary Conaway has given power of attorney to another daughter of hers named Monica Pindle. Here is a link to a political piece from 1990 that shows Monica Pindle on the Conaway-RAWLINGS slate (Pindle’s main qualification back then was being the daughter of Mary Conaway). This document shows that Mary Conaway says she is unmarried! Sounds like quite a family.

Frank Conaway Jr. was first elected to represent the 40th district in the House of Delegates in 2006 despite being a controversial figure. The blinding political power of the Conaway family over the masses has never been more evident.

If you look up 3931 Bareva Rd Baltimore, MD 21215 on SDAT you will see that a man named Frank Conaway uses the property as his principal residence. Take note of the mailing address that is listed on the official record. It is the same Liberty Heights address that the Conaway’s use as their official political address. This Frank Conaway is definitely one of the political Conaways.

I have also found an official deed of trust document signed by Frank Conaway from 2005 that lists 3931 Bareva Road as Frank Conaway’s primary residence.

3931 Bareva Road is located in the 41st district (look it up here) so if Frank Conaway Jr. lives there then he is living in a district that he does not represent. If no person by the name of Frank Conaway lives there then at some point some person included false information on a legal document. Elected officials should not do that. They should have to play by the same rules we do.

So far these are the rules that the Conaways play by:

The State of Maryland says that the following people use the following residences as principal residences and that they receive the homestead property tax credit at every location:

Frank Conaway Sr.- 3210 Liberty Heights Avenue Baltimore, MD 21215
Mary Conaway- 6810 Cross Country Blvd Baltimore, MD 21215
Belinda Conaway- 9810 Southall Rd, Randallstown, MD 21133
Frank Conaway- 3931 Bareva Rd Baltimore, MD 21215

The board of elections says that Frank Sr., Frank Jr., and Belinda live at: 3210 Liberty Heights Avenue Baltimore, MD 21215 and Mary Conaway lives at 6810 Cross Country Blvd Baltimore, MD 21215.

I also found this document from 2010 that says Frank Conaway Sr. is unmarried.

A person named Robin Washington is also associated with 9810 Southall Rd, Randallstown, MD 21133 according to this site.

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A Rawlings-Blake push poll phone call

Posted by ameister on Monday, March 21st, 2011

At 8:12 PM on Wednesday night my phone rang and on the other end was an automated message asking me to answer some questions. It was a push poll from “Rawlings-Blake for Baltimore”. The “paid for by Rawlings-Blake for Baltimore” line was given at the end of the call.

The call told me a lot about what we should expect from this campaign. This is a very early in the season political phone call!  The mayor must have a lot of money to spend and it is clear that she is not going to stand still while her early competition tries to chip away at her.

One question asked was who I plan to vote for. Rawlings-Blake’s name was listed first (this gave away the fact that she paid for the poll before she legally had to admit it at the end of the call) and Otis Rolley’s name was listed second. Frank Conaway and Catherine Pugh were also options. I think it is obvious that she considers Rolley to be her main competition at this point.

The call asked about what the Mayor should campaign on and listed topics that promoted her: Something about her “10 year plan” (an obvious way of combating Rolley’s talk about lack of a plan in City Hall) and something about how the current mayor has done a great job with the “mess she inherited”. Take that Sheila Dixon!

I was also asked what the main issue of this campaign should be: Jobs,  Schools, Crime, Property Taxes, or the Budget.  It is nice to know that property taxes are FINALLY being taken seriously by every major candidate.

There were demographic questions at the end. I was asked what sex I was, my age, and my race.

We are in for a long race!

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Save the Baltimore Arena by making it a city landmark

Posted by ameister on Friday, March 18th, 2011

By now most of you know that I am opposed to building a new $300million publicly funded arena in Baltimore. The Sun published an article that reveals that the arena is profitable. Why take a chance and get rid of a profitable building in uncertain economic times?

The article gave me another idea. If our leaders can not grasp a simple economic fact then perhaps we need use the history of the arena to help save it and save the taxpayers millions of dollars.

The Baltimore Arena has hosted an incredible number of historical musical acts and events including the NBA All-star Game and Championship. The building itself brings musical acts closer to the audience than any modern building. With famous old arenas like the Boston Garden no longer around, the Baltimore Arena has quietly become a classic. The Sun article is the first one I have read that addresses this subject.

I think it is foolish for the city to spend $300million on a new arena when this one is not only functional but PROFITABLE! If it was designated as a city landmark then they could not knock it down and we could enjoy it for generations and save $300million that our city does not even have.  With the right marketing it could become a historic tourist attraction.

Here is the opening clip from the 1969 NBA All-Star game at the Civic Center.  At the 1:30 mark there is a reference to a sadly classic Baltimore sports moment.

YouTube Preview Image

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Baltimore’s low-rise public housing policy needs drastic changes

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Someone has to come out and state the straight up truth: All of the 1960′s era and older low-rise public housing in Baltimore has to be demolished in order for the neighborhoods that these buildings currently exist in to flourish.

It is wrong for residents of Reservoir Hill like me to sit here and say we want Madison-Park North gone without saying that any complex like this one in Baltimore needs to be demolished. If we can not take it, then no neighborhood should have to take it. Before some of you try and attack me, please tell me how many facilities like this have you lived by before? How many have you set foot into in your life? I have dealt with Madison-Park North for 8 years and have also walked around similar complexes in Poppleton and McCulloh Homes. The mood at these places can range from depressing to scary. Taxpayers should not be funding facilities that contribute so much negativity to Baltimore.

The complexes are completely outdated and are in bad shape. They are not good for the residents, the neighbors of the complex, or the overall mood of the surrounding neighborhood. Who in their right mind would choose to live across the street from one of these places?

The obliteration of these human warehouses could help usher in an era of true public housing reform in Baltimore. The old complexes could be replaced with less dense accommodations that would be placed on city or state owned empty lots throughout the city. The residents would be given very good living spaces, but there would be a (fair) price to pay. Current rules over public housing would be strictly enforced instead of completely ignored. If you do drugs, harbor drug dealers, lie about who is living there, or have a hidden income that would disqualify you from vouchers/public housing then you will be kicked out.  One of the reasons that Baltimore public housing has become such a mess is because those who are supposed to be enforcing rules let just about anything happen at these places with little to no consequences.

Once these depressing eyesores have been removed then surrounding areas will be free to flourish in ways previously thought to be impossible. Values of neighboring homes will immediately go up because of the lack of horrible neighbors.

We need leaders who are politically brave enough to speak the awful politically incorrect truth about Baltimore’s low-rise public housing. Once the topic is part of the mainstream agenda we will be able to fix many of the problems in this city.

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My thoughts about the WBAL TV State Center story

Posted by ameister on Monday, March 14th, 2011

Last Tuesday night WBAL TV aired a story about the State Center project. You can watch it here.  I really do not like the overpriced rental aspect of this project. I think they should knock down all the buildings and rehire as few state workers as possible. They should try and relocate the remaining state workers to existing offices in Baltimore. The land should be used for housing, green space, and businesses. Since this is supposed to be a transit oriented development the tax payers should not be paying for an overpriced multimillion dollar parking garage. If someone wants to build even more office space downtown and their own garage then let them, but the tax payer should not be subsidizing it.

In order to make the new state center development viable (no matter what happens with the lawsuit and the new office buildings and garage) they will have to demolish McCulloh Homes.  McCulloh Homes is an outdated drug infested housing project that no logical resident, business, or investor would want to be located next to.  It is odd how this flawed aspect of the project (keeping McCulloh Homes is part of the plan) is never talked about. McCulloh Homes is not going to improve just because you build shiny new buildings across the street from it.

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Mayoral candidates talk about major property tax cuts while the current administration sends out late and flawed calendars

Posted by ameister on Friday, March 11th, 2011

Last Thursday I received the 2011 Baltimore City Public Works Calendar in the mail. One sixth of the year has already passed, but the city felt that we all needed a tax payer funded paper calendar.  I have always liked the  calendar, but I understand that in tight economic times we need to cut some projects. I have no idea why they decided to keep the calendar and why they sent it out two months late. If there were delays they should have rolled with the punches and told everyone to go online if they needed a DPW calender.

DPW is not exactly known for being efficient.

Not only is the calender late and a waste of money, it also has two major errors in it. There are blank spaces where April 26th and 29th should be. It is hard to believe that they could not have proofread this thing. It is not like they were in a rush to get it out.

In order for this city to be prosperous our leaders are going have to get rid of wasteful projects and positions and return the money saved from the elimination of these things to the tax payers in the form of property tax cuts. City Councilman Carl Stokes brought property taxes back into the spotlight with his most recent proposal in front of the City Council. Stokes wants to bring down the city tax rate to $1.10 per $100 by fiscal 2017. That is the same rate as Baltimore County. His proposal is very similar to the Walters/Miserendino plan. Stokes should have brought this up a year ago when he rejoined the city council. It is pretty obvious that he is talking about this now in order to bring attention to his mayoral bid. Since it is a very worthy issue I am not going to complain.

The following embarrassing quote is from soon to be retired second district councilman Nick D’Adamo:

“If you believe in the Tooth Fairy, you’ll believe in Carl Stokes’s plan”

D’Adamo should retire now. It will be a great day for Baltimore when do-nothing anti-innovative attitudes like his are gone from city council. Please go far away soon Nick.

It is important to note that Otis Rolley also wants to drastically cut property taxes. The Mayor seems to be the only mayoral candidate who does not want to think outside of the box and give major property tax reform a try.

I found the following property tax/election related quote on the Baltimore Sun message board:

“Baltimore needs a political enema, an outsider and Rolley is the closest viable candidate so far on the horizon – he’s educated, not from here, has a modern view of economics and development/planning, he’s black… Stokes has run before and we know what he has (and hasn’t). He’s a member of the machine here.”

Baltimore needs a political enema… so true!

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Madison-Park North will bring down Paul Graziano

Posted by ameister on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Last Tuesday Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano spoke at a Reservoir Hill Improvement Council meeting. The commissioner had some pretty depressing news about the Madison-Park North housing project. I have posted notes from that meeting (that can be found on the Reservoir Hill Google group) that were taken by citizen of Reservoir Hill below this post.

The commissioner is basically going back on everything he said at the August Madison-Park North multifamily dwelling license revocation news conference.  The commissioner will be unhappy to know that everything he said at the news conference can be viewed here.

Back in August Graziano opened up his speech by saying how horrible things were at Madison-Park North and everything that the city has tried over the years to fix the problem. He called the situation “Intolerable” and twice said “looks can be deceiving” when talking about how things might look OK to the naked eye, but in reality the situation at Madison-Park North is intolerable.

Looks can be deceiving- knocking down one building, planting some new trees, and getting a new slumlord owner may look nice, but Madison-Park North will still be as intolerable as ever. If the commissioner and mayor give in and do not proceed with the multifamily license revocation then we are going to be stuck with a mildly spruced up version of Madison-Park North for at least another generation! In August Graziano went on and on about how horrible Madison-Park North is, but now it appears everything that he said has been conveniently forgotten. I am so happy that his original thoughts can still be viewed here.

Why does Paul Graziano still have a job?

At the original news conference the mayor said we will not tolerate this type of criminal activity in Baltimore.  I am glad she thought this.  We are now facing a situation where if we allow a new slumlord to take over and make minor changes that we will be tolerating “this type of criminal activity in Baltimore”.

So did the commissioner really have a plan back in August or was he trying to show off in front of the cameras? Does the mayor have a long term plan for Madison-Park North and the housing department?

On March 15th mayoral candidate Otis Rolley is coming to Reservoir Hill to answer questions about his vision for Baltimore. I plan to personally ask Mr. Rolley if he plans to fire Paul Graziano and what he wants to happen to Madison-Park North.

The summary of Paul Graziano’s appearance at the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council meeting can be found below:

“Update on MPN from Commissioner Graziano:
- They are pretty far along in negotiations with a potential buyer of the complex.  The negotiations are not done, nor is it a done deal.
- The city wants to add conditions to the new buyer.
- I got the impression that Graziano wanted this sale to go through, as it gets him out of the difficult position of following through on the revocation of the multi-use license.  Ie, he is back peddling, as he doesn’t want the ongoing legal fight on this.
- The current conditions of the sale that are on the table (not formalized, he would not put in writing) are:
- Reduce the density from 220 units to 160.  ~20 of the the 160 be converted over time to market rate.
- The remaining 140 units would be section 8
- Beautify the property
- Remove some of the buildings for safety reasons (hence the decrease in units).
- Other superficial things.
- Sale may not go through it they put too many conditions on it.
- There was no mention of how the contract provisions would be enforced after a deal is signed.  (We all know how well the city enforces housing agreements — SCOPE, etc).  There was no mention of any resources to police the provisions.”

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