Here's some random news and happenings that might interest you all. CVCA
Congratulations to all the officers of the CVCA whose election was officially ratified at the meeting this week. (There was no quorum for elections, so the result was not official until ratification.) Hey, Sarah! I can say I voted for you, even though I missed the elections meeting! A speaker from the State Dept. of Assessments and Taxation explained that the City of Baltimore caps the increase in the taxable assessment base on your primary residence to four percent per year. Applying the Rule of 72, that means if the assessed value of your house doubles (which many of us are seeing), it will take the City eighteen years to catch up with that. That's quite a discount. I didn't realize this having gone through only one assessment. The last assessment came in the year after we bought our house, so we didn't qualify for the City's cap on the increase -- that applies only if you've been in your residence for at least a year. To any former residents of the Golden State, this is like a mild (and fiscally more responsible) Proposition 13 (the old one from the 70s, not the new one since they renumbered). Note that the State has no such cap, but their tax rate is much smaller than the City, so it's not a significant portion of the tax bill. Incidentally, there was an interesting talk recently at the Baltimore Ethical Society by Matt Gardner, the State Tax Policy Director at Citizens for Tax Justice. CTJ studies the fairness of tax burdens in states. Despite the fact that Maryland is a rather "blue" state, our state has one of the flattest tax structures in the country. Images It's official -- Alice Brock will not renew her lease on Images when it expires in June. If you're a patron of Images, you probably saw this coming. Alice's sales have been weak, she hasn't been able to restock merchandise, she's running up debt, and she's been pretty unhappy about how things are going in general. Images has a special role in Charles Village because in my experience it's the only place you can just walk in and find yourself in a public space where you're likely to meet people interested in community affairs. Alice agrees with me on this, but she told me that she only sells an average of $25 worth of coffee per day and can't see how you make money off a meeting space. I find it ironic that a large corporate chain like Starbucks seems to be able to do this better than Donna's or XandO's. A Starbucks is more likely to arrange their shop so that there is a large space with chairs and small tables at the front of the store with the counter sitting further back. XandO's is somewhat cramped near the front. When you walk in from 31st Street, you run right into the bar or the coffee counter. Donna's is similar having very little space at the front. Neither shop welcomes people to just hang around and chat. Hargrove House An inside source (whose initials are J.S. ;-) ) reports that Hargrove House is under contract for a prive in the low 400 thousand range. This is the residence of the McCarty's at Calvert and 29th (?). Mack McCarty passed away a few years ago, you may recall. His widow will move to the Carriage House and will keep part of the garden -- so I expect we'll still see her trimming rose bushes. Doug Munro I haven't seen Doug Munro in ages -- has anybody seen him around? He's the head of the Calvert Institute. Back when I did Neighborhood Walking, I used to walk with him a lot. The Wire Joel and Sarah continue to graciously allow Kathleen and me to watch The Wire at their house on Sunday nights. Did you know that our former Police Commissioner Ed Norris plays a homicide detective on the show? (a minor recurring part) His character has a notable quote from the first season, speaking about weak leadership in the BCPD: "I'd give half my overtime pay for a Commissioner that can clean up this mess" (or something like that). I wonder why he hasn't been back for later seasons? Could it be because he's doing time? There is such irony in that quote. See you around, --Emil -- Emil Volcheck [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://acm.org/~volcheck _______________________________________________ Chat mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://charlesvillage.info/mailman/listinfo/chat_charlesvillage.info
