Stephen Gewirtz, a former Board Member of the CVCBDMA and current Court Reporter on crimes important to our neighborhood has offered up this commentary on an article posted in the Charles Villager, which we believe is important to the neighborhood and quoted hereunder:

Page 5 of the Charles Villager that I just received today contains a piece by David Hill entitled: "CVCBD Seeks Rate Increase for Services."  It is basically a description of the presentation by CVCBD at its March 27 public hearing on its financial plan (budget).  It omits any mention of the response from the residents of Charles Village who attended the public hearing.



If your only information about the public hearing is that propaganda piece, you will not be aware that an alternate financial plan was presented by Christian and Pamela Wilson and myself at the public hearing.  Under that plan, the entire CVCBD budget would be used to hire off duty Baltimore City police officers to patrol in pairs 24/7 in addition to the regular patrols by Northern District.  The officers of CVCBD would have the job of signing the contract for the police officers, using the services of BWI Management to actually hire the officers just as CVCBD proposed in its plans to hire two to four officers for 12 hours per week.  Our plan would require no tax rate increase and would not depend on any grants.  And our neighborhood would no longer be Trashcan Village.


We call our plan 24 / 7 x 2, i.e. two police officers 24/7.  Below, I have  reproduced what we handed out at the public hearing.


Let me note that at the time of the 1994 referendum on the creation of CVCBD, we were promised by its proponents that we would have 24/7 security patrols, and we were promised only a minimal sanitation program.  What we now have and what is proposed for the coming fiscal year is a far cry from what was promised.


Let me also note that the proponents of CVCBD spoke a great deal about a murder of a business man on the 2400 block of St. Paul St.  They said that that murder had demonstrated the need for CVCBD, and for years the CVCBD  website referred to that murder as the impetus for the creation of CVCBD.  After the creation of CVCBD, there were 6 murders in Harwood, and we heard nothing from CVCBD.  There were additional murders elsewhere in Charles Village, and we heard nothing from CVCBD until the tragic murder of Stephen Pitcairn on July 25, 2010 on the 2600 block of St. Paul St.  At the time of that murder, we had no security patrols from CVCBD, and until July 1, we will still have no security patrols despite the fact that there have been murders in Charles Village since that murder.


It is time for CVCBD to get serious about fighting crime.  Having two off duty police officers patrolling together 24/7 in Charles Village is the way to do that.  And we homeowners can take care of sweeping our sidewalks and alleys as we are required by law to do.  And absentee landlords can hire people to sweep their sidewalks and alleys in order to meet their legal obligations.  We do not need a nanny state CVCBD to do what we are legally required to do for ourselves.




Steve






The Goal: 24 / 7 x 2
i. e. patrols by 2 off duty police officers 24 / 7.


Using cost figures from CVCBD’s proposed and alternate budget, we can cost it out.  CVCBD proposes to employ BWI Management, LLC to handle the hiring of off duty police officers for a flat fee of $550 per month or $6,600 per year and estimates an average of $35 per hour for each police officer.  Thus, we calculate:


Start with one 6-hour overnight patrol, or 6 / 7 x 2:
365 days x 6 hours per day x $35 per hour = $153,300.
Add the flat fee of $6,600 for a total of $159,900.


Add a 6-hour evening patrol, or 12 / 7 x 2:
365 days x 12 hours per day x $35 per hour = $306,600.
Add the flat fee of $6,600 for a total of $313,200.


Add a 6-hour midday patrol, or 18 / 7 x 2:
365 days x 18 hours per day x $35 per hour = $459,900.
Add the flat fee of $6,600 for a total of $466,500.


Add a 6-hour morning patrol, of 24 / 7 x 2:
365 days x 24 hours per day x $35 per hour = $613,200.
Add the flat fee of $6,600 for a total of $619, 800.


Note that the anticipated surtax revenue with the present surtax rate of 0.12% for FY2013 is $676, 530.  If 24 / 7 x 2 is adopted, this leaves $56,730 for CVCBD to use for other purposes.  And CVCBD can also use the $20,000 its proposed budgets anticipate taking from its reserve fund.  Also, there is money in the Charles Village Community Foundation that derives from the sale of 2301 North Charles Street.  Our surtax money was used to make the mortgage payments (principal and interest) on that building, and the profit from the sale, approximately $100,000, should belong to CVCBD.




Sincerely,
Stephen J. Gewirtz
Christian Wilson
Pamela Wilson