This is the continuation of my blog entry "What if there was no Charles Village
Community Benefits District (CVCBD)?
And, what is it anyway?
Part I. What is the Charles Village
Community Benefits (CVDBD) and where did the CVCBD come from? was posted
on Sunday, May 6th, 2012
Part II. How the CVCBD is run?
was posted on Sunday, May13, 2012
Part III. What does the CVCBD do? was
posted on Monday, May 21. 2012
----------------
Part IV
– If you are wondering "Why don't I get any
services" I think you'll understand the reasons when you read below
"What would happen if it was to cease operations,
if there was no CVCBD?"
A. What would happen if there was no CVCBD is
that very little would change in terms of losing services because:
the most we
get now from the Charles Village Community Benefits District for its almost ¾
million dollar a year budget (our surtax money and some donations such as from
JHU which doesn't have to pay the surtax although they own a large swath of
land in Charles Village
Unfortunately,
many other businesses do not do this although they are required by City
ordinances to keep their areas litter free.
It is the City's requirement that property owners keep ½ of the
street(s) around their properties clean and free from debris and ice. If businesses and business property owners do not wish to comply with City regulations by cleaning the streets in front of their establishments themselves, then they
should run a business benefits district as many cities do, paying for and running it themselves. The same goes for those
in the business of renting out their properties whether for commercial
establishments or multi-unit dwellings. Why should
resident homeowners have to pay for the work absentee landlords ignore? Basically that's what we are paying for
through our Benefits District surtax. A homeowner recently suggested that the CVCBDMA abolish
its so called "sanitation" services, and instead aggressively work to
have the City fine those property owners who don't comply with City sanitation
ordinances.
B. What would happen if there was no CVCBD is
that we would not have to pay for a Benefits District that breaks its enabling legislation
as the CVCBD has done through the years:
by
employing individuals who reside outside the City of Baltimore
by preparing
and voting on annual budgets prior to entering "into a memorandum of
understanding with the Mayor of the City regarding the level of services to be
maintained by the City annually (the "Baseline City Agreement") as is
required by the law so as not to charge a surtax for duplicating services; and
in this regard
by
repeatedly depriving area residents of City services that the rest of the City
gets, by duplicating such services themselves.
(This flies in the face of the legal promise of the City Code's
Agreement in the CVCBD's enabling legislation to have "Baseline City
by putting
ineligible people into Board voting seats, in total disregard for the City Code
that specifically state that "A voting member of the Board must be
eligible to vote in the election [original referendum]" (which that
eligibility is twofold – (1) owners of property within the District which is
subject to the tax and (2) voters registered to vote within the District);
by being
ridiculously presumptive of the enabling legislation in attempting to change
this voting eligibility by way of changes to their bylaws rather than by
changing the actual legislation. (The
CVCBDMA absurdly used bylaw changes last year to bypass what would have been
legally required for such a change, most
likely because new State and City laws would have had to have been enacted and
the CVCBD might never stand the test of another referendum);
by often
allowing voting seats on the Board to be filled by individuals supposedly
representing the legislatively named "constituent organizations"
while the named organizations were/are dormant and had/have no constituents as
required by the City Code;
C. What would happen if there was no CVCBD is
that the community involvement and volunteerism would very likely increase
because:
the CVCBD
and its controlled and undemocratic methods in which the CVCBDMA decided to
handle itself all these years has diminished community involvement (The CVCBD has trouble filling positions and
seats on the Board of director and has problems with gaining quorums for
issues requiring a Board vote);
the CVCBD has
discouraged community and business volunteers because of endless and
meaningless committees, meetings and self-promotion (Because the CVCBD cannot easily
fill seats on the Board, the Board had to make changes in the new bylaws so that the the hired Administrator
("Executive Director") who does not live in the District, can now fill the Executive Committee seats of
Secretary and Treasurer of the Board);
the CVCBD
replicates what were CVCA programs and projects and people who are paying for
services don't want to volunteer for jobs they are paying to have done;
the CVCBD runs questionable Quad
Elections that have resulted in problematic outcomes rather than open elections respectful of community people willing to honestly run for these seats on the
Board;
of years
of attempting to change the enabling legislation by way of changes to its
bylaws, which is strictly forbidden by both City and State laws (Why should
community people wish to work with a Board that strips away original
protections granted by the enabling legislation?);
over the
years the CVCBD Board developed so many programs and committees to address
aspects of the CVCBD's services and responsibilities and, when these programs
and committees are not successful, they are resurrected every two or three years
with the same lack of success (These committees become a waste of time and take
up a lot of precious community volunteer time that would be better utilized
through REAL volunteer Community Associations).
D. What would happen without a CVCBD is that the
Community of Greater Charles
Village
The rifts
between neighbors, brought upon in good part by the fact that a group of
like-minded individuals hold very close reigns over a non-democratically elected governmental agency that has the power to put one's home in jeopardy by way of
its taxation, can be repaired. Community
associations can return to helping the residents, keeping City regulations intact
and bettering the area for all who live here.
The business associations can again address their differing issues likewise,
as an independent group rather than as part of a political football of a "Community"
Benefits District rather than a "Business" Benefits District.
No comments:
Post a Comment