Citizens For Greater Centreville

May 17, 2011

(CTA is incorporated as a citizen?focused non?profit entity to disseminate and share information that impacts the quality of life, stability and prosperity of our community. Members of the Steering Committee are: Liz Draper Brice, Fred McNeil, Mary Roby, Sarah Berlin, Michael Olson, Donald Braden and Dick Smith.)

LET US RECOGNIZE GOOD WORKS OF PRO?BUSINESS ADVOCATES!

As has been proven many times in many communities across America, the health and success of local businesses translate to the health and success of the residents in those communities. As our businesses grow and prosper, jobs are created; tax receipts for local jurisdictions increase; municipal services expand and improve; and residents find increasing opportunities to buy locally and support their neighborhood businesses.
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The petition, located at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/centreville_low_income_housing, asks for the Town Council and the County Commissioners to rescind their support and/or concessions for the proposed low-income housing projects. Here is a link to a short presentation about various issues associated with low-income housing if you need more convincing.

SOME EASING OF QAC BUDGET PRESSURES

At today’s QAC meeting of the county commissioners, the Task Force on Government Sustainability, charged with finding alternatives for meeting a projected budget deficit of over $21 million, presented details from various county agencies as they wrapped up their work of the past two months. Once the task force completed their report, commissioners were told by county staff that the projected deficit was now $11.3 million, or a reduction in initial estimates of $9.7 million.
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At their March 22, 2011 meeting, the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners resolved to become co-developers and co-owners of a 59-unit low or limited income housing project by making a loan of $2,000,000 and approving a Payment In Lieu of Taxes reducing the real estate taxes by $11,800 per year. The housing project know as Riverwoods at Centreville will be located at the Spring Street right off of Little Kidwell Ave.

Click here for a copy of the resolution.

In a ruling sure to be welcomed by Marylanders with sloppy pensmanship, the Court of Appeals has decided that petition signatures need not be legible to be valid.

“We hold that a signature on a petition for referendum is but one component of the voter’s identity that is to be considered in the validation process,” the majority opinion of state’s highest court says. “… An illegible signature, on its own, does not preclude validation.”
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A Marion County judge has ruled, for the first time in Indiana, that news media outlets can be ordered by the court to reveal identifying information about posters to their online forums.

In rulings this week and last week, Marion Superior Court Judge S.K. Reid became the first judge in Indiana to rule on whether the state journalism shield law protects media outlets from being forced to disclose names of anonymous posters on their websites or other identifying information about those posters, said Kevin Betz, an attorney for Jeffrey Miller, former chief executive of Junior Achievement of Central Indiana.

The rulings came in a defamation lawsuit Miller filed last year. He is seeking to broaden the list of defendants in his case to include people who criticized him anonymously last year on websites run by The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Business Journal and WRTV (Channel 6).
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