06/27/01
EDITORIAL

It was with interest I read your article about the Joppa Road corridor study advisory group. Now it is with disgust I write this letter. Can somebody tell me why Nancy Hastings, who no longer lives in Baltimore County, is on this committee? ... Frank Kasick of Oak Crest, as well as Mike McCormick, the executive director of Oak Crest are on the committee? Their interest is to get a bus route on Joppa Road. Dorothy Foos, a resident of Kingsville, is on the committee? True, she is on the planning board and probably uses Joppa Road at times, but does she really care about Joppa Road residents all the way from Perring Parkway to Belair Road? And then we have another Kingsville neighbor, John Gontrum. I would suspect his interest is how much money he will make off clients wanting zoning variances and exceptions for their signs and property.

Ruth Baisden is not on this committee? The Baisden's only interest is to keep their community viable and liveable. She has, as far as I know, no financial gains to make, except to keep our property values intact. Could it be she is an embarrassment to Joe Bartenfelder and Dutch Ruppersberger because she doggedly took her case against Poor Boy's to court and won? I would hope Mr. Bartenfelder would rise above petty politics. But then again, when can we expect when this band of little men went about redistricting the way they did. The balance of this committee is strictly on the business end or only interested in getting property rezoned. The Woodcroft representative was "disinvited" and the Cub Hill Association, as far as I know, hasn't met in years.

We must have a better balance on this committee in order to have true representation of the communities that will be affected by this study. Right now, I see only Mike Rupp of Carney and David Marks of Perry Hall who are acting on behalf of our neighborhoods for purely unselfish reasons. Now, can you tell me how two votes will protect the surrounding communities interest?

Dorothy S. McMann, Perry Hall