Last week, The Sound sat down with Mayor Cohen to get his perspective on the Market House Saga and to give him the opportunity to dispel the growing public perception that “something’s rotten in the [city] of Annapolis.” Today in our final question, we give the Mayor the opportunity to set the record straight on anything else related to the Market House.
Our goal at The Sound is to get the powers and people of Annapolis talking to each other about the issues facing our city. As always, tell us what you think – does the Mayor answer the question, does what he say make sense, and are you – the people of Annapolis – satisfied with what he says?
NOTE: all footage can be viewed in HD 720.
Question 1: Since last Thursday, The Sound has interviewed a majority of the City Council, citizens who submitted proposals for the Market House, and local business owners. The consensus from these groups is that there has been a lack of transparency from the current administration on the Market House proceedings. Can you speak to that?
Question 2: The companies that submitted proposals to the City have yet to get an official response as to their status. Can you shed any light on why they have yet to hear back as to whether or not they are still in the running?
NOTE: The Sound has attempted to contact all of the short-term/single-stall proposal makers to confirm that they have received notice from the City that they are no longer being considered. The six vendors that responded before deadline unanimously stated that they have received no communication from the City since making their presentations, and have made multiple attempts at contacting the City for response but have yet to hear back.
Question 3: Both Alderwoman Classie Hoyle and Sheila Finlayson stated that they had not received any updates as of [Monday] afternoon from the committee that they appointed in June to begin negotiations with four of the proposal makers. Were there attempts made to inform the Council how the process was going before your announcement [Monday night]?
Question 4: By our accounts, the City’s debt service on the Market House is currently around $20k a month. Assuming Bank of Annapolis, Atwater’s, and Vicaro’s are still paying rent, filling the Market House from the pool of short-term lease proposals would all but cover that debt. What is the drawback to having established local businesses cover that debt service and giving the people of Annapolis a guaranteed and structured voice in this process?
Question 5: On October 6th of last year during your campaign for Mayor, you publicly endorsed the Market House Group’s proposal for community governance of the Market House. Can you explain why publicly your administration has done a complete about-face after you so passionately supported community governance before taking office?
Question 6: How is assigning a long term lease to Jackson’s group going to invigorate local, independent businesses and, more importantly, isn’t the MH the perfect place to nurture a vibrant local independent business base governed by local stakeholders?
Question 7: Giving you the final word, is there anything else regarding the Market House that you’d like to respond to?
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I think we should all watch this and discuss :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORrXJ0SMHU
@youtube clip: Not only do taxpayers not know what has been going on financially (i.e. where the last $10 million went), but the City Council apparently doesn’t know either, as the last Council meeting revealed. Concerning then-Alderman Cohen’s stress on local business, I can’t wait to see how Lehr Jackson will or won’t bring local businesses into the Market House.
He says he wants to tap locals businesses and in other pre-election tapes he is always talking about how Annapolis is unique and that the Market house must reflect the needs and character of the the locals and so what does he do….Hires an out of towner who has been successful in other areas. Ruby Tuesdays is successful in other areas too, his reliance on Lehr Jackson is an easy way out— a McMarkethousing of Annapolis—like the Malling of America. Lehr will insert data into a program , compare it to comparable demographic profiles and out comes a McMarket House. Your latest piece by Dave Jones rings very true to me and Reynolds Tavern. We were soothed by the words of wisdom spoken by those that were interviewed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKQgDY0pZ68
Here at 1:50 — 3:09 Josh explains how “special” Annapolis is, and how his vision will guide him.
oops. sorry wrong link—
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g_0WQKlKck&feature=related
Here at 1:50 — 3:09 Josh explains how “special” Annapolis is, and how his vision will guide him.
I want to be Dorothy and find some slippers, click three times and repeat “I do not understand. I do not understand. I do not Understand.” and magically it will make sense.
I must need a new brain.
Maybe one thing someone should consider is that statement “people come to Annapolis for…and they expect…” or something along those lines.. They come here FOR those things because we have them already. Do you think they will stop coming if our new business focus is on the people who already came, settled, and stayed? The little market thingies this company has made are all cute and stuff but are they going to really become a bustling hub of a vibrant and diverse community? really??? It’s like a glorified upscale looking food court with a nice green wrapping. Bring in real locals, at least Maryland based and support the agricultural side of the state as well, and make it affordable and welcoming to all. That is diversity and is what is likely to become that magical Utopian hub we all want. All I hear is tourists have always been our main ingredient for the economy…well isn’t that broken? Build the community first, long term planning even if slow and possibly costly might BE necessary for true recovery but if you really want to do what you say, it NEEDS to start at home. People will always come, but lets support ourselves first. They will like it even more if we respect it. It’s a gorgeous, little town with so much character that never gets to flourish. Its charm is really lost now. I heard a tourist just a few weeks ago in passing comment to her companion “this is so much traffic and so crowded for a small town”
Give us stuff all residents can use all year long, Maryland based food shopping for example at non-tourist prices but that if supported may help revitalize our existing agriculture in this state. We are the capital. We should support our state. Then put a great deal of effort into promoting it to residents because it’s as much our responsibility to make it happen, we have to create businesses for us, then in turn support those businesses and then let everyone else come in and enjoy it for what it is. Every part of it is vital no matter whether it is your tastes, but we lose too much to a few high profile activities and attractions when as I said before, it’s already here and already incredible. Can’t flood it too much.
Let it be. They will always come, don’t we all know that? Isn’t that why WE are here? Isn’t it?
@Alex: If I understand you correctly, you are saying that tourism is secondary to building the local community by supporting local businesses. Is not tourism itself a local business that builds the local community? Maybe you mean that the products offered by local businesses (in this case the Market House) should be for locals, that the Market House should serve local customers, and that tourists will naturally go wherever locals go. In other words, there are enough businesses downtown that are attractive primarily to tourists (gift shops, upscale restaurants and specialty shops, jewelers, gift shops, naval art galleries, gift shops…), but locals have little reason to go downtown except for food and drink. Yes, that is certainly a valid point. The question then is: What kind of businesses would serve Annapolitans well in the Market House? You suggest MD-based foods at non-tourist prices. The last city administration tried a farmer’s market that failed within a year. What exactly do you have in mind, and do you see Mayor Cohen and Lehr Jackson heading in the direction you are thinking of?
I am sorry I did not see this reply until now, I have registered to maybe better keep up-it’s hard to keep up on what is really going on. Yes, that is what I mean to say and no I do not see these plans as making a difference. The plans for the Market House look like a glorified food court to me…and expensive. I am well aware of the fact that the city residents at large do not come here and I am not sure it is really the government who needs to make that change-it is the residents themselves but it could be made more accessible to all which in my view would encourage that change. I live right downtown and to me I find it frustrating that I cannot get groceries, affordable clothing, general goods here. When I see farmer’s markets here they tend to seem far more expensive than in other cities I have visited. I hear a great deal of griping from residents about their taxes and wanting the government to fix things and RIGHT NOW…I think that it will take a great deal of gathering our city back into a hometown, I’m not sure how exactly but I rarely see our leaders come back at those who are complaining to get up and make it happen as well. Right now I get stuck in a town flooded with people who are rude and do not seem to treat it like a home town community. I can’t leave my house many days and all weekends during the summer if I need to go to the store-I try to walk everywhere but where could I go to get groceries down here? To me it has been a slow erosion of a very small town self sustaining community that then dies in the winter. It is not a city center. My family has been here for centuries and has watched everything that our beloved town once was slip away every year. We are not the new Annapolitans who moved here in the last 20 years who contribute to the big rise in prices, we struggle with the costs of repairs in a market that is driven by million dollar home owners. Yet you have never and will never hear us at a meeting complaining that our taxes are too high but we would really like to see the funds go to rebuilding the community, creating a place people come to work and play ALL year long. To cut services and yet propose building more large scale tourist draws seems to me unsustainable. We are going to build a huge monstrous Sailing Hall of Fame with city dollars-hoping to draw in more people yet where are you going to get the police to handle the increased crowds? Living down here is pure hell in the summer, to me a nice weekend day just means I will be locking myself in my home, unable to move my car to go anywhere for fear I can’t easily just come home, unwilling to walk through crowds who walk aimlessly 4 abreast on our rather wide sidewalks who run me into the road. Motorcycles that shake my whole house, this city never builds up the “white noise” of a true large city-it is a SMALL TOWN. People peeing on my front porch or even better leaving beer bottles full of pee for me…so sweet. A new ATM across the street that I can hear beeping inside my home even with AC on. VERY few places I could afford to shop-and really most people I know could not-or should not if their income is not much higher than the majority of residents of the whole city. To me the city wants to keep those people out. WE are those people. We have been here for so long and believe me have sacrificed a great deal to stay. It’s a sore spot for me when I hear my mother ever say she will sell our home, the one many of us were born in and died in, where I was married in the parlor, the home my mother has spent her life and all of her heart preserving…just to tell me-it’s no use-it will never change.
I will go out of my way to buy things that I do need from merchants downtown…specifically those who have been here 20+ years. If I can buy it here I do…I make it a priority, what is sad is that I rarely find anything I need or can afford here. I do everything I can to avoid big box stores and chains. I pay that tiny bit more to buy here-and in many ways it means I spend less overall-since those stores are often designed to get people to buy more with the lure of a “low price” but they end up often buying more than they need. If there is a way to shop here I do, but really there is little of basic goods here. I’ve enjoyed many more services and variety in other cities I have visited. I could in many of these walk to all of the things I need right in town. Can anyone do their school clothes shopping down here…no.
To use an over priced farmer’s market as an example of actually serving the greater population I feel is not fair. The residents with a family of 4 making 70k and less are obviously NOT going to support it if you do not create anything for them to use. That IS my demographic. My family which is representative of what Annapolis has always been is being driven out…and we are one of the very last of long term residents like us. They are not the ones who are going to speak out either, they feel there is no point, the big bucks always win, and we DO have a history of that running us into the ground. You can’t just make more of the same upscale businesses and expect the city to sustain it-and what happens if the country’s economy makes it such that the tourists cannot come, they need to save money too…what happens then if we do not change our perspective towards one of inclusion of all who live here instead of catering to a very elite few. I’d like to see second hand shops-with household goods and clothing, and I do not mean upscale “vintage”. for one thing. If the poorest in our city cannot shop here then it is not sustainable in my view.
I do not mean to hijack this post but I’d like to find a good attorney in Las Vegas Nevada and I cant figure out how to find one. Do you have any info on this attorney? They’re based out of Las Vegas not too far from my apartment. I cannot find reviews on them – Burdman & Coston, 8440 W Lake Mead Blvd # 100, Las Vegas NV 89128 – (702) 387-2400