Spreading green cheer among "Friends"
Watch for Gov. Martin O'Malley to propose tightening state laws regulating shoreline development along Chesapeake Bay and the removal of trees when the General Assembly convenes in January. Those were among the more concrete pledges the governor made when he spoke last night to an enthusiastic crowd of environmentalists and smart-growth advocates at the 10th anniversary gala of 1000 Friends of Maryland.
"Our Critical Area law was the best thing we could do," O'Malley said of the shoreline development regulations pushed through in 1984 by Gov. Harry Hughes. As with most legislation, O'Malley added, it was "a product of consensus and compromise. Our people expect a lot more than a law that was the product of the 1970s can provide." (I think he meant to say 1980s; or maybe I misheard him - a momentary hallucination from hunger, having been obliged to sip water while others dined, for eithical reasons.)
O'Malley also vowed to propose changes to the Forest Conservation Act, a law pushed through by another of his predecessors, William Donald Schaefer. O'Malley said the law needs tightening "to replace what we've lost through sprawl."
The governor said his administration is working on a "sustainable forestry" initiative, and he signaled his willingness to push for more state actions to combat climate change.
"Things have to change," he said. "It's not true that all growth generates needed tax revenue .... It's not true we have to grow or die. It's not true that undeveloped land is just a waste."
Such rhetoric was music to the hundreds of activists, officials and developers (yes, some of the 1000 Friends are builders and developers.)
Interestingly, though he was speaking to the converted in decrying the ills of sprawl, one pledge O'Malley didn't make last night was to propose specific revisions to the state's 10-year-old Smart Growth laws. He's previously said they need tightening. He even invited Smart Growth's architect, former Gov. Parris N. Glendening, to arrange a two-day, closed-door skull session with his cabinet on how to do a better job of managing growth.
O'Malley did vow last night to "stop making state investments that actually chase bad local decisions." And he suggested that "we need to do a much better job of calculating the true costs of growth," to identify what's economically sustainable and what's not.
In almost the next breath, he mentioned the "opportunities" presented by military base realignment, which by some projections could bring upwards of 45,000 jobs and 28,000 families to Maryland. He's expected to propose new funding and legislation to pave the way for that influx, though in this case economists have projected that the new jobs and people will more than refill the state and local tax coffers in years to come.
An O'Malley administration official said later that he is still committed to Smart Growth reform, but intends to put off pushing for it until 2009 - to give officials more time to flesh out proposals.
Whatever the case, he said enough of what the crowd wanted to hear to get a standing ovation. He also got a plaque honoring what he's done so far to push environmental protections and reinvigorate the state's Smart Growth efforts, which many activists believe had been all but abandoned under O'Malley's immediate predecessor, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich.
Missing amid all the praise for O'Malley was any mention of the Inter-County Connector, the controversial Washington area highway that galls so many environmentalists and smart-growth advocates. For all his other green cred, O'Malley has been a staunch supporter of the highway, and joined with the federal government in defeating a lawsuit by environmentalists seeking to block the project.
Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends, said she had planned to make a wisecrack about the connector in her remarks last night before the governor's speech, but thought better of it.
"I know there are many here that disagree with me on that," O'Malley said of the ICC when approached after his speech. Asked how he squared the highway with his support of Smart Growth, he paused, then said, "It's more in the spirit of catching up on the mistakes of the past." Asked if he'd stuck with the project because he felt it would be too difficult to back out of the state's commitment to the project, revived by Ehrlich, he paused again, and said, "Yes."
O'Malley did say he expected to steer more funding to mass transit, thanks to the $400 million that the General Assembly earmarked at his request for transportation from the tax-increase package he pushed through in the special session just finished.
The governor wasn't the only one getting "attaboys'' at the 1000 Friends gala, despite doing things that have disappointed or angered the faithful. Another public official praised last night was Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, who despite other steps he's taken to promote green building and the like presided over the Baltimore regional transportation board's approval of a long-range transportation plan that many advocates complain slights transit.
Whatever the differences with O'Malley and others, last night's celebration evidently was not the politic time to air them. Instead it was a time for activists to honor and encourage a governor whose heart, judging by his rhetoric, seems to be with them, even if all his actions aren't.
Comments
The Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Program is a fantastic method by which to mitigate the impacts of development. I had the pleasure of implementing this program for a jurisdiction in Maryland for nearly four years. While it is by no means perfect (waaay too many looholes and allowances) it is a step in the right direction. While this law only applies to the first 1000 feet of land from the edge of tidal waters, it manages to address the impacts to an area that is considered to be the last line of defense from water-borne pollutants trapped in stormwater. We need to expand this regulation, or create other very similar regulations, that we can apply to the entire state.
Posted by: Nick | December 5, 2007 9:50 AM