Why Exactly is the City in a Budget Deficit? The Mayor Explains
In his latest video message, the mayor lays out exactly why the city is facing such an extraordinary shortfall that exceeds $9 million. This was the basis of his public budget forum presentations this week. The mayor addressed the need to cut spending, focusing on layoffs and reduced city services. He will propose his budget to City Council on Monday night.
For more details about what the mayor discussed at the budget forums, go to www.annapolis.gov and click on 2010-2011 Budget Report under REPORTS.
Mayor Offers Update on City Council Action on Budget, Energy Park, Liquor Licenses
In this week’s video update, the Mayor discusses budget preparations and focuses on what will and won’t be in the budget when it’s presented to the City Council. To this end, he addresses the difficult decision of eliminating jobs. The Mayor invites residents to attend one of two budget forums he is hosting to hear from residents about their priorities for government spending.
The Mayor also offers an update on the Annapolis Renewable Energy Park proposal, an initiative from the previous administration, that would create a new facility at the Defense Highway landfill to leverage alternative forms of energy.
And finally, the Mayor has an update on the latest installment of Annapolis’ “Bar Wars.”
Mayor Lays Out Next Phase of the City’s Snow Removal Plan
After crews completed the task over the extended holiday weekend of making all city roads passable, Mayor Cohen has announced the next phase of his snow removal plan: create space to allow for parking along Snow Emergency Routes and residential streets and accommodate trash and recycling pickup.
To that end, Mayor Cohen has laid out the following timeline:
Crews will clear all Snow Emergency Routes curb to curb by 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 18
Parking restriction along Snow Emergency Routes will be lifted as of 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 18
The free-parking period at city garages for city residents will end at 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 18
As previously stated, trash and recycling service will resume on Thursday, Feb. 18
Check out the Mayor’s latest video message below. He explains his objectives and addresses residents’ frustrations about the snow removal process:
As always, let us know what you think in the comments sections.
Mayor Gives Progress Report
Check out Friday’s video message from Mayor Josh Cohen about the status of the city’s snow removal efforts just days after the city was hit with an estimated 42 inches of snow. With more than 40 machines at its disposal, the City is attacking side streets and cul-de-sacs across Annapolis to make roads passable.
The pace of the removal effort is certainly quickening as the city continues to add contractors to the city’s fleet. The Emergency Snow Routes were made passable on Thursday. The Snow Connector Routes were made passable on Friday. Also Friday: Half of the city’s residential roads were made passable.
Please remember: Crews are trying to make streets “passable,” which is not the same as clear down to bare pavement. As the Mayor wrote on Monday, there’s simply too much packed snow and ice on the streets to do more. We want to remove enough snow so roads are traversable. That strategy is allowing crews to cover more streets more quickly than they would otherwise.
Feel free to leave a comment. Thank you.
Mayor: Thank you for your comments
Posted by Phill McGowan on February 12, 2010 · 4 Comments
Josh wanted me to pass along that he appreciates your comments about the City’s snow removal efforts. He obviously has not had time to respond to each one, but please know that he and other city officials have read them all. Much of what you’ve written has helped guide our response during this extraordinary period.
Please keep the comments coming. And if you have a chance, check out the Mayor’s Friday video message to get the latest progress report on snow removal. Thank you.
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