More Hillock Coverage

 

I'm the guy in the middle

There’s already been plenty of media coverage involving the Wooded Hillock issue on the University of Maryland campus.  There was another article in the Prince Georges County Gazette today, and I was fortunate enough to be in the picture the photographer took.  I’m going to post the article below.  Just to give an insider’s update, the current issue is still that the university is open to considering other sites, but right now they are moving forward as if they’re going to develop the Hillock.  I have a feel that will change considering the Prince George’s County Council is going to have a thing or two to say regarding the Hillock before they approve the East Campus development.  If you look at the first link I provided, you’ll find a way to contact the council and influence their decision.  A welcome shift in stance would be the university to start looking for an alternate location site on their own, rather than passing the buck to students that are trying to hold them accountable, but don’t have anywheres near the resources available to do a thorough analysis of alternite sites that the university would seriously consider.

 

Students to meet with UM officials over East Campus debate

School, critics clash over plan to bulldoze nine acres

by David Hill | Staff Writer

Administration officials at the University of Maryland, College Park will meet Wednesday with students concerning the school’s controversial plan to remove nine acres of on-campus forest to make room for its East Campus project.

The university is scheduled to level nine acres of a 22-acre wooded hillock behind Comcast Center to clear space for mailing and vehicle maintenance facilities that will be displaced by the $900 million project, which will bring housing and retail shops to the area on Route 1, across from the campus’ main entrance.

Students, faculty and environmental groups have criticized the move, calling it contradictory to the university’s environmentally-friendly image. On Friday, about 25 students and faculty picketed an on-campus ceremony honoring the school as an arboretum and botanical garden.

“The university’s really being two-faced,” said Phil Hannam, a 22-year-old senior at the school. “Making a statement like that publicly but then in our own backyard chopping down one of the last remaining spots of forest on campus.”

Three of the students who led the protest, Davey Rogner, Joanna Calabrese and Hannam, two days earlier declined to attend a May 6 meeting with Ann Wylie, the university’s vice president of administrative affairs. The three said they sent her a letter on May 1 voicing their concerns but received no reply.

“We wanted to get a response from them before we went,” said Calabrese, 21, senior vice president of the school’s Student Government Association.

University officials defended the plan, saying they appointed a committee that carefully considered 12 sites from 2005 to 2007 before choosing the hillock, which they said offered the best combination of cost, proximity to campus, low visibility and minimal environmental impact.

“What we have done is try to balance a number of very difficult issues and come up with an optimum solution,” said Frank Brewer, the school’s associate vice president of facilities management.

Some critics argued that the university made its decision with little to no student or faculty input and should re-open the selection process, which they believe was incomplete and too heavily driven by cost.

“I think they need to find an alternative to that site … my suggestion is they find a parking lot on which to build those facilities,” said Jack Sullivan, a professor of landscape architecture at the university who attended the May 6 meeting and Friday’s protest.

When Rogner and Calabrese spoke before the College Park City Council April 28, they proposed a series of compromises that the university could make if it chooses to proceed in bulldozing the hillock. These included restoring 18 acres of forest elsewhere in Prince George’s County, improving water quality in on-campus creeks and protecting the remaining 13 acres of wooded hillock.

Wylie said that while she is “doubtful” that a new site will ultimately be selected, she is still inviting the plan’s critics to offer alternate solutions.

“I’m not going to close the door,” Wylie said. “They have to find something this committee did not find.”

E-mail David Hill at dhill@gazette.net.

Bought Out

What could be inside?

I made a post a few weeks ago about how anti-global warming lobbyists from big industry were corrupting capitol hill in 2008 in order to block legislation.  There are already indicators that with the stakes so high this year, last year will look pretty.  

According to Kate Sheppard of Grist, dirty energy interests have spent 79 million dollars in the first quarter of 2009 lobbying Congress.  That’s not all…

“According to the latest lobbying data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, the oil and gas industry spent nearly $44.6 million lobbying Congress in just the first three months of this year, and ranked second only to the health care and pharmaceutical industries in total spending. Electric utilities spent $34.4 million, and businesses in the energy and natural resources sector as a whole spent $102.7 million.  To find out how much clean-energy businesses spent, you have to search down into the “miscellaneous energy” category, which includes wind, solar, biofuels, hydro, and other industries—and even then their combined spending only totaled $14.4 million. The American Wind Energy Association was the biggest renewable spender in that category, at $1.2 million. No other organization or company in the category topped $1 million.  Environmental groups have spent even less—just $4.7 million so far in 2009. The biggest spender among green groups was the Environmental Defense Action Fund, which laid out $300,000.  Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a staunch opponent of climate action, tops the list of individual spenders on all issues, at $15.5 million. Also on that list:  ExxonMobil at $9.3 million, Chevron at $6.8 million, ConocoPhillips at $6 million, and General Electric at $4.8 million.”

According to Brad Johnson of Wonk Room, the Democratic members of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee that have received the most money from dirty energy interests coincidentally are opposed to climate legisltion…

“Members of Markey’s energy and environment subcommittee with strong ties to those sectors include Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA: $50,942 from steel), Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN: $113,033 from auto), Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT: $177,946 from coal), and Rep. Gene Green (D-TX: $330,613 from oil). The trade publication E&E News has identified 13 members of the 34-member subcommittee as swing votes. These “maybe” officials have received an average of $678,570 in lifetime contributions from those sectors, as opposed to $149,397 for the nine “yes” votes:”              

Here is a great graph which illustrates the problem quite well

and another one on lifetime contributions…the color code tells the story, and I can’t help but notice the strongest opponent, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas has taken nearly $3.5 million.

                                                                                                                       

All of this is an example of why there needs to be serious campaign finance reform.  

Here’s A Reality Check

OK…this post is me jumping on my soapbox. I very rarely do it but I have to get this off my chest.  I am going to say it as plain and simple as possible. I am sick and tired of people complaining about the economy. I am not an expert on the economy. All I know is what the mainstream media is telling me via, news channels, magazines, and the internet. The focus of the news lately has been the horrible state of the economy and the recession. All the talk is about layoffs, bankruptcies, government takeovers, bear markets, retirement savings, etc. 80-90% of us have no business complaining about our economy. I do want to say that I understand that people have been laid off and/or have lost their homes. My heart and condolences do go out to those people. This post is not aimed at you and you actually have a right to complain!

I have seen a few recent articles in business journals and magazines about customers haggling businesses for bargains because they got laid off.  This infuriated me because this speaks immensely to the GIGANTIC sense of entitlement we as Americans have. Hell, our recessions are like most countries wealthy periods! Stop, and think about that for just a second.

We are a nation of massive wealth. What I mean by wealth is almost all of us have homes, clothes, food and cars. Hell we pay for gas to put in those cars no matter what the cost per gallon is. Most of us can buy or rent movies and go out to dinner here and there. Basically, we as Americans and consumers are SPOILED ROTTEN! We are the bratty rich kids of the world.

We don’t have to walk for miles with tubs of water on our heads just to have something to drink. We aren’t crapping in holes in the ground. We don’t have to walk or bike 10 to 20 miles to work every day. We don’t have to care for our entire extended family that all lives in a small apartment or hut away from advanced society. We don’t fear military airstrikes at night, or our kids getting killed by a bomb on a bus, or whether we will be able to eat the next day. We get to have schools for our children, we can choose to shop at stores and buy brand new clothing, and new shoes, and whatever we desire to spend our money on. We get to buy sodas, chips, and junk food without thinking about it. Who are we to haggle? Who are we to complain?

If we can’t afford something or think something is too expensive, then we should shop or go somewhere else that better suits our budgets. I do not feel a damn bit of sympathy for the people who outspent their needs. They knew what they were getting into and they knew that it couldn’t last forever. Those are the ones who have no right to whine about their economic state right now.

The ones that can complain or have a right to complain are the ones who have lost their jobs because of the careless overspending of means by these guilty parties. The people that can complain are the ones who were close to retirement and lost all of their savings because of the people who overspent themselves in the housing market. All the rest, I have no sympathy for and quite frankly need to SHUT UP!

We need to get off this pity attitude we are on, and start re-evaluating our buying decisions.  We need to start being GRATEFUL  for all the amazing things and opportunities each and every one of us has every day. We are exceedingly lucky! So, quit complaining about the economy people, I mean it!