Press Room

Guest Column: “Alderman: I’m focusing on much more than plastic bags”

By Sam Shropshire

September 2, 2007
The Sunday Capital

In 2005, I was elected by the citizens of Ward 7 to serve as their alderman on the Annapolis City Council.

My campaign platform addressed not only crime and public safety, but a spectrum of challenges facing our city: public transportation, smart growth, the environment, affordable housing, education, and other quality-of-life issues. In keeping with the covenant I made with the citizens of Annapolis, I have been fighting hard on all fronts.

Good leaders must be able to multitask — to make sound decisions and provide solid answers on a variety of issues important to our community.

Concerned about traffic congestion and urban sprawl, I co-sponsored, with then-Alderman Josh Cohen, D-Ward 8, legislation that implemented a moratorium on new development in Annapolis until sound growth practices are in place. I also co-sponsored with Mr. Cohen legislation that has significantly reduced the density of any future condominium or apartment developments along outer West Street.

I continue to work for a comprehensive growth plan that envisions rail links among Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and a possible tram service down West Street to the Historic District.

In February 2006, I was the first elected official in Maryland to speak out against the unfair rate increases of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Constellation Energy. I have been active in campaigning for re-regulation of BGE and Constellation.

I sponsored a City Council resolution in support of the state’s Clean Air Act, and I spoke at state legislative hearings in support of that bill. It passed in 2006.

Last summer, while visiting a slavery museum in Gambia, I saw a prominently displayed advertisement from The Maryland Gazette of Sept. 29, 1767. It proclaimed the arrival of The Lord Ligonier, a slave ship carrying 97 African men, women and children to be auctioned at the Annapolis City Dock. I determined to lead the Annapolis city government in publicly apologizing for its involvement and support of 150 years of slavery and nearly 100 years of segregation.

The City Council proudly approved the resolution in a 7-0 bipartisan vote, making Annapolis the first American slave port to do so. And just recently the City of London followed our lead!

I work for racial reconciliation in our community as well as radical changes in public housing that will guarantee all residents some semblance of hope and a future.

As often as possible, I sit down with public housing residents in their homes, sometimes taking along local pastors and thus encouraging faith groups to be more actively involved in serving the needs of these residents.

I have been a driving force to provide smoke-free workplaces for Annapolis restaurant and bar employees. That ordinance, which I first put before the Annapolis City Council, encouraged Baltimore city to pass similar legislation. As I joined concerned citizens in speaking before various state committees, the entire state went smoke-free.

Public safety is of great concern to all members of the City Council. When possible, I ride at night with our police in their patrol cars so I can better understand their work.

Aldermen Sheila Finlayson, D-Ward 4; Ross Arnett, D-Ward 8; Classie Hoyle, D-Ward 3; Dick Israel, D-Ward 1, and I have been working on affordable housing for our police. This ad hoc committee has met several times over the past four months, and we will continue to work until all vacant police positions are filled and our new police officers can afford to live inside the city, with police cars parked in their driveways (a definite deterrent to crime).

I serve on the city’s Finance Committee and Environmental Matters Committee and am an ad hoc member of the Annapolis Maritime Commission and the Severn River Commission.

I try to use my influence as an alderman to help in various environmental and nonprofit causes, working with the Annapolis Maritime Museum, Back Creek Nature Park, The Bay Theatre, The Lighthouse Shelter, HAVEN, the ARC of Central Maryland, and the Naval Academy Midshipmen Sponsorship Program. I’m a proud “sponsor dad” of four very dedicated midshipmen.

Recently I concentrated some of my time on prohibiting the retail distribution of plastic checkout bags. These bags do great harm to the environment and our quality of life. This issue has, surprisingly, gotten a lot of national and international media attention, because people around the world are fed up with overconsumption and its adverse effects on the environment.

And, to quote a Capital editorial (June 14), “Mr. Shropshire’s proposal could start a debate on littering, recycling and how certain routine shopping decisions affect the environment. In that respect, it could do a lot of good.” And that discussion is already under way—some stores, including Whole Foods, have already stopped using plastic checkout bags.

When my Ward 7 constituents put me in office, they didn’t get an alderman who would simply fill potholes and solve neighborhood parking problems. They got someone who does that and more—someone who cares about their community and will lobby for their causes at every level of government: local, county, state and, if need be, federal.

I firmly believe that being an alderman means sacrificially serving my Ward 7 constituents and all the people of Annapolis — to improve and protect our quality of life.

That remains my focus and my commitment.

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The writer is the alderman for Ward 7.

Published September 2, 2007, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2007 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.