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Health & Fitness

Disappointed Lifelong County Resident

Lifelong Baltimore County resident says he's disappointed in the lack of response to a concern he voiced to Baltimore County Councilwoman Vicki Almond.

The following letter was sent to Councilwoman Almond after I sought her advocacy to address a concern with a county stream behind my home that has claimed approximately 20-25 feet of my backyard and left me with a cliff of about 15-20 at the backyard’s edge. I never heard from her. Her staff shuffled the request along to a county department that subsequently determined that the matter was too costly to address. No less-costly alternatives were explored or considered and I never heard again from Ms. Almond’s office or Ms. Almond. I wrote this letter to her to voice my frustrations and offer it to readers to see whether the councilwoman's disappointing response to my concern is the exception or the rule under her term. The letter was as follows:

“I am writing to let you know how disappointed I am in your handling of my concern about the stream behind my home. The issue was met with a lack of concern, sympathy and advocacy. You took no time to visit the site or ask questions. Your staff merely passed it along, out of your inbox. The Councilwoman who begged for my vote at election time apparently didn't have the time to involve herself or speak up on my behalf. You were a no-show.”

“I can certainly understand that the county is not in position to invest $200,000-$300,000 in the area. But did your office explore other less-costly solutions---perhaps a day's work moving dirt around to re-channel the stream, or placement of boulders in the area to save the eroding side?"

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“For a number of years as a state employee I was designated to draft responses for the Governor's Office to citizens' concerns and complaints. Had I been doing this for your office, Councilwoman, instead of providing no response I might have written: “Thank you for forwarding this matter to my office. I can understand your concern for your property and home. I will ensure that this matter is given serious consideration. I am forwarding the concern to the appropriate Department for a review of the matter and will be monitoring their response.’  If the agency determined that the project would be too costly, I might have followed up as follows:  ‘Unfortunately, at this point, the County is not able to commit the funds to fully address this matter. However, I will be contacting the Department to determine whether there may be other less costly solutions.’ Had that failed (although I cannot imagine that there are no other remedies), I would say ‘Unfortunately, at this point there are no practical solutions to this matter. I would ask that you continue to monitor the stream and stay in touch with my office to report any further degradation to the area.’ "

“I am not certain what the priorities of your office are, but clearly they have not been on addressing local citizens' concerns. I guess I will be back in touch with the County when my grandchild falls off the cliff of the eroded stream, or once the stream abuts my back door.”

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