A Great Day for Frederick November 8, 2006

Today 4 smart growth candidates won seats in the 5-member Frederick County Commission. This pushed out a developer-funded majority, and will reverse a trend in the county of out-of-control development. A wonderful day!

One of the victors, Kai Hagen, a friend of mine, took the picture above of Chimney Rock on Catoctin Mountain in Frederick County. Our county is a wonderful place and was in danger of losing its beauty and special way of life. This victory reverses that.

I’ve been very involved in the campaign for over a year. It has been a great experience fo me to be so closely involved: the volunteering is enjoyable and the connection makes the victory all the sweeter. I spent yesterday morning and evening electioneering at the polls. A wonderful thing about local politics are their accessibility. You can so readily get involved and be a part of it. In addition to Kai I’ve gotten to know Jan Gardner and David Gray, two other winners, as well. It will be great to have that personal relationship with them as they now go forward on a majority-controlled board.

My wife thoughts this morning that the day was very affirming for one’s faith in our democracy. Indeed it was.

And it will make for many more great days over the next four years, as this wonerful place, Frederick County, remains beautiful and special, and becomes only more so!

Solar at Home Depot October 24, 2006

You can now get solar panels at Home Depot. Maybe this is a good sign of things to come?

The product is a partnership with BP Solar, which is based in Frederick.

Church, a Fiddle, and the Blues October 18, 2006

At church on Sunday,  we had Great & Joe (can’t do a link . . . they don’t have a website [yet]) come and play. They did this song, “Don’t Let the Changes Bring You Down.” Awesome!

The are a duo from Baltimore–one on the guitar, the other on the fiddle (an instrument I’d like to hear more of). I hope to hear more from them.

They are further evidence that great music is everywhere, and that a great service is needed to connect listeners to it.

Fighting for Density . . . and Losing (for now) September 27, 2006

last night i went to Frederick’s City Hall to support a neighbor’s application to build a garage with an upstairs apartment.

observing and participating in democracy in action even particularly at the micro level is fun. incredbile the emotion stuff like this generates. over a dozen opponents to the garage. and we lost. which is tragic, if sprawl, affordable housing, community or civility are any of your concerns.)

the opponents hated me. i’m on the watch for my house getting egged.

but i’ll keep on supporting what i believe in. i love this stuff. and we’re going to win eventually.

here’s what i had to say:

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Good evening. My name is Toby Murdock. I live at XXXXX. I did not know Mr. Tran until a neighbor visited our home with a petition opposing his application to build a garage. When my wife showed me the petition I went to Mr. Tran’s home to offer my support. Understand I am here not out of a long-standing friendship by but simply for principle and concern for my city.

The first point I’d like to make in support of Mr. Tran’s garage and garage apartment is that we need to understand that we do not make decisions regarding zoning in isolation. We live in a growing city and county, and how it grows depends on the decisions we make. Additional housing can come in the Frederick city core by gradually and naturally adding density to the core and the adjacent areas. Or it can come in our open spaces on entirely undeveloped land.

Those are the options. So while this body is in charge of Frederick city’s zoning, please realize that your impact goes much further. Every rejection of additional density within our city is a de facto approval of more sprawl on the exterior of the city and across the county. And with that approval comes the traffic, expense, environmental degridation of open space that accompany sprawl.

I love Frederick city’s walkable village atmosphere. And I love the preserved open spaces of the surrounding county. Let’s add to the former while we protect the latter and not condone sprawl by rejecting density.

Affordable housing is another very important topic for our community. There is a lack of it in our region and it makes the cost of living unbearable for much of our citizenry.

Housing units that are secondary to their structure–apartments above retail, in basements, on top of garages–are an excellent source of affordable housing. Because they are the secondary purpose of the sturcutre, they do not have the same pressures for high rents. But in a sprawl development pattern–strip malls with one-story structures, zoning regulations that prohibit in-law apartments–the supply of such afforable units is taken away.

The affordability of such units is magnified by a more holistic expense perspective. Mr. Tran’s home–adjacent to the core of the city, where additional density should develop–lies within walking distance of three of the city’s largest employment centers (Hood, FMH & downtown). A home that does not require the expense of a car–that’s true affordablility. Please provide that affordability through approval of this request.

The last and most troubling reason why I support Mr. Tran’s request comes from the text of the petition circulated in opposition of the garage. That petition objected to the addition of renters into our largely owner-occupied neighborhood, as renters would “undermine the integrity of this historic neighborhood.”

I think we would all agree that we don’t have as much civility as we used to have–certainly in the nation, and here in Frederick too. Much of civility comes from the ability to relate to one another despite differences. Exposure to citizens of different stripes helps us understand one another and be more civil to one another. Segregation across different socio-economic dimensions limits that exposure and diminishes our civility.

My home at XXXXX is next store to a 4-unit rental apartment building at XXXXX. The tenants are different from most of us on the block–younger, without children, not as affluent. But I welcome them into the neighborhood. And thought they are renters, I do not consider their “integrity” to be any less than mine or any other of my neighbors’.

Let us resist the temptation to exclude those who are different from our neighborhoods. Let us encourage exposure to those of diverse backgrounds and the civility that such interaction generates.

I look forward to your approval of Mr. Tran’s zoning request, your affirmation of growth through density and not through sprawl, your affirmation of affordable housing, and your affirmation of civility. I look forward to the improvement to my neighborhood through Mr. Tran’s garage. And thank you for your time and consideration.

Frederick Jug Band September 21, 2006

One of the best things that has happened to me this year is the formation of the Frederick Jug Band. A bunch of my friends here in Frederick play various instruments–mostly the guitar. We’ve always played a little at parties, but now we’re playing more often (still just at parties) and practicing a little (which is still just at parties / get-togethers with beers).

Very roughly the band includes:

• Ed “the Jukebox” Morrell: guitar & lead vocals
• “Mississppi” Jim Merry: guitar (only one who can really play lead) & percussion
• Ken Whang: guitat & vocals
• Adam Henson: percussion
• me

Other possible entrants include:

• Butch Chalkley: fiddle
• Cam Petke: harmonica
• Eric Ward: all sort of horns
• whomever else is interested

It has been really great for me. I feel most lucky to have it going. I most enjoy singing and really just play the guitar so I have some background music to play along with.

So we’ll see how it goes! Maybe someday we’ll start having some gigs . . .

Getting on the bus . . . to cross the street September 19, 2006

I get really sad when I think of America and the way in which it is eroding its soul by retreating into cars and large, seperated houses. The connections between one another get thinner and thinner.

Urbana, Maryland is a town not far from mine, which, while not ideal, is admirable in at least trying to head in the right direction in terms of sustainability, smart growth, etc.

Sadly, however, because of the mighty, paramout importance of the car (nothing should speed it down, nothing should thin its roads), the kids in this somewhat pedestrian neighborhood need to now be bused across the street to get to school. Kids that live 400 yards from their school walk 200 hundered to the big intersection, board a bus, and get driven the rest of the way.

How obvious do the signals need to be? American culture holds rational utilitarianism so high, we cannot for a second recognize the of more intangiable issues like a child’s emotional / psychological / spiritual relationship of where they go to school and where they live.

We sacrifice so much for the sake of our car-centric living.

The Washington Post had an interesting piece on some renegade parents who let their young kids roam their neighborhoods. It discusses how what was the norm in terms of child freedom is now incredibily rare. We should all imagine about what sort of mental / psychological relationship one had with their surroundings when they were able to allow their young children to roam their neighborhoods. The peace, the connection. And what we have now.

Incredible what we’ve lost. We should get it back.