Cohen Outsources Annapolis

Fellow Citizens:

It's been said Britain is a nation of shop keepers. If so then Annapolis is a citte of fudge and ice cream purveyors, t-shirt hawkers and gin joint operators. A motley crew.

But they are our motley crew.

Mayor Cohen has said he wants to help them. “Buy Local” he says.

His rhetoric is not keeping up with his actions.

You see, the City has moved many of its purchases out of town. Printing, for example, is now being done in somewhere named “Millersville”. Annapolis still has three independently owned and operated print shops. At least one of which probably go out of business this year. As one did in 2009.

Even attorneys are not immune from the 'off shoring' by the Cohen Administration. The lucky – and connected - multinational law firm of DLA Piper was recently awarded a $50,000 retainer to do legal work on the Markethouse. Over a number of local firms. Including one that relocated out of downtown last year over the harassment it received by the City in trying to operate out of the Historic Core.

And, of course, the $50,000 retainer is just the beginning of the billing.

Mayor Cohen's pushing of work out and off is not limited to the work itself. He has stiffed City payments. This has included holding off owed monies to a number of small business people and sole proprietors who are due in some cases significant funds – tens of thousands. This has created an appearance of non-payment for crass political reasons. Or just incompetence.

Do we need to mention the level playing field provisions of the 2 am bar ordinance? That this Mayor fought. One group of owners had them. And profited. While others were excluded. And lost. (Some have suggested that those without often appeared to be deprived of an equal playing field for reasons of ethnic or religious background. An off chance only I'm sure.)

And now these new license applications are mired in red taped at City Planning and Zoning.

Not since the days of Mayor John '10%' Apostal has government said one thing and done another quite at this level. While shaking down and damaging businesses in Annapolis.

Yet all of this leads us to agree with the Mayor. It is a long held objective of many of us to take commerce out of the Ancient Citte. Return the streets to sheep grazing and illegal games of chance run by street corner entrepreneurs.

This capitalism thing has gone too far.

King of George