Letters To The Editor

Message To Task Force

Editor:

Before we discuss the loser’s recent efforts to resurrect the “Sports Complex,” I feel a need to clear the air on some past letters and responses and give credit where credit is due

I can’t say enough good things about Jim Motsko, whose amazing story reflects everything positive that Ocean City represents I had occasion to talk to Jim for 30-45 minutes in 2016 and remember clearly his focus on his one event Last week, as we celebrated the 50th Annual White Marlin Open, he should be applauded for casting a beautiful picture of Ocean City to the world

Also, I have a couple comments and corrections to make regarding Mrs Lehman letter (dated June 30) in response to my “School is not about the Money” letter on June 23 First, let me thank Mrs Lehman for devoting her life (46 years) to our children

In 1969-70 as Mrs Lehman notes “we had no teachers aids, one vice principle (not four), one guidance counselor there was no special ed department ” First also “special ed” was handled by the classroom teacher and I can attest they did a better job Also, there were AP courses in the late 1960s It’s not only the “71 students” that graduated from Worcester public schools and were deemed deficient in reading and or math on a high school level which should alarm readers, the county overall suffers a deficiency of 37% (hundreds of students) in math proficiency

In 1970, it is likely you wouldn’t have graduated if you had not passed in math The reduction in the dropout rate from 9% in 1970 to 7% in 2022 is irrelevant if the schools are graduating many students that would not have graduated in 1970 when basic proficiency in core courses such as Math and English were required I believe most of your tenure was as a drama teacher, an elective Teachers pay has never been an issue for me However, the growth of the teaching bureaucracy has increased costs over 300% higher after inflation since 1970 with a noticeable decline in core course learning

Yet I have encouraged introducing additional merit pay for teachers and returning more classroom decision making to teachers Finally, there was a school nurse in 1970 but not four superfluous assistant principals

Additionally, I want to retract something I published over three years ago calling Mr Paddack “crazy” over a short-term dispute Mark has served the town as a career police officer and councilman and for three years was an appreciated help to our children’s concert

Now on to the petition loser ’s “Study Group Created For Sports Complex ”

On a list titled “The Visit Experience” prepared for the Tourism Commission by Baseline Perceptions Research on Oct 14, 2021, the overwhelming top three reasons given by visitors to the beach were first the beach (87%), second the Boardwalk (74%) and third shopping (70%), next amusements and mini-golf drops to 47% and the list continues down to 7% We will get back to this with our reveal on the “sports complex” in a moment

The mayor has pulled up all of his connections in a last-ditch effort to promote one final grandiose scheme before retiring by adding additional people to supplement the petition losers bringing the total to 31 people and calling it a “sports complex study group” It’s interesting that an unbiased consideration on spending tax dollars will be considered by mostly politicians and workers under them in the local government bureaucracy In addition, some of the wealthiest men on the Eastern Shore have been appointed to this committee With all the hundreds of millions of dollars these individuals are worth, one should wonder if a “sports complex” is such a money maker why don’t these multimillionaires pay for it? Why should this group determine how to spend our tax dollars or someone else’s tax dollars, unknowingly, in the State of Maryland?

Let’s take a look at the numbers in the OC Capital Improvement Plan (“CIP”) and then have a quick summary of the three studies on the “sports complex” dating back to 2017 and one additional study from Saint Mary’s County

The CIP calls for spending on the “Sports Complex” $8,100,000 in FY24 $91,200,000 in FY25, for some reason it skips FY26 and for $67,600,000 to be spent in FY27 Totaling $166,900,000 of which $127,040,000 will come from state grants, leaving $39,860,000 to be funded I guess by bond in Ocean City This is the way it is written in the Ocean City Capital Plan today; it could change many times in the future The grandiose largely coronated (not elected) clever politicians in Ocean City by circumventing the will of the county taxpayers will ultimately have to seek OC taxpayer approval for a near $40 million dollar bond

Now on to the studies The county spent $75,000 on a study in 2017 and among the comments the county staff said they thought that “the projected economic impact was SEE NEXT PAGE