Did Speaker Taylor fear a public outcry by his attempt to avoid public hearings on "affordable housing" in Cumberland?

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: From Cumberland Times-News : Friday, April 27, 2001 : Low-income housing not needed in South Cumberland : Recently the Cumberland Times-News ran a story concerning the construction of what was termed "affordable housing" in South Cumberland. : Announced by Delegate Casper Taylor, who apparently helped secure state subsidies for the construction of this housing complex, the story included no information on where the housing complex would be located, nor whom its clientele would be. : Upon investigation, it has been determined that this "affordable housing" is actually low income housing, and that a location has been chosen for the 60-to-90 unit complex just off Wempe Drive on 4th Street. : At a Cumberland City Council meeting in early April, the Mayor and Council adopted a resolution supporting construction of this project. The resolution, put on the agenda by Mayor Lee Fiedler, was not discussed in work session and very little was said about it at the council meeting. The resolution passed on a vote of four to one. The dissenting vote was Council member Terry Rephann. : The resolution's wording vaguely referred to the construction of "approximately 60 units." However, the developer behind the project has put the number of units as high as 90, according to sources in contact with him. : Does the city of Cumberland really need 90 -- or even 60 -- additional low income housing units? Given that the Census back in 1990 put the percentage of surplus housing in the city at about 10 percent, a number that most likely has grown given our population loss between 1990 and 2000, this project makes no sense. : Cumberland has too many properties, and too few people. The low income housing proposed will accomplish one of two things: It will either increase the number of empty houses and apartment units in the city by shifting our current population, or it will encourage an influx of additional low income families into the city. We can afford neither result. : First of all, the city has problems dealing with blighted properties as it is -- creating more vacant housing by shifting our current population will simply exacerbate that. Secondly, with its shrinking tax base the city is challenged to provide the services its citizens need. Should we see an influx of additional low income families, an already overburdened system will require additional revenues that those families will not be able to generate. : Yes, the building will produce property taxes. But not enough to offset the increased services required. : The other problem in this scenario is the lack of public information regarding this project. A housing complex the size of the one in question will have a profound impact on the neighborhood in which it is located. Why weren't the residents of Wempe Drive and 4th Street told of the plans to construct a large low income housing complex in their backyard? : Did Mr. Fiedler and Mr. Taylor fear a public outcry? If they did, they were probably right. Jane Frazier Village is located very near this site, and South Cumberland in general has two large public housing projects already. : The people of this community should have been apprised of plans for this complex before our local and state officials began the process of approving it and subsidizing it, respectively. : Finally, one must ask why our officials would support the construction of a large low-income housing complex at a time when the national trend in such housing is to disperse low income families throughout a community. Across the country, low income housing projects are being dismantled. While one could argue that 90 such units would not be considered large in Baltimore, it is certainly large for a community the size of Cumberland. : Our low-income families absolutely have the right to decent housing. But given what's available through entities such as the Cumberland Housing Authority, and through agencies that encourage home ownership among low income families, such as Cumberland Neighborhood Housing Services, there is no need for the construction of such a complex. : Kimi-Scott McGreevy : Cumberland

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