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JANUARY 16, 2015
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
BLOOD DRIVE
HELP SAVE LIVES Blood Bank of Delmarva presents 17th annual OC Cares Blood Drive on Jan. 21 – Page 37
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Chase asks for seat on Bdwk. legal review Street performers will have key role in hearings to find fixes for crowded venue
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Jan. 16, 2015) City Hall is poised to take a hard turn toward burying the hatchet on Boardwalk street performer issues – or at least toward keeping its enemies as close as its friends. The City Council this week passed a resolution authorizing the creation of a “task force on Boardwalk regulation” as part of an ongoing legal review of Boardwalk policies by the law firm, Venable LLP. In an interesting turn of events,
street artist Mark Chase – the plaintiff in one of the landmark lawsuits against the city over the matter – asked to be included on the force. “I would like to donate my time to be part of this task force,” Chase told the council this week. “I have a lot of valuable information to provide. I’ve been up on the boards all day, every day, for six seasons.” The city announced in October that it was retaining Venable, a noted Constitutional and First Amendment law firm, as a legal consultant to address the proliferation of street performers on the boards, an issue that hit a fever-pitch last summer. Essentially, Venable is tasked with reviewing the city’s past and present ordinances regarding performance or
solicitation in public space, as well as the court cases surrounding them. Changes could then be made to improve control over the number and activities of performers, possibly without generating any freedom-ofspeech lawsuits against the city, as has happened thrice in the past. If such a case did arise, Venable would assist in the city’s defense. Recently, City Solicitor Guy Ayres and Venable consultants “conducted interviews over three days with approximately 30 individuals who are either property owners, store owners, or street performers,” Ayres said this week. “It’s our recommendation that a task force be formed conduct public hearings,” Ayres told the council.
Foreign bus driver program could be viable for resort
Comments scarce for park’s request to increase fees Assateague to review public input prior to final decision on desired rate hikes
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Jan. 16, 2015) Though plenty has been said both in public and private about the proposed fee increases for access to Assateague Island National Seashore, few of those comments have been through official channels. Announced in December, the across-the-board increases will likely be instituted sometime later this year. For now, park staff is compiling the written, e-mailed and even Facebook comments into a report to be delivered to Regional Director Mike Caldwell by Jan. 20, according to Liz Davis, assistant chief of education and interpretation at the park. Davis said she doesn’t have a final count, but the replies number in the “dozens,” and most of the comments are, unsurprisingly, against the increase. When put to their Facebook followers, nine replies were recorded. “Being able to spend a day at Assateague is priceless,” Lisa Kahl Brenanman said. Others, like Benedict Gomez and Jack Marti, were dubious toward the See ASSATEAGUE Page 4
“These interviews were done in the conference room in my office and were not open to the public, but these [upcoming task force sessions] would be advertised public hearings where whoever wants to speak can speak, and then the task force would put together it’s recommendation, if any, for any ordinances we have that affect street performers on the Boardwalk.” Ayres requested that the task force consist of five to seven members, including at least one street performer. “From the street performers we interviewed, we thought they had some good ideas,” Ayres said. Mayor Rick Meehan will make the appointments and present them for the council’s confirmation at an upSee TASK Page 4
PHOTO COURTESY JONATHON GOLD
SAVING SUMMER State Comptroller Peter Franchot presented a petition of 10,000 signatures Thursday in support of ongoing efforts to mandate a post-Labor Day school start date in Maryland.
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Jan. 16, 2015) Although the idea is nowhere near finalized, city government plans to pursue the possibility of bringing in foreign workers to solve the city’s bus staffing problem. During last week’s meeting, Mayor Rick Meehan told the Transportation Commission that a recent conference with visa agency representatives had painted the idea of foreign workers as a viable option. “We were all satisfied that it could be a program that would work for us,” Meehan said. “I would certainly recommend that we continue to investigate this and keep this option open.” Meehan and a number of city staffers had met with representatives from United Work and Travel, the largest of several agencies that sponsor foreign employees working in Ocean City during the summer season. Most foreign employees in Ocean City are in the country under a J-1 visa, which is a designated travel and work-experience program for foreign college students. The program is particularly popular in Eastern Europe, as is evident during the summer months. However, potential foreign bus drivers would be a different case, most likely arriving under H2B visas. See VISA Page 3