The Cambridge City Council is going into the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget decision making process. The Council’s
recent concerns on whether we need a Mayor or a Council lead government or whether trash removal should
be done by a contractor or City employees are interesting questions, but they are not the ones that bother most
people. What people want is “Safety”.
What does that mean in real terms? First, there are four areas of concern:
1. The Police Department is down to 32 officers from 52 in 2017. Crime is up especially in areas for
narcotics and illegal firearms. The Council needs a bold plan to stop the drain of officers and to
refocus efforts in those two areas plus school and community interaction. A plan needs to be
developed on how we get back to normal.
2. The Fire Department needs new equipment. We are spending $100,000 to repair old vehicles when they should have been replaced years ago. A plan needs to be laid out to ensure our Volunteer Fire Department has the proper tools to do the job. Historically, the fire department has asked for one or two vehicles at a time and since they are very expensive, the Council has focused on one vehicle at a time. Now is the time to do a comprehensive review and set up a capital replacement plan.
3. Code enforcement. Cambridge needs to beef up its code enforcement in order to reduce fires and health hazards. The rental stock needs interior and exterior inspections to ensure the safety of our citizens. Cambridge has far too many fires that are deadly to the inhabitants and their neighbors. Let’s do all we can to ensure our citizens are protected as much as possible.
4. Sewage into the Choptank River. Cambridge was fined $68,000 last year and has $70,000 set aside this year to pay to the State in fines for dumping raw sewage into the River. This is a health hazard to our Citizens and shows extremely poor stewardship of our most important natural resource. A plan needs to be developed to ensure the problem is corrected now and into the future.
Cambridge City revenue is growing because of higher assessments on the housing stock, which is a good thing,
and the receipt of $6 million this year and another $6 million this summer from ARPA funds from the federal
government. This should be enough to begin capital improvements in these areas, but the Council needs a
strategic plan of how to get from here to where we want, and need, to go.
While there are a multitude of issues facing any City Council, safety of the Citizens should be of the highest
priority to the Council. Let’s develop plans for the basic safety issues first and work on the other stuff later.
Chuck McFadden is the president of Cambridge Association of Neighborhoods.
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