BRIGHT BULB Where’s the plow?
Doesn’t it always seems as though your street is the last on to be plowed? With a new Howard County system that tracks plows, residents will know exactly if and when their plow is coming. They’ll also be able to figure out which roads have been plowed. What a great way to put technology to work for residents.
OUTRAGE: Fighting fire
WHO: Anne Arundel home builders
WHAT: Several home builders in Anne Arundel County are opposing a bill that would require sprinkler systems to be installed in all new houses, saying that the systems are unnecessary with proper smoke detectors and costly to maintain.
WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA: The sprinkler bill is widely supported in the county, and firefighters say the devices have saved lives in the City of Aberdeen, which has a sprinkler ordinance in place. In 2010, code changes will mandate that new houses have sprinkler systems anyway, so why not start early? Firefighters in the region said they haven’t seen a fire-related fatality in a house with sprinklers — and that’s good enough for us.
WHERE TO VENT: Call the Home Builders Association of Maryland, which opposes the bill, at 410-265-7400.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“There’s almost a day-to-day deterioration of the economy. … We don’t want to psychologically overstate the issue. The most troubling thing to me is that we don’t even have our arms around the problem.” – Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot speaking at Friday’s Economic Advisory forum of the Board of Revenue Estimates.
