July 27, 2025 Newsletter
Happy Sunday, Ward One
It’s the dog days of summer! And Hobie is loving it. Now’s the time of year to be on the boat, swimming at the beach, or just sitting on a shady porch drinking something icy cold.
But I’ve mostly been out knocking doors. Did you see me get caught in a thunderstorm last weekend? Or how worn out my shoes are after knocking on over a thousand doors in the past six months? And that’s in addition to still legislating, keeping up with constituent concerns (and having a real job). As I said in the one video, nobody is working harder for you than me.
Here are the top 3 things you need to know in Annapolis:
With my own election right around the corner (Vote 9/16 and 11/4!), I’ve been thinking a lot about how to improve our elections in the future. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to increase campaign finance transparency and tomorrow will introduce legislation to use ranked choice voting in Annapolis. Both are for the 2029 election.
Wednesday, I’ll be having a meet and greet hosted by ward one resident, Harry endorser, and former state senator John Astle. Join us on State Circle at 5:30 to talk about partnership with state government and issues specific to living in the downtown historic district.
Monday will be the public hearing on O-14-25, which would partially increase height limits on one block of Dock Street. You should come talk about it and bring your friends from wards 4, 5, 6, and 8.
Updates from Harry
This week I knocked on my 1000th door. The best part of that is not sharing my message but hearing from residents what’s on their minds. Sometimes it’s hyper-local issues like getting some grass mowed. Other times you want to talk about broad city issues like lowering our tax rate. But everybody wants to talk about parking.
So, let’s talk about parking.
They say the way to eat an elephant is to take small bites. And in that spirit, I’ve tried to break the parking problems down into smaller problems that we can take bites out of: garages, residential, and on-street paid parking.
Garages
Have you parked in Park Place, Knighton, or Gotts garages since September? At the end of September they all switched over to a new system that I call “true drive-in/drive-out”. It’s quite simple. The first time you drive in (to any of the garages, not each one), you go to a website and provide three numbers: credit card, phone, and license plate. After that, you just drive out. In future times, you don’t have to enter any information; you drive in, you drive out, and you get charged automatically for only the time you were there. It’s really that simple.
In my opinion, these three garages now have very close to the ideal set up. But residents wishing to use their free two-hour codes know this is cumbersome. I’ve spoken with the company about this, and they are interested in making the code apply automatically but have not committed to a hard timeline on when that change will be made; so far, I’ve gotten a vague “fall”. But I do think they have an incentive to create that option in their software so they can use it all over the place.
On the other hand, Hillman’s performance is not ideal. The app can be confusing, especially for older residents. And the system where you have to guess how long you’ll be there is, frankly, anxiety-inducing. It discourages people from coming downtown, because they’re worried about getting a $50 fine for estimating wrong.
Folks should know that financially Hillman is outperforming estimates and generating more revenue than was expected. I initially thought this might be due to too many people getting fines, but that is not the main driver, and the number of fines issued is going down while the number of people parking there is going up. But it’s underperforming at a very human level.
So, how do we get Hillman working more like the other three?
The city has limited options to change our agreements related to the garage because it’s all tied up in a long term deal that’s funding our resilience work at City Dock. But the council does have the ability to adjust the fine structure for violations. In the last budget, we changed the fine for overstaying in the garage from a flat $50 to a smaller flat fine plus the cost of the time a parker overstayed. This subtly shifts them towards the true drive-in/drive-out model.
The Transportation Department has been working to show Premium Parking that it’s in their best interest to switch to that true drive-in/drive-out model too. The city just recently provided them with financial data from the other garages showing the benefits of this model. And it will hopefully show that this better system is worth switching to.
But this is all about people who are just using these garages intermittently. What about people who need to park in them to go to work?
Knighton and Gotts garages have a program for employees of local businesses to pay a flat rate of $5 if they come in after noon but before 6pm and are out by 6 am the next day. Park Place garage is even better, just $3 all day for any local employee. Hillman also has a monthly parking program, but it’s over-subscribed. There are 330 monthly parkers and 323 people on the waitlist. I’d like to explore how to make the count of spots more dynamic so that we can get more people off that waitlist and fill up some empty spaces.
And of course, there’s the Park, Shop, and Dine program, in which businesses can buy parking in Park Place, Knighton, and Gotts garages for employees and customers at a discounted rate of $.55 per hour, which they’re now automatically invoiced for. I want to make nonprofits eligible for this too for their volunteers. Crafting a resolution to make that happen is on my to-do list for August.
Overall, garage parking is the best option for visitors and most employees. It’s going to cost money because garages are expensive to build and maintain, but the city’s goal should be to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to use. We’re close to achieving that at the three fully-city-owned garages, and we’re going to keep working towards making it happen at Hillman too.
Residential
Here’s the real rub. In residential parking districts 1 & 2, Premium Parking is not meeting their contractual obligations. The agreement between the city and the “concessionaire” (the group that rebuilt Hillman garage) requires that the concessionaire’s contractor (that’s Premium) meet certain standards of enforcement, like how often patrols happen.
They’re just plain not doing it. You can see it with your own eyes. I can see it with my eyes. And it is the city’s contention too.
The city sent dispute letter stating that all the way back in September. Premium has been stringing along ever since. It’s ridiculous. The Transportation Committee has summoned Premium Parking after they repeatedly missed meetings. And the Office of Law is ready to get involved.
Like I said last week, Premium has hired a lobbying firm because they’re worried about how much pressure the city and the council are putting on them. We will hold them to their contract, and I’m trying to make sure that happens as quickly as possible.
One thing that would relieve the pressure is more residential parking spots. I’d like to explore ways to encourage more off-street parking. But I bet you also know spots in your neighborhood where the city could squeeze one in here or there—maybe by making a red curb a little shorter or converting a little-used loading zone to regular parking. Where are they? I want to know.
People tell me all the time that they totally get that it’s not realistic to have a parking spot in front of their house every single time. But—just like with the garages—they want the systems to be simpler.
One good example of that is buying guest passes. How frustrating is it to have to activate a new pass every day that you have a guest? And if you miss it by an hour, they can get a fat ticket. This has been an issue I’ve been pushing on for many months.
I’ve now gotten Premium to solve the multi-day pass activation issue for residential parking districts 1 & 2. But we’re still working to get multi-day activation of passes for the other residential parking districts managed by SP+. They told me last month that it was #1 on their list of changes they’re requesting their contractor make. I’ll keep bringing it up every other week until it’s done.
This is just one example of the “small” but very frustrating issues that bedevil our overcomplicated systems that I want to fix.
On-street
Our on-street paid parking is not something I hear too many complaints about. Sometimes it’s a little confusing for visitors’ first time. The vendor, ParkMobile is rolling out a new app that should be more user-friendly.
And sometimes I get requests to make certain areas at certain times “resident-only”. I’m open to these on a case-by-case basis. For instance, we’ve made a block of King George Street “resident-only” while a construction project is ongoing. There should be both a comprehensive review of places this might make sense and more flexibility to implement it for short events.
But the real reason I left on-street paid parking until the end is to share a vision of how seamless things could be. There exist systems that can treat on-street parking the same way as the “true drive-in/drive-out” model for the garage. They use cameras to read license plates and automatically charge enrollees for only the time they’re parked there. We should be exploring ways to make it so people can park, walk away, and know they’re just getting charged for how long they stay. That would be easier and 100% enforced.
Across all these parking issues, we need that kind of vision. We need leaders who have a customer service mindset for making residents’ lives easier. We need people who have the expertise and the desire to dig into the nitty gritty issues that make you throw up your hands in frustration and who’ll roll up our sleeves to solve those quality-of-life problems. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, but there’s a lot more I’d like to make happen.
This week and every week, I’m grateful for the honor of representing you and our whole community. Never hesitate to contact me at harry@harrymhuntley.com.
This week and every week, I’m grateful for the honor of representing you and our whole community. Never hesitate to contact me at harry@harrymhuntley.com.
City council agenda
Call To Order
Mayor Buckley
Invocation
Alderwoman O’Neill
Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor Buckley
Roll Call
City Clerk Watkins-Eldridge
Approval of Agenda
Ceremonial Items
ID-124-25 Citation: Annapolis High School Surfrider Student Club
ID-128-25 Citation: 100th Anniversary of Cecil Memorial United Methodist Church
Update from Mayor
Mayor Buckley
Reports by Committee
Comments by the General Public
Remember, you can come to any city council meeting to tell us about what’s important to you and your neighborhood! Register here or just show up. If you’re coming to speak on O-14-25, wait until that portion of the agenda.
Consent Calendar
Fund Transfers
FT-1-26 General - Central Services Department/ City Manager - Salaries & Benefits
This will move an unfilled administrative assistant position from the city manager’s office to the Office of Central Services. The city manager’s office has been getting along without it for a while now, while Central Services—a newly re-formed department—is figuring out what they need to streamline lots of internal city services, like fleet maintenance. We had a vigorous discussion at the Finance Committee on this, and I ultimately support it. But I did request that the job description be written in such a way that whoever is hired could potentially get transferred back to the City Manager later if needed. I intend to vote for it tomorrow night.
Public Hearings
O-14-25 Implementation of Annapolis Ahead Comprehensive Plan, 2040
If you read my newsletter last week, you already know I oppose this legislation. The other three parts are good, but the section related to height limits on Dock Street would make our already-very-complicated city code more complicated, unfairly change only one block, and nibble at the fabric of our historic district—as you can hear me tell WJZ last week.
Contrary to the ridiculous accusations thrown around of “corruption,” my colleagues sincerely believe that a boutique hotel is a better use of this space than a restaurant. While there are no doubt economic benefits too, the most compelling argument I’ve heard from them is that a land use that has people there all night long will keep our new park much safer than a restaurant which closes at 10 PM.
Come on out and make your opinion on it heard. Most effective would be residents from wards 4, 5, 6, or 8, since those aldermen are sponsoring the legislation.
O-31-25 Issuance of General Obligation Bonds and Bond Anticipation Notes
This ordinance is both a big deal and very routine. It’s a big deal because it involves a lot of money, but it’s really just fulfilling the plans that have already been debated in the budget. The city has a target of 10% of General Fund expenditures being debt service costs with absolutely no more than 12%, and we’re continuing to stay well within that. There’s an interesting discussion to be had about when is best to issue bonds (“timing the market”), and I’m sure that’ll get covered in detail when this comes to the Finance Committee.
Ordinance First Readers
O-32-25 Lease of City Property - 2031-2036 Fall Boat Shows
The Boat Shows are an iconic part of our nautical culture, a great partner with the city, and a significant source of revenue. The new lease provides some flexibility for any changes from the city dock revitalization. The shows are a massive undertaking with planning happening years in advance, so it makes sense that the lease would get introduced years ahead of when it begins. But the last lease was introduced at the beginning of 2017 to start in 2021. This is coming towards the middle of 2025 to start in 2031, so it is about a year and a half earlier than before. In addition to other questions, I’ll ask in the Finance Committee if there’s some urgency.
O-33-25Lease of City Property - Market House
Generally speaking, I think that the situation at Market House is amazing. It’s a vibrant community gathering place—as it has been for hundreds of years. Its current situation is a huge improvement over both its recent history and parts of its less-recent history. (Loyal readers will remember my column a couple months ago where I mentioned Gone to Market, a history of the Annapolis Market House.) I think most of us would prefer it be a little more of a market, but it’s pretty clear to me that Annapolis no longer has the population density and shopping habits to support that. Also, generally speaking, longer leases encourage more capital investments and better stewardship. I know the tenant has made a couple significant improvements recently and is eyeing more. But leases are always complicated, and I want to make sure the city is getting a good deal. So, I’ll vote to introduce this, we’ll review it in-depth at the Finance Committee, and then I’ll make up my mind.
O-34-25 FY 2026 Changes in Exempt Service Job Classifications
This legislation corrects an oversight from the mammoth classification and compensation study legislation a few months ago by adding the “Community Service Coordinator” position to the list of exempt positions.
O-35-25 Ranked-Choice Voting in Annapolis City Elections
You might not know that years before I was on the city council I began advocating for Annapolis to adopt ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting ensures elections are fair for everyone by simply giving voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third, and so on. If your first choice can’t win, then your second choice vote counts. This would only apply to city elections and wouldn’t start until 2029.
Ranked choice voting works because it:
Promotes more representative outcomes and upholds majority rule
Gives voters more choices and a more meaningful vote
Encourages more candidates to run (not that we need that in Ward One)
Allows voters to pick their favorite candidate without worrying about playing “spoiler” or “wasting” their vote. Voters do not need to choose the lesser of two evils.
Rewards elected officials who deliver for a majority of voters
Lowers the barrier to entry for women and candidates of color
Discourages negative campaigning
Increases participation from military and overseas voters
Is popular with voters who use it
If that sounds like something you’re excited about, or if you just have a question, please drop me a note, and I’d be happy to connect you with your neighbors who have been organizing for this for a very long time.
When I was considering whether to apply for the position of alderman, I remembered a conversation I had back in 2023 with one of my now-colleagues. I had been working for years to improve city elections, helping write a resolution that created a task force, providing the task force with information, and even scheduling a briefing for the Board of Supervisors of Elections. When the task force’s final report was turned over to the city council, I excitedly contacted one of the members to ask “What next?” and I’ll always remember the response: “It’s just a report. We don’t have to do anything with it.” That’s the opposite of my “Let’s make it happen!” attitude. So, now we’re doing something with it.
This is the single most personally important piece of legislation I have introduced. I believe very strongly that it will not only make Annapolis better, but it will be our little contribution towards fixing America’s broken democracy.
O-36-25 Lease of City Property - 2031-2036 Spring Boat Shows
This is the same as the fall boat show lease with some nominal changes to reflect that Spring shows are a little smaller.
Ordinance Second Readers
O-9-25 Expanding Waterfront Uses in R4 General Residence (Zoning) Districts
This ordinance would allow a property owner in the R-4 zone to file an application and appear before the Board of Appeals and petition to operate a boat rental use. The Board of Appeals would conduct a public hearing and decide the case. In approving such an application, the Board could impose certain reasonable conditions on the operation of the use. We have only a tiny piece of R-4 in (what will be) Ward One, and it’s not on the water. This will mostly affect Ward Eight and Ward Two. I like this legislation because it’ll improve water access at no cost to taxpayers and encourage investment in the city. It’s just the kind of red tape cutting that I think we need more of.
O-19-25 Regulation of Tours in Historic Annapolis
This will be getting removed from the agenda! I asked for it to get pushed to September so I can write the appropriate amendments to ensure it doesn’t impose a hardship on the smallest operators. I repeat, not getting voted on on Monday.
Resolution Second Readers
R-30-25 Five-Year Consolidated Housing and Community Development Strategic Plan
This sounds a lot more exciting than it is. It’s just a description of how the city intends to spend federal Community Development Block Grant funds. The Housing committee reviewed it, and it’s earned my vote.
Adjournment
Other news you can use
Want to know what’s going on with City Dock? You should watch this work session from last week where it’s all explained.
Reynold’s Tavern’s classic movie night tonight will be King Kong
The City Dock event tonight was cancelled due to extreme heat.
Delegate Dylan Behler is having his first fundraiser this Tuesday at Metropolitan. Join me, Dylan, Speaker Adrienne Jones, and Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth for what’s sure to be a fun event.
Wednesday evening, join former State Senator John Astle for a free meet and greet to talk about collaboration between city and state government in Maryland’s capital and about issues unique to living in downtown Annapolis.
Spot something that needs attention in the ward? You can report all sorts of needs at the Report an Issue portal. This can be anything from sidewalk repairs to needing grass cut at a park to potholes.
Please send me any events or other information you’d like advertised to your neighbors.
Have a great week, everyone!
Harry
Source: https://us17.campaign-archive.com/?u=92cd145597ae97327ab17fc38&id=62b415afd5
