REGISTER OR REMOVE THE WRECKS

wrecked carAt the June 12 membership conclave, the community was treated to an eloquent presidential appreciation for managing to live in peace and cooperation without recourse to all those prohibitions imposed by managing agents on many otherwise comparable neighborhoods. But that doesn't mean, continued Andy Grannell, that we should ignore all instances of disorder or poor taste. Picking up the theme, our peripatetic Board chair, Dave Delia, has the following advice.

The Officers and Board that you elected to look for after our interests have discussed a widespread condition in our neighborhood that we believe is at best unsightly; at worst, an environmental and potentially physical safety concern. That is, a steadily growing number of unregistered vehicles and water craft, many in derelict shape, along our streets; some neighbors have asked us what we can do about them. Well, we spoke with Anne Arundel County police; they informed us that just as there is NO parking permitted on any of our AOTB streets, so too NO unregistered vehicles or boats are permitted to remain within the public right-of-Way (RoW) for extended periods.

That RoW is defined as between 25 and 40 feet on both sides of the center of our narrow byways. So rather than have official citations, and possibly towing, surprise anyone, we thought we‟d make sure you all knew that our concern is about more than just appearances; and it's not unreasonable. Unregistered vehicles and boats are usually unregistered BECAUSE they‟re in sad shape and as a result, look pretty bad anywhere, especially along our streets. But even more important, these vehicles and boats present a potential public hazard.

An easy fix to the unregistered vehicle and boat problem is of course to register them. But if you‟re not EVER going to drive or sail these clunkers again, why not just donate them to an appropriate agency and turn hazardous junk into a help for others AND a tax deduction?

Call Purple Heart 888-480-VETS (8387), or see: www.carshelpingveterans.org/?gclid=CKqOj8X6jqICFYd- 5QodT3chZg or
Boat Angel (800-227-2643 www.boatangel.org).

These agencies will probably decline to collect genuine junk, so if that's what you've got, maybe one of the following will grind up a clunker and even a derelict scow:
junkcarbegone.com/About-Us.html or
uppermarlboro.olx.com/free-towing-freeremoval-unwanted-autos-301-332-1602-iid-74004651

We‟re not about to dictate to anybody what they can and can‟t keep in front of their own homes, but certainly we must realize that we share this small peninsula with many others. As one of the world‟s leading philosophers (my mom) used to tell me: “The right to stretch your arm ends at the point of impact with the other guy‟s nose.” These have been words to live by.