Anne Arundel County Executive Steven Schuh: Make Rick Anthony allow equal access

Thousands of local soccer-playing children in Annapolis, Maryland, many of whom are low-income minorities, are being denied equal access to modern, new, recreation and athletics facilities in publicly-owned parks located in their neighborhoods because of favoritism and cronyism on the part of the Director of Recreation and Parks, Rick Anthony. Mr. Anthony and his staff consistently award preferential access to the newest and most modern park facilities to elite groups from outside our town, who shouldn't even be permitted to use the facilities, and they deny equal access to the local residents. Elite travel teams from outside our town are being awarded most of the access to modern, newly constructed, recreation and athletics facilities in publicly owned parks in our town, while local children, many of whom are low-income minorities, are being relegated to inferior, poorly maintained, mostly dirt and stone fields that are not safe places to play. Mr. Anthony and his staff do not even follow the department's own adopted and published guidelines and policies. They violate the county's own guidelines and policies to make exceptions for a privileged group. They consistently make exceptions for one particular elite travel soccer group that seems to have Mr. Anthony's ear. Stop the conflicts of interest. Stop the insider deals. This must be stopped. Fair and equal access for the local residents must be restored.