Oct. 10, 2001
 
 The lone voice of reason at the Oct. 9 City Council meeting at which the 60-unit low income housing project in South Cumberland was approved was that of Councilman Terry Rephann. Dr. Rephann opposed the project six months ago when it was first voted on, and he opposed it Oct. 9, when it was voted on and passed again.
 
 Dr. Rephann stated that his vote “will be about the truth,” and it was. The truth that an independent analysis of Kevin Bell’s market study commissioned by the Mayor and City Council disparaged Bell’s findings. The truth that the community most impacted by this low income housing project has been ignored and excluded from participating in determining what happens in their own backyard. The truth that lumping low income people in one neighborhood is not sound public policy. The truth that we will not see an increase in our tax base through this project, but rather a drain.
 
 He voted the truth - and he’s the only one who did.
 
 It is amazing that the other elected officials completely ignored the findings of Dr. Peggy Dalton of Frostburg State University, who was commissioned by the Council to review Mr. Bell’s market study and let them know what she found in his data. Basically, she found Mr. Bell’s information - in which he claimed we need low income housing - “flawed and incorrect,” to quote Dr. Rephann.
 
 We don’t quite understand why you would ignore the findings of an expert you hired - because Cas Taylor told you to? Or did Lee Fiedler come up with that on his own? Go figure.
 
 Dr. Rephann made an irrefutable case against this project. The taxes collected through this $5.5 million project (not $8.5 million, as Bell keeps claiming), will only be about $15,000 a year. When it’s built, its value will be assessed at only $1 to $1.5 million.
 
 As Dr. Rephann put it, in terms of taxes, you’re removing a small horizontal trailer court and replacing it with a huge vertical trailer court. What’s the point?
 
 And since this neighborhood has Jane Frazier Village, with its 90 low income units just a block away, how smart is it to stick 60 more low income families down the street? With inadequate parking? And nowhere for kids to play?
 
 What, are they nuts? Or do the four Kevin Bell fans who happen to be our elected officials just not care because none of them live in that neighborhood?