City Dock

Santa Claus will arrive by fire boat at City Dock in Annapolis on Nov. 29 for his annual visit to five city locations.The Fire Department will deliver Santa to Susan C. Campbell Memorial Park at 1: 15 p.m. He will then board an Annapolis Fire Department engine for his first stop, Graul's Shopping Center, where he will greet youngsters and give them candy from 1: 55 p.m. to 2: 10 p.m.His other stops are: Newtowne apartment complex off Forest Drive from 2:...

A longtime water tour company in Annapolis has renewed its agreement with the city, agreeing to pay more but landing a longer and more secure lease. Chesapeake Marine Tours, which has been leasing part of City Dock since 1972, agreed to increase its rent by more than $8,000 a year and will continue to pay for trash collection and electricity. In return, the company's lease will be extended from five to six years, and neither side will be able to end the lease without cause. "Even the best tenants have to pay a fair market price when they are leasing taxpayers' property," said Alderman Herbert H. McMillan.

I HAVE been extremely lucky in my life never to have been really worried about food. My concern, if any, was excess rather than lack. But I know there are those in this rich land of ours who are truly hungry. These are the people who will benefit from the ninth annual Share Our Strength's "Taste of the Nation," being held for the first time in Annapolis April 24."Taste of the Nation" will spotlight the food artistry of more than 30 local restaurants, chefs, and caterers in a tent at the City Dock.

Bring a lawn chair to Annapolis' City Dock tonight if you're into folk music, concerts by the water or duck-decoy poetry.The "historic" summer concert series at City Dock opens with a 7: 30 p.m. performance by Chesapeake Scenes, a folk trio from the Eastern Shore.The musicians -- Tom McHugh of Rock Hall on banjo and blues harp, Tom Anthony of Pamona on upright bass and Bill Mathews of Easton on guitar -- perform original tunes about the Chesapeake Bay. Their songs include McHugh's "Chester River Song" and "Sharptown Blues," plus "I'm Just an Old Decoy Duck," a musical arrangement of a poem by one of the Ward brothers, the famed decoy carvers from near Crisfield.

Greg Stiverson, a 33-year-Annapolitan, has announced that he will run to be the next Ward 6 alderman in Annapolis. Stiverson, who has never run for public office, has 23 years of management experience in state government, according to a statement. He has also served as president of the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, the Annapolis Opera, the Annapolis Symphony and other volunteer groups. "I will work hard to increase public understanding of our city's public housing needs while supporting efforts to reduce crime through effective policing and programs that encourage youth education and economic opportunity," said Stiverson, 62, a Republican.

Annapolis' aging City Dock will get its first major face-lift in 30 years, starting in the fall, with help from a $500,000 state grant. As part of the $1.5 million project - a federal grant and city money will account for the rest - the city will replace the dock's failing bulkheads and deteriorating boardwalk. The city also plans to add utility lines to serve visiting boats and to fortify the foundation of the dock's park area, built on fill composed largely of oyster shells. The utility lines would be hidden from view.

A high-cost, high-profile project launched last year to renovate Annapolis' City Dock has been put on hold because "anticipated state funding never materialized," city officials said yesterday.Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins included only $539,000 to renovate City Dock and replace the bulkhead in the proposed $61.3 million capital budget. The figure is a fraction of the $10 million the city had planned to spend for a waterfront makeover in anticipation of the arrival of boats from the Whitbread 'Round the World yacht race in April 1998.

The sudden departure of four tenants last weekend has left patrons of Annapolis' Market House in the lurch. That's getting to be an awfully familiar place. If there's a public market in Maryland that's had a rougher half-decade, we aren't aware of it. Flood damage, the ill-fated Dean & Deluca takeover, a slow but expensive renovation, problems with the heating and air conditioning systems - the problems just keep coming. City officials may say life will go on, but the most recent struggles raise questions about whether they've done right by this community asset.

After weeks of tempest over a plan to move the last two crabbing vessels at City Dock, Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson has orchestrated a game of musical boats to allow them to remain.City officials began talking in March about moving the boats of Charlie Meiklejohn, who has tied up at City Dock for 52 years, and his stepson, Alexander Parkinson, to make room for a 54-foot charter boat that would pay a higher slip fee, $500 a month vs. the watermen's $50.Meiklejohn, 68, was going to have to tie up 90 feet from his current spot, and Parkinson was to be relegated to Eastport.

Annapolis' aging City Dock will get its first major face-lift in 30 years starting in the fall with help from a $500,000 state grant. As part of the $1.5 million project - a federal grant and city money will account for the rest - the city will replace the dock's failing bulkheads and deteriorating boardwalk. The city also plans to add utility lines to serve visiting boats and to fortify the foundation of the dock's park area, built on fill composed largely of oyster shells. The utility lines would be hidden from view to comply with city code.