Howard County Association of REALTORS®
April President's Report
by Ilene S. Kessler
April 2, 1999
 Also available in Adobe Acrobat!
Welcome to the most important month on the realtor calendar-Fair Housing Month. To honor the importance of this month I have included the Board's Cultural Diversity Policy Statement. This document has been signed by all members of the Board of Directors and will be on our web site. We can never lose focus that cultural diversity is our way of life. Also, many thanks to all the children who submitted drawings about fair housing for the MAR One America 2000 calendar. We plan to showcase some of them every month on our new web site.
Speaking of our web site, look for HCAR.ORG to be up and running by late spring. Look to be able to register for education Classes from HCAR, join our Association and renew your membership as some of the features of this new and exciting domain. Welcome to the Virtual Association!
Thank you to all of the members who participated in the "Call to Action" for the Mandatory Semi-Annual Taxes sponsored by the Maryland Association of REALTORS®. A lot of time and effort have been spent by the State Association in this grass roots venture. We can not achieve legislative victory without your help. Please contribute to RPAC to further help us with our legislative actions. An RPAC contribution form as well as some information on RPAC have been included.
Managers will be receiving their packets for the Realtor Award program soon; you've asked us to honor our outstanding realtors in Howard County. Gwen Howard, a past HCAR President, will be chairing this committee. Look for more information in future newsletters.
We are looking forward to our April 12 "Spring Fling" at Alex's. Last year's event was such a tremendous success. Stop by and see people you haven't seen all winter and have some FUN!
Be sure to check NAR's web site realtor.com for information about our meetings in Washington, D.C. from May 20th to May 24th. The cost is free! This is a wonderful opportunity to see NAR, up front, in a setting that is only 45 minutes away. The focus is the current legislative session in Congress. You can register on line.
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS:
Congratulations to Eric Von Swol from Re/Max Columbia who has chosen to work with county executive, Jim Robey, on the revisiting of the Master Plan for Howard County. This is the first time a realtor has been on such a task force.
Finally, I am going to end this newsletter as I began it, with the important topic of "Fair Housing." Thank you so much to the members of the Boards of Directors of the Howard County Association of REALTORS®, the Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS®, and the Prince George's County Association of REALTORS® for supporting Governor Parris Glendening's antidiscrimination bill (HB 315/SB 138). This important bill addresses Fair Housing in regard to real estate. These three counties already have such legislation on the books. I am so proud to be part of an association which believes that Fair Housing for all, and nothing less, is the principle on which we will exist.
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