OP bridge no longer serves its purpose Editor, North Gate Bridge was, in the beginning, “iconic” – the gatehouse, the spherical lamps, the new wood. That is no longer so. Having lived here for 25 years, I have watched the bridge deteriorate: Gone is the gatehouse (most likely due to lack of use or rot),… Read more »
Editorial
05/21/2026 Bayside Editorial: Show some respect before lighting up grill
Show some respect before lighting up grill Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, mostly because the Uniform Holiday Act of 1968 led to the creation of the federally declared three-day holiday weekend in 1971. The other Memorial Day, the real one which since 1868 had been celebrated on May 30 before the act… Read more »
05/14/2026 Bayside Editorial: Mayor, council look for budget control
Mayor, council look for budget control Berlin’s government wasted an hour Monday night retracing steps taken a couple of weeks ago by the Town Council to eliminate the large gap between revenue and expenses. Rather than moving on to actual new or unfinished business Monday, council members found themselves having to return to ground they… Read more »
05/07/2026 Bayside Editorial: Berlin must deal with lead pipes issue now
Berlin must deal with lead pipes issue now It’s not a now-or-never proposition, but it’s close enough for Berlin town officials, who really don’t have a choice but to continue their pursuit of its water line replacement project along Williams Street. This is even though the project’s $1.9 million cost to remove and replace lead… Read more »
04/30/2026 Bayside Editorial: Room tax set aside symbolic gesture
Room tax set aside symbolic gesture With the Town of Berlin facing $1 million in repairs and maintenance of the publicly available parking areas, it’s easy to favor taking a 10% slice of the room tax proceeds to help pay for it. The problem, of course, is this is more of a symbolic gesture than… Read more »
04/23/2026 Bayside Editorial: Berlin tax increase hardly guaranteed
Berlin tax increase hardly guaranteed Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall’s proposal to add 1.25 cents to the town’s property tax rate suggests the town’s finances, constrained as they are by the slow-to-moderate growth of its assessable base, are headed toward red ink territory without an increase in revenue. That would be so … but only if… Read more »
04/16/2026 Bayside Editorial: It’s been a year, get on with parcel sale
It’s been a year, get on with parcel sale A year ago this week, Town of Berlin officials announced they had reached an agreement with Palmer and Sandy Gillis to sell a 9.35-acre piece of the Heron Park tract to their company, Coastal Ventures Properties. The plan back then was that the deal for $1.2… Read more »
04/09/2026 Bayside Editorial: Reading challenge aids understanding
Reading challenge aids understanding As the operators of a printed word medium, we applaud the Worcester County Library for continuing to offer its annual summer reading challenge to promote childhood literacy. All the library’s branches — Pocomoke, Snow Hill, Berlin, Ocean Pines and Ocean City — will be participating in this exercise, the theme of… Read more »
04/02/2026 Bayside Editorial: Tax break may not be enough for recruiting
Tax break may not be enough for recruiting The mayor and Town Council of Berlin have the right idea as they contemplate offering property tax incentives to first responders who live in town. Ostensibly, this idea aims to help the Berlin Fire Company recruit volunteers more than anything else, although police and career emergency services… Read more »
03/26/2026 Bayside Editorial: Don’t get hung up on making a few dollars
Don’t get hung up on making a few dollars One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so they say, except it might also be said that trash should not be designated as trash if it’s paid for with taxpayers’ money. In that instance, one needs to be aware that throwing out old government property comes… Read more »