It was the mayor’s turn to speak on Friday night at a community meeting held by NoRoFo Hamilton, the group opposed to a mega-Royal Farms store at a busy intersection.

The person chairing the meeting, gas station opponent Roop Vijayan, was perhaps a little nervous.

He had just learned that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was there to announce something surprising: that after supporting this widely-opposed project, she and her administration were now taking a position against it.

“Now, I’m going to introduce Madam Mayor,” Vijayan said as Rawlings-Blake came forward to polite applause.

“Good evening, everyone. I hope by this point in my life, I don’t need to be introduced – that I would be presented,” she said, correcting Vijayan and eliciting a few chuckles from the crowd.

“Sorry about that,” said the chastened host.

Proper Form of Address?

Meanwhile, John Murphy, the lawyer for NoRoFo Hamilton, made no complaint later when Councilman Robert W. Curran (a longtime gas station proponent) repeatedly addressed him as “Murph” during the meeting at a Harford Road church.

“Now, Murph, you need to expand on that. The attorney needs to expand on that. As far as my understanding, Murph, there’s a permit process that needs to happen. The BMZA permit process is the hearing,” Curran said, repeatedly turning toward the seated lawyer.

“Even if they approve it, Murph, the Planning Department will not sign off on the  permits,” he said. “If they don’t sign off on the permits, does it happen, Murph?”

Murphy did not appear to react, though he answered the question.

The lawyer did become animated later, though, urging the crowd to attend the October 20 Zoning Board hearing, saying the project’s proponent and their legal team should not be underestimated.

“They have unlimited resources behind them,” Murphy said. “I don’t think they’re going to lay over dead. . .They’re going to give it everything they’ve got.”

More on the meeting here.