The Activist - Montgomery County, Maryland & Beyond: Recent Episodes

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To get back to a safe climate we must remove GHG from the atmosphere. Herb explores how we can get started.

Even if we miraculously get to a 100% clean energy economy tomorrow (no more burning of fossil fuels and releasing GHGs in the atmosphere), we will still have a "blanket" of GHG resulting in an unsafe climate. This means we could breach irreversible tipping points resulting in climate Armageddon for the human race and other species. We must reverse warming in the short term to avoid crossing these tipping points and reverse the points that have already been crossed.

Critical Elements for GHG Removal:

• we need to start GHG removal AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and evaluate the results
• government support/policies (multiple governments should provide incentives to remove GHG from the atmosphere)
• GHG removal is in a field-testing phase; we must do intensive and urgent research to scale these solutions
• there are natural and mechanized solution

For more info on restoring a safe climate: http://healthyplanetaction.org

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Helga Luest discusses: * how specific recommendations from the Montgomery County climate working groups were not included in the County's climate action plan, * how the brain trust of many civic climate leaders in the working groups was disbanded, * the dire state of the climate crisis, * how leadership (Montgomery County, Maryland, and beyond) is failing to lead on this most important issue * and methods for addressing the climate crisis

Links/Resources:   * Climate Working Group Recommendations: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/green/climate/climate-workgroup-recommendations.html

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Herb Simmens discusses a number of promising measures to quickly, cheaply and safely cool the planet, thus potentially saving millions of lives and reducing harm and suffering throughout the world. He urges that these techniques be urgently and objectively evaluated and deployed as appropriate to restore a safe climate and flourishing ecosystems.    See healthyplanetaction.org   

#ClimateCrisis

#ClimateSolutions

#ClimateEmergency

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To prevent climate Armageddon we need to cool the planet as soon as possible (in addition to eliminating GHG emissions and drawing down carbon dioxide (CO2)). 

Simmens walks us through the horrific threat of climate chaos - potentially much sooner and terrifying than many realize, explains why emissions are important, but can't help with shorter term cooling which is critical to prevent runaway global heating feedback loops from taking place.

He introduces his climate triad: global cooling, emissions reductions and CO2 removal and also discusses how even the most realistic of climate activists have a viscerally negative reaction to exploring global cooling.

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February 2019 - Ok, we agree, it is a CLIMATE CRISIS.​ So what do we do about expanding the capital beltway and Interstate 270 in Maryland considering we need to get to work ASAP defending our lives from the climate breakdown? In this episode of View from the Civic Fed, Jerry Garson, committee chair of the Montgomery County Civic Federation Inc's transportation committee shares his expertise on the matter.

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Be prepared to worry. Then take action.

Montgomery County, Maryland climate activists Jody Peltason (Takoma Park Mobilization - Environmental Committee / MD Leads on Climate), Herb Simmens (Climate Mobilization MoCo / Author of "A Climate Vocabulary of the Future" and Jim Driscoll (Climate Mobilization MoCo) share the horrific nature of the climate emergency and why (and how) we must act urgently to save the planet for our children, grandchildren and ourselves.

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October 2018 - In this first episode of 'View from the Civic Fed', Kristy Daphnis, committee member of the Pedestrian Bicycle and Traffic Safety Advisory Committee in Montgomery County, discusses Vision Zero, how to make streets safer for bicyclists, pedestrians and drivers, and organizing civic associations around this effort.

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Veronica Wright, member of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council in Montgomery County, Maryland, discusses the case for decriminalizing and legalizing drugs including:

1. Costs / Benefits
2. Involvement organizing a forum on decriminalization
3. Next steps (pilot study on legalization)

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Hear Bill's Views Regarding:

AGRICULTURAL RESERVE

• Environmental / Preservation of Green Space
• Ensure Reserve Remains a Reserve
• Should Other Businesses Be Able to Operate in the Ag Reserve?
• Staple agriculture is dominant; But a locavore movement is growing
• On Zoning to Build a Residence
• Designation of Rural / Rustic Roads (Some farmers would like to expand to accommodate farm equipment more easily)

TRANSFERABLE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS

• TDRs - a way to compensate upcountry land owners for lost land value since they can’t develop

BIO

• From Louisiana
• Law School
• Worked at DC Law Firm (Doing Federal Regulatory Work)
• Worked at Senate Energy Committee
• Entrepreneur - Electricity Space
• Partner at Law Firm - Electricity Work / Wind & Solar Work

FINANCING OF CAMPAIGN

• Not restricting any sources of funds
• Approximately four developer contributions from 700 contributions
• Since contributions are from individuals, all contributions should be accepted
• A lot of contributions from environmental groups

CLIMATE

• We are seeing the results of climate change
• A test of the species
• Requires collective action we’ve never seen in human civilization
• Localities / States need to move since federal government is scaling back
• A carbon tax is most efficient way to get the effects we need (needs to happen at the federal level)

COUNTY CLIMATE EMERGENCY RESOLUTION

• Supports a climate mobilization emergency office
• Need programs for retrofitting buildings
• Individuals need to step up

ELECTRICITY SYSTEM

• Need storage in the system to accommodate solar / wind

ADDRESSING THE SCHOOL BUS FLEET EMISSIONS

DICKERSON INCINERATOR / POWER PLANT

• Close the Incinerator
• More neutral on power plant (Burning gas, not coal)

THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING TO Zero WASTE

PRIORITIES:

• Jobs
• Transportation
• Schools

JOBS ARE TRANSCENDENTLY IMPORTANT

• Aging population
• Needy population is growing
• Structural Imbalance
• Only way to keep helping residents in need is to grow revenues (new jobs / business)
• Property taxes are too high
• Need to market the county
• Be welcoming to business
• Streamline regulatory processes
• • Need lots of small changes to change business environment
• Need to attract younger population
• Play to strengths: sciences - biotech, NIST, NIH
• Support universities and vocational tech careers

GOOD JOBS FIRST OUTLOOK ON TAX SUBSIDIES FOR CORPORATIONS

• Better to focus on small / medium businesses, not the big corporate whale

CULTURE OF EVIDENCE / CLIMATE OF CIVILITY

ACHIEVEMENT GAP

• Fix is to have universal pre-care

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BIO

• Grew up / educated in Montgomery County
• Worked for State Comptroller / Scrutinized Contracts
• Advised on State Pension System
• On Board for Maryland College Savings System

ON STATE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY / STRUCTURAL ECONOMIC ISSUES

• Revenues growing more slowly despite increased taxes
• Federal Government Not Growing As Before
• Workforce is Aging
• Earners to Non-Earners is Out of Whack
• Only way out: lift up wages / create jobs
• 40% of Children Eligible for Free and Reduced Meals
• More people are leaving office space than are entering office space

NEED A HIGHER TAX BASE (It has been shrinking)

• County has been raising taxes to compensate for this

HOW DO WE GROWN THE ECONOMY?

• Education - people want to live where good schools are
• Transportation
• Economic Development (can’t do the above without growing the tax base)

BUDGET PROCESS NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• Optimized for innovation / adaptation
• Must use revenue for what it was earmarked

EDUCATION

• Discrepancy in Results
• Overcrowding Issues
• Many Schools are Attractive / Others Aren’t - Mismatch in Attraction to Families
• Highest costs of child care in the US
• DC has more accessible child care
• Too focused on college readiness / need career readiness as well

ON FINANCING THE CAMPAIGN

• On doing traditional campaign financing (not taking public financing)
• On D1 Neighbors Report regarding donations
• Addressing D1 Neighbors Report Showing Large Corporate / Real Estate Donations

ON THE THESIS THAT INFRASTRUCTURE HASN’T KEPT UP WITH DEVELOPMENT

BUDGET PROCESS

• Change budget reconciliation process
• 1 year budget doesn’t work
• Use a value proposition to make sure that investments are yielding results
• Evaluate impact on budget related to small business / non-profits

COUNTY SHOULD GET OUT OF THE ALCOHOL BUSINESS

• Holding back economic development / revenue
• Spending on alcohol is 41% below state average
• Wholesale service for restaurants is a disaster
• Restaurants in MoCo Can’t Complete Due to Lack of Alcohol Services
• Must take care of workers in alcohol business to transition to something else

MODERNIZE / IMPROVE GOVERNMENT

• Make permit obtainment easier
• Make it easier to interact with government

COUNTY COUNCIL’s MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversight
• Pass a Budget

SHOULD THE COUNTY LOWER THE RESERVE FUND PERCENTAGE

ON DEMOCRATIZING MUNICIPAL BONDS

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You’ll Learn About:

SAFE ACT

• Taking a second attempt to protect immigrants that are living in fear
• Ensure people can approach police in confidence to report a crime or report a crime against themselves
• On lack of support from Ike Leggett and the County Council

ANNAPOLIS

• Not friendly to progressives
• On experience introducing a bill to create a statewide bank

ON PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS AS A GAME CHANGER

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BUDGETS

ON THE WINDFALL OF TAX REVENUE COMING TO MARYLAND

• $400 million expected due to federal tax changes
• Therefore complaints about the budget are unfounded in Montgomery County

The Council Should Be Stronger On Adjusting Proposed Budget by the Executive

EDUCATION

• Must be the top priority
• Must ensure resources for schools

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Seniors
• Divide between haves / have-nots
• Environment
• Transportation (at its breaking point - congestion / accessibility)

PURPLE LINE

• Social Justice Issue - faster to get to work for working families

BUDGET ANALYSIS SHOULD REFLECT SOCIAL EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS

LAND USE PLANNING NEEDS TO BE OVERHAULED

• When on the school board, development had been stopped if school capacity was not keeping up (this has been weakened)
• Council has turned a blind eye to the development
• Ghost items in the budget (placeholders in case new development comes up) - these need to go

SOME SECTOR PLANS ARE VISIONARY (e.g. White Flint)

• Eliminate cars
• Put 2 miles of 355 underground
• Add a MARC station

MPDUs / Affordable Housing

• Not affordable
• Not helping with affordable housing
• We need real affordable housing

INVESTMENT OF PUBLIC DOLLARS NOT EQUITABLE

• A lot going to Bethesda
• Not going to Silver Spring
• Selling public land for private development

DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES ARE TOO LOW

• Taxpayers are suffering to pay for infrastructure

ON THE POWERFUL COUNTY EXECUTIVE

• Requires vigilant oversight
• Council currently has weak oversight

ON NEGOTIATED CONTRACTS WITH UNIONS

NEED BETTER LONG TERM BUDGET PLANNING

HIGH SALARIES IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT POSITIONS

COUNTY REVENUES ARE STRONG

• Due to property tax
• And windfall expected from state income taxes due to fed tax changes

WE DON’T GET OUR FAIR SHARE FROM THE STATE

• MoCo Doesn’t apply for grants in some cases
• There is no clear / common agenda from the county to the state legislature
• The County Council must play a stronger role at the state
• The county should hire a lobbyist

ADDRESSING WEALTH DIVIDE

• Low Income Areas Face Different Educational Challenges
• Lack of child care in poorer areas

BOARD OF EDUCATION

• Experience on Board of Education
• Budgeting
• Set school district boundaries (very challenging)

SCHOOLS

• Should have dual language instruction
• MCPS is largest employer and bus system in the county
• Has a transparent budget that the county budget doesn’t have
• School construction are underfunded
• Development has allowed a lot more housing to serve a school population

POOLESVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

• Much can be done to renovate the school; new construction not needed as population does not justify new construction

HOLISTIC SOLUTIONS NEEDED

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You’ll Learn About:

BIO

• Elected at age 18 to Democratic Party County Committee Seat
• Facilitating Social Change
• Founded Witness Justice / Ran it for 14 years
• As a crime victim; recognized there were many gaps in publicly funded programs / systems
• Federal Advocacy work (Addiction Treatment, Jail Diversion, Addressing Trauma for Crime Survivors)
• • Led to advocacy for addressing trauma for a lot of issue

FINANCING CAMPAIGN

• So far all funding from private citizens
• On systemic bias to support candidates who have raised the most money
• • Without money, despite principled positions, you don’t get endorsements

PRIORITIES

• Safety & Civility
• • Upticks in bullying, school violence, vandalism since Trump election

ENVIRONMENT

• We are in a climate emergency; potential effects
• • Agriculture
  • DC Underwater
• Need to use clean / green energy
• Key: Must educate the community
• Key: Get the right incentives / penalties
• Launched own low carbon emissions efforts
• • Not doing yard signs since they aren’t recyclable / biodegradable
• Need to reduce carbon footprints / carbon emissions
• Emergency Preparedness
• • Every state / city should have a chief resilience officer (for severe weather)
• Transport (Green Options)

EDUCATION

• School system is still punitive; there are better ways to solve these issues
• • Restorative Justice
  • Understand what is wrong with kids that act out / not just punishing
  • Other states have had success:
  • • Social / Emotional Learning

JEFF WALDSTREICHER INCIDENT

• Suggested Helga run in the state Senate race before to do him a favor and split the vote in the Senate race
• Says that Waldstreicher lied on the record to Bethesda beat with an indirect legal threat to Luest

SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL LEARNING IN SCHOOLS

• Kids / teachers become more aware of their emotions
• Restorative Justice Approach
• • Witnesses, victim, perpetrator all discuss the issue to build understanding
• Empowering kids to take simple actions can drastically reduce bullying
• Expand curriculum to cover many more religions to reflect diversity in Montgomery County
• • Religious bullying is one of the biggest types of bullying
• The data says these techniques work
• There are lots of opportunities in Maryland to borrow from other jurisdictions with successful programs

TRAUMA INFORMED CARE

• Holistic approach on where trauma came from, treating it and preventative approaches to many issues
• How childhood trauma lessens life spans
• Trauma prevention is key for a health society
• Opioid Abuse
• • Not only affects individuals but also effects:
  • • Kids w/ opioid addicted parents
    • Foster Care System

SERVING VICTIMS IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

• Much more is needed than just crisis intervention
• CAIR Coalition Collapse in Montgomery County (Deportation Defense)

IMPROVING VOTING ACCESS / AWARENESS

• Systemic issues figuring out for whom to vote

AMAZON HQ2 IMPACT

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You’ll Learn About: Residents Don’t Know About County Services On Non-Profits Offering Integral County Services / Needing More Funding On the Precipice of an Economic Collapse in Montgomery County Need to generate more revenue - We’ve expanded to fast - Infrastructure is behind development / schools overcrowded County Should Not Be In The Alcohol Business On Taxes Not Being Spent for Declared Intent Campaign Finance Not taking public financing - Funding for campaigns should be used for residents instead - Lower the amount allocated for financing campaigns - Will not take PAC, corporation or development money Development Halt New Development - Using energy efficiency mandates to decrease cost of real estate ownership - On Sweetheart Developer Deals / Real Estate Money Supporting Candidates Macedonia Baptist Church / Graveyard of Formerly Enslaved - Planned parking lot over top of the cemetery - Macedonia Church excluded from decision-making How Halting Development Helps Improve Budget Outlook Living Wage = More County Revenue On County Reserves On Fighting For Our Planet’s Survival Need to retrofit buildings / build green buildings - Long term savings and lowering costs in county justify this investment - On Green Economic Development On Council’s Sex Trafficking Task Force 
On Social Work Experience 
Supporting the Immigrant Community On DC Model for Attorney Assistance for Immigrants Supports Deportation Defense for County Residents On Support for Ranked Choice Voting Supports Constitutional Amendment to Get Corporate Money Out of Politics The US Has Never Come To Terms With Slavery, Jim Crow and Continued Oppression of Blacks On a $17 Minimum Wage ($15 Isn’t Enough) On the Achievement Gap ​

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Ron addresses the following:

• Criminal Justice System
• • More rehabilitation needed
  • Cash Bail System
• TRUST Act (To Protect Immigrants)
• Education
• • School Construction Funding
  • Kirwin Commission
  • Restorative Justice
• Affordable Housing
• Financing of His Campaign
• • Not seeking PAC money
  • Will refuse contribution from companies
• Work on County Executive Advisory Boards
• Budgets Should Reflect Priorities
• On Tax Equity
• Environment
• • Move to 50% Renewable Energy for Electricity
• Legalize Marijuana
• Senior Residents / Livability / Taxing of Retirement Income
• On Decriminalizing Drugs
• • War on Drugs is an Absolute Failure
• On Canvassing in D18 as an African-American Male
• On Campaign Finance
• • Exclude Corporations
  • Implement Public Financing
• The Social Contract for Working Families
• On Governor Hogan
• • Troublesome for appointees to state agencies / courts
  • Doesn’t reflect progressive priorities

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Hear about Meredith's priorities including:

• Schools
• Transportation
• Environment

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The ACLU of Montgomery County hosted a forum for all 2018 candidates for Judge of the Circuit Court of Montgomery County on June 6, 2018.

Seven judges appointed by Governor Larry Hogan and one contender discussed: should the public affirm all seven seated judges or elect Marylin Pierre, a candidate for the judgeship (unseating one of the appointed judges)?

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Candidate Forums

On Community / Civic Involvement

• Kensington Heights Civic Association
• PTA President
• Founding Member: Maryland Welcomes Refugees
• MCPS Teacher and Parent Volunteer in Schools
• Work on Health Care Committees

Schools

• People move to MoCo for our Schools
• Inequities / lack of resources
• Needy populations in certain schools (Free and Reduced Meals Schools)
• Needs of English Language Learners
• Special Learning Needs Require Specific Solutions
• Growing by 2500 students / year

Immigrant Experience

• Language Challenges
• Support this population

Various Challenges

• Child Care is Expensive
• How do we make people aware of beneficial programs?

Tackling Inequalities in Schools

• Relieve Overcrowding
• Consider boundary changes
• Ensure funding to meet capacity / healthy environment
• Our school system needs more money
• After School Programs
• Student Population / Needs Have Changed Radically in Last 10 Years

Community Engagement / Outreach

On Diversity in Montgomery County

Child Care Accessibility / Affordability for Working Families

Encouraging / Supporting Businesses

Housing Affordability Crisis

Equity and Opportunity for All - Main Priority

Climate Emergency

On Public Financing and Not Getting Matching Funds Due to a Technicality

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You’ll Learn About:

Experience

• Real Estate Agent
• Insurance Consultant (Series Six)

Priorities

• Education
• • Pay Teachers More
  • Close Achievement Gap
• Public Safety
• Transportation
• Affordable Housing
• Local Economy
• Raise Revenue
• Progressive Action
• Green Culture

Financing Campaign

• Taking Public Financing
• Restricting any Donations?
• • Yes to PACs, Not Yet Received
  • NRA - No
  • Hasn’t had the need to refuse donations yet

Teacher Pay

• Raising teacher pay means a better school system / more attractive county
• After School Programs - Need More Funding / Improvement (to help low income families who can’t afford after school care) => provide a boost to at-risk youth to stay out of trouble
• Support Art Programs
• The Best School Districts Tend to Pay More

Helping Working Families

• How Universal Pre-K or Free Community College Helps

Finding Funding for Programs is Critical and a Major Challenge

• Need support in Annapolis
• Legalize Recreational Marijuana / Monetize It (State Level)
• • Proven profitable in other states
• Countywide Internet Service Provider

Green District

• Move us towards:
• • Clean Energy
  • Organic / Vegan / Vegetarian / Healthy Food
  • Education component in schools

Education is the Great Equalizer

• Social Media Awareness

Challenge with Police / Minority Relationship

• On Being Stopped / Harrassed by Police as a Child
• Community Oversight Needed
• De-escalation Training
• Need highly qualified police officers
• Most police officers are great

Affordable Housing / Public Transportation Link

• Transit Oriented Development
• Rollback Mandates on Accessory Developments
• Development Impact Fees Needed
• Employer / Employee Incentive Programs

Compassion in Government

M83 - 200 Extension Past Clarksburg

• Cuts through a lot of low income neighborhoods

Climate Emergency

• We need incentives / mandates to make change
• Ensure that our stormwater runoff permits aren’t privatized
• Incentivize composting / look at waste
• Educate the community
• Incentivize biking / car pools
• Expand the agricultural reserve

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Education - it defines our community

Health Care

• Supports single payer system
• • Tough given the representative reality in the MD state legislature
• State needs to step up due to the cancellation of the federal mandate

Politics - a marathon; sometimes outside events can accelerate things

Trump Administration

• Maryland should be a leader pushing back against the Trump administration

Support of the SAFE Act

Planned Parenthood

• The largest provider of mammograms for women in Maryland (and the nation)
• MD passed a bill last year to fund this

Working to champion issues for the disabled

• Proposal to get rid of the Medicaid clawback for ABLE accounts
• ABLE accounts (529 accounts for people with disabilities to save their money and protect their assets w/out sacrificing social security disability benefits)
• The Medicaid clawback sometimes requires people to take money out of their ABLE accounts - damaging ability for people to sign up for these accounts

Complexity as a systemic problem in government

• Healthcare is expensive and difficult to navigate
• The public option for Obamacare would have helped; but would have jeopardized support for passing Obamacare

On building consensus w/divergent political views

Divergent views between the county council / county state delegation

• Council wants more money
• State delegation doesn’t necessarily agree

On Maryland Passing Dedicated Funding for Metro

• 150 million, forever funding

50% vs 100% clean energy bills before the legislature

On writing effective legislation

Bill for public financing of state legislature races

• Complicated by districts that occupy multiple counties
• Bills for statewide financing have failed

On The 2018 Legislative Session

• Maryland Healthy Paid Leave Act
• • Overroad veto on paid sick leave
  • So people can get paid leave to care for sick kids / relatives

On Working Family Support

• Co-lead sponsor on fight for 15
• Support Labor / Unions

On Working for Bob Mueller

On professional work in corporate investigations

On Consumer Financial Protections Bureau

• How can we stand up to the Trump admin slashing this department back?

On Amazon coming to Maryland

On the SAFE Act (Details)

• Unconstitutionality of local law enforcement holding immigrants based on ICE detainer requested not backed by a court or independent 3rd party
• Montgomery County is already operating constitutionally
• Other jurisdictions are not operating in this manner

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Links to stuff from the interview:

• Lessig talk on money in politics
• Exclusion of Bernie Supporters from Local News Broadcast

On Reckless Development & Money In Politics

• Has favored developers
• Has not favored residents
• Has created a lot of problems
• • Overcrowded Schools
  • Broken Water Mains
  • Dwindling Affordable Housing
  • Have not been collecting impact taxes
• Why? - many candidates are funded by real estate developers

On Support / Work for Bernie Sanders

On Money in Politics

• Money is the root of problems in our politics; until that is fixed, we can’t solve a lot of problems
• Favors public financing statewide and more transparency in reporting requirements on donation sources
• There should be more scrutiny of here candidate funding comes from
• Several of the top candidates in District 1 are getting money from developers
• It is unclear where the money is coming from even for candidates taking public financing - need more transparency in reporting donations

D1 Issues:

• Overcrowded schools - projected 160% over capacity by 2020
• Poolesville is dilapidated, yet was taken of construction list (because it is not over capacity)

Schools:

• The number 1 magnet in MoCo relative to other counties
• If we lose that, we lose our draw and justification for higher taxes

Priorities

• Reforming our land use decisions
• Observe our rules for impact taxes; no more exemptions
• Raise the impact taxes for new development
• Make sure our council reps aren’t beholden to special interests / developers
• • Will yield better advocates on residents appointed to the planning board
• Path to incorporating towns should be easier to provide better representation for citizens
• School construction should be a priority in the county’s budget
• Support and encourage public transportation
• • Via dedicated funding / subsidies
  • BRT
  • More amenities on buses (e.g. wifi)
• Roads
• • Explore tech solutions and re-engineering to improve efficiency
• Income Equity
• • Need to do more to raise wages
  • Improve working conditions / worker rights
  • Using project labor agreements for county work
  • 15 is good, but is not a livable wage (17 / 18 is closer to livable in MoCo
  • Supporting unions - making them available to workers

Revenue:

• Explore taxing things that have negative effects (e.g. soda)

On Activism and Change

On Election Reforms

• Same Day Registrations
• Ranked Choice Voting
• Open Primaries

Climate

• Move aggressively to get off of fossil fuels
• Close Dickerson power plant / incinerator
• Yes on divestment of fossil fuel companies
• Zero Waste
• • Limit trash output
  • Allow unlimited recycling

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On January 18, 2018, I sat down with Evan Glass who covered:

Montgomery County is HUGE

• 1.1 million people
• 5.5 billion budget
• Yet - education received, varies (need to close the achievement gap)
• Metro needs to work and safety is in question
• How do we pay for this stuff?
• • Expand tax base by bringing more economic development to the county
  • • More businesses means more tax revenue
• On dedicated funding for metro / and how to get revenue for that
• Expanding the tax base
• • Science gateway in White Oak
  • • Anchors: FDA and hospital
    • Should attract new businesses
• Benefits of bringing jobs to East County
• On the need for holistic solutions
• On residential growth / development
• • Need better planning among:
  • • MCPS
    • Planning Department
    • Other Departments
• How can we make change?
• • Creative conversations / thinking with a new county council and county executive
• On small businesses
• • 96% of jobs in Montgomery County are from Small Businesses
  • Therefore, we need to support them
  • • Residents should patronize our establishments
  • County procurement should prioritize small business
• How to improve education
• • Modernize our schools
  • Resolve overcrowding
  • Build more schools
  • Teachers should have support to serve various populations
  • Address food / housing / economic insecurities at home
• On Transparency
• • The county needs to be transparent
• On the Purple Line
• • Ensure tax dollars are used efficiently
  • Mitigate disruption in neighborhoods
  • Don’t start construction before community is aware
• On Legislative Body Functions
• • Write laws
  • Oversight
  • • There is not enough internal oversight being done
• Family resources to improve student performance
• • On non-profits providing these services
  • • After-school activities
    • Affordable housing
• On Citizens Stepping Up to Make a Difference
• On Evan’s Local Civic Association Activism
• • Fixing sidewalks
  • Installing Crosswalks
  • Getting greenspace
  • Working with the county
• Public Financing of Campaigns
• • Testified in support
  • Taking Public Financing
  • Is complicated for candidates / treasurers
  • A better system than making promises to do something once in office in exchange for a big check
  • Only MoCo Resident Donations Get Matched
  • Requires that a candidate connect with more people
• On Previous Campaign
• • 80% of donations were from MoCo residents
  • Accepted real estate / other donations before; glad to not be accepting these contributions this election
• Park & Planning
• • If we want to reform it; it has to be done through the state legislature
• Cell Phone Towers
• • Lots of communities concerned about it in N. Potomac
• On Jon’s Transparency:
• • Donated to various council candidates (see http://activist.xyz/about)
  • How to be fair to candidates
• On leaving journalism and starting to advocate for issues

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Democratic candidate for county council District 1 Interview

You’ll hear Jim’s thoughts on:

• How to organize the county to be more livable, navigable, etc..
• Building infrastructure and then developing
• Citizen input in the zoning / land-use planning process
• Public Financing of Campaigns
• Pedestrian and bicyclist safety focus
• Shortening trips - co-locating commercial / residential
• Montgomery County’s Climate Emergency Declaration - the number one issue facing all of us - Jim says
• • Translating it to action; will take thought and serious dialog
  • Re-prioritize the planning process to make the climate emergency a number one priority
  • Divestment doesn’t help the county get to zero emissions, but it is a great symbolic gesture
• On Working Families
• • People should be able to work a 40 hour job and have a life
  • Jobs should pay a living wage
• On Elections
• • Open primary system - where the two candidates that win the most votes, regardless of party, make it to the final election in November
• Education
• • Expand preschool / early childhood care / education is important (funds permitted)
  • Early childhood educators get paid the least
• On Minimum Standard of Living
• Tackling the Budget Gap
• On Power Centers in Montgomery County
• On Community Input into the Decision Making Process
• • Bring more stakeholders into the planning process
• On a Regional Approach to Metro

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Here candidates for Montgomery County Executive describe their stances on immigrant rights and racial equity.

Candidates:

George Leventhal

Rose Krasnow

Bill Frick

Marc Elrich

David Blair

Rober Berliner

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Bio

• Democratic Party Involvement / Central Committee Work
• Immigrant Parents
• Attorney / Health Care Expert
• Pedestrian Safety Experience

Governor Hogan

• Negatives of expanding / privatizing 495 and 270 (and the executive’s rush to do this)
• The Hogan administration is proceeding, quickly
• Community, health impacts
• Playing politics with education money

Maryland Budget / Revenue Picture

• Mid - long term situation is tough
• Must increase revenue base
• • Small business support
  • Legalize Marijuana
  • Consider equal real estate taxes for country clubs
  • When developers get tax breaks it shifts the burden to families

State Highways / Pedestrians

• Moving toward more consideration for pedestrians from the state highway administration
• Accommodate Bicyclists

Health Care

• Prescription Drug Affordability
• Should have a disclosure requirement
• • Pharmacist will share all the cost options - so you can have the choice for cheaper options
• Moving to a Single Payer System
• Getting Community Buy-In

Education

• We are falling behind in school revenue from the state (especially for construction)
• Schools in D18 need physical work (E. Brook Lee in particular)
• Overcrowding
• We should look at the Kirwin Commission’s findings (final recommendations come after the election)
• We should include a measure for school funding from state based on how fast school districts are growing

Climate Emergency

• Every bill introduced should be considered for environmental impact
• Support for a special session to address climate issues

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You'll learn about:

• Inspired by Thurgood Marshall
• Running to achieve more diversity on the bench - outside the current appointment system
• Need for More Attention to Juvenile Law in Montgomery County
• Judgeships in Montgomery County
• • 8 people running for 7 positions
  • Marylin the only one who wasn’t appointed
  • 7 judges are running to retain their appointed seats
  • These judges are appointed by the Governor
  • Judges must run during the first election after appointment to retain their seats
  • Their seats are rarely challenged

• On the process of appointing judges and incumbent judge advantages in the election

• • Judge candidates must fill out applications for bar associations
  • Bar associations make recommendations to the Governor’s Commission that recommends judge candidates to the Governor (the Governor appoints the members of the commission)
  • Governor appoints attorneys to become judges
  • Lots of politics involved in the process - the bar associations evaluate judge applicants, submit recommendations to the Governor’s commission and the Governor’s Commission sends a couple of recommendations for each vacancy
• Is the judge selection system just? Should we have a different system?
• • Perhaps not completely fair in Montgomery County
  • Each county bar association is powerful
  • Other Maryland counties do not charge a fee for judge candidates to apply for a judgeship candidate review - MoCo private bar associations charge $100
  • The MoCo bar association has 4 representatives out of the 13 total on the Governor’s Commission
  • The MoCo Commission reveals to other candidates before the commission how they voted on all the other candidates. The other bar associations don’t do this.
  • Yet - there is an ability to run for judge without an appointment.
• On Judges and Understanding People Coming Before the Court
• • Lack of Understanding / Empathy Persists in Courts
• Circuit Courts in Montgomery County
• • Appeals Function (From State Agency Administrative Process Findings)
  • Family Law Cases are the bulk of the cases
• Office of Administrative Hearings
• • Administrative Law Judges
• On the Occasional Inhumanity / Humanity of the Justice System
• • Depending on if the court identifies with the person being judged
• After 18 months in Montgomery County, Judges rotate into different dockets (juvenile law to another type of law)

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County Executive candidates, George Leventhal, Rose Krasnow, Robin Ficker, Marc Elrich and Roger Berliner share their views on the environment at a green forum organized by Conservation Montgomery.

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In this interview with Democratic Party Candidate for State Delegate in Maryland's District 18 you'll learn about Mila's views on:

Health Care * Health Care in Maryland * Medicare for All * Death with Dignity

Climate Emergency Reforming the Maryland State Legislature Sexual Harassment in Annapolis Legalization of Marijuana * Expungement

Montgomery County Delegation to State Legislature Campaign Finance On How We Do Elections in Maryland

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In this interview with Democratic Party Candidate for State Delegate in Maryland's District 18 you'll learn about Mila's views on:

Health Care * Health Care in Maryland * Medicare for All * Death with Dignity

Climate Emergency Reforming the Maryland State Legislature Sexual Harassment in Annapolis Legalization of Marijuana * Expungement

Montgomery County Delegation to State Legislature Campaign Finance On How We Do Elections in Maryland

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You'll learn about Dana's ideas and commentary regarding:​ * A Multitude of Candidates + D 18 - 2 incumbents not running for reelection for delegate race + Many at-large candidates + 8 State Legislative Districts in Montgomery County * Districts in Montgomery County + Redistricting by state legislature to reward / punish incumbents based on behavior in legislature + Roughly 125,000 / district + Some districts are compact geographically / others not so much

• District 18

  • Manageable district - can do retail politics here - can meet the neighbors - walk through and knock on doors
  • Lots of federal government workers or supporting workers

  • Several Sections of D18:

    • Upscale Chevy Chase
    • Kensington / Garrett Park / Silver Spring - Mid zone middle to upper middle class

    • Norther part:

      • Wheaton / Viers mill road

        • Working class
        • Lower middle class
        • Aspiring middle class
        • Immigrant community in many cases
        • Burgeoning urbanization of Wheaton

• Local Elections

  • Elections are highly competitive this year for a variety of reasons:

    • Public Financing
    • Term Limits
    • The overall political environment

• Health Insurance

  • Need to ensure affordable health insurance in Maryland

• Immigrant fear in Montgomery County

  • Citizens and non-citizens are scared of being swept up in the net

    • We need to address this
    • MD Attorney General is addressing this and other matters to battle federal government action

• State politics matter more than ever due to the federal regime

• Bio

  • Practiced surgery in Mississippi
  • Served the under-served
  • Worked in Kenya and Nepal
  • Raised children here
  • 2003 completed gender transition
  • Became an LGBTQ activist in 2003
  • Board of Equality Maryland
  • Co-Founded Gender Rights Maryland
  • Promoted marriage equality / laws that led up to that
  • Passing gender identity rights in various counties
  • Passing 2014 bill on gender identity rights in Annapolis
  • Fought bathroom bills - endured death threats
  • Executive Vice Pres. of Maryland NOW
  • NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland Board Member - protecting women’s reproductive rights

  • Helped create the Family Justice Center in Rockville

    • Haven for abused women to have a safe place with their children and pursue judicial justice / protective orders

      • Senior Staffer to a Council Member

    • Worked on BRT plans

      • Public health / environmental health work

    • 2007 County Council banned artificial trans fats - most toxic type of fats

    • First county to pass this kind of law; spread to other jurisdictions and eventually use phased out; many lives were saved

• Why Beyer is running:

  • To be on the inside and make change
  • Leverage successful lobbying experience in Annapolis

• Where change is made

  • Working with civic lobbyists and activists at the beginning to marshal support for a cause - months before the legislative session begins

    • Craft legislation
    • Find a lead sponsor
    • Summon support / create relationships
    • Organize rallies

    • Next:

      • Committee Work

        • Invisible to Voters / Hard to pay attention
        • The best legislators do their best work when nobody is watching and they create legislation that can pass / or kill legislation that shouldn’t pass - and voters don’t know about this since final vote scorecards don’t tell the whole story
        • Work with Progressive Neighbors

  • Supporting Jamie Raskin’s campaign

  • Doing the work to research candidates for local office
  • On running a productive meeting or forum

• On Part-Time State Legislature

  • Make it full-time to make it more effective
  • Make it a well-paid job
  • Part-time doesn’t work

• Democratizing the senate

  • Committee chairs are all powerful and kill any bill they want / promote any bill they want

    • Appointed by president of the senate
      • The membership at large should choose the committee chairs

• Commission in Annapolis on Sexual Harassment

  • Need to clear out members now because if they aren’t challenged and get ejected, a Republican can grab the seat.

• Priorities:

  • Hard to know what the next crisis will be due to instability at the federal level
  • Priority 1: flexibility

  • Would like to work on Health Care

    • Retain coverage for Marylanders via affordable care act

      • Make Senate more Democratic
      • Making progressive solutions to our problems the default solution in our legislature - this hasn’t been the case
      • Transportation:

    • Safety

    • Public Transportation should be the priority

    • Address climate change - we are in an existential planetary crisis

      • People are overwhelmed by the scale of the problem
      • Address it with a Manhattan style project
      • Global warming should be the #1 priority; but we need a vital movement to get solutions

• Protect our immigrant community

  • Serious uptake in hate crimes
  • People must be able to trust the authorities
  • Support of the TRUST act

• Health Care

  • The practice of medicine is a healing art - not a business
  • Treatment with as much compassion and empathy as possible
  • Medicare works well because there is no profit motive in it - 97 cents of every dollar is spent on patients
  • Provide choice for Americans - private care / care via employees
  • We should offer medicare for everyone - this is a federal issue

  • Getting single payer in the state is far more complicated

    • It failed in Vermont
      • How the state can help if premiums in Obamacare go up

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United for Maryland's 'Fireside Chat' from the Carderock Springs Swim and Tennis Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

The following Democratic party candidates make their case for why they should earn your vote in the Maryland, June 26th, Democratic party primary.

Participating candidates:

• Krish Vignarajah
• Ben Jealous
• Rich Madaleno
• Alec Ross
• Kevin Kamenetz

Go to the ACTIVIST and make a donation to support independent, thoughtful, civil, local, trans-partisan and solutions-based coverage of Montgomery County and Maryland elections and issues.

I need your support to keep this going!

Sincerely,

Jon Foreman

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You'll learn about:

• Community activism, organizing and non-profit work
• Focus on food and land-us / development as a way to achieve social justice

Brandy’s Priorities:

• Affordable Housing
• Transportation
• The Economy
• Food Systems

Other Items:

• Affordable Housing Crisis
• Living Wage (and how $15 is not enough)
• Tipped workers and a living wage
• Reorganizing the economic system to be more fair for people and businesses.
• Cooperatives (Consumer, Business, Residential, Financial, etc.) and how they equalize economic power
• Affordable commercial space
• Effective enforcement of earned sick leave and equal pay ordinances
• On the convergence of many factors resulting in many candidates running for office in Montgomery County.
• How local elections have been ignored and why that is a bad idea.
• The solutions to local problems are in our communities.

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You'll learn about Tim's ideas regarding:

• building a sustainable community in Montgomery County
• creating a local, green economy
• renewable energy / rapid movement to 100% clean energy
• creating locally controlled banks / taking control of local finances
• the climate emergency / global warming
• regenerative agriculture
• overpopulation
• social justice

Stay tuned for part II when we will cover much more.

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Here are some voices of from Indivisible and youth movement leaders who attended the training.

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Maryland Delegates and Activists Present the SAFE Act Bill to protect the immigrant community in Maryland from ICE detainers and ensure that residents can interact with law enforcement, health care and other officials / institutions without fear of arrest or deportation.

Speakers:

Ana Sol Gutierrez - Delegate * The SAFE Act is the same as the Trust act, but with a new name * + So people feel safe in their communities, with law enforcement officers at a time when the environment is worsening

Senator Susan Lee * Proud to join community leaders here to support this act * Chair of Asian-American Pacific Islanders Conference

Joseline Peña-Melnyk - Delegate * We must allow our neighbors to feel safe so they can trust their neighbors, law enforcement, taking their kids to school and not getting arrested in a parking lot, arrested going to a hospital.

Marice Morales - Delegate * Last year they worked extremely hard on this bill in the judiciary committee * Product of this bill is a bipartisan product * The 4 areas addressed by the SAFE Act: + Public schools + Hospital + Court Houses * + Nobody will be detained without a warrant + Prohibiting registries based on immigration status and/or religion and other identifying factors + Creating safe harbors (no ICE) * Biggest part of this act: * + Outlawing the 287g program using correctional facilities in this state as an extension of ICE detention

Pam Queen - Delegate * The Black Caucus is supporting this bill and I’m proud to be working on this

Jimmy Tarlau - Delegate * 35% of district is Latino * + 90% from El Salvador * Number 1 issue + Feaful before 45 + More fearful now * MD has to step up its gain * + Our residents who pay taxes, who work hard, who bring their kids tos chools are going to be protected * This is the year to get it passed

Jeff Waldstreicher - Delegate * When the fed govt acts unconstitutionally it is up to the state to protect its residents

Bonnie Campos - ACLU Montgomery County People Power * This is a challenging bill * We learned that fear drove those that would normally protect the most vulnerable to retreat * We were told to wait - it is an election year. So we are here fighting back fear and refusing to give up. Giving up on this is giving up on our immigrant neighbors, our communities and feeling safe.

Cecilia Plante * Member of MD legislative coalition * Laws are intended to make the many feel safe - this is what the SAFE Act is about; treating everyone as they are the same class of people - what our founding fathers intended, what our constitution requires; what our attorney general requires in his guidance - it is about time we listen

Roxanne Weiss * Montgomery County ACLU * I support the SAFE Act because without explicit guidance to our law enforcement officers, detaining someone beyond their release time is unconstitutional * + This puts the officer and our jurisdiction at risk for a lawsuit whcih can cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. * The only way I can feel safe in my home is if my neighbor feels safe

Gwen Stewart * Women’s Democratic Club of Montgomery County * This bill is important for the safety of all in MD - those that live there and travel through there * If people don’t feel safe to come to the health care system, it makes it dangerous for everyone (e.g. TB can spread)

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Quick take interview with Dana Beyer on:

• Parkland School Shooting and Marco Rubio's comments at a forum for the community about the shooting

And Jon gives a long monologue about the mission of this podcast:

• inspring civic engagement

• informing voters

• a platform for ALL candidates / activists regardless of party affiliation

• a place for civil dialogue where we can listen and learn

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Elrich discusses:

• Schools
  • Close Achievement Gap
  • Correlation between performance / poverty
  • Address underlying social issues
  • Reduce class size
    • For college prep
    • For vocational (non-college)
  • Adjust curriculum
  • If we say we are doing smart growth, we really ought to do smart growth
• Development
  • There are enough vacancies to fill 66,000 jobs
• Fill commercial real estate vacancies and provide
• Workforce doesn’t necessarily match needs of employers
  • Business incubators
  • Support entrepreneurs
• Provide people opportunities to start and grow businesses
  • How can we streamline this
• What are obstacles for new businesses to start
  • Create study group on this with Sidney Katz for current council
• Make sure regulations aren’t prohibiting businesses from affordably / sensibly occupying existing spaces
  • Big Biz Manage
  • Small Biz Manage
  • Coop
  • Real estate venture
  • 19 years on Takoma Park City Council
• Experience
  • Different perspectives
  • No yes men
  • Listen / keep an open mind
• On forming a team to run the county

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Danielle Meitiv Discusses:

1. Lack of local media
2. Affordable Housing
3. Transit Improvement (MARC, Metro Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
4. Growing the economy & the green economy
5. Transparency and accountability in government
   1. (Composting / Recycling / more)
6. Zero waste
   1. Trump effect
   2. Public Financing
   3. Term Limits
7. Unique opportunity to vote for people that want to make systemic change
8. Amazon development in Montgomery County / secret negotiations / NDA

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• Three priorites:

  • Reduce opportunity gap
  • Strengthen local economy
  • Reducing traffic congestion

• On the opportunity gap (instead of the achievement gap)

  • Official sanctuary county for immigrants
  • Universal pre-k
  • Expand language immersion programs
  • More 1 on 1 time between students and educators
    • More autonomy / support for teachers
  • Support students regardless of their zip code

• Main duties of council member

  • Budget, land use and zoning

• 120 million dollar budget deficit

  • Don’t cut critical services
  • We have amazing county employees

• Schools in north / eastern part of county are not being properly prioritized

  • Aging infrastructures
  • Invest in schools in students that are not part of the county
  • Success means listen and consulting with all (elected, managers, officials, etc.)
  • Partner w/BOE
  • Partner with school admin
  • Need to build a coalition

• Importance of BOE to get better schoolsGreat businesses mean:

  • Retention
  • Better workers

• Smart Growth

  • Inform them better
  • Help them relocate / share info with customers
  • Mixed use development around public transportation
  • Diversity of income in mixed use development
  • More job training
  • Helps expand tax base
  • Helps businesses find employees they need
  • Helps employees build a career; not just getting a job
  • Assist small business owners who are displaced from large dev projects

• Budget shortfall fix

  • Injects funds to economy without cutting essential services / laying off county employees
  • Expand tax base
  • Support small biz
  • Look at issue in comprehensive way
  • Leads to responsible fiscal membership
  • Lower amount of reserves can help

• On Reserve Budget

  • They still have AAA bond rating / low borrowing costs
  • Reaction to financial crisis
  • Helps weather econ. Downturn
  • Higher = easier to have AAA bond rating
  • Ours may be too high relative to other counties in area

• Budget / Land Use / Zoning

  • More Affordable housing opportunity
    • Expand % of new development as affordable
    • Expand MPDU program
    • Look at rent control
    • Landlord notice to tenants of increase and possibly getting approval from county before increase
    • Work w/ developers to pay to avoid MPDUs, instead get them to comply or go beyond
  • Quicker / easier to get to work
  • Ensure high quality of life
    Government can do this: saw this at HUD
  • Residents should not get priced out of their city
  • This is a priority
  • Only more density / floors as a reward for:
    • More energy efficiency
    • Electric charging stations
    • More MPDUs
  • Mixed use development should create Inclusive communities
  • Working with developers
  • Families feel like they are priced out of new devs
  • Feel like not getting enough notice of developments
  • Not enough affordable housing
  • Not developing enough mixes use / smart growth
  • Residents should get best deal for new devs
  • Workers should get respect on these projects

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Danila Sheveiko, 2nd VP of the Montgomery County Civic Federation Discusses:

• Pollution and clean air efforts

• Land use and planning in Montgomery County

• Unfunded and lagging public infrastructure

• Sexual assault and non-transparency in Montgomery County Public Schools

• Costco Gas Station in Westfield Wheaton - Ongoing Litigation and Opposition

• Farm Road - Access road dispossessed to African-American community

• Green development