Monday, January 29, 2007

dan's going head-to-head

STARTING THE WEEK OFF RIGHT: Martin O'Malley brings "Purple Line" back for good; Laurel residents see plans for a new mall this Tuesday (and Just Up The Pike might be attending); Blair High parents want graduations held in a megachurch again; and Derwood homeowners want more money if the ICC's going through their living rooms.

Over the past seven months, Just Up The Pike has talked the talk and walked the walk with the People Who Start Things in Montgomery County. What I haven't done yet, however, is get to know the People Who Finish Things; i.e. our elected officials. Sure, I've yelled at Ike Leggett once or twice, but do I know him as a person? Not at all.

Questions are being prepared and the emus are being corralled as Just Up The Pike heads to Rockville to sit down with our County Councilmembers and County Executive Ike Leggett and talk about whatever's bothering East County. Hopefully, we'll learn a little about them, too. (Did you know Nancy Floreen recently spent a week biking in Vietnam? It's true.) Here's a side of your elected officials you can't see on County Cable 6:


"Montgomery County people cannot come to any collective agreement - and probably never will - on whether we will be urban or suburban."


"My sense about Silver Spring . . . is that young people dig it. I think younger people want stuff to do . . . excitement! Activity!


"If you look at every election over the past sixteen years . . . I was probably the person favored to win. At no point in time was [Steve Silverman] ever ahead."


"Folks tend to get the perception that their corner of the County is unique . . . when we all have the same problems."



"We could be finding a cure for cancer if we're able to connect FDA to Johns Hopkins to biotech corridors in Shady Grove."



"We never proposed a moratorium. It was a word used by the press and developers to start a panic and scare people."



"Do we make the maintenance of our infrastructure a higher priority? I would like to see the social ills in this County make it on the map."

"Those of us who are blessed with abundance have a duty to work for the community who have less."


The big question is whether or not the People Who Finish Things will take me seriously. Can a college kid sit down and talk shop with a four-term politician? We're about to find out.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah it's another transit thing, but could you ask them about Doug Duncan's proposed BRT route up 29?

Haven't heard anything about it in a while.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

You could try to find out about any real development plans they have for Long Branch. Someone said they were giving LB the authority to go after funding... but there's a sense that the county is just shrugging their shoulders. You'd think there'd be a plan.

Anonymous said...

Development.
We're seeing little bits and pieces of a puzzle with projects here and there.
Is there really a master plan as to what downtown SS will look like? Mixes of development? Are there enough buffers and transition areas to the well established neighborhoods? It's the neighborhoods that are close to downtown that make it a greener and more livable area and it would be nice to see what is being done to protect them.
Two cases in point will be the Silver Place Park and Planning expansion and what eventually will happen to the old library when the new library is built.

Anonymous said...

Please ask about building height. If we increase the height of buildings, then there are more moderately priced units and more reason for businesses to open shop on the lower level. This would create true mixed development.

MoCo said...

I've had a few one-on-one's with Nancy Floreen, and she was always quite clueless about just about everything other than development.

Maybe you'll do better with her.

MoCo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Dear MoCo, did you ask Nancy Floreen to send all the illegal immigrants back to Mexico? If you asked her about your obsessive preoccupation with illegal immigration, no wonder she gave you a non-committal response. You are a grade-A nutcase and she probably wanted to get away from you as quickly as she could.

Anonymous said...

Enrique Hernandez said...

Dear MoCo, did you ask Nancy Floreen to send all the illegal immigrants back to Mexico? If you asked her about your obsessive preoccupation with illegal immigration, no wonder she gave you a non-committal response. You are a grade-A nutcase and she probably wanted to get away from you as quickly as she could.

1/29/2007 8:51 PM

RE: Those Maryland hating redneck closet racist Democrats must've put you up to this.

Silver Springer said...

Ask ALL OF THEM if they will continue to stick their heads in the sand about the job situation in the county.

Is there a plan to embrace office development over residential?

How about 70/30 split a this time?