From the Examiner:
County Executive Ike Leggett proposes a curfew based on a couple of isolated incidents last summer, despite stats that say crime is dropping and an actual drop in crime when the county placed more cops in Silver Spring.
Leggett says he'll disregard the countless studies saying curfews don't work and creates a media firestorm that negatively portrays downtown Silver Spring as being overrun with gangs, hurting its reputation at a time when it needs as much business as it can get.
The County PTAs are opposed. Seniors at Leisure World, one of Leggett's core constituencies, are opposed as well. Of course, so are the the kids the curfew would affect, who were invited to town hall meetings so they could get talked town to. Just two of the five Citizens Advisory Boards appointed to give Leggett advice have endorsed the curfew, while two others refused to take a vote and one hasn't voted at all.
On top of that, Leggett still lacks the support of a majority of Councilmembers! And one of his biggest allies, Phil Andrews, has become the leading opponent of the curfew.
Does he wonder why the council hasn't taken a vote AND has proposed an alternative (which isn't much better than a curfew but might end this discussion once and for all?)
This isn't about a curfew anymore. This is about a leader who's bereft of the ability to lead, and when he doesn't get his way, he whines like a little kid. Ike, I think it's time to give it up.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett wants to know why the County Council hasn't made a decision on his proposed youth curfew yet . . .
"It's time to recognize the introduction of the loitering bill for what it really is — a stall tactic intended to confuse the debate on the curfew bill and delay action on the curfew bill," Leggett wrote. "Even if the loitering bill never goes anywhere and withers on the vine at council, it is nonetheless serving its intended purpose: to deny council members who support the curfew bill their rightful opportunity to vote on it."So let's get this straight:
County Executive Ike Leggett proposes a curfew based on a couple of isolated incidents last summer, despite stats that say crime is dropping and an actual drop in crime when the county placed more cops in Silver Spring.
Leggett says he'll disregard the countless studies saying curfews don't work and creates a media firestorm that negatively portrays downtown Silver Spring as being overrun with gangs, hurting its reputation at a time when it needs as much business as it can get.
The County PTAs are opposed. Seniors at Leisure World, one of Leggett's core constituencies, are opposed as well. Of course, so are the the kids the curfew would affect, who were invited to town hall meetings so they could get talked town to. Just two of the five Citizens Advisory Boards appointed to give Leggett advice have endorsed the curfew, while two others refused to take a vote and one hasn't voted at all.
On top of that, Leggett still lacks the support of a majority of Councilmembers! And one of his biggest allies, Phil Andrews, has become the leading opponent of the curfew.
Does he wonder why the council hasn't taken a vote AND has proposed an alternative (which isn't much better than a curfew but might end this discussion once and for all?)
This isn't about a curfew anymore. This is about a leader who's bereft of the ability to lead, and when he doesn't get his way, he whines like a little kid. Ike, I think it's time to give it up.
2 comments:
Well, it appears that a majority of the Council wants to pass something, even if you take the loitering law seriously, which I don't. The problem with all the groups you cite is that they won't be around when we have another post-midnight rumble of under-age teens in Silver Spring or a mass robbery of a 7-11 in Germantown. Instead, folks will be asking why the Council did not act to give the police the tool they requested.
This curfew is unlikely to pass.
There is far more of a chance for passage of the "anti-lurking and anti-lying-in-wait" statute, but that needs to be done on the State level... and very likely it shall be done on the State level.
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