• A New Budget
• Working to Fix a Broken Growth Policy
• Capital Improvements Budget Forums
• Helping Our Kids Walk Safely
• Fire Safety Steps for Older Adults
• Another Life Saver
• Those Who Serve, Do Even More
• Watching Your Government at Work
• Top Honors for Our Website
• July Town Meeting

A New Budget

Congratulations to the County Council on a job well done in passing an Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2008 that invests in our critical needs while keeping spending at a reasonable level.

The budget funds more than 99 percent of the Montgomery County Public Schools request, which amounts to a $131 million increase - and gives Montgomery College the resources it needs to meet its growing enrollment.

Thanks to this budget, we'll be putting more police officers and fire and rescue personnel on the streets to protect our lives and properties. We've also more than doubled funding for youth violence prevention. It also provides more dollars for the popular Montgomery Cares program which means more help for county residents without health insurance.

I'm especially pleased that the Council saw fit in this budget to fully fund my $10 million increase in resources for the Montgomery Housing Initiative Fund. This means more opportunity to preserve and expand the supply of affordable housing in the county so that folks who work here have a better shot of being able to live here.

And, keep in mind that this budget also provides a tax credit of more than $600 for every owner-occupied household in the county, 80 percent of whom will actually pay less in property taxes this year than last.

This budget presented significant challenges, but working together with the Council, we were equal to the task.

- top

Working to Fix a Broken Growth Policy

Our Growth Policy is broken and needs to be fixed and I welcome the Planning Board's work on proposed changes.

I agree that the School Adequacy Test needs to be tightened to ensure that development doesn't occur where schools are already overcrowded. The standards should kick in when a school is at 100 percent capacity, not 105 or 110 percent.

Several years ago, the Council did away with the Policy Area Transportation Review -- a critical test that developers had to satisfy. That was a big mistake, and I'm glad to see the Planning Board's draft changes require a Policy Area Mobility Review. Although that is an appropriate first step, I'm concerned that it's not stringent enough.

We also cannot support a policy that claims there is adequate transportation infrastructure to handle future growth in an area where traffic is stacked up and portable classrooms proliferate like mushrooms after a rain.

It's only fair that developers pay a much greater share of schools, roads and other infrastructure costs that serve their projects. However, doubling the school and transportation impact taxes, as the Planning Board draft suggests, may be too much of an increase. I'm also concerned that this size increase could compromise our commitment to encouraging more affordable housing throughout the county.

I appreciate the Planning Board's work and look forward to participating in the process of establishing a Growth Policy that works for all county residents and is rooted in everyday realities.

- top

Capital Improvements Budget Forums

We've just adopted a new Operating Budget, and it's already time to look ahead to what goes into the County's next six-year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget. Hosted by local citizen advisory boards, the forums are held to help define construction and planning priorities for various parts of the county.

The CIP includes costs for new construction and renovations of projects such as roads, public schools, libraries, parks, health and recreation facilities, and water and sewer lines.

The forums begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at the following locations:

• Monday, June 18 - Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, 240-777-8200;



• Tuesday, June 19 - Crossway Community, 3015 Upton Street, Kensington, 240-777-8100; and



• Thursday, June 21 - Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center, 3300 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, 240-777-8400.

- top

Helping Our Kids Walk Safely

There is no higher priority than making sure our kids are safe. That's why I recently announced a proposal that would earmark the first $25,000 in net revenues from our new speed camera program for pedestrian safety improvements at public schools.

This means we can accelerate the planned improvements by one to two years for one or two schools.

I hope aggressive drivers are getting the message to slow down, but those who break the law will be helping us step up the initiatives to make our streets safe for everyone, but especially our kids.

Thanks to Honda of North America, we also have 400 copies of a 14-minute DVD on pedestrian safety, geared to five- to nine-year-olds, that will go to every public and private K-5 school in the county. Each of our public libraries will also receive two copies.

You can view the DVD and receive tips and other information on pedestrian safety by visiting the County's website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/walk.

- top

Fire Safety Steps for Older Adults

The recent tragedy in Kensington in which Craig and Patricia Reynolds lost their lives in a house fire, all too vividly points out the vulnerability of homeowners when fire strikes, but this is especially true of our older residents.

Of the 13 fire fatalities that have occurred in the past three years in Montgomery County, 12 were senior citizens, which puts us far above the national average. This is a tragic trend that must be stopped.

To help combat this issue, a Senior Citizen Fire Safety Task Force was created in March 2006 and charged with submitting to the County Executive recommended strategies and procedures that could help reduce the risk of fire-related deaths and injuries to older County residents.

The Task Force has been hard at work, meeting weekly, to fulfill their mission, and the first-year report - entitled "Seniors at Risk: Creating a Culture of Fire Safety" -- was just publicly released at a news conference held at the Reynolds' home.

Their 30 recommendations were prioritized into immediate and short- and long-term implementations.

Examples of the recommendations include:

Immediate - Establish a senior citizen fire safety staff position to assume leadership for fire safety training and to oversee implementation and education of the task force's recommendations;

Short-term - Initiate a public education program to encourage installation of approved automatic fire sprinkler protection on all existing residential properties, with special emphasis on seniors living independently throughout the county; and

Long-term - Require that all existing residential buildings with three or more living units (regardless of ownership) have an approved fire sprinkler system installed throughout, within five years of the date of the requiring legislation.

Meanwhile, the single most important thing residents can do is to make sure you have working smoke alarms in your homes. Please, check and double check to make sure they are working properly.

Then, to receive more information on fire safety in the home, including tips on "Fire Safety for Older Adults," visit www.montgomerycountymd.gov/firerescue and click on "Safety in Our Neighborhood." For more information on the report, call 240-777-2400.

- top

Another Life Saver

One of the rewards of being County Executive is to recognize individual acts of heroism by our residents.

Recently, I was able to do just that when we honored two men -- Anil Saini, a Recreation Department staff member who, with the aid of an automated external defibrillator (AED), revived a man who went into cardiac arrest while using a treadmill at the Coffield Community Center in Silver Spring and John Smith, Ride On bus driver and fellow patron at the center, who aided the victim and alerted staff. After the staff was unable to revive the victim, they called 9-1-1 and started CPR. Saini, who was trained on the AED, retrieved it and used it on the customer who regained his pulse and respiration after one shock. After Fire and Rescue personnel arrived, the man went into cardiac arrest once more, and the emergency medical technicians used their AED and successfully restored pulse and respiration.

Thanks to the legislation approved by the Council in November 2004, all registered health clubs in the county are required to have at least one AED on hand and at least one staff member trained to operate it. All County community and recreation centers, senior centers, pools and the Olney Skate Park are equipped with AEDs.

This incident is one of five, in just over two and a half years, in which the presence of a defibrillator at a fitness center has saved a life. Overall, since the legislation went into effect, 15 people have been saved. These statistics speak volumes for the importance of this legislation.

For more information about automated external defibrillators, call Michael McAdams in Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service at 240-777-2425.

- top

Those Who Serve, Do Even More

The dedicated men and women of the Montgomery County Police Department who put their lives on the line for us every day, recently found yet another way to provide a much-needed public service.

As a result of the Third Annual MCPD Food Drive, conducted under the supervision of Captain David Gillespie, the Captain Joseph A. Mattingly, Jr. Food Pantry at the Mid-County Regional Services Center is now full and ready to provide emergency food supplies to county residents in need of assistance. The pantry, operated by the Mid-County United Ministries, is dedicated to the memory of Captain Mattingly who died in the line of duty in September 2003.

Food and monetary contributions came not only from the various Police Districts throughout the county, but from the Office of the County Executive, Fire and Rescue's Chief's Office, the Christian Law Enforcement Fellowship and the Office of the States Attorney.

Thanks to our police officers and everyone who contributed to the success of the drive.

- top

Watching Your Government at Work

A good way for residents to get an idea of the many things going on in the county is to tune in to County Cable Montgomery (CCM). You can get County government news, public affairs programs, County Executive news conferences and live sessions of the County Council. The channel also features live traffic reports each weekday morning and afternoon from the cameras in the County's Traffic Management Center. During storms or emergencies, CCM works with the center to bring you quick and accurate information on school closings, road conditions, bus or rail delays and program cancellations.

Now, thanks to a lot of behind-the-scenes hard work, County Cable Montgomery can be viewed by Verizon FiOS subscribers on Channel 30.

You can find CCM on both Comcast and RCN at channel 6.

- top

Top Honors for Our Website

I was pleased to recently accept an E-award for Excellence in E-Government for the Montgomery County website presented by the National Policy Research Council.

The council, a think tank that serves state and local policy makers, reviewed the websites of every official government in the country - more than 11,000 total. I'm proud to say that our site earned a coveted A+, one of only 18 nationwide to get the highest mark.

We're very pleased with the grade, because we work hard to make sure the site is useful, accurate and easy to navigate. Our goal is to make County government more accessible to the residents we serve.

The sites were graded on usability, responsiveness, disability access, information quality, procurement, E-permitting capabilities and human resources.

Be sure to bookmark our award-winning site -- www.montgomerycountymd.gov -- that is one of the best in the country.

- top