As I begin my second term on the County Council, I’m also taking on two new important roles. I’m honored to be named the new chairman of the Transportation & Environment Committee, on which I’ve served the past four years. I’ve also been selected as one of two Montgomery County representatives on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments - where I can work on regional priorities like Metro service and economic development with elected officials from DC, Northern Virginia and Prince George’s County. Read More

School bus cameras save lives — our kids’ lives. As the sponsor of the original state school bus camera law when I I was a delegate in Annapolis, I’m glad we’re allocating an additional $4.7 million to ensure that all our buses have these cameras, which capture the dangerous drivers who blow right past stopped school buses. The numbers are truly shocking.

In fiscal 2018, which ended June 30, more than 34,400 citations were issued. That works out to an astounding 189 violations per school day.

Read more of October 2018 newsletter.

It’s here: This week is Silver Spring-Takoma Park Restaurant Week, now in its fourth year. I launched Restaurant Week in 2015 to help promote our great restaurants and also expose residents to the terrifically diverse cuisine in our community.

This year, we have 32 participating restaurants, offering special fixed-price lunch and dinner menus featuring culinary treats from America, Korea, Italy, Latin America, Haiti and more.

Restaurant Week ends Sunday, Sept. 9, so check out some new dishes or old favorites and show your support for our vibrant downtown economies! More information, including a list of all the restaurants, is on our website: www.silverspringrestaurantweek.com.

Read more of September 2018 newsletter.

Last month, the Council approved two bills that will grow the supply of affordable housing in the county through our Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit program.

With the median sales price of a county home climbing to $477,750 in June — up 8.6 percent from a year ago and the highest June level on record — too many residents and workers are being priced out of the housing market.

Read more of August 2018 newsletter.

Last month, the County Council unanimously approved my bill that will create a clean-energy jobs apprenticeship readiness program through Worksource Montgomery, which provides job-training and other employment services around the county.

Read more of July 2018 newsletter.

From recycling to solar power and construction, the green industry’s demand for skilled workers is growing and shows no signs of slowing down.

In fact, in a recent report on green jobs, Kelly Services says Maryland is among the top five hottest states for these jobs.

That’s why I’ve introduced a proposal to train our county’s underemployed and unemployed youth and transitioning adults to fill this expanding field.

The Green Jobs Apprenticeship Program would be part of Worksource Montgomery, whose CEO, Ellie Giles, helped craft the proposal.

Following several recent high-profile crimes in East County, County Councilmember Tom Hucker assured residents that the Council is doing what it takes to ensure safer neighborhoods.

Montgomery County Councilmember Tom Hucker has joined with three of his council colleagues and dozens of other local lawmakers from around the nation, urging the county’s congressional delegation to quickly protect the thousands of Dreamers who could face deportation this year.

Despite some rainy weather in parts of the county Tuesday evening, hundreds of county residents turned out for the 34th annual National Night Out (NNO). In District 5 alone, Councilmember Hucker and staff attended events in the East County, Fairland, Four Corners, Forest Glen, Lyttonsville and Oak View communities.

“It was great to see so many residents meet with our police and firefighters,” Hucker said. “National Night Out is a terrific opportunity for people and our law enforcement personnel and first responders to learn how, together, they can work to make our neighborhoods safer.”

NNO is a nationwide event held on the first Tuesday in August to generate neighborhood support and participation in crime-prevention efforts and is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

Hucker began the evening at the West Hillandale pool, where he was joined by Congressman John Sarbanes and McGruff the Crime Dog. Hucker spoke to residents about the county’s efforts to crack down on nuisance neighbors who are causing blight and unsafe conditions in the community.

Hucker also agreed to work with the Hillandale Volunteer Fire Department and the federal General Services Administration to look into the possibility of expanding Station 12 near the FDA campus. Station 12 needs the additional capacity to be able to serve the proposed development at Viva White Oak.

Hucker’s next stop was at Fairland Estates, where he recently got the county to take action on dead trees that were causing dangerous driving conditions for residents. “Fairland Estates can count on two things during our annual National Night Out event — great food and refreshments and the support of responsive county officials like Councilman Tom Hucker,” said Mark Fine president of the Fairland Estates Civic Association. “This year, we again had the pleasure of Mr. Hucker spending some time to meet, greet and answer questions from the neighborhood.”

Hucker’s third stop in East County was perhaps the biggest event of the night. Dozens of residents showed up to the event sponsored by the East County Regional Services Center, the Calverton Citizens Association and public safety officials. Children were able to participate in soccer mini-clinics, pickup basketball games and other lawn games, while their parents learned about a wide range of county services and businesses in the area.

Hucker ended the night at the Northwood-Four Corners and the Forest Estates communities in Silver Spring. Residents in Forest Estates expressed a range of concerns, from parking in Silver Spring to lenient sentencing in drug crimes related to a recent shooting in the Forest Glen area. Hucker agreed to follow up with Police Chief Tom Manger about the need for better communication following these types of crimes and with State’s Attorney John McCarthy about the typical sentence for felons convicted of intent to distribute large quantities of drugs.

After suffering through years of bumpy rides, residents in the Woodmoor section of Silver Spring are getting some relief this summer.

Washington Gas has already overhauled about half the roadway slated for work this summer, with the county expected to start workin on its portion in either the last week of July or first week of August.

"This is good news for the Woodmoor neighborhood," said their county councilmember, Tom Hucker. "Even though the county has tried to keep up by patching potholes and cracks, a thorough resurfacing project is overdue."

Every two years, the county uses technology such as lasers and cameras to assess the condition of 5,200 lane miles of streets and highways, ratibng them on a scale of zero to 100, with zero being the worst.

Most of the streets in the Woodmoor neighborhood, which is bordered by Colesville Road, University Boulevard and the Capital Beltway, were rates as fair to poor, with some needing even more attention.

But the county needed to wait until the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission and Washington Gas completed their utility work, which has taken several years. Resurfacing the roads before all this work was finished made no sense, transportation officials said. 

So, Starting soon -weather permitting- contractors hired by the county will start full-depth, or base repair, patching, followed by an overlay of hot-mix asphalt. The county's transportation department is handling about half of the 7 lane miles in the neighborhood, while Washington Gas supervised work on the other half. 

The next $1 million phase of the project is expected to take about eight weeks. So - again, weather permitting- it should wrap up by early October. 

The work, of course, means some inconveniences for drivers and other residents. 
Specifically, people can expect the following impacts, according to county officials: 

• Short term parking restrictions.
• Lane closures and alternating one-way traffic patterns. 
• Some minor traffic delays and brief daily road closures, with flaggers manually directing traffic through the construction zone.
• Access to residences will be available at all times, although there might be some minor delays as workers restrict traffic from freshly laid hot-mix asphalt, transportation officials said.
• Noise- which is to be expected. However, work will be done weekdays only, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

From Tuesday, September 5 to Sunday, September 10, enjoy set courses throughout the entire week at select Silver Spring and Takoma Park restaurants. For more information, visit the official restaurant week website.

Read Tom Hucker's full letter to his constituents regarding what his plans are for the next budget.