Thursday, March 14, 2013
A letter to the Montgomery County executive from a Wheaton advisory committee asks for more transparency for the project's timeline and funding for small business assistance.
The Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee sent a letter to Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett Wednesday, sharing concerns about the redevelopment project planned for parking lot 13 in Wheaton. "There is a high degree of frustration in the community due to uncertainty about the project timeline and hence, how that correlates to funding for Bill 6-12," the letter reads. Bill 6-12, which the County Council approved last year, provides for assistance to small businesses who are negatively affected by a county redevelopment project. However, the assistance program that the bill creates has not yet been funded. In the letter (see attached PDF), WUDAC asks for more transparency on the progress of the redevelopment project, funding for …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
One of the assistant chiefs will head a newly formed bureau in a department reorganization.
The Montgomery County Police Department has two new assistant chiefs: Cmd. Luther Reynolds and Capt. Darryl McSwain. The County Council confirmed County Executive Isiah Leggett’s appointments on Tuesday. McSwain, director of the Special Operations Division, will be assigned to head the newly created Patrol Services Bureau. Reynolds, who led the Germantown-based 5th District, will head the Management Services Bureau, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman told Patch. According to county records, the appointees will be paid salaries of $159,000. Chief J. Thomas Manger said McSwain and Reynolds would expand his team of assistant chiefs to four. “This is a tremendously strong team,” Manger said ahead of the council's vote, referring to the …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
County officials will take questions about the $2.23 billion budget request adopted by the Montgomery County Board of Education Monday.
The Montgomery County Board of Education voted Monday evening to submit a $2.23 billion budget request to the county executive and the county council for consideration on March 1. The budget request for fiscal year 2014 represents a 2.6 percent increase over the current year’s budget, according to a statement released by Montgomery County Public Schools. Tuesday night, board members and the school superintendent will join the county executive and five councilmembers at a forum hosted by the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations. The forum is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Carver Educational Services Center, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville. County Executive Isiah Leggett, Superintendent Joshua P…
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Montgomery County Executive delivered the address Wednesday in Silver Spring.
Issuing his first State of the County address in four years, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett detailed new education and development initiatives, The Washington Examiner reported. Leggett (D) hopes to promote adult-level English classes to "make it easier for English-as-a-second-language residents to master the language, enabling them to get better jobs and expand the county's tax base," according to the report. The County Executive also wants to create an after-school program to help underachieving students. The proposal would "expand the current 'Excel Beyond the Bell' program—an after-school support system available in just a few middle schools in the county—to all middle schools," according to the report. Read the full text of…
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The Montgomery County executive has the power to choose the developer.
Update, March 7, 2:30 p.m. The Wheaton redevelopment discussion tentatively scheduled for March 12 will be a closed session. The Montgomery County Council and the executive administration will be discussing real estate issues "that could impact negotiations if the session were public," according to Rob Klein of the Department of General Services. The county has yet to announce a developer for the Park and Planning headquarters building coming to Wheaton's downtown area. The redevelopment plan approved by the council in 2012 envisions a town square and an office building on Lot 13 with ground-floor retail. The Montgomery Planning Department would share the space with county agencies. Update, March 1, 3:45 p.m. The planned discussion about …
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Fiscal year 2014 budget would delay some planned projects in the 2013-2018 Capital Improvements Program.
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett released his fiscal year 2014 capital budget this past week, and recommended that a number of planned projects in the six-year, $4.37 billion Capital Improvements Program be delayed. Leggett's proposal was released by the county's community relations department. Leggett spoke on the issue of the CIP, stating that "reducing CIP growth and debt service payments is an essential part of my ongoing strategy to ensure that our fiscal house is in order." Regarding the debt service, Leggett explained his recommendations as being limited to "previously established guidelines of $295 million a year in each of the six years in this CIP." Transportation-related projects that would be affected by the amended …
Friday, December 14, 2012
"Such violence directed toward anyone is unspeakable – aimed at little children all the more so," County Executive Isiah Leggett said in a statement.
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett released a statement Friday afternoon in response to a mass shooting at a Newtown, CT, elementary school. Montgomery County police increased presence around schools at dismissal time Friday afternoon “for the comfort of the community." Leggett joined parents, teachers and police officials in expressing sadness and horror. Leggett's words: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families touched by the senseless slaughter perpetrated today at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. “Such violence directed toward anyone is unspeakable – aimed at little children all the more so. There is no point in trying to make sense of it for it makes no sense. “Ralph Waldo Emerson once said…
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
A wide-open field is beginning to form, including some familiar names.
In politics, the campaign season—and the speculation about the next election—never ends. It just stops for a brief intermission. We call that Election Day. With 2012 in the rear view and 2014 shaping up to be a wide-open race for Montgomery County Executive, candidates—and potential candidates—are gearing up. The early race hit a higher gear on Wednesday as Patch’s Sebastian Montes reported that Douglas M. Duncan, a Democrat, is telling supporters that he will run to reclaim the County Executive post he held from 1994 to 2006. Other familiar names could be on the primary ballot. County Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park held a 50th birthday party fundraiser last week to support his run for County Executive, The …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Former County Executive Doug Duncan met today with pollster and political advisers, according to CenterMaryland.org.
Will Doug Duncan—Montgomery’s longest-serving county executive—return for a run at an unprecedented fourth term? Duncan's political future came into clearer focus Tuesday after he met with advisers in Gaithersburg to mull the 2014 election, Josh Kurtz writes in CenterMaryland.org. The closed meeting hashed over the results of a new poll “that supposedly showed Duncan handily defeating every other potential Democratic candidate,” according to Kurtz. Speculation has long swirled that Duncan—who served as Montgomery’s executive from 1994 to 2006 before a gubernatorial campaign that ended with him dropping out, citing clinical depression—is primed for a return to county politics. If so, he would be joining a field that already has two …
Despite more than $2.6 billion in cuts, Isiah Leggett sees the budget as the county's toughest challenge for years to come.
Nearing the midway point of his second (and purportedly final) term in office, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett recently talked with Patch about a range of topics, from the landmark ballot initiatives in the Nov. 6 election, to the county's looming population growth, to his own political future. In this third excerpt from that interview, Leggett (D) discusses the state of the county budget and the challenges that remain despite cuts that scaled back spending by more than $2 billion. Click here for Part 1 of the interview, in which Leggett discussed the ballot referendum on the Maryland "Dream Act," which would allow in-state tuition for certain illegal immigrants. Click here to watch Part 2, on his support for Maryland's historic …
Andrea
3:57 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
I appreciate the full coverage. In this example there are actually two different issues at hand -- the uncertainty around the plan and the current article focusing on small businesses. Yes, they are similar but I don't believe that one replaces the other. Personally, I like that Esther provides a quick snap shot into the issue and links to related topics so that we can delve deeper if we wish. more ›