ON THE ISSUES:

Transportation Improvements

         We all need transportation-- to work or school, to shop, to visit friends and family, to go to a place of worship or keep an appointment -- whether we live in the city, suburbs or a small town. Ideal transportation is reliable, convenient, safe, affordable, and physically-accessible. People with busy lives shouldn’t have to sit in traffic every time they run an errand or take their kids to sports practice. Employees shouldn’t have to add hours to each workday because they’re trapped in suburban gridlock. Inadequate transportation systems have become a detriment to our quality of life. Our mass transit systems are vital to our transportation network and should be expanded. 

Our County’s growth policies and previous transportation plan may have looked good on paper, but to date have done little to improve the quality of life for citizens living in congested communities, where transportation now ranks as the biggest concern. For too long, our County leadership has put off long overdue transportation infrastructure that has led to our currently congested roads and inadequate public transportation network. Unfortunately, with current plans they will only worsen due to continued poor planning and an inability to work effectively with the Maryland State Government, the Federal Government, neighboring Maryland Counties including Howard County, Frederick County, and Prince George’s County, as well as the District of Columbia and the State of Virginia.

As our next District 2 Councilman, I will implement a diverse approach to County transportation, that will include: an improved transportation network of roads, bridges, and highways, intersection improvements, finally constructing vital transit projects including The Corridor Cities Transitway and The Purple Line (Bi-County Transitway) [Metro Red Line extension projects] utilizing new modes of environmentally-friendly public transportation (including Light Rail), ensuring full ADA compliance on all transit modes, implementing the first ever County bus study to improve routes and service, transit-oriented and mixed-use redevelopment projects, widening I-270 between Germantown and Frederick, expanded partnership with Car-Sharing services at transit stations (FlexCar & ZipCar), improvement of town centers and their connectivity to public transportation, improvement of MARC train and bus services, competition for County taxi cab service, and most importantly, a focus on District 2 and providing real traffic congestion relief!

Planning, Growth, Development and Re-Development

New housing construction has continued on a downward slope, further slowed by the Clarksburg development scandal. Homebuilders and developers are balking at the County’s planning, zoning, and permitting process, which is far more complicated and time consuming, than neighboring jurisdictions. Time is money, and with the current state of our County’s planning board, money is going elsewhere, and along with it, so are businesses and those looking for available housing.

Just out of college graduates, newly married couples looking for their first home, retirees looking to move to a smaller home, and growing families looking for a larger home, are the ones being affected by the County’s inability to properly manage growth and development. But above all, all County residents are being hurt by the decreased supply of housing and the lack of redevelopment to create new housing, which have led to higher property taxes as selling prices have increased over 40% in even just the past year. While it may seem like a positive to those wishing to sell their homes, the ability to buy another home within the County is increasingly impossible, driving them to look to neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia, for better deals on available housing. The County Council has further impacted redevelopment by reducing homeowners rights to utilize their property and rebuild an older house that was built during a time of less home more acreage approach. Redevelopment can be achieved in a manner conducive to keeping the character of the community, while providing exciting new opportunities for expansion, and properly increasing the value of that same land parcel. We need to provide the needed incentives to homebuilders to focus on redevelopment, rather than the County leadership's current trend towards focusing on developing the remaining undeveloped land in the County. The approval process needs to be streamlined to involve affected neighbors from the start and move more quickly through the process, rather than coming to neighbors after the fact to find out concerns. The time saved makes up the financial difference between redevelopment and developing an undeveloped piece of property.

The County budget shortfalls should not be subsidized by increasing our property taxes through limiting development and redevelopment, artificially raising property prices to reap the increased property taxes.

When development and redevelopment has occurred under the watch of the County’s leadership, problems have grown rampant of not following the laws for building affordable housing. Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs) have been required under County law since the 1980s, and both the Planning Board and the County leadership have acknowledged they knowingly disregarded the law often for well over a decade, denying housing opportunities to countless individuals and families. The Planning Board, under the "supposed" watch of the County Council, disregarded proper planning of communities, including access roads, parking, setbacks, access to public transportation to mitigate traffic congestion, as well as building heights, of which they acknowledged there has never been a set standard. Fines cannot be levied against homebuilders if no set standards exist and a history of violations exist by those levying the fines. There has also been a tangible disregard for building adequate public facilities such as utilities, public schools, roads, parking, public services including emergency response and police, and public transportation.

The poorly planned Clarksburg development will eventually add over 50,000 residents to the County's population in an area lacking the infrastructure to support such an increase. The County has failed to provide adequate public facilities and transportation infrastructure to meet this demand and now is playing catch-up for a project that is already underway, with still no plan to provide needed transportation infrastructure. The investigation into the Clarksburg planning debacle has traced the problems in large part to the County Council and its “hands-off approach to planning issues.” The County Council, especially the District 2 leadership, ignored citizen requests to investigate problems in Clarksburg, and now is having to reimburse the residents for legal fees for their time spent to bring awareness to the problems with the Clarksburg development. The County Council is now trying to move The Planning Board approval process under the County Executive’s Department of Permitting, which would not solve the problems, and would further prevent citizen input and ability to monitor the process. Further, it would still not address the problems which led to the Clarksburg scandal. The Planning Board, compromised of County Council appointees, knowingly did not follow the laws, blamed the Clarksburg developer solely for the mistakes, and lacked the necessary experience to make the key decisions affecting County development.

Under my leadership, as our District 2 Councilmember, the Planning Board members will be chosen based on actual qualifications and career experience in applicable laws, zoning, planning, construction, architecture, design, etc. No longer will the acceptable applicants be approved on the basis of special favors to friends and allies of the County's leadership.

Education

As a graduate of the Montgomery County Public School System, and as a volunteer in several public schools, as well as a future parent hoping for their quality education, I understand the needs and recognize the necessary solutions to ensure a quality education for our children.

While a student in the Montgomery County Public School system during the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, my class was one off the first in the use of portable classrooms, due to school overcrowding, and also experienced the lack of funding for middle school sports and after school activities. Today, these and many additional problems, including underage drinking and smoking, drug-use, gang violence, fatal and non-fatal teen driving accidents, and lack of adequate school building renovations and construction, are prevalent and in need of serious attention by County's leadership.

I will advocate for, and ensure equal funding for all our schools. From ample resources, including more computers, school security, after school activities, volunteer service opportunities, special education programs, English as a second language programs, smaller class sizes, sports equipment and fields, long overdue and much needed renovations, ample teaching and administrative staff, including ample counselors, as well as new school construction. I also want to further increase preparation for entering college and available college courses for high school students, including a focus on future career opportunities and useful skills. Additionally, I would like to study returning driver education programs back into the high schools, to assist new drivers in improving skills and providing more behind the wheel training, as well as provide graded classroom testing of laws and driving procedures and regular car maintenance.

Our County's teachers need to be competitively paid and provided fair pensions, as well as provided necessary teaching tools and smaller class sizes, to ensure our County Public School System attracts and retains top talent. I am committed to helping children with language barriers get the quality education they deserve. I will work to bring a peer mediation program and free enterprise business education to our schools. I also recognize the need to study the current school day hours, and consider changing the opening times for our high school students. Studies have already shown the need for more sleep to be productive and safer drivers.

Environment

Proactive environmental awareness and protection will again be a focus in District 2 with me as our Councilmember. I want to ensure that County residents enjoy clean parks, water, and air for generations to come.

I look forward to putting forth legislation to require the highest level of LEEDs (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green-building certification for all County Government-built buildings, including public schools. We need to set the right example to further encourage LEEDs green-building construction, for area builders who are already ahead of the County by voluntarily training their architects, designers, engineers, and other key staff to become LEEDs accredited, and ensure their projects are LEEDs certified. I want Montgomery County to be seen state, nation, and world-wide as a leader in environmentally friendly practices, including in development.

I will initiate a study of alternative fuels, including Maryland-based production of environmentally-friendly Ethanol gasoline and BioDiesel, which can be produced from County- and State-grown crops. Both of which are now sold at competitive prices and would remain cheapest during another fuel shortage. This market will aid our County and State farmers, while helping the environment through use of cleaner fuels. I also want to study the Oaks Landfill for potential harnessing of underground Methane gas, through a BioReactor, to create inexpensive electrical power for area households and businesses, through a Public-Private partnership with Waste Management, keeping the promise to local residents to provide a public resource to the community for generations to come.

I will focus our transportation network on using environmentally-friendly modes of public transportation, such as hydrogen-powered Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and electrical powered Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), as well as ensuring our new roads and bridges are built environmentally sound and protect sensitive wetlands and forests with endangered wildlife.

I will establish a County Office of Environmental Awareness and Compliance, which will work with our other County agencies, as well as State and Federal Government agencies, including the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Environmental Protection Agency, to study best practices and new environmental legislation and regulations, ensuring our County-wide Environmental compliance. This new office will work with our County schools to develop environmental awareness programs, environmental internships, and volunteer clean-up activities, to ensure good environmental practices aren’t just talked about annually on Earth Day, but are a regular part of our children’s education. This new office will also assist with self-auditing of our County agencies to ensure ongoing compliance as mandated by the law, and will develop County initiatives for our communities to increase awareness of ways each of us can help our local environment.

I will work to increase our current recycling goals and provide incentives to do so. I will also initiate a County government run recycling program for recycling cell phone and printer cartridges, at no cost to the County, through a public-private partnership.

Public Safety and Security

We need to recognize the present and growing threat to our community of gang activity, rising crime, and juveniles without after school activities.  I will work to bring back our safe streets, free of graffiti, vandalism, drug activity, armed robberies, and senseless murders. I will ensure that gang activity is taken seriously and taken care of swiftly through increased resources for the County’s Gang Violence Taskforce, including more bilingual officers and regular communication with the County Council and County Executive. We cannot continue on the current trend of pretending the County does not have an active gang presence. It is important that we protect the rights of lawful gun owners to protect their homes and to hunt, and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who obtain weapons unlawfully and commit crimes in our community.

I will also continue to actively work with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and the Maryland Department of Transportation, to ensure the County is prepared for natural disasters and terrorist attacks, through coordination and grants provided by the Federal and State governments.

Our County continues to be under siege by an out of control population of deer, which have damaged countless crops, landscaping, as well as caused countless traffic accidents that have led to rising costs of  everyone’s car insurance rates. The deer have also brought an increase in coyotes and turkey buzzards, as well as deer ticks that spread Lyme disease. The County needs to recognize the rising costs to County residents, and the effect on the quality of life. I will work to increase the County’s safe deer hunting opportunities.

The County must also re-evaluate their claimed cost-savings in limiting trash pickup to once a week per household or business, which has led to visible increases in rats, foxes, and raccoons, that spread rabies and other diseases. The cost savings has decreased employment for waste engineers and put a burden on the elderly and disabled to drag their increased number of trash cans to the curb every week, which became a requirement when trash engineers were no longer allowed to retrieve trash bags from trash cans placed in designated trash holding areas.

Fiscal Responsibility

As a past employee in the Federal Government and a current employee in the State Government, accurate financial accounting and budgeting are vital on a daily basis, and I will ensure that our County government always maintains that same level of responsibility. Our County’s constantly rising taxes have come with reductions in public services. The current Council and Executive have spent excessively on "pet projects" while sacrificing core government programs for the poor and others in need, such as those with mental illness and those with chemical and substance abuse. The County's budget must be balanced in an honest and efficient manner, without sacrificing needed programs and without increasing taxes. As our District 2 Councilmember, I will give a full-time commitment to the County Council and be available to my constituents. I will keep aware of problems in my District, and take concerns seriously that are raised by my constituents. After all, my job is to work for you, and my salary paid by our hard-earned tax dollars. I will work to balance annual County budgets and work with my constituents to ensure District 2’s priorities are reflected.

         Our County's budget should not reflect tax cuts simply at election time, nor should they stay within the spending limits only at election time. Spending should be balanced and within our County’s means each and every year, much as we all balance our personal checkbooks every month. I will work effectively to increase State funding, as well as to obtain State and Federal grant money to further supplement the County budget. Political attacks by our County's leadership, on our Governor, have done little for our County. I will work with all parties to build partnerships, since partisanship has nothing to do with issues that affect us all.

Economic Development

With the current trend towards less housing construction, less incentives and assistance for government agencies and businesses to expand or find land to locate to, and overall poor planning and an inadequate transportation network, our local economy is being adversely affected.

Large employers, homebuilders, and small businesses are moving to neighboring Counties in Maryland and Virginia, and out of Montgomery County. Our County taxes are more and more being subsidized by rising property taxes, which are due to a growing decrease in available housing. Homebuilders and developers are continuing to struggle with the County’s planning, zoning, and permitting process, which is far more complicated and time consuming, than neighboring jurisdictions. With the current state of our County’s planning board, money is going elsewhere, and along with it, so are businesses and those looking for available housing.

Bethesda’s Strathmore Hall and the Germantown Soccerplex, are both financially struggling due to faulty business plans. Both are being subsidized by County funding to maintain them, and those funding amounts will continue to increase annually. This upcoming County budget proposes yet another almost half a million dollars in annual costs for maintaining the Soccerplex. Strathmore Hall, which only serves less than 1% of the County population, boasted the main attraction of the Baltimore Symphony to sell the majority of tickets. With the Baltimore Symphony prepared to leave, and only minor acts on schedule, the financial struggles ahead will only increase for what has been a project vastly over budget and over funded by our tax dollars. Strathmore Hall was additionally promoted for its education component, but the County leadership overlooked its potential as a location to hold high school graduations. Instead, yearly our County pays the District of Columbia for the use of Constitution Hall, which has no available parking and is a considerable commute and walk for County residents. The Germantown Soccerplex also is a viable option for County school events, due to its flexible space uses.

The County’s $4 million dollar purchase of Germantown’s BlackRock Center for the Arts in 2003 during a budget deficit of over $83 million dollars, was another example of the local economy failing through the current County leadership. The Center had a faulty business plan, built around fundraising and corporate donations. However, they were unable to pay back the $3.5 million remaining in a construction loan, for the $10 million dollar facility. The County will continue to have to pay the costs to maintain this facility for decades to come, which average a quarter of a million dollars annually just for maintenance, utilities, and insurance.

Montgomery County is one of the few areas not to have to pay tolls, yet the County leadership complains about the estimated $6-$7 cost to utilize the InterCounty Connector (ICC). This cost is competitive with the prices of riding Metro and the high tolls paid by other Counties in Maryland to travel I-95, which can be upwards of $10, not even taking into account the current price of gas spent sitting in gridlock which can be as high as $3 a gallon. This again raises the question of the County leadership’s actual support of the ICC, which will be an economic resource to the County.

It is imperative that Montgomery County work with the State Government’s Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) and the State and Local Chambers of Commerce, to keep jobs and families in our County. Our efforts to market an overall high quality of life in Montgomery County, is important to our County.

Public Services

As utility trucks continue their construction throughout the County, tearing up yards, driveways, and sidewalks to lay fiber optic cables, it is important to reflect on the value of negotiation on behalf of County residents before allowing free-reign onto our properties, without recourse or care of public complaints. For too long, Montgomery County’s leadership has been seen as ineffective in negotiations, to ensure the best quality and best prices of services for residents. For example, Comcast Cable Television, a regular source of public complaints, is forcing residents who subscribe to regular cable television, to switch to a higher cost digital cable television, with limited additional benefits to go with a higher price tag.  The County leadership should have been far more concerned with public access and County and State programming channels reserved, as well as On-Demand services that should have included telecourses for Montgomery College and University of Maryland, educational programming for the County Schools, County meetings, Community meetings, and other useful programming, on-demand with a click of a button for County residents who have busy lives and wish to have these benefits still available to them anytime of day. Imagine the benefit to County Schools to be able to provide additional programming for students in Pre-K through High School, both for use in classrooms and at home, to further educate students, as well as assist with home schooling. Currently, the Montgomery County Government, University of Maryland, Montgomery College, and the Montgomery County Public School System are each allotted one channel, in addition to the two or three County public access channels.

As a pro-business advocate, seeking to provide opportunities, I seek to ensure residents of all incomes have services available to them, and will work to make available basic cable programming of County- and State-run channels and basic television network channels, in the same manner phone service is required to offer 911 service to all residents, regardless of purchasing additional regular phone service. I will also seek to provide basic internet access to all residents, as is being done in Baltimore and in other areas across the United States, to ensure residents of all economic levels are able to access government services, community resources, and educational resources.

I am concerned with the County's leadership deciding to purchase unregulated and potentially dangerous medications, and "encourage" the County's employees to utilize the questionable program with so many red flags being raised by experts. Cost savings at the expense of lives is not how I will lead as our District 2 Councilmember.

Ensuring adequate public facilities is a must for our County, and our County's leadership must enforce it. As your District 2 Councilmember, development and redevelopment will go hand-in-hand with building schools, roads and public transportation infrastructure, utilities, emergency response, and public and government services.

I also will work to create a local cell phone accessible number, similar to #77 used to contact to Maryland State Police along the highway, to allow cell phone users driving in Montgomery County to more easily contact the local Montgomery County Police to report disabled vehicles on non-state roads and other non-emergencies. Anyone who has tried to get a non-emergency number for the Montgomery County Police, through dialing 411 on their cell phone, would recognize the time wasted and confusion that ensues when trying this.

As Our District 2 Councilman,

Scott R. Dyer will…

Build Our Roads

Protect Our Environment

Ensure Public Participation

Make Our Communities Safer

Enhance Our Public Transportation Network

Ensure Affordable & Moderately Priced Housing

Improve Our Public Services

Grow Our Local Economy

Spend Our Money Wisely

Protect Our Rights

Fund Our Schools