Robert Dyer
How would you characterize the quality of civic engagement in Montgomery County, and what do you think should be done to improve it?
I think the quality of civic engagement is high among the many people who donate their time as activists, volunteers, elected officials, candidates, PTA and civic association leaders, etc.
The problem is that many people are not only busy, but are not being given ways to enter and engage in the public debate.
Town Hall meetings and call-in programs are limited to one hour on CCM 6, and about 60-70% of the airtime is taken up with endless “answers” and speeches by the executive and councilmembers. We need to hear more questions and thoughts of the citizens, not more from the politicians. The time limit does not have to be 1 hour, and the taping should continue until every attendee has been heard from on the microphone.
There are many taxpayer-funded “government/public access” TV channels, and they are dominated by puff programming about our elected officials. Very few County Council meetings are shown, far less than were televised 10 years ago. It is now even harder for citizens to monitor what their government is doing. MMC 16 has featured just about every Democratic candidate for County Council on Political Pulse and Inside Out, but I have yet to receive an invitation to appear for equal time, under FCC rules. How does hearing from the candidates of only one party advance civic engagement, or our civic debate?
Finally, the county website needs to offer more detailed information, particularly related to the budget. The current website is Web 1.0. We need a Web 2.0 site that allows the taxpayer to review every line of the budget, in real time, right on the website. Not old-style, bulky downloads of PDF files that may or may not contain every line of the budget. Worst of all, the website is still not fully accessible to the disabled, which has excluded many citizens with disabilities from the budget process.
If elected, I have promised to appoint one staff member to work on behalf of those with disabilities and special needs. The website accessibility problem is only one of many, many problems we will address. With 1-in-10 county residents having a disability, it’s time they had an advocate on the council. I will be that advocate, if elected.
What role do you think the Council and County Executive should play in setting education policy and providing oversight of the Montgomery County Public Schools?
I am the only candidate who supports Maintenance of Effort funding for MCPS.
What is appropriate, is for the school board and superintendent to be held accountable for their wasteful spending on sweetheart school construction contracts ($500,000 wasted at Bells Mill ES is a great example), ideologically-motivated lawsuits ($82,000 a month to defend a legally-unsound flyer policy), and overspending on administrative salaries and benefits.
The council cannot currently make direct financial changes in the MCPS budget. But voters can, by voting school board members out of office on Nov. 2. Union-endorsed school board members feign horror at the budget, but then go ahead and approve it anyway. I seem to recall the same newspapers who are complaining now having endorsed those who currently serve on the board!
So the first step is for the voters to replace the current school board this November.
Second, I can be a more effective negotiator with the school system, because I support full MOE funding. If the Superintendent knows he or she is going to receive the financial support, there should be a greater flexibility in addressing these inefficiencies. Should a collaborative approach fail, there are several ways the council can apply pressure to the board and Superintendent.
But when the council is trying to transfer MCPS funds to developers, nonprofits and other political allies in the budget – as we witnessed this past May – they will be unable to successfully negotiate the kind of changes we need. There is no way to fund all-day Pre-K, as I have proposed, without full MOE funding. There is no way to implement my plan to close the achievement gap – by closing the nutrition, early education, and technology gaps – without full MOE funding. And we’ll need full MOE funding to improve the inadequate programming for ESOL/ELL/LEP and special education/special needs students.
The bottom line is we need a councilman who will defend full funding for MCPS. I don’t believe children should be punished for the fiscal mistakes of this council.
What steps should the county take to maintain or improve public safety at a time when budget pressures are forcing cuts to spending on police and social services?
This is why I have said that, as part of my Fiscal Plan, we must not only make public safety a top priority, but also establish a separate compensation category for public safety employees. Police officers and firefighters should be exempt from cuts, furloughs and restructuring of compensation. There is a distinct difference between employees who are risking their lives on a daily basis, and bureaucrats at a desk. Our compensation structure should reflect that difference.
First, we must restore compensation for police officers and firefighters. I will continue to oppose efforts to deny retirement benefits to disabled police officers.
Second, we need to hire more police officers, and address the understaffing of fire departments around the county. Again, this is why we need to start by implementing my Fiscal Plan, or we won’t have funds to do this.
Third, I will oppose the risky proposed merger of the county police and Park Police.
Fourth, I will restore police officers to public schools that were cut by the council. That was a reckless move to eliminate the front line of law enforcement that combats narcotics and gang activity in our schools.
Fifth, we must escalate a crackdown on gang activity in the county, before we end up with a situation such as Baltimore City has.
Sixth, I will continue to oppose the dangerous Ambulance Fee, and support our volunteer firefighters and BCC Rescue Squad.
Seventh, we need to take a more proactive approach to reducing the problem of domestic violence.
What, if any, changes to the structure of the county's tax system should we be considering?
First, we need to implement a Fiscal Plan of the type I have proposed, to end our structural deficit and create a surplus we can use to fund tax cuts, economic development and transportation projects. Please watch a video detailing my Fiscal Plan here (and stay tuned for a PowerPoint presentation at the end):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEyFD3XbOZs
Then we must revoke the council’s Draconian energy tax increase. The next priority is to reduce our property taxes that are devastating seniors and working families, and causing our apartment rents to be so high.
Tax system changes must reduce the burden on the taxpayer, and also be designed to attract large corporations to the county.
Importantly, any tax cut I am supporting will be fully paid for in the context of my fiscal plan.
What should we expect Montgomery County's transportation network to look like in 30 years, and how will that affect where and how we live and work?
What the transportation network looks like in 30 years, will entirely depend upon the decisions voters make in the County Council races on November 2nd.
If the incumbents are reelected, we may have a couple of Lexus Lanes on 270, and tolls to soak the poor, or keep them off the highways altogether (ICC anyone?). Ride On will probably have been cut further. Roads will be jammed. We already can predict all of that on the basis of this council’s record, which reflects an utter inability to reduce gridlock at all, even after as many as 8 years in office.
We’ve taken forever to build the Purple Line and CCT, as well as the Mid-County Highway. It’s anyone’s guess if the same old county political establishment will have been able to complete those projects by then. Transit ridership will not have increased because the fares will be too high for working people to pay. One of the dirty little secrets of Metro is that the majority of riders’ fares are subsidized by Uncle Sam (a.k.a. you, the taxpayer) and other employers. This is what leads to rich bloggers demanding higher Metro fares. Of course they don’t care how much it will cost; they don’t have to pay the fare! Meanwhile, the office cleaners and hospitality workers are being priced out of transit. Then combine that with the desire of many politicians to raise the gas tax. In essence, the poor will be forced to subsidize transit and Lexus Lanes - so the wealthy can continue to move freely - while the lower and middle class are increasingly stuck in their communities, without affordable transportation.
I have a fundamentally different approach to transportation and transit than my opponents.
First, I do support the building of the Purple Line and CCT.
I also support widening 270 and 355. However, I do not support the council’s 270 plan, which will increase, rather than decrease, congestion. My 270 plan turns the HOV lane into a regular lane for all drivers again, and adds 1-2 additional toll-free lanes in each direction. The current HOV lane has only worsened jams, as there is perhaps 1 car in it for every 10 in a regular lane. Meanwhile, the rest of us are sitting there in the backup. We should also have bus lanes on 270. This is a tremendously-expensive expansion project, and it is disturbing to hear we may waste the taxpayers’ money doing it the wrong way.
With 355, again, I have a fundamentally different approach. Many developers and councilmembers have said that 355 will be a “grand boulevard.” The fact is, 355 is not a grand boulevard, nor should it ever be one! It is a state highway, and its main function is the movement of auto and bus traffic north and south between Frederick and Washington, D.C. The incumbents’ White Flint plan says we should allow speeds on 355 to drop to 9 m.p.h. My plan calls for speeds of at least 40 m.p.h. This will be accomplished by adding grade-separated intersections at congestion points along the Pike, adding 1 to 2 lanes, and possibly utilizing u-turns to access some shopping centers. Bus lanes and bike paths should be added, as well.
I don’t know of too many people who want to dine at the curb of a state highway, so we need to shelve the wishes of the developers in favor of the needs of the residents of our county. The commercial strip of Rockville Pike serves the community well, generates far more revenue than the failing “smart growth, mixed use” Rockville Town Center, and, hence, there is no reason to turn 355 into a concrete canyon. In fact, only a 355 redesign such as I have proposed could even begin to support the scale of development approved by the council for White Flint.
I would consider BRT for the far east county, where they have been deprived of transit. However, I feel that – given the cost in these difficult times – BRT would be too duplicative of the Red Line along 355 and 97. If someone won’t ride Metro, they certainly aren’t going to get on a bus. Not to mention that Metro is far faster than BRT. Also, it is logistically impossible to add BRT to 355 or 97. The BRT infrastructure would take up so much room in the center of 355, that it would negate the benefit of widening it in the first place. And there is literally no way to widen 97 without a mass condemnation of private homes and businesses. So where would it fit, without bringing Georgia Ave. to a dead stop for auto traffic?
Existing Metrobus service can be improved on routes such as 355, 97, Viers Mill, and East-West Highway, by making road improvements, and adding wireless equipment to allow buses to coordinate with traffic signals. This could be done for far less than the cost of BRT. Ultimately, the funds are not there for BRT if we are really going forward with the 355, 270, Mid-County Highway, Purple Line and CCT. Even all of those funds don’t yet exist.
We also need to restore Ride On routes cut by the council. One of those is the Urbana Park-and-Ride. That is important, because it is precisely the type of transit option that could reduce congestion on 270/355. A great deal of the traffic – particularly north of exits 16 and 18 – is from Frederick and Washington counties. What this and additional Park-and-Ride buses would do, is to take those cars off the road before they ever cross into Montgomery County. I’ve studied this across the country, and it has been proven to work when operated and promoted properly. If funding is delayed for the CCT, this would be an inexpensive short-term way to slightly increase 270 capacity.
If Metro can do the basics once again – such as A/C and escalators – these basic subway and bus improvements will give a boost to ridership. Adding more parking at Metro and MARC stations (i.e. Boyds, Germantown) will do the same. I am very supportive of both Metro and MARC, and they really need get their acts together. If they do, they will both play a critical role in our transportation future. It is a shame that the elected officials of our region gave up on completing our subway system. The reason is money, but much of that money has been going to developers, government employees, and other special interests. But it is something that, in 100 years, will be considered an embarrassment when you compare Metro’s map to those of New York or Paris.
I’ve proposed having developer-funded, free circulator buses in urban areas, and fare-based shuttle vans located at neighborhood shopping centers Residents (including seniors and the disabled) could summon the van via telephone, and it would carry them to the shopping center, nearest bus stop, or nearest rail station.
I also have a proposal for a Unified Transit Card. A low monthly-rate card would give unlimited access to Metro, buses, MARC, MTA, VRE, Amtrak, bike- and car-sharing, and transit parking.
All of the above ideas are inexpensive compared to the major projects we’ll have to build, and can be implemented while we await Federal and state funds for the Purple Line and CCT. Ultimately, we will only increase transit ridership when we are providing the right products and services, at the right price, and with the reliability and convenience that will build trust. If one doesn’t know if the train will arrive, or the bus route will be cut by the council 6 months later, that doesn’t build trust.
How transportation affects where and how we live and work, is a critical point in this election. There are many believers in the developer-fueled fantasy that wealthy Montgomery County lawyers and lobbyists are going to quit their jobs on Capitol Hill and K Street, and become baristas at the new Starbucks in their new, urban “Town Center” that replaced their neighborhood strip mall. And that well-paid researchers at Science City will jam their families into little on-site apartments. It is a wonderful idea, but welcome to the real world!
The Federal Government is not shutting down, and will continue to be the major employer in the area. And major corporations are choosing just about anywhere but Montgomery County to relocate. Therefore, our traffic volume is not going to decrease by any means. We have a serious problem on our hands, and it requires highway and transit projects that are based on reality, not on what we wish reality is, or could be. Most people are never going to live next door to where they work. And cars will always be the main mode of transportation. I think anyone with intelligence knows that, and the smart-growth concept is simply being marketed so that the developers who write the checks to the councilmembers can have a license to build, build, build. All of this unlimited building has left us with vacant housing and office space, serious environmental consequences and hardly any jobs to show for it. Development with no purpose or market demand has been a bust in every way, and the statistics prove it.
There is much arrogant talk regarding “behavior modification,” and “conditioning” of citizens to use transit. My response is that you know you have the wrong transit and lifestyle options, when they require “behavior modification” to get people to use them!
We need to elect a councilman who can tell the truth about transportation, and who can cancel the blank check the council wrote for Science City and White Flint. Every councilmember voted to approve a plan that says 9 m.p.h. is an acceptable top speed. Putting aside the absurdity of that for the average commuter, consider if you were a dying patient in an ambulance stuck in that traffic - or your house is on fire and the fire engine is stuck on 355 - and you realize what a reckless approval that was by the Planning Board and County Council. We need a councilman who will put the safety of the public first, and can put urban and transportation planning into a real world context.
How will Montgomery County be different four years from now if you are elected?
We will have eliminated our structural deficit, and spending will have been brought under control.
Montgomery County will not only have returned to the status it previously enjoyed – a well run county with high-quality services – but will be the best place in the world to live, work or relocate your business.
That will be because we finally took on the tough issues. Cutting spending only 4%, and raising energy taxes instead to close the shortfall, is not taking on the tough issues.
Transportation will have improved, and long-term projects will be underway, such as the 270, 355 and Mid-County Highway projects mentioned above. Many less-expensive measures will have increased transit ridership.
We will have avoided going backwards by restoring full funding to MCPS. However, students with special needs – or for whom English is a second language – will be better served. My initiatives for all-day Pre-K for every child, and closing the achievement gap, will have begun to improve graduation and drop-out rates for African-American and Latino students.
Many large employers will have begun to relocate here, and they will have joined with MCPS in the aerospace, cutting-edge energy research, and robotics fields, to give even the most disadvantaged children the opportunity to earn a college degree and work in a lucrative field after graduating. This will also create the high-wage jobs that our county leaders have failed to produce over the last decade.
We will have reduced the burden on the taxpayer by restructuring our budget, and making responsible tax cuts. That will also be a major step towards attracting corporations to relocate here.
With my vote on the council, we will have had a representative for those who live and/or own businesses in “redeveloping” areas such as Wheaton, Long Branch, Westbard, and Kensington, to ensure that those who are there now benefit. White Flint and Science City can be reopened for changes by the next council, as well. Too much of our developer-fueled sector planning is geared toward some hypothetical group of wealthy new residents, who will move there in the future. I will demand that the interests of those of us who live here now are protected.
Overall, this will be a county where there is more prosperity and opportunity for citizens of every background and income, than we have in 2010. And we will have restored the fiscal responsibility and high-quality services we were once known for. Instead of going down with the ship, we will be lifting people up. Please visit http://www.RobertDyer.net for more information.
Robert Dyer
At-Large
Republican
website