Letters
February 2006

Silverman lacks vision

At each recent forum and debate, County Executive candidate Steve Silverman has spoken about his "vision" for Montgomery County, and patted himself on the back for his role in revitalizing Silver Spring.

Vision is fine, but hindsight is a valuable teacher. Prior to his election to the Council Mr. Silverman was co-chair of the committee that endorsed $500 million "American Dream" megamall for downtown. That's the one that would have included wave pools instead of Whole Foods; and roller coasters instead of Borders Books. And when he was asked about it later, Mr. Silverman's answer was that "lots of people" besides him had endorsed the project.

That doesn't seem like "vision" or leadership to me. Why doesn't he just admit he was wrong and stop trying to take credit for things he didn't do?

-- Timothy F. Reynolds Silver Spring, MD

Takoma Park needs to resume meetings with hospital

For over 100 years, the Washington Adventist Hospital has been an integral and important member of the Takoma Park Community. Its tradition of caring for all, even the least able, is a proud hallmark of the Adventist Church as well as of our community. Should the hospital relocate, its loss to our community would be substantial.

We are writing to urge the resumption of negotiations between our City and the Hospital. It is not too late. We understand that less than a year ago, agreements were crafted that addressed both the hospital’s needs for growth and the neighborhood’s need for protection, with only minor differences remaining.
We call on the City Council to immediately reconvene meetings between hospital and community representatives to explore creative solutions and take bold steps to retain this vital community resource.

— Joy Austin-Lane
Takoma Park City Councilmember, Ward 1

— Larry Rubin
President, South of Sligo Citizens’ Association

Article on multicultural center offends

Could you please explain how a center run by the Latino American Youth Centers represents a “multicultural “ environment? [“New Youth program kicks off,” by Leticia Linn, December 2005.]

I am highly offended by this article as a resident of the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area and parent of a teenage son and daughter. I have asked my daughter and son, who attend Blair High School, if they knew that a new youth center existed in the Langley Park area. Their answer, along with several students from Blair that I questioned, was that they did not know that these new facilities exist.

Gabriel Albornoz, Deputy Director of the “multicultural centers,” was quoted in the article: “being Latino is not a requirement for acceptance to the program.” It is apparent that the centers do not include outreach to other ethnic groups.

Do these centers provide bilingual staff members for all ethnic cohorts as defined by the United States Census Bureau demographic statistical data for the state of Maryland? Or, should the citizens (and at-risk children) of Maryland and my immediate community, Silver Spring/Takoma Park, rely upon your statement as fact that these centers are actually “multicultural.”

Ms. Linn also quotes Albornoz as saying: “[A]ll the staff is bilingual and that usually has been a useful tool to make young Latinos feel more comfortable and involved with the programs.” Does this mean that the alleged “multicultural” non-Latino ethnic children at risk involve do not receive these types of benefits?
If this indeed is true, this is a denial of the needs of each potential “at risk” child of each and every ethnic group.

Furthermore, these centers are funded by the Federal Workforce Investment Act ($300,000) and Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan’s endorsement of ($270,000), according to the Silver Spring Voice article.

Could you and/or “Silver Spring Voice” please provide a breakdown of children at risk by each ethnic group who participate in these centers? Clearly, the tax paying members of our diverse communities recognize the need for fair access, plus an asserted effort of inclusion for all children at risk who are in need of these types of programs.

In short, your article is misleading and biased at the very least. Therefore, I respectfully request a retraction of your article.

— Linda A. Warren
Silver Spring, MD

Perez voted for mega-church

In response to two letters in Jan 2006 Voice Mail (one from Christine Morgan and the other by Mary Rearson) commending Tom Perez, county council member, for his role in preserving the county’s Agricultural Reserve, I would not be too quick in singing the praises of Tom Perez on this issue until you know all the facts. Unfortunately, Tom Perez, along with Nancy Floreen, voted to make an exception to the preservation for the Bethel World Church that owns 200 acres along the reserve. Why should there be any exception?

What part of “Preserving our Agricultural Reserve” does Tom Perez and Nancy Floreen not understand? Once you say okay to one church, what’s to stop others from asking for “exceptions?” If you want to praise anyone, it’s the other seven council members that voted against exceptions!

— Dale Barnhard
Silver Spring, MD

"Dirty Dozen" oppose democratic right to petition

On Friday, January 27, the Montgomery County delegation failed by one vote to get the backing needed to send Charles Barkley’s local bill, MC 604 on to the Maryland legislature.

This bill would, if passed, allow our local government to greatly increase the number of signatures required to put a charter amendment on the ballot. Fundamental changes in the way we govern ourselves—even small incremental reforms—are likely to be resisted by our elected politicians who are often overly comfortable with and protective of the status quo.

Citizen petitions, therefore, must remain a viable option for putting an amendment on the ballot. The consequence of allowing the government to raise the number of signatures required will be to effectively deprive us of this fundamental right.

It is ironic that our elected officials deplore voter apathy and low turnout at the polls, then turn around and introduce legislation that will virtually deprive citizens of the right to petition, one of the few forms of direct participation in our political process. And who are these elected representatives who are seeking to curtail our rights? Perhaps we should call them Montgomery’s “Dirty Dozen”: Charles Barkley, Kumar Barve, William Bronrott, BrianFeldman, Peter Franchot, Henry Heller, Susan Lee, Richard Madaleno, Adrienne Mandel, Karen Montgomery, Gareth Murray and Joan Stern.

This bill was crafted, ostensibly, to stop one individual—Robin Ficker—from exercising the right to petition. But it will not work. As long as Robin Ficker—or anyone else with cash to spare—is willing to pay others to gather signatures, his charter amendments will continue to show up on the ballot. Citizens’ groups, on the other hand—be they labor unions, interest groups like Common Cause or the NAACP, or civic groups like the Montgomery County Civic Federation - will have to forego this “right” because the time demanded to gather more than 10,000 signatures is simply too great for ordinary citizens to invest.

The fact that the number of registered voters in Montgomery County has grown is irrelevant. 10,000 is a huge and daunting number when it comes to the time and effort required to get those signatures. We both collected signatures for Ballot Question C. We spent many mornings and evenings away from our families, standing outside the local market or cinema in the heat and humidity, patiently explaining to voters why we wanted their signatures. We can tell you from personal experience, ten thousand is a large enough number to show the public support required to put a charter amendment on the ballot.

Bill MC 604 attempts to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. Montgomery County does not now and never has had an excessive number of citizen-sponsored charter amendments. One or two is usual, three is probably the most we’ve seen in many years. Three is not “California” and three is not a problem, especially when you consider that the public debate generated by the charter amendments is healthy for our civic life. As we gathered signatures, a number of people thanked us for taking the time to talk with them about local government and for being involved and committed to the reform that we wanted the voters to be able to consider.

Our delegates know that passing MC-604 will not stop Robin Ficker. So what’s the point? The real objective must be to discourage citizens groups from petitioning. Some elected officials believe that in a “representative democracy”, only the elected representatives should be able to initiate reform. Power in the hands of the people is power that they cannot control, and perhaps that frightens them.

So, let’s give three cheers for Montgomery County’s nine truly democratic and courageous delegates who had the intelligence and good sense to vote against MC-604: Jean Cryor, Kathleen Dumais, Michael Gordon, Ana Sol Gutierrez, Anne Kaiser, Nancy King, Jane Lawton, Luiz Simmons and Herman Taylor. And let’s work to make sure that that number grows.

— Dan Wilhelm, President, Montgomery County Civic Federation

—Peggy Dennis, MCCF Newsletter Editor

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