WHERE I STAND
Qualifications
I have lived here for almost 35 years — first in Rockville's West End, then in North Bethesda's Luxmanor neighborhood, and now in Silver Spring's Seven Oaks. My professional career as an environmental and historic preservation consultant, combined with decades of successful community advocacy on schools, traffic, and transparency, make me the clear choice to represent District 4. I am your neighbor, and I am committed to addressing the needs of our diverse neighborhoods.
Issues
Housing
Affording a home purchase is the key to building generational wealth — something all our families want. We are a large county, so I support extending housing locations across the county (ag reserve excepted) rather than concentrating hyperdensity in our District 4 neighborhoods. Equity means equity. I oppose disruptive rezoning that advantages investors but not our neighborhoods. And I am committed to true transparency and neighborhood consultation before zoning plans are unveiled as a done deal.
Budget Priorities
Providing the services we depend on is challenging without financial controls. I want to eliminate redundancies, push to attract high-target corporations to increase revenue, decrease property taxes and fees — including property recordation fees — to increase affordability, and decrease excessive administrative costs (e.g., MCPS: 45 percent overhead). I support rebalancing employment with more jobs in the private sector and attracting businesses so that taxes on government employees' salaries and property are less central to revenue generation.
Safety Net Services
Effective safety net services are critical for residents who need help through difficult times or help getting established in a new career or a new country. But these are threatened by less important expenditures, like administrative costs and no-bid contracts that drain our budget. I support more family-facing school employees and programs, effective nonprofits, neighborhood outreach, medical support, free school lunches, and free no-questions-asked meals for kids on weekends, distributed at libraries.
Public Safety
We have four key public safety issues I will work on:
Schools: Support close coordination with principals regarding SROs.
Minority communities under threat: Support communities to stop ICE's illegal arrests and protect religious schools and houses of worship.
General assaults: Police presence in all neighborhoods and commercial areas.
Dangerous roads and pedestrian deaths: Increase hardened bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure based on neighborhood knowledge of where it is needed.
