Montgomery County Civic Federation backs term limits

The Montgomery County Civic Federation, a non-partisan organization which officially represents over 100,000 County residents, has endorsed term limits ahead of a November 8 ballot question on the issue. MCCF passed a resolution Monday supporting a YES vote on Question B. This highly-respected group's support is perhaps the biggest vote of no-confidence in the Montgomery County political cartel since the County's chambers of commerce all declined to endorse any incumbent County Council member in 2014.

Question B, if approved, would limit County Councilmembers and the County Executive to a still-whopping 3 terms (12 years), effective immediately and retroactively.

The MCCF action, from an organization that factually contains vastly more Democrats than Republicans, further undercuts the ridiculous claims being made by some councilmembers who face ouster. Last Thursday, Councilmember Nancy Navarro hijacked a Council committee meeting on a collective bargaining issue to make a political speech. This was totally inappropriate, and ethically improper.

Navarro, who I have had a great deal of respect for in her work in the non-profit realm and on the Board of Education, has increasingly sounded paranoid about the term limits issue. She and her surrogates have claimed term limits are not the result of citizen rage about record tax hikes and communities being ignored in the development process in Westbard, Lyttonsville, Rockville (bus depot fights), etc. Instead, she claims they were proposed specifically to remove her from office.

Huh?

We know many residents are increasingly fed up and now favoring term limits. Now the MCCF is backing term limits.

But here's who Navarro says you, the average citizen, are, in her view:

 "The leading proponents [of term limits] are right-wing, anti-immigrant extremists. They don’t care about you, or me.”

Whoa. That's crazy talk, folks. That's an outrageous smear and accusation, with no basis in fact. It's this self-serving, out-of-touch, and - frankly - nasty attitude that is likely to seal the deal for term limits passing November 8.

Montgomery County Civic Federation to preview the future of transportation on April 13

Montgomery County elected officials' widely-panned proposals for Bus Rapid Transit, and a powerful new taxing authority to force taxpayers to foot the bill for it, have generated rage and controversy countywide. But expensive transit projects are not the only way to address Montgomery County's nation-leading traffic congestion.

There are the county's long-delayed master plan highways, such as the Midcounty Highway Extended (M-83), Rockville Freeway and new Potomac River crossing to Northern Virginia, that need to be built. And there are ways to better manage our existing roads and highways, and bus service, through rapidly-advancing technology.

The Montgomery Civic Federation will be hosting an interesting discussion of the latter at its Monday, April 13 meeting, which will be held in the First Floor Auditorium of the County Council Office Building, at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville, at 7:45 PM.

Speakers at the Transportation of the Future seminar will include representatives for the United States Department of Transportation's Beyond Traffic initiative, and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA). In addition, Christof Spieler, a member of the Metro board in Houston, Texas, will join the meeting via conference call.

According to Jim Zepp, MCCF First Vice President, Spieler will discuss how Houston was able to use technology to greatly improve existing bus service in the city - and unlike BRT or the ITA, this was accomplished at no cost to the taxpayer.

The meeting is free, and open to the public.

BUDGETPALOOZA TO EXAMINE MCPS BUDGET ON FEBRUARY 26 IN BETHESDA

It's well known that Montgomery County Public Schools account for the vast majority of spending in the Montgomery County Government's annual budget. What's less well known is what exactly goes into that budget.

The Montgomery County Civic Federation plans to give anyone interested a chance to find out, and maybe gain some ideas and suggestions of where to reduce or expand it, next Thursday night in Bethesda.

MCCF's third annual Budgetpalooza will give citizens the opportunity to take a small part of this big budget and analyze it, one chapter at a time. If you'd like to volunteer to take a chapter at the event, you can sign up online.

The Budgetpalooza will be on February 26 from 7-9:30 PM, at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center at 1480 Edgemoor Lane. Co-sponsors of the event include the Montgomery County Taxpayers League and the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County. To participate in the event on Twitter, use the hashtag #Budgetpalooza.

A volunteer organization, the MCCF consists of appointed delegates from the county's civic, neighborhood and homeowner organizations, as well as individual civic activists.