Knowing The Needs of Our Neighbors

I am so grateful for the terrific turnout at Monday night's meet & greet at University Towers Condominiums - right across Arcola from my own neighborhood!

This meet & greet was a bit different from other events this campaign season. Instead of giving a talk on my platform with questions at the end, the floor was open right after my introduction. This gave the audience ample opportunity to ask questions about issues that are most important to their lives. What became clear is that I am uniquely qualified to solve these pressing issues for two main reasons:

First, who better knows the ins and outs of a community than a long-time resident? My wife and I have called Montgomery County home for 30 years.

Second, who better to solve the economic, housing, education, and equality problems than someone who has "walked the walk"? My professional and political bona fides are on display for all to read on my Issues page.

Let me give you an example from the other night. A gentleman in the front row asked my stance on expanding pre-Kindergarten because of the well publicized benefits. My answer to him was that I 100% support expanding pre-K in the state of Maryland; however, because I have lived here for 30 years and because I have been involved with public and non-public schools, I know that in this area many places of worship house pre-K programs. These churches, synagogues, and other centers for worship depend on the money they earn from their Early Childhood Centers. That means any sort of legislation expanding pre-K would automatically start a conversation about spending public money on non-public institutions (within the limits of the law, of course). I also know that expanding pre-K means having to rework construction budgets for public schools in order to house pre-K programs. It's not justa matter of finding money to pay new teachers. In other words, it takes real expertise, real knowledge of the county and state government to put an ideal into action.

Having an ideal is good; having the bona fides to put an ideal into action is great. I believe that my personal and professional experiences uniquely enable me to tackle the issues that most concern my neighbors in District 19.