My Top 3 Priorities for Howard County, District 1
Protect Our SchoolsOur schools are underfunded and overcrowded. We must fund smaller class sizes, and we must build new high schools #13 and #14 and the Turf Valley elementary.
"Adequate" isn't good enough. |
Control New DevelopmentOur County's land-use law, policy and procedures reflect a government wholly co-opted by Developer interests, woefully underserving our public needs. That has to stop.
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Serve the Public GoodLet's invest in cohesive plans for ample and affordable housing at every age, for bikeways and green infrastructure, for small business corridors. Let's preserve our parks and trees. Let's do it.
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About Liz
Please describe how your education and experience prepare you for the duties of this office.
I am a civil engineer by education: I insist upon verifiable, relevant input, data and complete analysis. And I am a lawyer by trade: I fiercely advocate for what cannot be compromised. In its next term, this County's Council will oversee a comprehensive re-writing of all land-use laws and plans. We need experience and independence like mine when that happens. Constituents are my special interest.
If elected, what would be your priorities for this office?
1.) Restoring top-notch education for all of our County’s students: bolstering funding, addressing the causes of our schools' worsening overcrowding and keeping neighborhoods' kids together
2.) Wresting control of further development in this County from special interests
3.) Refocusing government back on serving the public good: protecting our rapidly vanishing green space and flooding watersheds
What changes, if any, are needed in the county’s land use policies?
Our local government doesn't enforce the land-use laws that are on the books now. Maximum possible density (i.e., Developer profit) is the singular driver: no matter the topography of the land, the rise of the flood waters or the number of portables already outside the neighborhoods' schools. We need fair, honest cost/benefit analyses of new development. We need to honor comprehensive planning.
What areas within the county’s budget should be increased or decreased?
Our schools are the economic driver of this County, and they must be fully funded. But they also must be built: we need new schools, especially in District 1, and we need brick-and-mortar additions (not portables) at our existing ones, where the kids already are. To fund these capital expenses now, we must assess fair-value school surcharge fees. As is, this County's rate is a fraction of others'.
What are the county’s greatest needs with regard to transportation, and how should those be addressed?
Our roadways have become parking lots, and yet the queue of traffic analyses submitted in support of new development assures “there will be no impact.” We know, from driving those roads—or more likely, avoiding them—this cannot possibly be true. We need to strengthen our Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) law to fairly, completely assess and address new developments' impacts on our roads.
I am a civil engineer by education: I insist upon verifiable, relevant input, data and complete analysis. And I am a lawyer by trade: I fiercely advocate for what cannot be compromised. In its next term, this County's Council will oversee a comprehensive re-writing of all land-use laws and plans. We need experience and independence like mine when that happens. Constituents are my special interest.
If elected, what would be your priorities for this office?
1.) Restoring top-notch education for all of our County’s students: bolstering funding, addressing the causes of our schools' worsening overcrowding and keeping neighborhoods' kids together
2.) Wresting control of further development in this County from special interests
3.) Refocusing government back on serving the public good: protecting our rapidly vanishing green space and flooding watersheds
What changes, if any, are needed in the county’s land use policies?
Our local government doesn't enforce the land-use laws that are on the books now. Maximum possible density (i.e., Developer profit) is the singular driver: no matter the topography of the land, the rise of the flood waters or the number of portables already outside the neighborhoods' schools. We need fair, honest cost/benefit analyses of new development. We need to honor comprehensive planning.
What areas within the county’s budget should be increased or decreased?
Our schools are the economic driver of this County, and they must be fully funded. But they also must be built: we need new schools, especially in District 1, and we need brick-and-mortar additions (not portables) at our existing ones, where the kids already are. To fund these capital expenses now, we must assess fair-value school surcharge fees. As is, this County's rate is a fraction of others'.
What are the county’s greatest needs with regard to transportation, and how should those be addressed?
Our roadways have become parking lots, and yet the queue of traffic analyses submitted in support of new development assures “there will be no impact.” We know, from driving those roads—or more likely, avoiding them—this cannot possibly be true. We need to strengthen our Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) law to fairly, completely assess and address new developments' impacts on our roads.
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