Soccer Parents: We Need the Playing Fields at Brickyard, Not Organic Farm
“We have thousands of kids competing for fields in this county,” booster parent says.
Open Government
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Soccer Parents: We Need the Playing Fields at Brickyard, Not Organic Farm
“We have thousands of kids competing for fields in this county,” booster parent says.
Parents say the soccer fields proposed by the Brickyard Soccer Field Project are long overdue. For nearly two years, the Brickyard Road Middle School site in the heart of Potomac has been embroiled in a heated battle between Montgomery County’s mission to turn the site into youth soccer fields, and local activists’ desire to save a 32-year-old organic farm. The most vocal of the fight’s participants have opposed the county’s plan, but soccer parents are starting to speak up. "I really feel that the bottom line is that the people in Potomac—and many of my friends live there—they don't want the traffic, they don't want the hassle. But it's really not about that small group in Potomac. It has to be about what's best for the county," said …
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
Montgomery County Reaches New Digital Frontier
OpenMontgomery website gives residents and businesses unprecedented access to nearly all aspects of county government. Watch it operate in our video.
Seventeen years after establishing its presence on the Internet, Montgomery County has pushed to the forefront of digital governance in the 21st century with the launch of a four-platform website that officials say redefines how county government will interact with constituents. The launch of OpenMontgomery on Wednesday was coupled with landmark legislation that the County Council passed the day before, laying out a "digital roadmap" that will eventually give residents and businesses nearly unfettered access to online services and shared data, county officials said. "This really is the future," said County Councilman Hans Riemer, who helped spearhead the initiative. OpenMontgomery is divided into four portals: accessMontgomery …
Fran Asbeck
3:42 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
Oh, whoopee. More high tech, but it still took the incompetants in county finance eleven months to send a tax refund to the estate for which i was administrator. more ›
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Leggett Hosts Virtual Town Hall Meeting Nov. 21
What questions do you have for the county executive?
Montgomery County’s virtual town hall meetings kick off again on Wednesday, Nov. 21, at 1 p.m. For an hour, County Executive Isiah Leggett will answer questions through a live chat online. To participate in the question and answer session, residents should enter questions before or during the hour-long chat online here. What questions do you have for Leggett? Will you participate in the discussion?
Avocado
4:13 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thanks for your note about this! I just submitted a question about better enforcing speed limits on Arcola, University, & Georgia. I wish people wouldn't speed through there while I'm trying to be a pedestrian in Wheaton! more ›
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Leggett Hosts Virtual Town Hall Meeting Wednesday
What questions do you have for the county executive?
Montgomery County’s virtual town hall meetings kick off again on Wednesday at 1 p.m. For an hour, County Executive Isiah Leggett will answer questions through a live chat online. To participate in the question and answer session, residents should enter questions before or during the hour-long chat online here. What questions do you have for Leggett? Will you participate in the discussion?
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The Other Side Of The Integrity Report
Governor's office responds to State Integrity Investigation report
A report released Monday by the State Integrity Investigation project drew some scathing remarks from a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O'Malley. I highlighted the release of the report by the non-profit here on this blog yesterday and included several links to the review of all 50 states. The post wasn't intended to be a comprehensive report as much as an effort to let readers know it existed and show them where it could be found. Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for the governor, cried foul and sent an email detailing what the O'Malley administration sees as problems with the report. I'm presenting her email here unedited: Hey: I can't believe you guys put this up on your website without contacting us. The whole thing is very sketchy. The "…
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
County Spends $28M For High School Dropout Prevention, Recovery
How well is Montgomery County addressing the needs of its at-risk student population?
A report released last Tuesday by Montgomery County's Office of Legislative Oversight suggests that Montgomery County could be doing more to help its at-risk youth. An average of 1,200 students, or 2.5 percent of enrollment, drop out of Montgomery County schools each year according to the report. But, despite the costs associated with prevention and recovery of dropout students in Montgomery County, there is no method to evaluate the success of the county's alternative education programs, such as how well students do if they return to their high school, whether they graduate, or whether they are prepared for college or work once they leave MCPS. Average dropout rates for high schools ranged from 0.4 percent at Winston Churchill High …
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No Dropouts
2:53 am on Friday, March 23, 2012
When looking at the effectiveness of dropout recovery programs, it's important to compare apples to apples. Comparing dropout rates from traditional public schools to dropout rates from alternative recovery programs is like comparing cancer rates among the general population to cancer rates among those who have already had the disease once before. For more information, please see our post on this… more ›
Monday, March 19, 2012
State Gets Poor Marks For Openness, Anti-Corruption laws
Just how well did Maryland rank compared to neighboring states in the nation?
Maryland ranks 40 out of 50 states when it comes to open government and anti-corruption laws and practices, according to a report released today by the State Integrity Investigation project. The state, with it's grade of 61 percent, performed better than Nevada, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Maine, Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota and Georgia, according to the report released by a group that includes The Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity, and Public Radio International. Four states— New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, California, and Nebraska—received a grade of B. Overall, however, the group wrote there were no winners in its study. The organization graded the Maryland and 49 other states on 14 different categories…
Sammi Cook
4:28 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
“The nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself.” - Franklin Delano Roosevelt This quote stays with me, even though the slapping down of new neighborhoods and essentially ruining some of the world's best farmland here in Illinois, has all but stopped. There are always alternatives for most kinds of development. Check out the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service (the old Soil … more ›