Next year, voters will be heading to polling places to cast votes in local, state and
federal elections. Below are my top questions for the candidates in each of these elections.
In the Third District County Council race, I want to know if the candidates are committed to keeping the suburban character of the greater Timonium area? To me, that means discouraging the growth of mixed-use, high-density sites that feature too much impervious surface and very little grass and tree cover. The mixed use, high-density development is currently in favor with urban planners, but I will favor the lower density, suburban pattern any day of the week. Another component of this is to discourage creeping commercialism from encroaching onto the side streets adjacent to York Road. These side streets serve as the edges of many of our residential neighborhoods, and they need to be preserved for residential use.
I am also interested to hear what the County Council candidates have to say about affordable housing in the district. Back about five years ago the County settled a lawsuit concerning the lack of affordable housing in all areas of the County by agreeing to invest $3 million annually for ten years to develop or preserve 1,000 affordable housing units that will be geographically dispersed. Since that settlement we have seen a private company build affordable townhouse units off East Padonia Road, behind the car dealership. That is just one example in the County. My question to the candidates is “Do you let this settlement process continue without any new impetus from County government, or Do you pass additional legislation that would provide more funds to meet or exceed the affordable housing goal?”
In the County Executive’s race, I want to know if the candidates are committed to building new high schools at Towson and Dulaney. Prior to the last election, candidate John Olszewski, Jr. supported the rebuilding of Dulaney H.S., not a renovation of the school. However, recently it seems that Mr. Olszewski has waffled in his support, and he has not come out strongly in support of his previous pledge. What will his stance be in this election?
I also want to hear all candidates take on the recent efforts in police reform. Reform measures have been enacted at both the state and local levels. I am not suggesting that some of these measures were not overdue, but has the pendulum swung too far in the other direction, with reform measures and decreased police budgets? The local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police president claims that policing is at a critical inflection point. (See the Sept. newsletter) I want to hear how the candidates for County Executive plan to address this issue.
As for the State delegate and senator candidates, I want to know how they plan to fund the Kirwan educational reform package. When fully implemented, the Kirwan reforms will cost an additional $4 billion per year. I felt the legislators who passed Kirwan were being dishonest by never outlining how they expected to pay for it. Will new revenue streams like sports betting and legalization of cannabis pay for part of the added costs? And how much will those new revenue streams contribute to the $4 billion per year in added education costs? Or should we taxpayers expect to see increases to the sales tax or income tax to pay for Kirwan? No candidate wants to talk about tax increases during an election campaign, but voters should insist on a complete answer to that question.
In the governor’s race, I am not expecting another Republican to win election. Democrat registered voters outnumber Republicans by a 2 to 1 margin in the State. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than the state has a chance of seeing a third election of a Republican. My questions for Democratic candidates will aim at finding out if they have moderate positions or if they take on progressive, far-left positions.
Finally in the federal elections for congress and the senate, there are many problems facing this country, including inflation, recovery from the pandemic, foreign policy challenges, our withdraw from Afghanistan, infrastructure and many more issues. I may be the only person in the entire country that feels this way, but to me the most pressing issue facing our country is finding out the origins of the covid-19 virus. Is it a naturally occurring virus or was it man-made? All our existing congress members and senators have done almost nothing to find the origins of that virus, and for that reason I will not vote for any sitting federal official, and I want their competitors to guarantee that the house and senate will investigate this mystery within their first year in office. Admittedly this is a somewhat radical and very narrow view, but the entire planet has dealt with the miseries caused by this pandemic for far too long without trying to determine how it started.
Eric Rockel
Vice President, GTCC