Dear Friends,
I want to express my thanks to the County Council for confirming Marc Yamada as the next chief of the Montgomery County Police Department. I appreciate the Council’s support and look forward to working with him following Chief Marcus Jones's retirement on June 30.
Chief Yamada has had a great career with MCPD, which you can read more about here. You can also watch his interviews with Fox 5 and WUSA 9. Chief Yamada’s career has been marked by dedication, courage and unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of our community.
He will be the first Japanese American leader of our police department. He is the first person in his family who was born in the United States, and he grew up in Wheaton. I think his background fits well with the kind of inclusive and diverse community Montgomery County has become.
Our police department has made significant strides over the last few years. I am proud to say that we have one of the best law enforcement institutions in the nation, and we will continue to work to improve it.
Under Chief Yamada’s leadership, the department will enhance the good work that has already been done.
A New MCPS Superintendent Has Been Announced
I want to welcome Dr. Thomas W. Taylor as the new superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). His selection was announced Monday, and the school board will officially vote on his appointment next week on June 25.
Our schools are a key reason people choose to live in Montgomery County and why businesses relocate or stay here. Maintaining MCPS’s quality of education, academic rigor, commitment to inclusion and reputation as some of the nation’s best schools is essential.
We welcome Dr. Taylor’s energy and engagement, and I think we all understand the urgency of the situation that MCPS currently faces in terms of budget, staffing, class size and providing the appropriate resources to our students, teachers, staff and families. I look forward to working with him to address the issues and challenges and continue to support our school staff, students and families.
Governor Moore Pardons Marylanders with Cannabis Convictions
I want to thank Governor Wes Moore for issuing pardons this week to 175,000 Maryland residents convicted of misdemeanor cannabis offenses. This equity action helps communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by past cannabis laws. You can read more here.
A criminal record can be a substantial barrier to employment, housing and other opportunities. These pardons offer a chance for a fresh start. It is an essential step toward justice and equity, particularly for communities of color.
We are also working to adjust regulations regarding cannabis use not that it is legal in Maryland for adults. Currently, because of State regulations, we cannot hire police officers who admit to prior cannabis use within the previous year. We are working with the State to change this regulation and I am hopeful that we will be able to update the regulations soon to help us increase applicants and recruits.
Governor Moore’s leadership on this issue is commendable. His order (detailed here) shows compassion and it pardons those charged and convicted of misdemeanor possession of cannabis or misdemeanor use or possession with intent to use prior to Jan. 1, 2023, when possession of a personal use amount of cannabis was legalized. The pardon also forgives misdemeanor use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia charges if they were the only criminal charges incurred.
Governor Moore’s executive order also directs the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to develop a process to indicate on an individual’s criminal record that the conviction was pardoned. This process is expected to take approximately 10 months to complete.
This executive order is a meaningful step toward rectifying the inequities in our legal system. I look forward to continuing to work with the governor to support initiatives that address disparities and promote the well-being of all our residents.
Rent Stabilization Regulations Now Before Council
The County Council is now considering new regulations, developed with the help of public feedback, to implement rent stabilization. Preventing enormous rent increases could impact many lives and allow families to remain living in their homes. About 35 percent of Montgomery County residents are renters.
The Council passed and I signed into law rent stabilization legislation, which caps annual rent increases at the inflation measure (CPI) plus 3 percent and no higher than 6 percent. This legislation was a compromise from what I originally supported, but it is definitely an important step forward and a critical step in protecting our residents from predatory price gouging. So many people talk about the housing affordability crisis, and rent stabilization is an important part of addressing that crisis.
These regulations and policies are designed to provide the framework to help renters struggling to keep up with rapidly increasing housing costs that threaten their ability to remain in their homes. Tens of thousands of families in our County devote too much of their take-home pay to rent and live paycheck to paycheck. Research done by Montgomery Planning found that almost 50 percent of Montgomery County renters are cost-burdened. They spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
The law required and the regulations provide the process to ensure that property owners can maintain and invest in their properties. They can apply for exceptions that, for example, consider major projects to improve the buildings. This ensures that property owners can continue to make necessary improvements while also maintaining the viability of their properties. A “Fair Return” policy aims to balance landlord profitability with tenant affordability.
These regulations have been carefully crafted to implement the law as passed last year. Developing the regulations took about six months and then they were put out for public comment. Staff then reviewed the hundreds of pages of comments and incorporated them as appropriate. I am looking forward to the Council approving the regulations so that we can stop unfair rent increases that can destabilize families and community.
This week, I invited Department of Housing and Community Affairs Director Scott Bruton to my weekly media briefing. You can watch that here or on the County’s YouTube page.
Here is the link to our rent stabilization FAQ page. We will update it as we move forward.
The Importance of Juneteenth Celebrations
The Juneteenth holiday honors June 19, 1865—the day the last enslaved people in Galveston, Tx., learned that they were free. There was so much going on around our region and within Montgomery County for Juneteenth.
The second Annual Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival to help benefit the 2nd Century Project and rebuild the community’s historic church drew big crowds to Cabin John Park.
Some of the highlights included a parade through the park, bands, dancers and performers honoring their cultural history, a baseball game that harkened back to the days of Negro League baseball games in Montgomery County and much more. For the first time, the Juneteenth celebration ended with fireworks, a fitting tribute because, as LaTisha Gasaway-Paul told me when we talked last week, this feels to many in the Black community as their Independence Day. You can watch our discussion here.
Over the past week, our County has seen an enormous outpouring of support for Juneteenth commemoration. We kicked it off by honoring our community’s African American Living Legends. There also were celebrations in Germantown, Kensington, North Bethesda and Sandy Spring. On Saturday, I was in Germantown to help welcome everyone to the County’s annual Juneteenth celebration at BlackRock.
At the celebrations I talked about the real significance of the holiday for our Black community. Landmark events in U.S. history, like the Fourth of July and the Declaration of Independence, rang hollow for enslaved people and women who endured living without basic human rights for more than 100 years. Even the Black soldiers who fought in our wars to preserve our democracy were effectively blocked from participating in that democracy. Just think about it for a minute—it helps to understand why we still struggle with the racial underpinning of the inequalities that persist into the present.
Juneteenth is a holiday that we should have been recognizing and celebrating going back decades—or centuries. I am glad it is finally getting the needed recognition.
Largest in Nation: Renewable Energy Powered Zero-Emissions Bus Depot Groundbreaking
We have reached another significant milestone in our sustainability efforts. The County recently broke ground on a new resiliency hub project and our second transit microgrid project. This one will be built at the Equipment Maintenance Transit Operations Center in the Derwood area, near Rockville. The center is critical to our Ride On bus system and will help eventually run zero-emission buses.
Once completed, the center will become the nation’s largest renewable energy-powered bus depot. The facility’s microgrid will generate electricity for our buses, including clean hydrogen. It will also have on-site battery storage.
By 2035, the depot will house about 200 zero-emissions buses, most of which will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Buses fueled by hydrogen have a longer range and can refuel faster than battery-electric models.
We partnered with AlphaStruxure for this project. This video created by AlphaStruxure explains the County’s previous collaboration on the bus depot in Brookville. The Maryland Energy Administration has shown its support for this innovative approach to zero-emissions public transit. This project has received $9 million in Federal and State support for hydrogen production, $4.3 million for fuel cell buses and $1 million for workforce development.
This exciting project is an important part of our climate plan and sustainability efforts and will be a model for the entire country. These green energy microgrids reduce our dependence on traditional fuel and also can provide power independently of the grid during a power outage. You can read more about the project here. We have said that we want to be a model for the nation on how to tackle climate change, and this project is an important one for our efforts.
As always, my appreciation for all of you,
Marc Elrich
County Executive
