Memorial Day Weekend: We've gathered fun events and ideas for things to do with family and friends during Memorial Day Weekend. Pools are opening, summer concerts are going to get into full swing and more. There's the Hometown Holidays Music Fest in Rockville and Flags for Our Heroes in Gaithersburg.
Go MoCo Month: With May coming to a close, we still want to get residents out and about exploring in their own County. We have a giveaway going with people checking in to participating locations on the VisitMoCo App. Once they check in, they will be entered to win up to $700 in giveaways, including tickets to Adventure Park Sandy Spring, a shopping spree at The Covered Market and dinner at Cooper's Mill in Bethesda. There are also custom itineraries made that people can follow or mix and match to suit their fun!.
WorldPride DC: This is the 50th anniversary of WorldPride, and they're celebrating in the nation's capital. Residents and visitors can take take a step back from the hustle and bustle and enjoy more Pride events in Montgomery County.
The County Council cast their “straw” votes yesterday on the FY26 operating budget, and their final vote is next Thursday, May 22. I am pleased that we have come together to fund 99.8% of the request from the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), which will support higher salaries, more special education teachers and paraeducators, and additional security staff.
The agreement will provide $260 million in additional funding for MCPS in Fiscal Year (FY) 26, contributing to a record-high total school budget of $3.58 billion. The Council made a decision to provide the funding by not making a contribution to the MCPS portion of the OPEB trust (the fund set aside for retiree health benefits) for FY25 and FY26. I had proposed a similar approach last year (it was not accepted then), and their action this year was central to being able to provide the urgently needed funding for the schools. Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno explains more here.
While the funding is only a one-year solution, it does provide the funding now and allows us time to agree on long-term solutions. I do believe that a 0.1% increase in the income tax would have put us on a good path, but the Council declined to take this step. (I wrote about it in last week’s newsletter; you can read it here.) I look forward to working together with the Council, the Board of Education, MCPS leadership and labor partners to identify stable, recurring funding sources.
Even amidst this time of great uncertainty—with federal budget cuts already leading to job losses in our community and threatening key grants for County government and MCPS—we were able to make real progress in key areas, including economic development and affordable housing. You can read more about it here.
Thank you to everyone who spoke up during the public hearing sessions on this budget. Despite the challenges, we have preserved core services and met 99.8% of the MCPS request, which is a major accomplishment in a difficult budget year.
I think it’s important to put a face on why the additional funding for the schools is so important. This week, Stephanie Gawlinski, an MCPS special education teacher at Sherwood High School and MCEA member, spoke during the County’s weekly media briefing about how encouraging it is to see this level of commitment to special education services. (You won’t see me on the briefing because I have been out sick this week – thank you to Rich Madaleno, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer, for filling in for me.)
Ms. Gawlinski offered a glimpse of how difficult the work is, even with adequate staffing, which many classrooms do not have. She talked about how the staff shortages have led some special education teachers to leave mid-year, which she explained is huge for a teacher to leave their students mid-year. And she talked about how difficult hiring special education staff is when the system can’t guarantee adequate staff.
The needs of special education students vary widely in our district. Some students cannot communicate verbally, while others need staff to feed and change them. As Ms. Gawlinski detailed, a fully staffed classroom is small with one teacher and two paraeducators, but not all classrooms are fully staffed. When special education classrooms are understaffed, the only thing that teachers have the capacity to do is keep their students, staff and themselves safe. Teachers identify the highest level of need and address that first. Education is put on the back burner, which is not how we best serve our students.
I agree with her when she said special educators and students should not have to fight every single year to get the resources that they need. We need to continue to invest in our schools and our students.
I appreciate the MCPS leadership for prioritizing issues like this that cause so much grief and strain. It is what these students and their families deserve.
Annual Point in Time Survey of Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments updated the public on the results of its annual Point in Time count of unhoused individuals throughout the DC region, which occurred in January.
Unfortunately, Montgomery County saw a 32% increase in the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness, including a troubling 80% increase in the number of families in need of a stable place to live.
You can download the latest results and analysis here. A County press release reacting to that report can be found here. For more information on County services, visit montgomerycountymd.gov/homelessness.
Many factors have contributed to these figures. We have seen the number of evictions rise since pandemic-era moratoriums were lifted. High rent prices across Montgomery County are also a factor. We have also seen the end of the COVID-era Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds.
We offer many families rental assistance when they can’t pay, but too many of those families are coming to us with increasing debts. The average family that needs help owes their landlord between $6,000 and $12,000. That has helped drive our homeless numbers above what we saw before the pandemic, and at 1,510, it surpasses our previous high over the last decade, which was set last year.
We know that Montgomery County needs more affordable housing, and this year’s data is a stark illustration of the situation. Sadly, there are too many families in our community who struggle daily to maintain a roof over their heads, and the increasing cost of necessities makes stable, affordable housing unattainable for them. Rent stabilization institutes predictability for many renters, but some of our most vulnerable residents need more help. This year, we launched the Short-Term Housing and Resolution Program for families and have been working intensively with this critical program.
The Short-term Housing and Resolution Program (SHaRP) is a County-funded program that successfully housed many people during the pandemic when it was piloted. It provides a security deposit, the first month’s rent and a rental subsidy for 12 months to allow sheltered or unsheltered households to move into housing. Navigators are available to provide resource connections and monthly check-ins to support households in maintaining their housing. Since its inception in late 2020, SHaRP has assisted over 700 households to move into their own permanent housing with only a 22% overall return rate. The County provided a special appropriation for SHaRP in December 2024 to help the increasing number of families in the shelter system move into housing. As of the beginning of May, 111 families have moved into housing using this funding. The FY26 operating budget includes an additional $62 million in funding for the County Department of Health and Human Services’ Services to End and Prevent Homelessness division and we hope to continue our progress.
We continue our work, helping more families find shelter and providing the support needed to make homelessness a rare, brief and non-recurring situation.
I want to thank our community partners and volunteers who play a role in ensuring that we treat housing as a human right. Montgomery County will continue to help coordinate immediate access to housing without preconditions or barriers because it is the right thing to do.
Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act Signing
This week marked an important milestone with the signing of the Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act by Maryland Governor Wes Moore, which will strengthen public safety on our roads across the State.
Holding reckless drivers accountable is long overdue. It is sad that it took a tragic incident like the devastating injuries to Montgomery County Police Sgt. Kepp to prompt this legislation. As a reminder, he lost both legs after being hit by a speeding driver he was trying to stop; he was out of his vehicle, deploying stop sticks, when he was hit. This new law will provide real consequences for people who ignore the rules of the road by speeding excessively and putting other drivers in danger.
I want to thank the work of our general assembly delegation—specifically Sen. Nancy King and Del. Gregory Wims—for their work to make our communities safer. Both were there for Tuesday’s bill signing. To hear what the governor said about the man who inspired this law, follow this link.
This law (SB 590/HB 744) is a testament to the integrity and honor displayed by Sgt. Kepp. He is a hero and a role model to many in our community and across our country. He has bravely overcome his traumatic injuries to return to the police work he so clearly loves. We are fortunate that he is alive today and already back on duty.
Grand Opening of Powersolv’s New Montgomery County Headquarters
This week we welcomed another company—Powersolv —as it moved to Montgomery County. Powersolv is a 30-year old company that has successfully managed and assisted in IT projects for the state and for our County. They worked with a site selection consultant who demonstrated the benefits of moving to Montgomery County, and we’re glad to have them here. They were able to access our MOVE Grants, which are designed to help spur economic development by encouraging businesses to move to the County.
Powersolv is one more example of our commitment to welcoming new businesses here. We spent a record-breaking $248 million last year on procurements through the Minority, Female and Disabled-Owned Business Program. We have opened up opportunities for more small and emergent companies to do business with Montgomery County.
Moves like this are exactly what we envisioned when we developed the MOVE Grant Program through our Business Center. Updates to the program that took effect last year help businesses that are signing their first commercial lease or expanding their existing lease by at least 500 square feet in office space in Montgomery County. Once the company passes one final review in the grant process, it is eligible to receive around $9,000 in relocation money.
All MOVE grant awards are funded on a first-come, first-served basis based on the date of receipt of all required documentation and subject to funding availability. The funding is based on the square footage of leased space.
I want to congratulate Rahul Dhawan, Powersolv president, and his team on this exciting new chapter. We value his commitment to delivering top-tier technology services to customers, and we’re proud to support the company’s continued growth here. I agree with his assessment that this move will help him grow his business by putting him closer to top talent and local partnerships in one of the most vibrant tech corridors in our region.
Monsanto Settlement Update
This week, Montgomery County received an additional $968,612—nearly $1 million—as part of a national class action settlement against Monsanto, bringing our total recovery in this case to over $5.2 million. These funds are unrestricted, and we will work with our team to use them where they are needed most.
This settlement is part of a larger national effort. Dozens of local governments—including cities, counties and school systems—joined together to hold Monsanto accountable for widespread PCB contamination. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were banned decades ago because of their toxicity, but they still show up in our stormwater, our rivers and streams, and the environment. Local governments are left with the cleanup, and this settlement is one step toward making the polluters pay for the damage they caused.
I want to thank County Attorney John Markovs and our Office of the County Attorney for their excellent work. This lawsuit, like so many others we’ve brought, is part of a broader shift in how we approach legal advocacy on behalf of our residents.
This strategy helped us win major settlements in the opioid crisis, not just against drugmakers but also against companies like McKinsey & Company, which helped those companies flood the market with dangerous and addictive drugs. We are still in court right now with 3M over PFAS chemicals, and with social media companies for the harm they’re causing to young people.
When corporations put profit ahead of public health and safety, we’re not going to sit on the sidelines.
Cases like this do not come out of nowhere. They rely on science, on environmental monitoring and on decades of regulatory work that tells us what’s in our water and what’s making people sick.
What we’re seeing right now from the federal government—these sweeping cuts and attacks on federal science agencies—this isn’t about “efficiency.” It’s about tearing down the very systems that uncover wrongdoing and hold bad actors accountable. If that continues, it’s only going to get harder for communities like ours to protect public health and make polluters pay. And that should concern everyone.
Honoring Lynching Victims
This week, the community gathered outside the County Council Office Building to remember two victims of racial terror in Montgomery County: Sidney Randolph and John Diggs-Dorsey. Historical markers were placed there in 2023, but we recently added a bench and some landscaping.
Dr. Bobbie Legg, a Montgomery County native and descendant of one of the perpetrators in the 1896 lynching of Sidney Randolph, joined the event. Dr. Legg’s decision to share her story publicly has been powerful and courageous. Her testimony last fall to the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission moved many, and that’s why we invited her to be a part of this ceremony. This remembrance and reconciliation effort reflects our commitment to racial equity and social justice. Unlike what we are seeing from the federal government and Republican-led states, we are not going to whitewash history. With the help of our Office of Human Rights and Commission on Remembrance and Reconciliation, we are going to teach and tell the truth—even when it’s uncomfortable.
We are proud to keep diversity, equity and inclusion at the center of our work. That includes confronting the legacy of redlining, racial violence and systemic racism that existed right here in Montgomery County. These historical markers—and this ceremony—are part of how we move forward, together, with honesty and purpose.
If you are interested in getting involved with your community and want to have a voice in the programs and services that Montgomery County offers, apply to join one of the more than 90 Boards, Committees and Commissions (BCC). These groups generally advise the County Executive and the County Council, and we want input from all parts of the community.
We hope you will learn more about what a particular group does and apply for this volunteer position. BCC members typically serve a three-year term.
Currently, we are recruiting members for the Citizens Review Panel for Children. The Panel, in collaboration with Child Welfare Services, which is part of the County’s Department of Health and Human Services, has worked on several activities, including assisting with the recruitment and retention of foster parents, reviewing policies related to working with older youth in foster care, researching and outlining activities to support staff regarding secondary trauma and analyzing various State policies regarding the daily best practices within Child Welfare Services. If you are looking for a meaningful experience that impacts the community’s most vulnerable children, apply at https://cexbcc.montgomerycountymd.gov/board/4058. The deadline to apply is June 11.
This week was Teacher Appreciation Week. Teachers are called to the profession. They do not do it for the money and the job is more difficult than you can imagine. I spent 17 years teaching in a high-needs elementary school, and I know the challenges. But I also know the satisfaction in being even a small part of helping students grow, gain confidence and learn new skills to prepare for a successful life. My experience as a teacher has helped me enormously in my work when I was a Councilmember and now as County Executive. I saw up close that by investing in our schools and our staff, we invested in our students.
That is why I proposed a modest 0.1% increase in the income tax (it would go from 3.2 to 3.3%). That increase would allow us to fully fund the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) budget request, without cutting other essential County services and keep our reserves at 11%, to give us a cushion as we face a year of great uncertainty because of actions by the Trump administration. Next week, the Montgomery County Council will be having a public hearing on Tuesday, May 13, at 1:30 p.m. regarding my income tax proposal.
This will be the last chance to have your voice heard by the Council on this budget, and I highly encourage residents to testify. Several Councilmembers have stated that they are supportive of this modest increase but without it, reductions will be required to MCPS, County government services or the reserves.
Investing in our schools and our students is one of the most critical roles of government. We have not been able to return to the spending per pupil that we had in 2010, before the Great Recession. The chart below shows that, in dollars adjusted for inflation, we were spending $16,806 per student. My recommended budget this year would provide $14,874 per student.
In the past 16 years, our students' needs have grown, our special education population has increased and more of our students come from high-poverty backgrounds. Simply put, we are asking our schools to do more with less. Many of our children are immigrants and others are poor. Some do not enter school speaking English and don’t have the same background knowledge as many of the kids who have grown up here. These challenges require more support staff and increase the cost of teaching kids.
That is why I have recommended a modest increase in the income tax—from 3.2 to 3.3%. To put the increase in perspective, someone with an adjusted gross income of $100,000 would pay an additional $100 per year, which is about $2 a week.
My recommended budget includes this increase so that we can:
Fully fund the request from Montgomery County Public Schools.
Preserve vital County services.
Maintain an 11% reserve, providing a cushion for uncertain times.
Specifically, fully funding the school's request will provide:
160 additional special education teachers.
500 full-time special education paraeducators—360 of whom are currently part-time without benefits.
52 new security staff for our elementary, middle and high schools.
These are not just numbers. These are real investments in our students, our schools and our future. It is frustrating that some members of the County Council oppose this modest increase, even though they had no problem voting for two different developer giveaways (you can read my vetoes of these bills here and here; unfortunately, the vetoes were overridden).
The more recent developer giveaway—Bill 2-25E—lacked the real housing affordability requirements we would normally require for a tax credit and had no financial need assessment on whether subsidies were warranted. (I have already written about projects in development and completed that received no subsidies.) The earlier bill eroded support for necessary infrastructure. How can we justify cutting education investment while handing millions to wealthy developers?
This is not just about fairness—it is about smart economic development. Virginia won the Amazon second headquarters bid not because of low taxes, but because it offered the company a strong educational system and workforce training. And we see this here at home—when AstraZeneca invested $300 million in life sciences research in our County, it was not because we offered the lowest taxes. It was because we invested in education, infrastructure and strategic growth. Strong infrastructure and strong schools drive economic growth. That’s the bottom line.
I want to thank Council Vice President Will Jawando for standing up for our students and our educators. His commitment as Chair of the Education Committee has been unwavering. He joined me during my media briefing this week to discuss prioritizing education funding through my proposed income tax increase.
We are in the final stretch of getting the FY26 budget approved. It's time for us to fight for our students, teachers, paraeducators and support services at MCPS and on behalf of all those who count on County government services—from our older adults on fixed incomes to those who are housing insecure or need subsidized health services to the recently displaced workers due to recent federal government decisions.
AstraZeneca Announcement
On Monday, I joined AstraZeneca to mark the opening of a new $300 million advanced manufacturing facility in Rockville (here are photos from the event). This facility will produce CAR-T cell therapies, cutting-edge treatments that are transforming how we fight cancer and will save countless lives. Now, that work will happen right here in Montgomery County. The future of health care is personalized medicine, where treatments can be tailored for each individual and quickly produced.
We proudly support this expansion with $100,000, which will leverage a $500,000 investment from the State of Maryland.
These are the kinds of targeted incentives that make sense. We are supporting a project that will create more than 150 high-quality jobs and build on our efforts to ensure our County remains one of the largest biomedical clusters in the country. This is what an investment of County dollars can produce. This is no giveaway.
After announcing their plans for this facility just over a year ago, AstraZeneca worked closely with our Department of Permitting Services and County staff to move this project along quickly. I appreciate DPS's work to support this project and its aggressive timeline, which means they will be able to manufacture their life-saving treatments for patients very soon.
Montgomery County is a global leader in life sciences because we have worked to attract and retain the right partners. We will continue to do that, whether with large corporations or entrepreneurs, home-grown companies, or those we attract from around the nation and world.
Next month, I will attend the annual BIO International Conference, which is taking place this year in Boston. I look forward to sharing these successes while meeting with other potential bio and life science companies to convince them to relocate or expand to Montgomery County.
Transit Infrastructure and Ride On Flash Expansion
As long as people have been complaining about traffic around here, I have been trying to get more elected leaders to hop aboard the idea of using Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to help solve our congestion problems.
When I first proposed BRT back in 2008, it was because I knew we could not keep growing as a County without rethinking how people move – how do we get them from home to work without ever worsening road conditions? My goal since the beginning was to act quickly and get ahead of Northern Virginia. If we had followed through then, if we had the infrastructure and political will that places like Northern Virginia showed, we would already have a real BRT network. Instead, we are trying to catch up.
Last Friday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Ride On bus system (photos). It has come a long way from converted bread trucks to the second-largest transit system in the region. And this week, we signed the expansion of our Ride On Flash Bus Rapid Transit into Howard County. This agreement will extend the US 29 Flash service from Silver Spring to Downtown Columbia.
My first trip to Howard County to discuss his idea was in 2010, and that is how long people have been working on this.
It is a big deal—not just because it connects riders to Metro, MARC and eventually the Purple Line—but because it ties two of Maryland’s major job centers together. Four new stations will be built, including one at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. The federal government has already committed more than $3 million to support the project.
That’s good news, but we are still moving too slowly. The need is real. We are planning eight BRT routes with more than 100 stops across the County, and the sooner we build them, the sooner people can get to jobs, schools and hospitals more easily and affordably.
Through the Ride On Reimagined study, we heard clearly from residents—they want buses that run more often, even if it means walking a bit farther to get to a stop. Flash BRT delivers on that.
Ride On grew faster than almost any other transit system in the country last year. That’s a credit to the people behind the wheel, every one of whom is a union worker committed to public service. Their work is changing lives.
Transit is not a luxury. It is the foundation of a more equitable and sustainable future. If we are serious about economic development, sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, we must address our transit infrastructure. We will not be able to build a stronger economy if people cannot get where they need to go.
Honoring Fallen Heroes
On Wednesday, I joined Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada, Sheriff Max Uy, State’s Attorney John McCarthy and many others from our public safety community at the Memorial Service for our Fallen Heroes held at the Public Safety Headquarters in Gaithersburg. This ceremony honored the nearly two dozen police officers, sheriffs and Park Police officers who died as a result of their police work over the last century.
From Patrolman Joseph Asbury Case, who fell in 1928, to Officer Kyle David Olinger, who died in 2019, every one of these individuals represents a life committed to the safety and well-being of our residents who made the ultimate sacrifice.
In Montgomery County, we have worked hard to make policing safer for officers and the public. We ask our officers to be compassionate, to listen and to diffuse situations rather than escalate tensions. Still, it is a dangerous job.
This week, we also recognized our corrections officers during National Correctional Officers and Employees Week. At an awards ceremony, we recognized the people who show up every day for one of the hardest and most underappreciated jobs in government. Corrections work doesn’t often make headlines, and it rarely gets applause, but the work is vital to the safety, well-being and rehabilitation of the people in our care—and the safety of the larger community. This week gave us a moment to pause and say thank you.
May Recognitions: Teachers, Small Business, Nurses, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, Corrections Employees and the People Who Keep This County Moving
May is a month filled with recognitions, making it important to recognize the people and communities that make this County what it is.
While we have had some big economic wins lately (like AstraZeneca’s expansion), most businesses in Montgomery County are small, and this is Small Business Week. They’re the storefronts, restaurants, contractors and entrepreneurs who make our neighborhoods vibrant.
This week is also Public Service Recognition Week. I have spent most of my life in public service, and I’ve never seen the kind of attacks we’re seeing now on the federal workforce. The people losing their jobs at NIH and HHS aren’t political operatives—they’re scientists, researchers and professionals doing important work for the country. They deserve support, not scapegoating. I encourage you to read some of the public service stories collected by the Partnership for Public Service.
And here in Montgomery County, I want to thank every County employee who is dedicated to keeping our County as a great place to live and work.
It is also National Nurses Week. In our County, nurses are not only in hospitals—they work in our schools, our clinics and our public health programs. Their work is essential to keeping residents healthy, especially those who do not always have access to traditional care. We are a healthier County because of their efforts.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Over the weekend, I joined our fourth annual County AAPI celebration, hosted by our Office of Community Partnerships (OCP), Asian American Health Initiative (AAHI) and multiple AAPI community organizations. The celebration brought together dozens of community organizations to share resources and celebrate the rich diversity of cultures within the AAPI community. It was also a chance to thank our many partners in the community for all they have done.
At the same time, we must acknowledge that with Trump back in office, so is his xenophobic behavior. I made clear that we will not change our welcoming approach in this county. We know that the diversity of our population makes us stronger
Last December, we launched a streamlined way to report hate and bias incidents online. It’s one part of a broader effort to ensure that everyone in Montgomery County feels safe and respected, including the diverse religions and ethnicities within our AAPI communities.
This County has changed a lot—we’re no longer 90% white—and we are better for it. Celebrating AAPI heritage means standing up for diversity, inclusion and equity. Something that I am proud to say, and wear as a badge of courage against conservative whitewashing of history and cultures.
May also brings Older Americans Month and Building Safety Month—and each one highlights the role that County government plays in people’s lives.
As an “older American” myself, I am glad that we recognize Older Americans Month in Montgomery County. Aging with dignity is a priority of this County government, which is why we have been recognized as an AARP Age-Friendly Community. We’re one of only six jurisdictions in the state—and by far the largest—to earn that designation.
That’s because we take aging seriously--from transportation to housing to nutrition and social connection, we work to make sure older adults can stay active and engaged. Many of our County employees are older adults themselves, and their experience and leadership are a huge asset to this government and to the people we serve.
Finally, Building Safety Month is a time to recognize the important work our Department of Permitting Services does every day—often behind the scenes—to keep residents safe. They’re offering free deck inspections and sharing helpful tips.
Happy Mother’s Day
May also brings Mother’s Day, on Sunday. I want to extend my thanks to all the mothers out there. I hope the day is special and that you feel how valuable you are every day.
We had a truly meaningful ribbon cutting this week when we welcomed back the Scotland AME Zion church. This 100+ year old historically black church faced a terrible flood in 2019, which nearly destroyed the old church.
But the Scotland community, private sector leaders, community partners and the County came together to help save the church. The effort was kick-started by Mitch Rales and the Glenstone Foundation with substantial help from individuals, including Bob Buchanan, Frank Islam, and Debbie Driesen, and former County Executive Ike Leggett and Catherine Leggett, as well as the J. Willard & Alice S Marriott, Jr. Foundation. Members of the Scotland community, of course, were invaluable to this effort, including the Gassaway sisters, Bernard Scott and his family, and Reverend Huggins.
Why did so many rally to the rescue of this church? It has been the heart of the Scotland community, which has persevered since the end of slavery despite numerous obstacles and deep racism in government. Scotland was one of the County’s historic black communities that emerged after the Civil War, one of the few places where former enslaved people were able to purchase property. But that right was ultimately eliminated as covenants were placed on property in most of the County that barred selling or renting property to Black people. They were also denied basic necessities like clean water and modern plumbing. This brief video from Montgomery Community Media highlights the effort to preserve its history.
Scotland was one of numerous post-Civil War black communities in the County, and as their population grew, they were blocked from buying more land, which meant that the available land to hand down to each successive generation of children grew smaller to the point that it was too small to farm economically.
This ban on property holding meant a dramatic decrease in the black population from more than 45% in 1870 to less than 10% in 1960. It wasn’t until Montgomery County banned restrictive covenants and opened up rental and ownership opportunities in 1968 that the Black population began to grow again. The Scotland community is a fraction of its former size as families lost control of the land over time. This church at the heart of Scotland has been a rock for the families who have stayed in the area as well as the greater community, and we have an obligation to help restore it.
I want to thank Lesli Foster from WUSA 9 News, a local journalist who was there Monday and has taken a deep dive into the Scotland story. She is pictured above with Paul Tukey of Glenstone, another important partner in this effort. If you have not seen Leslie’s in-depth reporting, The Scotland Story, it is well worth a watch.
I am glad that the County was able to restore the building and protect it from similar flash flooding in the future by placing it on higher ground than the old church. The church’s history and what it represents for so many families are immeasurable. I am glad to see it open to the community again.
Bill 2-25E Veto Override is Bad for the County
I was disappointed by the County Council’s decision to override my veto of Bill 2-25E. I want to thank Councilmembers Will Jawando and Kristin Mink for voting to sustain the veto in order to have more time to develop a better bill. I vetoed this bill because it is a bad deal for the residents of Montgomery County. The bill would waive 100% of property taxes for 20 years on certain office-to-residential conversions. (You can read my veto message here and you can watch the press conference here where I was joined by community leaders in opposing this bill.)
Bill 2-25E hands out taxpayer money to developers for no rational reason and with virtually no additional affordability—just a tiny bump in the number of Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDU) at a great cost. You can see the fiscal impact statement here. As I noted in my veto message, the impact was based on the original bill, but the premise is still accurate—it will cost millions of dollars. It also has no requirements for workforce housing, which the main sponsors have said is essential.
Additionally, they provided no study and no evidence that allowing a 100% exemption from property taxes is needed for these conversions. In fact, these conversions are happening already, without an enormous tax giveaway.
At the press conference, I discussed several already completed conversion projects. I also addressed a provision that makes the tax giveaway retroactive to certain projects currently going through the planning process. I pointed out that those projects were initiated before there was any talk of subsidy—developers had already deemed their projects profitable—no subsidy was needed.
All this bill does is protect an existing owner from having to sell his property at market value to someone else who will make the conversion work. I wish we used these giveaways to keep people housed rather than increasing profits for developers at the expense of the county and its needs.
It was said that this bill was just like a policy in D.C., but it is not. In the District, there is discretion about which projects get the tax abatement, and it’s limited to certain areas of the city. With this plan, all property taxes would be eliminated for 20 years—there is no discretion about whether a project needs the help and no effort to add meaningful affordability.
If we are eager to look to other jurisdictions, let’s look to Northern Virginia, where elected officials supported by the business community asked the then-Governor Bob McDonnell, who was a Republican, to let them impose local taxing authority to fund infrastructure.
They asked for that because they understood that transportation infrastructure was essential to bringing economic development. And they had to have a way to pay for that infrastructure.
And guess what? It worked. They taxed the commercial businesses there, and they had enough money to build the infrastructure they said they’d build. Have you seen Tysons Corner lately? Businesses and development around the metro are booming.
With Bill 2-25, the County gets short-changed. The burden on residents will increase and select property owners will increase their incomes while the County waives tax revenue for 20 years. This is maddening when you consider there’s actual on-the-ground evidence in existing buildings that shows this kind of giveaway is not needed to prompt office-to-housing conversions.
I am disappointed in the Council's action, and I have certainly heard from many residents who feel similarly. While the Council may have the votes to override a veto, that doesn’t make it right. My job is to look out for the long-term health of this County—and I’m going to keep doing that.
First 100 Days of the Trump Administration
During my State of the County speech last week, President Donald Trump was mentioned a few times. It was inevitable, really, after his decisions in his first 100 days prompted cataclysmic change to our local workforce and launched an assault on science, which is no small matter since the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are all based here.
This time seems to be worse than the first Trump administration. The tariff rollout has been a disaster. The scaling back of government has been haphazard, with some employees having to be rehired immediately after being let go. Clearly, no thought or planning was put into strategic downsizing or making things run more efficiently.
There is not a county or city in this nation that has not felt the impacts of this chaos, but we have and will continue to feel it worse than most. Montgomery County experienced more job losses due to the firing of federal government workers in just one of those first 100 days than it did in the last two years combined. Most of the job cuts are within the Department of Health and Human Services and at NIH, but recent protests remind us that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has also been deeply impacted.
Anywhere in the world, NIH is considered the crown jewel of health-related research institutions. I believe the real target of these cuts was the information gathered by scientific studies that deliver answers, which lead to regulations. Businesses don't want to be accountable or regulated because of scientific findings that would naturally trigger regulations. Some examples include research that found cigarette smoke causes cancer or that asbestos destroys your lungs.
We have seen this research prompt foundational changes. If companies can block the discovery of root causes for problems, they prevent regulation, making those corporations more profitable and responsible for more deaths.
The public is starting to notice. Polls analyzing President Trump’s first 100 days in office showed the lowest approval ratings at this point in any presidency in modern history. You must go back to Herbert Hoover to find a more unpopular president after the first three months.
If you missed it on Thursday, May Day was celebrated around the world and in a few places across the U.S. Internationally, it is the same thing we celebrate on Labor Day—the workforce. Here in America, that was discouraged, and so many Americans used May Day to instead protest the first 100 days of the Trump administration. I was proud to stand with students from Richard Montgomery High School who were among the protesters.
The only silver lining that can come from all this is that it prompts a reawakening of civic action. I have been an activist for decades—from the anti-war and civil rights demonstrations on the University of Maryland campus to fighting for renters’ rights in Takoma Park. I know that actions speak louder than words. We must use this anger and frustration over the Trump and Elon Musk-led DOGE efforts to spark change.
Fighting for their “PEERs”
One thing that I will continue to repeat is that these job and department reductions are also a war on science and regulations. That is why I had Tim Whitehouse from PEER, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, on my media briefing this week.
Since its founding, the Silver Spring-based group has provided free legal defense for whistleblowers, empowered anonymous activists and fought for higher environmental ethics and scientific integrity inside government agencies. He said that what they are seeing on the inside is worse than what’s being reported.
Whitehouse told the media that some former employees are ready and willing to speak up about how their careers have been unjustly cut short. Some are in the early stages of their careers, and now they must deal with this effort to inflict trauma on the federal workforce.
There is another reason these cuts may be happening. Whitehouse said there may be an effort underway to privatize some of the work done for decades in the public interest. This would disrupt the balance that has created groundbreaking and important work that has extended life and contributed to a better quality of life for all Americans. We are the city on a hill when it comes to scientific research and medical advancements, and these cuts threaten to ruin all that.
Income Tax Change for Budget
Last week, I wrote the Council withdrawing my proposal for a 3.5-cent property tax increase. Instead, I recommended that we raise the income tax rate from 3.2 to 3.3%. I coupled that proposal with an increase in the Working Families Income Supplement and a $60 increase in the property tax credit. The supplement helps our poorest workers and their families, and the tax credit helps property owners, especially those on a fixed income.
I opted for this change because it was not an option back in March when I proposed the property tax increase. The income tax was capped then, and property taxes were the only way I saw to increase revenue to meet the school district’s large request. We also did not know how the legislature would change our revenue stream back. In the end, the legislature raised the income tax cap from 3.2 to 3.3%, which is a more progressive way to raise revenues than property taxes. As people often remind us, just because your home value goes up, does not mean your income does too.
I know some Councilmembers don’t want to support any tax increases, but we are in a period of real uncertainty. There have been more than 3,600 jobs lost in Montgomery County in 2025 due to layoffs and cuts in federal support. That has increased pressure on the services we provide—everything from education to emergency food assistance. Now is not the time to pull back. Reducing services when residents need them the most would be dangerous, and it would risk our long-term financial stability. We also have to protect our reserves.
You have heard me say it many times here, as well as just last week during the State of the County address—Montgomery County has very reasonable tax rates, lower than many of our neighboring jurisdictions. We have to expect that Trump's tax cuts will help those who are higher-income earners, and Trump's policies, decisions and declining federal services will hurt the poor, the working class and the middle class.
This plan strikes the right balance to keep the County’s budget secure and our services intact for the tough road ahead while helping us best ensure that we maintain our AAA credit rating. It helps us prepare for the future. You can read the most recent memos I sent to the Council on the budget here and here.
Public Safety Awards
On Monday, we held our 50th Annual Public Safety Awards. It was the first time since the pandemic that it had been an in-person event, and it was good to be together to honor some of the best examples of heroism and selflessness in our County over the last year. You can watch the ceremony on YouTube.
I want to thank our partner, the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. They helped us honor outstanding work within the Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County Police Department, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, Park Police and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. Recognition also went to staff of the 911 Emergency Communications Center, the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services.
It was an honor to have Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Rep. Jamie Raskin and Rep. April McClain Delaney stop by to pay tribute to the winners.
The videos honoring some of the recipients taught us so much about what it takes to keep our community safe. We all know that these jobs are a calling and that much is asked of these public servants. Honoring them when they go above and beyond for our community is the right thing to do.
Last weekend, we had an example of how quick actions by police officers helped avert a disaster. It happened when a driver ignored a closed road sign at Frederick and Redland Road, while runners were lining up for the start of the Pikes Peak 10K, a popular local event. The truck continued down the closed road, forcing an officer to jump out of the way. The truck turned again and was headed right for a group of runners getting ready. Another officer in a police car blocked the moving truck and was able to stop it before it reached the runners. No one was injured.
We expect our public safety teams to make these split-second decisions on a routine basis. At a moment’s notice, their bravery may be needed to protect the community and keep disaster at bay.
I am proud of the work done throughout this County to keep the public safe.
Gov. Moore Visits Manna Food
The governor’s visit on Monday also allowed him to check in on the work being done at Manna Food Center in Gaithersburg.
Gov. Moore joined volunteers in preparing donation boxes for the community and local schools. He called those volunteers real-life heroes and on social media, where he posted the picture above, the governor drew a connection to National Superhero Day.
Manna Food is one of many community partners focused on hunger in our community. The pandemic exposed a need that has yet to be filled, and it has only been exacerbated.
Here are some things we know about Montgomery County:
One in every 12 people is estimated to experience food insecurity.
One out of three school students qualify for Free and Reduced meals.
20% of seniors live below the self-sufficiency standard.
Only 26% of adults eat the recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
Through Manna and our community partners, more than 60,000 people were served last fiscal year, and four million pounds of food were distributed. Our Office of Food Systems Resilience has helped facilitate that and make that mission easier by bringing together organizations, listening to their needs and finding solutions to challenges. County grant money launched several programs aimed at getting fresh, healthy foods onto more tables across Montgomery County.
I am proud of the work being done on this front because hunger is a debilitating condition. I saw it first-hand in the classroom many years ago. It should not be one of the challenges our children face in a County like this.
Denim Day Supports Sexual Violence Awareness
On Wednesday, I put on my favorite denim jacket to help support Denim Day.
For the past 24 years, the organization Peace Over Violence has organized this campaign to highlight the sexism inherent in an Italian Supreme Court ruling that overturned a rape conviction because the woman was wearing tight jeans. Their thinking—she must have implied consent by helping to remove her jeans.
The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it.
Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has come to be seen as a symbol of protest, speaking out against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.
I am proud of the work that our Department of Health and Human Services, Montgomery County Police Department, the State’s Attorney Office and the Commission for Women do to raise awareness about sexual violence in our community. I was glad to see so many of our County employees wearing denim in solidarity.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, and it is open 24/7. You can also text START to 88788 to begin a chat. If you are experiencing an emergency, you can call 911 for immediate help or our 24/7 Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 240-777-4357.
Ride On Bus Driver Dies on Duty, Keeping Riders Safe
I want to extend condolences to the family of Ruiz Bell. He was a longtime Ride On bus operator who died Wednesday morning after suffering a heart attack while on the job.
Mr. Bell was behind the wheel of a southbound Route 55 bus when he had a heart attack, and even in that moment, he was thinking about the people around him — bringing the bus to a safe stop and preventing what could have been an even greater tragedy. That kind of calm under pressure tells you a lot about the person he was.
Ruiz had been with the County since 2012 and was a proud MCGEO shop steward. He showed up every day for his job, for his riders and for his coworkers. People knew him for his humor, his kindness and the way he made the workday a little lighter—not because he had to, but because that’s who he was.
He leaves behind his wife and ten children, six girls and four boys. This is a devastating loss for them. They won’t ever again get to see him enjoy a victory by his favorite football team or grill for his family in Gaithersburg. He was just 63 years old.
Along with Ruiz’s wife and his children, his coworkers at the Montgomery County Department of Transportation are also grieving. Everyone who had the privilege of knowing him will certainly feel this loss. I also want to thank the bus riders who tried to help him, this is a traumatic event for them as well. Please keep everyone impacted in your thoughts and remember that this will be a hard time for our entire transit team.
Goodbye, Ida Pearl Green
I want to acknowledge the death of Ida Pearl Green, a beloved community matriarch and one of our African American Living Legends, honored with that title in 2022. Mrs. Green lived an extraordinary 106 years. Over that time, she dedicated herself to her family, her faith and the betterment of our County.
Mrs. Green was also the grandmother of the County’s current Health Officer, Dr. Kisha Davis. I want to send Dr. Davis and her entire family our condolences for their loss. We are all grateful that Ida Pearl had the opportunity to share so many of her stories for videos like this one by Montgomery Community Media.
Despite facing hardship early in life, Mrs. Green remained steadfast in her faith and hope. She was a constant presence in her neighborhood, caring for children, working as an Avon representative, volunteering and uplifting those around her through acts of kindness and compassion.
We are grateful for her unwavering commitment to others, and we honor the indelible impact she made on Montgomery County.
Montgomery County held its 50th Annual Public Safety Awards Breakfast on Monday, April 28. The event, co-sponsored by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and Montgomery County Government, recognized outstanding service across County public safety agencies.
The ceremony honored personnel from the Police Department, Fire and Rescue Service, Sheriff’s Office, Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, 911 Emergency Communications Center, Health and Human Services Mobile Crisis Team, Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and Montgomery County Public Schools.
Notable attendees included Congressman Jamie Raskin, Congresswoman April McLean Delaney, Governor Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, County Executive Marc Elrich, a majority of the County Council, including Council President Kate Stewart, and numerous local/state delegates and business leaders.
The Public Safety Awards Breakfast is the largest regional event of its kind.
Award Recipients and Recognized Actions:
Gold Valor Award
Sergeant Patrick Kepp (Police) — Struck by a driver while on duty, resulting in severe injury and the loss of both legs.
Silver Valor Awards
Lt. Michael Males (Fire & Rescue) — Rescued a trapped resident and two dogs from a burning home without protective equipment.
Officers Jennifer Dougherty and Samantha Hunt (Police) — Evacuated residents from a smoke-filled Clarksburg apartment complex.
Officers Michael Chindblom and Christopher Aversa (Police) — Prevented a suicide attempt on a highway overpass.
Sergeants Christopher Vandenengel and Lambert Tedjio (Corrections) — Helped evacuate inmates during a correctional facility fire.
Bronze Valor Awards
Lieutenants Kenji Konishi and Warren Wallingford (Corrections) — Assisted in the correctional facility fire evacuation.
Sergeant Eddie Alesich (Police) — First to subdue a knife-wielding woman who was chasing a male victim.
Correctional Officers Tony Whitehurst, Paksing Tham, and Zachary Chidlow — Stopped a suicide attempt.
Sergeants Anthony Harris and Jesse Rouzee, Corporals Harry Dunton and Richard Ndoh, and First-Class Correction Officer Kangoswald Palle — Stabilized an inmate experiencing a medical crisis.
More images from the event are on Flickr. The event video is available on YouTube.
In recognition of Homeschool Awareness Month, Montgomery Parks is offering a special lineup of weekly Homeschool Days, designed to educate and inspire students in grades 2–8. Every Friday in May, homeschool families are invited to explore local history, agricultural innovation and environmental science through hands-on activities and interactive experiences at parks across the County.
Each week offers a unique theme and setting, providing families the opportunity to learn in a fun and immersive environment. Programming includes Poetry and Play at a 19th-century historic schoolhouse, a homeschool tailgate day to learn about agricultural history in the County, an event at the historic Harper Cabin about life during the Reconstructionist era and a program at Oakley Cabin about African American heritage.
After a five-year hiatus, the Butterfly Experience at Brookside Gardens is back and on view through September 21, 2025. The display features live butterflies from North America, Costa Rica, Africa and Asia. Hundreds of these enchanting insects will delight and amaze visitors with their intricate patterns and delicate aerial flight paths. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through June 30. A full schedule of exhibit hours is available on the Parks Department website at https://brooksidegardens.ticketsauce.com/e/butterfly. Tickets are available for purchase for a specific date and time. Ages 13+-$14, ages 3-12-$9 and children under three are free. The display is in the South Conservatory House at Brookside Gardens, located at 1500 Glenallen Ave. in Wheaton. Parking is limited at the conservatory, but is also available at the Visitor’s Center at 1800 Glenallen Ave.
