The Activist - Montgomery County, Maryland & Beyond

Bill Conway - Candidate, County Council, At-Large


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Hear Bill's Views Regarding:

 

AGRICULTURAL RESERVE

  • Environmental / Preservation of Green Space
  • Ensure Reserve Remains a Reserve
  • Should Other Businesses Be Able to Operate in the Ag Reserve?
  • Staple agriculture is dominant; But a locavore movement is growing
  • On Zoning to Build a Residence
  • Designation of Rural / Rustic Roads (Some farmers would like to expand to accommodate farm equipment more easily)

 

TRANSFERABLE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS

  • TDRs - a way to compensate upcountry land owners for lost land value since they can’t develop

 

BIO

  • From Louisiana
  • Law School
  • Worked at DC Law Firm (Doing Federal Regulatory Work)
  • Worked at Senate Energy Committee
  • Entrepreneur - Electricity Space
  • Partner at Law Firm - Electricity Work / Wind & Solar Work

 

FINANCING OF CAMPAIGN

  • Not restricting any sources of funds
  • Approximately four developer contributions from 700 contributions
  • Since contributions are from individuals, all contributions should be accepted
  • A lot of contributions from environmental groups

 

CLIMATE

  • We are seeing the results of climate change
  • A test of the species
  • Requires collective action we’ve never seen in human civilization
  • Localities / States need to move since federal government is scaling back
  • A carbon tax is most efficient way to get the effects we need (needs to happen at the federal level)

 

COUNTY CLIMATE EMERGENCY RESOLUTION

  • Supports a climate mobilization emergency office
  • Need programs for retrofitting buildings
  • Individuals need to step up

 

ELECTRICITY SYSTEM

  • Need storage in the system to accommodate solar / wind

 

ADDRESSING THE SCHOOL BUS FLEET EMISSIONS

 

DICKERSON INCINERATOR / POWER PLANT

  • Close the Incinerator
  • More neutral on power plant (Burning gas, not coal)

 

THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING TO Zero WASTE

 

PRIORITIES:

  • Jobs
  • Transportation
  • Schools

 

JOBS ARE TRANSCENDENTLY IMPORTANT

  • Aging population
  • Needy population is growing
  • Structural Imbalance
  • Only way to keep helping residents in need is to grow revenues (new jobs / business)
  • Property taxes are too high
  • Need to market the county
  • Be welcoming to business
  • Streamline regulatory processes
    • Need lots of small changes to change business environment
  • Need to attract younger population
  • Play to strengths: sciences - biotech, NIST, NIH
  • Support universities and vocational tech careers

 

GOOD JOBS FIRST OUTLOOK ON TAX SUBSIDIES FOR CORPORATIONS

  • Better to focus on small / medium businesses, not the big corporate whale

 

CULTURE OF EVIDENCE / CLIMATE OF CIVILITY

 

ACHIEVEMENT GAP

 

  • Fix is to have universal pre-care
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The Activist - Montgomery County, Maryland & BeyondBy the ACTIVIST - by Jon Foreman

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