Cary Lamari is running for the Montgomery County Council District 5 to work on your behalf to carry out initiatives and improve the effectiveness of government. Support initiatives to deal with climate change, educational opportunities, fight for public safety for our friends, neighbors but especially for our families. To preserve and create affordable housing, improve transportation, and bring good jobs for our residents. Your contribution is critical to supporting our vision and to give you back your voice in government. Thank You

 

 

Democrat for Montgomery County Council District 5

I am told residents are not able to participate in government. People feel they do not have a seat at the table. Our residents should be able to have a voice in decision-making and I will make sure you are included. Time for change.

  Schools:

  • Inequity in schools: Burtonsville Elementary School needs to be rebuilt. In the short term parents are advocating for an addition to their school that has been delayed for 2 years. The road to the school needs to be paved. They need resources for parking attendants to address student drop-off and pick up but to be equitable this community should have a new school.

  • Students across our County need for normalcy to have an environment for learning.

  • Student safety, MCPS needs to develop a comprehensive plan to protect our students, working with our Police and professional mental health counselors.

  • Parents need to be considered Stakeholders in there children's education. There must be more collaboration between Teaching and Parents so our Children  may excel.

  • The Pandemic has had harsh impacts on our children's education. We need to push programs like Tutoring On Demand to it's limits so our kids may catch up to grade level and beyond.

 

  Environment

 

  • Lot to lot Flooding, we should protect families from impervious run off for both quantity and quality . Prevent flash floods.

  • Loss of Urban and Suburban Tree Canopy: Trees absorb water, help reduce impervious run off and reduce the heat island effect. Trees also absorb CO2 and provide oxygen. 

  •  Increased carbon emissions which will lead to potential adverse health effects. We have to protect our future generation

 

  Thrive Montgomery 2050:

  •  Thrive was developed in the depth of a pandemic while residents were home protecting their families. The Planning Board hid behind this  pandemic working with developers, lobbyists and property owners to promote un-controlled growth which will cause harm to the public. Thrive 2050 essentially is a hollow document with little to no guard rails in the way of the environment. transportation, future job growth strategies and will cause significant increases to taxes.

  •   Up zoning “By Right” as recommended in the Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) created and proposed alongside Thrive 2050 will have the potential to  displace residents while also encouraging gentrification. And higher taxes.

  •  Thrive does not promote sufficient affordable housing options to accommodate the 200,000 new residents in the next 30 years, over 75% will be in need of affordable housing options.

  •  Community Land Trusts: I support new and creative ways to create affordable housing.                                                                                 

  Economy

  • Montgomery County is responsible for 38% of all existing jobs lost for the State of Maryland.

  • For the past decade new housing has grown at .66% yet new jobs has only hovered at .24%. This is unacceptable and unsustainable and we must encourage new employers to come to Montgomery County.

  • I plan on promoting and working with the business community to bring new employers to our county I plan to targeting Viva White Oak. And the route 29 corridor. We need opportunity and new buildings for education, vocational training and also new jobs. We must attempt to meet our housing demands with balanced job growth to meet the needs of an expanding budget and population while also provide people and families with needed public safety and a high quality of life

Public Safety

  • We are asking our police to do more with less and without the tools and support they need in the area of mental health professionals.

  • Our police are in need of help from the public. Today we have 1,271 police officers which equates to 1.3 Officers for every 1000 residents. This is significantly lower than the average 2.8 officers per capita reported for counties, or 2.5 officers per capita reported in suburban areas nationwide.

  • Homicides increased in 2021 by 88%, carjacking increased over 72%, commercial burglaries by 10% in 2020, and auto thefts by 29%.

  • Montgomery County has the lowest salaries for new recruits in the DMV.

  • Our recruitment is down from over 120 cadets completed training in the mid 2000s and today we have 700 people which applied and only 18 cadets who complete training.

  • We do not have enough mental health professional in our Crisis Intervention team and our police are short in resources to address these critical matters.

  • The morale of our police is at an all time low with larger retirement at younger ages, we need to rebuild trust and respect for our police given the new political environment.

  • We also need more resident participation with Chief Jones and our newly formed Police advisory board.

  • Our County Council should provide support for new initiatives such as the Multi-Stakeholder collaboration which Chief Jones is sponsoring.

  • We need to push our MCPD and the Montgomery County Board of Education to find common ground on the COE (Community Engagement Officers) And make sure there is adequate mental health support.

Update: MCPD and MCPS Memorandum of Understanding.

 

 

 

2009 endorsement from former Council member Blair Ewing a good friend and great man

 

 

 

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Paid for by Cary Lamari for County Council, Rocky Lopes, Treasurer
Last updated: 05/11/22.  carylamari@carylamari.net