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Living Wage and
Expanded Access to Health Care
TOGETHER, we can make a DIFFERENCE!
Currently, members of the appointed school board live outside of
the beltway and we have been fortunate to have such a stellar and dedicated
group of persons appointed to this Board.
Although, we have had such a fortunate group working for us, there are
no guarantees that future appointments will result in such dedication. Therefore, I would strongly support and
advocate for the people of this district to have the right to elect the person
that will represent them on educational standards and matters in the district.
Quality education is a must for the future of our children and
this county. It is important that
parents be able to contact their school board representative and to expect that
representative to consult with them on the education of their children.
If quality education is to take place within out district then schools
cannot continue to be overcrowded.
Teachers are burdened with too large class size, often no books, and
frequently no parental support. These
things must change. Teachers must have
the support of parents, and so must our children. Our children must have books that they can
take home and have their parents and other support systems to work with them on
their homework. After school programs
and summer school must be a part of the education process to ensure learning.
Students must respect their teachers and administrators, so that
teachers and administrators can do the jobs for which they were hired.
I believe that we should go back to basics, teachers teaching,
parents parenting, students learning, and government making available the needed
resources for the best possible education of our children.
As your county council representative will with the school board
to put into place those structures, processes and support systems that will
ensure quality education of our children; an environment where teachers can
teach; a quality education program for our children; and a safe and healthy
environment for our administrators and staff.
Affordable Housing
The cost of housing in our district is skyrocketing. As a member
of the County Council, I would develop ways to ensure that working families,
life-long residents, and new residents can continue to rent and own property in
District 2. To that end, I would support initiatives that:
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Look to other jurisdictions to
see how they have addressed the issue of affordable housing, and seek
partnerships and funding sources to make affordable housing a reality in our
district.
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Develop
programs that reinvest in our older
communities to increase the quality of life and create healthy neighborhoods
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Work with citizens, developers,
County elected officials, Municipal governments, and others to create a diverse
range of housing types and adopt mandatory dedication of affordable units when
new housing occurs.
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Set specific/targeted goals for
low and moderate income. This would include targeting the establishment of
zones and fee structures that would support affordable housing
initiatives. For example, fee-waiver
could be given to a non-profit or for-profit organization that builds housing
projects to serve low and moderate income people within the community, like the
model set by Habitat for Humanity.
§
Create an atmosphere within the
community and business community through incentives for regional cooperation on
developing affordable housing.
- Work with the various jurisdictions to implement policies and
practices that would revitalize the district and benefit existing
residents, i.e., prevent their need to move out of their neighborhoods to
find housing, appropriate amenities, and other essentials to ensure their
quality of life.
- Seek to provide scattered affordable housing units throughout the
district by seeking to have affordable housing in mixed-income
neighborhoods.
- Create an environment that would reduce regulatory barriers such as
over inspections, setback requirements, design standards, and other
similar requirements so that the cost of affordable housing would be
lowered.
Living
Wage and Expanded Access to Health Care
Access to quality, affordable health care
is a growing problem in the nation and in our County. We have 90,000 uninsured
residents in our County. While I believe that ultimately something needs to be
done at the Federal level to deal with these important issues, I do not think
County government should sit idly by and wait.
I support developing policies at the
County level that would increase the minimum wage to a living wage and expand
health care access to more County residents, for example linking economic
development subsidies to living wages and health care. This means that the
County would encourage or require businesses receiving any county subsidies to
provide their employees with a living wage that also include health care
benefits or be willing to pay into a health care pool that would provide health
care to their employees. Furthermore, preferential contracting procedures would
give businesses that offer affordable health care coverage preference in
contracting decisions.
Finally, employment is critical to all ethnic groups in District
2. It is also critical that the County
become a leader in making sure that its residents are paid a living wage. With a living wage, residents can pay their
rent, buy their medications, purchase food, and provide or get needed
transportation. Many of our residents
currently work, but are paid sub-standard wages while those we work for enjoy
the fruits of our labor.
In order to make living wage a reality, I
would support initiatives that would encourage or require subsidized businesses
in our County to pay a living wage to their employees. I support increasing the minimum wage to a
livable standard.
I believe that wage parity should exist
in the work place for all workers, and that government has a responsibility to
ensure that fair and equitable wage should be paid for the work performed; that
each job is valuable and contributes to the betterment of our society; that a
person should not be judged by the job he/she holds or the color of his/her
skin or his/her sex or sexual preference, religion or political
affiliation.
I support county legislation that:
Enforce the full range of labor legislation, including the right to organize unions and protection of unionized
workers from retaliation.
Support anti-discrimination measures,
including pay equity laws that would raise the wages of minorities and reduce
the poverty of our poorest families--those headed by women.
Push for corporate accountability--
to the communities in which they are located and to their employees and
including acceptance of their fair share of taxes.
Seniors
We must not forget our uninsured seniors.
Over 15,000 residents in our County over the age of 65 are uninsured. Right
here in our District, we have several senior service models that offer a
variety of health services; these include community recreation centers with
senior citizen clubs and senior community centers. I would support enhancing
these centers by expanding the hours of operation, providing additional
staffing, and creating mechanisms that would provide extended medical services,
i.e. podiatry and chiropractic services, through existing providers.
Additionally, health services at these centers need to be heavily marketed so that
uninsured seniors in our District know where to obtain affordable,
quality health care.
Dependent/Child
Care
Affordable, safe, and quality child care
is an urgent need in the District and the County. Many single parents and young families must
choose between going to work and staying home to raise their families. Newborn child care to a year, which is often need after family leave has expired is about $180 per
week. Parents generally pay between $85 and
$120 per week for children 2 and over.
Couple child care with the high cost of rent, and most young families
are barely making it.
I support programs, services, and
policies at all levels of government and through employers to expand the supply
of affordable, safe, and quality child-care for single parents and young
parents who are in need of such services in order to work and /or enter the job
market.
Quality child care for pre-school and
school-age children and children with special needs by serving as a catalysts
in our district in the design and management of various child-care options,
caregivers training and support for educational resources, education about
available child-care programs and available assistance.
I would also work to link policy makers
with those who provide child care services to ensure that policies are
congruent with the needs of the caregivers, parents and employers.
Furthermore, I would support the
assignment of child-care programs in county facilities on a user-fee sliding scale
basis, where need is demonstrated.
Nearly every MNCPPC community recreation center and newer community
schools have child-care programs. I
would continue to encourage entrepreneurs to open child care facilities, and
work with them to make sure that their centers are safe, and provide quality
care, while remaining affordable to those who need them most.
Elder
Care
With respect to elder care, I support
Quality elder care programs should
include recreation, comprehensive
assessment of clients’ needs, referrals to specialized professionals as needed,
and ongoing care management for the delivery of needed services. Sufficient staff and resources should be in
place to accommodate this growing population, and such sites should be easily
assessable. In addition, services should
be connected to the County’s health care system and widely publicized and
marketed as an alternative to emergency room care.
Transportation
As a resident
of this County, it is important to have good public transportation that can get
us to our homes, our jobs, and other outlets, in a fast and reliable manner.
I support
regional transportation systems that will increase public access to better
transit services. These include the
Inner Purple Line which would connect Bethesda, Silver Spring, Langley Park, College Park and New
Carrollton; improve public bus systems
to provide more timely and reliable service; encourage local residents to
develop local transit system for the local areas, e.g., small passenger van
services; implement a call-a-bus service for seniors and others in the
community that would be available by appointment for doctor visits, grocery
shopping and other similar activities.
The decision
about the
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