A life-long Democrat, Cheryl Kagan won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1994.  She proudly represented District 17 (Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Garrett Park) in Annapolis, for eight years.  There, she earned a reputation as an independent-minded legislator and was particularly effective in her work on the Appropriations Committee.  This is the very same District she will serve, if elected State Senator.

After eight years in the House, Cheryl chose not to seek reelection.  She continued advancing important issues by serving as the first-ever Executive Director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation.   Under Cheryl’s guidance, the Foundation distributed over $1,000,000 each year to deserving nonprofit organizations primarily in Montgomery County (MD) and Sussex County (DE).  Grants, capacity-building programs, and leadership institutes provided support for worthy organizations working on behalf of the underprivileged, the environment, education, the elderly, and the arts.  Following the untimely death of the Foundation’s Chair, Cheryl coordinated the creation of the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation as well.

Over the years, Cheryl has committed her time and talents as a political and strategic consultant and spokesperson.  Her candidates and causes have been at both the federal and local levels and have included electing progressive Democrats; reducing drug and alcohol dependence; and creating affordable housing for working people.  Most recently, she earned the title of “Professor Kagan” for the course she teaches on State & Local Government at Montgomery College.  For many years, she has been a regular Democratic commentator on CBS TV’s Washington D.C. affiliate and other media outlets.

An active volunteer, Cheryl served eight years on the Maryland State Arts Council and just completed six years as Vice President of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County.  She was appointed by the County Executive to the Charter Review Commission and by the Chancellor to the Board of Advisors of the Universities at Shady Grove.  She currently serves on the boards of the American Jewish Committee and Americans for Democratic Action.  She is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery (Class of 2002) and continues to volunteer with the organization.  Along with her husband, David Spitzer (a career Montgomery County public school teacher), Cheryl is the founder and co-host of “Folk ‘N Great Music,” which brings nationally known acoustic singer-songwriters into an intimate performance setting.  Cheryl’s commitment to supporting the artists has resulted in their series becoming the first unionized house concert venue in the country!

Twice recognized as one of Maryland’s “Top 100 Women,” Cheryl was also selected by Montgomery County’s Business and Professional Women as a “Woman of Achievement” and as both a Blaustein and Comay Fellow by the American Jewish Committee.  The Greater Washington Board of Trade twice recognized her for leadership on behalf of the Intercounty Connector, and The Baltimore Sun named her as one of their “Rising Stars.”

Cheryl has been endorsed by several organizations, including NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland to the Sierra Club, Firefighters, Service Employees, and others  They believe, as I do, that Cheryl will be a more effective champion for the environment, working families, or women’s reproductive choices.

We need a leader, in Annapolis, representing us; Cheryl Kagan is a leader.  These are hard times, for Montgomery County, and the rest of Maryland.  Cheryl will be a champion, for the causes that are important to us, as citizens of Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Garrett Park.  Cheryl’s legislative priorities include: focusing on our fiscal priorities, supporting public education, improving transportation options, promoting public safety, providing affordable housing, protecting our environment, defending reproductive choice, delivering on health care issues, disclosing and limiting campaign finances, and celebrating diversity. These are some of the reasons why so many organizations and people have endorsed Cheryl.  For all of these reasons, and many more, I urge you to vote, for Cheryl Kagan, Democrat for State Senate, representing District 17, which is Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Garrett Park, in the Primary Election, September 14th.  Also, you can learn more about Cheryl, including how to support her to win this election on her website: www.CherylKagan.org.

John Cooper-Martin

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

Please also note that Rockville Central does not endorse candidates in election campaigns. Supporters of all candidates are encouraged to submit opinion pieces for consideration.

Image from RedGate Golf Course

[UPDATE: Art has provided backup for his assertions in this piece; they are here.]

Next week the RedGate Advisory Committee will present its recommendations for improving the financial condition of the golf course. In anticipation of the meeting, I have 10 questions that I would like to ask the Advisory Committee. I believe they are hard, but fair, questions that should be asked of the Committee, which after all, serves primarily as the golfers’s advocacy group. I won’t be able to ask all of them tonight, but I will start tonight and finish up next week. I have already emailed them to the Chairman of the Advisory Committee and to the Mayor and Council.

1. When Rockville agreed to establish the golf course in 1974, golfers promised to pay all of the expenses of the golf course and not saddle taxpayers with any of the cost. In exchange, RedGate would be run like a business that focused on meeting the needs of golfers, without a lot of meddling by taxpayers. Setting RedGate up as a separate Enterprise Fund was essential to carrying out this deal. Through 1999, golfers lived up to their bargain with taxpayers. However, Redgate has run deficits in each of the past 10 years, and taxpayers have been forced to fill the gap. Are today’s golfers willing to live by the original deal struck with taxpayers, and if not, why should taxpayers feel obligated to subsidize golf?
2. RedGate is expected to run a deficit of $674,000 this year, and taxpayers are once again going to have to fill the hole. If you do the math, that works out to a taxpayer subsidy of about $19 for every round of golf played at RedGate. Does the Advisory Committee agree that this is incredibly excessive? How would you define the appropriate level?
3. Redgate is expected to end the current year with a negative balance of about $2.4 million. This figure is more than double the revenue that we expect to collect from golfers for the entire year. The cumulative losses are expected to grow to $5.9 million by the end of FY 2015, which by then will be more than 5 times RedGate’s annual income. My question is this. How and when do you propose to repay taxpayers for this debt?
4. Rockville has operated for several years with a requirement to run a General Fund reserve equal to 15 percent of revenue. At the June 21^st meeting of Mayor and Council, staff testified that incorporating RedGate into the General Fund would immediately reduce the General Fund reserve to 13.6 percent in FY 2011 and reduce it further each year, leaving it at just 2.7 percent in FY 2015. This is a recipe for financial suicide. It would result in the loss of Rockville’s Triple A rating, make it extremely expensive to issue debt, and it would make it very difficult to operate the City budget. In light of this testimony, do you agree with the staff recommendation to keep RedGate as an Enterprise Fund, separate from the General Fund? If not, how do you suggest that Rockville deal with the dangerous drop in the General Fund reserve that would be caused by folding RedGate into the General Fund?
5. When RedGate was created in 1974, it provided Rockville’s middle income golfers with their first opportunity to play quality golf at an affordable price in the local region. Today, there are numerous public golf courses within easy driving distance, including several that are owned by the County. In light of RedGate’s declining customer base and large and growing deficits, wouldn’t Rockville taxpayers be justified, indeed, be smart, to say “let’s end this wasteful duplication of services, close RedGate, and direct golfers to any of the other public course in the area?”
6. The biggest flaw in the 2006 business plan was the assumption that fees would rise by about 5 percent per year. If fees had, in fact, risen by those amounts, RedGate’s revenues would be about $400,000 higher in FY 2011, and we wouldn’t be discussing the need for a new business plan. Instead, fees have stayed flat for five years, and they are likely to remain flat, given the over-saturation of the local golf market. But if fees stay flat, then the only way to eliminate the $924,000 deficit that is projected for FY 2015 is to double the number of rounds of golf played to more than 70,000. However, the number of rounds has not exceeded 50,000 since 2002, and the highest number in the past five years was 41,116 in FY 2008. Doesn’t this mean that under any realistic scenario, the only way that Rockville can continue to operate the golf course is through large and growing taxpayer subsidies?
7. Last year, you vigorously opposed consideration of an option to turn RedGate over to the Revenue Authority without a long list of preconditions. Now, several large golf course operators have expressed interest in operating RedGate. Given the sharp deterioration of RedGates finances, are you now willing to support turning RedGate over to some other management company without strings, or do you continue to insist on preconditions, even if it means that taxpayers would have to continue to pay large subsidies for golfers?
8. The 2006 business plan specified various measures of success, including that RedGate’s budget would return to surplus by 2009. However, it was totally silent about what would happen if these measures were not met and losses continued to rise. When I began in 2008 to point out that RedGate was off-track and the business plan would not succeed, the Chairman of the Advisory Committee advised me that I just needed to give it time to work. Now the flaws are abundantly clear, and we are considering yet another rescue plan for RedGate that, by necessity, would depend on large taxpayer subsidies for several years. My question is this. In exchange for continuation of taxpayer subsidies for a defined period of time, would the Advisory Committee agree to a business plan with hard targets that, if not met, would require closing the golf course?
9. RedGate has been operated by the same manager for many years. Despite his best efforts, deficits have risen, and they are projected to grow as far as the eye can see. Given the results, would the Advisory Committee agree to a new business plan that includes replacing the current manager?
10. Finally, from FY 2011 through FY 2015, taxpayers are going to have to spend about $4.2 million to cover RedGate’s deficits. That’s a lot of money, and there are many other ways to spend that money for the benefit of taxpayers. For example, we could put another 6-7 police officers on the street with that money. We could double our support of caregiver agencies, which certainly would make sense in this recession. We could use it to pay for replacing about 2.5 miles of water lines, instead of borrowing the money, or we could pay for about a third of the cost of converting the old Post Office to a police headquarters. We could actually fund the Mayor’s dream of creating a Rockville Science Center for our kids, which I have to say as a proud father whose daughter left Einstein High School a year early because she was bored, and who just graduated at age 20 with her Masters in Engineering, the Science Center would be the best new investment in kids that Rockville could start. Or, we could just cut the property tax rate and let taxpayers keep the money. My list could go on for an hour. My question is this. Could you tell us why golf should have priority over so many other public services that obviously would provide greater public benefits, and why the golf subsidy shouldn’t be the first thing on the chopping block in the FY 2012 budget?

Art Stigile

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

Photo by Dskco

Dskco dined at Spice Xing and everything was good. This is so true. I’ve found every bite to be absolutely delicious. Here’s the beginning of her review on Lunching In The DMV:

Friday was date night with the bf, and before watching The Karate Kid (good flick BTW) we had Indian food at Spice Xing. The restaurant was on Washingtonian’s Top 100 Cheap Eats list, so I wanted to try it. We haven’t had Indian food in a while anyway. I kept pronouncing it like “Spice Sing” but the bf corrected me, and it’s “Spice Crossing” haha.

I have to agree about the Karate Kid movie, which I enjoyed. Dskco thinks the nan was the best she’s ever had. Read her full review. She captures the earthy elegance of the restaurant with all her pictures.

Lunching in the DMV is a local Rockville blog reviewing restaurants throughout the metro DC area. Whenever she writes about a restaurant in Rockville, we post a link to her article. She stops by all those places you wonder about to let you know whether you should. We’re happy to share her experiences with our readers.

I wanted to take this opportunity to respond to your Opinion piece on the Rockville Central website. My name is Dan D’Agostino and along with my wife, Jenny, are the owners of the Go Ape treetop adventure course at Lake Needwood Park. While working on temporary assignments in London, UK, my wife and I came across the Go Ape experience. Go Ape has been in business since 2002 in the UK and is known for providing a safe and enjoyable outdoors experience for park visitors across the country there. My wife and I thought that their mission in getting more people into the outdoors and away from their computer screens was a good one and we developed a partnership with the founders of the company to bring the concept back home to Montgomery County where I was raised.

I began working with Montgomery County Parks Officials in March of 2009 to bring the Go Ape experience to an appropriate location within the county. After a comprehensive search for an appropriate location that fit with the Park’s recreational goals and an area that was not environmentally sensitive, the location that we now occupy at Lake Needwood was selected. From there, multiple community meetings were held, surrounding neighbors were informed and the Mid County Recreational Advisory Board was briefed. None of these groups or officials had serious concerns regarding the proposal and Montgomery County Parks allowed me to brief the Montgomery County Planning Board in December of 2009. The Planning Board agreed with Montgomery County Parks that Go Ape would encourage kids and adults alike to get into the outdoors and visit Lake Needwood, provide well rewarding jobs for local residents (9 of our 12 employees live in Montgomery County) and provide a new revenue stream for the Parks in these difficult economic times. Thus, a Public Private Partnership was formed with the County receiving a revenue share from Go Ape and a new activity for its park users.

The course was built during March and April and was opened to the public on May 8th, 2010. In working with Montgomery County Parks, they wanted to ensure that the forest was not inappropriately damaged in any way. In keeping with Go Ape’s high environmental standards, the course was built without bringing any machinery into the forest. No full grown canopy trees were felled in the process and Go Ape spent several tens of thousands of dollars to deadwood the forest (remove dead limbs and dead trees) to make the woods safe for any Go Ape or non-Go Ape visit to the trails. Furthermore, the course was built in a manner that we do not harm the growth of the trees and independent arborists have inspected these trees to ensure their health and will do so annually. Our company goal is to increase the bio-diversity of the area of the forest that we occupy and we will be working with Montgomery County Parks to remove non-native invasive species within our area of the park. The maple tree that you have photographed is a gorgeous tree and we have taken care not to impact the roots around the tree or affect it’s drip line. It is our hope that you and others will be encouraged to visit the park and take photos of this tree and others at Lake Needwood for many many years to come.

Since our opening, almost 2,500 visitors have enjoyed Go Ape at Rock Creek, Lake Needwood. This is roughly 56 daily visitors to the park and is in line with our projections to the Montgomery County Planning Board. Our visitors are usually families or groups of friends occupying on average of 3 people to a car. Thus, our parking and traffic impact is approximately 19 additional cars traveling through the park per day. Furthermore, we only allow 14 people to enter the course (at most) every 30 minutes to an hour, keeping additional parking and traffic to a minimum.

My wife and I think it is extremely important to run a business that is in touch with the local community, (especially since we live 2 miles away from Lake Needwood) and I would encourage you and any other Rockville Central readers to contact me at dan@goape.com and/or visit us at www.goape.com. I would be happy to show you around the course and provide further insight as to how the activity came to fruition at Lake Needwood. I am confident that you will see an operation that provides minimal impact on the park and you will see that our visitors do make noise. However, the noise that our visitors make is usually the sounds of families laughing together or friends sharing in on the excitement of a new and adventurous outdoor activity, sounds very similar to those heard at the picnic areas, boat house or volleyball court.

Once again, please feel free to email me at dan@goape.com with any questions or comments that you may have. I will respond as quickly as I can. Enjoy your summer and I hope to see all Rockville Central readers in the trees soon.

by Dan D’Agostino
Go Ape

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

and

Oh it’s still there. But it’s not in the middle of a beautiful field anymore.

You see, I went to Lake Needwood yesterday and was surprised and disappointed to see that an “adventure ropes course” is being built in the woods adjacent to this field. A giant wood platform 10 feet off the ground is being constructed right next to this tree. It looks like the platform is going to be the end of a “Zip Line” that people will ride down from the forest.

I wonder who decided that Lake Needwood should be an amusement park? There will now be tons of cars, tons of screaming kids and adults as they climb and zip all over this course. I bet you’ll even be able to hear the noise while down at the lake.

Doing a web search I see that the course is called “Go Ape”.

Now … to be honest … my family and I did something like this north of Quebec a few years ago. Yes it was fun. But it was at a ski resort. A place paved with hotels and restaurants. An already loud and crowded place. Not a scenic slice of suburbia by any stretch of the imagination.

I just think it’s too bad that they’ve decided to construct this amusement park kind of “ride” in our park.

JB Haber

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

I command the Mayor and Council Vision 2020 to your attention!!!

At its June 21, 2010 meeting, the Rockville City Council unanimously passed a vision of how the Council imagines Rockville in year 2020. The document is used to guide the City staff in its work of managing the City and in assisting the City Council as it adopts policies that reach for the articulated city vision.

In recent weeks the Council has been contentious on a number of issues. Mayor Marcuccio and Councilmember Newton have staked out minority positions, voting against the budgeting principles on which the FY 11 budget is based and against the renewal of the contract of the City Manager Scott Ullery. For her part, the Mayor also recently cast the sole vote against renewing the City’s contract with Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI). But just when only a week earlier it seemed that the Council was heading for another 3-2 split, after much discussion and many edits, consensus on the city vision was achieved.

The following is the last paragraph of the preamble:

“The vision builds on the following seven themes: Strong and Distinctive Neighborhoods; Urban Sensitivity; Engaged Governance; Business Friendly; Multimodal Transportation; Exceptional City Services and Amenities; and Quality Environment. These themes have equal importance and Mayor and Council view them as mutually compatible. Budget priorities are explicitly not part of the vision; these are best addressed in the normal budget process.”

Many will find fault with one or another aspect of this vision, but it is my sincere hope that many will also find in the vision a direction that they can embrace. The city vision document is a must-read for all who engage in Rockville civic affairs. It can be found here: http://www.rockvillemd.gov/government/mc/vision.htm.

Piotr Gajewski

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

Brigitta Mullican has commented a few times on Rockville Central about the need to respect the office of Mayor (as well as that of Council member) — sentiments with which I agree wholeheartedly. As the ceremonial head of the City, the Mayor represents Rockville.

Mayor Marcuccio has been quoted as thinking it is worth considering whether we might want to change the way we approach the offices of Mayor, Councilmember, and City Manager. I think that is a reasonable discussion to have. Rockville is growing and is projected to grow yet more (as Mayor Marcuccio’s State of the City address made plain). How best should we govern ourselves?

I do think it is worth noting that Councilmember Piotr Gajewski floated the idea of a “strong mayor” form of government back in February 2008, at his first town hall meeting. Here’s the relevant part of my recap of that meeting:

Council Member Gajewski seemed to surprise many in the room when he asked what they thought of the idea of switching to a “strong mayor” form of government. “In the current model,” he said, “accountability goes out the door.” With a strong executive, who is elected and has control, someone is accountable in a way a group of elected officials is not.

A few citizens said that the problem was not the form of government, but the quality of oversight that the council is currently exercising over staff. More than one citizen said they felt as if council members were “led” by staff, and not given enough options. (One participant pointed out that the council is indeed given three or more options for most issues, and that they are free to follow or reject advice of staff.)

Mark Pierzchala, who had been silent for the whole meeting, spoke up. “We just had a city election,” he said. “We had eight candidate forums. Tens of thousands of doors were knocked on. Not once did the form of government for the City come up. Now, with the election over with, the subject comes up. I am not necessarily opposed, but I think that a campaign is the right time to begin raising those questions. Now is not the time.” [Note: Councilmember Pierzchala had not been elected to council at this time, nor was he running yet. He had recently run for mayor.]

Gajewski disagreed, saying, “I think during the campaign, you are running within the system,” so it is difficult to campaign on changes one would make to the system.

The issue goes beyond individual personalities. I believe it is worth having a debate — a public debate — about whether the City has grown to the point where we should shift from a council-manager form of government, as we now have, to a mayor-council form of government, as some have proposed.

Most mid-size cities in the United States use a version of Rockville’s council-manager approach to governance. (Rockville is a mid-size city.) In this form of government, the City Manager is the chief executive and is responsible for all facets of City administration. The Mayor and Council are responsible for passing and enforce ordinances; appointing the City Manager, City Clerk, and City Attorney; adopting a budget, levying taxes, and borrowing money.

Most large cities in the United States use a “strong mayor” version of the mayor-council form of government. In this form of government, “the elected mayor is given almost total administrative authority and a clear, wide range of political independence, with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads without council approval and little, or no public input. In this system, the strong-mayor prepares and administers the city budget, although that budget often must be approved by the council.” (That’s from Wikipedia.)

My opinion is that the City has not yet grown sufficiently to merit a strong mayor form of government, nor is it anticipated to do grow large enough anytime soon.

Such a form of government would bring with it the need to dramatically increase the compensation of the Mayor and Council, as these would become just about full-time jobs. (For an example, consider Montgomery County.) I don’t see the political will for that in town.

However, it is a good debate to have and there are good arguments in favor. Councilmember Gajewski made a good one (having a strong mayor increases political accountability) but surely there are other good arguments too. (On the other hand, there are good arguments against: Abuses under strong-mayor governments led to the development of the council-manager form.)

What do you think?

At Mayor and Council meeting of June 7, 2010, the Gazette claimed that Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio stated she was “the city leader and de facto chief executive” of the City of Rockville. I didn’t hear that on the broadcast, but confusion over the roles of board and staff isn’t unusual. I’ve served on boards, for boards, and with boards and one of the most common areas of friction and frustration is the role of the board and staff in an organization. It’s made even more confusing because of the various interchangeable titles used by those at the top (e.g., president, chair, chief executive, mayor). Rockville’s Mayor was initially called a President.

Firstly, every organization is different so it’s crucial to understand the rules under which they operate. For the City of Rockville, it’s the City Charter and the City Code. You can’t assume that what happens in New York or Baltimore or Kensington is the same as Rockville. In Rockville, the primary powers of the Council are to pass and enforce ordinances; appoint the City Manager, City Clerk, and City Attorney; and adopt a budget, levy taxes, and borrow money. The primary powers of the City Manager are to hire staff; prepare and manage the budget; purchase equipment and supplies; and lead the administrative branch of the City. Indeed, Chapter 2, Article 2 of the City Code states that, “The City Manager shall be the executive officer and head of the administrative branch of the City.”

Secondly, don’t make assumptions about titles. Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II share the same titles and names, but boy, they have very different powers. QE I could raise an army and declare war on Spain. QE II must leave that decision to Parliament. Likewise, the Mayor of New York and the Mayor of Rockville have vastly different powers and responsibilities. Although the Mayor is elected separately in Rockville, he or she has exactly the same powers as other members of Council. The only distinctions provided by law is that the Mayor presides over the Council meeting, receives more pay than the Council, and appoints board and commission members—that’s it. Over the years, the City has provided a reserved parking spot, an office, and other benefits for the Mayor, but they’re optional. The Rockville Mayor doesn’t have his or her own budget, can’t hire and fire staff, can’t purchase equipment and supplies, and can’t veto Council decisions.

So, Rockville’s Mayor is not the chief executive and she’s not the city leader. The current Charter identifies every member of Council as a city leader and that the City Manager is the chief executive.

Max van Balgooy

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

For awhile I’ve contemplated buying or borrowing a video camera, and then just standing at any given intersection and recording the red-light runners, for my own sense of futile revenge if for nothing else. And I admit that I have harbored fantasies about uploading some of the more egregious cases to YouTube, particularly the ones where it’s law enforcement that’s breaking the law.

So, imagine my horror when I ran across an article on Gizmodo, and then started Googling further on it and discovered that is now apparently ILLEGAL to record law enforcement in public in the state of Maryland. Now, I always knew that it was illegal in this state to surreptitiously record a second party without disclosure, but I didn’t realize the broad application to that law meant that it is also illegal to record a second party with full disclosure of the act of recording. In an era where 99 percent of citizens carry a cell phone with an attached digital camera, where most phone interactions are preceded with “this call is being monitored for quality purposes”, where the average person is recorded dozens of times a day with implied consent out in public, and where municipalities rely on red light cameras for both traffic enforcement and revenue generation, the lines have become too blurred to define “consent” in these archaic laws.

It’s time for citizens to start demanding a lot more of our government, including re-defining the current laws about recording citizen/law-enforcement interactions. We should demand of political candidates that they disclose how they intend to legislate on these matters, and we should demand much more transparency of law enforcement, so that citizens do not feel that their only recourse against potential police corruption is to record the interactions. The police are already recording us via web dash cams, and the public should have equal rights to do the same.

Are Cameras the New Guns?

Debate Sparks Over Video Recording Of Arrests

Maryland Wiretapping Law Needs an Update

By Temperance Blalock

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

When it began, I had very, very narrow expectations. I wanted to recreate some of the good feelings I describe in this article. And — more important — I wanted to try to provide a space for people to enter public life. I hoped that people beyond the “usual suspects” would step forward, begin to engage with others, and find their voice.

I reached out to some friends to see if they would join me, and immediately Cindy Cotte Griffiths stepped forward. We have been partners ever since, watching Rockville Central grow, making decisions together, backstopping each other when we get tired, and learning.

Cindy’s first suggestion was to expand the “coverage area” from just our little neighborhood to include all of Rockville. That was an excellent suggestion and ever since we have tried our best to give voice to all of Rockville — north, south, east, and west.

We don’t focus too hard on our traffic numbers, though we are happy to see that they have steadily increased and we are among the top five local blogs in Maryland. We have other metrics that we watch: Are new folks getting involved? What kinds of dialogues do we see in the comments on various articles? What kind of tone do people display? All of these measures have exceeded our wildest expectations.

There was one one metric that we had hoped would begin to show movement earlier. We were very hopeful that other people would begin their own Rockville-based blogs. For one thing, the competition is always good (it keeps everyone at the top of their game), but even more important it is a measure of increased civic engagement. More people starting Rockville blogs means more people stepping forward.

Over the last year, we have been delighted to begin to see this measure, too, begin to show promise. Look at the sidebar (“friends and other links”) and you will see a selection of the new blogs that have started — from Max van Balgooy’s Max For Rockville, to CityTalk by the Rockville city manager’s office, to The Rockvillager.

Welcome all! We are glad you are all taking part in the digital commons.

As the Rockville “blogosphere” matures, we sense that Rockville Central will need to change to make sure we are fulfilling the best role we can. We feel a special obligation to set a fair, transparent tone — because that is what we value in this city. We feel we must continue to do our best to give voice to all of Rockville — because nothing less will do. We feel must continue to experiment with new ways of doing things — because therein lies progress.

Over the next few months, as we look at how we can be of most use to our fellow residents, we plan to roll out a few new ideas, try a few things, and see where it takes us. We’ll try to augment what works, and improve the things that could be better. We can’t wait to see what happens!

But, for now, on our third birthday, we just wanted to say thank you to all the readers who have stuck by us all this time — and thank you to all the readers who have just found us.

You are all welcome here, you are all our neighbors.

Thank you.