Contributor Opinion: Along the Lines of Peace-Making……

Brad’s note about the value of continuing to talk - well, Brad calls it Dialogueing - when things get acrimonious amongst the citizenry, especially when we disagree on heated issues, reminds me of something that one city council candidate reportedly said regarding the trash issue. Piotr Gajewski had a simple yet compelling and insightful comment at Monday night’s Mayor and Council meeting when a proposal for appointing citizens to an advisory board by neighborhoods was vetted. “Let’s not pit neighborhood against neighborhood,” or something to that effect. Guess what? They took is advice!

In my opinion, this guy deserves a close look as we weed out the extraneous chatter of the election-cycle rhetoric and try to determine what kind of person each of these dozen or so candidates is.

You can tell a lot about what a person really stands for from their demonstrated record of past performance. For example, compare the records of two of the city council candidates John Britton and Brigitta Mullican who have both served on the Rockville Planning Commission and had the opportunity to cast votes to approve, deny, or modify many development proposals. These two candidates also deserve a close look as we pick who we want to lead this city into the future.

In a candidates’ forum during the last election, I asked Ms. Mullican if she had ever voted against a developer’s proposal, and she responded “no.” I have seen Mr. Britton, on the other hand, probe, question, and cajole developers into compromising for civic betterment on many occasions, and he has voted against inappropriate development that would detract from Rockville residents’ quality of life.

Editor’s Note: Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central, which takes no position on candidates. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

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