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Last week, I mentioned the marathon video session to review the work we’ve done over the last eight years and why we did it. On Monday morning we did a final hour of filming, and later that day I met with the Office of the County Executive staff.
I found myself making an airtight case before the cameras and in front of my staff that the work we’ve been doing and the progress we’ve been making will continue beyond my time in office. I expressed full confidence, even though I will have no position in the next administration. That reassuring theme kept popping up in my mind throughout the week. Here’s why.
I joined AACPS Superintendent Dr. Bedell at Van Bokkelen Elementary School in the drop-off line as kids were arriving for their first day back at school. Then we visited four classes and heard extraordinarily talented teachers making their first connections and setting expectations with their students.
Van Bokkelen is in the community where we built the magnificent Severn Center, rehabbed the apartments at the Housing Commission’s Meade Village, launched the Man Up violence interruption program, and organized communities through the Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families at the Still Meadows and Pioneer City apartments.
The people of Severn understand that these and many other investments are happening. They know their elected representatives, and they believe that their children at Van Bokkelen have an opportunity to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that has plagued their neighborhoods for too long.
The people of Severn will fight for the future that they have glimpsed. They will fight and they will win. The progress will continue.
Later that day, I spoke at the Community Reinvestment and Repair Commission grant awards ceremony. Thanks to the Maryland General Assembly’s mandate that a cut of revenue from the sale of recreational cannabis be used to fund programs that provide opportunity where the war on drugs did the most harm, we were able to convene a commission and create a grant program that this year distributed $3.3 million to 53 community-based nonprofit organizations.
The gathering was at Club 164, a very inviting social gathering spot just outside Annapolis that serves no alcohol, hosts meetings, and offers child care for patrons.
The audience was mostly leaders from the organizations whose work is being funded. They serve thousands of residents from all across the county, helping families move from a place of crisis to stability and opportunity. They are committed to their work, and they will fight for the future they have glimpsed. They will fight and they will win. The progress will continue.
On Wednesday evening, I spoke at an EngageArundel (a series organized by our CECS team) virtual presentation on the new moderately priced dwelling unit program. The main presenters were the staff from Arundel Community Development Services (ACDS) who will manage the program, and the audience was county residents who are in the market for an affordable place to buy or rent.
The program is the first time in our county that developers of new subdivisions have been required to make some of their units affordable for middle-income folks. It’s 10% of for-sale units and 15% of for-rent units. It’s been done for decades in jurisdictions across the country, and it’s a big deal because rather than asking taxpayers to provide the subsidies, it puts the burden on developers. That’s why it was so hard to get the legislation passed, and when it did, the vote was a narrow 4-3.
Most of my conversations about housing policy are with advocates, opponents, or public servants. This one was with a much larger and potentially more powerful group. They aren’t well organized, but when they come together in large numbers to seek access to programs that are limited in scope, they have the potential to grow that scope. The housing crisis and the programs that we have created in response to it have given thousands of our residents a glimpse of a future worth fighting for. They will fight and they will win. The progress will continue.
It’s an age-old dynamic in political movements. When people experience freedom, they want more; social security and you better not try to take it away; paved roads and you better maintain them. Efforts to turn back the clock on progress tend to fail because people will fight harder to keep what they have than to get things they’ve not had.
That’s why the progress will continue.
Until next week…