Who should represent District 6 in Prince George’s County?

As I noted in my last blog, I would have no chance because I have no mooned interests behind me. Arthir Turner who did run on his record of 20 years of community collaboration, service and work, also has no monied interests behind him. Arthur Turner's record speaks for itself, but a record of service is not enough it would seem. And woe is to the candidate who actually has specific ideas that can be debated and discussed..

	The current favorite		ARTHUR TURNER
Davis	Title I Program Family and Parent Involvement Coordinator for Prince George's County Public Schools		1. Coalition of Central Prince George's County Community Org. – President
Davis	The ARC of Prince George's		2. Towns of Kettering Home Owners Association – President
Davis	Prince George's County NAACP		3. United Communities Against Poverty (UCAP) – Chair of Board
Davis	Chaired, Freddie Mac Early Childhood Grant Fund for the Prince George's Community Foundation		4. Prince George's County Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee -Former Chair (3 Terms)
Davis	Elected to the Prince George's County Democratic Democratic Central Committee in the 25th District		5. Prince George's County Chamber of Commerce Quality of Life Committee – Former Chair
Davis	Appointed to Park & Planning Commissions Airports Advisory Committee		6. Elected Vice-Chair to the Prince George's County Democratic Central Committee (25th Legislative District)
Davis	Appointed to the 2000 Prince George's County Charter Review Commission		7. Board of Directors Prince George's County Library Foundation – Member
Davis	Appointed by the Governor in 2007 to the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) Board of Trustees, Derrick was elected Chairman of the Board in December		8. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA – Blue Line Extension Advisory Group Committee) – Member
			9. Largo-Lottsford Area Sector Plan—Planning Advisory Group – Member
			10. PEPCO Community Advisory Group (CAG) – Member
			11. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA – Transit Oriented Development Advisory Committee) – Member
			12. Prince George's County Citizens Police Academy – Graduate
			13. Andrews Air force Base Honorary Commander
			14. Leadership Prince George's-Graduate
			15. Volunteer of the Year." Awarded by the Maryland Community Action Partnership/Maryland Head Start Association
			16. "Bridge Builders Award." Presented by The Prince George's Community Foundation
			17. Appointed Prince George's County Liquor Inspector.
			18. Spent hundreds of hours meeting with developers, their attorneys, and the MNCPPC to negotiate for the options we want
			19. Leading voice for upscale retail and quality, white tablecloth restaurants, fighting long and hard for the shopping and dining experiences
			20. Worked for the opening of Arena Drive-Beltway Exit 16 24 hours a day
			22. Leading advocate for better customer service at our existing restaurants and retail stores
			23. Reached a landmark agreement with the developer of the new Capital Heights Shopping Center. The developer agreed to our demands that no fast-food restaurants
			24. For over a decade a leading voice calling for Prince George's County to diversify our economy by focusing on federal and state government agencies and attracting them here
			25. Convened a hearing of the Maryland Board of Public Works to discus moving the Department of Planning to Prince George's County
			26. Over 70 links to articles that chronicle thousands of hours that 27/ Arthur has invested as an unpaid volunteer
			27. Community involvement and activism was featured in the Prince George's Suite magazine
			28. Long-time advocate and supporter of the Kettering Largo Mitchellville Boys and Girls Club
			29. Arthur acted and led a community-based group that was successful in its fight to keep the Forestville State Police barracks open

Prince George’s County Maryland, District 6 and the Future

    Just back from a technical mission to Cameroon, I am stunned, dismayed, embarrassed, outraged and concerned about my county, Prince George's and my district 6. Is it time now to elect citizens with no connection to outside money and powerful interests? Have we had enough as the butt of joke and snide comments about our ability to get things done? Can we find away to elect community leaders who are not out to enrich themselves or their powerful supporters, but who are ready to work for the benefit of the common good? The answer I am afraid is that we will have learned nothing, and we shall elect to the council yet another person beholden to money and power.
    What we need in District 6 is someone who has the backbone to publically post his or her plan for the district and county, willing to amend it or update it through transparent processes, to listen to the citizen's concerns and address them in an open manner and be accountable for the public's funds in the budget. We need someone who will address environmental justice issues surrounding unrelenting development, bring the spotlight of public scrutiny upon the eyesore of Landover Mall, watch carefully the trajectory for FedEx field lest it join Landover Mall, keep and eye on and a figurative torch to the quality of stores in The Boulevard at the Capital Centre, work with the town of Upper Marlboro to create a first class, "capital" county seat, hover over the plans for Westphalia, deal with the traffic and pollution nightmare that the new waste transfer station will bring to 301, partner with the new county executive to support and enhance the school system including following his lead by visiting every school in the district each year, work with the community college to reach out to the community, ensure that the libraries stay open, police stations and fire station stay manned and equipped, ensure small and medium size businesses find incentives to locate with quality jobs with in the district, and to generally support the other council members in projects that increase the well being of all of Prince George's County.    
    I would bring specificity to the position, outspoken, clear ideas when necessary and an ability to find consensus when appropriate, but I would not win for I would not bring special interest's willingness to pave our way to prosperity, nor an obligation to support blindly one group's agenda over the greater good. I am a radical moderate looking for the pragmatic center. In this county a citizen like me with no strings attached is unable to be elected. Because of our unwillingness to take control of our own future, we shall find more of the same and wonder why.

Government by vaguenessss in Prince George’s County

    Prince George's County has lost its mind. It just approved 240 million in capital bond financed spending. How many people can actually detail what the money will be spent on. More to the point, after building or repairing what ever we just voted for, where will the staffing and program money come from? Having just given our council and executive another raise without saying where the funding will come from, we now will build renovate and repair structures for which h we do not have any money to provide programs or employees. We keep building and developing without actually having any idea as to how we shall fund the resulting ongoing programs and maintenance projects. And we make it nearly impossible to actually know what we are approving by crafting ballot language with no specifics. It goes without saying that we shall find new fees and taxes continuing the endless cycle of uniformed debt obligation. It is almost as if the political class thinks the rest of us are too busy or simply not smart enough to understand what they are doing.
    We Prince Georgians need to start today asking each other how our politicians plan to pay for the programs and personnel of any novel capital project that they cook up. We need to tell them to focus on what we have and fix it before adding more to the county's debt load. How will they pay for the programs and people that will be needed to provide support for whatever new project they have in mind? We cannot pave our way to prosperity, nor can we spend our way to success. Transparent accountability in government means clearly stating the project and the long term funding prospects for programs and the staff. If you, our politicians, are going to build something, how will you pay for the infrastructure support, staffing and programs after you pay for the development itself.