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Howard County must meet its legally mandated education obligations while maintaining fiscal stability and protecting core services. As County Executive, I would approach this challenge through disciplined budgeting, long-term revenue planning, and strategic economic growth. For our county to truly thrive, we must take a thoughtful and strategic approach to increasing revenue—one that is creative, responsible, and rooted in equitable economic growth that works for every Howard County Community.
Yes affordable housing is one of the most pressing challenges facing Howard County. Rising housing costs affect teachers, public safety officers, young professionals, seniors on fixed incomes, and families who want to remain in the community they call home. Addressing this requires a comprehensive strategy that balances stability, subsidy and supply while protecting existing residents through strong tenant protections and eviction prevention programs, expanding public and nonprofit partnerships
Supporting care infrastructure across generations is fundamental to workforce participation, family stability, and long-term fiscal sustainability, and proactive planning today will ensure Howard County remains a community where residents can thrive at every stage of life. I will champion financial programs that help seniors age with dignity—whether that means staying safely in their homes or accessing affordable, high-quality senior living options that meet their changing needs.
As County Executive, I would focus on accelerating implementation by electrifying county facilities and fleet vehicles, expanding energy efficiency retrofits across residential and commercial buildings, incentivizing distributed solar and battery storage, and aligning land use policy with transit-oriented development to reduce vehicle miles traveled. We must also integrate climate resilience into capital planning by investing in stormwater management, watershed protection, and flood mitigation.
The county government has an affirmative duty to protect and defend the constitutional rights of every resident, and that responsibility is not optional or selective. It includes safeguarding due process, equal protection under the law, freedom of speech and religion, and protection from unlawful government action. The rule of law must guide every decision we make, and public trust depends on knowing that the local government will defend the rights of all residents.
I support data-driven policing combined with transparent reporting, independent oversight, and continuous bias training to ensure equitable treatment across race, ethnicity, and neighborhood. We must invest in prevention strategies that address root causes of crime, including economic instability, housing insecurity, mental health needs, and youth opportunity gaps. Expanding crisis response partnerships, strengthening community engagement, and ensuring meaningful civilian input.
Dive into the budget and put a stop on things that aren't as important to the school budget like bike Lanes a library on the lake etc etc.
I have blueprints ready to build 1200 square foot units that can be owned not rental that will create generational wealth for the residents of Howard county we need people to be able to work and live in Howard county keep the money in Howard county keep the money circulating. Pictures will be built instructors that are already existing so we don't have to send money on purchasing expensive property it will be reuse of buildings already existing.
Child Care is definitely a number one issue I would have an ambassador to visit major businesses and corporations and Howard county to help sponsor just like people sponsor stadiums we need to have child care facility sponsored by major corporations. It's not a cure all but it's a step in the right direction without raising taxes. In return these companies May get a tax incentive.
I would push toward biofuel use and geothermal.
I think the expansion and Howard county was just created in traffic jams has not really helped any climate change we need to slow down construction until the infrastructure can be met on a smart basis.
Were the greatest nation in the world ever known because we are a nation of laws we need to enforce our laws there is no variance the law is for everyone we need to respect your neighbors and respect the laws of our country and of our county and State.
I would like to have a police officer at every school every Day greeting the kids making them feel safe and that will also help recruit officers in the future.
This helps create safety and a feeling of officer friendly.
I would also like to see the police officers how their cars more walking and parking lots at grocery stores becoming more of a approachable person as opposed to just a person in the uniform they need to come like the old days when we had foot patrolman when they know the citize
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I would build my budget around realistic revenue amounts so that previous years’ surpluses are closer to historical averages of $30 million. Amounts higher than this average means that revenue projections are being constrained to allow for more flexible, non-recurring spending instead of committing to recurring and necessary expenditures. I would also stabilize our annual debt load by focusing first on deferred school projects instead of non-essential Capital projects.
Affordable housing can be addressed by enhancing the County’s existing moderate-in-income housing unit program, increasing the affordability exemption fee (fee-in-lieu), providing increased financial assistance to promote home ownership, subsidizing construction of affordable rentals that do not concentrate poverty in low-income areas, and initiating Comprehensive Rezoning so that missing middle homes can be built in Activity Centers and Gateway.
Both childcare and eldercare lack affordability and availability. I would investigate ways to expand the Department of Recreation and Parks’ before- and after-care program to meet the high demand for affordable, quality care. I would enhance programming at the County’s 50-plus centers to provide meaningful social interactions and support for elders and continue to provide community grants to non-profits, such as Winter Growth, that provide adult day, assisted living, and memory care.
I have supported every legislative effort to meet our climate-forward goals and I will continue this progress as County Executive. I co-sponsored legislation to require electric- and solar-ready buildings. I voted for zoning changes to expand solar production and for tax breaks for solar facilities to make renewable energy production more affordable. I pushed for more electric vehicles in the County’s fleet. I support protection of mature tree canopies and managing stormwater at the source.
The County government should protect the privacy of our residents regardless of national origin or other minority status from illegal surveillance or data collection, support free and fair elections, protect our First Amendment rights, and be prepared if Federal funds are withheld because of non-cooperation with unrelated and un-Constitutional conditions. I voted to approve sanctuary status, to end the detention center’s contract with ICE, and to prevent operation of private detention centers.
I will expand the Police department’s community liaison unit, which fosters neighborhood relationships. I will work with the Chief of Police to review current practices and policies to ensure that public safety efforts meet best practices, de-escalate crisis situations, and are carried out with fairness. As a Councilmember, I responded to my constituents’ requests for police assistance to reduce dangerous driving, address property crime, and improve overall safety at the Mall.
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We have the revenues already to pay for what we should—schools especially—even as the State has pushed down to local government more and more unfunded mandates. As County Executive, I will ensure that my Office of Budget honestly projects our overall annual revenues and expenditures. For my last seven years on the Council, the outgoing Administration hasn’t—not before the pandemic shutdown, not during, not since. The funds our public schools needed to avoid devastating cuts were there all along.
Yes. As County Executive, I will reform County land-use practice and policy, from top to bottom. We will steadfastly serve the public good, not—always—bend to the will of the profiteers that we are supposed to be regulating.
My Department of Housing and Community Development will redefine “affordable” to more closely align with residents’ actual ability to pay; advance rent stabilization; enforce and expand inclusionary zoning to 20%, especially for 50+ housing; and end fee-in-lieu.
Yes. As County Executive, I will fund every HCPSS initiative to expand to its fullest potential “universal pre-K”—both in terms of (1) the annual, operational costs to fairly pay educators and staff; and (2) the one-time capital costs to build out new spaces as necessary without overcrowding existing schools.
My Office of Aging will proactively find and serve our most at-risk elders, where they are. We will expand access to transportation, memory care, and affordable and accessible housing.
Abysmal. As County government, we should be modeling electrification. Every new roof of a certain size should have solar panels. Every ailing fossil fuel heating system replaced with geothermal or heat pump. Every gas appliance exchanged for electricity. Every spot of unnecessary mown grass swapped out for forest, or pasture, or food-producing or pollinator garden. And we should expand local incentives for immediate follow-on private sector adoption.
In this second Trump regime—more vicious, aggressive and lawless even than the first—federal civil immigration enforcement routinely flouts constitutional mandates specific to search and seizure, due process, and cruel and unusual punishment. At some breaking point, our own local law enforcement apparatus will be responsible to protect us from those abuses, prosecute them, and hold the violators accountable.
As County Executive, I will fund in-house behavioral crisis response commensurate with need and separate from law enforcement. As is proposed at the new Elkridge Community Center, I will co-locate HCPD patrol offices within community amenities.
We must do better to keep our Police Accountability Board advised of and involved throughout the complete arc of HCPD misconduct complaints and to remedy the disparate number of police stops and violence suffered by our Black and Brown neighbors.
