Category: Maryland

COMMENTS: Thrive Coalition Sign-on Letter (Fall 2022)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

September 30, 2022

Montgomery County Council
Council Office Building
100 Maryland Ave, 6th Floor
Rockville, MD 20850

Re: Support for Thrive Montgomery 2050

Council President Albornoz and Councilmembers:

The undersigned organizations are excited for the County Council to strengthen and approve Thrive 2050 this fall. Thrive is the right direction and vision for Montgomery County. 

Thrive — as currently written and with the inclusion of new chapters on equity, the economy, and the environment — will set the county on a new path toward more sustainable, inclusive policies that will help to spur our economy, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and break down the county’s east-west divide. Although it is a visionary document, that vision matters. The best way for us to grow is compactly in complete communities with a robust transit system, abundant housing for people of all incomes, and a natural environment and infrastructure that will help us to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

These are policies supported by our organizations and residents alike. In a statistically significant poll from Data for Progress, 55% of likely Democratic voters in Montgomery County expressed support for Thrive, with the strongest support from Black or African Americans, people under 45, and renters. In another poll, 61% of respondents supported the construction of duplexes, townhomes, and/or apartments in their own neighborhood and 76% supported redesigning roads to prioritize safety over vehicle speeds. Nspiregreen’s additional outreach also showed majority support across Thrive’s issues and policies.

But Thrive is only the beginning. We look forward to working with you, your successors, and the community over the next three decades to bring Thrive’s vision into reality. For now, our organizations urge you to make the amendments needed to make Thrive an even stronger document, and then to pass the plan by the end of this County Council term.

Sincerely,

Montgomery for All
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Action in Montgomery
Audubon Naturalist Society
Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County
Sierra Club – Montgomery County
Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing
Montgomery Housing Alliance
HAND (Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers)
Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Enterprise Community Partners
Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland
Action Committee for Transit

We’re hiring a Maryland Transit Advocate!

We’re hiring a Maryland Transit Advocate!

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Our small but mighty team is looking for a Maryland Transit Advocate to help win major state transit investments, particularly in Prince George’s County. CSG’s advocacy goals for Prince George’s include securing state-level funding for improved, equitable bus transit and to support walkable, transit-oriented development.

TAKE ACTION: Prince George’s needs safer streets and better transit for livable communities

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Maryland Department of Transportation will present its six-year transportation budget plan to Prince George’s officials this Thursday. The project list has some good projects, including the Purple Line, Metro, walk and bike safety, and support for transit-oriented development along the Blue Line Corridor. But also plans a lot of bad spending for road expansion that will fuel sprawling, traffic-generating development in the remaining rural areas of the county, and a continued failure to redesign existing roads to make them safer.

CSG in the News: Prince George’s council pulls ‘Machiavellian’ zoning bill after uproar

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

By Daniel Wu, September 16, 2022, the Washington Post

“A bill critics slammed as a power grab aimed at wresting influence from a liberal bloc poised to comprise a new majority on the Prince George’s County Council was pulled Thursday after widespread backlash, even as another controversial measure squeaked through.”

“The [zoning] overhaul was roundly praised by the county council upon its adoption. [Council Member] Glaros was alarmed when [Council Member] Franklin and [Council Member] Hawkins proposed a raft of zoning bills late last month and early this month that threaten to undermine its impact, she wrote in an email newsletter.”

“The inclusion of CB-91 with those bills was “an extra Machiavellian move,” Cheryl Cort, policy director for the nonprofit Coalition for Smarter Growth, wrote to The Washington Post. Had they all passed, CB-91′s supermajority requirement would have solidified the outgoing county council’s final zoning amendments, passed under a lower burden.”