Please get out and vote for those in favor of supporting our community. This project is being led by Marc Elrich and MoCo with no transparency or community involvement.
We spent the weekend reaching out to all incumbents and challengers for their positions on the Seven Locks projects.
Below is a list candidates have all voiced their support in working with us. Many of us will be at voting locations in the area. Please wear yellow and come out and help us distribute flyers. Here is the volunteer sign up.
VOTE YES
County Executive
- David Blair
County Council At Large
- Tom Hucker
- Laurie-Anne Sayles
- Scott Goldberg
County Council District 3
- Sidney Katz
Robert Wu
County Council District 4
- Cheryl Riley
County Council District 6
- Steve Solomon
County Council District 7
- Paul Geller
- Harold Maldonado
- Paul Schwartz
Supporting statements from the above candidates:
As County Executive, I will re-examine the project in the County’s capital budget. We will evaluate and identify alternative sites for the Restoration Center and School Bus Depot with a full and transparent public process, consulting with all neighboring communities and the City of Rockville at each step. We must expand mental health services and have a suitable location for our school buses – but we must do so in a way that doesn’t negatively impact our communities. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you and your neighbors.
David Blair (Blair for County Executive)
I vehemently oppose the proposed plan for a 40-acre site 200 inmate detention/correctional facility, a 200-250 bus depot and a restoration center for land off Seven Locks Road and Wootton Parkway. I cherish our County’s unique blend of city and rural landscape, especially within and surrounding the numerous neighborhoods that boast the most beautiful natural scenery. The current plan per the county to redevelop the site is yet another example of the feckless county leadership, and lack of concern for residents who would be affected by such a large-scale project that would not only diminish the environmental-land integrity, but impose safety and quality of life issues upon the many residents who would be affected within the Seven Locks/Wootton Parkway site location. The County failed to consider additional possibilities, such as sites of the numerous closed/abandoned businesses for the location and never approached the residents when selecting this location to create a “concrete,” safety hazardous eyesore riddled with issues residents should not have to face. The county’s actions are unacceptable and I will support the residents fully to ensure this “project” does not come to fruition at the site as this project is part of the county’s six-year capital improvement program, which won’t be presented to the County Council until at least early next year, so if I’m in office I will not only oppose this site, but will ensure any future proposed site locations will be more suitable and NOT infringe upon, alter or affect residential neighborhoods. I support the Keep Seven Locks Safe initiative 100%!
Cheryl Riley
As someone who is strongly opposed to the current County Executive’s plans for the redevelopment of the site at Seven Locks Road and Wootton Parkway, I will do everything in my power to support your Councilmember in their advocacy against this ill conceived, poorly vetted plan to transform land near a bedroom community into a bus depot/crisis center/detention center. As with everything any Councilmember does that could possibly change a neighborhood, the community should have been consulted first on this project…not last or never, as has been the case with this proposal. If elected, I will move heaven and earth to prevent this proposed project from happening.
I forcebly reject Marc Elrich and the County Council’s overreach with respect to the plan they want to pursue in the Seven Locks/Wooton Parkway area. This is just another example of how the council and the executive ignore residents. They didn’t listen to parents and business owners during the pandemic when they wanted to extend mask mandades and now when they’re pushing covid-19 tests and vaccinations for children. Moreover, county residents are tired of the incompetent leadership from Elrich and the council that is destroying our economy, our education, and making our streets less safer. With this proposed project, the residents in this residential area will have their quality of life attacked and destroyed immediately. It’s time for new leadership in the county and residents need to think hard if they want to keep the same party running the county, a party that is destroying everything we care about as residents.
I am in favor of the uses but do not agree with the location of the proposed bus depot/crisis center/detention center. Public policy is best done in the open. The communities surrounding the proposed facilities should have been consulted during this process. Before moving forward we must convene a committee of the neighbors, the City of Rockville, and all other stakeholders.
With respect to the bus depot and restorative justice complex, if elected, I would commit to taking the same approach as I do with issues I face in Gaithersburg now. I view my job as to represent the interests of District 3 on the County Council, including its residents and municipal representatives. I commit to working with the community and Rockville Council to find the right answer, not just the answer the County wants to push down.I do think the bus depot needs to move from Shady Grove to permit development around the metro. I also believe in finding the right answer with respect to the restorative justice center and meeting the MCPS’s needs for busing, but I am not convinced this complex is the right answer. Happy to discuss further, but right now I need to hit the doors!
Robert Wu
I’m committed to seeing this breakdown addressed. We’ve had single party leadership for the last 20 years and that’s led to insular thinking and self-propagating silos of operation that create these challenges. Let’s make sure you have someone on the Council who thinks differently, recognizes the problem, and will fix it. Vote Viet.
Any significant changes in or near the homes of Montgomery County residents should begin with hearing the concerns of the community. As a firm believer in a representational democracy, if elected, I look forward to sitting down with you and seeing the best path forward, if any, along with my good friend and supporter, Mayor Bridget Newton.
Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. I do NOT support any effort that does not include community involvement so, accordingly, I do NOT support moving forward on this plan until such time that the impacted community is provided an opportunity to contribute its input. It is for this very same reason that I do NOT support Thrive 2050.