People come and go but there are only three things that are here to stay; land, water and air.
I made these statements in 2006 when I ran for County Commissioner. I believe they are true today and even more urgent.
Property Taxes
Charles County has had a windfall in the amount of taxes being collected based on the soaring price of houses. We need to put a cap on spending based on the last five budgets. The surplus should be held in a special fund. This fund should be refunded back to the tax payer or spent on certain ballot proposals. (No need to worry about any extra tax money now. They spent all that in 2009)
We cannot tax our citizens out of their houses nor should we play "share the wealth" by having new home owners pay for the others. If we allow county spending to sky rocket then will be forced to make drastic cuts to future county services when prices for houses level off or go bust.
Year Round School
The county needs to discuss changing the school system to a full year. The past excuses for not doing so are disappearing.
The school board is staffed year round. School buildings are new with heating and air conditioning.
A longer winter break would save money in heating bills over air conditioning in the summer. Transportation safety would improve by reducing school days in the bad winter months and adding them in the fair weather months. This would also mean longer hours of sunlight for transportation and after school activities.
The need for a review of last year's studies would be eliminated. These hours could be used to add new courses or material to existing classes.
Bryans Road
Bryan's Road and Indian Head are two communities that are crying out for new development. There needs to be a more active involvement with the residents on that side of the county.
Key to the development is to avoid having the traffic problems that Waldorf has. Planning for access roads for commercial areas, streamline commuter traffic, and the prospect of a bridge or ferry to VA.
Too Young to Die
Cracking down on teen drivers only makes them avoid certain roads. The solution is for the county to educate teens and pre-teens. The County should have posters in the schools, bill boards, ads on local cable, and ads in local papers.
Encourage the local cable and newspaper to have students write editorials and testimonials about losing their friends and peers in auto accidents. Prize money or scholarships can be donated by the community to encourage teen involvement.
Waldorf Town Center
The commercial area from the southern end of 301 and 925 extending to route 5 should be in a special zone. This "Town Center" concept would require a redevelopment of these existing properties to have cohesiveness in architecture and accessibility from one to the other. We need to add monorail or tram to lessen traffic on our roads. Brick sidewalks, street lights, special signing would together create an atmosphere, a special place. Perhaps including five story condominiums would help to provide starter housing and community.
Round about
Round-about, rotary, and traffic circles would be a welcome change from four way stops and traffic lights to keep traffic moving. All new subdivisions need to be considered first. Then the intersections that are known to have problems at peak hours should be considered.
Red Light and Speed Cameras
I am not in favor of red light cameras. They tend to cause poor decision making based on fear. The reason most people run red lights is that they were speeding at the time. Speed cameras placed ahead of dangerous intersections will encourage people to slow down and give them the ability to stop for the red light. Also yellow lights need to be timed based on the speed limit. This would be a helpful addition.
Western-By-Pass
The current plans for a by-pass around Waldorf and La Plata, ignores the fact that most of the traffic is commuter traffic north and south not east and west. We need to streamline the traffic on 301. The Hughesville bypass is a perfect example of how solving one problem creates another.
Traffic
Route 301 is the main artery through Charles County. New intersections and new traffic lights have chopped the flow of traffic into bits.
Rush hour traffic lights need to be synchronized; all cross traffic should not be allowed to trip the lights. Exit and merge lanes need to be extended.