{"id":8251,"date":"2017-07-17T07:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8251"},"modified":"2017-07-16T20:28:58","modified_gmt":"2017-07-17T00:28:58","slug":"does-takoma-park-dominate-the-at-large-council-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=8251","title":{"rendered":"Does Takoma Park Dominate the At-Large Council Seats?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

The county\u2019s Charter Review Commission is considering recommending a charter amendment that would abolish or reduce the number of the County Council\u2019s at-large seats<\/a>, which account for four of the council\u2019s nine seats.\u00a0 One reason for this is that currently three of the four at-large seats are held by residents of Takoma Park, long regarded as the most left-wing jurisdiction in the State of Maryland.\u00a0 Over the years, your author has heard sporadic complaints that Takoma Park\u2019s alleged dominance of the council has pushed the council to the left and\/or directed excessive resources to Downcounty and the city.<\/p>\n

The fact is that Takoma Park\u2019s current holding of three seats is very disproportionate relative to its population (roughly 18,000 in a county of a million people).\u00a0 But it hasn\u2019t always been that way.\u00a0 Below is the residence history of at-large Council Members since the current council structure was created in 1990.<\/p>\n

At-Large Council Member Residency, 1990-2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

1990-1994<\/span><\/p>\n

Bruce Adams: Bethesda<\/p>\n

Gail Ewing: Potomac<\/p>\n

Ike Leggett: Burtonsville<\/p>\n

Mike Subin: Gaithersburg<\/p>\n

1994-1998<\/span><\/p>\n

Gail Ewing: Potomac<\/p>\n

Ike Leggett: Burtonsville<\/p>\n

Neal Potter: Chevy Chase<\/p>\n

Mike Subin: Gaithersburg<\/p>\n

1998-2002<\/span><\/p>\n

Blair Ewing: Silver Spring<\/p>\n

Ike Leggett: Burtonsville<\/p>\n

Steve Silverman: Silver Spring<\/p>\n

Mike Subin: Gaithersburg<\/p>\n

2002-2006<\/span><\/p>\n

Nancy Floreen: Garrett Park<\/p>\n

George Leventhal: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Steve Silverman: Silver Spring<\/p>\n

Mike Subin: Gaithersburg<\/p>\n

2006-2010<\/span><\/p>\n

Marc Elrich: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Nancy Floreen: Garrett Park<\/p>\n

George Leventhal: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Duchy Trachtenberg: North Bethesda<\/p>\n

2010-2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Marc Elrich: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Nancy Floreen: Garrett Park<\/p>\n

George Leventhal: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Hans Riemer: Silver Spring\/Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Note: Riemer moved from Silver Spring to Takoma Park in the middle of his first term.<\/p>\n

2014-2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Marc Elrich: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Nancy Floreen: Garrett Park<\/p>\n

George Leventhal: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

Hans Riemer: Takoma Park<\/p>\n

At-large terms with a resident on the council, 1990-2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Takoma Park: 8.5<\/p>\n

Gaithersburg: 4<\/p>\n

Garrett Park: 4<\/p>\n

Silver Spring: 3.5<\/p>\n

Burtonsville: 3<\/p>\n

Potomac: 2<\/p>\n

Bethesda: 1<\/p>\n

Chevy Chase: 1<\/p>\n

North Bethesda: 1<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that over these seven terms, only one term saw a Takoma Park resident representing Council District 5 (Tom Perez in 2002-2006).\u00a0 The other elected District 5 Council Members \u2013 Derick Berlage, Valerie Ervin and Tom Hucker \u2013 have lived in Silver Spring.<\/p>\n

Takoma Park\u2019s dominance of the at-large seats began in earnest in 2006 and appears to be temporary.\u00a0 Council Members George Leventhal and Marc Elrich are term-limited and leaving the council.\u00a0 Council Member Hans Riemer will get one more term before he is out too.\u00a0 Of the current field of Democratic at-large candidates, your author knows of just one \u2013 former City Council Member Seth Grimes \u2013 who comes from Takoma Park and intends to run.\u00a0 A bigger issue is that most at-large members tend to come from Downcounty, but that\u2019s natural considering that\u2019s where most regular Democratic voters live.<\/p>\n

There may be good reasons for going to an all-district council structure and your author does not have a strong opinion on that.\u00a0 But instituting a permanent, structural fix like reorganizing the council is not an appropriate remedy for dealing with a temporary issue like Takoma Park\u2019s number of at-large seats.\u00a0 Proponents of reducing the at-large seats need a better argument.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco. The county\u2019s Charter Review Commission is considering recommending a charter amendment that would abolish or reduce the number of the County Council\u2019s at-large seats, which account for four of the council\u2019s nine seats.\u00a0 One reason for this is that currently three of the four at-large seats are held by residents of Takoma … Continue reading Does Takoma Park Dominate the At-Large Council Seats?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151,209,126],"tags":[1545,1933,1537],"class_list":["post-8251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam-pagnucco","category-council-at-large","category-takoma-park","tag-adam-pagnucco","tag-council-at-large","tag-takoma-park"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4mKJE-295","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8251"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8256,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8251\/revisions\/8256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}