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Today is a double-header for the Rockville City Council candidates, putting a punctuation point to a long series of debates this season.  I attended this afternoon’s session hosted at the Senior Center and tonight is the last with the Chamber of Commerce.  By now, the candidates have honed their thoughts and can quickly state their positions, which is much more helpful to the voters.  You can also see where alliances have formed, how their personalities affect their thinking, and where there is uncertainty.  From today’s forum, it seemed the alliances are Marcuccio, Newton, Hall, and maybe Gottfried vs. Gajewski and Pierzchala (if we arranged this by nationality, we’d have. . .hmm).

This forum was primarily focused on the needs and interests of seniors, so there were questions about the candidates’ ideas to support “aging in place,” homeowner’s tax credit, affordable housing, and the impact of decreased county and state support on Rockville’s senior programming, but some ranged further, for example a surprising question on the King Farm transitway.  The $100 homeowners tax credit was discussed throughout the afternoon, with Gajewski and Hall clearly supporting its reappearance; Marcuccio and Newton only if the eligibility criteria could be tightened (e.g., only for seniors); and Francis clearly against, calling it a smokescreen for the more important issue of unfair property taxes and adoption of a piggyback income tax.  Time was wasted on the question, “Where senior services ranked as a priority” because no politician will Continue reading →