by Joseph P. Horgan, Treasurer

Montgomery County Green Party Central Committee

The 1950's had a lot of good things to offer the world, not the least of
which was the post-war optimism. But, the 1950's had a lot of underheaded
ideas:

Alex Lewyt, the president of the Lewyt Vacuum Cleaner Company,
declared: "Nuclear powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within 10 years."

The House UnAmerican Committee (HUAC), under the dubious leadership of Joe McCarthy, had no shame pretending that people with whom they disagreed must be soviet-styled communists infiltrating the United States.

And, some people thought that an Inter-county Connector -as part of
an outer beltway- would be a good idea. A good place to drive their Edsel.

Thankfully, we do not threaten our living rooms with nuclear meltdown every time we vacuum our rugs. Thankfully, McCarthy was shamed out of office. Thankfully, so far, we haven't built the ICC. Hopefully, we never will.

The ICC is a 1950's solution which our dubious leadership is attempting to
impose upon a 21st Century problem. In the 1950's, Rockville Pike was dotted with cows and corn, not cars and horns. We don't need 1950's ideas to solve our problems now; we need 21st solutions.

There are many problems with the current plans outlined in the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) from the State Highway Administration (SHA), Cost, Design, and Impact are high on everyone's list. Others have addressed those issues. I am going to address some of our 21st Century solutions not addressed in the DEIS.

First, we need to fully fund Metro. Metro has proved to be a huge success. Yet, when it suffers from growing pains, and needs more funding, our dubious leadership here in Montgomery County and in Maryland -Democrat and Republican- want to build the ICC and put more people on our highways, not less, while putting up less money for Metro and other transit alternatives, not more.

Additionally, we need to make Metro Bus and Ride-On more accessible. Through the work of Councilmember Andrews and others, Ride-On has become a better alternative -and more affordable- for a large segment of the County. Now, we need Ride-On and Metro Bus to focus on getting us to the communities not yet fully served by these two fine public services. Not only would better bus and Metro service get us out of our cars, but it will also create meaningful jobs -union jobs. The billions spent on the ICC will take away money from these union jobs, not increase them.

We also need to start planning our land use in a way that makes sense for
humans, not dollars for the developer-industrial complex. Land use planning needs to focus on walkable communities. Not only would that get us out of our cars, but would have the added benefit of encouraging us to walk more, thereby aiding and abetting our health. I know I could use the walk.

Studies have shown that much of the traffic on the road are residents on
errands. How about a tax deduction -at State and Federal levels- for home
delivery? Not only would this get cars off the roads, but it will also
create good-paying jobs and could have the support of such employers as
Giant Peapod and UPS, and of unions such as the Teamsters, and of the
environmental community.

These are 21st century solutions to our 21st century problems. These new
solutions -which bring Corporate interests, Unions and environmentalists
together- are the new way of solving our problems. They are Green Party
solutions, not moribund 1950's solutions.