Government Neighborhoods  

District 20 Democrats Participate in Democracy Walk in the Park

One hundred people, several children in strollers and even four dogs participated Saturday in Maryland District 20’s “Democracy CAN be a walk in the park.”

The idea for the one mile walk in Silver Spring that began at Schweinhaut Senior Center and ended on Sligo Creek Park is to have “ongoing conversations about our hopes and our dreams,” explained Delegate Lorig Charkoudian.

“Hiking together is one of our many ways” to learn what residents care about, she said. “Democracy is an ongoing conversation.”

Some of the issues the participants wanted to talk about were ranked voting, LBGTQ+ rights, public financing of elections, expansion of I495 and enabling the electorate to vote when a vacancy opens up in the state assembly rather than having the county Democratic party chose the delegate.

One federal worker questioned whether the county and state would step up to help in the event of a federal shutdown.

The get together began with U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8) listing federal actions he was most proud of, from the infrastructure bill to lowering the cost of insulin.

“The Democrats did that. We did that,” he said to the cheering crowd.

“We are the party that stands up for voting rights even if you aren’t going to vote for us,” he said.

County Executive Marc Elrich spoke about bringing more solar energy to the county, shutting down an incinerator in Derwood and the need to increase the county’s commercial tax rate, which he said was the lowest in the D.C. area.

He also discussed future plans for the White Fint area that include the University of Maryland’s involvement in a education facility geared to teaching artificial intelligence and big data. He recently met with WMATA officials to obtain the rights to use land in the area surrounding where the White Flint Mall once prospered.

The educational development potentially could cover “well over 75 acres,” Elrich said.

Council President Evan Glass, who sported a bright orange T-shirt that read Do Good, talked about the county’s Anti-Hate Task Force, which he said would issue a report in November.

Also speaking at the two-hour event were Delegates David Moon and Jheanelle Wilkins and Councilmembers Kristin Mink and Natali Fani-Gonzalez.

Brian Wilmot joined the walk with some of his neighbors. “We thought this would be a great way to get people together in a more informal way.”

Added walker Debbie Beebe, “It’s nice and informal and healthy, as long as the weather cooperates.”

Write a Comment

Related Articles