Transportation
It is no secret that our roads are congested and that this detracts from our quality of life. Our choices are simple. We can build roads and we can build transit. Our funding options are also simple. We can use Federal money, State money or County money.
Mr. Leggett has not been successful in obtaining Federal funding for the two major transportation initiatives identified by our County government: the Purple Line and the Corridor Cities Transitway. At a time when Maryland politicians occupy powerful positions in Congress and in the Obama administration, Mr. Leggett's failure to secure Federal funding for these two key projects is particularly troubling.
Nor has Mr. Leggett been successful in obtaining State funding for local transportation projects. Instead of finding solutions, he complains that the State has not adopted measures which could provide those funds. Mr. Leggett is the former Chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, the County Executive of a County that he and his Council colleagues proudly refer to as the "economic engine of the State," and the leader of the County with the largest delegation to the General Assembly. And yet he can't or won't persuade the State to act -- another troubling failure.
Mr. Leggett's lack of commitment to solving the County's transportation problems is best exemplified by his failure to use County money set aside for that very purpose. When Mr. Leggett took office in 2006, he quickly abandoned an existing $80 million transportation funding program.
That program was designed to use non-taxpayer supported revenue bonds funded by the County's Department of Liquor Control, which Mr. Leggett oversees. Among other things, those bonds were supposed to fund construction of a new parking garage at the Glenmont Metro station, as well as the planning and design of the Purple Line station in Bethesda -- projects that Mr. Leggett supported in his 2006 election campaign.
Instead of advancing those important transportation projects, Mr. Leggett elected to squander $53 million of those bonds to pay for a new liquor warehouse for the County's Department of Liquor Control as part of his so-called "Smart Growth Initiative." Now that those funds have been dissipated, and in light of the County's $1 billion budget deficit, not even County funds will be available to solve our transportation woes. In this instance, in particular, the blame falls squarely on Mr. Leggett's shoulders.
