George Wenschhof
 |
| John Daniels |
John
Daniels feels there needs to be more of a voice for the city in board of
education funding decisions.
He is
concerned there will be no pool included in the new Frederick High School construction
and there remains no plan for funding an aquatics center.
Helping to
create a group including representatives from the board of education, Frederick
County government, the YMCA and other community stakeholders to examine where
to locate and how to fund an aquatics center would be a priority for Daniels.
It seems I
am always running into Democratic candidate for alderman John Daniels in my
travels due to him being at many city meetings and local political events. He ran for city alderman in the 2009 election
and after falling short, remained involved in city politics, serving on
committees and being active in the community.
Sitting
down to formally interview him recently, I found him to be a thoughtful man who
stressed to me that as alderman for The City of Frederick, he would be making
informed “data driven decisions as opposed to gut driven decisions.”
Two of the
areas of concern he has heard from voters as he goes door-to-door, is the
number of “group homes” that are being created in certain neighborhoods and the
existence of “blighted properties”. The
worry by residents is a high concentration of group homes and blighted
properties in a neighborhood will adversely affect property values.
John told
me he would like to see the city do some research on the group home issue and
would move to get discussion going to create legislation to provide more
enforcement tools for city staff in regard to blighted properties.
When I
asked him about the underfunded city Pension and Other Post Employment Benefits
(OPEB) plans, Daniels said “I am comfortable with what has been done to date by
the mayor and board” and would review when the city receives their next actuarial report.
To help
spur economic development, John believes the runway expansion for the city
airport needs to be completed. The
runway expansion combined with the new tower will lead to more corporate travel
and commuter flights. He wants the city
to work toward removing obstacles so this project can move forward.
Daniels
also wants to move forward Phase II of the Carroll Creek development and not
drag this out.
Looking at
innovative ways to generate power from the use of solar panels is another idea
John Daniels would like the city to examine.
He cited placing solar panels atop city owned parking garages and
hangers located at the airport as two examples.
John
Daniels is one of eight Democratic candidates running for the five member board of alderman.
The City of Frederick primary election is
September 10.
Stay
Tuned.
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