The leaders of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and Washington, D.C., talked broadly Wednesday morning about regional cooperation and economic development during a Committee for Montgomery annual legislative preview that lacked the fireworks of last year’s event.
It was at the December 2014 version of the event when Republican Governor-elect Larry Hogan, in his first high-profile appearance in Montgomery County since winning the election, asked for support from county Democrats but also gloated jokingly about his upset victory and the fact that Montgomery County was one of three jurisdictions in the state that went for Democratic candidate Anthony Brown.
During Wednesday’s event, also held by the Committee for Montgomery at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser agreed on virtually everything in a panel discussion.
About 800 people, including elected officials, business leaders, county government directors, school system officials and other local advocates, attended the breakfast networking event.
When it came to competing for corporations or federal government agencies—such as the new FBI headquarters—to locate in their jurisdictions, Leggett said he’s thrown his support behind two possible Prince George’s County sites instead of promoting locations in Montgomery County because the county didn’t have suitable sites.
“At the end of the day, you’re going to look out for your jurisdiction,” Leggett said. “You can do it in a way that I think continues to enhance the region.”
The leaders talked about diversifying the region’s economy in the wake of cuts to the federal government workforce and the vital link the light-rail Purple Line will provide between Metro lines that reach into the Maryland suburbs of the Washington region.
Recently-installed County Council President Nancy Floreen asked attendees to stand to observe a moment of silence for county police Officer Noah Leotta, who died last week after being struck on Rockville Pike by a vehicle driven by a suspected drunken driver.
District 39 Del. Shane Robinson, the chairman of the county’s delegation to the House of Delegates, said a number of his colleagues have expressed interest in pursuing more legislation aimed at curbing drunken driving in the wake of Leotta’s death.
Leggett said his main priorities for the 2016 General Assembly, which starts Jan. 13 in Annapolis, remain the same: getting more state funding for the school system and for improving transportation in the county. He mentioned the Purple Line, Corridor Cities Transitway in Gaithersburg and bus rapid transit as key transportation projects.
“We talked about a great deal of economic development for the region,” Leggett said during the panel discussion. “The lifeblood of that is really tied to our ability to move people.”
