One candidate to represent Montgomery County’s east side spoke about the pervasive scent of mold growing in some of the apartments in her community.

Another contender for the County Council’s District 5 seat said he’d sent numerous letters to county leaders, “all but begging” them to give the east side an equitable share of resources. The messages were ignored, he said.

Residents in eastern Montgomery County have long felt shortchanged by their elected leaders, according to Democrats running in the July 19 primary to represent this area on the County Council. And during a Wednesday evening online candidate forum hosted by Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Beat, the eight Democratic hopefuls for the seat got a chance to pitch their competing visions for repairing these inequities.

“I don’t give up. I find the odd way to do things,” said Christopher Bolton, former chair of the East County Citizens Advisory Board. “Because it’s apparent that the clear way of doing things and the way of trying to go through regular channels has not yielded East County its due fair share.”

“We need more high-paying jobs, we need better rec centers. Our schools are inequitable compared to other parts of the county,” community advocate William “Chip” Montier said. “We need somebody who’s going to be able to bring these partnerships together … to bring about the change that we’re looking for and dismantle this history of neglect and inequity in our community.”

The roughly 90-minute forum featured all eight Democrats in the District 5 race: Brian Anleu, Fatmata Barrie, Bolton, Daniel Amara Koroma, Cary Lamari, Kristin Mink, Montier and Jeremiah Pope.

The candidates are competing to represent a district recently redrawn to reflect new population data from the 2020 U.S. Census. The reconfigured boundaries encompass communities such as Burtonsville, White Oak, Four Corners and Colesville.

Attracting businesses and jobs to the district is one part of addressing the longstanding inequities on the county’s east side, the candidates agreed.

Standing in the way of that goal is the perception that it’s difficult and expensive to do business in Montgomery County, several said. Montier said he’d try to adjust the corporate tax structure to bring businesses to the county, while Pope — founder of a political fundraising and consulting firm — spoke about the need for more commercial space to accommodate these companies.

Koroma, who spent years as a community engagement liaison for former County Executive Ike Leggett, said he’d work on revitalizing Burtonsville Crossing and make sure the county meets its goals for developing White Oak.

“We don’t tell businesses what to do,” Koroma said. “But they know where the county prioritizes, by the investment that the county makes.”

Drawing economic investment doesn’t have to mean watering down environmental protections and other regulations, said Mink, a community organizer. If the county can provide entrepreneurs with a “concierge-like experience,” that could go a long way toward building its reputation as a business-friendly place, she said.

And Barrie said any conversation about economic development should center on the people who live in District 5 and focus on ensuring they can afford to stay in these communities.

“People on this side of the county are shift workers making $15 per hour if they’re lucky, bringing home less than $600 a week,” said Barrie, an immigration and special education attorney. “Economic development includes all the people who live here in east county.”

The candidates also shared their ideas for incentivizing affordable housing development and whether they support the current version of Thrive Montgomery 2050, a proposed master plan that would guide the county’s growth for decades to come.

Barrie suggested repurposing vacant buildings for housing projects, while Mink and Montier talked about expanding homeownership programs. Anleu said the county should update its code to support prefabrication, modular construction and other lower-cost building methods.

Several of the candidates expressed concern that the pandemic suppressed community input during Thrive’s development and argued that the council needs to do more listening before moving forward with the plan.

“I’ve knocked on thousands of doors, and I’ve had just a handful of people tell me what Thrive is about,” Pope said.

In particular, there should be a greater effort to engage communities of color and low-income residents, several candidates said — noting that the county’s Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) recently determined that officials needed to take more steps to address equity in the document.

“Thrive is not yet ready for primetime,” Barrie said. “We still need to get back to the table and make it fit our community. The OLO report was very clear.”

On the other hand, Anleu, chief of staff to the Montgomery County Planning Board, contends there has been robust public participation in the plan, even during the pandemic.

In response to the OLO finding, he added, the council is commissioning an outside consultant to conduct a racial equity and social justice analysis of the plan.

“Thrive is not racist,” he said. “Black and Brown people in East County deserve the same types of amenities and resources and infrastructure and things that other people in other parts of the county do.”

To address increasing crime in the county, several of the candidates said they would work to retain and recruit more police officers.

Lamari, former president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, and Anleu talked about hiking starting pay for officers, and Bolton said police aren’t feeling supported by county leadership.

“The problem with the rank-and-file officers is they feel that the council is not with them,” he said. “My message to Chief [Marcus] Jones is, let’s get together and get the rank and file back onboard.”

Other candidates focused on reducing crime by addressing poverty, housing shortages and lack of opportunity and spoke about holding law enforcement accountable for their interactions with the community.

Mink also advocated for expanding the options available when someone calls for emergency help.

Mental health specialists should be the ones responding when someone is in a mental health crisis, she said, and situations involving unsheltered people should generally be handled by connecting the individual with a service provider and resources.

“Let police officers focus on things that actually make sense for police officers to focus on,” she said.

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