A Message to Residents of the Town of Chevy Chase

May 6, 2009

Re: Town Council Election in the Town of Chevy Chase: Some Post-Election Thoughts

Friends,

I would like to thank everyone who voted for me in the Town Council election.  Although I was not elected to the Town Council, I found the experience of campaigning, of getting out and meeting so many Town residents, and getting out some of the issues that I feel are truly important on the table, to have been valuable.

I congratulate Linna Barnes and Pat Burda, the winners.  Pat Burda received the second of my two votes, and I think that she will be an asset to the Council.  In her work on Town committees, Pat has worked long and hard on many of the same issues that I am concerned about.  And Linna has a long record of service to the Town.  I would also like to thank the Town Election Board, and the League of Women Voters, Channel 16 MMC-T.V., the Town staff, and the tireless moderators of the Townneighbors listserv, Ann and Susan, for making this one of my best election experiences ever, notwithstanding my failure to win a seat on the Council.  As many of you know, I have run before for higher office.  But never have I felt that I had such an opportunity to get my ideas out on the table before the electorate, with a lot of hard work, true, but with minimal expense.  I was able to get my ideas for change out there, without having to resort to fundraising!

I will continue to keep on pushing some of the issues that I raised in my campaign for Town Council, whether this be within the Town committee structure, or from the outside, as a citizen activist.  I remain convinced that our building code, while well intentioned, falls short of what it should be.  I remain convinced that if we wait a few years to see how things go before thinking about changing it, as was suggested by some candidates, we will lose most, if not all, of our lovely, well-built, older homes in this Town, as well as parts of our tree canopy.  I hope that the Town Council will still consider amending the building code to strengthen its protections for homeowners impacted by construction projects in our Town, especially to those homeowners next to contemplated construction sites.  I would like to see the subject of historic designation within the Town revisited.

Another issue that I raised in the Town Council election campaign was the issue of whether we should expand voting rights within this Town to legal resident non-U.S. citizens.  I have neighbors who have lived in their own house for about fourteen years, who pay property taxes, and who are impacted by decisions made by our Town government.  But they cannot vote in Town elections, because they are not American citizens, but French.  And as I walked through our Town during the campaign, I met quite a few others either in this same situation, or having someone close to them who was.  Takoma Park has made this reform to local voting eligibility requirements, and I believe we should do the same.

Peace,

Deborah A. Vollmer