On Monday, December 3, I had the honor of being sworn in for a second term as your Montgomery County District 5 Councilmember. I would like to thank all of you who were able to join us in person or in spirit. I really appreciate all your well-wishes and support.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have served you for the past four years on the County Council. This opportunity allowed me to help enact landmark pieces of legislation, including the $15 minimum wage, a groundbreaking paid sick leave law, a crackdown on vacant and blighted properties, new protections for our renters, zoning changes to expand solar projects to address climate change, and new tools that our law enforcement staff need to tackle human trafficking.

I’ve also fought to ensure that our side of the county gets its fair share of resources — funding for much-needed transit including Bus Rapid Transit and a new Metro entrance at Forest Glen, expanded police and fire protection, pedestrian and bicycle safety projects, renovated parks and school playing fields for our children, a new nature center in East County, and economic development projects such as Viva White Oak.

I plan to bring the same energy, enthusiasm and determination to this second term. My major goals:  

• Continue to promote renewable energy and transit to help meet our county’s goal of zero carbon emissions by 2035. Climate change is the most urgent issue facing us, and we must meet the challenge.
• Successful implementation of the best Bus Rapid Transit system we can create on U.S. 29 from Burtonsville to downtown Silver Spring. And we’ve already won funding to study a new BRT system on New Hampshire Avenue as well.
• Implementation of the Forest Glen/Montgomery Hills Sector Plan, which will transform this dated stretch of Georgia Avenue into a thoroughfare that’s friendly to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, while helping expand neighborhood-serving retail businesses there.
• Work with the state and county transportation agencies to make pedestrian safety a top priority and eliminate all fatal and serious crashes on our roads by 2030, under our county’s Vision Zero plan.
• Work to ensure the Purple Line is completed on schedule with as little disruption to residents and businesses as possible.
• Continued economic development and support for our small businesses, including downtown Silver Spring and development of Viva White Oak. This will help even out the economic, educational and social disparities between East County and West County.
• Providing much-needed relief to student loan borrowers, by launching a county refinance program.
• Continue to provide responsive constituent service to the hundreds of requests we get each year.

I’m also eager to start working with four new council colleagues and our new county executive Marc Elrich, who is a longtime friend and ally. I have greatly enjoyed working closely with Marc on the Council and I know he will bring new energy and fresh ideas to the executive branch.

Once again, thank you for all of your support and for allowing me to represent our community. Please call on me and my staff whenever we can be of service at (240)777-7960 or at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Tom Hucker
Councilmember, District 5