How Can I Help?

After learning what threats are posed by the Intercounty Connector to their quality of life, many people ask "How can I help?".

Here's the big picture about things to do that help:

Write letters
Talk to friends
Participate in events
Learn about issues
Watch the money
Vote in 2006

See below for more details on these suggestions.

Write Letters

Write letters to the editor. This is one of the best ways to get messages into the public conciousness.

Send a Letter to the Editor:

Write letters to politicians. Tell them what you think! They're supposed to work for you, so contact your Maryland Senators and Delegates, and County Council members, and let them know what you want them to do.

To find out who your state legislators are, visit www.mdelect.net or use one of the following resources --

Here are some resources for accessing Senators and Delegates elected to represent the citizens of Montgomery County in the Maryland General Assembly:

Senators and Delegates (pdf format) (xcl format)
Senators (in a table)
Delegates (in a table)

Here are some sample letters for you to use. Please copy them, then personalize them if you like, and send them to your representatives.

Letter to Oppose Takings

Draw Editorial Cartoons! Try sending them to publications, or ask us to publish them here. Here's one from Avery Smith (age 12):

Talk to Friends

Talk to friends and neighbors. Tell them what you learn and what you think. Ask them to write letters. If you're ambitious, contact 10 friends and family near home, or beyond Montgomery County.

Explain to them how taking a quarter-billion dollars -- $1,000,000 a week for the next 5 years -- from the State General Fund for the ICC makes that money unavailable for needs of the other Maryland counties. This will affect them in some way -- more children might need to go to school in trailers, class sizes might need to be larger, library hours shorter, existing roads more poorly maintained, and similar sacrifices made.

Then ask them to write their elected officials in opposition to spending so many state resources for a road that benefits no one except over-developers in Montgomery County.

Participate in Events

Participate in "intersection events" and "ICC hikes". Attend public hearings and community meetings.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement was announced in the Federal Register Jan 13, 2006 and will be available for public review until Feb. 27, 2006, after which time the “Record of Decision” will be issued. You can go see the FEIS at these locations, but you'd better be a fast reader because the FEIS is several thousand pages long and highly complex! You can download parts or all of it from the SHA download site, but you'd better have a fast connection!. You can submit comments to the SHA during the review period. It is crucially important to write letters to elected officials and newspapers, talk to friends, and become informed so that you are prepared to vote.

Learn about Issues

Follow a couple of these links and learn about the background of this project and the effects it would have.

Keep up to date. Stay current by listening and watching for news about the ICC, building violations, development projects, etc. Join groups such as Save Our Communities and visit web sites.

Watch the Money

Politicians need campaign contributions to get elected. Campaign contribution records are public information. By looking at campaign contributions to see who's paying for your elected officials you can "follow the money" and know whose interests your elected officials are really representing.

Learn how wealthy developers who would make millions of dollars from cancerous over-development of upper Montgomery County and construction of the ICC have financed the political campaigns of politicians who subsequently voted to build the ICC. These same politicians brought you the Clarksburg debacle.
To learn more about the wealth of developers in Montgomery County and where it goes, visit NeighborsPAC Campaign Funds and NeighborsPAC Issues Analysis.
Find out the remarkable amount Montgomery County elected candidates got from development interests in 2002. Learn how much Montgomery County Councilmembers have gotten from development interests in the 2006 election cycle.
To learn about money in state and national politics visit opensecrets.org.

Vote in 2006

Campaign and vote next year to un-elect politicians who don't do what you think they should. Our thoughts and recommendations:

Governor -- Evict Governor "Bobby Haircut" Ehrlich!
Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore he has much less at stake with the ICC, a Montgomery County affair. Although he hasn't declared to be against it, he has shown much more intellectual depth, curiousity and open-mindedness than Ehrlich ever has. Visit www.friendsofomalley.org to learn more about him, and support him for Governor.
Montgomery County Executive -- Steve Silverman sees himself as the heir to Doug Duncan. If you liked Duncan you'd love Silverman. As of January 11, 2006 he's already raised $1,002,618 in campaign contributions from developer-related interests -- 72% of his total (see campaign funding page of www.neighborspac.org).
Help stop limitless overdevelopment across the county for the benefit of the overdevelopers, paid for with the treasure and health of the citizens. Stop Silverman!
Montgomery County Council -- Five council members support the ICC and back Duncan for governor -- at-large members Steven Silverman, Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal and Michael Subin and district member Michael Knapp (Upcounty).
All were members of Duncan's End Gridlock slate in 2002 and knowingly used the "end gridlock" slogan despite all the evidence that the ICC makes congestion worse. Silverman, Subin, Floreen and Leventhal where key members. Duncan spent several hundred thousand dollars to help elect them, and they all support the ICC. The End Gridlock slate defeated honorable candidates in 2002 and produced a rubber-stamp County Council for Duncan.
Sack Subin! Fire Floreen! Lose Leventhal! They are no good for Montgomery County residents.
Howard Denis (Bethesda-Potomac), the lone Republican, of course supports the ICC and is behind Ehrlich for governor. Dump Denis.
Members Tom Perez (Silver Spring), Phil Andrews (Gaithersburg) and Marilyn Praisner (Eastern County) oppose the ICC project. Phil Andrews is the only Councilmember who has taken $0 from developers, both in 2002 and the current cycle. Re-elect them!