Place of residence: Ashton Date of birth: Aug. 21, 1957 Place of birth: Washington, D.C. Occupation: Retired CEO and CIO⁄ business owner; Fulltime volunteer advocate for persons and groups caught in red tape Education: MCPS high school; continuing education related to my business of 22 years including but not limited to: Financial Management; Business Management, Systems Design, Security. I gained additional pattern recognition and fraud detection expertise by working closely with leading experts of the nation’s banking industry, credit bureaus, MasterCard International, Visa USA, as well as from information provided to me by United States Secret Service agents, United States Postal Service Inspectors and others. Community associations, involvement: I have been advocating on behalf of the Farm Road property owners in Sandy Spring. I am also a member of the Sherwood Elementary School PTA . As a member of the PTA, I have been advocating for the much needed school addition with the MCPS’s Office of Construction Management, members of the County Council, and School Board. I am also serving on the Department of Permitting Services Advisory Committee, a Montgomery County Board, whose mission it is to investigate and advise County Executive Ike Leggett and the Department of Permitting Services on how to improve zoning and permitting services for citizens. Professional associations: Retired 2003; Formerly, IBM Business Partner and directly responsible for AT&T being awarded the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award for exemplary quality service. Family: Married, 2 daughters aged 5 and 8 Campaign office address and telephone: PO Box 548, Ashton MD 20861; 301-260-2025 Web site: www.SteveKforCouncil.com Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

Montgomery County Council, Dist. 4

Steve Kanstoroom (D)

A. a) Bring greater transparency and efficiency to our government. This is fundamental to the County’s resolving its fiscal and other problems. If a business were run like the County in recent years, it would be out of business. It is essential that our leaders and the public be provided with who receives our tax dollars, in what amounts and for what services. Currently, that is not the case with the School System, WSSC, Montgomery College, and Park and Planning.

Running a cleaner, more business-like County Government, would go a long way toward balancing the books, avoiding last minute surprise 400 million dollar deficits, and help alleviate future tax increases and service cuts.

b) Provide a mechanism which requires necessary infrastructure, including but not limited to roads, schools and utilities, prior to allowing additional development in areas where such infrastructure is not in place or crumbling. This requirement will ensure that there is adequate capacity available to accommodate the additional traffic, homes and students associated with new development.

c) Provide a mechanism to rid the county schools of portable classrooms and its past due maintenance backlog. The current formulas used by the MCPS are flawed in that they fail to take into account projects in the pipeline which have not yet been approved, despite an approval rate greater than 95 percent.

Q. How would you rate the performance of the current council: excellent, good, fair or poor? Why?

A. Fair. The Counsel lacks oversight regarding: a) its Appointees, b) ability to see the big picture, and; c) work as a team on behalf of the people. The Counsel appoints high-level administrators but takes no oversight role with regard to them in many cases. The County’s Appointees manage billions of dollars worth of business with regard to development, and spends billions of dollars with regard to the MCPS and WSSC. Appointees, like all paid staff, should have quarterly evaluations, with rewards for good performance, and consequences for poor performance, and just as in business.

In addition, legislation is often not thought through such that new legislation has unintended consequences and consequently requires additional legislation that may not necessarily be passed. Thus one problem is solved, and two new ones may be created.

Q. Is the rate of growth in Montgomery County too fast, too slow or just right?

A. I believe it is not a function of speed, but rather if the growth occurs in a responsible manner. If there is adequate infrastructure, including but not limited to roads, schools and utilities, then the growth should be allowed to go forward, within the confines of the Master Plan, unfettered. Conversely, if there are inadequate schools, roads and other infrastructure in a particular area, then that is an indicator that the related Master Plan was flawed. In such a case, the growth should be halted until such time as the infrastructure is in place to adequately handle it.

Q., Who should have more control over the planning process, the council or the executive and why?

A. I’m not certain that it is a question of who, but rather how. I believe the planning process should be controlled more by statute than by its current judgmental factors. To solve for this, the Council needs to enact laws, such as those that close the loop holes in the Master Plan mechanism, so that the planning process is not a surprise.

All of the County’s roads and schools ultimately came about by way of a Master Plan. Yet our roads are woefully inadequate and are children are attending school, in many cases, in trailers. Either our planners planned this, or our planners failed, hence the need to legislate the change necessary to correct the Master Plan process as defined in the previous answer, and as described in more detail on my campaign website www.SteveKforCouncil.com.

Q. What’s your plan to provide more affordable housing in Montgomery County?

A. a) Increase the Housing Initiative Fund by way of the savings that would come from the increased transparency as referenced on my campaign website.

b) Increase the MPDU formula by working collaboratively with the building industry and the affordable housing experts.

c) Consider the benefits of the County building upon County owned land.

d) Create public⁄private partnerships with builders and developers whereby both the County and the business community can share equally in the risks and rewards of increasing the numbers of affordable housing units. For example, the County could permit development upon certain County owned properties of communities – places where families would want to live, with access to adequate public transportation, schools and community centers. The builders could erect the structures and be compensated by way of bond proceeds as well as a percentage of rental income for a finite amount of time. The carrying costs and fees associated with the bonds would be offset by the value the County would receive in the form of a greater workforce located near jobs and the associated benefits. Transit would be reduced as compared to workers moving further from the County in search of affordable housing.

Q. Do you think the county is doing enough to meet the needs of its growing diverse population? If not, what do you think the county needs to do?

A. No. It would be terrific if we can find a sensitive way to reach out to the parents of these children and encourage the use of the county’s Abused Persons Program.

All three of the county’s domestic violence related deaths last year occurred in the immigrant community — none of the victim’s had reached out to the domestic violence program, or the county’s court systems for help. Maybe the schools could help with that.

I believe that in order to efficiently address the needs of our diverse population we first need to ask those persons whose needs we seek to address what it is that would be most helpful to them. This could be done by way Town Hall style forums and backpack notices from school. Once the data is collected we could move forward on finding solutions.

Without the benefit of such information, based upon what I have observed in the community, I believe bilingual or trilingual signs and additional translation services would make life easier for our neighbors who are not yet comfortable or able to read in English. We can offer additional educational help, e.g. ESOL classes and cultural adaptation classes, but also translation services, and increased use of bilingual (or trilingual, or more) written signs in our schools.

Q. Do you support Montgomery County’s day laborer centers?

A. I support the concept of an efficient way to match our day labor force with the businesses that can employ the force. With regard to the centers, I support the concept, however, I have concerns with the current implementation.

I have heard from some of the contractors who rely upon day laborers, that some feel the current centers add an unacceptable layer of bureaucracy for the laborers. Consequently, the laborers and contractors are agreeing to meet at areas other than the designated centers. If this is true, then we are paying for a program that is not working as planned. Additionally, the concerns of neighbors who live near the centers must be addressed. In most cases they bought their homes prior to the introduction of the centers, and did so with a certain expectancy of a feeling their homes art in a neighborhood.

Q. What programs would you add to the budget, and how would you pay for them?

A. I would add an Office of Resolution. Often citizens and businesses find themselves caught between conflicting regulations promulgated by competing agencies, and left to fend for themselves. Likewise sometimes they find that the County has failed to enforce its regulations with a myriad of negative consequences for the law abiding citizens and entities. The aggrieved are left without a defined path to resolve the issue and the only option of spending resources on experts in an attempt to achieve a resolution.

For example, persons and entities attempting to move forward with new construction often receive inconsistent directives from differing agencies. The burden of resolving interagency problems should not be placed upon the public. In such cases, the public should: a) be able to present the issue to the County’s Office of Resolution, b) be guaranteed a written decision within thirty days, and; c) be given the right to appeal such decision.

I would also expand the Office of the Inspector General (OIG”). This office is the only agency that finds waste, fraud and governmental abuse, yet has a budget of approximately five-hundred thousand dollars. The OIG has a history of finding far more dollars wasted than its budget. For every dollar spent on this office, more will be returned, hence additional funds to the OIG would actually be savings.

Q. Are there any programs, taxes or fees that should be cut? What would you do with the money from the savings?

A. All programs with redundancies or functions that intentionally overlap other agencies would be first on the list. For example, the Department of Permitting Services Advisory Committee, of which I serve as the Chair of its Policy and Procedures Subcommittee, recently issued a report to the County Executive.

The report found that numerous functions at Park and Planning were duplicated in some respects by the County, and County managers that we interviewed all encouraged moving those functions into the Executive Branch. Park and Planning lacks a records management system, and is seeking 35 million dollars, an amount equal to more than 10 percent of the current deficit, for its requested new headquarters.

In addition to the 35 million, others related millions are going for redundant staff time on the Part of Park and Planning and still more millions for the expenses that the County pays its employees that must attempt to navigate the red tape and disconnect that exists between the County Government and Park and Planning.

The saving would go directly into reducing the deficit. Additional savings would come from the increased efficiency of removing the redundant functions. I believe those savings should be divided to solve for inadequate roads and schools – both of which are a function of a flawed planning process.

Q. Does council have too much, not enough or the right amount of oversight of the school system?

A. I believe it has nearly enough, yet it fails to use what it has.

First, it is vitally important that the Council’s Appointee, the School Superintendent, have quarterly performance reviews with rewards for meeting and exceeding goals, and consequences for falling behind, or worse, failing on vital aspects of the job, such as managing maintenance, and overcrowding. The Superintendent could certainly voice his concerns over the faulty planning formulas that result in overcrowding. Just as the Fire Department has the authority to prevent development from going forward without adequate access for fire trucks, the School System should have the authority to prevent development from moving forward if the Superintendent believes such development will result in over capacity schools.

Second, under the Attorney General’s current opinion of State law, the Council and School Board can request the detail data of how the School System spends it billions of dollars – who it writes checks to, for what services, and in what amounts. Notwithstanding the Council has made no efforts of which I am aware to do so, it should be given the authority by the Legislature to access the data, and it should make such data publicly available on-line. If the school system is spending its 2 billion dollars responsibly, it should have no objection. Yet the School System refuses to release such data.

Q. Do you think the current system for renovating schools is adequate, or does it need changing?

A. The current system is woefully inadequate. It lacks performance measures, a timetable for replacement as is the case with successful business operations, codified rules for how its renovation decisions are made and transparency.

Every year parents head off to the School Board to plead their case for functioning bathrooms, heating⁄ventilating and air conditioning, lighting and security. The school system explains it does not have the funds to make such repairs, but assures parents that likely in the next several years the money will be available, all the while refusing to open the books. Then, the School System staff takes a retreat to discuss its priorities. The priorities should be set for all to see –not made in a way that is not auditable.

Q. What is the No. 1 public safety concern for Montgomery County? What would you do about it?

A. Montgomery County is fortunate to be much safer than many surrounding jurisdictions. That said, I believe that traffic safety and gang related violence tie for first place.

With regard to traffic safety, I would prioritize education, enforcement of existing laws, including additional cameras, and engineering - focusing the areas that statistics show are most dangerous.

With regard to gang violence, I would strongly support, and advocate for expansion, of the Executive’s Positive Youth Development Program. This program, according the County, is ‘‘Promoting [children and adolescent’s] safety, education, and development from the very early years through the challenges of adolescence”.

The program has received high marks from our County police department and I understand is designed to give our children and youth opportunities that will keep them safe and leading positive lives.

Q. Do you support an east-west Metro link, and where should it go?

A. I support the link and believe it should be underground in areas for which considerable environmental damage will occur, or in areas where it will substantially diminish the quality of life for the residents living adjacent to it.

Q. What are the biggest issues affecting the Route 29 and New Hampshire Avenue corridors?

A. a) The Burtonsville revitalization. It is my understanding that grade separated interchanges, such as the new one in Burtonsville, traditionally isolates pre-existing communities and generally include revitalization costs as part of the project. Yet somehow this project went forward, without our leaders watching out for Burtonsville. Although the traffic problem, the project bifurcated the community and disseminating the retail businesses and their opportunities.

b) Traffic concerns for the relocated FDA. Once again, a major project is going forward, yet all of the details were not fully addressed before it began.

c) Traffic concerns along Route 29. Bus lanes and light rail should be given serous consideration.

d) The proposed soccer field in Four Corners. The Four Corners residents have expressed their strong desire to leave the existing wooded area as is such that they can enjoy its green space as they have for years. Park and Planning has chosen to disregard the community’s wishes, and is attempting to move forward with a multi-million dollar project that the community does not want.

Q. What ideas do you have about land development adjacent to the ICC and its access points?

A. I believe that if development is permitted to occur along the ICC and its access points that the benefit of the ICC will be lost. The ICC has been sold to the County as a solution to its existing east⁄west woes. Yet history has shown that are planners have underestimated, or disregarded time and again our road capacity – we can see that in any rush hour. If the ICC is designed to solve our existing problems, but then filled with other development that is not in the capacity formula, then the benefits of the ICC will be lost at the expense of billions of dollars.

Residents have complained that the pace of redevelopment in Wheaton has lagged, particularly in light of the transformation of downtown Silver Spring. What can be done at the council level to expedite matters, given the county’s fiscal constraints?

It is my understanding that in order to redevelop Wheaton in an appreciable way that several key property owners must agree to raze their buildings. I also understand that the current commercial real estate market will not support the high-rise structures such as those in Silver Spring. Accordingly, I believe the Council, could initiate a focus group of community leaders, developers, and business owners with the purpose of determining design criteria, with the assumption that existing owners would cooperate with the plan.

Next, the business community could community could fund a design charette, which would include the community, business owners and developers, to be reimbursed as part of the project going forward. Once a design was agreed upon, the County could facilitate the plan by relaxing taxes for those entities footing the bills for a specific length of time, such that the project would be economically viable. Alternatively, long term expenses could be funded by a bond issue, with the County and the developers sharing equally in the risks and rewards.

Q. What sets you apart from the other candidates?

A. I have a long history of success with business and community service.

I was responsible for managing billions of dollars, and keeping them in balance on a daily basis, while conforming with all federal regulations. Further, I was responsible for finding and removing inefficiencies in bureaucracies which supported 1,000s of customer service persons and more than 15 million Americans.

I was one of IBM’s largest business partners and my work was credited with AT&T winning the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Quality – an award presented by the President of the United States.

Four Maryland Governors have honored my volunteer work, as I have performed it, with regard to legislation and advocacy that benefits women, children, victims of domestic violence, victims of insurance fraud and governmental abuse.

My work has been recognized by MSNBC, CNN, ABCNEWS and other national and local media across the country.

I have been honored and recommended not just for what my friends say they think I might do, —but for what independent leaders and groups say I have already done. I have the proven skills to get to the root of problems and design innovative and lasting solutions. I understand better than most, how our Government works, and I am prepared to bring my expertise to benefit Montgomery County.