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July 11, 2024
Congratulations to Montgomery County Police Department Chief Marc Yamada on his recent confirmation. Chief Yamada grew up in Wheaton and has served for over 35 years with MCPD, including as the Assistant Chief of the Field Services Bureau and the Commander of the 4th Police District. He is also the first Japanese American to lead the department.
I look forward to working with him to make our community safer for all residents.
 Councilmember Glass congratulates Chief Yamada after his confirmation.
Our life sciences sector is incredibly important to Montgomery County (and the world). Much of our biotech sector is located in the Great Seneca Life Sciences Corridor, a 4,330 acre area along I-270 between Gaithersburg and Rockville. My colleagues and I recently toured this part of the county with the Planning Department to get a firsthand view of the land use plan being proposed there, which includes a variety of housing options, a downtown center and convenient access to public transit – all to support more high paying jobs.
With input from community members, business leaders, property owners and industry partners, the Planning Department approved a draft plan in April. The Planning, Housing & Parks Committee is in the process of reviewing the plan, and I look forward to discussing their recommendations and receiving continued community input.
 Councilmember Glass joins colleagues for a tour of the Great Seneca corridor.
Starting July 1, gas-powered leaf blowers can no longer be sold in Montgomery County. I led this effort at the council last year to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels and to reduce the use of overly loud machines in our neighborhoods.
As we transition personal and professional lawn equipment from gas to electric, the county has created an incentive program that will help residents and lawn care businesses make the shift. The program will allow county residents to receive a $100 rebate for the purchase of an electric leaf blower and for qualifying businesses to receive a rebate of up to $1,500.
This measure will help residents and small landscaping businesses purchase greener equipment, which will in turn make our residential communities greener, cleaner and quieter.
The use of gas-powered leaf blowers will be prohibited starting July 1, 2025.
You can learn more about the county’s rebate program here.
I recently had the honor of joining New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof at the 15th annual Gaithersburg Book Festival for a conversation about his memoir Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life. The book offers a behind-the-scenes look of Kristof’s journey from growing up in an Oregon farm town to documenting historic events around the world, including the Tiananmen Square protests, the civil war in Yemen and the Darfur genocide in Sudan.
As a former CNN journalist, I greatly enjoyed the conversation and was glad to welcome Kristof to Montgomery County for another fantastic Gaithersburg Book Festival.
You can watch the C-SPAN recorded conversation here.
 Photo courtesy: C-SPAN
Montgomery County’s minimum wage has increased for mid-sized and large employers. Montgomery County is the only county in Maryland to index our minimum wage to inflation, meaning that when everyday essentials cost more, workers will have more money in their pockets to pay for them.
As of July 1, the new minimum wage is $17.15 per hour for employers with 51 or more employees and $15.50 per hour for employers with 11-50 employees. If we want to make Montgomery County an inclusive place for people to live and work, then we need to make sure they can afford to do so.
A resident on the HOC waiting list was excited to have been approved for a unit, but her housing voucher was approaching its expiration date. Worried that the process wasn’t going to be completed in time, she reached out to me for help. My office spoke with HOC on her behalf and we learned that her voucher would not expire while the process was underway. The resident was extremely relieved to learn this and appreciated our help.
The MCPS Division of Food and Nutrition Services is offering free summer meals to kids 18 and under at more than 120 sites across the county. The Summer Meals Program is designed to bridge the “nutrition gap” that summer can bring and ensure that kids have access to healthy and nutritious meals when they’re out of school.
You can learn more and find a full list of sites offering breakfast and lunch here.
Please do not reply to this email. To contact my office, email me at Councilmember.Glass@montgomerycountymd.gov.
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