Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Note to Doug Duncan: Please rescind your Kendale surplusing request

TO: Doug Duncan
FROM: "Not Doug Duncan"
DATE: May 23, 2006
RE: Damage control

A lot of people who would otherwise vote for you get hopping mad when they learn that you were the one who started the whole Kendale/Seven Locks ordeal.

They get even angrier when they see your October, 2003 letter asking Superintendent Jerry Weast to surplus public school property for one of your pet construction projects.

Now that we forced the superintendent and school board to scrap their Kendale project and keep Seven Locks Elementary School open, we imagine that some on the losing side are still planning to bulldoze the wooded wildlife habitat on Kendale Road that you asked Weast to surplus for your project.

We remain worried about the fate of the Kendale property, as MCPS is still being untruthful about its intentions. We as parents are concerned about any county-led construction project that would result in hundreds of new kids suddenly dumped into area schools, and find the county's secretiveness to be cause for alarm.

You can do much to ease the community's concerns by rescinding your 2003 request for surplused school property. You should also pledge to keep school land for school kids.

Your withdrawal of your surplusing request will ameliorate some of the community's festering distrust of its elected local leaders. Some of those leaders are among your strongest supporters and are trying to do the right thing. Please help them.