Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Examiner: County Councilwoman from Silver Spring Joins Leventhal, Andrews, and Duncan as Democratic candidates.
Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin announced plans to join an already crowded Democratic field for the 2014 County Executive race, The Washington Examiner reported. Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring joins county councilmen George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) of Takoma Park and Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist.3) of Gaithersburg, and former County Executive Doug Duncan in the race, according to the report. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) could still announce a run for re-election. Ervin, 55, said she'd had "serious discussions" with multiple community members, pollsters and media consultants about starting her campaign, according to the report. Read the full story on The Washington Examiner.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin leads lawmakers calling for increased funding for a school breakfast program.
Nearly every student at Roscoe Nix Elementary in Silver Spring eats a free and nutritionally balanced breakfast. Teachers serve hot meals in the classroom before the first bell instead of in the usually busy cafeteria. It's an unconventional approach to feeding students, but one that Montgomery County lawmakers hope will become the norm in more schools. County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin joined students and members of the Maryland General Assembly Wednesday to tout the success of the Maryland Meals for Achievement program at schools like Roscoe Nix. She penned a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery that calls for an additional $1.8 million in funding to put the program in 130 additional …
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The program would take food that would otherwise be thrown away and redistribute to people in need.
A proposed "food recovery" program for Montgomery County that would redistribute would-be wasted food to people in need gained momentum last week. The County Council on Tuesday approved a work group to study costs and logistics for the program that Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist 5) of Silver Spring proposed in October. She said the idea was inspired by the work of two University of Maryland students. Maryland's program, called the Food Recovery Network, collects unused food from events like football games and alumni parties, and redistributes the food to hungry people. The group has donated more than 30,000 meals. The work group is made up of county government and school officials and representatives from local food banks, grocery …
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Ervin: ‘We’re turning on a faucet and only letting some drops drip out of the faucet, and then we’re pretending like that’s good enough.’
Officials, advocates and the community at large need to shed outdated ideas about the long-hailed strength of Montgomery’s affordable housing programs, councilmembers say, and come up with concrete plans that work effectively. More than a year in the making, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs has drafted a 100-page housing policy—the first update since 2001—that puts a priority on: Councilmembers want to make sure the county does not rest on the laurels of decades past, when initiatives like the MPDU program LINK made Montgomery a pioneer in affordable housing. “Before we start patting ourselves on the back and congratulating ourselves for all the wonderful things we’ve done, we still have to recognize that Montgomery County…
Monday, October 8, 2012
Montgomery County Council member Valerie Ervin said she was inspired by students at the University of Maryland who redistributed food that would be thrown away from sports events.
How many hungry people could government and community programs feed if food that would otherwise be thrown away was redistributed to those who needed it? Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist 5) of Silver Spring is hoping to find out. Ervin announced Friday that she wants to start a food recovery program in Montgomery County based on a model created by students at the University of Maryland, College Park. Ervin is scheduled to outline the county program at a news conference on Tuesday in Rockville. At Maryland, the Food Recovery Network collects unused food from special events, such as football games and alumni parties, and redistributes the food to hungry people. The group has donated more than 30,000 meals, according to a …
Sunday, December 18, 2011
But will the county council’s actions match the rhetoric?
This week, Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner succeeded Valerie Ervin as the new council president for the coming year. Ervin's term was marked by unprecedented financial challenges brought on by the lingering effects of the Great Recession. Perhaps the most enduring impression she left was the extraordinary unity with which she led the council through this extremely difficult time, and for which she was unfairly singled out for showing some political courage along the way. Berliner will be hard pressed to measure up on that score, but he just might pull it off if he and his colleagues follow through on the direction he set in his first few statements as council president. Right after his election to lead a council not exactly …
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Council President Valerie Ervin, a former union organizer, seeks to repeal law that gives unions great power over management decisions.
This year, the Montgomery County Council has taken several steps to rein in some of the more questionable concessions public employee unions had extracted from the county in previous years. In a county known for granting the unions virtually everything on their wish lists, today’s tough economic climate is forcing the council to restore a little more balance to the relationship. It has not been easy for anyone, Council President Valerie Ervin and the unions in particular. First came the inevitable trimming of county employees' health and retirement benefits, to help bring spending back in line with declining revenues. Then the county moved to rein in some of the more outrageous abuses that had been going on for years in the disability …
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Only a week ago, union chief passionately opposed the measure
Montgomery County Council members voted to make it easier Tuesday for the county to win contract disputes with organized labor without a peep from the union leaders who just a week earlier accused the council of turning its back on working people. The measure, unanimously approved, would require an impartial arbitrator to first consider the county's ability to pay for any contract improvements before reviewing other factors, such as wages in neighboring areas when there's an impasse during collective bargaining. Council President Valerie Ervin, a former union organizer, said the legislation "levels the playing field" for contract negotiations that go to arbitration. Arbitrators have sided with labor union proposals in 12 out of the 17 …
Kim Cooke
8:05 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012
Well said, Mr. Hydorn. more ›