District 4 Council Endorsement

When I made my first endorsement last month I said I was going to do the easy ones first. The District 4 council race certainly qualifies in that regard. Currently there are four people vying for this seat which encompasses most of west Columbia. Tom D’Asto, Jeff Underwood, and Alan Klein are the challengers and Mary Kay Sigaty is the incumbent seeking reelection.

Of the three challengers, Alan Klein is the only one I know well. In five years of community activism Alan has demonstrated an ability to be an obstructionist but he hasn’t shown that he is capable of actually getting anything done. Even his affordable housing allies abandoned him in the Town Center redevelopment legislation when they reached an innovative compromise with General Growth Properties. With a failing village center and a district that includes all of Columbia Town Center, District 4 needs someone who has demonstrated an ability to get things done for the people of the district.

Mary Kay has done all that. Though the Wilde Lake village center has continued to flounder during her first term in office it is not due to a lack of effort on her part. Mary Kay spearheaded new legislation to unlock some of the barriers to redeveloping the Columbia village centers and the result of that effort is just now starting to bear fruit. On Town Center redevelopment she worked tirelessly to insure that the county’s urban core is developed in a manner that protects the environment, property values, and future generations. There is still work to be done in Town Center with the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and the Design Advisory Panel. This is no time to change horses midstream.

Mary Kay Sigaty for District 4.

For the partisans keeping score, that’s one Dem and one Repub…so far.