Much has already been written about the Democratic candidate for the 5th District county council seat. Since her late entry into the race, Dr. Zaneb Beams has raised an eyebrow or two for allegedly campaigning door to door in Montgomery County and for her recent letter in support of local farm stands.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, the farm stand she singles out as “key in protecting the rural west from big-box developers,” is hardly a poster child for preserving HoCo agriculture. The Harbin family sold their farm to developers for an active adult community and the farm stand is all that remains.
Don’t get me wrong, I support the Harbin Farm stand but not because it holds the key to supporting HoCo farms. I just happen to like farm stands.
And there really isn’t any imminent threat of “big box retail” coming to western HoCo. The area simply lacks the key elements that these retailers are looking for in a location such as population density, highway visibility and public service.
The real economic issues for HoCo farms are things like whether a farm can host weddings and other events or whether they can put cell phone antennas on their farm silos.
I certainly hope Dr. Beams practices medicine better than she studies local issues.
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