Just a note to the Montgomery County Executive's spokesperson, Patrick Lacefield, the land in question is public SCHOOL land.
It's land for a school. It's a 20 acre dedicated public school site to benefit the educational needs of public school children.
What's up with the current County Executive and the previous County Executive trying to hand this public SCHOOL land over to private entities? Do you think Mother Theresa would want to put a school on this land, or would she want to hand it over to private developers? We look forward to your answer, Mr. Lacefield.
...Williams said that the Brickyard Coalition is opposed to the lack of transparency, the secrecy and the failure to consult our community regarding the best use of the Brickyard public property. “Mr. Lacefield’s Statements are not true,” said Williams. “Potomac has both multiple soccer fields and affordable housing within a mile of the Brickyard site. In fact, an unused soccer field site exists within this same area. Why not build a soccer field on that site?”Lacefield disagreed that that’s truly what residents of Potomac are against, the process in which the lease was handled. “If the process was different and Mother Theresa was doing a project on that land, they would still oppose it,” said Lacefield. “This is a "Not-In-My-Backyard" from the One-Percenters. I love Potomac. I live there. These folks don't speak for Potomac as a whole.”
Mr. Lacefield provides erroneous information in every statement that I have seen regarding soccer fields and Brickyard. First he said the county gov. had numerous meetings with residents—neglecting to mention that meetings were held as a result of citizens' protests after they were presented with "a done deal" for soccer fields. Then he said that Potomac does not have afforadable housing or soccer fields when there are two affordable housing sites and 5 soccer fields (plus one undeveloped field) within two miles of the farm. Then he said that Mr. Leggett did not care about election funding, but Mr. Legget accepted a large donation from a member of the MSI board when the property transfer was being considered. In the meantime, the county gov. has failed to recognize the uniquess of this nationlly recognized organic farmer (and the only organic seed farm in the county) while proclaiming that the county backs local farming. Mr. Leggett continues to try to push this project forward (despite 50,000 signatures calling for saving the farm). Mr. Leggett also asserts that he advocates for "maintaining the residential character of county neighborhoods." These soccer fields would be fenced, so the neighborhood can not use them, with massive parking lots for hundreds of cars, as well as a concession stand. Nice neighborhood feel? How long can we be told one thing while something totally different is happening behind our backs? Evidentally for as long as Mr. Lacefield and Mr. Leggett are there to say whatever they please despite what the facts are.
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