Youth Town Hall Meeting a Great Success!

On Wednesday, February 3, High School and Middle School students from across the County were able to express views on a vast amount of issues and ask questions of County Council Councilmembers. Over 400 students attended the meeting at the Council Office Building in Rockville.

The County Council, which for the past several years has held Town Hall Meetings throughout the County in its efforts to find out what issues most concern residents, learned yesterday what is on the mind of younger residents when it hosted its first-ever Town Hall Meeting for Students. This was the first Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Council in 2010.

Some of the issues raised at the Town Hall Meeting were

• County and school budget
• Maintenance of Effort
• Jobs
• Gaithersburg West Master Plan
• Wheaton redevelopment
• White Flint Master Plan
• Health care/insurance for people under the age of 18
• School safety
• College education
• Staying and living in Montgomery County
• Magnet schools
• Environmental issues
• After school programs
• Sports Academy
• Intervention and prevention programs
• Libraries
• Places/venues for young people
• Role models
• School-based services
• And many other topics

Some of the participants asked their questions in Spanish and some Councilmembers also responded in Spanish to these specific questions. Wil Gutierrez from the Trachtenberg Office interpreted the questions from Spanish to English.

The meeting was open to high school and middle school students from around the County. The meeting allowed the participants to let Councilmembers know how they feel about specific issues and also provided the opportunity to ask questions of the Councilmembers in an organized, but informal, setting.

Participants also had the opportunity to speak with Councilmembers at a reception before the meeting. Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg and her colleagues also stayed after the meeting to converse with parents and students.

The meeting was broadcasted live on County Cable Montgomery (CCM) and will rebroadcast at various times in the following weeks on Channel 6 or 30. The program was also broadcasted live on simulcast on Network partners at Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery College. Susan Kennedy, a producer for the county station, moderated the meeting.

Watch the Youth Town Hall Meeting online.

Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg and some of the students at the Town Hall Meeting

Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg Launches Blog in Spanish

"Duchy Trachtenberg en Español’ Will Be First Montgomery Councilmember Blog for Spanish-Speaking Community

January 28, 2010—Montgomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg (D—at large) has launched the County Council’s first blog for the County’s Spanish-speaking community.

The blog, “Duchy Trachtenberg en Español” is edited by Wil Gutierrez, a graduate of Goucher College and Silver Spring resident, who recently joined the Trachtenberg Office.

“I am very grateful to Councilmember Trachtenberg for giving me an opportunity to serve the residents of Montgomery County and to help the County Council in its work,” said Gutierrez, who manages Councilmember Trachtenberg’s “new media” program. “I welcome the opportunity to use my technical skills to help get her message out to our neighbors. I think we can provide a very useful public function with the various social networking tools.”

Councilmember Trachtenberg’s Spanish language blog includes links to important local, state and federal Internet Web Sites including Montgomery County Public Schools, the Montgomery County Library system, the County’s Family Justice Center and the Latino Health Initiative. It also includes links to key Spanish language media such as El Tiempo Latino, El Zol Radio, Telemundo and Univision.

“I am a strong believer of using all types of new media and the social networking tools that we have to reach out to our citizens,” said Councilmember Trachtenberg. “Montgomery County is home to a diverse population of nearly one million people and we need to do whatever we can to educate and inform all the people. I think using Facebook, Twitter and our blogs to communicate our messages and to get feedback from the community is wonderful and very exciting. I hope we can do much more.”

In addition to the Spanish language and a blog in English, the Trachtenberg Office also uses the social networking vehicles of Twitter and Facebook to connect to Montgomery County residents.

Councilmember Trachtenberg’s new media sites can be accessed at www.twitter.com/duchy_t (Twitter); http://www.duchytrachtenberg.blogspot.com/ (English language), http://duchytrachtenberg-espanol.blogspot.com/ (Spanish language), and http://fbpage.com/duchy-trachtenberg (Facebook).

For more information, contact Alan S. Bowser in Councilmember Trachtenberg’s office at 240-777-7965.

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To view the Council press release, click here.

Montgomery County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

The Trachtenberg Office was well represented at the Montgomery County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce‘s Holiday Event at Guapo’s Mexican Restaurant in Bethesda. Staff members Alan Bowser, Naomi Bloch and Wil Gutierrez enjoyed talking and networking with representatives of the County’s Hispanic business community. Among the firms attending the event were FEEP Corp, Rill Architects, Creative Guys USA, C Accounting Solutions Inc., Open Global Marketing, Liberty Power, Landscape by Today Inc., and Sandglass.

Duchy Trachtenberg en Espanol!

The Trachtenberg Office is pleased to announce the launch of our new blog, Duchy Trachtenberg En Espanol!

Through our blog, we hope to expand out connections to the Spanish speaking community and to inform and educate our neighbors about the work of Trachtenberg Office and the Montgomery County Council and Government.

"Duchy Trachtenberg en Espanol" is edited by Wil Gutierrez, a graduate of Goucher College and a resident of Silver Spring, who has joined the Trachtenberg Office. The blog includes links to important community resources such as Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery County Library System, Montgomery County’s Latino Health Initiative, Spanish-language media, and other important federal, state and local internet sites.

You can view the Duchy Trachtenberg en Espanol at http://duchytrachtenberg-espanol.blogspot.com/

Our other online resources are Duchy Trachtenberg’s Blog, Duchy Trachtenberg on Twitter, and Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg