Vicki Almond at her home in Reisterstown
Councilwoman Vicki Almond is touting her experience in local government as she runs to become the next Baltimore County Executive. And she’s pushing back on criticism that developers’ campaign contributions have ever influenced her vote.
In a wide-ranging interview, she also discussed the recent controversy over Baltimore County Public Schools interim superintendent’s undisclosed consulting fees; construction of a new building for Towson High School; the success of the Foundry Row development in her district; and why she voted to let the controversial Royal Farms project in Towson move forward.
The other two Democrats in the primary race for county executive — Sen. Jim Brochin of Cockeysville and and Johnny Olszewski Jr. of Dundalk — both have a background in state politics, while Almond has been on the county council for nearly two terms.
“County [government] is so different. We are so local. We are all about everyday life. And we do legislation that helps with that everyday life, but our main concerns are making sure we have good schools, good public safety, smart growth, and solid communities, roads paved,” Almond said. “When you tell me you don’t have money to pave a road, we’ve got a problem. Because people want their roads paved, and why shouldn’t they? If there’s a pothole, I’m like William Donald Schafer: ‘There’s a pothole. I want someone to come and fix it!'”
Prior to joining the council seven years ago, Almond, 68, spent decades as a volunteer. She was parish administrator at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church for 20 years, and she served for many years, including serving as president, on the PTA and on the ROG (Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council). She also served as chief of staff to state Sen. Bobby Zirkin.
As a teen, she dropped out of high school to help her mother make ends meet, going to night school for her GED while working during the day. She did not attend college but instead, as her spokeswoman said, got “a degree in real life.”
Almond formally announced her run earlier this month at Foundry Row, a new outdoor mall anchored by Wegmans and home to stores like Old Navy and HomeGoods, and restaurants such as Mission BBQ and Bagby Pizza. The site was formerly a former Sweetheart Cup factory.
Almond championed the project by developer Greenberg Gibbons, even as others — such as the developer behind the nearby mixed-use Metro Centre — fought against it. Foundry Row was supported by groups including ROG and the Greater Greenspring Association.
Wegmans at Foundry Row
“Foundry Row has made Owings Mills,” Almond said.
One of the entities that was against Foundry Row was the development firm Caves Valley Partners, according to the Jewish Times. Caves Valley gave money to a fund called A Better Baltimore County Slate that supported Almond’s opponent in the 2014 Democratic primary. The fund was created by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and former councilmen Vince Gardina and John Olszewski Sr., whose son is now running against Almond and Brochin in the primary.
RELATED: Brochin targets developer influence in County Executive bid
(Kamenetz supported challengers to both Almond and Brochin in their most recent primaries, although in both cases those challengers were defeated.)
But in the intervening years, Caves Valley has been a supporter of Almond and has donated at least $6,000 to her campaign since January 2014.
Proposed Royal Farms
Recently Almond drew the ire of many Towson residents when she and other Democrats on the council voted against killing a proposed Royal Farms gas station at the corner of York Road and Bosley Avenue. Councilman David Marks, a Republican who represents the area, initially supported the Royal Farms but then decided it was unworkable. He introduced a motion to kill the development, but it was voted down in August along party lines.
The Royal Farms developer is Caves Valley.
Councilman Tom Quirk is now overseeing negotiations between Caves Valley and community members who are opposed to the project. They were supposed to come to a resolution by mid September but are still in talks.
“Quite frankly, again, it’s York Road. [The Royal Farms] was going to make that corner better, I thought. Again, if you don’t want development on a major corridor, where do you want it? But there were also things that were done like the trees were taken down with no notice. I mean it was one catastrophe after another, it just kept, you know, just boiling over,” Almond said in an interview.
“Any time I think there’s a chance for compromise and negotiation I want to let it happen. And I think that is what’s happening. And I think at some point soon you will hear what they’re going to do,” she said.
Brochin, and some in the community, have criticized Almond for being too close to developers and, they say, letting campaign contributions influence her decisions. Brochin, for example, has said Almond is part of the “pay-to-play culture in Towson” and that she voted for the Royal Farms project because “she’s indebted to Caves Valley and everybody knows it.”
Almond said she resents those accusations.
“I have never made a promise that says ‘I’ll do whatever you want to do.’ I haven’t. I won’t. And it offends me when people think that,” she said. “Developers give you money, and the reason they give you money is not to make you do what they want you to do — I’m sure some of them are hopeful — they give you money to have access.”
She pointed out that her opponents have also gotten money from developers and other special interests.
“We all do,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that you’re bought and paid for.”
Another issue the next county executive will have to confront is the fact that Towson High School’s building has been identified as needing to be replaced because it is in disrepair and is overcrowded. The county recently promised planning money for a new building for the school, and BCPS submitted a funding request for the state that said the new Towson building would seat more than 1,800 students. Some in the area are concerned that the school will have too many students for such a small piece of land — the smallest high school site in the county.
“Why do we have to build these schools so big? Can we build schools with more flexibility? Trends change. Some years we need more elementary schools, some years we more middle schools, and some years more high schools. So can’t we be a little more flexible in our thought process when we’re building these schools?” Almond said.
“I think we’ve got to be innovative. It can’t just be this or that,” she said. “We have an 1,800-kid school or we redistrict, what do you want? I don’t think those are the only choices, and I think those are things that we have to look at and say, OK, how big should a high school be?”
In regard to Verletta White, the interim BCPS superintendent who recently acknowledged she failed to disclose income she made as a consultant for a company that helps technology firms get school contracts, Almond said she will reserve judgement.
“I have a great deal of respect for her and I think she’s a good interim superintendent and I would hope that she could stay as superintendent,” Almond said. “I think there needs to be an explanation from her about it.”
As for all the technology that BCPS has recently acquired, Almond said she wants to make sure that along with using devices, students are also learning the basics of reading, writing and speaking. She said she’d also like to see BCPS put more emphasis on vocational training.
“We need to bring back the electricians and the carpenters — those are good, stable jobs with good pay,” she said. “And if you have kids in high school who have no intention of going to college … but yet you give them an apprenticeship and you pull them into the trades and you can save a kid that way.”
In addition to the three Democrats, Maryland Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer and state Del. Pat McDonough have both joined the race on the Republican side. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the county by a 2-to-1 margin.
Almond did not mention the fact in a wide-ranging interview, but if she wins, she would be the first woman to hold the job of Baltimore County Executive.
While Brochin and Olszewski have participated in several debates, Almond so far has declined to do so. Her spokeswoman said for now she is listening to voters and will join in the debates next year.
Almond said she doesn’t want to be County Executive as a stepping stone to higher office.
“I’m in it to make Baltimore County better and to make the citizens of Baltimore County say, Hey, we live in a great place. And I want more people to come and live here. We haven’t closed the doors. We’re open for business, we’re open for people,” she said. “But you have to have all of it to attract people to come here. You have to have good neighborhoods, solid schools, public safety, and economic development.”
-Kris Henry,
The Towson Flyer
Caves Valley wins over County Council; Royal Farms development will advance
Royal Farms gas station would ruin Towson’s gateway, critics say
I shudder to think how Ms. Almond would direct the Baltimore County Department of Planning and the Office of Facilities and Improvement for BCPS given her statements in this interview. If you are “hopeful that Towson is going to be what it was meant to be: that it’s going to be that walkable, lovely community” how do you see allowing a suburban strip-mail with a gas station at the entry to Towson achieving that goal? Which is it? Do you think the Master Plan should be conformed with or do you think it’s ok for Planning to declare an area within the Downtown district a “transition zone” where no such zone exists. And please, don’t scold us for our vehement participation in the process delineated in the Baltimore County Code for the review of a despised PUD with “C’mon folks, we’re trying to make your community better.” Further don’t twist the timeline on those negotiations that apparently you were aware of prior to the vote to table the Resolution to remove gas from the project. Maybe YOU were told about the planned negotiations, but the community was not. There could not have been talks with the community because it was not announced that there would be negotiations for four more days. As for this magical school building that expands and contracts as needed to accommodate fluctuations in student population, I wait with bated breath to see that realized in bricks and mortar. The name for those accommodations is “learning cottages”… Read more »
One of Councilwoman Almond’s comments sounds very familiar. Specifically, she implies that the opponents of the Royal Farm convenience store/gas station did not want development on York Road, a “major corridor” as she described it. That assertion is patently false and she knows it to be false. The opponents welcomed development, just not a 24/7 gas station and convenience store. This was the same line that the County Executive had previously used when attacking those community residents who opposed the Caves Valley Partners’ project. Hopefully the issue will eventually be resolved, but that does not excuse the fact that she voted in favor of the developer and against the wishes of local citizens.
Almond response about developers giving her money because they want “access” seems completely off. She is a public servant. Everyone has “access” to her in that capacity. What developers want is more access, better access, than her non-paying constituents. In saying that a discussion about the money she gets from developers offends or insults her, Almond is attempting to shut down the conversation. People in Baltimore County should continue to press her on this point.
I guess this is why she doesn’t understand the conflict of interest issue surrounding previous superintendent Dance and interim superintendent White. It’s not just an explanation needed, the problem is that they have both been influenced by those that have given them resources (money, travel, food, fancy hotels…) and we, as tax payers, are now paying for those unnecessarily expensive tablets and all the software/curriculum to use them. Young children don’t just need time to learn how to read, write, and speak, they need adults to teach them and care for them and to keep them safe. These expensive and fragile tablets have railroaded the BCPS budget along with all of the software/curriculum/STAT teacher expenditures. We need more human beings in schools and on buses, not expensive tablets. Clearly, she does not understand the nuance of pay for play. My vote goes to Brochin- let’s get someone in there who is willing to pay attention to the nuances of these choices. It’s not computers in schools or no computers in schools. It’s which kind of computers, how much resources should be put into them and how many- each 6 year old does not need their very own $1400 tablet. And the same for that York road corridor- it’s a copout to say if no development there, where does the public want it? Certainly, there are people who have explained exactly what they want and it’s nuanced. Yes, development in that location is good, no to a gas station with very… Read more »
Well said on all points! Almond highlighting campaign fund donor “access” and scolding neighbors and families— that attend a school right next to a proposed truck-stop level gas station, or two churches also adjacent—as being unreasonable says it all. Let alone the “County” claim to caring about constituents. The majority of council members could not even slow down the overspending on the BCPS laptop-per-student program known as STAT, even though they have financial oversight since over half of county tax revenue goes to the public schools. Nor have they paid attention to any of the issues raised, often directly to the council, on education technology conflicts-of-interest with BCPS leadership, which later showed up more widely in the media.
I would hope an emphasis on education essentials would instead put the teacher in charge, not software-delivered education, which is problematic or worse especially among the youngest learners and those with reading challenges, such as dyslexia. That is the situation at BCPS.
I was on the fence on the Democratic side of this, but am now firmly in Senator Brochin’s camp. He at least had the courage to call for an audit of BCPS contracts and spending, instead of taking a political party dodge on the issue. An inquiry to determine what is going on is actually acting in the best interest of County residents and families.
Give back the Caves Valley Money. Don’t ever take money like that again. Make it illegal for that to ever happen again.
Her statement that the community just wanted trees or a garden at corner of York and Bosley is absolutely untrue. We never said no development we said we were opposed to a 24-hr gas station!!!! Her statement that the Royal Farms gas station would be better for the property sounds exactly like what the attorneys for Caves Valley told those attending a community input meeting. As for her saying developers donate funds to get access to her does this mean if she is county exec she will only talk to those who give to her campaign???