Pittman's Pen

Funerals impact me. Especially when the friends and family of the deceased truly share with the audience the person they have lost.

I’ve had zero influence on my sister’s thinking about education, but her work has influenced me. Now that you know about that one sister, I might as well come clean. There are others. They’ve all influenced me. You see, I was born into a public policy think tank.

Our future depends on the next generation solving problems, cooperating with one another across the planet, and confronting these threats. Going from a home environment to a school environment is a first step to get there, into something bigger, into community, into diversity, and into opportunity.

I’m not anti-development. In fact I may be more pro-development - pro redevelopment, transit-oriented development, town center development, and housing for our essential workers - than any County Executive before me. But I’ll fight like hell to protect nature from destruction by human beings.

When we sit down as a Board of Directors, we are friends and allies in the urgent work of managing the institutions of local government. Doing that work either as an elected leader or a county agency employee without knowing and learning from peers across the state who are doing the same work, would be irresponsible. So we gather in Ocean City, and we all benefit.

What I’ve found is that sailing on the Bay is a lot like galloping the countryside on a horse. You’re not in complete control, but when you find the perfect balance and tact, you’re in harmony with the world.

I described the entrepreneurial spirit I’d witnessed at the monthly business breakfasts hosted by our Multicultural Affairs Officer, the generosity of Latino business owners during the pandemic, and our efforts to ensure that our Salvadoran families here legally through the Temporary Protected Status program are informed and prepared to renew that status before it expires.