Tuesday, January 13, 2009

History Channel Covers Local Infrastructure

Today I had the privilege of providing an interview to the History Channel for its upcoming documentary on the country’s crumbling infrastructure. I enjoyed working with the Tinseltown pros, and I am especially pleased to have infrastructure issues playing out on a national stage.

We discussed the recent water main break on River Road that put lives in jeopardy, closed schools and caused extreme inconvenience to commuters, residents, businesses and holiday travelers. Beyond that, we talked about the seriousness of aging infrastructure that increasingly causes headaches for us all.

Montgomery County, along with many other jurisdictions nationwide, grapples with competing needs. Invisible problems like underground pipes struggle to compete with sexier capital projects like libraries and community centers. Water pipe maintenance is expensive, which is why we currently are on a 200-year replacement cycle. While Montgomery County residents traditionally have been generous when it comes to the public good, there is a limit to how much people reasonably can be asked to pay.

Stay tuned for more information about our progress on infrastructure as well as dates and times to see the documentary.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a librarian, I am certainly glad to hear that among the sexier capital projects are libraries. According to one of my friends, libraries are about the only thing that government can get right.