Free Library Parking, Perhaps, But No Free Discussion of It

"If the city government were freed from subsidizing special interest, the city government can live within its means as other local jurisdictions do," he said. "It's time for a city tax cap, which means your taxes level off to a predictable, tolerable rate year after year."

Powell, who serves as executive director of Neighbors for a Better Montgomery, a political action committee vocal in its criticism of development interests, will face City Council member Susan R. Hoffmann. Mayor Larry Giammo announced in February he will not run for another term.

In attendance for the announcement were activists Amy Presley, head of the Clarksburg Town Center Advisory Committee, members of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, County Council members Marc Elrich (D-At Large) and Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville) and County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), whom Powell backed during his candidacy.

Piotr Gajewski, music director and conductor for the National Philharmonic, said Tuesday that he plans to run for a seat on the Rockville City Council.

"Rockville is a great place," said Gajewski, 48, from his office at Strathmore Music Center in North Bethesda. "I'd like to see it continue to do very well, and I think I can play a role [so] that it continues to be a nice city to live in."

Gajewski said he wants to address the city's taxes, eliminate inefficiencies and look into the possibility of more private-public partnerships in the city's recreation department. In addition to his music career, the Warsaw-born conductor has a law degree and a long-held interest in politics. He has supported various local and national Democratic campaigns, he said. He became interested in running for the council when he found out Hoffmann, a friend, was going to run for mayor.

Gajewski said he plans to formally declare his candidacy in the coming weeks.

Civic Federation Awards

The Montgomery Civic Federation, an amalgam of neighborhood organizations, hosted its annual dinner Friday and handed out several honors.

County Council members Marilyn Praisner, Phil Andrews, Marc Elrich and Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large) attended.

Honored were Life Skills Workshop Inc., Common Cause Maryland and Jim Humphrey, a longtime activist and self-taught planning expert who heads the federation's land use committee.

Life Skills serves women who are homeless, incarcerated, domestic violence victims or in recovery from substance abuse as they enter or return to the workforce and has helped more than 300 women. The group got the Gazette award for public service.

Common Cause Maryland received the Sentinel award for its contribution to "good government" for work on publicly funded election campaigns, single-member districts, paper trails for balloting, nonpartisan redistricting, sunshine laws for government meetings, merit-based legislative scholarships and ethics in government.

The Star Cup went to Humphrey, a Bethesda resident, for mastering "the minutiae of zoning law and land use regulations, annual growth policy, building moratoriums [and] the master plan process," and learning "how our county government affects these laws and rules." Also noted was his "unfailingly cheerful demeanor."

Staff writer Miranda S. Spivack contributed to this report.