Ron Pagano for Wicomico County Council, Dist 5 MY VISION FOR WICOMICO COUNTY In my 61 years, I have been an Attorney, Investment Advisor, Court Commissioner and Business Owner/Jobs Creator, but I am most proud of my advocacy work on behalf of individuals and non-profit organizations. I am currently serving as Vice President of the I.P.P.S. Mentoring Program, Inc. I am also nominated to serve as Vice President of the Trustees at my church, Chair of the Board of Moving Closer To Home Ministries, Inc, and have served on many other Boards and community organizations in the past. I am married to a middle school English teacher and I have two great sons, one still in college, the other having received his PhD from Johns Hopkins, as well as honoring me with a grandson. I am proud of the role I played in raising my boys, having been little league baseball manager for 10 season (7 of those were Championships). I was also BSA Pack Leader, on the PTA, and involved with all their school and extra-curricular activities. I learned my advocacy skills from my Mother, who fought to keep me at our local elementary school, when the Board of Education wanted to place me in a special education class on the other side of the County. I started practicing these skills in high school, where I started a city-wide organization of disabled students, in order to force the Board of Education to end a school bus strike, because able-bodied students could take public transportation to school, but disabled students were forced to sit at home for over 3 weeks, missing out on school. I continued developing my skills through high school, on to college and law school, being the first in my family to earn a college degree. I fought for fair housing, equal employment opportunity, accessible transportation and much more, leading up to my work in helping to draft sections of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the 1980s. Ive always had a distaste for either/or questions. What I found over 45 years of advocacy and business is that there are usually more than one or two ways to approach an issue. There are some who arent interested in new solutions or innovative approaches to solving problems. To them, I say its time to step aside. Our country didnt become great with people saying NO as a matter of course. Our county didnt become the Hub of Delmarva by business leaders, farmers and elected officials saying OPPOSED without further discussion. Our vision for the county should always include our children and grandchildren. My vision is for every child to graduate high school, and for every graduate to go on to college or a vocational training program, then securing a good-paying job, right here in Wicomico County. I look forward to the day when our children come home and say, Mom, Dad, Ive decided I want to stay here and work the family farm, or Mom, Dad, I just got a great job and Ive decided to get married, buy a home and raise my family here. We need to stop raising and educating our great kids, only to wave goodbye to them because they cant find a good-paying job nearby. The opportunities are all around us, whether its the potential of NASA-Wallops Space Flight Facility or the growth of companies like Jubilant Cadista, who bought 300 jobs to the county since 2007 and looking to add another 200 in the next few years. I am committed to bringing jobs here. I will meet any one, any time, and any where, to talk about jobs! We need to be innovative, aggressive and proactive in creating partnerships with public and private organizations. We ALL need to become advocates of Wicomico County!
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:35:48 +0000
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