Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views of the Town of La Plata. This is the fourth in a series of podcasts about the Town Council’s review of the FY 2026 Operating, Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), an...

 This is a quick video providing clarification and context about campaign finances from questions and comments from recent La Plata Town Council candidate forums.  When filing as a candidate, a Certificate of Nomination,&...

What is Ex Parte Communications?  When decision-making processes (e.g., in local government) give the appearance, real or imagined, of being one-sided or prejudiced, and therefore, full due process is not provided to the public. <...

 The 4/5th Democratic Club hosted a La Plata candidate forum at the Green Turtle, La Plata, on Monday, April 14. All candidates attended:Mayor, Jeannine E. James (incumbent), Ralph Wayne Winkler Ward I, Paul C. Gu...

Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views of the Town of La Plata. This is the third in a series of podcasts about the Town Council’s review of the FY 2026 Operating, Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and Ente...

 Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views of the Town of La Plata. This is the second podcast series about the Town Council’s review of the FY 2026 Operating, Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and Enterprise ...

Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views of the Town of La Plata. This is the first in a series of podcasts about the Town Council’s review of the FY 2026 Operating, Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and Ente...

This is David Jenkins, La Plata Town Council member from Ward 4 and your host for this podcast and video, now available on YouTube, and YouTube Music. This is an excerpt from my last article for the forthcoming Spring 2025 Town News...

An update about:2025 La Plata Town electionsTown Manager Selection processLinks: YouTube Video202...

My Facebook Page (David Jenkins, Ward 4 Update) and podcast/video series (La Plata Ward 4 Update) are evolving to become Crosswalks, providing an independent, factual look at planning and development in Southern Maryland. Crosswalks wil...

When David Jenkins, La Plata, Maryland Town Council member, attended the Local-Motive session “Parsing Through Your Local Budget to Find Some Real Answers”—co-presented by Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns and Michel Durand-Wood, author of the Dear ...

This is the next episode in a series of podcasts and videos about La Plata’s budget, which aims to provide transparency and information as the Town Council prepares the FY 2026 budget.This episode is based on work by Strong Towns’s prio...

This episode is about the need for a La Plata Economic Development function. At the December 10, 2024, Town Council meeting, Town of La Plata Ordinance 24-20, Tourism Zones was introduced as a first reading. This is based on Sta...

The first episode in this series about La Plata’s budget was posted on December 16, 2024, and talked about the preparation of the FY 2026, including the calendar of Town Council mee...

This episode and later ones will provide information and transparency as the Town Council prepares the FY 26 budget, which includes the operating budget, enterprise budget (water, sewer, trash/sanitation, stormwater management), and capital imp...

This episode provides the results from La Plata’s 2024 National Community Survey, presented to the Town Council at our September 20, 2024, meeting. In April 2024, the Town engaged Polco to conduct the National Communit...

This is David Jenkins, La Plata Town Council member from Ward 4 and your host for this podcast and videos, now available on YouTube, and YouTube Music. This episode is about questions and frustration from many Town and County residents ...

This is a follow-up to my August 13, 2024, podcast and video – Speed and Traffic, and the article in the latest Town newsletter. There is a need for traffic calming options and a community/town cooperative program in our residential neighborhoo...

I want to follow up on my  October 8th  podcast/video, La Plata 2025 Election, why I’m not running for re-election, and my greatest regrets comments – the lack of a Town citizen participation/engagement program, and little resident pa...

This is David Jenkins, La Plata Town Council member from Ward 4 and your host for this podcast and videos, now available on YouTube, and YouTube Music. The 2025 Town election schedule and new Town Ward Maps are provided in this episode....

This is an update to my September 23 video and September 25 podcast about The Housing Shortage -   Charles County.  The monthly Charles County Strong Towns Local Conversation on September 26th discussed affordable housing in C...

The Town needs to improve our citizen outreach and information sharing. This is a critical need, as seen from feedback from our FY 25 budget process. There were many negative comments about the lack of budget information, other than the mini...

The first podcast/video in this series (posted August 19, 2024) was about the housing shortage from the Maryland perspective. This podcast/video episode now focuses on Charles County. Y...

This is the first in a series of episodes about the housing shortage in Maryland, and La Plata/Charles County. This first episode provides Maryland housing information, from Municipal League’s (MML) August 1, 2024, Housing Symposium...

Hi and welcome again to this latest episode of La Plata Ward 4 Update Podcast.   This is David Jenkins, La Plata Town Council member from Ward 4 and your host for this podcast and videos, now available on YouTube, and YouTube M...