Travis Gayles to resign - MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is terrible he was getting death and other threats. Absolutely unacceptable.
He was also horrible in this role during the pandemic crisis time.
He probably would have been adequate in 'normal times' dealing with whatever the 'normal' set of issues would be that he would need to manage. But during the pandemic, he was terrible and actually not very science driven.

We have the highest vaccination rate around and relatively lowest transmission of large counties (we were last in the region to go from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’)

Nothing to do with gayles. We all drove an hour plus for vaccines on our own in April. A lot of people can and are working from home. Moco’s population (liberal, educated, affluent, covid cautious) is why.

It's both. Rational leadership and rational population (for the most part). You can't just have one, and end up with the vaccination rates and mostly good behavior we've had since March 2020.

Gayles literally outlawed outdoor playgrounds and tried to close private schools that were set to follow the CDC guidelines at the time; he perpetuated restrictions for reopening MCPS-- while other large school districts around the country successfully opened in hybrid fashions. He made the mask mandate in MoCo start at age 2 instead of age 5-- once it was reduced from I think 9 at the initial outset-- and never provided data for that. Much of NOVA with similar demographics/numbers has had an age 5 mandate. I could go on...
I have no idea exactly where the locus of control on this was, but everyone I knew was driving/traveling at least 45 minutes in each direction to get vaccines for a LONG time-- at the least, he did not succeed in any advocacy about getting reasonable amount of vaccines downcounty.
Yes, keeping businesses at very reduced capacity for a while obviously impeded the spread of the virus...but at what cost? A very compliant and risk-averse population is the driver here, IMHO, of a lot of the 'success.'
To his credit, it does appear that he and his team were successful in reaching (from what I've read) harder to reach minority populations who have significant vaccine hesitancy (as illustrated by the inner city of Baltimore and their abysmal vaccine numbers).
But overall? Not rational leadership at all.

Agreed

[Anonymous]

Elrich has had a lot of turnover in his administration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is terrible he was getting death and other threats. Absolutely unacceptable.
He was also horrible in this role during the pandemic crisis time.
He probably would have been adequate in 'normal times' dealing with whatever the 'normal' set of issues would be that he would need to manage. But during the pandemic, he was terrible and actually not very science driven.

We have the highest vaccination rate around and relatively lowest transmission of large counties (we were last in the region to go from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’)

Nothing to do with gayles. We all drove an hour plus for vaccines on our own in April. A lot of people can and are working from home. Moco’s population (liberal, educated, affluent, covid cautious) is why.

It's both. Rational leadership and rational population (for the most part). You can't just have one, and end up with the vaccination rates and mostly good behavior we've had since March 2020.

Gayles literally outlawed outdoor playgrounds and tried to close private schools that were set to follow the CDC guidelines at the time; he perpetuated restrictions for reopening MCPS-- while other large school districts around the country successfully opened in hybrid fashions. He made the mask mandate in MoCo start at age 2 instead of age 5-- once it was reduced from I think 9 at the initial outset-- and never provided data for that. Much of NOVA with similar demographics/numbers has had an age 5 mandate. I could go on...
I have no idea exactly where the locus of control on this was, but everyone I knew was driving/traveling at least 45 minutes in each direction to get vaccines for a LONG time-- at the least, he did not succeed in any advocacy about getting reasonable amount of vaccines downcounty.
Yes, keeping businesses at very reduced capacity for a while obviously impeded the spread of the virus...but at what cost? A very compliant and risk-averse population is the driver here, IMHO, of a lot of the 'success.'
To his credit, it does appear that he and his team were successful in reaching (from what I've read) harder to reach minority populations who have significant vaccine hesitancy (as illustrated by the inner city of Baltimore and their abysmal vaccine numbers).
But overall? Not rational leadership at all.

Agreed

+1. I’ve read about the smashing success of the Latino outreach in Moco but unclear how much he had to do with that. Based on his arrogance my guess is very little.

[Anonymous]

Wasn’t this the guy that people emailed about the closures last year (outdoor spaces/playgrounds, and the attempts to close private schools), and he responded by forwarding their emails to other members of the local govt to make fun of them and call them Karens?

[Anonymous]

He was solid and we have a lot to be appreciate of him for his leadership.

I think he can read the tea leaves and see the disaster about to happen with MCPS. Who wants to be a part of that right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He and team were caught off guard months into covid. What was never covered well in the press was that Moco had the worst nursing home situations in the state (for first year was near 70%+), That was more in his control. But instead, he created new metrics / policies for moco - not aligned to CDC, slightly different metrics than used by CDC / NYTimes etc so hard to compare. He patrolled soccer fields with police and wasted valuable county resources / council time on policies that were extreme for the US, picked fights. with the private school. Businesses were punished as one could cross the line into other counties / DC. Even the county council said weeks of debate on a soccer policy outside any other US area wasn't time well spent. In several o these cases, He said he was following science, but never could point to the science. Because - the truth was at the time, there wasn't any to support his views.

Contrast that with the innovation of Moco Gov't who came up with opening up streets on weekends for walking, creating outsider eateries. They looked at the science and showed creativity.

I do agree with a pp - he did seem to make inroads on the minority communities . Any lessons learned there, I really hope we keep

Go take a look at the death rate from covid among Black's compared to whites. I don't think anyone has anything to be proud of here.

[Anonymous]

Gayles is currently outside of the USA on vacation , during a pandemic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gayles is currently outside of the USA on vacation , during a pandemic

You mean like every other family in MCPS and public official. Yes, he should be behaving better but reality is reopening will be a hot mess and when things go wrong he'll be blamed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He and team were caught off guard months into covid. What was never covered well in the press was that Moco had the worst nursing home situations in the state (for first year was near 70%+), That was more in his control. But instead, he created new metrics / policies for moco - not aligned to CDC, slightly different metrics than used by CDC / NYTimes etc so hard to compare. He patrolled soccer fields with police and wasted valuable county resources / council time on policies that were extreme for the US, picked fights. with the private school. Businesses were punished as one could cross the line into other counties / DC. Even the county council said weeks of debate on a soccer policy outside any other US area wasn't time well spent. In several o these cases, He said he was following science, but never could point to the science. Because - the truth was at the time, there wasn't any to support his views.

Contrast that with the innovation of Moco Gov't who came up with opening up streets on weekends for walking, creating outsider eateries. They looked at the science and showed creativity.

I do agree with a pp - he did seem to make inroads on the minority communities . Any lessons learned there, I really hope we keep

Go take a look at the death rate from covid among Black's compared to whites. I don't think anyone has anything to be proud of here.

How is that his fault? He cannot stop people from dying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gayles is currently outside of the USA on vacation , during a pandemic

Nice, Travis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elrich has had a lot of turnover in his administration

I hope he turns over.

[Anonymous]

I love him and thank him for keeping our kids and families safe. I appreciate all of his hard work and I think he was on the right side of history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t this the guy that people emailed about the closures last year (outdoor spaces/playgrounds, and the attempts to close private schools), and he responded by forwarding their emails to other members of the local govt to make fun of them and call them Karens?

Yes. Same guy. But it is acceptable to mock white middle aged women - you can imagine the uproar if his emails came from a white official mocking POC.

[Anonymous]

Not only did he mock the constituents of this county in his email he also mocked his boss! This was a long time coming. Based on his released emails he is not a nice guy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love him and thank him for keeping our kids and families safe. I appreciate all of his hard work and I think he was on the right side of history.

I agree but many of the people who love to complain about everything will continue to dismiss him despite the reality he kept this from becoming sh@tshow that will be this years reopening.