Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Residents pan new Montgomery County snow plow tracker, fake news on sidewalks

The new Montgomery County "snow portal" touted by County Councilmember Hans Riemer and other officials got a failing grade from residents I spoke to, and on social media, after yesterday's storm. Not only is there no longer a map to view snow operations countywide, or even in your area, but the consensus opinion was that the time estimates were no more useful than the old map. Not to mention that switching to a primitive text format, instead of a graphic map, was like going from iPhone to DOS.
Constituent gives Councilmembers
Hans Riemer and Roger Berliner his
blunt assessment of their new "snow portal"
on Facebook
Riemer provided some additional fake news about his sidewalk shoveling bill, which cost taxpayers $6,458,000, but came up even shorter than the snow portal. In a blog post, he boasted that since the bill passed two years ago, "I find that the County is doing a much better job clearing snow from sidewalks where the County (or Parks) is the responsible party as well as helping clear snow from sidewalks where there may be a public safety concern."

"It's just as useless
as past versions. #FAIL"

This is simply not true, as I well-documented last winter. On Westbard Avenue alone, sidewalks fronting both Montgomery County (Little Falls Library) and Montgomery County Public Schools (Westland Middle School) property remained unshoveled a full month after the largest storm. Embarrassingly, Riemer himself passed by these very sidewalks after the storm on a carpetbagger's bus tour for the Westbard sector plan, and took no action to get them cleared.
What happened?
Riemer's claim earns him the Four Pinocchios/Pants-on-Fire awards.

16 comments:

  1. Yet another County Council snow job.

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  2. I think you need to check your numbers. The total snow clearing cost 2 years ago was just north of $9M. That leaves $3M for clearing streets?

    Something's off with your numbers.

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    Replies
    1. My numbers are not off - the $6M+ cost of Riemer's snow removal bill was widely cited in numerous media reports at the time.

      Delete
  3. Nope, I went back and re-read the county expenditures for 2 years ago and MY numbers are correct. The entire amount actually spent for snow removal was $9.1M. I can break it down to individual vendors. It has been confirmed to me that the snow removal expenditures include ALL removal costs - streets, lots, sidewalks and pass-thrus (like alleys.)

    So something is off in your numbers or is off in your sources.

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    Replies
    1. $6+ million is what they had to pay to pass the Riemer bill. It also included creating the website, an advertising campaign, etc. Of course, it was all a waste of taxpayer money, as we found out the last two years.

      Delete
    2. So where is that $6M in the county's expenditures? How did you come to that total? Has it been verified by the county?
      Like I said, I've pored thru the expenditures and cannot find anything as you describe. Any help you can supply would be appreciated. Thanks!

      Delete
    3. Hello? Are you still here? Any help you can provide on this would be appreciated.
      Thank you!

      Delete
    4. 2:30: The figure I referred to was widely reported in media reports at the time. It includes the additional snow removal costs to the County, website development and an advertising campaign. Remember, this is the same county that spent $12,000,000 to advertise creepy photos of teenagers with tire tread tattoos on their faces. So $6M is hardly to be questioned as an accurate number for the Riemer snow bill. In fact, it likely ended up costing even more. The inability to find itemized expenditures for everything they spend is an ongoing transparency problem. We'll have to fire Hans Riemer, and elect councilmembers who believe in open government, to finally know what exactly these crooks have done with our money. So, all I can give you is that number they told us at the time.

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    5. Thanks for replying, but I still can't see the expenses. I get that you say it's not in the $9.1M I can document. I've been looking at 2015. Am I in the wrong year?

      Ack! Don't confuse me with another issue! I'm up to my eyeballs in snow removal.

      Delete
  4. "The figure I cited was widely reported in the media at the time."

    Then it should be easy for you to provide a link.

    And your claim of "$12 million to advertise creepy photos of teenagers with tire tread tattoos on their faces" is equally doubtful.

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    Replies
    1. If you have no alternative documentation for another dollar amount, how are you in a position to question mine? Likewise, the $12 million creepy take-pics-of-teens ad campaign was real, and in fact was one of the first budget cuts Ike Leggett made in the 2010 $1 billion deficit(!!) disaster.

      I know it's been a humiliating week for your man Hans Riemer, between the failed rollout of his expensive snow portal, and the unshoveled sidewalks on County and business property after the light dusting of snow Tuesday. I get it. But maybe your time would be better spent convincing him to end his Council career, and cut his losses. I'd say before he makes a fool of himself, but alas, he's already done that about 10 times in the last 7 years.

      Delete
  5. If he's such a loser, then how come he defeated you twice, by huge margins? That must be really embarrassing to you.

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  6. It's odd that Robert Dyer does not seem to realize that "Tired Faces" is a national ad campaign for pedestrian safety, which features models of all ages.

    It's hard to believe that Montgomery County alone could have spent "$12 million" on this campaign. As usual, he provides absolutely no documentation to support his claim.

    His comments about "taking creepy photos of teens" seems to reveal the dark corners of his own soul.

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    Replies
    1. When you said "tired faces," I thought you were talking about the County Council.

      The only "dark corner" is the one you spent your Saturday night in, typing childish comments on Rockville's leading source for breaking news.

      Alas, all of the ads that were displayed in Montgomery County were paid for by taxpayers out of that $12M, and the faces shown were strangely all teenagers. Probably makes sense in a county where our creepy leaders allow a criminal adult illegal immigrant to enroll in 9th grade at Rockville High School.

      Hans Riemer and Co.'s sanctuary policies allowed the rapists to live in the county, attend our schools, and ultimately, to gang rape a 14 year old girl. So Hans Riemer is worse than a loser - he's a craven politician harboring illegal alien criminals for personal and political gain.

      I would only be embarrassed to have lost to Mr. Riemer if the local media had actually covered both elections, including all of the debates in which I wiped the floor with Mr. Riemer and his colleagues. And if the media had actually investigated Riemer's bizarre campaign contributions from out of state corporations and Wall Street banks and their crooked lobbyists, including pioneers in outsourcing like Bain Capital and Danaher Corporation.

      And only if media had actually investigated Riemer's resume claims. Was he really Obama's youth director in November 2008, or was he actually fired in Spring 2008, before Obama had even clinched the nomination?

      Stay out of those dark corners where shadowy figures like your boss lurk, you dumpster-diving hobo. Baba Booey.

      Delete
  7. Do you have any documentation of your "$12 million" claim? Simply repeating your own words is not documentation.

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    Replies
    1. Again, that $12 million figure is right from the articles in 2010. $12 M "pedestrian safety plan." You obviously are new to the area, or don't follow politics closely. It's your job to find the articles, not mine. "Show me documentation of the Declaration of Independence! Show me documentation the sun rose this morning!" Give me a break. That was one of the initiatives the County wasted most of their time promoting, creepy photos and all.

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