Elrich to veto Montgomery County Council's massive developer tax break

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has declared his intention to veto a bill recently passed by the Montgomery County Council, which would exempt new residential developments from property taxes for 20 years, if they provide at least 17.5% affordable units and are converted from - or replace - existing office buildings. The legislation would apply to so many projects that it would likely drain billions from County coffers over the next two decades, and bankrupt the County. Such projects are already being built in great numbers without the new incentive.

"This bill makes no sense," Elrich said in his weekly update video Friday. "It gives away desperately-needed revenues to the developers." The Council is expected to try to overturn Elrich's veto. Seven councilmembers will have to vote in favor of overturning the veto to be successful. "Now is the time to speak up," Elrich said, urging residents to contact their councilmembers, and tell them they oppose overturning Elrich's veto. Although all councilmembers have accepted financial contributions from developers, the vote to overturn Elrich's veto will be closely watched, to see which councilmembers are willing to risk fiscal oblivion merely to facilitate even-higher profits for their developer sugar daddies.

Montgomery County Council delivering tax hike for you, massive tax cut for developers

The Montgomery County Council reached a new low this week, taking an action of fiscal irresponsibility so bonkers, it should cost them their seats in the 2026 election. They have approved legislation that will exempt any redevelopment of an office property into housing from property taxes for 20 years, if the new development provides 17.5% affordable units. Meanwhile, the same Council is planning a massive property tax increase for you, the residents of Montgomery County. Yes, this continues a pattern of shifting the tax burden from the Council's developer sugar daddies onto you, the struggling homeowner or business property owner. But it goes beyond almost any corrupt action they've taken before, as it could end up bankrupting the County, which is already under fiscal stress from a structural budget deficit and a massive debt load.

More Housing N.O.W. - a name that anyone who struggles to navigate closed streets and sidewalks around apartment tower construction sites in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring would find laughable - is a legislative package cooked up by Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1). Loaded with developer giveaways, it appears to have been written by the developers themselves. Much like their plan to gift developers land taxpayers paid to acquire for a critical highway the Council canceled, forgoing billions in tax revenue and shifting the tax burden to you is a dereliction of duty by the Council.

Why would Friedson bring forward such an audaciously-corrupt tax break for developers? He's running for County Executive, and needs the money developers so generously provide to each of the current Councilmembers. And it's going to take a lot of money to win, especially if David Blair decides to take a third shot at the County Executive office in 2026. The seat is essentially Blair's for the taking, having lost by a handful of votes to Marc Elrich each of the previous times he ran. None of the candidates running next year have Elrich's name recognition, base of support, or voter goodwill that crosses party and demographic lines.

But barring Blair's entry into the field, developers will support Friedson. How did the unknown Friedson defeat the far-more-qualified and known former Kensington Mayor Peter Fosselman and the legendary Ana Sol Gutierrez, the first Latina ever elected to public office in Maryland, in a Democratic primary? It's not entirely clear even today, but the developer money didn't hurt. Developers haven't just mailed the checks to Friedson's campaign - they actually host fundraisers for him at their mansions.

More Housing N.O.W. is similar to another legislative victory developers enjoyed during the previous Council term, in that it simply juices the profits for development that would already happen without it. That was the bill that gave a 15-year property tax exemption (sound familiar?) to developers building residential housing on WMATA-owned land at Metro stations. Not only had such development taken place previously without this outrageous tax-free provision, but it was demanded by a development firm that had already committed to a project before attempting - and succeeding - in getting the Council to provide this tax exemption as a sweetener. Imagine their shocked and surprised delight when the knees of the Council buckled so easily to deliver such a windfall of cash, on top of the already massive profits they would be raking in.

It's no surprise they went back to the well again. After all, this Council is the biggest bunch of pushovers yet for their developer sugar daddies. The public is almost entirely unaware that this robbery of the public coffers is taking place. Or that they might be spending over $1000 more on their own property taxes next year, if they live anywhere in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, or parts of Kensington, Silver Spring, Rockville, or even Aspen Hill. Because if your home is valued at $1 million or more, that's how much your property tax bill will be going up under the tax hike currently before the Council.

Why would the tax exemption approved Tuesday potentially bankrupt the County, and/or require your property taxes to reach unimaginable heights in the coming decades?

First and foremost, we already know that residential housing generates more new costs in public services and infrastructure than it does in property tax revenue. That, along with the County Council's out-of-control spending this century, and anti-business policies that have scared companies away from locating here, is what has created our structural budget deficit in the first place. Now imagine what the deficits will be if a majority of new apartment buildings will be paying no property taxes at all for 20 years!

Second, the legislation has a misleading talking point behind it. Most people think of "office to housing conversion" as the reconfiguration of an office building into apartment or condo-sized residential units. But the package approved Tuesday provides the same 20-year tax exemption and expedited approval for demolishing an office building, and constructing an entirely new residential building in its place.

Third, because of the allowance for demolitions, the 20-year tax exemption will apply to a huge number of projects that were - or will be - planned without the More Housing N.O.W. developer giveaways in place. In fact, a large percentage of the new buildings constructed since the "Great Recession" have been built on the ashes of office buildings that were demolished to make way for them.

We've seen that even true office-to-housing conversions have taken place without these outlandish incentives, include a new condo development and new apartment property in downtown Silver Spring. Now think about all the other apartment and condo buildings that were torn down for residential over the last 15 years alone, where the developers did not demand a 20-year property tax exemption. Gallery Bethesda I and II, Sophia Bethesda, 4909 Auburn, Stonehall Bethesda, The Wilson/The Elm (7272 Wisconsin Avenue), 8001 Woodmont, Hampden House, The Met Rockville, AVA Wheaton, and the Fairchild Apartments in Germantown are just a few examples of post-"Great Recession" redevelopments of office properties. 

Imagine if all of these were paying no property taxes for 20 years! Now realize that the long-anticipated redevelopment of the massive GEICO campus in Chevy Chase - to name just one mega project - will bring in ZERO property tax revenue to County coffers for 20 years! This is criminal.

The good news is, it's not too late to stop the madness. You can stop the More Housing N.O.W. legislation by calling or emailing your Councilmember, and all of the At-Large Councilmembers, and telling them you want no more developer giveaways. It's very easy: the Council website shows all of the Councilmembers, and there's even a tool to help you learn who your district member is (the At-Large members also all represent you, which is why you want to contact all of them, as well).

County Executive Marc Elrich is expected to veto the More Housing N.O.W. legislation when it reaches his desk. The County Council will then have to override the veto to save the developers' 20-year property tax exemption. Tell your Councilmember you will vote them out, and you certainly won't vote to promote them to County Executive if they are running for that office, if they vote to override Elrich's veto. If for some crazy reason Elrich were to sign the tax break - or let it become law by not signing it - let the Council know you will vote them out just the same, if they don't repeal it.

You can also stop the massive property tax increase by telling your Councilmember at the same time that you will vote them out if they vote to raise your property taxes again this year or next year. And if they do - VOTE THEM OUT! You don't even have to vote for a Republican; you can just vote for the new Democrats who are running against the incumbents in the primary next year. But if they squeak through again to the general election, you have to seriously consider voting for any Republican, Green, or other party challenger who remains in their way. It's the inability to vote out the Council that has led to their outrageous misbehavior. 

Are you really going to vote again for the politicians who insiders say refer to you as "losers" and "suckers" in private, willing to pay any tax, accept any reduction in your quality of life, and countenance the totally incompetent leadership they dish out?

The voters of Montgomery County need to wake up. Some of you are awake and on-the-ball. That's likely why you are reading this article now in the first place. But it's not enough. I worry about some of the other residents in this county. What will it take for you wake up and rise up against the Montgomery County cartel and its handpicked Councilmembers, who have held a majority on the Council since 2002?

You've gotten a property tax hike every year except for FY-2015, when you received a tax "cut" of about $12. The next year, the Council dropped a 9% property tax increase anvil on you like Wile E. Coyote. They seemed to pay a price for that, when voters approved term limits a few months later in 2016. But...when it came to the 2018 Council election, the cartel's candidates won every seat again. Much like their victory over the Columbia Country Club with the Purple Line, they realized they could get away with anything, and you wouldn't do a thing about it come Election Day. Invincibility. Absolute power. Such things do not a Republic make.

One of the greatest political cartoons of all time that sums up this phenomenon once ran in The Gazette. It showed a Montgomery County voter bending over in front of then-County Executive Doug Duncan, who was wielding a large paddle with the words "tax hike" on it. The voter, with his head crooked around to look back toward Duncan, said, "Thank you, Sir. May I have another?" 

Don't be that guy anymore. It's not a good look. It's a sad state of affairs, really. Break smelling salts under your nose, if you have to. 

You're mad as hell, and you're not going to take it anymore. Go to the Council website. Pick up the phone, fire up the email, and let them know, "Enough is enough!" No 20-year property tax exemption for developers, and no property tax hikes for you.

Montgomery County's highway robbery

The Montgomery County Planning Board is on the verge of sending the County Council a draft of the latest Master Plan of Highways and Transitways (soon to be called the Master Plan of Walkways and Bikeways, if planners get any more woke) that will do many terrible things, chief among which is permanently removing any chance of building the long-delayed M-83 MidCounty Highway Extended from Montgomery Village Avenue to Clarksburg. If approved by the Board at its meeting this Thursday, April 10, and the Council at a later date, it will be the realization of a long-held fever dream by the War-on-Cars folks who suffer from Highway Derangement Syndrome, virtually all of whom have motored to their Kill M-83 meetings in the very cars they claim you need to get out of. It will also be a theft and reckless disposal of one of the most valuable public holdings government can possess: a transportation right-of-way.

Passage of this Master Plan will drive the stake through the heart of M-83, and confirm that once again County officials were lying through their teeth when they promised all stakeholders and residents of the Upcounty that they would deliver the infrastructure needed to support the massive housing development they had proposed for rural Clarksburg and Damascus. As we all know, all of the new housing was approved and constructed. But none of the supporting elements were. 

No M-83 Highway. No Corridor Cities Transitway light rail. And no high-wage jobs. All of these items were mandatory, but the Council didn't deliver a single one.

Now the Council is poised to throw away something that, frankly, is not theirs to discard. The highway project, and its right-of-way, belong to the taxpayers of Montgomery County. Planners are giddy to note in the Master Plan materials online that the County may not only remove the highway from the plan, but give the land away for free to the Councilmembers' developer sugar daddies. They've done this many times before, giving away public rights-of-way to developers via a "Declaration of No Further Need" abandonment.

A right-of-way is simply too valuable to waste. The Council is free to go down in history as the deranged and corrupt elected officials responsible for worsening traffic congestion, increased emissions from cars idling in traffic jams, and increased response times for police and fire calls by canceling an essential highway. It won't be the first time, as the Council already canceled the equally-long-planned new Potomac River crossing, the Northwest Freeway, the North Central Freeway, the Rockville Freeway, the Montrose Parkway East, and the Northern Parkway.

But a right-of-way is not theirs to give away. They have a responsibility to preserve it in total. No one can predict the needs of the future. Whether it is a road, or a railway, or some form of transportation or use we haven't even imagined yet, these are the scenarios for which smart governments obtain rights-of-way at great cost. Believe it or not, Montgomery County long ago had smart government.

This Master Plan draft represents a double betrayal of the public trust, first and foremost the trust of residents in Clarksburg, Damascus, and Goshen. People bought houses in Clarksburg and Damascus with the expectation of the M-83 and CCT providing viable options for commuting to the Shady Grove Metro station and beyond. Only to find the Planning Board and County Council pulling the rug out from under them after they had taken on their mortgage, and paid all the hefty fees and taxes to the County. But it is also the latest betrayal by the Council of one of its chief charges, stewardship of County assets and resources, which include planned highways and expensively-obtained rights-of-way. Canceling the M-83 is, quite simply, highway robbery.

Montgomery County goes green...with envy of Loudoun County

The Montgomery County Council is all-but-certain to hike property taxes on residents again in the fiscal year starting this July. They've done it every year in recent times, except for a paltry average $12 "tax cut" in the election year of 2014. By contrast, Loudoun County, Virginia across the river will be delivering a property tax cut to residents there this year. The difference? Not only more business growth and jobs created than Montgomery County over the last decade, but its new position as "data center capital of the world," The Washington Post reported earlier this week.

A shocking new statistic emerged in the Post report on the budget situations in the five biggest counties in Northern Virginia. Loudoun County's data centers generate a full 38% of that county's total revenue. Data centers are often criticized for representing very few jobs, as staffing is minimal at each. But they clearly generate bigtime revenue.

Of course, these data centers require massive amounts of electricity, something Montgomery County and Maryland lack because our elected officials ordered the closure of 8 coal-fired power plants across the state since 2012. High-wage jobs are something else MoCo lacks, as it has failed to attract any new major corporate headquarters in over 25 years. Heckuva job, Brownie! 

While I would rather see an aerospace research facility, or a major defense firm headquarters fill our underutilized and vacant office parks, imagine if there was a data center on each of the office properties among those that have been converted to luxury townhomes in recent years. Residential housing is a revenue loser for the County, as our structural budget deficit proves. Data centers are a revenue winner, as homeowners in Loudoun County will be delighted to tell you, when they receive their FY-2026 property tax cut.

Montgomery County Council seeks new $20K+ demolition tax on teardowns for new homes

Housing prices are out-of-this-world in Montgomery County, but leave it to the radical Montgomery County Council to raise them even further. Councilmembers Kristin Mink (D - District 5) and Will Jawando (D - At-Large) are sponsoring a bill that would impose a "demolition tax" when a home is torn down, or even partially-demolished. The new excise tax would begin at $20,000, and then rise in future years, as the tax will be linked to the Consumer Price Index as of July 1 each year. As anyone who understands basic economics knows, the $20,000+ amount will be fully passed on to the homebuyer purchasing the new house, or the homeowner investing in the new home or renovation. It's shocking the Council would deliberately impose a massive increase in home prices like this.

In true Communist fashion, the money the Council steals from struggling homebuyers via the new tax will be shifted into the Montgomery County Housing Production Fund to finance "affordable" housing projects. Comrade, er, Councilmember Evan Glass (D - At Large) proposed a similar demolition tax in 2019, but it failed to pass that year. A public hearing on Bill 5-25 has been tentatively scheduled for March 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM at the County Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville.

69% of Montgomery County voters oppose bag tax hike - but County Council passed it anyway

Over two-thirds of registered voters in Montgomery County oppose raising the bag tax to ten cents, a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll found, but the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed it anyway on Tuesday. The poll found that 69% of voters oppose the tax increase on paper bags, and that a minority 47% of voters support the plastic bag ban that was passed alongside it Tuesday. But, as the Council has done increasingly since defeating the Columbia Country Club with its 2009 Purple Line vote that brought no electoral consequences, the Council put its legislative steamroller in gear and floored the accelerator.

Interestingly, the Post declined to print the results of its bag tax/ban poll questions until the day after the Council voted, despite having taken the poll in late January, a clear attempt to tamp down opposition ahead of the Council vote. Tuesday's vote spoke deafening volumes about the deepening radical political trends in Montgomery County, trends that suggest the moribund jurisdiction is on-track for further and accelerating economic decline in the years ahead.

Montgomery County has acquired an international reputation as an anti-business jurisdiction. Not surprisingly, it has failed to attract a major corporate headquarters in over 25 years. Since the last decade, it ranks at or near the bottom by every relevant measure in economic development and job creation in the D.C. region, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It has long ago fallen out of the Forbes Top Ten Richest Counties in America list, as the wealthy flee to lower-tax jurisdictions in the region. In 2010, stores like Target and Magruder's in Rockville turned their interior lights down, posting apologetic signs explaining it was due to the County's new Energy Tax.

Tuesday's decision won't change the world's perception of us.

According to Wednesday's Post article, Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe (D - District 2) demanded Tuesday that the County begin to go after businesses "more aggressively" if they don't comply with the new ban and tax collection, despite the even-more-complicated regime of mandates imposed by the new law.

Okay, the Council is going to hound your business "more aggressively." But if you're thinking of starting a business, or moving it to Montgomery County, surely you can trust that the local Chamber of Commerce will have your back against the tinfoil dictators of the County Council, right?

Wrong.

The Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce supported the Council's vote. Yes, you read that right. "We worry about Montgomery County being in a position that it's not competitive with surrounding jurisdictions [and] that's not what this bill does," Chamber spokesperson Brian Levine told the Post. 

That's nice, but it's actually false, as Washington, D.C., Arlington County, and Fairfax County do not have bans on plastic bags, and only charge 5 cents per bag, not 10 cents. So putting us in a position that's "not competitive with surrounding jurisdictions" is exactly "what this bill does."

Imagine paying dues to a Chamber that kneecaps you in order to keep political favor with the County Council when the rubber meets the road. This isn't the first time. How many Chamber members wanted this bag law to pass? The Chamber's written testimony goes so far as to declare the organization "applauds the sponsor and co-sponsor for proposing this commonsense policy change." Applauds?! Such kowtowing to an rabidly-anti-business Council is embarrassing for a business organization. Yet again, we cede competitive economic growth territory to Northern Virginia and D.C.

It's bad enough that this is yet another tax hike, at a time when a majority of Montgomery County taxpayers are struggling with already-outrageous grocery prices, and Maryland is about to raise taxes and fees at the state level. But it's also another example of our megalomaniacal elected officials, who have a psychological need to control other people. Council President Kate Stewart (D - District 4) said the new bag law will "change behavior." Voters didn't elect you to "change behavior." They elected you to execute the basic functions of government in a competent manner, foster a favorable climate for business, provide necessary infrastructure and a functioning transportation system, and enforce the laws to protect the safety of the public - - all things this Council hasn't been able to do in this century. 

TGI Fridays closes in Rockville (Video + Photos)

TGI Fridays has closed at 12147 Rockville Pike at the Pike Center in Rockville. The American restaurant chain that was founded on March 15, 1965 in New York City has filed for bankruptcy. Even dropping the "TGI" from the brand name - a memo few Americans ever got, and likely would have confused with a defunct Saturday Night Live knock-off that aired in the dawning years of the 1980s on ABC anyway - couldn't turn the chain's fortunes around. TGI Fridays closed 60 restaurants last fall, and it looks like another round of closures is quietly playing out now. Let's take a last look at Rockville's TGI Fridays:

The flagship TGI Fridays location that started it all at First Avenue and 63rd Street in the Big Apple has been considered by many recent business writers to have been America's "first singles bar." Only in the occasional creepy and awkward moment has the Rockville location been considered as such. But it was a reliable destination on the Pike for above-average creative cocktails, the famous Fridays Loaded Potato Skins, and just about any sports bar appetizer or entree you can imagine with a whiskey glaze applied to it. Now, unless you are up for a long drive to Tysons or Hanover, Maryland, you'll just have to hope that somewhere in the back of your freezer is a box of frozen Fridays delights you had bought from the freezer aisle at your supermarket.

An insider at the Montgomery County Council building reports that several councilmembers were exultant upon hearing the news of TGI Fridays closure. Having banned several ubiquitous American chains from the County, including Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Cracker Barrel, and Waffle House, the existence of other big names like TGI Fridays, The Cheesecake Factory, Buffalo Wild Wings, Red Robin, and LongHorn Steakhouse has been one of the banes of the Council's existence this century.

Ironically, the departure of TGI Fridays from Pike Center refocuses attention on how the County Council was directly responsible for the shopping center's struggles in recent years. It was the Council's action to ban Walmart from opening any new stores in the County that tanked Pike Center's plan to reinvent itself with a super-high-traffic Superstore as anchor, after the moribund Montgomery County economy had left the property with empty storefronts. Upon learning that many more of their constituents - whom they privately refer to as "losers" and "suckers" - might soon be saving $21 a week on groceries, the Council swiftly moved to block the proposed Pike Center and Aspen Hill Walmarts by banning the chain altogether. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Regal Germantown closed while Montgomery County leaders slept at the switch (Photos)

Regal Cinemas has closed at 20000 Century Boulevard in Germantown. The closure, which was first reported by The MoCo Show, is a significant blow to the development and success of Germantown Town Center. The theater is likely to be replaced by yet another residential building. Yes, it may have retail or restaurant tenants in the ground floor (or, like others in the area, it might not), but neither outcome will produce the general activity level of a cineplex. In a relatively-high-crime area like Germantown, the last thing in the world you want is a large, dead, dark space after business hours.

The closure is also bad news for the surrounding businesses. A study last decade found that a multiplex theater draws an additional 20,000 people to a neighborhood each weekend, who shop and dine at nearby establishments before and after their movie. "Dinner and a movie" is such a generator of economic activity - not to mention one of the most popular weekend activities of many Americans - that some restaurants will even partner with theaters to offer special packages. 

It's sad that it came down to this. When this theater opened as a Hoyts Cinema around the turn of the century, it stood out for awhile in a county where most theaters were aging or had closed altogether, and the odds of finding a hole in your seat cushion at many were quite good. But in recent years as a Regal Cinemas, the failure to convert to the latest theater standards such as recliners could be seen as the writing on the wall. 

The reality is that the potential cash value of the land as a mixed-use development site exceeded whatever Regal would realistically be able to pay in rent over the coming years. And as in the demise of Regal Cinemas Bethesda 10, the Montgomery County Council was asleep at the switch, despite it being known for months that this economic engine of Germantown Town Center was in danger of being switched off, with no replacement. 

It should be noted that Topgolf, the only other significant entertainment option in the Town Center neighborhood, is in financial distress at the corporate level. Parent company Topgolf Calloway has declared its intention to spin off the Topgolf business into a separate entity. As a result, there's no ironclad guarantee that Topgolf will be around forever in Germantown. BlackRock Center for the Arts isn't enough to sustain a viable Town Center economy on its own. Where is the leadership? Somebody reach for the smelling salts.

Montgomery County willing to mortgage Upcounty's future to nix M-83 Highway

More than half a decade ago, the Montgomery County Council again nixed plans to build the M-83 Midcounty Highway Extended that has long been in the County's master plan. The highway was one of two major infrastructure projects that were essential to the major growth proposed for the Upcounty area, and Clarksburg in particular. When Clarksburg was allowed to grow more than 800% in population earlier this century, its new residents were promised the M-83 Highway, and a Corridor Cities Transitway light rail system that would connect the proposed new growth centers between Rockville and Clarksburg to the Shady Grove Metro station. In the end, however, all of the growth was allowed to occur, and developers reaped their massive profits - but the promised highway and light rail were never built. That display of naked greed by our developer-controlled County Council wasn't enough - now the Council and Planning Board want to remove the M-83 from the master plan altogether, so it can never be built.

Such a move would be a dereliction of duty by the public officials charged with ensuring adequate infrastructure to maintain a functioning transportation system. Montgomery County doesn't have that even today. Imagine what traffic will be like in another decade with leaders who continue to block completion of our master plan highway system.

As a quick review of the correspondence received by the Planning Board ahead of two public meetings and a November public hearing on changes to the master plan reveals, it isn't residents who are asking for the M-83 to be removed from the plan. In fact, the only letter from an actual Upcounty resident on the question is asking the Planning Board to keep the M-83 in the plan. Those who are asking to have the highway removed are the same handful of tiny groups who have tried to block construction of the highway at every turn. M-83 wasn't even up for discussion, until these groups met privately with Montgomery County Planning Department officials earlier this year.

Our anti-highway, war-on-cars Planning Board is all too eager to indulge this ultra-minority request. Shockingly, so is the "leadership" of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. The same MCDOT that once determined that Alternative 9a - the master plan alignment of M-83 - should be constructed, until the Council politically interfered with the department, overruling sound traffic engineering practices with radical ideology.

Montgomery County officials continue to rule against the wishes of their own Upcounty constituents. You know, the folks who pay their salaries, and keep the lights on at the County Council and Planning Department. 

You would think the Planning Department and County Council would at least feel a stinging sense of shame at their disastrous record on growth in the Upcounty.

Think again.

Longtime residents will well remember the talking points planners and Councilmembers alike sold us as they rammed through sector plans for new growth centers like "Science City," Watkins Mill, Damascus, and Clarksburg. There would be job centers right in these areas, so many new residents wouldn't have to drive down I-270 to Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia! There would be vibrant town centers in Clarksburg and Watkins Mill! There would be a library in Clarksburg! There would be an M-83 Highway between Montgomery Village Avenue and Ridge Road, which - given that we knew the vast majority of new Upcounty residents would commute by car - would divert much of the new Clarksburg, Germantown, and Damascus traffic from I-270, MD 355, and little old Brink Road onto a modern parkway that also would include a major new bicycle link! And for those who could be convinced to board a convenient rail transit alternative, there would be a Corridor Cities light rail system!

None of it ever happened. Not one bit of it.

And no politician paid the price. Even in the myriad of scandals surrounding Clarksburg alone, the Council and Planning Department let Derick Berlage be the lone fall guy. Now, after collecting twenty years' worth of fat checks from their developer sugar daddies, they want to kick Upcounty residents where it hurts one more time, really hard.

They'll probably get away with it. Again. The Council is pretty open about the fact that there simply aren't enough votes in the Upcounty to pose a risk to the holders of the At-Large Council seats in the next election year. And the individual Upcounty Council districts have been severely gerrymandered, to ensure that the residents of the various growth areas like Clarksburg, Damascus, and Germantown can't unite to knock out any one Councilmember come election time. They have repeatedly thumbed their nose at Upcounty residents, and privately call County taxpayers "suckers" and "losers."

Getting away with murder doesn't make it right, however. The Planning Department, Planning Board, and County Council will continue to augment and solidify their legacy of shame, failure, embarrassment, reckless irresponsibility, and dereliction of duty. They'll continue to let a handful of special interests, and their developer sugar daddies, block economic growth and progress at every turn. 

We've seen the results of the failure to build the M-83 Highway, the new Potomac River crossing of I-370 to the Dulles area in Virginia, the Rockville Freeway, the Northwest Freeway, the North-Central Freeway, and the Northern Parkway in Montgomery County. Residents sitting in traffic. Higher shipping prices. Job creation and business growth numbers at or near the bottom in the D.C. region. And a failure to attract a single new major corporate headquarters in over a quarter century.

Heckuva job, Brownie!!

Montgomery County Council pushing plastic bag ban

The Montgomery County Council has only done three things this century: raise taxes, drive business away from and out of the county, and ban stuff. You won't be surprised to hear that they are at it again, with another new law that will do all three. As a body that only copies legislation from other jurisdictions around the country, they're actually a bit late to the table on this one, but they're going to try and ban plastic bags. That goes for grocery stores, and restaurant takeout.

The ban also includes a new tax. There's already a tax on each bag you receive at a business. The deceptively-titled Bring Your Own Bag Bill will ban plastic bags altogether, and place a 10-cent tax on paper bags. They'll say you won't have to pay it, if you remember to bring your stained and germ-ridden reusable shopping bags with you. The press release falsely claims that the bill will create "a more sustainable future for the County," and "improve the effectiveness of the carryout bag tax law." 

If you ask yourself - or anyone outside of the small world of the Montgomery County cartel - to name one thing the Council has done to improve the quality of life since 2000, good luck getting an answer. They haven't. They've just raised taxes, driven business away, and banned stuff. To be fair, they've also jacked up your health insurance premiums with the ambulance fee, and your auto insurance premiums by defunding the police, leading to skyrocketing auto theft and stolen auto parts. Heckuva job, Brownie!

The faces change, but the Council stays the same since the cartel seized control of it in 2002. Smug, arrogant, and corrupt, with delusions of innovation, while plagiarizing the dumbest legislation from Eugene, Oregon to Sacramento, California. Your taxes go up, and so do their salaries, just like Bell, California. They said a bag tax would save the environment, just like they claimed natural gas was the solution to global warming. Lies, all lies, that evaporated as quickly as the Council-mandated paper straw does in your iced coffee. Incompetence combined with autocratic power is a recipe for failure, which is all we've seen in Montgomery County this century. 

But this is what a majority of Montgomery County voters continue to vote for, and they're getting exactly what they wanted. As the writer from another Maryland jurisdiction where voters don't have the heart to punish the elected officials who reliably fail them once wrote, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

Montgomery County Council cuts Elrich out of picture on life science center launch

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich joined WMATA General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke and elected officials at the North Bethesda Metro station yesterday to formally launch the search for a developer to build a Life Science Center at the transit stop. But you wouldn't know this from watching the Montgomery County Council's video on the press conference. Elrich's speech was completely omitted from the Council report, which included excerpts from comments by Clarke, Council President Andrew Friedson, and even U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen. The snub was particularly notable, as Elrich has been the main driver of the Life Science Center from its inception.

If it were up to the Council alone, the site adjacent to the Metro station would have been yet another residential housing development. Elrich was the rare County elected official to acknowledge that MoCo needs more high-wage jobs as much as it does new housing, when he proposed the biotech use for this site several years ago. Yet the Council attempted to take all the credit for itself in its Monday video, similar to Congresspeople who vote against infrastructure projects in their districts, only to later claim credit for them once they come to fruition.

The attempt to cut Elrich out of the launch announcement was only the latest cheap shot by the Council at the Executive. Some on the Council resorted to subterfuge and outright deception in their successful effort to deep-six Elrich's proposal to restore funding for the Office of the People's Counsel. Councilmembers are still pondering whether to create a competing ballot question for the one that will give voters the option to oust Elrich with a two-term limit in the November election. Perhaps they are weighing the possibility of opening the executive seat to one of the ambitious Councilmembers, versus reducing their own future executive terms by one. 

Montgomery County Council won't put property tax hike question on ballot this fall

Robin Ficker

The Montgomery County Council voted 6-5 on Tuesday to reject a Charter Review Commission proposal that would have made it easier to raise property taxes above the current County Charter limit. This means the proposal will not be put before the voters as a ballot question in November 2024. Currently, under the successful Robin Ficker ballot initiative approved by voters in the past, the Council must vote unanimously to raise property taxes above the charter limit. The CRC proposal, the latest attempt to do an end run around the popular "Ficker Amendment," would have dropped the unanimous vote requirement.

Councilmembers who voted against the CRC proposal were Marilyn Balcombe, Andrew Friedson, Natalie Fani-Gonzalez, Evan Glass, Sidney Katz, and Dawn Luedtke. The Councilmembers who voted for the proposal to remove the unanimous vote requirement were Gabe Albornoz, Will Jawando, Kristin Mink, Laurie-Ann Sayles, and Kate Stewart.

Montgomery County's high property taxes are one of several highly-regressive tax burdens on working families and residents who are on fixed incomes. Along with high property assessments, the annual payments have essentially become a second mortgage for many cash-strapped residents. The Ficker Amendment has provided relief from even-more-nightmarish tax bills since it was passed. That's because, as it is, the Council has raised property taxes on residents every year except for FY-2015.

Montgomery County Council stonewalls Black cemetery advocates

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition recently contacted all members of the Montgomery County Council, asking each elected official to denounce the desecration of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda, and the desecration of African-American cemeteries in general. None of them agreed to do so, and only one even replied to the inquiries. "Thank you for your email regarding Moses African Cemetery," Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe's chief of staff wrote in an email response to BACC. "This is a very complex issue which has a long history. It is not within the purview of the Council to advocate while there is both past and ongoing litigation."

"BACC rejects the logic of any and all councilmembers who remain silent," the organization said in a statement Wednesday. "First, we do not understand what the issue is regarding commenting on issues involving litigation. Through Amicus Briefs and other means, public and private entities weigh in all the time on lawsuits. Secondly, the Moses African Cemetery covers several parcels including ones not involved in litigation, allowing any Councilmember concerned about intervening in a court case to comment about the fate of portions of the cemetery not involved in litigation. In particular, the developer, 1784 Holdings, is erecting a light storage facility next to McDonalds on River Road despite the absence of a full archaeological and forensic survey investigating whether additional bones and funerary objects remain. 1784 Holdings had previously removed several possible funerary objects and is storing them in a warehouse in Gainesville, Virginia. A proper investigation of these objects has not been conducted, The Council could call of a third party, impartial investigation now."

"BACC believes the Council must reverse course and take a strong stand against desecration. No other local official at any level has spoken out. The council has an opportunity to lead if it can shake off its bureaucratic mindset."

Montgomery County has 2nd-biggest increase in homeless in Washington, D.C. region

Montgomery County is finally near the top of a list again - but it's not one you want to be high on. The County experienced the second-biggest increase in homeless population in the entire Washington, D.C. region since 2023, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Washington, D.C. itself was number one on the list. COG reported that Montgomery County's arch rival, Fairfax County, was the only jurisdiction in the area to enjoy a decrease in unhoused residents.

Of course, Fairfax County has many more high-wage jobs than Montgomery County, which helps one to afford housing. Politicians often tout MoCo's low unemployment numbers, without mentioning that most of the jobs our residents are employed at are not located within Montgomery County. Fairfax also has a lower total tax burden and cost-of-living than Montgomery County. Property taxes are set to rise again in the FY-2025 budget nearing approval by the Montgomery County Council, in a jurisdiction where property taxes are becoming a second mortgage for many residents as it is. And that's just one part of the total tax and fee burden for MoCo residents.

Rents and home prices, despite relentless construction and delivery of new housing units, only continue to skyrocket in Montgomery County. And thousands of existing affordable housing units are being demolished to clear the way for more overpriced "luxury" housing. A ridiculously-high cost-of-living combined with some of the lowest job creation and job growth numbers in the region are a recipe for increasing poverty and homelessness. Montgomery County has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in a quarter century, as company after company has chosen to locate or flee to Northern Virginia over that long, dry period of moribundity. As a result, more jobs, and more high-wage jobs, are created every year in Fairfax County than in Montgomery County - in fact, the numbers aren't even close.

Montgomery County has dropped off of so many top ten lists - Forbes' Top Ten Richest Counties in America, Top School Systems in America, etc. - that it's almost a positive feeling to be on any top ten list. Almost. Perhaps the Montgomery County cartel can create some new slogans: "Montgomery County: We're Number Two in Unhoused Population - We Try Harder (To Make It More Expensive to Live Here)." Or, "The Number of Montgomery County's Unhoused - Rising Almost as Fast as County Councilmembers' Salaries!"

Montgomery County allowed County agency-owned high-rise to operate without fire alarms for 2 months

The Montgomery County government and owner Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County allowed residents to occupy the 15-story Westwood Tower apartments for two months without an operating fire alarm system. County officials have now condemned the high-rise building at 5401 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda after an electrical fire brought the existing violations to light this past weekend, and further damaged the building's electrical systems. In lieu of a functioning fire alarm system, HOC had posted signs inside the tower instructing residents to "evacuate and call 911" in case of a fire. The signs did not advise how residents who might be asleep during a fire would be aware one had broken out, nor how their neighbors in the approximately 200 apartments would be notified on more than a dozen floors.

Sign posted inside Westwood Tower after the
building's fire alarm system went down on November 9, 2023;
it was never repaired, and the building was condemned after
a fire on January 6, 2024

After the fire alarm system broke down on November 9, 2023, the HOC stationed personnel in the building lobby to be on-duty in case of a fire. It was unclear how one person could physically cover 15 floors (not to mention without an elevator),and knock on hundreds of doors, in the few seconds that might be needed for all residents to safely evacuate. One resident reported that these employees were sometimes seen dozing off in the lobby. Residents report that the HOC never informed them of a timeline for restoration of the fire alarm system. "Fire officials have repeatedly been called to the building because of the lack of a fire alarm," one resident said, and that the building has been "cited repeatedly because of a lack of fire alarm."

Generator outside the building, which has
no power; residents have been relocated

The insanity of the idea of one person being able to function as a human fire alarm for a 15-story building became clear this past Saturday night, when a transformer blew inside the building. Several residents I spoke to reported that not only were there no fire alarms sounding, but the backup "human fire alarm" in the lobby did not contact any of them. They smelled and saw smoke, and self-evacuated, alerting other residents on their way out of the building. One resident who lives on a floor that did not initially have smoke only learned the building was on fire when a friend who lived on a smoke-filled floor called them to say there was a fire, and to get out. 

Residents report that they were left freezing in the building from 6:00 PM Saturday night, until the building was condemned and evacuated 24 hours later. Power in the building was limited, and there was no heat at all. Security functions to keep non-residents and potential criminals out of the building were inoperable.

To top it off, the HOC initially refused to provide alternative shelter to residents, advising them to instead make a claim on their own apartment insurance to cover the cost of hotel rooms. As the details began to reach the public a day later, Montgomery County agencies announced they were providing off-site shelter. The HOC said the residents were being moved to hotels in the area. Residents were told that they could be displaced from the building for as long as three weeks.

There is concern among residents, given the County's inaction regarding the fire alarm outage in the preceding weeks and the building's ownership being politically affliated with the elected officials who appoint and oversee them, that repairs will be allowed to drag on. Last night, two extremely loud generators roared outside the darkened apartment tower. There was no visible activity at the building. 

Residents of HOC properties have long pointed out issues regarding health and safety in their buildings. Those complaints were backed up by the findings of federal inspections, which found 75% of the units they inspected failed to meet federal standards. It now appears the agency was allowed to violate the County's fire code for two months, by operating a building without functioning smoke and fire alarms to alert occupants.

The HOC acquired the building several years ago with grand plans to construct more buildings and garages on the property. When those plans were stymied by protests that arose when the agency announced it intended to build a parking garage on top of the Moses African Cemetery at the rear of the property - where many of the graves were desecrated during the building's construction in the late 1960s, the HOC then attempted to sell it to a private developer. That sale was temporarily blocked by a Montgomery County court injunction, and the buyer backed out of the transaction. The dispute - that the HOC tried to sell the land with the cemetery without notifying the descendants of those interred there, in violation of Maryland law - will be ruled on by the Maryland Supreme Court later this year.

The County and the HOC are only fortunate that Saturday's fire was not more serious. This could have been a catastrophic disaster, had a fast-moving fire engulfed the building. Elected officials have yet to criticize the situation that existed at the property; in fact, the County Councilmember who represents the area has so far tweeted only praise for County agencies.

Hans Riemer endorses Will Jawando in Maryland U.S. Senate race

Former Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer has endorsed current Councilmember Will Jawando in the Maryland U.S. Senate race for the seat of retiring Senator Ben Cardin (D). Jawando and Riemer served together on the Council from 2018 to 2022; Jawando is now in his second Council term. "In my many years of knowing Will Jawando, going back to our work together supporting President Obama, and my four years serving side-by-side with him on the Montgomery County Council, I have always been impressed by his devotion to public service and dedication to meeting the needs of his most vulnerable constituents," Riemer said in a statement this afternoon.

"I am honored to receive the endorsement of my friend and former colleague @HansRiemer," Jawando tweeted in announcing Riemer's support. "Hans has spent his career fighting for so many of the same priorities my campaign is centered upon. I look forward to working with him on delivering for the state of Maryland."

Photo courtesy Will Jawando for U.S. Senate