Coronavirus slashes Metro ridership, Montgomery County restaurant/retail patronage

MoCo Council, Rockville leaders 

wall themselves off from public 

as COVID-19 spreads

Ridership of the Metro subway system and patronage of Montgomery County businesses plunged Thursday and yesterday, according to data from Google. As the week ended, the Montgomery County Council voted to bar the public from their building. The Council will continue to legislate and hold meetings, but their constituents will not be allowed to enter the Council building, sit in on those meetings or testify at public hearings. A long-held fantasy of the Montgomery County political cartel has now come true - citizens may now only email comments, meaning feedback will have virtually no public impact or reach to galvanize any resistance to Council moves.

The City of Rockville did the same, also barring the public from City Hall, meetings and public hearings. Gaithersburg canceled Mayor & Council work sessions, and meetings of other city bodies like the Planning Commission. Gaithersburg leaders did not officially bar the public from City Hall or their meetings, but are encouraging citizens to email comments and rely on live tweets from what will be streamlined Mayor & Council meetings on only the most pertinent city business for the time being.

Federal and state governments have not yet taken the likely most-effective step of closing all businesses except grocery stores and pharmacies, unlike some other countries. But many people are - wisely - staying in their homes anyway as much as possible.

Google data shows Metro ridership (pink)
during Thursday, Friday evening rush
was a fraction of what it usually is

Google real-time data showed Metro ridership on the Red Line at the Bethesda station was not even half of the average for Thursday and Friday evening rush hours. The Google data also showed patronage of restaurants and retail centers continuing the dramatic slide first reported here earlier this week.

Woodmont Grill, which has the largest volume of sales of any downtown Bethesda restaurant according to industry insiders, seemed the least hurt of any Montgomery County dining establishment. But patronage at Red Robin in Germantown was less than half what it would usually be on a Friday evening at dinnertime, according to Google's real-time count.

A decline in traffic at Red Robin,
combined with heavy sales of hamburger
buns at local stores, suggests more
burgers are being consumed at home

Traffic at Westfield Montgomery Mall was down about half last evening according to Google. Ellsworth Place mall in downtown Silver Spring was faring better, with traffic only down about a third. Silver Spring seemed to be slightly more insulated from the coronavirus panic, as even the Regal Majestic IMAX cineplex was still mustering about a 60% turnout - much better than the scenes of empty movie palaces being shared by brave moviegoers on social media Friday night.

Officials are protecting themselves, but whistling past the graveyard in not taking further steps to stop the spread of coronavirus. Because so many have not been tested, and because the precise nature and scope of the virus' spread in the region is not yet clear, these same officials will likely be caught short by next week when the total number of infected residents could well skyrocket. The general consensus of the Montgomery County cartel that this will somehow be a "two week" pandemic is almost certifiably nuts, as was the Maryland House voting to ban plastic bags in the midst of a world health catastrophe. This is the last time you would want people reusing dirty bags in public places or their own homes.

To add insult to injury, just as homebound residents turn even more heavily to streaming services like Netflix for some diversion, our corrupt elected officials quietly moved their Netflix tax forward. If passed - and if Gov. Larry Hogan's veto is overturned, Montgomery County residents would have to pay a tax on each of the many streaming services they subscribe to.

Some of our elected officials need professional help, folks. Or at least a clue.

Montgomery County Council seeking authority for new property tax, income tax hikes

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D - At-Large) will hold a press conference this morning to endorse two bills in the Maryland General Assembly that would broadly increase the Council's ability to hike taxes on property and income. If passed in Annapolis, the new taxing powers would allow the Council to hike property taxes even further on owners of homes 5000 SF or larger, or any subclass of property not specifically excluded in the bill, and to raise the County income tax and set multiple rates based on income. The proposed tax hikes come as County taxpayers are already paying the highest tax rates in history, and as large numbers of wealthy residents continue to flee to lower-tax jurisdictions in the region, resulting in declining revenue for the County as they take their money with them.

Last year, Councilmember Evan Glass (D - At-Large) proposed a "teardown tax," also known as a "McMansion tax." It would have taxed new construction homes that replaced existing homes, and then place an excise tax on the square footage added. The proposal was blasted by homebuilders, many of whom would have been forced out of business by the new taxes. Local media did their darndest to promote Glass and his tax, but rarely told the public that he did not even have the votes on the Council to pass it.

Jawando will endorse a bill today that brings the tax back in a new form - and then some. Applying to homes 5000 SF and larger, it again primarily targets teardown projects, by going after square footage. Jawando claims that 97% of County homeowners own homes less than 5000 SF in size, and promises that they would receive a "property tax cut." However, House Bill 1276 includes no such tax cut. There is also the possibility that the automatic assessment hikes each year would handily eclipse a nominal, tiny "tax cut." In that case, the "97 percent" of homeowners would continue to pay the same high property taxes they are now - and the ongoing annual increases.

The House bill is also much more general then what Jawando's press release would suggest. It could lead to all kinds of new property tax hikes on other kinds of property.

HB 1276 actually would allow the Council to create new, higher property taxes on any subclass of property. The bill appears that it could be used to sneak in the high taxes developers have sought for golf and country clubs that would run them out of business, forcing them to sell their club properties, to open up their vast lands for real estate development. In fact, under the current language, any subclass of property not exempted by the bill could face higher taxes of any amount sought by the Council.

Attorney and activist Robin Ficker
is mobbed by fans outside the
Council Office Building in Rockville

The property tax move is the Council's latest attempt to find an end run around attorney Robin Ficker's successful property tax cap ballot initiative, which requires the Council to vote unanimously to raise property taxes beyond the charter limit. When the Council did last did that, voters responded by voting to pass Ficker's ballot question allowing 12-year term limits on the Council and County Executive.

Ironically, Jawando's press conference is scheduled to take place at 11:45 AM this morning. Fifteen minutes later, at noon, Ficker is expected to deliver 55 lbs. of signed petitions for a new ballot question preventing the Council from passing another 9% property tax hike as they did recently.

But wait, we're not done talking about new taxes!

Jawando will also endorse House Bill 1494, which he claims will allow the County to increase the tax rate on incomes over $1 million a year from 3.2% to 3.5%. The Councilman says such a tax hike on millionaires would raise $88.4 million in new revenue annually.

One must ask, if true, why did the 9% increase of the already-progressive property tax only result in ongoing budget shortfalls each fiscal year since? Revenue is declining, not increasing, under the record-high tax rates now being paid. You can only get so much blood from a stone, especially when that stone has very smart tax advisors on retainer. Some on the Council continue to ignore what their own staff - past and present - has warned them about the impact of overtaxing, and their warnings are borne out in our declining revenue today.

One must also, again, read the actual text of the bill. In fact, under the language in the bill, everyone - that includes you! - could end up paying a higher income tax rate. "But Will Jawando says we won't," someone - likely an obsequious member of the local media or political cartel - might protest. As with the desperate Council attempt to create a Transit Authority last decade, it is key to ignore what the politicians say, and read what the actual bill says.

Under HB 1494, the Council could - for example - hike the income tax of all residents to 3.4%, and of "millionaires" to 3.5%. The bill has no language protecting "non-millionaires" from a higher income tax rate. It only says wealthier residents can't pay a lower tax rate than the people in the brackets under them, and allows the Council to create those brackets.

So even if you think the property tax hike on homes bigger than 5000 SF - and the income tax hike on incomes over $1 million - are good policy, you need to lobby your legislators to actually put those specific provisions into the bill. They aren't there as of this morning.

With no amendments to the text of each bill, both proposals will allow much corrupt mischief by the Council on property taxes, certainly hit local homebuilders and remodeling firms hard financially, and absolutely set up a potential income tax hike for every Montgomery County resident.

Will the proposed tax hikes destroy the Montgomery County economy? Probably not, because the County economy has already been destroyed. The new taxes will simply put a heavier layer of concrete atop the grave of the moribund economic corpse. And will make it all the harder for a future, competent set of new leaders to restore it once we have a free and fair Montgomery County election.

Virginia studying another Metro extension - why isn't Montgomery County?

The Silver Line isn't even finished yet, and booming Northern Virginia is already looking at another ambitious subway extension to Prince William County. Meanwhile, Montgomery County elected officials are looking at a ten-day February vacation, and even sleepier, moribund economic times ahead. What they should be studying are Metro extensions to the Upcounty and East County, studies that should have begun over a decade ago.

Clarksburg is about 12 miles from the Shady Grove Metro station. Burtonsville is around 10 miles from the Silver Spring Metro station. Virginia's $2 million Blue Line study is examining a 15-mile extension to Prince William via Fort Belvoir, Lorton, Potomac Mills and Quantico, modestly bigger than either potential Montgomery County extension.

Rail transit is far more advantageous for economic development than bus rapid transit. Unlike BRT, companies and developers can be assured the new transit isn't going to be suddenly cut off or rerouted. Ridership of rail would be far higher than that of buses or BRT (the County's future "Flash" B"Rapid"T will take a sluggish 87 minutes to travel from Clarksburg to Bethesda - longer than a car in traffic!).

In contrast, Montgomery County couldn't even get the Corridor Cities Transitway bus line built. Instead of high-speed rail technology fomenting a modern economic hub of the future, Montgomery's "Science City" ended up as Sleepy City. Just more stack-and-pack residential development, and thousands more cars vying for space on over-capacity I-270 and MD 355 every rush hour. Promised anchor biotech tenant Johns Hopkins Medicine just exited stage left as a result.

Meanwhile, what jobs we had in the 270 corridor continued to migrate to Northern Virginia and Frederick County. Montgomery County was at rock bottom in the D.C. region for job growth over the last decade. What we need are boardrooms, not more bedrooms.

There are also large properties planned for redevelopment north of Shady Grove, such as Lakeforest Mall, COMSAT and the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. These developments will not be "smart growth" without a Metro extension, or other rail service, and will not have the job component we need to also reduce the number and length of car trips in the corridor. The same goes for White Oak and Burtonsville.

A coordinated plan to address our moribund economy and failing, incomplete transportation system is needed. No such plan has come out of our current County Council.

Here's what we should be prioritizing today:

• Study extending the Red Line to Clarksburg, including options for at-grade, elevated and cut-and-cover underground segments
• Metro should connect to Lakeforest and COMSAT
• Study of Metro extension from Silver Spring Metro to Burtonsville
• Addition of third track to MARC Brunswick Line
• Making Ride On bus service free
• More business-friendly tax policy and regulations
• More competitive state tax policies
• Fully privatizing the County liquor monopoly, and allowing beer and wine sales at all grocery, drug and convenience stores
• Coordinate timing of new business policies with zoning/sector plan updates that incentivize and favor commercial/corporate development (a.k.a. high-wage jobs) over residential housing
• Planning and construction of long-delayed Midcounty Highway Extended (M-83 Highway Master Plan Alignment), with potential use for median/cut-and-cover simultaneous construction of rail line from Shady Grove Metro on relevant segments
• Construction of equally-long-delayed new Potomac River crossing to Dulles Airport with trackbed for future Red Line extension to Silver Line in median, as a toll facility built by a private company
• A concerted, focused effort on attracting aerospace, defense and tech corporate headquarters, and related research and manufacturing facilities (i.e. satellite and rocket assembly)

The Montgomery County Council isn't doing any of this. In fact, they're in the middle of a 10-day vacation. In February. 

Working hard, or hardly working?

In contrast, the Council-equivalents of our biggest competitors - Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties - are all meeting this week. It would be interesting if all local media - print, online, TV, radio - would join me in exposing the lazy work schedule of our self-proclaimed "full-time" slacker County Council.

Anyone who thinks we can dig ourselves out of this economic hole with a small-ball agenda by running empty BRT buses up and down, giving government contracts to small businesses, believing residential housing that generates more costs than revenue is the definition of "economic development," and patting ourselves on the back by adding the same STEM components to our schools that all of our competitors' school systems are also adding - or that it can be done under the leadership of our current County Council - is fooling themselves. 

Virginia has plenty of housing. But they also have plenty of jobs. Plenty of revenue, as a result. And they are making the big ticket investments to keep cleaning our clock for decades to come. Meanwhile, we're scaring every company away, have a structural budget deficit as far out as the projections go, are paying record high taxes, have massive debt, and steadily declining revenue even with a 9% tax hike several years ago. 

We can't go on like this.

Bar Louie closes Rockville, Wheaton Plaza locations

Just as nightlife in booming Washington, D.C. expands into new corners of the District, it continues to tank spectacularly in moribund Montgomery County. Bar Louie has closed in Rockville Town Square. As if that wasn't enough, Bar Louie also closed its newer location at Wheaton Plaza, which was in a very modern and new structure with prime proximity to the AMC Wheaton 9 cineplex. "Thanks for all the memories," read signs in the windows.

Having been at Rockville Town Square for many years, the closure reflects the drastic downturn the county has taken over the past decade, as the Montgomery County political cartel has seized all nine seats on the County Council. The fact that the Wheaton location exited the same weekend indicates that this was more than just the ongoing struggles at Federal Realty's Rockville Town Square, which has seen a mass exodus of many of its key tenants in recent years.

Montgomery County is in real trouble, folks. County revenue, not surprisingly, is severely declining with the failing economy and flight of the rich to lower-tax jurisdictions in the region. Nightlife took a catastrophic blow from the Council's disastrous "nighttime economy task force" debacle, which resulted in the closure of 18 nightspots in Bethesda alone, and was capped by several new Council policies that hit the bottom line of hospitality businesses hard. Not to mention the Council preserving and beefing up the County government liquor monopoly, instead of ending it as bar and restaurant owners have begged them to do for years.

More liquor money for Virginia and D.C. We're being led by very stupid people, folks.

Montgomery County fumbles Eli Lilly factory to North Carolina

Indianapolis residents now know what it feels like to live in Montgomery County. Just as moribund MoCo can't get one of its few remaining major companies - Lockheed - to locate its manufacturing facilities here, neither could Indy get hometown pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to build its new manufacturing facility in the Hoosier capital. Lilly is looking south instead, choosing Durham County, North Carolina's booming Research Triangle Park.

"We continue to grow North Carolina into a worldwide hub for the biotechnology industry," a jubilant North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said in a statement Tuesday.

Biotech and hospitality are the only two economic sectors in Montgomery County that even have a pulse these days, thanks to decisions made by wiser County leaders prior to the Montgomery County political cartel's seizure of the County Council in 2002 (today, the cartel controls all nine Council seats). But just days after the Washington Post reported once again that Montgomery County has fallen behind Prince George's County in job creation (while failing to report MoCo was also behind every other county in the region over the last decade in that department), Montgomery County's elected officials weren't able to score the biggest biotech get of the year so far - the Eli Lilly factory.

Not only did the County Council and economic development officials make no public campaign to attract Lilly, but their fumble also emphasizes how our inept leaders are squandering the biotech advantages their smarter, less corrupt predecessors left them at the turn of the century. North Carolina is catching up, as is Virginia. As MoCo officials continue to drop balls left and right, those and other states will soon surpass us.

North Carolina Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland correctly noted Tuesday that, "North Carolina is one of the nation’s leading centers for innovation in the life sciences." They also have two other things we don't: A friendly business climate, and superior infrastructure.

The Tar Heel state has the Research Triangle Park. Montgomery County was supposed to have a "Science City" in the I-270 corridor. Remember that?

Montgomery County elected officials couldn't even get that done. Of course, they never intended to. "Science City" was a total ruse perpetrated by the Council, and their developer sugar daddies, a decade ago. Sold to you as something like North Carolina's biotech park, that fakeout was merely a Trojan horse for more residential development.

Remember how Clarksburg, Germantown and Shady Grove were going to be booming job centers, with a Corridor Cities Transitway and expanded MARC service? None of that ever happened.

But - the housing all got built.

Jobs continued to divert to Northern Virginia, and I-270 just got more congested with all of the new housing approved by the Council without any new transportation infrastructure to support it. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Now, standing amidst the ashes of a "Science City" ghost town surrounded by stack-and-pack Soviet-style apartment blocs, the Council is saying the whole problem is...there wasn't enough housing built. LOL. [Insert cuckoo clock sound here].

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

What did we lose this week as a result?

462 new pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs, with an average salary above $72,000. 462 jobs are just a drop in the bucket given how stagnant and shrinking Montgomery County's economy is, but we're not in a position to pass any up in such a crisis. We should be, but are not, actively pursuing aerospace, biotech, and defense corporate headquarters, and their related research and manufacturing facilities.

North Carolina's Research Triangle Park's motto is, "Inspiring Bold Ideas."

The Montgomery County Council's is, "Lining our pockets with developer cash."

Our County's should be, "The Bedroom Community for the Booming Job Centers Elsewhere in Our Region."

How did Montgomery County fail to attract yet another Fortune 500 HQ?

Montgomery County officials have failed yet again to attract a major corporate headquarters; the county hasn't attracted a single one in over twenty years. Fortune 500 financial services giant Schwab was looking for an escape plan from California, a state that is an economic powerhouse but seemingly doing all it can to relinquish that title. Texas, as it so often is, was the winning suitor. An excellent article in the Dallas Morning News explains why suburban paradise Westlake, Texas crushed Montgomery County in the bidding war for Schwab.

Our elected officials, and their few supporters among county residents, continue to suffer from a severe case of Lake Wobegon syndrome. With no critical press corps, massive voter fraud, and unlimited money from the local political cartel, they've been free to continue believing that every day, in every way, Montgomery County is getting better and better.

"There’s a cachet associated with Westlake," the Morning News reports. "Westlake is one of the nation’s premier suburban markets. It has great schools, great hospitals, great gated communities, a lot of celebrities, athletes and former athletes live in that area. It’s highly desirable for the types of executives and high net worth individuals that will be working on this new campus."

In contrast, Montgomery County Public Schools have steadily declined this decade, with test scores and graduation rates plunging, and a widening achievement gap. Many of the ultra-rich who don't share the radical, Neo-Communist views of the Montgomery County Council have fled to lower-tax jurisdictions in our region, tanking County revenues in the process.

Transportation and airport access remain critical to corporate relocation decisions.

"The qualitative parts of site selection that a Schwab would look at have to do with lifestyle amenities like transportation assets. Dallas also enjoys unique access to the global marketplace with major air service."

Montgomery County, on the other hand, has nation-leading traffic congestion, an incomplete highway network that County officials have openly boasted they will not complete, and no direct access to Dulles International Airport, the only airport in the region with the frequency and international destinations of flights demanded by international businesspeople.

County officials have refused to construct the new Potomac River crossing to Dulles that would provide that direct access.

Also important, according to the article, are "the relationships with local elected officials. Are they pro-growth like the folks in the Dallas are? Or do they tend to be anti-business, like elected officials in the Bay Area?"

Montgomery County is clearly in the anti-business category, as demonstrated by its rock-bottom economic development status in the region. MoCo was even whipped by Culpeper and Rappahanock counties this decade. Now that's embarrassing.

Once again, the need to be a desirable destination for millennials and Generation Z is a significant factor. "Fortunately for cities like Houston, Austin and Dallas, you have high in-migration rates of working professionals and young people."

Young professionals are avoiding Montgomery County like the plague, by comparison. MoCo shares the "out-of-control housing costs" of California, and is busy approving demolition of what affordable housing exists - with a redevelopment of Battery Lane that will deliver a net loss of affordable units being the latest.

The County Council's disastrous Nighttime Economy Task Force effort ended up destroying the nighttime economy, with 18 nightspots closing in downtown Bethesda alone in its wake. Young people are going just about anywhere but Montgomery County for nightlife, as it continues to grow its reputation as the boring and sleepy bedroom community for the booming job centers elsewhere in our region.

One new factor not really discussed before is the concern of shareholders. The Morning News reports that choosing a business-friendly HQ site like Texas or Tennessee pleases shareholders, who can expect greater profit margins as a result.

Business friendliness is especially important when the national economy goes south, the paper notes.

"There's an enormous amount of uncertainty about the economy. What the economy will look like a couple of years from now with respect to potential tax increases, regulations and uncertain trade issues.

"And that’s really bringing back a focus on the old fashioned cost-of-doing-business business climate analysis. Because states that will best weather the storm of an economic downturn are states like Texas and Florida that have pro-business policies, low taxes, fiscal restraint."

Montgomery County stagnant or getting worse in all key areas, residents say

Montgomery County's elected officials haven't improved any major area of concern or crisis, residents say in a new County-operated survey. Vast majorities countywide say there has been no progress or improvement in the moribund County economy, Montgomery County Public Schools, traffic congestion, crime and public safety, quality of life or the environment in the last two years.

86% of residents say there has been no improvement in availability of affordable housing. 76% feel there has been no improvement in crime prevention and public safety. A whopping 87% found no improvement in traffic congestion over the last two years. In fact, it's getting worse.

63% of residents say there has been no improvement in MCPS, which has declined steadily over this decade, as test scores and graduation rates plummeted and an achievement gap worsened. Yep, that's getting worse, too. But rather than improve failing schools, the corrupt MoCo cartel is trying to ready a forced busing strategy that failed nationwide decades ago, and is preemptively calling those who favor neighborhood schools "racists" and "white supremacists" - terms regularly deployed as the nuclear option when one has lost a debate on the facts.

Montgomery County's stagnant economy reached rock bottom in the region this decade, and residents' opinions squarely reflect that reality. A powerful 69% of residents say there has been no improvement in job growth. 61% report no improvement in business growth. Montgomery County ranked at the bottom in the region on both measurements this decade.

Progressive and green Montgomery County is leading the nation in environmental policy, our elected officials assure us weekly. Mmm...not so much, counter Montgomery County residents. 68% of residents say the environment hasn't improved, or has gotten worse, since 2017. 66% responded that quality of life opportunities in the county - the arts, culture, recreation and libraries - have either not improved or have gotten worse.

Marc Elrich is right on Montgomery County housing targets

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is yet again the target of another hit piece in The Washington Post, which makes no secret of its disdain for Elrich, labor unions, and the men and women of our police department. Incredibly, the article, "Executive won't back housing targets" (Metro section, November 21, 2019) presents no defenders of Elrich's position. It instead attempts to paint him as a man entirely alone. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Elrich is the most popular elected official in Montgomery County, in both die-hard following and in actual votes cast. One of the key reasons is his willingness to put citizens over the interests of developers in situations exactly like this. As I reported earlier this month, the developer-controlled Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has put forward an "affordable housing" scheme designed to profit - surprise! - developers.  It has asked local jurisdictions to build a specific number of new, low-income housing units by 2030. Of Montgomery, it has asked for us to allow 23,100 additional low-income housing units to be constructed by 2030, in addition to those already approved or proposed.

Needless to say, agreeing to such a target would bankrupt the County for multiple reasons. MoCo has a structural budget deficit as far out as the future projections go. Our economy is so moribund, Montgomery ranks rock bottom in the region by every relevant federal economic development statistic from job creation to new business starts to new business growth this decade. We haven't attracted a single major new corporate headquarters to the county in over two decades.

The County's debt is so large, if it were a department, it would be the 3rd-largest department in the County government. Despite record-high taxes, County revenue is actually declining. Many of the ultra-rich have fled to lower-tax jurisdictions in our region, taking their money with them. And most significantly, because the in-the-red-every-year budget has proven definitively that residential housing growth costs more in new services than it generates in revenue (even as places like Clarksburg have grown 800% in population in recent years). Imagine adding 60573 more taxpayers who will not make any significant contribution to revenue, while requiring education, medical care, food, police and fire service, social services, and more.

Adding 60753 low-income residents beyond those already on their way by 2030, while simultaneously subsidizing developers to generate those units, would be a financial disaster. And it must be noted that MWCOG is not counting or restricting the number of existing affordable units that may be demolished - a phenomenon that has led to a net-loss of affordable housing in Montgomery County over this decade. Just this week, I reviewed plans for a major redevelopment on Battery Lane that will result in a net-loss of affordable units. Will the same County Council that attacks Elrich, and supports the housing targets scheme, block the net-loss Battery development? Of course not.

But take a look at this article.

Reporter Rebecca Tan tells us that the "unprecedented push to address the region's affordable housing crisis has hit its first major snag." That is biased language in favor of the scheme in the very first sentence. She then describes Elrich as "stubborn." This is wild - I've never seen another Democratic executive in the region referred to in pejorative language like that by a Post reporter. He is "a serious roadblock to addressing the housing shortage," and his "position is particularly concerning given that Montgomery, a wealthy suburb of 1 million, has been asked to create more affordable units over the next decade than any other locality."

I recognize Tan is new to covering the County, but her report appears to lack the context of the County's disastrous budget picture and moribund economy. It doesn't matter how "wealthy" a jurisdiction or any enterprise is, if it annually spends more than it takes in.

Tan notes that the County Council, as I reported, voted unanimously to adopt the MWCOG housing targets. What she doesn't note, is that each of them accepted thousands or more in dollars of developer campaign contributions. And that Elrich, by contrast, does not accept developer money.

This is a key point of context - why is it missing from the article?

Tan allows delusional 2022 Elrich challenger Councilmember Hans Riemer to say, "Marc Elrich stands alone," the theme she bashes readers over the head with throughout the piece. She goes on to quote five people critical of Elrich's position - all of whom are funded by development interests - without acknowledging their conflict of interest.

There are many activists, neighborhood leaders, and residents who agree with Marc Elrich whom Tan could have quoted. Contrary to journalistic standards, she did not. She even allowed Riemer to lie about the infamous fake-news claim that Elrich would prefer jobs go to Frederick County, which was pushed by the developer-funded Greater Greater Washington blog last year.

Elrich inherited a moribund county economy, and neither he nor the Council have made any significant moves to change our business climate and regional competitiveness since taking office last December. But Elrich has an impeccable record of standing up for the vulnerable, looking out for the interests of residential neighborhoods, and providing better protections for renters. As Tan's article notes, Elrich is pushing for a "no net loss" housing rule. That is exactly the type of policy that will actually ensure affordable units are available for decades to come. To paint a longtime advocate for the less-fortunate as a "NIMBY," as Tan does, is absurd. She states "some critics" call him that, but failed to produce any for her report.

The fact is, as Elrich has noted in years past, Montgomery already has in the planning pipeline sufficient units to meet the expected population demand by 2030. And the reality is, Montgomery County decides how much our population grows - if we don't build, they can't come. So our fate really is in the hands of our elected officials, not those of fate itself.

Council President Nancy Navarro and others chastise Elrich for "denying" and "pretending" that there isn't a "housing shortage" or "need for affordable housing."

But there is growing evidence that we don't have a housing "crisis." Recently, the County Housing Opportunities Commission moved hundreds of residents out of the Ambassador apartments in Wheaton, and is demolishing the building. They moved them into vacant units in their other buildings across the County. Not far away, the owners of affordable and spacious apartments at Halpine View told attendees at a public meeting that they have many vacant units, with little public demand for them.

Wait a minute...we have a "crisis," but we could give up an entire apartment building, have enough vacant units idling elsewhere in the County to take all of those folks in, and have vacancies at Halpine View? This doesn't sound like a crisis to anyone with common sense.

What is this all really about?

As Tan expertly manages to note in yet another Montgomery County cartel talking point, people like Elrich may be "seek[ing] to shield single-family neighborhoods from bigger or denser development." That is exactly what voters in those neighborhoods elected him to do - protect them from the plans of the Council and their developer sugar daddies to impose urban mixed-use zoning on all established SFH-zoned neighborhoods across the County.

What this is really about is adopting Wild West zoning, and the MWCOG-County Council plan to have you the taxpayer fund developers, who will profit from overbuilding while bankrupting the County and destroying the successful suburban and rural neighborhoods those taxpayers live in. All under the guise of "helping the poor." It's quite obvious who's really being helped by this scheme, and it's not the poor.

We don't even have adequate infrastructure to handle our current population. Until we do, or until developers agree to provide more roads, schools, etc., pulling up the ladders to the extent we can - while protecting the existing housing of current residents of all income levels - is the only responsible way forward in housing policy.

Marc Elrich is right - and he is anything but "alone" on this issue.

MoCo Council approves budget-busting developer-backed housing scheme

The Montgomery County Council quietly adopted a developer-backed regional housing scheme in a unanimous vote Wednesday. A vote that received little attention from the local media, and was preceded by no public process to promote taxpayer buy-in. Why was that? Probably because the plan, along with the almost-certain Kirwan Commission spending increases ahead, is likely to bankrupt Montgomery County and lead to massive future tax hikes. And because each of the nine councilmembers has accepted thousands of dollars from their developer sugar daddies.

Only the Council itself appeared eager to brag about its vote in a press release yesterday. But braggadocio doesn't substitute for mathematics aptitude nor budgeting skill, as the Council's annual structural budget deficit proves. The Council just put you, the taxpayer, on the hook for a massive spending increase - in education, social services, police and fire, health care, and developer tax giveaways - even as they (presumably?) know there's no way in hell future councils will be able to pay for it.

What does approving the developer-backed Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' "regional housing targets" actually mean? It obligates Montgomery County to build 23000+ new housing units for low and middle-income residents by 2030, in addition to those already planned. The County Council couldn't even be honest about that in the press release, which falsely claimed the number as 10,000 additional low-income units.

The initiative sounds good, and like most developer initiatives, it's meant to. The reality is, the scheme is all about developer profits, and taxpayers will be left holding the bag.

MWCOG itself predicts that 75% of the new residents coming to Montgomery County by 2030 will be low or mid-income residents. That not only means they will contribute little in tax revenue to the county, but that spending will have to skyrocket to provide the services and infrastructure such a population surge would require.

This would be difficult enough of a fiscal equation to square - massive new spending, with only 25% of the new residents able to shoulder the huge costs. But then you look at the bigger picture, and the alarm bells really start going off.

Montgomery County's moribund economy, job creation, business starts, and business growth are all rock-bottom in the regional rankings this decade. Despite record-high tax rates and tax hikes, revenue is actually declining, even as the County Council continues to spend more. Many of the ultra-wealthy have fled Montgomery County to lower-tax jurisdictions in our region, taking huge chunks of revenue that used to balance the County budget with them. Greater spending, fewer revenue-generating residents...it simply doesn't add up, no matter what brand of calculator you use.

Then you look at the debt and cost obligations of the County. The bond rating agencies have already criticized the current Council's budgetary dirty tricks, which have failed to adequately fund government retiree health benefits, for example. Our councilmembers might be shocked to learn that even governments have to pay their bills. How such incompetent people were allowed to take power is a sad commentary on the sham, Soviet-style 2018 election, which had no general election debates or local media coverage of the County Council races. Joseph Stalin would be proud.

Debt is skyrocketing. If the County's current debt was a department, it would be the third-largest department in the County budget. The last thing a sane elected official would do in that situation is agree to a massive spending increase.

Finally, there's the coming budgetary atomic bomb: The Kirwan Commission. Kirwan is the biggest threat to the County's fiscal health since the state threatened to make the County pay more toward teacher pensions earlier this decade.

Kirwan is proposing astronomical amounts of new education spending, with no appreciable change in the actual curriculum or methods. Spending on education has already been jacked up year after year by the Council, to no avail. Test scores and graduation rates continue to decline, while the achievement gap remains the same or worsens.

Spending hikes proposed by the Kirwan Commission would literally be flushing good money after bad down the MCPS toilet. Money isn't the problem at MCPS. And don't forget, the maintenance-of-effort-on-steroids law adopted by Maryland will require us to maintain that level of spending into the future. There is no escape once these spending increases are approved.

Taken together, the housing targets adoption and the Council's rabid desire to adopt the Kirwan recommendations on the backs of the taxpayers, have placed Montgomery County on an accelerated course to fiscal oblivion. We can't go on like this.

MoCo misses out on Mitsubishi HQ, relocation expert cites importance of airport access

Montgomery County hasn't attracted a single major corporate headquarters in over twenty years, and Mitsubishi North America won't break that humiliating streak of failure. The Japanese industrial giant's U.S. headquarters has been in sunny California since 1988. After a nationwide search, they've chosen Franklin, Tennessee.

"I’m proud Mitsubishi Motors will call Franklin its U.S. home, and bring 200 high-quality jobs to Middle Tennessee," Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a press release announcing the victory. The press release notes that corporate headquarters jobs have grown by 37% in Tennessee since 2013. "Mitsubishi Motors’ decision to relocate its U.S. headquarters from California to Franklin underscores Tennessee’s growing profile as a hub for U.S. and international companies," Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Chair Bob Rolfe said. "Tennessee will continue to actively recruit quality headquarters jobs from higher-cost coastal states, and we are honored Mitsubishi will make this significant investment in Williamson County.”

This is just the latest major corporate HQ contest the Montgomery County Council and economic development officials have either lost, or simply dozed through without even making a bid. One ongoing disadvantage Montgomery has, besides its national reputation as a business-unfriendly jurisdiction with high taxes, is its lack of direct access to Dulles International Airport.

We could have had direct access by now, had our elected officials not canceled the long-planned Potomac River crossing to the Dulles area. John Boyd of corporate relocation firm The Boyd Company reaffirmed the importance of such access in recent comments about Sherwin Williams dissatisfaction with their current Cleveland HQ location, that has spurred them to begin a relocation search.

Boyd's analysis was reported by Cleveland's Fox 8 as follows:

He said air transit is a key factor in site selection. As Cleveland vies to keep the company that employs more than 33,000 people worldwide, Boyd said the region's lack of non-stop flights to markets around the globe is its biggest hurdle.

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport was ranked second-worst among 16 similar-sized airports in the J.D. Power 2019 North America Airport Satisfaction Study. The airport has commissioned a firm to create a new master plan for upgrades.

"Every time there's a major trophy headquarters project, you always think about the usual suspects: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston. Cities with major gateway airports," Boyd said.

Dulles is unmatched in our region for the frequency of flights and variety of international business destinations. It would be so simple to eliminate this major obstacle to economic growth by merely greenlighting the new bridge to Dulles. The Council's stubborn refusal to do so speaks volumes about their radical, fringe ideology, and total lack of competence.

Another job center lost in Rockville, as developer cancels office building in favor of residential

Montgomery County continues

to become the bedroom community

for job centers elsewhere in region

The developer of 1800 Research Boulevard in Rockville, a property approved for an office development, is requesting a master plan amendment to flip it to residential. FG Office Group, LLC, a Lerner shell company, is seeking to build a 350-unit residential building with courtyards and two "amenity spaces." One will be a pool, and the other a green space with patio and picnic areas.

Previously, the site had been designated for a 210,981 SF office building. The site would seem ideal for a biotech or medical research company, given its proximity to the I-270 biotech corridor, Shady Grove Hospital and The Universities at Shady Grove. But Lerner says it has concluded there is no market demand for office presently. Lerner adds that it has been unable to find tenants for their existing Fallsgrove office building on Shady Grove Road.

The moribund Montgomery County economy continues to stymie the office market. Some developers have been forced to move their own headquarters into their new office buildings because they are unable to sign an anchor tenant. Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. The end result is that a planned job center at Fallsgrove, similar to changes at King Farm and elsewhere in the County, will now be permanently lost. So even if the County changes leadership and policies to be more business-friendly down the road, those new jobs can't be placed here to reduce the number of Rockville residents driving to job centers in Northern Virginia and the District.

Montgomery County Council vape shop bill poised to set economic destruction record

Would be third County economic sector

totally wiped out this decade after

food trucks, nightlife

The Montgomery County Council is poised to set a world record this fall - and it's not one to be proud of. Known for a record of economic failure, high taxes, jammed roads, failing schools and banning stuff, the Council is turning to that last font once again with a new vape shop bill and zoning text amendment package. To call it heavy-handed would be an understatement - it would literally require almost every single vape shop in Montgomery County "to close within 24 months." In doing so, the Council would destroy an entire sector of the County's economy - vaping and smoke shops - for the third time in a single decade, following their destruction of the food truck and nightlife sectors over the last eight years.

As usual, the Council is not on firm legal or logical ground. No resident should feel comfortable with the County in the hands of elected officials who would destroy a whole sector of the economy without even having a knowledge of the topic and industry they are "cracking down" on. If one did have a grasp of the basic facts, he would not be introducing a bill based entirely on hyperbole and panic generated by misleading media reports.

Vaping hysteria is suddenly and mysteriously sweeping the nation. If you believe many media reports, Juul users are keeling over by the dozens. Actually, that's fake news. The majority of "vaping deaths" appear to have resulted from people trying to use unauthorized THC vaping cartridges. THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.

Not a single person in Montgomery County or Maryland has died from immediate use of legal, nicotine vaping products. The Council laughably cites three students being hospitalized after "vaping on school grounds." Many, many more students have been hospitalized after using various other drugs on school grounds than that. It is currently illegal for minors to purchase e-cigarettes and vaping products. Why wouldn't the Council crack down on illegal sales, if the real concern was use by minors?

Predictably, no local media outlet is pressing the Council on its latest Draconian solution in search of a problem. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the lawsuits that are sure to follow passage of a bill designed to put specific enterprises out of business.

Once again, the County Council's hypocrisy and doublespeak has been exposed. They said we needed more millennials to move here. They've claimed for years that we needed to allow unlimited development of luxury apartments to attract those millennials. But the development they approve isn't within the price range of most millennials.

They claimed they would make us "hip," and launched the disastrous "Nighttime Economy Initiative" that ended up cratering the nightlife sector countywide, with eighteen nightspots closing in downtown Bethesda alone.

Finally, the Council deep-sixed what was a booming food truck industry by banning the trucks from public streets. Food trucks are a major draw for young professionals in urban areas - you know, the very people the Council said we needed to attract. What does the Council then do? Implode the food truck industry, with 96% of trucks either going out of business or fleeing back into the District, where many of them can be found at lunchtime just over the border in Friendship Heights, D.C.

It's as if the County Council wants to make sure Montgomery County's national reputation as a terrible place for young people and businesses is solidified for all time. Vaping is very popular among young adults. For better or worse, it is "hip," to use the Council's outdated dad-jeans lingo. So no housing, no nightlife, no lunchtime food trucks and no vaping for you, millennials. Enjoy your life in Northern Virginia - heck, that's where your jobs are anyway. Might as well live there, too! Wait, you already do?

And that's the real capstone of the Kill Vaping Bill. Despite record-high taxes, County revenue is down, and we are in a structural budget deficit. The Council has driven our economy into the ground over the last two decades, and has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. Ultra-rich residents have fled in droves, slashing tax revenues that were being provided by some of our wealthiest denizens, and shuttering storefronts up and down "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive" in Chevy Chase. And the County's debt, if it were a government department, would be the third-largest department in the County government.

After passing a corruption-bloated, reckless and irresponsible budget in May - and raising taxes in the process - one of the major bond rating agencies sent out an urgent alert warning investors. That means our AAA bond rating is in danger of being downgraded. And just as a recession may be around the corner.

This is the time that the Council would destroy yet another entire sector of our economy, and forgo all of that revenue from a popular consumer product? This is the time that they would, yet again, deter young adults from choosing to live in Montgomery County?

What are these folks smoking?

Michelle Malkin, sanctuary opponents to rally Friday in Rockville; counterprotest planned in Montgomery County immigration stand-off

Opponents and advocates of Montgomery County's policy of not detaining prisoners with ICE detainers being released from the Montgomery County jail until federal agents can take them into custody will face off outside the Montgomery County Council building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville tomorrow, Friday, September 13, 2019 from 11:00 AM to noon. A rally headlined by political commentator and author Michelle Malkin and WMAL conservative radio host Larry O'Connor will take place on the steps of the Council building.

Rally organizers say they will call on Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich to withdraw his executive order,"Promoting Community Trust," that put further restrictions on ICE cooperation this year. Elrich has said he will review aspects of the policy, and determine whether to make changes.

Activists and organizations who support the County policy, which has come under national political fire from the Trump administration after eight immigrants in the country illegally were accused of separate sexual assaults of women and children in the County over the last few weeks, are pledging to turn out in force to counter the rally. "Let's drown out the hate with NOISE," Showing Up for Racial Justice - Montgomery County said in a Facebook announcement of their counter-rally, "MoCo Stands with Immigrants," that will take place at the same time and location.

Malkin is touring the country to promote a new book, Open Borders, Inc.: Who's Funding America's Destruction?, the release of which has coincided with the Montgomery County controversy. Others slated to appear at the original rally include Shari Rendall of FAIR, Brad Botwin of Help Save Maryland, author Ying Ma and Montgomery County Republican Party chair Alexander Bush.

The counterprotest will include members of SURJ, host Takoma Park Mobilization, Jews United for Justice, CASA de Maryland, UFCW Local 1994, Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition, Action in Montgomery, JCRC of Greater Washington, Poor People's Campaign, United We Dream, Sanctuary DMV, and other local unions and organizations.

Photo via @michellemalkin Twitter account

White Flint Mall site reclaimed by nature (Photos)

The former site of White Flint Mall on Rockville Pike has been reclaimed by nature. Several years have passed since the mall was demolished, and now it is an overgrown field guarded by hyperaggressive security. Perhaps they fear a giant rabbit may jump the fence and munch on the vegetation. The heady greed that led the owners to pull the plug on a fully-leased mall, with crowded parking lots and popular restaurants, has dissipated. Replacing it is stagnation and malaise. And lots of weeds.

An area touted as Montgomery County's answer to Tysons fell victim to MoCo's moribund economy, corrupt and incompetent County Council, and hostile business climate. Tysons is booming, while White Flint Mall's former site is only blooming with weeds and brush. Developers and investors have fled, abandoning or downsizing their plans. Only Federal Realty moved forward with a fully-realized development, leading their CEO, Don Wood, to criticize County officials for not delivering on their end of the bargain in White Flint.

The Montgomery County Council hasn't taken a single action to address our economic development crisis since taking office last December, as MoCo stagnates with the lowest-ranked economy in the region by every relevant measure. No major corporation has moved its headquarters to Montgomery County in over twenty years. County taxes are at an all-time high, but tax revenue is declining, as the ultra-rich flee to lower-tax jurisdictions in the region.

Yet our elected officials have decided to simply put a piece of carpet tape over the "Check Engine" light screaming at them from the civic dashboard. It's intriguing that Lerner is compelled to provide entertainment for the public on a future development site they own in bustling Tysons, but here the Council allows them to leave us an overgrown field. That says a lot about the difference between the two jurisdictions, and the competency of their respective leadership.

This stretch of Rockville Pike looks
exactly the same as it did over nine years
ago, when the White Flint sector plan passed

MoCo residents to protest County Council ADU vote Tuesday

The Montgomery County Council will try to ram through revised Accessory Dwelling Unit zoning rules that will allow tiny homes to be constructed in backyards countywide, in many cases without requiring additional parking spaces. It is the first step in the Council's effort, driven by the developer sugar daddies who funded all nine members' 2018 campaigns, to end single-family home zoning in the County. Residents, over a thousand of whom have signed a petition opposing the ADU scheme, will protest outside the County Council building tomorrow morning, Tuesday, July 23, 2019 at 9:00 AM, at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville.

Councilmembers, led by Hans Riemer, plan to introduce another zoning scheme that will allow duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, boarding houses, and even assembly of single-family home lots into stack-and-pack apartment complexes, in currently single-family home neighborhoods. Too incompetent to address the County's moribund economy, failing schools, and rising violent crime, the Council's Maoist-inspired strategy is to bring down successful neighborhoods and school clusters via allowing multifamily development in every neighborhood countywide, and through forced busing of children to schools outside of their neighborhoods.

Residents who have seen the results of similar radical strategies in Seattle and San Francisco are saying, "No, thanks" to the ZTA plan. The ZTA plan will increase school overcrowding in desirable school clusters, and the ultimate multifamily rezoning will more than quadruple existing school overcrowding. Protesters will ask the Council to delay the ZTA vote tomorrow.

Montgomery County 911 system fails again

Officials don't know how

many emergency calls went

unanswered during outage

Montgomery County's 911 system failed twice Thursday, according to the Montgomery County Police Department, which does not operate the system. An MCPD spokesperson said that County officials cannot, as of now, tell them how many urgent 911 calls went unanswered during the service interruptions, but that the department is aware of one caller in need of basic life support medical services who was affected.

Callers who dialed 911 around 8:30 AM yesterday morning - and again between 9:35 and 9:43 AM - could not get through to the 911 call center, and instead heard a message saying they number they'd reached was out of service. According to MCPD, the failure was traced to a network outage between system components.

There is no indication that the Alert Montgomery system informed citizens of either outage. Montgomery County Government has yet to post any statement regarding the outages as of this writing.

It was exactly three years ago that I broke the story of a similar 911 system failure. Later, the County tried to cover up the fact that Alert Montgomery had failed to issue alerts to subscribers until long after the outage had ended. Two people were confirmed to have died has a result of that 2016 911 system failure, 

Yet despite their failure having fatal results for two of their constituents in 2016, the County Council has clearly failed to change its ways. Here we are again, with another 911 outage three years later. Similarly, the Council failed to upgrade the public safety radio communications system for County first responders for more than a decade, deliberately kicking the can down the road to have more play money to spend on their cartel sugar daddies.

In fact, since taking the oath of office last December, the latest Council has failed to take action on a single major crisis. Not a single thing has been done to exercise oversight and update the 911 system, complete our master plan highway system, turn around our moribund economy that now ranks last in the region by every economic development benchmark, nor to address rising rates of violent crime.

Most of the current Council term has been spent on a grotesque attack on the men and women of the Montgomery County police department. The Council's continual slander, defamation and disparagement of Montgomery's finest only put our first responders and the public in greater danger. Which fits perfectly with the County Council's record of making public safety a low priority, to the point that there are actual people who have died as a result of their failure to address basic government issues like providing a functioning 911 system. It's outrageous.

Riemer admits Montgomery County is in "crisis"

Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer (D -At-Large) admitted at a gathering of developers and real estate industry insiders Tuesday that the County he's helped to run for the last nine years is in "crisis." Just last year, in a bizarre and rambling press conference, Riemer had denied Montgomery had grown moribund - despite reporters citing official federal statistics proving it was at rock bottom in the region by every economic development benchmark. But at Bisnow's Future of Bethesda and Beyond event yesterday, Riemer changed his tune and acknowledged MoCo is getting whipped by Northern Virginia. But despite being surrounded by local business experts on panels at the event, Riemer brushed aside their advice and doubled down on stupid, falsely claiming the problem is a lack of skilled workers.

Riemer also lied about just how bad the crisis is. He falsely told the Bisnow audience that Northern Virginia had only dominated job growth in the region for the last two years. In fact, it has dominated throughout this century. The numbers just get worse and worse for Montgomery. Northern Virginia accounted for 91% of all job growth in the region over the last year, according to a Stephen S. Fuller Institute report cited at the Bisnow event.

For the second time in as many weeks, Foulger Pratt CEO Cameron Pratt hit the nail on the head, calling for a long-delayed new Potomac River crossing to Dulles to be built. "Look at the number of jobs being created just a few miles away on the other side of the river," Pratt told the Bisnow audience. "We've got this Great Wall of China, which is the Potomac River, that nobody can cross because there's one access point down at the American Legion Bridge. If we could connect to all of the economic activity in Northern Virginia and the Dulles Toll Road by building a bridge, all of a sudden Gaithersburg and Germantown become connected instantly."

Riemer also admitted that, despite loud declarations since 2014 that the Council would tackle the missing school capacity infrastructure crisis, "some of our most attractive real estate markets are in moratorium right now." Humiliating! He promised the Council would get around to ending the moratorium sometime late next year, a La-Z-Boy agenda pace that business leaders in attendance found less than reassuring.

Duball, LLC President Marc Dubick said the moratorium "scares the living heck out of our institutional partners. Clarity with schools should be a top priority." But despite claims that it was, the Council never actually provided that clarity, much less the classroom space needed.

Think about it. Riemer has taken in tens of thousands of dollars from his developer sugar daddies over the last decade. Yet, even with nine whole years to solve the problem, he still couldn't even deliver the basic infrastructure needed to prevent a moratorium. Along with cratering the County's economy, destroying the food truck industry in the County, and tanking the nighttime economy, it shows incompetence of the highest order.

Surrounded by expert advice from business leaders, who correctly identified the problems as missing highway infrastructure and a hostile business climate with high taxes and over-regulation, Riemer was again lost without backup from cue cards and staff. According to Riemer, highly-educated Montgomery County lacks skilled workers, and needs to train its workforce. He also delivered a rambling and incoherent speech promising that the Purple Line would attract biotech jobs to the already-densely-developed Silver Spring area, when in fact, such companies need larger campuses that are only viable along I-270 and in White Oak, neither of which is on the Purple Line.

Riemer isn't the sharpest tool in the drawer, that's for sure. Only at the end of his political career in Montgomery County has he finally summoned the courage or the shame to admit the jurisdiction he's run for nine years is in a full blown economic crisis. But as they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem.