Taxpayers left holding the bag for $45 million in Silver Spring Transit Center fiasco settlement

Is this a thing of beauty, or what?

Montgomery County taxpayers are left holding the bag in the Silver Spring Transit Center debacle settlement agreed to yesterday. County officials attempting to cover-up their failure to conduct their oversight role on the project filed a weak lawsuit in a case where they themselves were mostly to blame.

The result? Realizing they could not win, the County's ultra-expensive legal team reached a chump change settlement worth a paltry $25 million. That leaves you, the taxpayer, holding the bag and paying $42 million for the remainder of the $47 million in cost overruns, $20 million in damages, and $10 million in legal fees. The settlement also requires the County (a.k.a. you, the taxpayer) to pay $3 million to Foulger-Pratt to settle their countersuit, which was directly caused by the incompetence of the County and County Council. You are now on the hook for a total of $45 million.

The surrender settlement, while inevitable given the County's woefully-weak case, was a total betrayal of the promises made by County Executive Ike Leggett and the County Council. Leggett stated he would not leave taxpayers on the hook for even a penny of the cost overruns. Councilmember George Leventhal promised the Brickyard Coalition in 2014 that he would "ensure taxpayers will not be on the hook for the remediation of the transit center." Councilmember Hans Riemer said in April 2013 he would "protect the taxpayers."

Once safely reelected, Leventhal and his colleagues abruptly turned around and made multiple new appropriations of tens of millions of dollars for the transit center. The taxpayers be damned!, was the clear message from the Council.

On Election Day 2018, voters will deliver the overdue "rough, seat of the pants estimate" Leventhal and his colleagues asked for in January 2015 - with a steel-toed boot.

#LockThemUp

Rockville redevelopment project seeking waiver on fire response

The Rockville Board of Appeals will hear a waiver request this Saturday from the Village at Rockville redevelopment project, located at 9701 Veirs Drive. That project does not comply with the rules requiring projects of this type to be within 10 minutes' response time from two fire stations. The Mayor and Council created a waiver provision on April 17 of this year, which the applicant is now seeking from the Board of Appeals.

A 3-member affirmative vote will be needed to obtain the waiver. The meeting will be held at City Hall this Saturday, June 3, at 9:00 AM.

MoCo Council passes tax hike budget, bloated with payoffs to donors and allies - and themselves

The Montgomery County Council yesterday unanimously passed another budget that will raise your tax bill for FY-2018, in order to cover their highest-in-the-region salaries, and taxpayer-funded giveaways to political allies in the non-profit and contracting fields. Buried in the Council press release is a legally-required admission that your tax bill will increase, not decrease. That's because, while the Council can technically claim they "held the line on taxes," the corrupt tax system they've put in place automatically hikes taxes based on increased real estate assessments.

Allies of the Council in the local media went even further than the Council's own press release Thursday, falsely declaring that taxes had decreased - even as the release stated otherwise. Fake news. In fact, the Council posted a required ad in local newspapers several weeks ago announcing a budget with an increase in taxes. This follows last year's all-time-high property tax increase of 9% (which many County homeowners found actually translated into tax hikes of 10% or more, based on - yep - those automatic tax hikes that happen whether the Council increases the rate or not), and a major hike in the recordation tax.

So "holding the line" in this case means we're still at the highest level of taxation in Montgomery County history. The Council didn't have to move a muscle to get all that, and a little bit more, from your wallet for this budget.

As I reported a few weeks back, the budget massively overpays for procurement purchases, and funnels money to key donors and political allies in often-duplicative non-profit social services. Some who receive salaries from those non-profits turn portions of their tax hikes into campaign donations for the very councilmembers who voted to approve the funding for their organizations. Funding for a new microlending "Bank of the County Council" can also be "paid forward" by recipients to the campaigns of councilmembers. Those involved in determining who receives the microloans are either directly appointed by the Council, or are within their direct orbits of political influence.

Whether you pay taxes in Montgomery County can also depend on who you are. As I reported this week, developer Regency Centers was found to be in arrears to the County, having not paid their tax bills on two Westbard properties. Yet their development proposals are being pushed through the approval process, at taxpayer expense. As you know, ordinary citizens like you and me can be denied various government benefits and services if we are delinquent on our taxes.

There's a lot in this budget for the beleaguered County taxpayer to review, and perhaps even more for the FBI to examine. Such an examination could turn the Council's unwarranted budget victory lap into a perp walk outside of 100 Maryland Avenue.

Shuttered Rockville pizzeria's equipment being auctioned off

Know an aspiring chef who needs a revolving pizza oven? Point him or her in the direction of the Pie 360 auction. The pizzeria in the Galvan at Twinbrook recently ended one of the shortest runs in Rockville restaurant history. Now their natural gas pizza oven can be yours, as can 3 soft-serve ice cream machines.

Mayor and Council to hold walking town meeting at Americana Centre Thursday

A walking town meeting will be held by the Mayor and Council at the Americana Centre tomorrow, Thursday, May 25, at 6:30 PM. Meet in front of the Hamilton House at 4 Monroe Street at 6:30. In case of rain, the meeting will move inside the Hamilton House multipurpose room.

Residents of Americana Centre have already put forward the following items for the agenda, but attendees will be able to expand beyond these: Future development plans in the area, and pedestrian safety on Monroe Place and the intersection of Monroe Place and Monroe Street.

If weather conditions allow, here is the route the tour will take:

Click map to enlarge

Rockville outdoor smoking ban passed by Mayor and Council

Rockville's Mayor and Council passed a new ban on smoking in outdoor dining areas last night in a 4-1 vote. The vote came after an emotional appeal by the leading advocate for the ban, resident Adam Zimmerman, during the Community Forum portion of the meeting.

Councilmember Mark Pierzchala cast the lone dissenting vote, saying he fears an outcome such as residents living adjacent to Montgomery College experienced, when that campus went smoke-free. Smokers who couldn't light up on college property migrated into the residential community behind the college to puff away instead.

Pierzchala predicted smokers banished from Rockville Town Square dining spaces will likely move in front of other businesses and properties downtown, calling these "unintended consequences" of the ban.

Mr. Smoothie for sale at Rockville Town Square

Mr. Smoothie is for sale at Rockville Town Square. The smoothie and frozen yogurt cafe has been in business since 1996, and remains open at this time. Sale price is listed at only $59,999.