Michael Bell
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The Fallacy of County-Funded Aging-In-Place
Read more: The Fallacy of County-Funded Aging-In-PlaceHuman relationships are fickle. Probably the most fickle are high-school romances (for those of you who were lucky enough to have had one or two or three). Another example is bloggers on local politics such as myself. We can love our elected leaders, and we can just as easily hand them demerits. Such is the…
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ZTA 24-01: Living Closer to God
Read more: ZTA 24-01: Living Closer to GodThere are reasons I don’t get invited to parties, the most obvious being my enthusiasm over liberalization in zoning laws. A typical conversation when I meet someone new at a wedding goes like this. “What are your hobbies?” “Pushing for removal of height restrictions. Yours?” “I’ll go get myself another brewsky. You stay here.” Just…
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ZTA 23-10 Part 3: Less Parking + More Housing = More Congestion. I’m in.
Read more: ZTA 23-10 Part 3: Less Parking + More Housing = More Congestion. I’m in.We ended Part 2 of this series with CM Evan Glass’s motivations for Zoning Text Amendment 23-10: Reducing parking near transit is a commonsense approach that will make housing more affordable, help us reach our housing goals, and move us toward a more sustainable, green future. Let’s examine the motivations individually. Make housing more affordable…
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ZTA 23-10 Part 2: Sites for No-Parking Residences
Read more: ZTA 23-10 Part 2: Sites for No-Parking ResidencesIn Part 1 of this series we mentioned that Zoning Text Amendment 23-10 exempts residential construction from any parking requirements within a one-half mile of Metro, Purple Line, and Bus Transit Centers. Where are these sites, and what is within a half-mile radius around them? I drew circles around each of the county’s Metro, Purple…
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ZTA 23-10 Part 1: How Parking Mandates Restrict Affordable Housing
Read more: ZTA 23-10 Part 1: How Parking Mandates Restrict Affordable HousingWhen I came out of the closet, publicly and shamelessly, expressing a desire to eliminate residential zoning, fully one-half of my friends pruned me—so I’m now down to one. Let’s see if that remaining friendship will survive this series on relaxed parking requirements. Local jurisdictions have many ways of constricting the housing supply, thereby making…
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Will Jawando Opens Up About Digital Rectal Exams at Gas Stations
Read more: Will Jawando Opens Up About Digital Rectal Exams at Gas StationsCouncil Member Will Jawando came to the CleanSlateMoCo offices for an honest, heartwarming, and convivial interview about his latest legislative initiative. Thank you for joining us, Mr. Jawando. Trust me, this isn’t my idea. You recently introduced legislation that would mandate free digital rectal exams at all of the county’s service stations. What’s the motivation?…
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Reason #8 for School Vouchers: Discrimination, Exclusion, Impunity (DEI)
Read more: Reason #8 for School Vouchers: Discrimination, Exclusion, Impunity (DEI)Diversity, equality, and inclusivity (DEI) is one cornerstone of the progressive creed. The other cornerstone is hating people who don’t subscribe to the progressives’ version of DEI. We all saw this bigotry as far back as the 2018 local elections when progressives were castigating Nancy Floreen, a lifelong, loyal Democrat, for running a break-off campaign.…
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Available Scholarships for Private Schools
Read more: Available Scholarships for Private SchoolsAvailable Scholarships for Private Schools
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Reason #7 for School Vouchers—Balkanized Student Body
Read more: Reason #7 for School Vouchers—Balkanized Student BodyThere is no way MCPS can guarantee an equitable, safe, and success-oriented environment for all its students—some yes, not all.
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Teachers: Your Union Will Not Protect You
Read more: Teachers: Your Union Will Not Protect YouThe Montgomery County Education Association (pejoratively, the “teachers’ union”) should behave like any other union: protecting wages and maintaining working conditions on behalf of its members, all in return for the percentage it takes from each member’s salary. As part of the unfolding fallout from the Biedelman scandal, MCEA posted on its Facebook page a…