Economy
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MoCo’s Triple A Ratings: Part 1—Municipal Bonds
Read more: MoCo’s Triple A Ratings: Part 1—Municipal BondsWhile working at an engineering firm, I had to endure yet another annual review. “Bell,” said the manager. “You’ve come to work every day, and you’ve completed your assignments on time.” “Don’t forget that I also proposed suggestions for process improvement and organizational efficiency.” “As you have,” said the manager. “That’s why I’m ranking you…
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Zoning Change Proposal Impacts Only 55% of County Council
Read more: Zoning Change Proposal Impacts Only 55% of County CouncilAs the county holds listening sessions and reviews a proposal put forward by the Montgomery County Planning Board, it is important to see how these changes might impact the County Council members. Shockingly, 45% of the current county council will be excluded from any direct impact from these zoning changes. The proposal recommends these changes:…
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The Fallacy of the Life Sciences Obsession: Part 2—Betting against the Annapolis casino
Read more: The Fallacy of the Life Sciences Obsession: Part 2—Betting against the Annapolis casinoIn Part 1 of this series we listed the infrastructure the local, state, and county governments are giving away for free for the University of Maryland’s Institute for Health Computing (UM-IHC) in North Bethesda—all sited at the coveted Metro North Bethesda station. How wise is this move? The UM-IHC is funded by MoCo, state, and…
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The Fallacy of the Life Sciences Obsession: Part 1—Subsidizing live/work/learn/play but not bus service
Read more: The Fallacy of the Life Sciences Obsession: Part 1—Subsidizing live/work/learn/play but not bus serviceFor many years our county’s officials have been extolling MoCo as a bio-tech center. In his weekly message from August 2, Marc Elrich said MoCo is #3 among all of America’s life science hubs. In a Glass Gazette from July 2024, Council Member Evan glass noted that “Our life sciences sector is incredibly important to…
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The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 2
Read more: The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 2Part 1 of this series summarized a few of the thoughts (out of many) presented by DC affordable-housing developer Patrick McAnaney in his extremely comprehensive series about affordable housing. We learn from McAnaney that zoning has a limited impact on the availability of affordable housing, because other factors are in play that are beyond the…
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The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 1
Read more: The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 1Today I rejoice, because I was proven wrong by someone with more wisdom and experience than I. Moments like that are as humbling as they are liberating. I’ve written quite a few posts about affordable housing, and my claim has been that the way to achieve an inventory of affordable housing is to re-zone. Throw…
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MoCo Boost “Storytellers” Video Features Jose, Is Fully in Spanish, and Doesn’t Confirm If Recipient is an American Citizen
Read more: MoCo Boost “Storytellers” Video Features Jose, Is Fully in Spanish, and Doesn’t Confirm If Recipient is an American CitizenA brief follow-up here on MoCo’s ongoing “Boost” UBI (partly paid for by you, the hardworking taxpayer or you, the business owner, or you, the public school teacher) that caught my eye as I went back to the county’s MocoBoost.org website to see if new data or – gasp- an actual report on the efficacy…
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The New Needy in MoCo
Read more: The New Needy in MoCoToday, CE Elrich and a handful of Council Members held an event touting the new MC Groceries Program. The program seeks to provide families (noted you do not have to be a legal resident; you only have to reside in MoCo) access to shelf stable food via a partnership with Instacart. We applaud, especially during…
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So You’re Saying It Can Be Done? Contrary to MoCo’s Tax-Hiking CE and County Council, a Midwest Town Hasn’t Charged Property Tax in 37 Years
Read more: So You’re Saying It Can Be Done? Contrary to MoCo’s Tax-Hiking CE and County Council, a Midwest Town Hasn’t Charged Property Tax in 37 YearsInteresting story today that caught our eye, this one from Realtor.com in their “trends” post: Per this writer Julie Gerstein for Realtor.com, it sounds like a town in Missouri outside of St. Louis is doing just fine for its residents — without levying a property tax at all. Who knew? Well, some of us did. …
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The Real “Gold Bar Scam” is the Government Pretending Gold Isn’t Money (MoCo/Maryland Govt Included)
Read more: The Real “Gold Bar Scam” is the Government Pretending Gold Isn’t Money (MoCo/Maryland Govt Included)County Exec Marc Elrich came out on Saturday, August 17th with his latest “Message from the County Executive” video. In it, the chief exec of Montgomery County updated residents on what was deemed “The Gold Bar Scam” and impacted several people in the Bethesda area: “The Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed criminal charges…