News and Views
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The Teachers’ Union’s Insurrection
Read more: The Teachers’ Union’s InsurrectionAlex, an industrious teenager, comes home after a week at his first job. He is frustrated to the point of tears. “Dad,” he says. “I’m not making enough money at the hamburger stand. I’ve worked extra hard, stayed overtime, and still the wage isn’t enough to pay for my car’s gas and insurance.” “Yes, Alex,…
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Revisiting Those “Urbanist Champions” on the MoCo Council, Nearly Six Years Late
Read more: Revisiting Those “Urbanist Champions” on the MoCo Council, Nearly Six Years Late“Urbanist Hero of the Week” proclaimed the blog Greater Greater Washington (ggwash.org) back in December of 2018. The writer, Sanjida Rangwala, praised newly elected Councilmember Evan Glass for taking the bus on his first day at work. This council includes three new at-large members—Evan Glass, Will Jawando, and Gabe Albornoz—as well a new member for…
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MCPS Budget: As Transparent as Glass
Read more: MCPS Budget: As Transparent as GlassIn an op-ed piece on MoCo 360, Council Member Evan Glass called for more transparency in how the school system uses the money we lavish upon it—voluntarily or otherwise. Unfortunately…the process for distributing $3 billion across the school system is not transparent. True, but not entirely true. We have some examples of some problematic school…
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Watch MoCo CM Laurie-Anne Sayles Give an “Enlightening Discussion” in 1 Min, 33 Seconds on “the Significance of Black Americans”
Read more: Watch MoCo CM Laurie-Anne Sayles Give an “Enlightening Discussion” in 1 Min, 33 Seconds on “the Significance of Black Americans”How much is being spent on these County Council “productions” / PSAs? And are they truly needed in the year 2024? What is the value of something like this, other then to ensure a CM gets their “90 seconds” in front of a camera and then can make shallow pop culture references? This is a…
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“Electing” a Council President
Read more: “Electing” a Council PresidentThe county’s Charter Review Commission is taking up a proposal that changes the way the County Council’s president is determined. Currently, the council members themselves elect the council president. (Interestingly, in his three terms as a council member, County Executive Marc Elrich was never vested with this office by his counterparts. The council president’s term…
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Itineraries and Travel Cost for Taiwan, India and Vietnam Trips
Read more: Itineraries and Travel Cost for Taiwan, India and Vietnam TripsThe following was submitted by a reader that wished to remain anonymous. In March of 2023 County Executive Marc Elrich traveled to Taiwan with a Montgomery County Delegation that included Council Member Fani-Gonzalez. As reported by mymcm, he was invited to speak at the 2023 Smart City Summit and Expo and decided to use the…
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Distribution of the Property Tax Burden
Read more: Distribution of the Property Tax BurdenProperty taxes are always a painful subject. So painful that when your partner comes in late at night after a 60-minute commute, you may not want to open with, “DoorDash is delivering our two Philadelphia sushi rolls, and we have to pay $6,500 by September 1.” Regardless, with courage and valor, we must face the…
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HB1300: Part 4—Your Remedies are to Move or Vote Libertarian
Read more: HB1300: Part 4—Your Remedies are to Move or Vote LibertarianIn Part 1 of this series we described the background to removing deed restrictions, in Part 2 we described some of the immediate impacts on existing property owners, and in Part 3 we exposed who is responsible for the circumstances leading up to this legislation. In this final post we discuss what options remain for…
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Bill 2-24: What Will Jawando Doesn’t Want You to Know
Read more: Bill 2-24: What Will Jawando Doesn’t Want You to KnowThe premise of Bill 2-24, introduced by Councilmember Will Jawando, is flawed. He states that consent searches of motor vehicles during traffic stops disproportionately affect Black and Brown residents. Data from the Maryland race-based traffic stop dashboard shows, however, that there are no real disparities in consent searches by race. 13-14% of all races consent…
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HB1300: Part 3—Origins and Accountability
Read more: HB1300: Part 3—Origins and AccountabilityIn Part 1 of this series we described the nature of deed restrictions, and in Part 2 we described some of the immediate impacts of unilaterally removing those restrictions. In this post we discuss the conditions leading to HB1300 came to be, and who is responsible for those conditions. Recall that HB1300 voids restrictions appearing…