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Read more: ZTA 23-10 Part 2: Sites for No-Parking Residences
ZTA 23-10 Part 2: Sites for No-Parking Residences
In 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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Read more: Roads into Bike-Paths
Roads into Bike-Paths
What will happen next regarding Beach Drive? For some years now portions of Beach Drive, both in DC and MoCo, are closed for certain days: cars prohibited in order to give bikers a wide-open road and so we exacerbate the motorist versus bicyclist polarization, already long past the point of triggering random road rages. I…
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Read more: ZTA 23-10 Part 1: How Parking Mandates Restrict Affordable Housing
ZTA 23-10 Part 1: How Parking Mandates Restrict Affordable Housing
When 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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Read more: Household and Government Debt Way Up in Maryland… So of Course Montgomery County’s Exec Wants to… Spend More!
Household and Government Debt Way Up in Maryland… So of Course Montgomery County’s Exec Wants to… Spend More!
New research from Forbes Advisor shows that Maryland sits just outside the top-five of states with the most “combined” debt. Forbes in this case defines total debt as “household debt” and “government debt”. Why does this matter? Well, for starters, elevated government debt thanks to Democrat-controlled Annapolis means that: When a state owes more than…
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Read more: MoCo’s “Friends of the Library” Non-Profit Defends Race-Based Pricing for Exclusionary “MoComCon”, Has Interesting “Core Staff”
MoCo’s “Friends of the Library” Non-Profit Defends Race-Based Pricing for Exclusionary “MoComCon”, Has Interesting “Core Staff”
Montgomery County’s Friends of the Library (FOLMC) seems to think $50-$75 in additional tabling fees are “unaffordable” for “BIPOC” vendors at its upcoming “MoComCon” convention in Germantown, MD. First brought to our attention by this piece at The Washington Times entitled “White vendors pay more: MoCo libraries use race-based pricing for comic book convention”, the…
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Read more: Adventures in FOIA Requests: Part 1
Adventures in FOIA Requests: Part 1
Part 1: The Relationship Between the MCPS, the Department of Homeland Security, and SMYAL In the fall of 2023, a concerned community member informed our Montgomery County chapter of Moms for Liberty that the Department of Homeland Security granted a D.C.-based non-profit over half a million dollars to work with children in Montgomery County, MD.…
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Read more: Why Is Montgomery County Giving Taxpayer Money to a “Micro-Lender” Requiring No Credit Score, No Employment, No Address, No Immigration Status from Its Borrowers
Why Is Montgomery County Giving Taxpayer Money to a “Micro-Lender” Requiring No Credit Score, No Employment, No Address, No Immigration Status from Its Borrowers
In yet another blow to fiscal stewardship of the taxpayer dollar in Montgomery County, data from the MoCo “Checkbook” in 2023 reveals that Montgomery County’s “Economic Development Fund” gave a nonprofit corporation called Life Asset Inc. a $50,000 check in May, 2023. See our screen shot below: Life Asset Inc. says it is a “nonprofit…
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Read more: Nobody Can Predict the Future — But MoCo’s Trends, Under These Politicians / Ideologues, Seem Clear
Nobody Can Predict the Future — But MoCo’s Trends, Under These Politicians / Ideologues, Seem Clear
Nobody can precisely predict the future. But, with a basic understanding of history, economics, business cycles, interest rates and public policy (oh, and political ideology), one can pretty confidently spot and analyze trends. Trends are a fairly constant thing until they “aren’t” of course — but for a clear economic trend to stop, it generally…
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Read more: The Inconsistencies, Incoherence in CM Friedson’s Statement on Becoming Council President Are Glaring
The Inconsistencies, Incoherence in CM Friedson’s Statement on Becoming Council President Are Glaring
Councilmember Andrew Friedson (Democrat, representing mostly Bethesda and points West in MoCo) is sometimes the most “grounded” in reality on the Montgomery County Council. Not exactly the highest bar. But now, Mr. Friedson has “ascended the throne” and moved up to become the Montgomery County Council President for the 2024 term. The position was recently…
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Read more: The Montgomery County “Anti-Hate Task Force” Recommendations Distilled
The Montgomery County “Anti-Hate Task Force” Recommendations Distilled
The recommendations of the Montgomery County “Anti-Hate Task Force” are out. Well, they’ve been out for a few weeks now… but it isn’t clear that local media even bothered to actually read it before issuing press releases about the task force’s work. In short, “they” (the people on the task force, mainly individuals on taxpayer…