Mark Lautman
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MoCo’s store owner with the most infectious smile—Interview with Nick Gardner of Choice Wine and Beer
Read more: MoCo’s store owner with the most infectious smile—Interview with Nick Gardner of Choice Wine and BeerChoice Wine and Beer is on the second floor of the Wheaton Mall, adjacent to Costco. Co-owner Nick Gardner arguably has the most enchanting smile in all of Montgomery County. He sat down with me for 40 minutes giving an extremely positive view of his store and the county’s wine and beer industry. What’s the…
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No Kings (or Queens) in MoCo
Read more: No Kings (or Queens) in MoCoLadies, did you realize you were the victims of gender-based exclusion on June 14? That was the day of several “No Kings” rallies throughout Montgomery County. For a county that takes pride in its progressive values, a No Kings rally is outright gender bias. We should be holding No Kings and No Queens rallies, because…
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Who will win the race for county executive? Nobody.
Read more: Who will win the race for county executive? Nobody.As of this writing, there are five candidates chasing the Democratic primary win for county executive: Will Jawando, Evan Glass, Andrew Friedson, Celeste Iroha, and Mithun Banerjee. This guarantees that nobody will win a majority vote. Let’s get into the details. The “winner” of our local primary elections is the one who accumulates the most…
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Attach Performance Metrics to All Future MCPS Budgets: Our Children’s Education Depends on Our Fiscal Prudence
Read more: Attach Performance Metrics to All Future MCPS Budgets: Our Children’s Education Depends on Our Fiscal PrudenceThe County Council, County Executive, and MCPS are placing its residents in a moral and financial bind. On the table, there appears to be a dialectical dilemma: our children’s future or fiscal prudence. However, an honest discussion regarding fully funding MCPS above and beyond historical trends demands that we resolve the following questions: How can…
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Turning Challenges Into Change: Why Montgomery County Needs MBLI Now More Than Ever
Read more: Turning Challenges Into Change: Why Montgomery County Needs MBLI Now More Than EverStarting something new is never easy—especially when it’s never been done before. As the first and only business-focused public charter school for middle school students in the state of Maryland, The MECCA Business Learning Institute (MBLI) Public Charter School was always destined to be more than just a school. It is a movement—a bold reimagining…
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Community Profile: A Charter School Comes to Montgomery County—Interview with LaChaundra Graham
Read more: Community Profile: A Charter School Comes to Montgomery County—Interview with LaChaundra GrahamThe MECCA Business Learning Institute (MBLI) is a public charter school opening in Germantown, Fall 2025. The school’s founder (and president/CEO of the parent organization MBEF College & Career Academies, Inc.) LaChaundra Graham effuses the energy, passion, knowledge, and determination required to provide the county’s school children with a solid middle-school experience. She took a…
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Laura Stewart Misses the Point of Campaigning
Read more: Laura Stewart Misses the Point of CampaigningThe board game Game of Life as we know it today was originally published in 1960. My edition at home is from the year ca. 2000, and it certainly shows its age in terms of social norms. Nevertheless, there is one square that is as germane today as it was in 1960: Run for Mayor,…
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MoCo’s Relationship with Annapolis
Read more: MoCo’s Relationship with AnnapolisIn February 2024, Delegate David Moon promoted, on behalf of the entire Montgomery County delegation in Annapolis, HB1300. The brutally concise summary of that legislation holds unenforceable certain restrictions in housing associations, specifically those meant to limit construction of dense housing on lots designated as single-family detached. The bill’s title appears as Montgomery County –…
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The Democratic BoE primaries: Part 2—Ranked Choice Voting
Read more: The Democratic BoE primaries: Part 2—Ranked Choice VotingThe outcome of the 2024 Democratic BoE primaries gives us a real-world view into how things could have been different under ranked choice voting (RCV). The rules of these BoE elections are extremely manipulative. The two top vote getters in each “district” face off in the general elections. That is nonsense, because everyone votes for…
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The Democratic BoE primaries: Part 1—the At-Large Voter Dilution
Read more: The Democratic BoE primaries: Part 1—the At-Large Voter DilutionThe most popular piece I wrote on Clean Slate MoCo is MCPS Board of Education: MoCo’s most illegitimate governing body. That article explains how the BoE’s multi-member, at-large elections are a glaring civil rights violation, because a small demographic elects all of the winners. There aren’t a lot of these entitled and aggressive voters, but…