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. …