Who do you think will win MoCo county exec?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

None of the candidates has shown a willingness to stand up to unions. The biggest issue facing the county is a lack of economic growth, yet county and MCPS employee compensation costs keep growing faster than revenues. It is not sustainable but the CE and the Councilmembers never push back. So there is no real debate about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

There’s been a lot on taxes too. Who would be best on the budget is not clear. Friedson claims to be the budget expert but Fani-Gonzalez said Friedson “didn’t engage” except to oppose cuts. That does not square with his ads or mailers.

She’s the last person I’d expect to do a hit job on him and I thought she would endorse him for a while, so her complaints about him carry a lot of weight with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

There’s been a lot on taxes too. Who would be best on the budget is not clear. Friedson claims to be the budget expert but Fani-Gonzalez said Friedson “didn’t engage” except to oppose cuts. That does not square with his ads or mailers.

She’s the last person I’d expect to do a hit job on him and I thought she would endorse him for a while, so her complaints about him carry a lot of weight with me.

I think they all weaponized NFG's proposed approach to the budget. Jawando didn't think the progressive income tax went far enough. Friedson didn't like removing the ITOC. I do think Friedson was OK with not fully funding MCPS. But I have no idea what they all spoke about behind closed doors. I think it brought out the ugliest side of them all, honestly. And I've posted this before here. A bunch of men who bristled at taking direction from a female Council President.

Regardless of who wins, they are in for a world of hurt when they realize they won't be able to do anything on the CEX side of the street without causing pain. And that pain will fall on the unions if the next exec has any backbone at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

None of the candidates has shown a willingness to stand up to unions. The biggest issue facing the county is a lack of economic growth, yet county and MCPS employee compensation costs keep growing faster than revenues. It is not sustainable but the CE and the Councilmembers never push back. So there is no real debate about this.

The budgets that Elrich has developed are structurally unsound, and those structural deficits build on prior year problems. The Council never had enough fortitude to correct them with any success. What's left is raising taxes every few years to pay for compensation increases.

Otherwise, leaders have to do two things: slow compensation and build a more robust economy by attracting more business. Who has the best approach to doing that? Who can build consensus with the new Council to make those two things happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

There’s been a lot on taxes too. Who would be best on the budget is not clear. Friedson claims to be the budget expert but Fani-Gonzalez said Friedson “didn’t engage” except to oppose cuts. That does not square with his ads or mailers.

She’s the last person I’d expect to do a hit job on him and I thought she would endorse him for a while, so her complaints about him carry a lot of weight with me.

I think they all weaponized NFG's proposed approach to the budget. Jawando didn't think the progressive income tax went far enough. Friedson didn't like removing the ITOC. I do think Friedson was OK with not fully funding MCPS. But I have no idea what they all spoke about behind closed doors. I think it brought out the ugliest side of them all, honestly. And I've posted this before here. A bunch of men who bristled at taking direction from a female Council President.

Regardless of who wins, they are in for a world of hurt when they realize they won't be able to do anything on the CEX side of the street without causing pain. And that pain will fall on the unions if the next exec has any backbone at all.

Is the council president really their boss? I don’t think one member should be allowed to determine the budget when we’re all represented by a district council member and a four at-large representatives.

Objectively, the package overall was regressive for homeowners, which represent a large swath of taxpayers in this county. You can argue about whether homeowners “deserve” a regressive tax increase, but it was in fact regressive.

But none of this changes the fact that Friedson didn’t do anything to help the situation, and that’s a weird approach given that this hurt a lot of people in his district.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Jawando appears to be the only NIMBY candidate, so he’s got my money and my vote. Let’s get back to proper and sane planning.

Agree. On Reddit subs, it seems that the developer shills are out in full force with anti jawando silliness which signals to me that jawando is my guy. As usual, the YIMBYs fail to realize that while they are the most vocal, they are not in the majority.

Affordable Maryland’s ad and website look like amateur productions and are clearly misleading. They haven’t even paid attention to any of the polling on housing, which shows clear support for more housing near metro (something Jawando proposed) and clear opposition to sprawl like Friedson’s countywide upzoning.

It’s actually something Jawando voted against. https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/ccllims/BillDetailsPage?RecordId=2668

Try to pay more attention. During his first term, Jawando proposed allowing house-sized multifamily housing development in neighborhoods near metro stations while keeping in place setback and height limits for redevelopment. The public testimony on the Jawando bill was mostly favorable. Friedson would not even give it a work session in the committee. Had Friedson voted to move the bill forward, it would have gone back to the council for a vote. It was pretty NIMBY of Friedson, or maybe he just didn’t want to vote for something he wouldn’t get credit for.

This year Friedson did a countywide upzoning bill, increasing allowable density on lots all over the county, close to Metro or not, except in Potomac, where a lot of Friedson’s donors live. Most of the lots that Friedson’s bill upzoned are not within walking distance of metro stations or stores or restaurants. Friedson had originally been advocating a proposal to ban single family zoning everywhere, except in Potomac, of course. Friedson’s bill doesn’t stay true to the “compact development” principle and targets some of the most affordable single family homes in the county for redevelopment into apartments.

Upzoning near metro made a lot more sense than what we ended up with.

Maybe you should try to pay more attention. The bill Jawando voted against is from 2020, not this year. You’re talking about something completely different. I’m taking about Jawando voting against a great piece of common-sense housing legislation for NIMBY reasons.

You seem to be confused. Jawando voted against a bad subsidy for market rate housing to bail out one of Friedson’s donors. That same year, Jawando sponsored a bill to increase density near metro, only to have Friedson and Riemer let it die in the committee. Friedson then came late last year and advocated getting rid of single family zoning everywhere except Potomac.

Are you a YIMBY or a NIMBY? Just wondering.

Pro growth, but seen enough to say Friedson’s way of doing things hasn’t worked and smart enough to know his way of doing things will never work because it incentivizes the wrong behavior. I know the YIMBYs dislike Jawando because he’s opposed (but not stopped) bad policies and pointed out how dumb they are but only in YIMBYland is Jawando a NIMBY. YIMBYism has never had growth as its first goal. Just profit. Look around. Landlords make plenty of money, but you can’t say we’ve had plenty of growth.

One thing I've been struck by is how devoid the YIMBY movement is of any principles or critical thinking. It's just "build, build, build," and if you're opposed to that, then you're not a progressive. There's this dude Mike who posts all over Reddit and GGW with this nonsense, and it's just about how people opposed to "build, build, build" are stuck in their old ways and not real progressives. There's no analysis of why "build, build, build" hasn't achieved the desired goals to date, nothing about what specific policies are needed if the goal is affordable housing, nothing like that. It's just about demonizing anyone who doesn't believe in "build, build, build." It's remarkably oversimplistic and naive, and sells people on false hope.

Their arguments are ridiculously weak.

Yet their bank accounts are flush with special interest money and their constituency is large due to the bread and circuses they promise the hoi polloi. Don't look at the man behind the curtain!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Jawando appears to be the only NIMBY candidate, so he’s got my money and my vote. Let’s get back to proper and sane planning.

Agree. On Reddit subs, it seems that the developer shills are out in full force with anti jawando silliness which signals to me that jawando is my guy. As usual, the YIMBYs fail to realize that while they are the most vocal, they are not in the majority.

Affordable Maryland’s ad and website look like amateur productions and are clearly misleading. They haven’t even paid attention to any of the polling on housing, which shows clear support for more housing near metro (something Jawando proposed) and clear opposition to sprawl like Friedson’s countywide upzoning.

It’s actually something Jawando voted against. https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/ccllims/BillDetailsPage?RecordId=2668

Try to pay more attention. During his first term, Jawando proposed allowing house-sized multifamily housing development in neighborhoods near metro stations while keeping in place setback and height limits for redevelopment. The public testimony on the Jawando bill was mostly favorable. Friedson would not even give it a work session in the committee. Had Friedson voted to move the bill forward, it would have gone back to the council for a vote. It was pretty NIMBY of Friedson, or maybe he just didn’t want to vote for something he wouldn’t get credit for.

This year Friedson did a countywide upzoning bill, increasing allowable density on lots all over the county, close to Metro or not, except in Potomac, where a lot of Friedson’s donors live. Most of the lots that Friedson’s bill upzoned are not within walking distance of metro stations or stores or restaurants. Friedson had originally been advocating a proposal to ban single family zoning everywhere, except in Potomac, of course. Friedson’s bill doesn’t stay true to the “compact development” principle and targets some of the most affordable single family homes in the county for redevelopment into apartments.

Upzoning near metro made a lot more sense than what we ended up with.

Maybe you should try to pay more attention. The bill Jawando voted against is from 2020, not this year. You’re talking about something completely different. I’m taking about Jawando voting against a great piece of common-sense housing legislation for NIMBY reasons.

You seem to be confused. Jawando voted against a bad subsidy for market rate housing to bail out one of Friedson’s donors. That same year, Jawando sponsored a bill to increase density near metro, only to have Friedson and Riemer let it die in the committee. Friedson then came late last year and advocated getting rid of single family zoning everywhere except Potomac.

Are you a YIMBY or a NIMBY? Just wondering.

Pro growth, but seen enough to say Friedson’s way of doing things hasn’t worked and smart enough to know his way of doing things will never work because it incentivizes the wrong behavior. I know the YIMBYs dislike Jawando because he’s opposed (but not stopped) bad policies and pointed out how dumb they are but only in YIMBYland is Jawando a NIMBY. YIMBYism has never had growth as its first goal. Just profit. Look around. Landlords make plenty of money, but you can’t say we’ve had plenty of growth.

One thing I've been struck by is how devoid the YIMBY movement is of any principles or critical thinking. It's just "build, build, build," and if you're opposed to that, then you're not a progressive. There's this dude Mike who posts all over Reddit and GGW with this nonsense, and it's just about how people opposed to "build, build, build" are stuck in their old ways and not real progressives. There's no analysis of why "build, build, build" hasn't achieved the desired goals to date, nothing about what specific policies are needed if the goal is affordable housing, nothing like that. It's just about demonizing anyone who doesn't believe in "build, build, build." It's remarkably oversimplistic and naive, and sells people on false hope.

Their arguments are ridiculously weak.

Yet their bank accounts are flush with special interest money and their constituency is large due to the bread and circuses they promise the hoi polloi. Don't look at the man behind the curtain!

+1. Anyone who thinks they need to raise $2 million to persuade voters that they are the best candidate probably knows deep down that they aren’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

It’s so important for me because it signals what a person prioritizes. I think YIMBYs will send us down a path where we attract moochers. There is enough housing as is in Moco (including enough affordable housing) and we don’t need to be attracting and housing every low income person in the DMV. As a PP indicated, Moco has the most affordable housing by far in this area (and you get great schools also), and people who claim otherwise are ignoring reality. Just check Redfin and Zillow and you can see this for yourself (keeping in mind that the median HHI in Moco is $170k).

The goal should be jobs and economic development, and only when that happens should we discuss building more housing. Anyone who is a YIMBY fails to understand this basic concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

It’s so important for me because it signals what a person prioritizes. I think YIMBYs will send us down a path where we attract moochers. There is enough housing as is in Moco (including enough affordable housing) and we don’t need to be attracting and housing every low income person in the DMV. As a PP indicated, Moco has the most affordable housing by far in this area (and you get great schools also), and people who claim otherwise are ignoring reality. Just check Redfin and Zillow and you can see this for yourself (keeping in mind that the median HHI in Moco is $170k).

The goal should be jobs and economic development, and only when that happens should we discuss building more housing. Anyone who is a YIMBY fails to understand this basic concept.

If this happens, developers will race in to build more housing. Housing follows jobs, not the other way around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

There’s been a lot on taxes too. Who would be best on the budget is not clear. Friedson claims to be the budget expert but Fani-Gonzalez said Friedson “didn’t engage” except to oppose cuts. That does not square with his ads or mailers.

She’s the last person I’d expect to do a hit job on him and I thought she would endorse him for a while, so her complaints about him carry a lot of weight with me.

I think they all weaponized NFG's proposed approach to the budget. Jawando didn't think the progressive income tax went far enough. Friedson didn't like removing the ITOC. I do think Friedson was OK with not fully funding MCPS. But I have no idea what they all spoke about behind closed doors. I think it brought out the ugliest side of them all, honestly. And I've posted this before here. A bunch of men who bristled at taking direction from a female Council President.

Regardless of who wins, they are in for a world of hurt when they realize they won't be able to do anything on the CEX side of the street without causing pain. And that pain will fall on the unions if the next exec has any backbone at all.

Is the council president really their boss? I don’t think one member should be allowed to determine the budget when we’re all represented by a district council member and a four at-large representatives.

Objectively, the package overall was regressive for homeowners, which represent a large swath of taxpayers in this county. You can argue about whether homeowners “deserve” a regressive tax increase, but it was in fact regressive.

But none of this changes the fact that Friedson didn’t do anything to help the situation, and that’s a weird approach given that this hurt a lot of people in his district.

Of course she's the boss. Like the speaker of the house or the senate majority leader.

Her approach was a good one as a whole. They should have reduced compensation. But all of them - all three - tailored their approach to the budget to best support their campaign messaging - rather than doing what's best for the county.

[Anonymous]

Friedson is the GOP maga pick so no absolutely no

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Friedson leads by 6 in the latest poll

Friedson 25
Jawando19
Glass 18

You mean Friedson leads in the poll that Friedson managed and published. Shocking.

Friedson is the only one airing ads on TV. Why? Because the developers pay him so.much.money.

All he wants is to upzone everything and bulldoze single family home neighborhoods. His talk of “attainable” housing - not affordable housing, which is needed - made me want to vomit.

I don’t think MoCo voters are that stupid.

Montgomery County has plenty of affordable housing. You can get SFHs near Forest Glen, Glenmont, and Wheaton Metro stations for as much as SFHs in a lot of neighborhoods in Baltimore City. Compared to Northern Virginia and DC, Montgomery County is dirt cheap.

The problem is not affordable housing, it’s incentivizing more high income, young DINKs and businesses to come to the county and pushing the brakes on all these projects that attract people who take more in services than they contribute in taxes.

There was a recent report that 126,000 MD residents go to NoVa for work. From an economic standpoint that is pathetic, and it has a lot of detrimental environmental effects as well, much more than getting a plastic bag at a grocery store.

Gmafb. The median price for an SFH in Baltimore City is around $324,000. The median in 20902 is $600,000. Almost double.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Observation: This thread is almost entirely focused on the YIMBY/NIMBY debate. I'm sure DCUM is not a representative sample, but it surprises me that there aren't a lot of other issues that come up in making this decision....

There’s been a lot on taxes too. Who would be best on the budget is not clear. Friedson claims to be the budget expert but Fani-Gonzalez said Friedson “didn’t engage” except to oppose cuts. That does not square with his ads or mailers.

She’s the last person I’d expect to do a hit job on him and I thought she would endorse him for a while, so her complaints about him carry a lot of weight with me.

I think they all weaponized NFG's proposed approach to the budget. Jawando didn't think the progressive income tax went far enough. Friedson didn't like removing the ITOC. I do think Friedson was OK with not fully funding MCPS. But I have no idea what they all spoke about behind closed doors. I think it brought out the ugliest side of them all, honestly. And I've posted this before here. A bunch of men who bristled at taking direction from a female Council President.

Regardless of who wins, they are in for a world of hurt when they realize they won't be able to do anything on the CEX side of the street without causing pain. And that pain will fall on the unions if the next exec has any backbone at all.

Is the council president really their boss? I don’t think one member should be allowed to determine the budget when we’re all represented by a district council member and a four at-large representatives.

Objectively, the package overall was regressive for homeowners, which represent a large swath of taxpayers in this county. You can argue about whether homeowners “deserve” a regressive tax increase, but it was in fact regressive.

But none of this changes the fact that Friedson didn’t do anything to help the situation, and that’s a weird approach given that this hurt a lot of people in his district.

Of course she's the boss. Like the speaker of the house or the senate majority leader.

Her approach was a good one as a whole. They should have reduced compensation. But all of them - all three - tailored their approach to the budget to best support their campaign messaging - rather than doing what's best for the county.

That’s not how the council rules read. We elected 11 members, not a council president and 10 drones. The other members followed the process she established but I think it’s unreasonable to expect them to agree with her proposals.

Did Friedson ever have a budget approach? If he did then I missed it. Friedson voted for all the spending and tried to add more and then claimed to be the responsible one. NFG said he didn’t engage otherwise.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Friedson leads by 6 in the latest poll

Friedson 25
Jawando19
Glass 18

You mean Friedson leads in the poll that Friedson managed and published. Shocking.

Friedson is the only one airing ads on TV. Why? Because the developers pay him so.much.money.

All he wants is to upzone everything and bulldoze single family home neighborhoods. His talk of “attainable” housing - not affordable housing, which is needed - made me want to vomit.

I don’t think MoCo voters are that stupid.

Montgomery County has plenty of affordable housing. You can get SFHs near Forest Glen, Glenmont, and Wheaton Metro stations for as much as SFHs in a lot of neighborhoods in Baltimore City. Compared to Northern Virginia and DC, Montgomery County is dirt cheap.

The problem is not affordable housing, it’s incentivizing more high income, young DINKs and businesses to come to the county and pushing the brakes on all these projects that attract people who take more in services than they contribute in taxes.

There was a recent report that 126,000 MD residents go to NoVa for work. From an economic standpoint that is pathetic, and it has a lot of detrimental environmental effects as well, much more than getting a plastic bag at a grocery store.

Gmafb. The median price for an SFH in Baltimore City is around $324,000. The median in 20902 is $600,000. Almost double.

The median household income in Baltimore City is well under $100,000. Median income, median house prices, and median rents are linked. You can’t escape it. The same pattern repeats across the country. Adam Smith knew in the 18th century that the value of land is whatever people can afford to pay. Try looking at the housing market through that lens and you’ll quickly realize the market won’t do much to reduce housing costs because it doesn’t have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friedson leads by 6 in the latest poll

Friedson 25
Jawando19
Glass 18

You mean Friedson leads in the poll that Friedson managed and published. Shocking.

Friedson is the only one airing ads on TV. Why? Because the developers pay him so.much.money.

All he wants is to upzone everything and bulldoze single family home neighborhoods. His talk of “attainable” housing - not affordable housing, which is needed - made me want to vomit.

I don’t think MoCo voters are that stupid.

Montgomery County has plenty of affordable housing. You can get SFHs near Forest Glen, Glenmont, and Wheaton Metro stations for as much as SFHs in a lot of neighborhoods in Baltimore City. Compared to Northern Virginia and DC, Montgomery County is dirt cheap.

The problem is not affordable housing, it’s incentivizing more high income, young DINKs and businesses to come to the county and pushing the brakes on all these projects that attract people who take more in services than they contribute in taxes.

There was a recent report that 126,000 MD residents go to NoVa for work. From an economic standpoint that is pathetic, and it has a lot of detrimental environmental effects as well, much more than getting a plastic bag at a grocery store.

Gmafb. The median price for an SFH in Baltimore City is around $324,000. The median in 20902 is $600,000. Almost double.

The median household income in Baltimore City is well under $100,000. Median income, median house prices, and median rents are linked. You can’t escape it. The same pattern repeats across the country. Adam Smith knew in the 18th century that the value of land is whatever people can afford to pay. Try looking at the housing market through that lens and you’ll quickly realize the market won’t do much to reduce housing costs because it doesn’t have to.

It is pretty obvious that isn't true given that high income households quite frequently pay a far lower percentage of their income in housing than low income households even though they could afford a higher percentage.

But we all know you are just distracting from blatantly false equivalence between housing costs in MoCo vs Baltimore City made above.