David Blair for MoCo executive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly Riemer has realized that he has exactly zero future job prospects in the private sector. This is why term limits is important folks, unfortunately it also affects Rice who I think does a good job.

It's interesting that the Real Estate lobby in this county keeps putting up primary challengers to Co. Exec. incumbents. Last time if was Doug Duncan, funded by Real Estate/Developer money challenging Leggett. This time it is Riemer, who will likely also be funded and owned by the same folks.

This actually probably will help to ensure that Elrich is re-elected, as it will split the anti-Elrich vote. Elrich already proved last time that he can defeat other Takoma Park challengers.

I think Blair is getting the developer $, not Riemer.

Well then Riemer has spent the last 4 years pandering to them for nothing. Sounds like Riemer. LOL. Like who is his actual base of support?

If you want somebody who's opposed to building additional housing, then you should vote for a second term for Elrich.

If you want somebody who led the effort to take money from school construction and give it to developers, vote for Riemer.

I'm voting for Blair. It's too bad Riemer will split the vote and Elrich will win a second term. Nice parting gift from Riemer to the citizens of Montgomery County.

If there is any one reason not to vote for Riemer it is this. And to do it only two years after the council had revised the SSP and during a pandemic was unconscionable. The "dude" has low ethics and everyone who as interacted with him knows it. Says what ever he thinks makes people happy and then turns around and tells people something else. It reminds me that not too long ago he participated in an effort to kill development of the Takoma Metro station, which is located in DC and not Maryland. I have always been curious about his "Obama youth organizer" claims and would not be surprised if it was fabricated or at the very least greatly exaggerated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly Riemer has realized that he has exactly zero future job prospects in the private sector. This is why term limits is important folks, unfortunately it also affects Rice who I think does a good job.

It's interesting that the Real Estate lobby in this county keeps putting up primary challengers to Co. Exec. incumbents. Last time if was Doug Duncan, funded by Real Estate/Developer money challenging Leggett. This time it is Riemer, who will likely also be funded and owned by the same folks.

This actually probably will help to ensure that Elrich is re-elected, as it will split the anti-Elrich vote. Elrich already proved last time that he can defeat other Takoma Park challengers.

I'd think Riemer has as good job prospects in the private sector as anyone else, and probably better job prospects than Craig Rice, who has very little to show for his three terms on the County Council. In fact, I'm inclined to say that he has nothing to show for his three terms on the County Council, but I'm being generous.

Whether or not you like what Riemer accomplished, at least he accomplished some things.

The asphalt lobby liked Doug Duncan. They do not like Hans Riemer.

See, this where you prejudged people (I won’t call you a racist, but you need to examine your biases) and don’t understand what you’re talking about. Craig Rice has a degree in Computer Science from UMCP. He’s has actual real life tangible skills relevant to today. He’s gonna be fine.

Rice has championed and been influential in promoting a lot of initiatives to ensure that up-county does not get left behind, both from his time in the Assembly and as a council member. There’s a reason he’s on the Board of the Universities at Shady Grove. There’s a reason there’s a brand new Holy Cross hospital in Germantown. There’s a reason why there’s an outlet mall in Clarksburg.

Anyway, not that Rice is perfect but you’re showing your *ss.

What are Riemers accomplishments? How’s Vision Zero going? Riemer is not capable of actually seeing any through. Getting the GGW endorsement is not going to go as far as you think.

Didn't Elrich and the council just cut like 20 traffic officers? Kiss Vision Zero goodbye

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah and speaking of vision zero Riemer and Hucker are the ones asking council staff to do a big study on whether all of traffic enforcement can be outsourced to the Department of Transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh yeah and speaking of vision zero Riemer and Hucker are the ones asking council staff to do a big study on whether all of traffic enforcement can be outsourced to the Department of Transportation.

That's not "outsourcing." That's making both Montgomery County Police and traffic enforcement more effective by switching primarily to automated enforcement. Montgomery County is not the only jurisdiction considering this. It makes a lot of sense - unless you're someone who likes to drive more than 11 miles per hour over the speed limit, or run red lights, without a penalty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And everyone's known for two years that Blair was going to run. If Riemer were even remotely intelligent, he would have seized first mover advantage in the announcement. Riemer is still way beyond his depth as a county council member (even after doing it for 10 years), and Elrich, as ineffective as he is, will be very effective in embarrassing Riemer based solely on Riemer's legislative record.

What makes Blair better? He has a more coherent economic plan. Riemer thinks we can get enough housing by subsidizing expensive high-rise development. Blair has a more inclusive housing plan and seems to understand that we won't add housing unless we add jobs.

I'm hoping that this is not what he's saying, because if it is, that's not a coherent housing plan. There is a housing shortage in Montgomery County right now, whether we add jobs or not.

That's actually what planning -- including Casey Anderson -- has said repeatedly. Planning has approved a lot of units that have not yet been permitted because developers think the MoCo market is soft. When it comes to high-density housing, they're clearly right, and it was soft even before the pandemic. That's why so many developers came back late in their projects to request density reduction or conversion to short-term rentals, and why so many others have asked for extensions. The private sector won't build housing unless we add jobs, and the private sector won't build low income (beyond the inadequate minimums), which makes Riemer's advocacy to subsidize expensive market rate construction all the more puzzling.

A "soft" real estate market with sky-high rents and housing prices, and bidding wars? How's that work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Didn't Elrich and the council just cut like 20 traffic officers? Kiss Vision Zero goodbye

Vision Zero is about road design, not about cops out on the street writing tickets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
See, this where you prejudged people (I won’t call you a racist, but you need to examine your biases) and don’t understand what you’re talking about. Craig Rice has a degree in Computer Science from UMCP. He’s has actual real life tangible skills relevant to today. He’s gonna be fine.

Rice has championed and been influential in promoting a lot of initiatives to ensure that up-county does not get left behind, both from his time in the Assembly and as a council member. There’s a reason he’s on the Board of the Universities at Shady Grove. There’s a reason there’s a brand new Holy Cross hospital in Germantown. There’s a reason why there’s an outlet mall in Clarksburg.

Anyway, not that Rice is perfect but you’re showing your *ss.

What are Riemers accomplishments? How’s Vision Zero going? Riemer is not capable of actually seeing any through. Getting the GGW endorsement is not going to go as far as you think.

The Clarksburg outlet mall is about to have a store, staffed by people earning minimum wage, selling bowls of cereal for $7.

https://mocoshow.com/blog/opening-date-for-day-night-cereal-bar-in-clarksburg/

Clarksburg's employment center could have been a hospital, with associated medical offices nearby, and building services and retail to support all of that... But no, there's an outlet mall, and we should hope it doesn't fail, because then there will only be a vacant former outlet mall.

Craig Rice better not put the outlet mall on his list of accomplishments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And everyone's known for two years that Blair was going to run. If Riemer were even remotely intelligent, he would have seized first mover advantage in the announcement. Riemer is still way beyond his depth as a county council member (even after doing it for 10 years), and Elrich, as ineffective as he is, will be very effective in embarrassing Riemer based solely on Riemer's legislative record.

What makes Blair better? He has a more coherent economic plan. Riemer thinks we can get enough housing by subsidizing expensive high-rise development. Blair has a more inclusive housing plan and seems to understand that we won't add housing unless we add jobs.

I'm hoping that this is not what he's saying, because if it is, that's not a coherent housing plan. There is a housing shortage in Montgomery County right now, whether we add jobs or not.

That's actually what planning -- including Casey Anderson -- has said repeatedly. Planning has approved a lot of units that have not yet been permitted because developers think the MoCo market is soft. When it comes to high-density housing, they're clearly right, and it was soft even before the pandemic. That's why so many developers came back late in their projects to request density reduction or conversion to short-term rentals, and why so many others have asked for extensions. The private sector won't build housing unless we add jobs, and the private sector won't build low income (beyond the inadequate minimums), which makes Riemer's advocacy to subsidize expensive market rate construction all the more puzzling.

A "soft" real estate market with sky-high rents and housing prices, and bidding wars? How's that work?

Right now you can rent an apartment in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring for $1,300. There are currently thousands of housing units ready for deliver and most of those buildings are massive so that they will eat up all spare demand in that segment probably for a year or two. What happens in two years if financing conditions tighten? This is why people were saying that bigger is not better. Allowing the massive buildings creates conditions where you have the large buildings next to underdeveloped lots and in some cases surface parking lots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
See, this where you prejudged people (I won’t call you a racist, but you need to examine your biases) and don’t understand what you’re talking about. Craig Rice has a degree in Computer Science from UMCP. He’s has actual real life tangible skills relevant to today. He’s gonna be fine.

Rice has championed and been influential in promoting a lot of initiatives to ensure that up-county does not get left behind, both from his time in the Assembly and as a council member. There’s a reason he’s on the Board of the Universities at Shady Grove. There’s a reason there’s a brand new Holy Cross hospital in Germantown. There’s a reason why there’s an outlet mall in Clarksburg.

Anyway, not that Rice is perfect but you’re showing your *ss.

What are Riemers accomplishments? How’s Vision Zero going? Riemer is not capable of actually seeing any through. Getting the GGW endorsement is not going to go as far as you think.

The Clarksburg outlet mall is about to have a store, staffed by people earning minimum wage, selling bowls of cereal for $7.

https://mocoshow.com/blog/opening-date-for-day-night-cereal-bar-in-clarksburg/

Clarksburg's employment center could have been a hospital, with associated medical offices nearby, and building services and retail to support all of that... But no, there's an outlet mall, and we should hope it doesn't fail, because then there will only be a vacant former outlet mall.

Craig Rice better not put the outlet mall on his list of accomplishments.

You're nuts. You live in a world where your imagination is actually real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
See, this where you prejudged people (I won’t call you a racist, but you need to examine your biases) and don’t understand what you’re talking about. Craig Rice has a degree in Computer Science from UMCP. He’s has actual real life tangible skills relevant to today. He’s gonna be fine.

Rice has championed and been influential in promoting a lot of initiatives to ensure that up-county does not get left behind, both from his time in the Assembly and as a council member. There’s a reason he’s on the Board of the Universities at Shady Grove. There’s a reason there’s a brand new Holy Cross hospital in Germantown. There’s a reason why there’s an outlet mall in Clarksburg.

Anyway, not that Rice is perfect but you’re showing your *ss.

What are Riemers accomplishments? How’s Vision Zero going? Riemer is not capable of actually seeing any through. Getting the GGW endorsement is not going to go as far as you think.

The Clarksburg outlet mall is about to have a store, staffed by people earning minimum wage, selling bowls of cereal for $7.

https://mocoshow.com/blog/opening-date-for-day-night-cereal-bar-in-clarksburg/

Clarksburg's employment center could have been a hospital, with associated medical offices nearby, and building services and retail to support all of that... But no, there's an outlet mall, and we should hope it doesn't fail, because then there will only be a vacant former outlet mall.

Craig Rice better not put the outlet mall on his list of accomplishments.

You're nuts. You live in a world where your imagination is actually real.

Which parts of that do you consider untrue? Please explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Right now you can rent an apartment in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring for $1,300. There are currently thousands of housing units ready for deliver and most of those buildings are massive so that they will eat up all spare demand in that segment probably for a year or two. What happens in two years if financing conditions tighten? This is why people were saying that bigger is not better. Allowing the massive buildings creates conditions where you have the large buildings next to underdeveloped lots and in some cases surface parking lots.

Link, please.

And yes, sometimes you're going to have big apartment buildings next to things that aren't big apartment buildings. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Right now you can rent an apartment in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring for $1,300. There are currently thousands of housing units ready for deliver and most of those buildings are massive so that they will eat up all spare demand in that segment probably for a year or two. What happens in two years if financing conditions tighten? This is why people were saying that bigger is not better. Allowing the massive buildings creates conditions where you have the large buildings next to underdeveloped lots and in some cases surface parking lots.

Link, please.

And yes, sometimes you're going to have big apartment buildings next to things that aren't big apartment buildings. There's nothing wrong with that.

Because you are incapable of doing your own housing market research.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4507-Avondale-St-APT-302-Bethesda-MD-20814/2091757405_zpid/

Related to your second point, you're wrong. It is a very big problem and contrary to proper urban planning.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2014/11/3/the-case-for-height-restrictions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Right now you can rent an apartment in downtown Bethesda and Silver Spring for $1,300. There are currently thousands of housing units ready for deliver and most of those buildings are massive so that they will eat up all spare demand in that segment probably for a year or two. What happens in two years if financing conditions tighten? This is why people were saying that bigger is not better. Allowing the massive buildings creates conditions where you have the large buildings next to underdeveloped lots and in some cases surface parking lots.

Link, please.

And yes, sometimes you're going to have big apartment buildings next to things that aren't big apartment buildings. There's nothing wrong with that.

Because you are incapable of doing your own housing market research.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4507-Avondale-St-APT-302-Bethesda-MD-20814/2091757405_zpid/

Related to your second point, you're wrong. It is a very big problem and contrary to proper urban planning.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2014/11/3/the-case-for-height-restrictions?

A few other options in downtown Bethesda, in case you are looking to move.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4909-Hampden-Ln-APT-101-Bethesda-MD-20814/2085837894_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/b/aldon-of-chevy-chase-chevy-chase-md-5Xhv5B/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh yeah and speaking of vision zero Riemer and Hucker are the ones asking council staff to do a big study on whether all of traffic enforcement can be outsourced to the Department of Transportation.

That's not "outsourcing." That's making both Montgomery County Police and traffic enforcement more effective by switching primarily to automated enforcement. Montgomery County is not the only jurisdiction considering this. It makes a lot of sense - unless you're someone who likes to drive more than 11 miles per hour over the speed limit, or run red lights, without a penalty.

Riemer is looking at more than just automated enforcement. He wants to outsource the whole thing. And every other jurisdiction is backing away from their knee-jerk, post-George Floyd reaction to activist demands. Even Berkeley backed off this idea last January. Who's going to stop for the traffic engineer in the Chevy Aveo? Not me.

Automated traffic enforcement is very limited in the types of safety infractions it can penalize. It doesn't take drunk drivers off the road. It doesn't stop people going 100 mph. It doesn't stop people who drag race. Or blow through stop signs. Or text and drive. Or hit pedestrians. It's worth enhancing. But it's not a replacement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Didn't Elrich and the council just cut like 20 traffic officers? Kiss Vision Zero goodbye

Vision Zero is about road design, not about cops out on the street writing tickets.

As the vision zero director said, road design is decades and billions of dollars away. we need traffic enforcement until then.