Elrich Now in the Lead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They corrected the early voting results and David Blair gained one vote.

I don’t think Blair will pull this one off.

true, but progressives should take note of the teeny tiny margin that Elrich won by.

There are multiple ways to read this.

Elrich is progressive and anti development
Riemer is progressive and pro-development
Blair is moderate and pro-development (but not as much of a hardcore YIMBY as Riemer)

You could say that 60% were agains Elrich, or somewhat more in favor of development, but you could also say 60% wanted a progressive over a moderate.

MoCo leans progressive, and the majority of them live in TP/SS area where Elrich won most of the votes. Go west of 270 and north of ICC, and you will see a lot more Blair support.

Blair won 4 of the 7 Council districts. But Districts 4 and 6 were strongly for Elrich. Most of the county, geographically, wants Blair. But I guess they didn't want him enough, or they would have turned out the vote better.

I don't love Elrich, but can't get past the fact that Big Development, Inc. has infused so many resources into the county to defeat him and elect someone who is more compliant with their agenda. They even created an "affordable housing" PAC! Do you think this is genuine? It's a pro-market development PAC that is attempting to sound progressive. The handful of inclusionary zoning units that are included in mega-developments are paltry.

I guess I am surprised how development seems to be the dominant issue in the county, and not his mismanagement of the budget, and increased violent crime. His budget is built on smoke and mirrors and we are going to be in for a world of hurt in the next year or so.

+1 we need more higher paying jobs here. That's how you reduce poverty and crime. That's not going to happen without good mass rapid transit and an incireasei in crime. I don't know why people are so against development. MoCo rental/housing is expensive. These new developments also have set asides for MC/lower income families, and they are usually built near metro stops.

And agree, higher crime is going to drive out people.

I'm not sure what utopia vision Elrich seems to think he can create with what he's doing, but it's not working. We need to try something different, and more people agree with me since Elrich's win has a much smaller margin than last time.

Some bizarre claims in here. Fairfax has all the jobs. Housing in MoCo is also cheaper than Fairfax. Fairfax also has a lot of roads. MoCo has a better bus system than Fairfax and prior to the new Silver line, had equivalent metro service. MoCo refuses to build roads. Seems like roads are more important than transit for job growth.

I have no idea what your point is.

by your own statement, jobs are in FFX, and I said we need more jobs here. So you agree with me?

We need better transit options other than a bus. Expanding the metro line would be great. Red line stops at Shady Grove. The county has changed a lot in the past 10 years, even, and there is a ton of development in Clarksburg. Are they even looking at expanding metro to Clarksburg?

Doesn't matter if housing is cheaper than FFX. We are talking about MoCo.

But I think we are agreeing that we do need more types of development, yes, including infrastructure if we want to attract good paying jobs.

What has Elrich done to achieve this? The only thing I see him doing is rah rahing all the progressive talking points about inclusion. His outreach to businesses in states that ban abortion are meaningless because we don't have good infrastructure here, nor is MoCo considered "business friendly". Why on earth would those businesses come here rather than to NoVa right across the river?

I agree that more jobs are needed. I agree that Montgomery County needs to be more business friendly. I disagree that the county is falling behind due to poor transit and expensive housing, because there are plenty of counter examples regionally.

Priorities should be: (i) build or expand roads where it makes sense (e.g. M83, ALB, 270), (ii) add transit where it makes sense (like down the middle of 270), (iii) promote high density commercial and residential development next to the interstates, and (iv) provide a massive subsidy if needed to get a university like Hopkins to locate a branch campus at White Flint.

Montgomery County should follow VA and Baltimore’s lead. Expand 270 and put a light rail train in the middle that terminates in downtown Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They corrected the early voting results and David Blair gained one vote.

I don’t think Blair will pull this one off.

true, but progressives should take note of the teeny tiny margin that Elrich won by.

There are multiple ways to read this.

Elrich is progressive and anti development
Riemer is progressive and pro-development
Blair is moderate and pro-development (but not as much of a hardcore YIMBY as Riemer)

You could say that 60% were agains Elrich, or somewhat more in favor of development, but you could also say 60% wanted a progressive over a moderate.

MoCo leans progressive, and the majority of them live in TP/SS area where Elrich won most of the votes. Go west of 270 and north of ICC, and you will see a lot more Blair support.

Blair won 4 of the 7 Council districts. But Districts 4 and 6 were strongly for Elrich. Most of the county, geographically, wants Blair. But I guess they didn't want him enough, or they would have turned out the vote better.

I don't love Elrich, but can't get past the fact that Big Development, Inc. has infused so many resources into the county to defeat him and elect someone who is more compliant with their agenda. They even created an "affordable housing" PAC! Do you think this is genuine? It's a pro-market development PAC that is attempting to sound progressive. The handful of inclusionary zoning units that are included in mega-developments are paltry.

I guess I am surprised how development seems to be the dominant issue in the county, and not his mismanagement of the budget, and increased violent crime. His budget is built on smoke and mirrors and we are going to be in for a world of hurt in the next year or so.

+1 we need more higher paying jobs here. That's how you reduce poverty and crime. That's not going to happen without good mass rapid transit and an incireasei in crime. I don't know why people are so against development. MoCo rental/housing is expensive. These new developments also have set asides for MC/lower income families, and they are usually built near metro stops.

And agree, higher crime is going to drive out people.

I'm not sure what utopia vision Elrich seems to think he can create with what he's doing, but it's not working. We need to try something different, and more people agree with me since Elrich's win has a much smaller margin than last time.

Some bizarre claims in here. Fairfax has all the jobs. Housing in MoCo is also cheaper than Fairfax. Fairfax also has a lot of roads. MoCo has a better bus system than Fairfax and prior to the new Silver line, had equivalent metro service. MoCo refuses to build roads. Seems like roads are more important than transit for job growth.

I have no idea what your point is.

by your own statement, jobs are in FFX, and I said we need more jobs here. So you agree with me?

We need better transit options other than a bus. Expanding the metro line would be great. Red line stops at Shady Grove. The county has changed a lot in the past 10 years, even, and there is a ton of development in Clarksburg. Are they even looking at expanding metro to Clarksburg?

Doesn't matter if housing is cheaper than FFX. We are talking about MoCo.

But I think we are agreeing that we do need more types of development, yes, including infrastructure if we want to attract good paying jobs.

What has Elrich done to achieve this? The only thing I see him doing is rah rahing all the progressive talking points about inclusion. His outreach to businesses in states that ban abortion are meaningless because we don't have good infrastructure here, nor is MoCo considered "business friendly". Why on earth would those businesses come here rather than to NoVa right across the river?

I agree that more jobs are needed. I agree that Montgomery County needs to be more business friendly. I disagree that the county is falling behind due to poor transit and expensive housing, because there are plenty of counter examples regionally.

Priorities should be: (i) build or expand roads where it makes sense (e.g. M83, ALB, 270), (ii) add transit where it makes sense (like down the middle of 270), (iii) promote high density commercial and residential development next to the interstates, and (iv) provide a massive subsidy if needed to get a university like Hopkins to locate a branch campus at White Flint.

Montgomery County should follow VA and Baltimore’s lead. Expand 270 and put a light rail train in the middle that terminates in downtown Bethesda.

To your first point, housing in Fairfax is even more expensive and Fairfax has higher job growth. “To get more jobs we need more housing” is nonsense promoted by the planning department. If Montgomery County were a growing job center, we’d have more housing because Montgomery County would look less risky to investors. Planning has done this county a great disservice but almost all of its clients are housing developers, most of whom spent too much money on land, so I understand where the rhetoric comes from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They corrected the early voting results and David Blair gained one vote.

I don’t think Blair will pull this one off.

true, but progressives should take note of the teeny tiny margin that Elrich won by.

There are multiple ways to read this.

Elrich is progressive and anti development
Riemer is progressive and pro-development
Blair is moderate and pro-development (but not as much of a hardcore YIMBY as Riemer)

You could say that 60% were agains Elrich, or somewhat more in favor of development, but you could also say 60% wanted a progressive over a moderate.

MoCo leans progressive, and the majority of them live in TP/SS area where Elrich won most of the votes. Go west of 270 and north of ICC, and you will see a lot more Blair support.

Blair won 4 of the 7 Council districts. But Districts 4 and 6 were strongly for Elrich. Most of the county, geographically, wants Blair. But I guess they didn't want him enough, or they would have turned out the vote better.

I don't love Elrich, but can't get past the fact that Big Development, Inc. has infused so many resources into the county to defeat him and elect someone who is more compliant with their agenda. They even created an "affordable housing" PAC! Do you think this is genuine? It's a pro-market development PAC that is attempting to sound progressive. The handful of inclusionary zoning units that are included in mega-developments are paltry.

I guess I am surprised how development seems to be the dominant issue in the county, and not his mismanagement of the budget, and increased violent crime. His budget is built on smoke and mirrors and we are going to be in for a world of hurt in the next year or so.

+1 we need more higher paying jobs here. That's how you reduce poverty and crime. That's not going to happen without good mass rapid transit and an incireasei in crime. I don't know why people are so against development. MoCo rental/housing is expensive. These new developments also have set asides for MC/lower income families, and they are usually built near metro stops.

And agree, higher crime is going to drive out people.

I'm not sure what utopia vision Elrich seems to think he can create with what he's doing, but it's not working. We need to try something different, and more people agree with me since Elrich's win has a much smaller margin than last time.

Some bizarre claims in here. Fairfax has all the jobs. Housing in MoCo is also cheaper than Fairfax. Fairfax also has a lot of roads. MoCo has a better bus system than Fairfax and prior to the new Silver line, had equivalent metro service. MoCo refuses to build roads. Seems like roads are more important than transit for job growth.

I have no idea what your point is.

by your own statement, jobs are in FFX, and I said we need more jobs here. So you agree with me?

We need better transit options other than a bus. Expanding the metro line would be great. Red line stops at Shady Grove. The county has changed a lot in the past 10 years, even, and there is a ton of development in Clarksburg. Are they even looking at expanding metro to Clarksburg?

Doesn't matter if housing is cheaper than FFX. We are talking about MoCo.

But I think we are agreeing that we do need more types of development, yes, including infrastructure if we want to attract good paying jobs.

What has Elrich done to achieve this? The only thing I see him doing is rah rahing all the progressive talking points about inclusion. His outreach to businesses in states that ban abortion are meaningless because we don't have good infrastructure here, nor is MoCo considered "business friendly". Why on earth would those businesses come here rather than to NoVa right across the river?

I agree that more jobs are needed. I agree that Montgomery County needs to be more business friendly. I disagree that the county is falling behind due to poor transit and expensive housing, because there are plenty of counter examples regionally.

Priorities should be: (i) build or expand roads where it makes sense (e.g. M83, ALB, 270), (ii) add transit where it makes sense (like down the middle of 270), (iii) promote high density commercial and residential development next to the interstates, and (iv) provide a massive subsidy if needed to get a university like Hopkins to locate a branch campus at White Flint.

Montgomery County should follow VA and Baltimore’s lead. Expand 270 and put a light rail train in the middle that terminates in downtown Bethesda.

To your first point, housing in Fairfax is even more expensive and Fairfax has higher job growth. “To get more jobs we need more housing” is nonsense promoted by the planning department. If Montgomery County were a growing job center, we’d have more housing because Montgomery County would look less risky to investors. Planning has done this county a great disservice but almost all of its clients are housing developers, most of whom spent too much money on land, so I understand where the rhetoric comes from.

exactly.. it's not housing. It's infrastructure that needs to come first. NoVa has two major airports and metro going to the airport.

MoCo itself doesn't have a major airport. At best we have BWI, but there is no metro to BWI, or even to either of NoVa airports.

You need the infrastructure first. But I do like ^^PPs suggestions, and ITA with the light rail above 270, but it needs to cross the bridge and connect with the metro there.

[Anonymous]

There's a simple solution to this mess. Vote for Reardon Sullivan in November, like me.

Get every single Blair voter to click his name and the Elrich problem is gone.

http://www.rockvillenights.com/2022/06/reardon-sullivan-earns-police-union.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a simple solution to this mess. Vote for Reardon Sullivan in November, like me.

Get every single Blair voter to click his name and the Elrich problem is gone.

http://www.rockvillenights.com/2022/06/reardon-sullivan-earns-police-union.html

That is probably what I'm going to do.

Honestly, I can't imagine another Elrich term. I'm so disappointed Blair lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They corrected the early voting results and David Blair gained one vote.

I don’t think Blair will pull this one off.

true, but progressives should take note of the teeny tiny margin that Elrich won by.

There are multiple ways to read this.

Elrich is progressive and anti development
Riemer is progressive and pro-development
Blair is moderate and pro-development (but not as much of a hardcore YIMBY as Riemer)

You could say that 60% were agains Elrich, or somewhat more in favor of development, but you could also say 60% wanted a progressive over a moderate.

MoCo leans progressive, and the majority of them live in TP/SS area where Elrich won most of the votes. Go west of 270 and north of ICC, and you will see a lot more Blair support.

Blair won 4 of the 7 Council districts. But Districts 4 and 6 were strongly for Elrich. Most of the county, geographically, wants Blair. But I guess they didn't want him enough, or they would have turned out the vote better.

I don't love Elrich, but can't get past the fact that Big Development, Inc. has infused so many resources into the county to defeat him and elect someone who is more compliant with their agenda. They even created an "affordable housing" PAC! Do you think this is genuine? It's a pro-market development PAC that is attempting to sound progressive. The handful of inclusionary zoning units that are included in mega-developments are paltry.

I guess I am surprised how development seems to be the dominant issue in the county, and not his mismanagement of the budget, and increased violent crime. His budget is built on smoke and mirrors and we are going to be in for a world of hurt in the next year or so.

+1 we need more higher paying jobs here. That's how you reduce poverty and crime. That's not going to happen without good mass rapid transit and an incireasei in crime. I don't know why people are so against development. MoCo rental/housing is expensive. These new developments also have set asides for MC/lower income families, and they are usually built near metro stops.

And agree, higher crime is going to drive out people.

I'm not sure what utopia vision Elrich seems to think he can create with what he's doing, but it's not working. We need to try something different, and more people agree with me since Elrich's win has a much smaller margin than last time.

Some bizarre claims in here. Fairfax has all the jobs. Housing in MoCo is also cheaper than Fairfax. Fairfax also has a lot of roads. MoCo has a better bus system than Fairfax and prior to the new Silver line, had equivalent metro service. MoCo refuses to build roads. Seems like roads are more important than transit for job growth.

I have no idea what your point is.

by your own statement, jobs are in FFX, and I said we need more jobs here. So you agree with me?

We need better transit options other than a bus. Expanding the metro line would be great. Red line stops at Shady Grove. The county has changed a lot in the past 10 years, even, and there is a ton of development in Clarksburg. Are they even looking at expanding metro to Clarksburg?

Doesn't matter if housing is cheaper than FFX. We are talking about MoCo.

But I think we are agreeing that we do need more types of development, yes, including infrastructure if we want to attract good paying jobs.

What has Elrich done to achieve this? The only thing I see him doing is rah rahing all the progressive talking points about inclusion. His outreach to businesses in states that ban abortion are meaningless because we don't have good infrastructure here, nor is MoCo considered "business friendly". Why on earth would those businesses come here rather than to NoVa right across the river?

I agree that more jobs are needed. I agree that Montgomery County needs to be more business friendly. I disagree that the county is falling behind due to poor transit and expensive housing, because there are plenty of counter examples regionally.

Priorities should be: (i) build or expand roads where it makes sense (e.g. M83, ALB, 270), (ii) add transit where it makes sense (like down the middle of 270), (iii) promote high density commercial and residential development next to the interstates, and (iv) provide a massive subsidy if needed to get a university like Hopkins to locate a branch campus at White Flint.

Montgomery County should follow VA and Baltimore’s lead. Expand 270 and put a light rail train in the middle that terminates in downtown Bethesda.

Agreed. I’m tired of county leaders railing against expanding 270 (and 495 at least west of 270), when they offer no alternative solutions. Shouldn’t they be concerned that so many MoCo residents commute to VA for work? They are essentially telling us we should move to VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They corrected the early voting results and David Blair gained one vote.

I don’t think Blair will pull this one off.

true, but progressives should take note of the teeny tiny margin that Elrich won by.

There are multiple ways to read this.

Elrich is progressive and anti development
Riemer is progressive and pro-development
Blair is moderate and pro-development (but not as much of a hardcore YIMBY as Riemer)

You could say that 60% were agains Elrich, or somewhat more in favor of development, but you could also say 60% wanted a progressive over a moderate.

MoCo leans progressive, and the majority of them live in TP/SS area where Elrich won most of the votes. Go west of 270 and north of ICC, and you will see a lot more Blair support.

Blair won 4 of the 7 Council districts. But Districts 4 and 6 were strongly for Elrich. Most of the county, geographically, wants Blair. But I guess they didn't want him enough, or they would have turned out the vote better.

I don't love Elrich, but can't get past the fact that Big Development, Inc. has infused so many resources into the county to defeat him and elect someone who is more compliant with their agenda. They even created an "affordable housing" PAC! Do you think this is genuine? It's a pro-market development PAC that is attempting to sound progressive. The handful of inclusionary zoning units that are included in mega-developments are paltry.

I guess I am surprised how development seems to be the dominant issue in the county, and not his mismanagement of the budget, and increased violent crime. His budget is built on smoke and mirrors and we are going to be in for a world of hurt in the next year or so.

+1 we need more higher paying jobs here. That's how you reduce poverty and crime. That's not going to happen without good mass rapid transit and an incireasei in crime. I don't know why people are so against development. MoCo rental/housing is expensive. These new developments also have set asides for MC/lower income families, and they are usually built near metro stops.

And agree, higher crime is going to drive out people.

I'm not sure what utopia vision Elrich seems to think he can create with what he's doing, but it's not working. We need to try something different, and more people agree with me since Elrich's win has a much smaller margin than last time.

Some bizarre claims in here. Fairfax has all the jobs. Housing in MoCo is also cheaper than Fairfax. Fairfax also has a lot of roads. MoCo has a better bus system than Fairfax and prior to the new Silver line, had equivalent metro service. MoCo refuses to build roads. Seems like roads are more important than transit for job growth.

I have no idea what your point is.

by your own statement, jobs are in FFX, and I said we need more jobs here. So you agree with me?

We need better transit options other than a bus. Expanding the metro line would be great. Red line stops at Shady Grove. The county has changed a lot in the past 10 years, even, and there is a ton of development in Clarksburg. Are they even looking at expanding metro to Clarksburg?

Doesn't matter if housing is cheaper than FFX. We are talking about MoCo.

But I think we are agreeing that we do need more types of development, yes, including infrastructure if we want to attract good paying jobs.

What has Elrich done to achieve this? The only thing I see him doing is rah rahing all the progressive talking points about inclusion. His outreach to businesses in states that ban abortion are meaningless because we don't have good infrastructure here, nor is MoCo considered "business friendly". Why on earth would those businesses come here rather than to NoVa right across the river?

I agree that more jobs are needed. I agree that Montgomery County needs to be more business friendly. I disagree that the county is falling behind due to poor transit and expensive housing, because there are plenty of counter examples regionally.

Priorities should be: (i) build or expand roads where it makes sense (e.g. M83, ALB, 270), (ii) add transit where it makes sense (like down the middle of 270), (iii) promote high density commercial and residential development next to the interstates, and (iv) provide a massive subsidy if needed to get a university like Hopkins to locate a branch campus at White Flint.

Montgomery County should follow VA and Baltimore’s lead. Expand 270 and put a light rail train in the middle that terminates in downtown Bethesda.

Agreed. I’m tired of county leaders railing against expanding 270 (and 495 at least west of 270), when they offer no alternative solutions. Shouldn’t they be concerned that so many MoCo residents commute to VA for work? They are essentially telling us we should move to VA.

They are counting on the fact that equivalent housing in FFX is more expensive for similar quality schools (eg Ws vs Langley and McLean HSs). I see lots of people moving once their kids graduate. As a result, they don’t seem to care.

They legitimately have zero plan for an alternative to expanding the ALB with HOT lanes. They only talk vaguely about transit and propose crazy things like bike lanes, but don’t even provide a reasonable transit proposal, eg the obvious proposal is a bus from the Grosvenor metro via the Montgomery Mall transit center to the Tysons metro station. However this would add how much cost for how many daily riders? Legitimately probably a few hundred. Why would you dedicate a lane solely for that? The only reasonable criticisms are whether it should be a PPP. There are already tolled HOT lanes on 95-N past Baltimore so it’s not even unprecedented in Maryland! What we are facing are ideologues that want to destroy our economy to fulfill some crackpot ideas and a number of local political officials that I believe behave immaturely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They corrected the early voting results and David Blair gained one vote.

I don’t think Blair will pull this one off.

true, but progressives should take note of the teeny tiny margin that Elrich won by.

There are multiple ways to read this.

Elrich is progressive and anti development
Riemer is progressive and pro-development
Blair is moderate and pro-development (but not as much of a hardcore YIMBY as Riemer)

You could say that 60% were agains Elrich, or somewhat more in favor of development, but you could also say 60% wanted a progressive over a moderate.

MoCo leans progressive, and the majority of them live in TP/SS area where Elrich won most of the votes. Go west of 270 and north of ICC, and you will see a lot more Blair support.

Blair won 4 of the 7 Council districts. But Districts 4 and 6 were strongly for Elrich. Most of the county, geographically, wants Blair. But I guess they didn't want him enough, or they would have turned out the vote better.

I don't love Elrich, but can't get past the fact that Big Development, Inc. has infused so many resources into the county to defeat him and elect someone who is more compliant with their agenda. They even created an "affordable housing" PAC! Do you think this is genuine? It's a pro-market development PAC that is attempting to sound progressive. The handful of inclusionary zoning units that are included in mega-developments are paltry.

I guess I am surprised how development seems to be the dominant issue in the county, and not his mismanagement of the budget, and increased violent crime. His budget is built on smoke and mirrors and we are going to be in for a world of hurt in the next year or so.

+1 we need more higher paying jobs here. That's how you reduce poverty and crime. That's not going to happen without good mass rapid transit and an incireasei in crime. I don't know why people are so against development. MoCo rental/housing is expensive. These new developments also have set asides for MC/lower income families, and they are usually built near metro stops.

And agree, higher crime is going to drive out people.

I'm not sure what utopia vision Elrich seems to think he can create with what he's doing, but it's not working. We need to try something different, and more people agree with me since Elrich's win has a much smaller margin than last time.

Some bizarre claims in here. Fairfax has all the jobs. Housing in MoCo is also cheaper than Fairfax. Fairfax also has a lot of roads. MoCo has a better bus system than Fairfax and prior to the new Silver line, had equivalent metro service. MoCo refuses to build roads. Seems like roads are more important than transit for job growth.

I have no idea what your point is.

by your own statement, jobs are in FFX, and I said we need more jobs here. So you agree with me?

We need better transit options other than a bus. Expanding the metro line would be great. Red line stops at Shady Grove. The county has changed a lot in the past 10 years, even, and there is a ton of development in Clarksburg. Are they even looking at expanding metro to Clarksburg?

Doesn't matter if housing is cheaper than FFX. We are talking about MoCo.

But I think we are agreeing that we do need more types of development, yes, including infrastructure if we want to attract good paying jobs.

What has Elrich done to achieve this? The only thing I see him doing is rah rahing all the progressive talking points about inclusion. His outreach to businesses in states that ban abortion are meaningless because we don't have good infrastructure here, nor is MoCo considered "business friendly". Why on earth would those businesses come here rather than to NoVa right across the river?

I agree that more jobs are needed. I agree that Montgomery County needs to be more business friendly. I disagree that the county is falling behind due to poor transit and expensive housing, because there are plenty of counter examples regionally.

Priorities should be: (i) build or expand roads where it makes sense (e.g. M83, ALB, 270), (ii) add transit where it makes sense (like down the middle of 270), (iii) promote high density commercial and residential development next to the interstates, and (iv) provide a massive subsidy if needed to get a university like Hopkins to locate a branch campus at White Flint.

Montgomery County should follow VA and Baltimore’s lead. Expand 270 and put a light rail train in the middle that terminates in downtown Bethesda.

To your first point, housing in Fairfax is even more expensive and Fairfax has higher job growth. “To get more jobs we need more housing” is nonsense promoted by the planning department. If Montgomery County were a growing job center, we’d have more housing because Montgomery County would look less risky to investors. Planning has done this county a great disservice but almost all of its clients are housing developers, most of whom spent too much money on land, so I understand where the rhetoric comes from.

exactly.. it's not housing. It's infrastructure that needs to come first. NoVa has two major airports and metro going to the airport.

MoCo itself doesn't have a major airport. At best we have BWI, but there is no metro to BWI, or even to either of NoVa airports.

You need the infrastructure first. But I do like ^^PPs suggestions, and ITA with the light rail above 270, but it needs to cross the bridge and connect with the metro there.

Exactly. It’s all about the infrastructure. We need the infrastructure to induce investment!