mega thread for stupid MoCo laws and ordinances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery County made every major six lane roadway a four lane roadway. They dedicated the curb lanes to bicycles only causing major traffic congestion. Now it takes much longer going to work or traveling to your destination.

I can now ride my bike faster than you can drive. Works for me.

Until you get hit by a car or truck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No gas leaf blowers but gas lawn mowers are ok

battery blowers are just as noisy.

[Anonymous]

That’s not even a law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s not even a law.

Yep, OP started a thread based on what a bartender told him. Lots of red flags there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s not even a law.

Yep, OP started a thread based on what a bartender told him. Lots of red flags there.

You two are no fun. I wanted to see what else he would confess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montgomery County made every major six lane roadway a four lane roadway. They dedicated the curb lanes to bicycles only causing major traffic congestion. Now it takes much longer going to work or traveling to your destination.

I can now ride my bike faster than you can drive. Works for me.

Until you get hit by a car or truck.

I was hit by a truck while driving on the beltway last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No gas leaf blowers but gas lawn mowers are ok

battery blowers are just as noisy.

But not smelly. I like to breathe clean air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No gas leaf blowers but gas lawn mowers are ok

battery blowers are just as noisy.

But not smelly. I like to breathe clean air.

Gas leaf Leaf blowers account for less than 1% of total air pollution in the county. This policy will not have a meaningful impact on air pollution levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No gas leaf blowers but gas lawn mowers are ok

battery blowers are just as noisy.

But not smelly. I like to breathe clean air.

Gas leaf Leaf blowers account for less than 1% of total air pollution in the county. This policy will not have a meaningful impact on air pollution levels.

Where I live I can smell the fumes frequently over the summer and it ruins the enjoyment of my own property. I am very happy about the ban.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The proliferation of No [Right] Turn on Red signs on every intersection near my home in Rockville. In intersections with very good visibility and very few pedestrians. Who is this helping?

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obvious complaint, but it is illegal to have my 11 year old daughter take care of her 7 year old sister for even half an hour. There is hardly anywhere else in the country like this.

Totally agree. This was the one that has driven me crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The proliferation of No [Right] Turn on Red signs on every intersection near my home in Rockville. In intersections with very good visibility and very few pedestrians. Who is this helping?

+1000

These are so wasteful of gas and will only contribute to more pollution. At the very least, the county should make them legal during evenings and nighttimes and weekends. Or at least address the need for them per intersection rather than putting them up everywhere. They increased my 15 minute trip to 30 minutes waiting at traffic lights with absolutely no traffic.

I read that UPS and Fed Ex trucks plan their routes to maximize the number of right turns to save time and energy. I hope these businesses complain too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
- Ambulance tax of $600, that was then voted down by voters in referendum, and passed again by the Council, overriding the will of voters, because the Council said voters were "misinformed"

I'm really curious about this one. I've never understood why this was controversial. Most jurisdictions bill for ambulance services, so when I found Montgomery County's practice very surprising when the referendum came up.

They've always claimed that they just bill the insurance company, not individual. Has that not been true in practice? Or are you concerned about non-residents getting bills?

To me, the issue was the voters spoke, and the Council overrode them. I don't really care what the issue is, if the voters choose one path via referendum (assuming it's legally possible to implement), the Council should respect that decision.

Pure democracy is mob rule.

One might ask, who is billed $600 if you don't have insurance?

This. No one gets billed if you dont have insurance, and chances are your insurance company doesn't pay the full $600 even if you have insurance. It's a way for county residents to pay LESS for emergency services because insurance will pick up some of the cost

My insurance got billed and then I got billed for the remaining amount. It took six months and a lot of phone calls to get the remainder forgiven, and I had to get a council office involved.

Do you know what the issue was? Did they think you weren't a resident or was it an administrative error?

It seemed like they sent me a bill before the hospital sent them my insurance information. The insurance company then paid their negotiated rate, which wasn’t the full amount of the bill. The county couldn’t figure out that the bill was satisfied by the insurance company’s payment and kept sending me bills and late notices.

“It’s OK for the government to be incompetent” seems to be the motto for this county, which is a crazy position for progressives to take.

I'm not excusing the county but there is an ombudsman in the Office of Consumer Protection who's supposed to help with those issues when they arise. And their contact information should have been on your bill from the county. The billing is handled by a contracted vendor. https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OCP/Patient_Advocacy/overview.html

Montgomery County, where you need a second government agency to clean up the mess made by the first government agency.

Not only that, they have mulitple agencies set up to help you navigate all the regulations if you want to start a busines:
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/business/business-resources/support-organizations.html

Instead of reducing regulations, they created agencies to assist businesses in figuring it all out, because it's so complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:County controlled liquor sales. Why must I drive out to PG to get to a total wine? MoCo stores are often dingy, with crappy selections.

Because running the liquor monopoly contributes $30mln+ per year to the county budget, and they can't give up that sweet revenue stream even if it's anti-consumer and anti-business.

Maybe the county should set up other monopolies to pay the bills. Who needs Giant and Whole Foods when we can just have the county sell us our groceries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The proliferation of No [Right] Turn on Red signs on every intersection near my home in Rockville. In intersections with very good visibility and very few pedestrians. Who is this helping?

+1000

These are so wasteful of gas and will only contribute to more pollution. At the very least, the county should make them legal during evenings and nighttimes and weekends. Or at least address the need for them per intersection rather than putting them up everywhere. They increased my 15 minute trip to 30 minutes waiting at traffic lights with absolutely no traffic.

Indeed, right turn on red was made legal generally in the US in the 1970's in response to the Arab oil crisis. It saves fuel if you don't have to needlessly sit at a red light.

I believe no environmental impact analysis was done when the county decided to add in hundreds of No Turn on Red signs this last year:
https://mocoshow.com/2025/09/05/new-no-right-on-red-policy-praised-by-county-leaders/