Some perspective on those blaming Hogan for lack of education funding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Pike and Rose seems fine - though unnecessary - to me. How many more shops and restaurants do we need??
We should start calling our county the strip mall Capital if the US.

Pike + Rose REPLACED a strip mall - Mid-Pike Plaza.

But it’s a bigger better strip mall now. With housing on top of it, but way more shops. How many Gap stores does one county need??

It's not a strip mall now at all, unless your definition of strip mall is radically different from the usual definition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Second, the state is only responsible for 22% of the entire budget. The county is responsible for 67% of the budget. Why doesn't the board make a stink to the county about funds?

This point is idiotic. There are two entities that provide the primary funding for MCPS. MoCo provides 67%, and the state provides 22%. If MCPS desires additional funding, does it make more sense to put the arm on the state, or MoCo, which already provides 3x the funding as the state? And state funding will come from other municipalities, not just the residents that MoCo serves?

Use your head.

There’s no chance that the state is giving us more money. There are other parts of the state that need a lot more money than we do. We can’t ask for more money from the state just because we are poor at managing our own pot of money. We have to make honest and intelligent decisions now instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We shouldn’t be giving out benefits based on race and we shouldn’t be taking in more new immigrants than we can handle. If we have to raise taxes and we aren’t providing needed services to county residents then we are at capacity and we have to start putting serious energy into economic growth and stop relying on tax and spend.

These advocacy groups assume that all of the residents here are ‘rich’ and able to afford private school, special Ed services for our kids, counseling for our kids (no insurance pays for counseling and it’s at least $200/hour), join a country club for our community and recreational needs, find jobs with benefits on our own with no problem at all, pay for college for our kids, pay for our healthcare and fund retirement and pay our huge taxes (including MoCo piggy back and real estate taxes) all with no problem. And that we have more money after that so we have no needs. Where do they get these ideas?? I know of rich people like this, but the vast majority of people living in this county are not living like this.

And no - we don’t all use low paid landscapers and other household help. We do those things ourselves as we cannot afford those things.

A huge reality check is needed.

We are not giving out benefits based on race. Also, this is how much influence Montgomery County Public Schools has over immigration policy: zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hogan won by a landslide and is doing a great job. I am a Dem and I like the tone he is taking with our idiotic elected county officials and board who have no clue how to run a company

Small businesses are failing, town centers are a disaster, condos turned into low rent apartments, so many big businessss won’t touch our land. The Rockville Town Center disaster. The White Flint Disaster. The Pike n Rose disaster.

I guess I missed those...?

Give it 5 years.

There will be such an oversupply of these high density housing units. Rents will be too high for businesses to succeed. That’s what has been happening at Rockville Town Center. Crappy parking and high rents for the businesses.

People still want some space and easy parking in the suburbs. Once the newness of Pike and Rose wears off, it’ll end up just like Rockville Town Center. No way people will continue to pay $20 for parking to eat and watch a movie. Cheaper to park in DC and better options.

Oh, you're talking about FUTURE disasters. Disasters that you're seeing in your crystal ball. Got it.

No. Rockville Town Center is a current disaster. Dawson’s rent was too high so they left, parking enforcement is ridiculous, so many restaurants have left.

White Flint is a current disaster. Puke and Rose is also not selling.

It’s all currently unfolding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No. Rockville Town Center is a current disaster. Dawson’s rent was too high so they left, parking enforcement is ridiculous, so many restaurants have left.

White Flint is a current disaster. Pike and Rose is also not selling.

It’s all currently unfolding.

How is White Flint a current disaster, unrelated to the Lerners' decisions about the White Flint mall property?

It's odd that Pike and Rose is not selling, and yet the builders keep building there - and stores keep moving in, too. Why do you suppose they're doing that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Pike and Rose seems fine - though unnecessary - to me. How many more shops and restaurants do we need??
We should start calling our county the strip mall Capital if the US.

Pike + Rose REPLACED a strip mall - Mid-Pike Plaza.

But it’s a bigger better strip mall now. With housing on top of it, but way more shops. How many Gap stores does one county need??

It's not a strip mall now at all, unless your definition of strip mall is radically different from the usual definition.

Again - how many Gap stores do we need? How many shopping centers?
All of To knolls Pike is lined with stores and restaurants but a big part of this development was to put in a lot more shops and restaurants.
Why am I going to pay to park and shop at the Nike store there or Gap or anywhere else when I can drive to Montgomery Mall and shop 200 stores or shop online? It’s good planning to put in things like restaurants and grocery stores and a few shops but we don’t need to replicate what is already everywhere.
Some of those stores are just not going to be viable.
Even rockville town center is having huge problems and they have an ice rink as a draw. We just can’t sustain this many shops and restaurants in the county all in one area (more rural areas of the county are dying for better shops and restaurants) at high rents and with all of our crazy liquor laws and taxes (makes it harder to turn a profit).

That silly beach thing - which I’m told is a big toilet for rats and biting insects- is not a draw either. Maybe put in something decent like water sprinklers for kids and /or an ice rink. Ice skating or roller skating is a big date night, teen night out and family activity draw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. Rockville Town Center is a current disaster. Dawson’s rent was too high so they left, parking enforcement is ridiculous, so many restaurants have left.

White Flint is a current disaster. Pike and Rose is also not selling.

It’s all currently unfolding.

How is White Flint a current disaster, unrelated to the Lerners' decisions about the White Flint mall property?

It's odd that Pike and Rose is not selling, and yet the builders keep building there - and stores keep moving in, too. Why do you suppose they're doing that?

It’s always assume that everyone in the county has a limitless supply of money to spend and that there are a limitless number of people willing to spend huge amounts of money on rents to live in small condos and to pay high business/store rents, but we are apparently reaching our limits.

MoCo’s tax and spend model is failing. Elrich will need to hire some robust economic advisors to help him steer the county instead of bedding up with endless special interest groups with their hands out and developers. Good luck to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Again - how many Gap stores do we need? How many shopping centers?
All of To knolls Pike is lined with stores and restaurants but a big part of this development was to put in a lot more shops and restaurants.
Why am I going to pay to park and shop at the Nike store there or Gap or anywhere else when I can drive to Montgomery Mall and shop 200 stores or shop online? It’s good planning to put in things like restaurants and grocery stores and a few shops but we don’t need to replicate what is already everywhere.
Some of those stores are just not going to be viable.
Even rockville town center is having huge problems and they have an ice rink as a draw. We just can’t sustain this many shops and restaurants in the county all in one area (more rural areas of the county are dying for better shops and restaurants) at high rents and with all of our crazy liquor laws and taxes (makes it harder to turn a profit).

That silly beach thing - which I’m told is a big toilet for rats and biting insects- is not a draw either. Maybe put in something decent like water sprinklers for kids and /or an ice rink. Ice skating or roller skating is a big date night, teen night out and family activity draw.

So don't. Seriously. Not every retail establishment has to have you in its business plan. There are plenty of stores and restaurants I never go to -- I never go to Montgomery Mall, for example -- and yet there they are, doing just fine. Let Nike make its business decisions for itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It’s always assume that everyone in the county has a limitless supply of money to spend and that there are a limitless number of people willing to spend huge amounts of money on rents to live in small condos and to pay high business/store rents, but we are apparently reaching our limits.

MoCo’s tax and spend model is failing. Elrich will need to hire some robust economic advisors to help him steer the county instead of bedding up with endless special interest groups with their hands out and developers. Good luck to him.

I haven't noticed that the price of housing has gone down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. Rockville Town Center is a current disaster. Dawson’s rent was too high so they left, parking enforcement is ridiculous, so many restaurants have left.

White Flint is a current disaster. Pike and Rose is also not selling.

It’s all currently unfolding.

How is White Flint a current disaster, unrelated to the Lerners' decisions about the White Flint mall property?

It's odd that Pike and Rose is not selling, and yet the builders keep building there - and stores keep moving in, too. Why do you suppose they're doing that?

I don’t know. Ask Rockville Town Center. They just got done building another phase and about half the first is empty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. Rockville Town Center is a current disaster. Dawson’s rent was too high so they left, parking enforcement is ridiculous, so many restaurants have left.

White Flint is a current disaster. Pike and Rose is also not selling.

It’s all currently unfolding.

How is White Flint a current disaster, unrelated to the Lerners' decisions about the White Flint mall property?

It's odd that Pike and Rose is not selling, and yet the builders keep building there - and stores keep moving in, too. Why do you suppose they're doing that?

I don’t know. Ask Rockville Town Center. They just got done building another phase and about half the first is empty.

Really? Federal Realty just got done building another phase? What building(s), specifically, are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again - how many Gap stores do we need? How many shopping centers?
All of To knolls Pike is lined with stores and restaurants but a big part of this development was to put in a lot more shops and restaurants.
Why am I going to pay to park and shop at the Nike store there or Gap or anywhere else when I can drive to Montgomery Mall and shop 200 stores or shop online? It’s good planning to put in things like restaurants and grocery stores and a few shops but we don’t need to replicate what is already everywhere.
Some of those stores are just not going to be viable.
Even rockville town center is having huge problems and they have an ice rink as a draw. We just can’t sustain this many shops and restaurants in the county all in one area (more rural areas of the county are dying for better shops and restaurants) at high rents and with all of our crazy liquor laws and taxes (makes it harder to turn a profit).

That silly beach thing - which I’m told is a big toilet for rats and biting insects- is not a draw either. Maybe put in something decent like water sprinklers for kids and /or an ice rink. Ice skating or roller skating is a big date night, teen night out and family activity draw.

So don't. Seriously. Not every retail establishment has to have you in its business plan. There are plenty of stores and restaurants I never go to -- I never go to Montgomery Mall, for example -- and yet there they are, doing just fine. Let Nike make its business decisions for itself.

The Nike is store is closed already at Pike N Rose? Didn’t even last 18 months. This is the second store to fail in that location. Wasn’t it a sports supply store before Nike?

[Anonymous]

There has been steady turnover at Pike Rose. I am sure the reality company keeps claiming they just need to build up and get more people moving in. Exactly what RTC did and the tirnicers continued at a rapid pace. Now it is a ghost town have looked at the failed history and steer clear.

[Anonymous]

^turnovers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There has been steady turnover at Pike Rose. I am sure the reality company keeps claiming they just need to build up and get more people moving in. Exactly what RTC did and the tirnicers continued at a rapid pace. Now it is a ghost town have looked at the failed history and steer clear.

I'm really not sure what your point is. The builders are building this stuff because they think they will make money on it. If they don't make money on it, they will stop building it. That is how it's supposed to work, isn't it?