When you say duplexes are the goal, it tells me you’re not serious about housing. Planning already determined that duplexes aren’t financially viable in most of the county, especially in areas close to transit. I’m not making an argument about tone. I’m talking about argumentation. Some people are not persuadable. They should be ignored, not engaged. Some people are open to arguments about how upzoning benefits them. They are persuadable. The YIMBYs spend too much time engaging with the first group and alienating people in the second group with abrasive arguments. As a result, you make people who are willing to listen align more with people who aren’t willing to listen. How much any of this matters is debatable. YIMBYs have won pretty much every vote in Planning and at the Council for more than a decade, so the NIMBYs don’t appear to have much influence. Unfortunately the YIMBYs’ policies haven’t worked and the housing market is worse than it was a decade ago. At some point the YIMBYs need to take stock and figure out whether their influence has had a positive or negative impact on the housing market. |
It seems to me that you're arguing about arguing. No, the YIMBYs haven't won every vote over the last decade. |
Which ones did they lose in Montgomery County? They’ve gotten the master plan they want, the general plan they want, and the subsidies they want. I can’t think of a single housing vote that Hans Riemer lost. |
No, they haven't. Was the general plan adopted? Yes. Did they want the general plan adopted? Yes. Is the general plan they adopted, the general plan they wanted? No. Thrive is not what they wanted; it's a compromise. As for Riemer, what did he actually lead on, and what did he actually accomplish? Not much. He always waited to see which way the wind was blowing, first. He's a follower, not a leader. Friedson has been far more effective on the issues Riemer supposedly cared about. |
Riemer gets the adulation of the local YIMBY crowd and I don’t remember any of them complaining about Thrive. They were all clamoring about passing it and heaping praise upon it. It’s their plan. What votes were Friedson and Riemer on different sides of? They’re basically the same politician but Friedson is definitely smarter. |
Then you weren't listening. Do you think people are going to say, "Pass this plan that doesn't do half of what we want but it's the best we can get right now, considering! Woo!"? |
When it got to council I just heard YIMBYs complain it was taking too long to pass. It’s their plan, and it’s especially Riemer’s plan. If you don’t like it stop supporting him for things so we can get someone more effective. |
I am the PP you're responding to. I don't support Riemer. |
| Riemer has been showing up to park and planning events like he’s still a council member. Pretty pathetic. |
| In a shocker, Riemer is among the finalists. The fix is in. Council will select him, Elrich will veto, Council will override. |
| What "fix"? I don't like the guy, I don't think he should be Planning Board chair, I hope the Council doesn't appoint him - but if the Council does appoint him, that's not a "fix", that's the Council exercising their legal authority. |
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As a County Councilmember, Riemer submitted controversial legislation eliminating single-family zoning in Montgomery County and allowing the construction of duplexes and triplexes by right. Look to see this reintroduced and passed if Riemer is appointed Planning Board chair.
My issues with Riemer’s single-family zoning proposal: •It was sold to the public as an affordable housing initiative. In reality, the proposal will allow developers to create market rate duplexes (estimated to sell for $1 million and above in the DC area) and triplexes (estimated to sell for ~$800,000+ in the DC area.) These price points are not affordable. •Better to implement upzoning through the traditional location-based planning process, not through one-size fits all legislation. •Environmental concerns. Many/most Montgomery County single-family neighborhoods are auto-dependent. Upping suburban densities increases the number of cars on the road, unless mass transit options are improved substantially. Upping suburban densities also destroys mature tree canopy and increases stormwater runoff. |
This wasn’t Riemer’s bill. It was Jawando’s. Riemer killed it in his committee by never scheduling a work session. It’s strange that people think Riemer is an affordable housing advocate because he did stuff like this and because the county had much slower housing growth than the rest of the area while he was in office. If you’re a NIMBY, Riemer is actually your guy. Sure, he’ll make you mad by saying dumb things and advocating for some terribly wasteful subsidies for EYA and the other developers that have been pushing for him to get this job, but there won’t be much growth. Riemer has no clue how business works and no relevant educational credentials but developers love him because he’s so dumb and gullible. |
I would 100% support expanding zoning in Montgomery County to allow duplexes and triplexes by right. Unfortunately, one major problem with Riemer is that he talked a lot but accomplished very little. |
DP but I definitely heard the plan being criticised as not doing enough for housing by some people and doing too much by other people. But also this stuff takes time— even once a project is announced it takes years to come to market and what we are talking about is trying to encourage more projects to be announced. And of course broader trends like interest rates play at least as important as role. I don’t see how anyone can make a judgment whether recent policies have been effective or not. |