Reply to What votes can I make in Nov against the upzone-ing in MoCo??

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Honestly I don't know who to vote for/against - but I strongly disagree with the proposed changes to zoning.

Who should I vote for or against?

Thank you![/quote]

Well, you vote against term limits to try to keep Elrich for a while.

You can look up others running to see where they align on any similar issues.

You can always vote for Hogan as a protest.[/quote]

As a protest against what? Hogan is a developer.[/quote]

A protest vote.  You can vote for Hogan as a message to Maryland Democrats, including local ones in the county pushing this upzoning nonsense, that just because we are a blue state doesn’t mean that we aren’t without power to make disagreement known within the party.  Our own little “uncommitted” campaign, in a way.[/quote]

You could.  But I agree with others that [b]people should have some perspective here.[/b]  That race is close, and Hogan could win as a result of what you think is just a throwaway protest messaging vote.  That race has no impact on local zoning and it could give republicans control of a chamber, potentially under a Republican president.  Is that really worth it just to send a message?

If you really want to send a message, vote against the term limits (even though that too would have limited impact, at least it wouldn't have a negative impact on the whole country.)[/quote]

The County Council could take that medicine, realize that their push for density, with all of the concerns about process and effect unmet, might cause some to make such a rash protest vote in a tight race, and definitively and publicly dial things back by committing themselves to a plebecite on the zoning matter at the following election, to reducing the scope/extent of any measure, to limiting the impact of the measure in any one neighborhood and to tying any zoning allowances to true ensurance of adequate public facilities.

Harris' trumpeting of housing issues also might be conflated with initiatives such as MoCo's AHS, and that, too, could send some Hogan's way (if not Trump's).  Democrats are playing with fire, here.[/quote]

Oh my goodness. No, if the PP votes for Hogan in a preposterous vote that is intended as a protest against zoning changes, it's not the County Council's fault for not holding a referendum on zoning changes. [/quote]

Their fault, as politicians, would be in being so foused on delivering an unpopular and divisive policy change that they would risk the votes of the many who would not differentiate well enough, entering the protest vote described in great enough numbers to endanger their statewide candidate in a tight race amid the backdrop of party control of the Senate.  Solid blue Maryland (as a whole -- lots of Red outside of the population centers) should be a slam dunk for Democrats, but they won't even learn from Hogan's having been twice elected as governor.

Again, they play with fire, whether they consider it their "fault" or not.[/quote]

You actually have no idea whether it's unpopular among the voters in general. All you know is that many affluent homeowners don't support it.[/quote]

Um...[b]how many of the AHS listening sessions did you see? [/b] Pretty much all of them evidenced concerns from a significant portion of the population.  Some overwhelmingly so.  Not one met with overwhelming support for the AHS as it has been presented.  Each evidenced concerns from non-affluent and/or renting members of the public.

You actually have no idea whether it [i]is[/i] popular.  The current Council did not run on anything like the change to allow 19-unit stacked flats within 500 feet of a transit corridor and the quadplexes within a mile of rail that the AHS suggests.  Nor were those aspects (and many others) vetted with the community prior to their being voted on by the Planning Board.

"Many affluent homeowners" is a strawman supporting a red herring.[/quote]

How many of the 1.1 million residents of Montgomery County attended the listening sessions?

"Affluent homeowners" is just a factual description. There's no need to feel defensive about it. It's not an insult.[/quote]

(mentally estimates from visual record, auditorium capacity and Zoom attendance)...Something in the range of 1800 participants across the 5 live and 1 Zoom session?  If you don't like that sample size or contest the stochastic validity based on self-selection, your answer would be a plebecite, where the residents of the County [i]could[/i] evidence collective opinion on the matter.

How many of those from Planning's slide touting their engagement with the community over the past several years were afforded the courtesy of understanding the breadth and depth of that which was put into the AHS as it was finalized?  The 19-unit/acre stacked flats within 500 feet of a transit corridor?   Quadplexes within that or within a mile of rail, including Metro, MARC and any Purple Line station?  Reductions in those areas of 75% of the parking minimums builders would be required to provide when any street parking is allowed?  The allowance for combination and re-divison of properties in conjunction with building of these multi-unit structures to promote maximum density?

Zero.

Your "affluent homeowners" is a half-fact, describing some, but not all, of those who spoke against, or expressed support for those speaking against, the AHS as presented.  Sure, the opposition at the near-seating-capacity-plus-standing session at the BCC auditorium was overwhelming, and you're welcome to point out the likely demographic, there.  But if lending any credence at all to the listening sessions, you'd think that one or other would have shown at least a bare majority of support, where none, not even Wheaton or White Oak, showed a preponderance in favor. [/quote]

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