Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MoCo broken up. It’s just too big.

Could Bethesda secede?

I think splitting in half makes the most sense. 1 million people is too big of a jurisdiction to govern appropriately.

Montgomery County is too big to govern for this group of elected officials. Fortunately county voters seem to be getting serious about having competent elected officials.

Let’s divide it along an east/west axis so the inner DC suburbs form one county and the exurbs/rural regions to the north form another.

No thanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MoCo broken up. It’s just too big.

Could Bethesda secede?

I think splitting in half makes the most sense. 1 million people is too big of a jurisdiction to govern appropriately.

Montgomery County is too big to govern for this group of elected officials. Fortunately county voters seem to be getting serious about having competent elected officials.

Let’s divide it along an east/west axis so the inner DC suburbs form one county and the exurbs/rural regions to the north form another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MoCo broken up. It’s just too big.

Could Bethesda secede?

I think splitting in half makes the most sense. 1 million people is too big of a jurisdiction to govern appropriately.

Montgomery County is too big to govern for this group of elected officials. Fortunately county voters seem to be getting serious about having competent elected officials.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.maryland-demographics.com/cities_by_population

This says that Chevy Chase View, as well as numerous municipalities of smaller population, are cities. But perhaps it's incorrect.

I appreciate the poster at 16:42. Anyone know the most recent municipality in Maryland to incorporate? Seems the upsides are few and the downsides greater.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie incorporated and it was pretty great for Bowie as it allowed them to create a supplemental police force to patrol for property crimes (county handles more serious crimes), snow plows, and a super parks system.
I’m not sure the benefit is there for bethesda.
And the county system is constitutional in Md, so there’s no seceding—a house dividing against itself….
I think it would take a state constitutional amendment to split the county.

Eventually Bethesda and Silver Spring will need to incorporate. If anything the upcounty areas will demand it so that they can have more effective government in unincorporated areas.

Many areas in upcounty have been incorporated for at least 100 years…

Gaithersburg
Rockville
Poolesville
Laytonsville
Washington Grove
Brookeville

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie incorporated and it was pretty great for Bowie as it allowed them to create a supplemental police force to patrol for property crimes (county handles more serious crimes), snow plows, and a super parks system.
I’m not sure the benefit is there for bethesda.
And the county system is constitutional in Md, so there’s no seceding—a house dividing against itself….
I think it would take a state constitutional amendment to split the county.

Eventually Bethesda and Silver Spring will need to incorporate. If anything the upcounty areas will demand it so that they can have more effective government in unincorporated areas.

Anonymous wrote:Bowie incorporated and it was pretty great for Bowie as it allowed them to create a supplemental police force to patrol for property crimes (county handles more serious crimes), snow plows, and a super parks system.
I’m not sure the benefit is there for bethesda.
And the county system is constitutional in Md, so there’s no seceding—a house dividing against itself….
I think it would take a state constitutional amendment to split the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MoCo broken up. It’s just too big.

Could Bethesda secede?

I think splitting in half makes the most sense. 1 million people is too big of a jurisdiction to govern appropriately.

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see MoCo broken up. It’s just too big.

Could Bethesda secede?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because then we'd have to pay more taxes.

100%. Maryland is step up to have strong counties and weak cities. There is no significant advantage to incorporating because it does not confer any power over anything of substantive importance, aside from allowing the municipality to form its own police force. So no jurisdiction over parks (unless you create your own), land use/zoning (unless the assembly grants it to you), or schools. It would, however, create another layer of government and more taxes.

In the long run, if more communities in Montgomery County incorporated, there would be political pressure to reduce county taxes (and services). But the immediate hit would be politically untenable.

It would also be someone politically untenable, because an effort to incorporate Bethesda would certainly by accused of being racist by the usual clowns.

I'm part of a small town gov't body in MoCo. We have total control over parks and trails within town limits. We have total control over land use and zoning, and have used it so that our small town isn't over ran with developers and high density housing. We have town trash/recycling, snow removal, and lighting, all of which I find to be more efficient than when I lived in an unincorporated area of MoCo. Our gov't officials are not paid, it's completely a volunteer, elected body, and it creates less corruption and more of a community feel. You will need man power and a really involved, active community, but it can absolutely be worthwhile.

Unless it’s grandfathered in or the assembly has provided your city special rights, you would not have jurisdiction over MNCPPC, including both parks and planning.

At any rate, it’s still possible and it’s worth it. Many towns/cities in MoCo have jurisdiction over both.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because then we'd have to pay more taxes.

100%. Maryland is step up to have strong counties and weak cities. There is no significant advantage to incorporating because it does not confer any power over anything of substantive importance, aside from allowing the municipality to form its own police force. So no jurisdiction over parks (unless you create your own), land use/zoning (unless the assembly grants it to you), or schools. It would, however, create another layer of government and more taxes.

In the long run, if more communities in Montgomery County incorporated, there would be political pressure to reduce county taxes (and services). But the immediate hit would be politically untenable.

It would also be someone politically untenable, because an effort to incorporate Bethesda would certainly by accused of being racist by the usual clowns.

I'm part of a small town gov't body in MoCo. We have total control over parks and trails within town limits. We have total control over land use and zoning, and have used it so that our small town isn't over ran with developers and high density housing. We have town trash/recycling, snow removal, and lighting, all of which I find to be more efficient than when I lived in an unincorporated area of MoCo. Our gov't officials are not paid, it's completely a volunteer, elected body, and it creates less corruption and more of a community feel. You will need man power and a really involved, active community, but it can absolutely be worthwhile.

Unless it’s grandfathered in or the assembly has provided your city special rights, you would not have jurisdiction over MNCPPC, including both parks and planning.

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda established an Urban Partnership which gives some control. They agreed to take over maintaining downtown Bethesda streets including sanitation and parking enforcement. They get the revenue from parking that would normally go to the county (that's why you have to pay for parking until 10pm, and why they enforce heavily). It funds the free Circulator bus and clean streets, which the county would probably not care about.