Anonymous wrote:Bummer about Elrich, but Floreen really wasn't much better. I am hopeful that the new council will help keep Elrich in check. Plus, Elrich is now accountable for everything in MoCo, from the schools, to traffic, to the economy. I suspect he'll have to compromise and be more of a moderate than a extreme progressive.

That has to be the hope. If he really governs from the left, it might invite a primary challenger. And if it was him head to head against Blair this year, Blair may very well have won. But the incumbency is powerful and he will likely feel beholden to (and naturally aligns with) the left wing that supported him, so I am not that optimistic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP-are you in shock that Ficker didn’t win? People don’t vote for men who assault women (President POTUS being an exception) and have been disbarred 5 times.

I voted for floreen you idiot

Floreen who is in developers' pockets who couldn't be bothered to run in the primary like a normal Democrat because she knew she'd lose? Apparently I'm not the idiot, because my candidate won by a lot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

And you know this because??

Because that's basically what he campaigned on? He didn't say that he wants to create jobs in Northern VA obviously but that will be the results of policies making it harder to build.

Build more houses...He doesn't want to continue building and building and building more houses in places especially far from transit because we don't have the infrastructure yet to support it. And I live in Clarksburg and agree with him! Look at 270. He actually has a better solution to transit vs solely widening 270 which would cost uber millions of dollars. Call him what you want but he is not anti-jobs.

I'm sick of arguing about this. Your guy won. Let's see how that "infrastructure first" economic plan works out.

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP-are you in shock that Ficker didn’t win? People don’t vote for men who assault women (President POTUS being an exception) and have been disbarred 5 times.

I voted for floreen you idiot

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

And you know this because??

Because that's basically what he campaigned on? He didn't say that he wants to create jobs in Northern VA obviously but that will be the results of policies making it harder to build.

Build more houses...He doesn't want to continue building and building and building more houses in places especially far from transit because we don't have the infrastructure yet to support it. And I live in Clarksburg and agree with him! Look at 270. He actually has a better solution to transit vs solely widening 270 which would cost uber millions of dollars. Call him what you want but he is not anti-jobs.

I agree with that. Listen, if the bus rapid transit system works, that's awesome. I'm just skeptical it'll work, but I still voted for Elrich because I definitely think we need to make developers pay more for the infrastructure needs their developments produce.

Frankly, what we really need is to extend the purple line so that it connects with the silver line and also build a line that starts at the Glenmont station, goes out to the Shady Grove station, stretches across upcounty MoCo, and then connects to Dulles, where they're building a silver line station anyway. It would be like a second beltway, but in the form of public transit. The problem is the ag reserve, but it would solve perhaps the area's biggest transit problem: the fact that, outside the District, there is basically ONE way to get between MD and VA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

And you know this because??

Because that's basically what he campaigned on? He didn't say that he wants to create jobs in Northern VA obviously but that will be the results of policies making it harder to build.

Build more houses...He doesn't want to continue building and building and building more houses in places especially far from transit because we don't have the infrastructure yet to support it. And I live in Clarksburg and agree with him! Look at 270. He actually has a better solution to transit vs solely widening 270 which would cost uber millions of dollars. Call him what you want but he is not anti-jobs.

Bummer about Elrich, but Floreen really wasn't much better. I am hopeful that the new council will help keep Elrich in check. Plus, Elrich is now accountable for everything in MoCo, from the schools, to traffic, to the economy. I suspect he'll have to compromise and be more of a moderate than a extreme progressive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

I haven’t noticed an unemployment crisis in MoCo. And making the 270 even wider is ridiculous.

Then what's your solution to the traffic hell on the bridge and 270? It takes an hour to go 20 miles. This isn't a sustainable or acceptable situation.

My personal solution is to cycle to work. I commend it to you.

You want to tell me how I'm going to ride a bike from North Potomac to McLean, VA?

And before you criticize why I have that commute -- my husband works in MoCo and this was how we optimized both commutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

I haven’t noticed an unemployment crisis in MoCo. And making the 270 even wider is ridiculous.

Then what's your solution to the traffic hell on the bridge and 270? It takes an hour to go 20 miles. This isn't a sustainable or acceptable situation.

My personal solution is to cycle to work. I commend it to you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

I haven’t noticed an unemployment crisis in MoCo. And making the 270 even wider is ridiculous.

That's because people are working in Northern Virginia. Let me guess, you've never seen the beltway going towards Northern VA in the morning and back to MD in the evening? Let me fill you in, it's horrible. The reverse commute is going VA to MD in the morning and MD to VA in the afternoon. Smooth sailing. The jobs are going to Northern Virginia.

That really isn't the full story. MD has some large employers--Marriott, AstraZeneca/Medimmune, Hyatt, Medstar, etc.--but Northern Virginia has the vast majority of the federal government infrastructure and defense contractors, outside of NSA (which obviously doesn't impact MoCo). That's the real difference maker, and it's a legacy from decades ago. Combine that with the fact that MoCo development has been very different than Northern VA (ag reserve taking up half the county vs unfettered concrete jungle) and you get what we have now. If you want MoCo to really compete with Northern Virginia on the jobs front, get rid of the ag reserve and give incentives for the federal government to build there.

Also NoVa has Dulles, and there is a desire to locate large business HQs close to an international airport. (Part of the goal of the ICC was to make BWI "closer" to MoCo but I just don't think it has the same draw as being close to IAD.) And, as to the traffic on the beltway, while there is a lot of traffic going west on the outer loop in the morning, a fair amount of that traffic is getting off at 270 to go to jobs up-county, and a fair amount of that traffic is people coming over from P.G. for jobs in MoCo. It's not all MoCo jobs going to NoVa. In fact, the only people I know in MoCo that work in NoVa are people that have spouses that work in MoCo.
Widening the roads is stupid given that people are moving more and more to telecommuting, remote workplaces, and mass transit. The younger generation really doesn't want to spend their life sitting in a car and ruing the environment. Good for them.

This is our situation exactly. I work for a federal government agency in Northern VA and my husband works in Columbia. Living in MoCo makes the most sense for us because it optimizes both commutes. And my agency has been in Northern VA since the early 1960s, so it's really legacy more than anything having to do with contemporary local politics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means more jobs going to Fairfax over Maryland. It means no road expansion. It means buses from Frederick that no one will take. It means more people driving on the beltway into Virginia to work at the jobs that won't come to MoCo.

I haven’t noticed an unemployment crisis in MoCo. And making the 270 even wider is ridiculous.

That's because people are working in Northern Virginia. Let me guess, you've never seen the beltway going towards Northern VA in the morning and back to MD in the evening? Let me fill you in, it's horrible. The reverse commute is going VA to MD in the morning and MD to VA in the afternoon. Smooth sailing. The jobs are going to Northern Virginia.

That really isn't the full story. MD has some large employers--Marriott, AstraZeneca/Medimmune, Hyatt, Medstar, etc.--but Northern Virginia has the vast majority of the federal government infrastructure and defense contractors, outside of NSA (which obviously doesn't impact MoCo). That's the real difference maker, and it's a legacy from decades ago. Combine that with the fact that MoCo development has been very different than Northern VA (ag reserve taking up half the county vs unfettered concrete jungle) and you get what we have now. If you want MoCo to really compete with Northern Virginia on the jobs front, get rid of the ag reserve and give incentives for the federal government to build there.

Also NoVa has Dulles, and there is a desire to locate large business HQs close to an international airport. (Part of the goal of the ICC was to make BWI "closer" to MoCo but I just don't think it has the same draw as being close to IAD.) And, as to the traffic on the beltway, while there is a lot of traffic going west on the outer loop in the morning, a fair amount of that traffic is getting off at 270 to go to jobs up-county, and a fair amount of that traffic is people coming over from P.G. for jobs in MoCo. It's not all MoCo jobs going to NoVa. In fact, the only people I know in MoCo that work in NoVa are people that have spouses that work in MoCo.
Widening the roads is stupid given that people are moving more and more to telecommuting, remote workplaces, and mass transit. The younger generation really doesn't want to spend their life sitting in a car and ruing the environment. Good for them.