Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As expected, they're focusing on closer-in Silver Spring, following up the AHS/More Housing Now push with the University Boulevard plan. Same ignoring the objections of affected area residents, the clear majority of whom don't want what Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Kate Stewart, Natali Fani-González, Evan Glass & Co., along with their put-there-to-ram-these-things-through Planning Board Chair, Artie Harris, are shoving down the County's throat.

Gotta keep that donor-developer gravy train rolling...

What’s been most remarkable through the whole process is the ready admission that the area needs a lot of infrastructure improvements to support this and the corresponding admission that there are no plans and no money to actually make them. If we want growth we need the infrastructure to support it. Developers like to pretend that we don’t need infrastructure for growth so that no one asks them to pony up, and that’s to be expected because no one likes paying taxes. But it’s remarkable to see 9 of the 11 council members, all Democrats, go along with it. This council and the one before it have presided over a stunning disinvestment in public infrastructure because they want land speculators to make more money. They are rewarding people who are literally cashing out of this county at the expense of people who build, live, and work here.

Who says we don't need infrastructure? Of course we do. But those are shared resources whose cost should be shared, not just dumped on the younger generation.

Friedson talks about tax revenue from new apartment projects as if it’s all windfall all the time, so him for one.

If the county lacks dedicated revenue streams for infrastructure from recordation or other impact fees, then it borrows money to pay for these things. Who do you think is going to repay the bonds? It’s not the old people who are going to be dead before the debt is paid, and it’s not the wealthy land speculators who cashed out. It’s the younger generation.

The thing about these lowering or eliminating these fees or creating tax abatements is that it mostly benefits existing land owners (mostly old people). When the impact fees decrease or the taxes are forgiven for 20 years, the land becomes more valuable so the people who actually build things have to pay more for the land. The younger generation gets stuck with higher debt service costs because a majority of the council is prioritizing land speculators’ profits over infrastructure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As expected, they're focusing on closer-in Silver Spring, following up the AHS/More Housing Now push with the University Boulevard plan. Same ignoring the objections of affected area residents, the clear majority of whom don't want what Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Kate Stewart, Natali Fani-González, Evan Glass & Co., along with their put-there-to-ram-these-things-through Planning Board Chair, Artie Harris, are shoving down the County's throat.

Gotta keep that donor-developer gravy train rolling...

What’s been most remarkable through the whole process is the ready admission that the area needs a lot of infrastructure improvements to support this and the corresponding admission that there are no plans and no money to actually make them. If we want growth we need the infrastructure to support it. Developers like to pretend that we don’t need infrastructure for growth so that no one asks them to pony up, and that’s to be expected because no one likes paying taxes. But it’s remarkable to see 9 of the 11 council members, all Democrats, go along with it. This council and the one before it have presided over a stunning disinvestment in public infrastructure because they want land speculators to make more money. They are rewarding people who are literally cashing out of this county at the expense of people who build, live, and work here.

Who says we don't need infrastructure? Of course we do. But those are shared resources whose cost should be shared, not just dumped on the younger generation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As expected, they're focusing on closer-in Silver Spring, following up the AHS/More Housing Now push with the University Boulevard plan. Same ignoring the objections of affected area residents, the clear majority of whom don't want what Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Kate Stewart, Natali Fani-González, Evan Glass & Co., along with their put-there-to-ram-these-things-through Planning Board Chair, Artie Harris, are shoving down the County's throat.

Gotta keep that donor-developer gravy train rolling...

What’s been most remarkable through the whole process is the ready admission that the area needs a lot of infrastructure improvements to support this and the corresponding admission that there are no plans and no money to actually make them. If we want growth we need the infrastructure to support it. Developers like to pretend that we don’t need infrastructure for growth so that no one asks them to pony up, and that’s to be expected because no one likes paying taxes. But it’s remarkable to see 9 of the 11 council members, all Democrats, go along with it. This council and the one before it have presided over a stunning disinvestment in public infrastructure because they want land speculators to make more money. They are rewarding people who are literally cashing out of this county at the expense of people who build, live, and work here.

PEPCO's grid is overloaded and we have no school capacity in the downcounty. Hope those developers will cough up some money for this - LOL.

They all played SimCity but forgot the part where nothing gets built if the transportation and utilities are overwhelmed and the businesses moved away.