Anonymous wrote:

One can work for the County government and also support economic development.

If you don't like that source, here's a news article: https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/12/montgomery-county-budget-story/

You can pretend it isn't happening but it will still happen regardless.

Sorry if I triggered anyone by spelling Riemer's name wrong. I didn't realize he didn't support the Ag Reserve (which I fully support) so will need to look into that. But at least in this random news article I googled, he sounds rational.

“We need to do more in the county to attract and grow businesses,” Riemer said. “Anything we can do to spur growth in the commercial sector, to make companies feel more supported, is going to help. That will pay off in higher wage job growth and salaries and that will flow in through more property and income taxes.”

Anonymous wrote:

Out of curiosity, where do you live?

I have a hard time understanding why anyone would support the ag reserve unless they already live out there and want to keep others out.

I was the one saying before that I didn't like Riemer, but couldn't remember why. But the more I hear about him, the more I seem to like him. The Ag Reserve makes no sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I work in county government. Backstory:

1. MoCo decline is real and has been going on for a while. Elrich not the cause. You can go to empowermontgomery.com and read a whole report about it if you want.

2. To stop that it would be helpful to make MoCo an easier place to do business.

3. Elrich and his policies and his personality aren't helping with that.

4. County is already unattractive to businesses, making it also unattractive to rich residents is going to cause tax revenues to collapse. Which would have a lot of bad knock-on effects.

5. If you want housing affordability, it would be much more logical to just support more affordable housing development rather than purposefully try to make the place you want to live so unappealing that nobody else wants to live there. That would seem to me to be a bad plan for you and everyone else.

Aside, parts of county government are dsyfunctional and it would be fine with me if someone came in and cleaned house (as long as they got rid of the right people). I have little hope that will actually happen (or if it does they will actually get rid of the right people rather than just do some first-in first-out thing which is probably the opposite of what's needed, honestly).

Empower Montgomery is owned and run by Washington Property Company, which is a large Montgomery County developer. Please stop touting them as impartial. They hide behind their 501(c)(4) status to fool you that they're some kind of citizen advocacy group. Stop pretending you work in county government.

One can work for the County government and also support economic development.

If you don't like that source, here's a news article: https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/12/montgomery-county-budget-story/

You can pretend it isn't happening but it will still happen regardless.

Sorry if I triggered anyone by spelling Riemer's name wrong. I didn't realize he didn't support the Ag Reserve (which I fully support) so will need to look into that. But at least in this random news article I googled, he sounds rational.

“We need to do more in the county to attract and grow businesses,” Riemer said. “Anything we can do to spur growth in the commercial sector, to make companies feel more supported, is going to help. That will pay off in higher wage job growth and salaries and that will flow in through more property and income taxes.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I work in county government. Backstory:

1. MoCo decline is real and has been going on for a while. Elrich not the cause. You can go to empowermontgomery.com and read a whole report about it if you want.

2. To stop that it would be helpful to make MoCo an easier place to do business.

3. Elrich and his policies and his personality aren't helping with that.

4. County is already unattractive to businesses, making it also unattractive to rich residents is going to cause tax revenues to collapse. Which would have a lot of bad knock-on effects.

5. If you want housing affordability, it would be much more logical to just support more affordable housing development rather than purposefully try to make the place you want to live so unappealing that nobody else wants to live there. That would seem to me to be a bad plan for you and everyone else.

Aside, parts of county government are dsyfunctional and it would be fine with me if someone came in and cleaned house (as long as they got rid of the right people). I have little hope that will actually happen (or if it does they will actually get rid of the right people rather than just do some first-in first-out thing which is probably the opposite of what's needed, honestly).

Empower Montgomery is owned and run by Washington Property Company, which is a large Montgomery County developer. Please stop touting them as impartial. They hide behind their 501(c)(4) status to fool you that they're some kind of citizen advocacy group. Stop pretending you work in county government.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I work in county government. Backstory:

1. MoCo decline is real and has been going on for a while. Elrich not the cause. You can go to empowermontgomery.com and read a whole report about it if you want.

2. To stop that it would be helpful to make MoCo an easier place to do business.

3. Elrich and his policies and his personality aren't helping with that.

4. County is already unattractive to businesses, making it also unattractive to rich residents is going to cause tax revenues to collapse. Which would have a lot of bad knock-on effects.

5. If you want housing affordability, it would be much more logical to just support more affordable housing development rather than purposefully try to make the place you want to live so unappealing that nobody else wants to live there. That would seem to me to be a bad plan for you and everyone else.

Aside, parts of county government are dsyfunctional and it would be fine with me if someone came in and cleaned house (as long as they got rid of the right people). I have little hope that will actually happen (or if it does they will actually get rid of the right people rather than just do some first-in first-out thing which is probably the opposite of what's needed, honestly).

Empower Montgomery is owned and run by Washington Property Company, which is a large Montgomery County developer. Please stop touting them as impartial. They hide behind their 501(c)(4) status to fool you that they're some kind of citizen advocacy group. Stop pretending you work in county government.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What you want then, is a change in zoning code to allow construction of duplexes in more areas. You support Hans Reimer, not Elrich. (Reimer, btw, from public statements is well aware of the budget issues mentioned earlier).

R I E M E R

Riemer is better on housing and transportation than Elrich, but worse on other issues, like water quality protection and protecting the Agricultural Reserve. If he runs against Elrich for county executive in 2022, it will be tough for me, because i don't want to vote for either of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What you want then, is a change in zoning code to allow construction of duplexes in more areas. You support Hans Reimer, not Elrich. (Reimer, btw, from public statements is well aware of the budget issues mentioned earlier).

R I E M E R

Riemer is better on housing and transportation than Elrich, but worse on other issues, like water quality protection and protecting the Agricultural Reserve. If he runs against Elrich for county executive in 2022, it will be tough for me, because i don't want to vote for either of them.

Anonymous wrote:
I work in county government. Backstory:

1. MoCo decline is real and has been going on for a while. Elrich not the cause. You can go to empowermontgomery.com and read a whole report about it if you want.

2. To stop that it would be helpful to make MoCo an easier place to do business.

3. Elrich and his policies and his personality aren't helping with that.

4. County is already unattractive to businesses, making it also unattractive to rich residents is going to cause tax revenues to collapse. Which would have a lot of bad knock-on effects.

5. If you want housing affordability, it would be much more logical to just support more affordable housing development rather than purposefully try to make the place you want to live so unappealing that nobody else wants to live there. That would seem to me to be a bad plan for you and everyone else.

Aside, parts of county government are dsyfunctional and it would be fine with me if someone came in and cleaned house (as long as they got rid of the right people). I have little hope that will actually happen (or if it does they will actually get rid of the right people rather than just do some first-in first-out thing which is probably the opposite of what's needed, honestly).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Elrich is terrible on housing. His position against accessory dwelling units was unforgiveable hypocrisy. Also, housing in Montgomery County is unaffordable because we are not building anywhere near enough housing and because under current zoning, it's illegal in most parts of the county to build the kind of housing that would make housing more affordable. And he supports those policies too.

On the other hand, the stuff you read on DCUM about Elrich is mostly pure bunkum. Half of the posters can't even spell his name right.

So: is Elrich going to make Montgomery County a hellhole, thereby lowering housing costs, thereby making housing more affordable? No.

I'm just going to note two things:

1. there aren't any more yuppies; they were in their 20s & 30s in the 80s, which means (40 years later) that they're now pushing 70.
2. if you moved in with your partner, your combined household income of $140,000 would be 30% higher than the median household income in the county (though student loan debt is an issue, of course).

(

and yet, some are convinced that people are moving out of moco in droves.

I have a question for OP.

Let's say at some point, you are able to buy a house in a nice area in MoCo, and eventually, your property value starts to go up to the point where now younger people can't afford to buy a home. Would you want your property value to go down so that these young folks can afford a home in your neighborhood?

I find housing stability more important. I want to own a home so that I don’t have to worry about my landlord taking my place off the market or raising the rent. I just want a forever home, the equity issue is secondary to me. So of course I’d be more concerned win other people having homes than me making money off owning mine.

You are thinking this way because you are not a long time home owner. Once you become one, I guarantee you that you will think differently.

My neighbors are pretty old and very liberal, yet they still care about their home values because they are about to sell soon. They want the neighborhood to be zoned for the "better" neighboring school district (ie, hardly any poor people) so their home values go up.

This will be you in 20 years.

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP, there are 100,000s of people who would like to Live closer in to the beltway or in the beltway so I don’t see that pressure every alleviating at this point of time and urban/employer/population development. That ship has sailed.

That said, Mont County is not in a healthy position relative to DC, Howard County, Frederick County, Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun County. So you are unlikely to see appreciation unless you are in the low end of the starter home segment. And even then prices may stagnate or fall.

There are no solid economic drivers left in MoCo, and many options to live in a better managed and budgeted place.