Anonymous wrote:Here's what I don't understand about any of the MoCo Exec threads:

If Marc Elrich is a NIMBY who wants to protect segregation/exclusionary white homeowners,

Then why is the bulk of his support from Silver Spring and high-density urban downcounty areas, whereas (at least in the primary) he did worst in Potomac, which has ... exclusionary white homeowners?

Anonymous wrote:Ultra-high-density is the wave of the future for Bethesda. Single family homes with lawns and driveways are dinosaurs, and will be the slums of the future. Millennials don't want to mess with lucky lawn chemicals or cut grass, or have a big inefficient house. Small efficiency condos on top of mixed retail is the future. Embrace change or get left on the garbage dump of history.

Anonymous wrote:Not at all against development just don't think we can do anything without thought or planning for its impact. Floreen's awful pro-development policies will get us more crowded schools and roads without the financial means to address it. That's why I'm voting for Elrich.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Bethesda and feel that way too many big buildings are going up in the Bethesda row / Wisconsin Ave area. I'm worried about traffic congestion, school capacity, etc.

Let's just say it's my pref that development takes a big pause for a while. I understand many may disagree with me! That said, which of the three listed above best aligns with my preferences. Guess Elrich, but not really sure.

Vote for Elrich.

The vast majority of this forum is going to tell you to vote for Floreen because its target audience is also her target audience: Upper-middle class married white women over 40. (This will probably be followed with anonymous posters claiming not to be of that demographic, but I have much reason to believe that this IS the demographic that posts here.) This is a completely neutral hypothesis. Gauging by all the posts about the local elections here, the political slant on this site runs surface-level socially liberal, mainstream liberal on federal issues, and fiscally conservative.

To be completely honest, none of the candidates are going to put development to a halt. This is simply impossible. We live in a bustling and expanding metro area, for better or for worse.
Elrich is very explicit, but wonky, on the nuts-and-bolts of things, which in this election cycle is more of a curse on him than a blessing because people tend not to follow and to simplify things into him being anti-housing. He isn't. He wants housing to keep pace with infrastructure. The valid counter-argument will be that the costs and restrictions on developers will be instead pushed onto new residents, in the form of higher costs and/or lower supply, but I see this as the problem with developers, not Elrich. Ultimately, development will still happen, but hopefully at a more sustainable pace (and likely along with a lot of whining over lower profits for Nulsen and Lee).

[i]Floreen will let developers build basically anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

Ficker, honestly, is a complete wildcard. To call him a far-right Trumper is incorrect. He's said quite lefty things like pushing to a $15 minimum wage faster than everyone else, and then he's said the solution to homelessness is Amazon. He makes things up as he goes along. On development, he'll listen to the last person in the room, and then return to his talking point on property taxes. To his credit, he might not be ideological. Who knows if he means well; he is not qualified.

Ficker would be better than Floreen. As this isn't the White House, four years of complete buffoonery and incompetence might be the right level of embarrassment we need to get our priorities and our electoral system in place while we let the council be the adults in the room and handle what they can. His damage could be fixed or controlled. Floreen's could not.

Elrich would be the top choice for your values, or for someone who values environmental issues, labor, racial equity, limiting the influence of corporate money in politics, developing small and local businesses, and alleviating income inequality He is not the top choice for someone who prioritizes rapid urbanization, subsidizing large corporations, enabling corporate influence in elections, encouraging highways and roads, emulating Tysons Corner, etc. Again, please read this assessment with a neutral tone. There are some people who do prioritize the latter and that's fine. Floreen is the choice for them. We'll see by November 6th which choice wins.

Yup. And those rich middle class white Women can go relax at their country club while their kids are snugly nestled in their private schools but the rest of us need good uncrowded public schools, parks, community centers, roads that aren’t clogged and to see the sun.

I hate Floreen for this.

You hate her? So weird.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Bethesda and feel that way too many big buildings are going up in the Bethesda row / Wisconsin Ave area. I'm worried about traffic congestion, school capacity, etc.

Let's just say it's my pref that development takes a big pause for a while. I understand many may disagree with me! That said, which of the three listed above best aligns with my preferences. Guess Elrich, but not really sure.

I"m voting for Floreen. I live in DTSS and I also hate the new big buildings going up. I'm afraid any cute stores will evidentially be gone and we will end up looking like Bethesda...Boo

Floreen is the better of the three choices,

Anonymous wrote:Floreen because even though she is tied to developers, if she wins this race it will be because of areas like Bethesda that finally turned over the Silver Spring monopoly on county politics, power and policies. If enough people in Bethesda believe as you do she'll have to align with the base that put her in office. She'll direct developers toward other areas to retain power.

I agree with other posters that Ehrlich only has contempt for Bethesda and will only work toward improving TP and Silver Spring. He wont stop the over development of Bethesda because its his piggy bank for the projects he wants to do in the east. If Ehrlich wins, Bethesda is screwed.

Agree with others that Ficker is too unstable and no idea what he would do.

Anonymous wrote:I said Ficker because Floreen wants MORE development. I don’t live in Bethesda, but the overdevelopment is affecting all parts of the county, and MCPS.

And Elrich is waaaay too far left for me.

Anonymous wrote:Theoretically Elrich. However, Elrich has no love for Bethesda. His priorities are Silver Spring and Takoma Park. He pretty much hates Bethesda and Potomac. Considers them to be the "takers" of the County.

So, . . . I guess I'm saying it doesn't really matter who you vote for. You're screwed either way.

(Don't vote for Ficker. He's an absolute nut - bigger ego and attention seeker than Trump).

Anonymous wrote:

Elrich is a social justice warrior with a dislike of "big business." He is not anti-development, but he favors residential development (especially affordable housing) over business development. He is opposed to providing any sort of incentives for big businesses to set up shop here. His is also laser-focused on certain areas of the County (such as Silver Spring) and has a fair amount of disdain for other areas such as Potomac, Upcounty, and to the west). He is a big supporter of social welfare programs and grants. He is a huge supporter of the public unions and intends to seek their input in how to restructure and run the government.

This X100

Elrich is a social justice warrior with a dislike of "big business." He is not anti-development, but he favors residential development (especially affordable housing) over business development. He is opposed to providing any sort of incentives for big businesses to set up shop here. His is also laser-focused on certain areas of the County (such as Silver Spring) and has a fair amount of disdain for other areas such as Potomac, Upcounty, and to the west). He is a big supporter of social welfare programs and grants. He is a huge supporter of the public unions and intends to seek their input in how to restructure and run the government.

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I don't understand about any of the MoCo Exec threads:

If Marc Elrich is a NIMBY who wants to protect segregation/exclusionary white homeowners,

Then why is the bulk of his support from Silver Spring and high-density urban downcounty areas, whereas (at least in the primary) he did worst in Potomac, which has ... exclusionary white homeowners?

Anonymous wrote:Elrich. Definitely Elrich.

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I don't understand about any of the MoCo Exec threads:

If Marc Elrich is a NIMBY who wants to protect segregation/exclusionary white homeowners,

Then why is the bulk of his support from Silver Spring and high-density urban downcounty areas, whereas (at least in the primary) he did worst in Potomac, which has ... exclusionary white homeowners?