But then they are going to break for lunch at 12:30 for thirty minutes, hold four public hearings starting at 1:00, and then pick up Westbard again at 1:45 (assuming four public hearings will have ended by then). This is not only designed to discourage public attendance, but is highly disrespectful of their constituents' time. Why engage the public whose neighborhood you are determining the future of when you can talk about important issues like teens using tanning beds, right? And they're going to raise our taxes for good government like that? Is this the Jerry Springer Show or the County Council?
Many governmental bodies often schedule items with wide constituent interest like this with those constituents in mind. That means not wasting the time of those who are already taking time to either watch this on cable TV, or to attend the session in person. When a planning board or commission has a bunch of housekeeping items and a public hearing with twenty people waiting to speak, they usually put the hearing first on the agenda, so folks can get the heck out of there as soon as possible.
Put it in the morning. Put it in the afternoon. But don't thumb your nose at the public you're supposed to be serving by making people sit around and twiddle their thumbs for 105 minutes. Ridiculous, and vintage skullduggery by this developer-beholden Council.
Time for term limits, folks.
That is pretty funny. Pretty dumb but funny.
ReplyDeleteMy wife just had a good point. Her first reaction was the different timing allows someone to go to one or the other of their schedule doesn't allow both.
DeleteOK, why do you think that teen use of tanning beds isn't an issue that needs to be discussed? Overexposure to UV radiation causes skin cancer and premature aging.
ReplyDelete5:53: Do we have this thing called "parents" in the County anymore? If so, we probably don't need our councilmembers to be surrogates.
Delete"making people sit around and twiddle their thumbs for 105 minutes."
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they could take a nice lunch break. Somehow that notion escaped you? Most people eat lunch sometime between 12 and 2 PM.
5:57: Lunch - understandable. 4 public hearings before returning to the topic while everyone sits there - not so much.
Delete"I'm putting the County Council on the news."
@ 7:05 AM - Why would people just "sit there" for 115 minutes? That seems kind of dumb.
ReplyDelete@ 7:07 AM - Parents aren't always able to monitor their children's activities, and prevent them from engaging in dangerous ones. That's why we have a drinking age, among other things.
Maybe people sit there to learn more about what's going on other than what affects them directly? Because if they only cared about what was in their backyards... Isn't there a term for that?
ReplyDelete7:36: I believe the term is, "voter".
DeleteDefinition of NIMBY! These Westbard folks only care about what's going on in their backyard.
Delete9:49: The radical idea of urbanizing the suburbs is a Countywide and nationwide issue. I've testified on behalf of existing residents fighting this in Wheaton, Glenmont, Aspen Hill, Rockville, Long Branch, Damascus, etc. Hardly a NIMBY.
DeleteIf the Public Hearing and the Work Session had been scheduled back-to-back, Dyer would still find a pretext to complain.
ReplyDeleteNincompoop, Inconsiderate, Malcontent, Bellicose, Yackass
ReplyDeleteI believe is the term you are looking for. Generally applied to people who persist and insist in meddling in other people's communities and affairs.
@ 7:50 AM - I believe that the term you are looking for is "NIMBY".
ReplyDeleteTeens and tanning beds is not an issue. How does it effect me or you or Robert? Heard of a thing called Liberty? Leave people alone.
ReplyDelete"BIGGCUBMINT!!!! FREEDUMB!!!"
ReplyDelete@ 8:55 AM - You mean those people who rejected you, twice?
ReplyDeleteFeel the bern!!!!
Delete"These Westbard folks only care about what's going on in their backyard."
ReplyDeleteAnd they don't even own that land. Dyer whines about restrictions on tanning salons, but doesn't want to allow land owners to use their property for the best use.
Stinking communist.
10:00: Seems like you have the same trouble following the law as the County Council.
DeleteThe developers aren't allowed to do what they're proposing under the current zoning law. They must get special zoning via the Planning Board and Council.
Those two bodies then are to consider how much, if any, of that to allow. And ensure there is a community benefit in exchange for the giveaway.
Alas, the Planning Board and Council have thus far only considered themselves and developer profit.
Communist? That would be your elected officials, who only take "economic development" trips to Communist and socialist countries. No wonder we're in yet another budget crisis!
Explain please how the council has only considered themselves and developer profit?
DeleteYou're the one saying people hate what the council is doing and won't vote for them in the next elections. Sounds like the council is doing what they think is best regardless of considering themselves.
Again:
ReplyDeleteI find the bastardization of "NIMBY" to be fascinating.
Originally it had a positive connotation. These were people who forced issues to be reviewed, all part of the idea of joining together and helping the community grow in a smart way that gave every side a say. It may have been a politician in England who coined the phrase.
The negative connotation seems to have started with developers who decided that any change to their plan was bad, and all the fault of NIMBYs. There's a push to go back to thinking NIMBYs are a help in moving plans forward.
Interesting reading.
"Originally it had a positive connotation"
ReplyDelete[citation needed]
Sounds like Westbard residents need to take off work, pack a picnic lunch and find a postage stamp piece of grass in Rockville to chill the early afternoon away. Hopefully find a parking spot in those wonderful garages everyone so desires in Westbard..lol
ReplyDeleteOnce again, the County Council has Underachieved!!!
The definition of NIMBY is a positive one. To say that you care about what happens in you community has never been a negative. To be involved and participate in protecting your community is a good and honorable thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI think the people who try to sling it as an insult are not deep thinkers. They just hear it and like it and fling it at folks who are protecting their investment. And it would seem many don't actually live in the community, but are close followers of a certain urbanist planning philosophy fad that is trying to wipe out suburbs.
No citation needed here. It is logical tht developers would try to vilify these community activists for standing in their way.
Caring about what happens in your community is a great thing. Only caring about how it affects you is not a great thing.
Delete"To be involved and participate in protecting your community is a good and honorable thing to do."
ReplyDeleteTranslation: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
1:24: Sounds like you need a new translator.
DeleteDyer has the funnies
Delete"The radical idea of urbanizing the suburbs"
ReplyDeleteNothing "radical" about it. It's been happening as long as we've had cities. The old gets replaced with the new. Time marches on.
Isn't that just the nature of things as populations grow? City centers grow outwards. What once was suburb now becomes urban. What once was country now becomes suburb. And so on as growth radiates outwards from city centers.
Delete5:45: So you would also tell the Trump protestors to stand down, because "time marches on", I assume.
DeleteProperty tax increases of 8.5%, high rise buildings, low-income housing, crowded schools, , endless traffic jams, and no clear community benefits whatsoever..
ReplyDeleteYour community leaders are failing you.. Time for a change, please consider a conservative leader in the next election. Do you really think things are going to improve? We have no leadership, they are complete failures only interested in their re-election, however, it is not going to happen unless they listen to Us their constituents.
Go ahead, vote with your developer friends interests, your days are numbered and we will make sure of that!
"The Great Westbard Flimflam 2016"
"Madison" - When you say we, do you mean you and "Jefferson"? I guess we will hear from "Monroe", next?
ReplyDelete"Please consider a conservative leader in the next election"
ReplyDeleteLike Trump or Cruz, or the Republican governors who have destroyed Kansas, Louisiana and Flint, MI?
7:14: Or maybe a Democratic leader from Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore or another murder and unemployment capital of the country of your choice?
DeleteThere goes Dyer with the racial dog-whistles again.
ReplyDeleteAlthough his comment about "unemployment" is funny.
11:23: How is failed leadership a "racial dog whistle"? Many of those leaders were white.
DeleteIt's nice they provided two sessions at different times so those of us who can't make one or the other can still attend at least one session. Good thinking by the council.
ReplyDelete4:18: Wrong! They aren't two separate sessions - if you miss one, you miss it. Dumb, but Machiavellian thinking by the Council.
DeleteBut if I can make one it's better than none.
Delete"Wrong!"?? Wow. No one else can have an opinion? I also agree it's helpful since I can only make the morning ans could stay that long. Two sessions is helpful for me.
DeleteThanks, Robert, for keeping us informed of all the insidious things that the PHED Committee is doing.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the Equity One PR folks who have swarmed this page with snide comments hope that this will dissuade the community from opposing the Westbard deal. But it just makes me more angry.
Robert, keep the information coming....
Who makes the schedule for the council?
ReplyDelete"Wrong! They aren't two separate sessions!:
ReplyDeleteLOL, how can two separate sessions not be two separate sessions? How does missing one equal missing both? Dyer is insane.
4:58/5:35: It is one worksession with a break in-between. If you only attend one, you'll have no clue what happened at the other. Think about it. It's not exactly rocket science to figure it out. Skipping one part is exactly what they want you do to do. That's why they're dragging it out all day.
ReplyDeleteWould you complain if the work session was on multiple days? You'd have to come back.
ReplyDelete@ 7:22 AM - Dyer would complain if the public hearing and the work session were scheduled back-to-back, that it was unreasonably long.
ReplyDeleteThe trolls on this site are tiresome and unthinking. There are values other than purely monetary ones in any civilization--that's why we don't auction off Medals of Honor or Congressional offices, at least not formally--and the supposedly free market, which is bent as a bedspring by any number of practical and conceptual failings, has given us a global financial recession. As the principal distinguishing characteristic of Trump supporters is an authoritarian, proto-fascist temperament, we should expect the same from people who think personal insults constitute a reasoned argument over the merits and demerits of any proposal. The folks who call Dyer a communist should look in the mirror; their efforts to suppress and distract public dialogue are just what authoritarian governments use to preserve their grip.
ReplyDeleteHaha what was that all about?
DeleteI'm pretty sure that Dyer is a Trump supporter. At the very least, he emulates his style.
ReplyDeleteAnd Dyer's supporters these days seem more and more incoherent.