Would be third County economic sector
totally wiped out this decade after
food trucks, nightlife
The Montgomery County Council is poised to set a world record this fall - and it's not one to be proud of. Known for a record of economic failure, high taxes, jammed roads, failing schools and banning stuff, the Council is turning to that last font once again with a new vape shop bill and zoning text amendment package. To call it heavy-handed would be an understatement - it would literally require almost every single vape shop in Montgomery County "to close within 24 months." In doing so, the Council would destroy an entire sector of the County's economy - vaping and smoke shops - for the third time in a single decade, following their destruction of the food truck and nightlife sectors over the last eight years.
As usual, the Council is not on firm legal or logical ground. No resident should feel comfortable with the County in the hands of elected officials who would destroy a whole sector of the economy without even having a knowledge of the topic and industry they are "cracking down" on. If one did have a grasp of the basic facts, he would not be introducing a bill based entirely on hyperbole and panic generated by misleading media reports.
Vaping hysteria is suddenly and mysteriously sweeping the nation. If you believe many media reports, Juul users are keeling over by the dozens. Actually, that's fake news. The majority of "vaping deaths" appear to have resulted from people trying to use unauthorized THC vaping cartridges. THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.
Not a single person in Montgomery County or Maryland has died from immediate use of legal, nicotine vaping products. The Council laughably cites three students being hospitalized after "vaping on school grounds." Many, many more students have been hospitalized after using various other drugs on school grounds than that. It is currently illegal for minors to purchase e-cigarettes and vaping products. Why wouldn't the Council crack down on illegal sales, if the real concern was use by minors?
Predictably, no local media outlet is pressing the Council on its latest Draconian solution in search of a problem. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the lawsuits that are sure to follow passage of a bill designed to put specific enterprises out of business.
Once again, the County Council's hypocrisy and doublespeak has been exposed. They said we needed more millennials to move here. They've claimed for years that we needed to allow unlimited development of luxury apartments to attract those millennials. But the development they approve isn't within the price range of most millennials.
They claimed they would make us "hip," and launched the disastrous "Nighttime Economy Initiative" that ended up cratering the nightlife sector countywide, with eighteen nightspots closing in downtown Bethesda alone.
Finally, the Council deep-sixed what was a booming food truck industry by banning the trucks from public streets. Food trucks are a major draw for young professionals in urban areas - you know, the very people the Council said we needed to attract. What does the Council then do? Implode the food truck industry, with 96% of trucks either going out of business or fleeing back into the District, where many of them can be found at lunchtime just over the border in Friendship Heights, D.C.
It's as if the County Council wants to make sure Montgomery County's national reputation as a terrible place for young people and businesses is solidified for all time. Vaping is very popular among young adults. For better or worse, it is "hip," to use the Council's outdated dad-jeans lingo. So no housing, no nightlife, no lunchtime food trucks and no vaping for you, millennials. Enjoy your life in Northern Virginia - heck, that's where your jobs are anyway. Might as well live there, too! Wait, you already do?
And that's the real capstone of the Kill Vaping Bill. Despite record-high taxes, County revenue is down, and we are in a structural budget deficit. The Council has driven our economy into the ground over the last two decades, and has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. Ultra-rich residents have fled in droves, slashing tax revenues that were being provided by some of our wealthiest denizens, and shuttering storefronts up and down "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive" in Chevy Chase. And the County's debt, if it were a government department, would be the third-largest department in the County government.
After passing a corruption-bloated, reckless and irresponsible budget in May - and raising taxes in the process - one of the major bond rating agencies sent out an urgent alert warning investors. That means our AAA bond rating is in danger of being downgraded. And just as a recession may be around the corner.
This is the time that the Council would destroy yet another entire sector of our economy, and forgo all of that revenue from a popular consumer product? This is the time that they would, yet again, deter young adults from choosing to live in Montgomery County?
What are these folks smoking?
The state of Virginia raised the minimum age for purchasing any tobacco product, to 21 in July.
ReplyDeleteI guess you vape
ReplyDelete9:07: Nope - I've never smoked or vaped.
ReplyDelete"Montgomery County Council vape shop bill poised to set economic destruction record"
ReplyDeleteWhat portion of our County's economy do vape shops comprise?
9:29: Vape shops are an entire new sector of the economy that emerged this decade. Almost every one of them would be forced to close under this bill and ZTA.
ReplyDeleteThus, an entire sector of the economy would be wiped out.
The County budget is in the red every year - you can't afford to give up any percentage of revenue from businesses at this point. #math #facts
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteVape and smoke shops are equivalent to adult video stores. Good riddance. Dyer, though you don’t smoke, I take you don’t have teenagers. Otherwise you would understand how bad a problem this is.
ReplyDelete9:44: Wrong - vape shops are all about vaping products. Almost every vape shop but a handful are within a half mile of a school.
ReplyDeleteWhy is this so hard for you to understand, or are you just trying to fool people?
The media outlets you mentioned - and you've been asked to stop spamming for competing media outlets, a violation of comment policy - did not report the facts I've covered here.
9:45: Vape shops have nothing at all to do with adult video stores.
ReplyDeleteYou are arguing the problem is underage vaping - so why aren't you advocating enforcement, rather than government shutting down businesses.
Neither vape shops nor video stores are illegal, and neither is a matter the government should be engaged in. More teenagers drink alcohol than smoke e-cigarettes - would you favor Prohibition be brought back? It's the same thing.
By the way, in 2019, what is an "adult video store," anyway? LOL
Nothing you ever walk into anyway
Delete"Almost every one of them would be forced to close under this bill and ZTA."
ReplyDeleteI see only three vape shops which are within a half-mile of a middle school or a high school. Bethesda Vapor Company (BCC HS), Vape Ink (Richard Montgomery HS), and Victory Vaperz (Montgomery Village MS). And depending on how that half-mile distance is measured, even Bethesda Vapor Company could wind up outside it.
9:54: Incorrect. It was widely-reported that the vast majority of shops would be wiped out by the ZTA - 19 of 22, according to the Post.
ReplyDeleteYou actually trust anything the WoPo says?
DeleteIf folks can't vape, they'll smoke.
ReplyDeleteBreaking: Walmart will stop selling e-cigarettes
ReplyDeleteHans’s fault!
DeleteDyer is rant-y but he has a good point. Why don't we regulate vaping no more than tobacco? How many tens of thousand die from lung cancer each year? Vaping is the lesser evil of the two, so we shouldn't be more restrictive than with tobacco.
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart announced today they will stop selling e-cigarettes for health reasons, yet they still happily sell cigarettes. What's the logic in that?
Maybe Montgomery County needs to round up all the raping illegals and send them back to Mexico
ReplyDeleteSince when does "widely-reported" constitute factual?
ReplyDelete7:02: You're questioning your own cartel-controlled local media outlets? You may find yourself at the kids table at the next cartel dinner.
ReplyDeleteSo how come you delete links, or even references to, The Washington Post, when anyone else posts them?
ReplyDeleteBut it's interesting that 19 out of 22 - 86% - of all vape shops in our County, are next to middle schools or high schools. It is clear that vaping companies and shops are targeting our youth, in spite of the existing age restriction on sales. So the restrictions proposed in the bill are justified.
Robbie trusted The Washington Post's Bill Turque when he got the distance between the Friendship Heights Metro station (as well as the Bethesda Metro Station) and Westbard totally wrong.
ReplyDelete8:17: Huh? What evidence do you have that these young people are illegally buying their vaping supplies from these stores? And if they are, isn't it an enforcement issue? Of course there are schools located near every commercial area where these stores are located. That's the Council trying to shut them down, not the stores trying to "target youth."
ReplyDeleteAgain, do you favor Prohibition of alcohol simply because high school kids binge drink in great numbers? Did Montgomery County locate their liquor stores near Bethesda Elementary and Westland MS for that reason - they are "targeting our youth in spite of the existing age restriction on sales?"
8:23: Turque got the numbers right - you and Hans Riemer are the ones who can't do basic math and apply it to maps and routes.
Turque claimed that from Westbard to the Friendship Heights and Bethesda Metro station are "2.2 miles" and "3.3 miles", respectively. Both of those numbers are off by one-half to three-quarters of a mile.
ReplyDeleteThe dispensaries on Hampden Lane and in the Westwood shopping center are both a half mile or more from Bethesda ES and Westland MS.
9:22: Wow, you really are math-challenged AND map challenged. The Westwood Shopping Center is directly adjacent to Westland! You just made a total fool of yourself. Hampden Lane is just down the street from Bethesda ES!
ReplyDeleteAnd Turque was totally correct in his report on Westbard. You don't measure walking distance "as the crow flies." People don't fly. And even if they could, it would still be more than the half-mile max to qualify as TOD.
Bill Turque claimed that the distance between the Westwood shopping center and the Friendship Heights Metro station was "2.2 miles". That is incorrect. The distance via the existing road network is 1.5 miles. The "as the crow flies" distance is 1.0 miles.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's true that the properties of the shopping center and Westland MS are "adjacent", to get from the actual school to the Dispensary, you need to walk (or drive) at least half a mile.
Hey, Dyer - how come you can't get the "web" version of this blog to show comments in subthreads, like it does on the "mobile" version, and both versions of your other three blogs?
ReplyDeleteThe context of @ 12:45 PM's delightful comment, responding to your comment @ 7:37 AM, is lost in the unthreaded view.
From the Rockville blog:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous September 21, 2019 at 1:03 AM
"You don't get out much if you think food trucks are dead. The Rockville breweries constantly have them on rotation. You also don't get out much if you think there's less nightlife in MoCo these days. Bethesda sucks, sure, but the rest of the county is far more lively than at any other time in history. Hence why people don't need to drive to Bethesda anymore."
Robert Dyer September 21, 2019 at 11:01 AM
"There's nothing new about a few food trucks operating on private property for events or at gas stations. That's the only legal place they can park now, and has nothing to do with the larger food truck industry that requires the ability to park on public streets in busy downtown areas.
"Nightlife in Montgomery County is 'far more lively than at any other time in history?' Perhaps you are a recent arrival in the county, but expect chuckles if you try that line on someone like me who is a lifelong resident.
"Perhaps if your definition of nightlife is drinking a Bud Light at the bar of a restaurant, you might have a case. No, people aren't driving to downtown Bethesda to do that, because they can do it at Crown or even in Clarksburg or Damascus.
"But that's not a young person's definition of nightlife. Hence they are going into the District, or in some cases, to Clarendon or Alexandria.
"There used to be actual nightclubs with younger singles, packed dance floors, crowds waiting to get in out front. I'm not finding that anywhere in Montgomery County right now.
"Silver Spring has The Fillmore and Dave & Buster's, but that's not helping downtown Bethesda, Rockville, etc., and neither is a nightclub.
"Old folks having a beer at the bar, sample a local beer at a brewery - sure, you can do that in Montgomery County. But you can also do that in Fredericksburg.
"We're losing real money on alcohol sales and entertainment dollars to other jurisdictions because the Council is asleep at the switch on nightlife, when they're not actively destroying it."
Anonymous September 21, 2019 at 2:11 PM
"Why do you mention that Dave and Buster's isn't a club? Georgia Ave/Bonifant/Thayer/SS Ave. are lined with two dozen clubs and lounges for people looking for that."
Anonymous September 21, 2019 at 5:18 PM
"Since when are you a ‘young person’ LOL. Who is going to take the word of some middle aged never been married unemployed single man like he had a clue. You ‘hipster’"