 |
| A Montgomery County police cruiser parked in front of the Highland House apartments in Friendship Heights |
Another protest was held in the District last night, and some amount of body cam footage from Metropolitan Police Department officers involved in the incident had been expected to be made public. The protest did not turn into a riot this time, and there appeared to be no looting threat on our side of the line as of early this morning.
 |
| Saks Fifth Avenue boarded up after glass was smashed by would-be looters |
The Brooklyn-based retailer sells apparel for both men and women, but the Wildwood location is expected to feature an expanded women's inventory. “The Washington, D.C. metro community has been very supportive of J.McLaughlin,” company co-founder and Creative Director Kevin McLaughlin said Wednesday. “We are thrilled to open another location in Bethesda, in Wildwood Shopping Center, and expand the J.McLaughlin family even more.”
 |
| Police responding to looting at Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase |
 |
| Two police cruisers outside of Anthropologie & Co. at Bethesda Row early this morning |
Yesterday's vote continues two disturbing trends by the Montgomery County Council: a continued shift of the tax burden from developers (who contribute to all nine councilmembers' campaigns) to workers and homeowners, and the ongoing practice by the Council of breaking labor agreements.
While property taxes on homeowners have risen each year except 2014 (in which the average homeowner got a $12 tax cut - gee, thanks!), large developers have enjoyed tax cut after tax cut on property and impact taxes over the last decade. It started with a $72 million developer tax cut in 2010. Remember how your energy taxes were hiked, and an ambulance fee levied, around the same time to make up for that developer giveaway? Yep.
Combined with the County's failure to attract high-wage jobs or a single major corporate headquarters in over 20 years, outsize spending by Council, and the flight of the rich due to record-high tax burdens, the developer pay-days have blown an atomic bomb-size hole in the County budget. The result is a structural budget deficit as far out as the forecasts go.
So we've known by the last decade that massive residential development results in a deficit, as the costs this new housing creates for services like schools, infrastructure and social spending far outstrips the revenue it generates.
We also know there's little demand for luxury apartments, as a large percentage of the new units delivered since 2010 are filled with airbnb hotel guests, college students and corporate contract residents, none of whom pay full-freight rent. In fact, the Council admitted there's no demand for high-rise housing atop Metro stations when introducing the new tax cut - and they're going to bust the budget and hike your taxes to build something nobody wants, just so they and their developer sugar daddies can still make a profit on it.
And we've learned that the affordable housing "crisis" isn't actually a crisis, because the Housing Opportunities Commission was able to move hundreds of people out of The Ambassador apartments into vacant units elsewhere and demolish the building, while the owners of affordable Halpine View said they have no takers for their vacant units in Rockville. Whoops!
The shift in revenue burden has also moved from the large, international development firms that contribute to the Councilmembers' campaigns to the mom-and-pop developers who live in the community and build or expand single-family homes. Not only did the Council hit them with new regulations and tax hikes like the recordation tax, but they've recently sought to levy an all-new "teardown tax" on these small building firms. When you know that the Council's long-term goal is to change zoning to allow urban development in existing single-family-home neighborhoods, you can understand why they're trying to clear the construction field for the big guys.
But the Council isn't done spreading the unfairness around!
Now it wants to take hazard pay away from first responders and frontline employees that is in already-negotiated labor agreements. While the Council hides at home on Zoom meetings, these police officers and firefighters are responding to calls and speaking with often-unmasked citizens on a daily basis. Ride On drivers are helping similarly-essential personnel get to work, and low-income residents get to medical appointments, while exposing themselves to the virus on every shift.
The same Council didn't even give our police officers a sufficient supply of PPE and hand sanitizer. How interesting that the same councilmembers - Hans Riemer (D - At-Large) and Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) spearheading the $1 billion tax cut for developers yesterday are also leading the charge to cut hazard pay for cops and firefighters.
Now, even as the councilmembers' own $140,000 paychecks increase year after year, they want to again renege on labor agreements. County employees are counting on these agreements when planning the financial future of their families. The Council wants to take food off their tables during a pandemic, and turn it into cash for their campaign donors - and into future campaign checks for themselves.
It's outrageous.
Developer Equity Residential has officially begun marketing its new downtown Bethesda project at the corner of Woodmont Avenue and Edgemoor Lane. The branding has changed from "Edgemont II" to "The Edge." It's also now officially confirmed the 15-story high-rise will be rental apartments, not condos. Studio and 1-and-2-bedroom units will be available.
 |
| Executive Office Building early voting site in Rockville |
 |
| Early voting sites with the longest wait times on the first day of early voting |
The last part of White Flint Mall to remain standing, the Lord & Taylor department store, continues to wind down toward its eventual closing. Rugs and furs are featured sales promotions now, as shoppers hunt for bargains at the once-grand shopping destination, with prices now at 40-70% off storewide.
Ten years after the passage of the White Flint sector plan, with the exception of Pike & Rose, the area looks exactly as it did then. Key infrastructure projects like the Montrose Parkway East, MARC station, and new Metro entrance remain unbuilt. County planners recently raised the white flag, acknowledging in an I-270 transit study scope-of-work that Tysons is the major employment destination for commuters in the morning, not White Flint as the Planning Board and County Council had promised,
“O that a man might know
The end of this day's business ere it come!
But it sufficeth that the day will end
And then the end is known.”
Welcome to the dark side.
