Depending on purchaser, land could
become hot spot for County Council's
radical new zoning scheme
The future relocation and consolidation of the Rochambeau French International School's existing three campuses could be back on the table, as their 7108 Bradley Boulevard campus has been listed for sale. A 2.32 acre property, it is currently zoned R-200, allowing by-right development of single-family homes, residential or day care for up to 8 residents, or a cultural or religious institution. Limited and conditional uses allowed include group homes with more than 8 residents, home health practitioner, non-profit organization, day care for more than 8 children, private school, private organizations, veterinary office, or medical offices for up to 4 practitioners.
However, depending upon the timing of the sale, the purchaser, and the date of redevelopment, the site could become a flash point for the Montgomery County Council's plan to destroy single-family home neighborhoods like this one by allowing multifamily development in current SFH-zoned areas. The current push for accessory dwelling units is a calculated trojan horse to break the barrier to multifamily development within established single-family home neighborhoods.
Under new zoning quietly forwarded to the Planning Board by Councilmember Hans Riemer, this site could be redeveloped as an apartment building, duplex, triplex, quadplex or boarding house. Large enough sites, assembly of several SFH homesites, or supersized housing vouchers will be utilized to inject Section 8 housing into wealthy neighborhoods where crime is currently low. ADUs will be attached to each duplex on a lot, and the overall impact will create a fourfold increase in student generation rates for Montgomery County Public Schools.
If the future new owners are developers, they might wait to redevelop until the Council rams the radical new zoning through. The sales listing notes that the buyer will be required to allow Rochambeau to stay in place at Bradley through the winter of 2020/2021, more than enough time for the Council to pass the destructive new zoning update.
While the new Seattle-style zoning (and we know how well that's worked out there) is sure to be highly-controversial, the Montgomery County cartel now feels invincible after defeating their long-time nemesis the Columbia Country Club. Privately, politicians and developers have expressed confidence that if they can beat CCC, they can beat anyone. The fact that we've heard nothing about MCPS purchasing this site for a new school tells us all we need to know about how deeply the cartel's control of County government runs at this point.
Rochambeau currently has 3 campuses. In addition to the Bradley campus, they have upper grades split between the Rollingwood campus at 3200 Woodbine Street in Chevy Chase, and the Forest Road campus at 9600 Forest Road in Bethesda.
80 comments:
"The fact that we've heard nothing about MCPS purchasing this site for a new school tells us all we need to know about how deeply the cartel's control of County government runs at this point."
That's a paranoid and idiotic non sequitur.
5:36: There absolutely is a cartel, and we have the campaign finance records of our elected officials to prove it.
5:41: By your standard, "The sun rose this morning," would be a paranoid statement. Claiming MCPS not jumping to acquire a school for sale (its relocation has been discussed for years now) is justifiable, when MCPS enrollment in that area is bursting at the seams, is what would be truly "idiotic."
Allowing a controlled increase in the maximum allowable density compared to standard single family housing on large lots is conceptually a good thing. Too much of this country and county have been destroyed by allowing only very low density on huge single family lots. By allowing a metered amount of increased density, with ADU’s, duplexes and even small multifamily buildings, a more sensible amount of land utilization can be achieved, closer to existing support systems, transit and other community resources.
Allowing more folks to live on less land is in theory a great way to reduce suburban sprawl and help create more walkable and bikeable community’s, and reduce our inefficient use of personal motorized vehicles for transportation. Of course with more density, more schools, municipal support systems and multiple modes of transit should be developed to match the increased population.
The American dream of owning a 3000 SF home, with a three car garage and an above ground swimming pool in the back yard, on a 1/4 acre lot in a cul-de-sac community, is no longer a planning model that can be supported for future development in our society. Over time, adding more density in areas that have been previously developed, like the Rochambeau site makes perfect sense.
There is no cartel.
Were going for truth here, not conspiracy theory.
Because, we all know, if there was any there there, it would be big news and you'd be famous for reporting it.
5:48: Name one area of the County or country that has been "destroyed" by single-family-home-only zoning.
There are no "support systems" near the Rochambeau campus, nor Westbard. Neither is near a rapid transit station, a requirement for transit-oriented development.
5:51: There is a cartel. We know who is in it. They directly finance candidates, and control the media and community organizations, and direct illegal voting efforts.
I would say that anyone sitting in mind-numbing traffic on their hour long drive to work in DC from distant low-density single family housing might regret their choice to participate in suburban sprawl, when they might have bought a nice townhouse or duplex in a new higher density development that might be allowed in a place like Rochambeau.
Of course you don’t have to run heavy rail to sites like Rochambeau to have higher density make sense. Of course a high-rise would be stupid, but a dozen row houses on the site might make sense. The neighboring parcel, about the same size, looks like it has three large single family homes on very large lots.
Suburban sprawl created by new low density single family development, distant from existing developed communities, is what is destroying the very concept of owning a big house on a big lot. It places way too much pressure on the road network, utilities, police and fire services, and school transport systems. The site being discussed is an infill site, not a potential suburban sprawl site, but adding a reasonable amount high density helps reduce the impact of other poor planning decisions.
If eight families can live on this site instead of two or three, that means 5 or 6 families can live closer to existing services.
Pop, sorry I couldn't spend Father's Day weekend with you.
I had to stay at my computer so I could re-post my negative comments in case Robert Dyer deleted them.
I'm sure you understand.
According to Wikipedia:
A cartel is a group of apparently independent producers whose goal is to increase their collective profits by means of price fixing, limiting supply, or other restrictive practices. Cartels typically control selling prices, but some are organized to force down the prices of purchased inputs.
Not sure how your interpretation of the definition of the word CARTEL applies here. You claim that planners, council members and developers are all secretly colluding to increase their financial gain. Is in not possible that planners, council members and developers are working together to create a better built environment? Of course developers need to make a profit to exist, but the whole idea of planning is to create a logical set of guidelines and parameters that encourage a more thoughtful built environment.
Of course many folks, including you, might disagree with specific ideas to foster these improvements, but our elected and appointed officials represent a consensus of opinion. You have on multiple occasions tried to join this body of elected officials, but have so far failed to convince the consensus that you should be included. All citizens are of course encouraged to attend public meeting to offer public input on all planning issues, so you don’t have to be a council member to be part of the process. You can even run a blog to discuss how you think things could be better!
6:25: You do realize that putting more housing units in an area you are already terming "suburban sprawl" is just more suburban sprawl?
There are no "existing services" in this area. It's a residential neighborhood far from Metro or social services.
6:17: People who buy in Fredericksburg would be unable to afford any of the new housing units built in this neighborhood at market rate. Think about it. If townhomes in 20186 cost well over $1 million, what do you think a larger duplex unit will run for?
Robert Dyer what is your position on Bitcoin?
There are no 'support systems' near the Rochambeau campus, nor Westbard. Neither is near a rapid transit station, a requirement for transit-oriented development."
Once again, "transit-oriented development" is not restricted to rapid transit.
However, since you brought this up, the Lycee Rochambeau site is in fact on a bus route and has a bus stop right in front of it.
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DOT-Transit/Resources/Files/36%20Line%20Guide_180328.pdf
6:43: LOL - the cartel is colluding "to create a better-built environment?"
Is this being typed from a cartel member's office?
I've never had a fair chance to "convince the consensus" in any election, because the cartel controls the local media, which didn't write a single story about the Council At-Large general election race in 2018. It also controls many community organizations, which canceled all of their usual debates in 2018 under orders from the cartel.
We currently have elections similar to Russia and Cuba - the results are known before the votes are cast.
6:47: Whoa - a regular bus stop does not qualify for transit oriented development. Only properties within a quarter-to-half-mile from rapid transit qualify.
This is a worldwide standard.
Under your idea, you could build huge town centers with 1000s of apartments on rural roads in the country. Nuts!
Why haven't you exposed the moco cartel and sent them to prison? Honest question!
"Only properties within a quarter-to-half-mile from rapid transit qualify."
Bullshit.
6:55: That is a universally-accepted standard by professionals and academics in the urban planning field. You are decidedly all alone in refuting it.
6:53: We need the FBI to come in. Imagine Burt Macklin turning over every rock and file in the Council offices.
Saith Dyer: "CPS enrollment in that area is bursting at the seams."
Burning Tree ES is 13% over capacity.
Wyngate ES is 7% UNDER capacity.
Bradley Hills is 9% UNDER capacity.
Seven Locks ES is 11% UNDER capacity.
"We need the FBI to come in. Imagine Burt Macklin turning over every rock and file in the Council offices."
So call them already.
Also, "Burt Macklin" is not an FBI agent. He isn't even a real person.
****************
There is no cartel.
You can delete this as many times as you want, that won't change the fact that there is no cartel. Fact. Saying there is? Well that's a lie, a fabrication, a misstatement.
“People who fail to regard the truth seriously in small matters, cannot be trusted in matters that are great.” — Albert Einstein
7:06 AM
And you recommend bringing in a fictional character? Sounds like the accusation is just as fictional.
So, this is now a parody site?
7:20: Those numbers have proven to be laughably inaccurate. Kids are taking gym class in hallways at Pyle MS.
You probably also believe that Hans "Sarah Sanders" Riemer is getting tons of letters favoring ADUs, as well.
7:23: We have proof of the cartel, "Anna." You refreshing my site every 30-60 seconds to repost your deleted troll comments is alone proof of their existence. No one would physically do that for free.
"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." — Joe Theismann
Seattle is one of the hottest and most expensive housing markets in the country, you idiot.
wtf? You want MCPS to build a new school on a 2 acre property? Do you seriously have no concept of how small a site that is?
I love that Dyer is the gold standard measuring stick that everyone has to compare themselves to. Great compliment to Dyer.
Dyer is firmly planted in his troll's head...the troll is even willing to cancel Father's Day gatherings so he can monitor Dyer's comments all weekend. Dyer is the troll's daddy.
9:26 AM You abandoned your any plans this weekend so you could keep posting negative comments after Dyer deleted them.
You did that. All. Weekend.
Let that sink in.
"wtf? You want MCPS to build a new school on a 2 acre property? Do you seriously have no concept of how small a site that is?"
The listing notes that the building is 13,376 square feet. That's the size of a single floor in the old Barnes & Noble.
10:05 AM You spent all weekend re-posting dumb comments after Dyer deleted them.
Don't take it out on me.
I don't see the point of re-posting knowing it will just be deleted again.
A few minutes here and there is not all weekend. At least not to me.
I know all y'all minions have trouble with multi-tasking.
I don't.
Speaking of "cartels", wonder if BTB realizes that Thomas Freidman lives across the street from this property in his $10 million estate?
10:41 AM
You Need to Calm Down
2:19 PM Thanks. Proud of our interns.
Interns, so full of hope and ambition.
Not crushed by a lifetime of miserable failure like middle-aged hyperlocal bloggers.
3:09 PM My God, you're projecting your own failures and insecurities onto Robert Dyer now.
If you're as miserable as you say you are, talk to someone. It helps! It will get better.
95 percent of Montgomery County's land area is off limits to multi-family development. See:
https://ggwash.org/view/68435/heres-where-montgomery-county-is-and-isnt-growing
"However, 95% percent of Montgomery County’s land is zoned for either agricultural land or suburban single-family homes, and is basically guaranteed to stay like that forever. The remaining 5% — our downtowns, strip malls, office parks, industrial parks, and notably, garden apartment complexes — is where nearly all of our county’s future growth will have to go."
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/06/17/doctors-find-over-100-bubble-tea-pearls-inside-teenage-girls-digestive-tract/23751356/
5:39: Hence the plan to upend the current zoning, to allow every existing SFH neighborhood to be bulldozed and redeveloped as multifamily housing. It was a GGW fantasy until they noticed what Seattle had done, and copied that. It worked out so well there LOL! Seattle is quickly becoming a San Francisco disaster area of raw sewage, used needles and typhus. MoCo is next. Heckuva job, Brownie!
Bring on the sheepshills to bully me! It seems to make you feel better, and, most importantly, it makes no difference to me.
I make comments on a blog. You're the ones turning yourself inside out imagining motivations and identities, disbelieving what I've told you over and over again.
Cancel Father's Day plans? How silly! Those 30 minutes total I may have spent on this blog didn't interfere at all with my Sunday plans, nor did the 30 minutes total I may have spent pulling weeds in the yard.
9:26 AM
4:39: You've spent way more than 30 minutes. You've been caught refreshing this site every 30-60 seconds since last Wednesday, then reposting troll comments that have been deleted. So you've actually spent most of the last six days, not "30 minutes."
You are insane. Seattle is one of the nicest places in America. Yes the density and prices have increased dramatically, but it has become one of the most walkable places to live and work in the world. You sir, are an idiot.
5:42: LOL. You need to watch this report ASAP to see what's really going on in Seattle:
https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw
Coming soon to Montgomery County!
Reminder: The pay-absolutely-nothing-for-anything-ever blog platform used here gives no means of identifying unique readers or commenters.
In fact, previous comments by Robert Dyer have made it clear that he does not even understand what an IP address is.
"Commenting on Bethesda Magazine, unless you talk back to your bimonthly copy in the dentist office, does indeed require you to sign in and submit private information, including your IP address, to comment. No such privacy invasion is required to comment here."
http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2017/06/a-barbershop-grand-opening-in-pike.html
No doubt that Seattle has a huge homeless and drug abuse problem. I suspect that a video like that could be produced in most in not all urban areas in the world. Very slick professional drone video of homeless camps and trash dumps can make anywhere look terrible. I’m not sure sure why it seems so problematic in Seattle. It sounds like low enforcement of petty crime has gotten put of hand, with no consequences for bad behavior.
I think graffiti is a good example. If it is not promptly removed, other vandals feel empowered to add more. If the graffiti is removed so fast that very few people see it, tagging seems to go way down. It takes dedicated enforcement of small issues, to keep them from becoming much larger.
Of course one unintended consequence of more pleasant walkable urban environments is that they are also more pleasant for the homeless. Benches under a shade tree to read a book, are also benches without direct rainfall, and a great place to build a homeless tent.
I believe that the mild weather of the Pacific coast is a significant factor in the number of homeless in those cities.
7:24: The policies are what are to blame, not the weather. We don't find scenes like this in every city with a temperate climate.
7:05: There's plenty of ground-level footage of San Francisco, Seattle and Skid Row in L.A. available online, no drones needed. You'd probably be less likely to get typhus or Hepatitis using a drone, though.
My point was that I bet you could make a video like that for every urban area in the country. Just focus on the homeless, tent cities, trash, the mentally ill and drug addicted, and you could easily produce a similar piece. Of course Seattle has grown rapidly, and has been in the spotlight as a shining growth and opportunity area, but many probably are not aware of their growing problems. Thanks for the link.
Robbie, have you ever actually visited Seattle, San Francisco or Los Angeles?
Let’s build the apartments, and make it county council housing. But, since there’s a ride on that comes by every 30 minutes and it’s a transit focused housing, only build three parking spaces. Let them all live in the product of their own crazy. They can al bike and bus to Rockville and spend their days staring at the utterly clogged beltway they are fighting solutions for.
It’ll be like some zany 70s sitcom, right in our own backyard!
4:59: Yes - why, if transit is so good, is the Council only using it for one week? Shouldn't they be tweeting from a bus stop again this week, and every day going forward?
8:36: It sounds like you are the one who hasn't, if you are questioning the established fact that each of those jurisdictions is not only facing a crisis of homelessness, but also a public health crisis as a result.
Are you disrespecting Sarah Sanders, the best press secretary for the BEST president ever by mixing her name up with Hans?
Aren’t you running this blog for free? You never not here or your other blogs have had any sponsors or advertisers. Ever. Mr. CEO
5:43: You love Trump's spokesperson, but you hate Robert Dyer? LOL, that makes sense. What a brilliant cover for a cartel troll. You've fooled all of us. Truly ingenious. I think the clear message is that if you are going to bash Sarah Sanders, then you have to bash Hans Riemer for doing the same thing.
Ads are available for purchase here at very reasonable rates, and unlike my competitors, I don't have angel investors from the MoCo cartel funding me with dark money to promote their agenda.
Let's be honest- busy people who can afford other options aren't waiting 20-30 minutes for a ride on bus.
6:02AM That isn't happening.
First off...There is no cartel...
The dark money agenda-promoting funding is also not true
7:34: There is a cartel, and we know who is in it based upon actual campaign finance records, not just someone behind a keyboard trolling like you.
The dark money from angel investors funding my competitors is absolutely true. If you were actually knowledgeable about media and the current digital publishing environment, you would know that they could not be doing what they're doing without angel investors. As private operations, they do not have to reveal their sources of funding, which makes it dark money.
For example, the first cartel-funded effort to knock me off spent over $100,000 in their first year of operation, a veteran news publisher estimated. That company alone didn't have that kind of money. They spent $13000 to obtain a verified Twitter account in 2012 alone.
What's the worry? The listing will be there for years because there's so little employment in the moribund local economy. No one wants to live here, much less develop real estate in our ghost town.
8:07: Classic MoCo cartel tactic of trying to confuse residential housing development (developers want to do this everywhere) with economic development. As the County's structural budget deficit proves, building residential housing is a money-losing proposition for the County, with the cost of government services they require far outstripping the revenue they generate.
B O O M
8:06PM - It seems it's YOU who doesn't understand business. There is nothing unusual about buying a business for intangible assets, which is what the $13,000 sounds like. Especially in a service business (not a trade business, which would have inventory)
These are regular, usual and customary types of transactions. There's nothing criminal or nefarious.
"the first cartel-funded effort to knock me off spent over $100,000 in their first year of operation"
So a PAC raised and spent $100,000. What's unusual with that? Nothing.
So, it was for Democrats, not Republicans. Also not unusual.
You claiming it was specifically to keep *you* from being elected? now that's not normal You take this and twist it around to be about their fear of you winning? ... ... ... there are no words.
There is no cartel. It exists only in your Fox-fueled fevered dreams.
Reminder...
Robert Dyer told voters to NOT vote for his three Republican running-mates in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_EtPtHNiiI
"The dark money from angel investors funding my competitors is absolutely true. If you were actually knowledgeable about media and the current digital publishing environment, you would know that they could not be doing what they're doing without angel investors. As private operations, they do not have to reveal their sources of funding, which makes it dark money."
Or maybe they're just able to get paid advertising, unlike you?
3:30: Your first action upon waking up is to troll my website. By reading what you wrote again, you might realize it sounds like you are in a manic phase. In your word salad, you made many mistakes:
1. The $13000 had nothing to do with "buying a business." It was the original owner who purchased the blue check mark for the brand new Twitter account he had established for the site for $13000. He did not sell the business for $1 until 2014, two years later.
2. There's no such thing as a "PAC" for a news website. Only for political campaigns or organizations. Angel investors in a news website make direct payments above or under the table.
3. I never claimed it was "to keep me from being elected." It was a website started to divert readers from my site to theirs, where they would be served up always-positive news about our corrupt elected officials. We know this because A) it was angel-funded by the cartel, as the amount of money spent can in no other way be accounted for, B) the site's founder was in Virginia, and his next common sense business move would have been to launch a site for Fairfax or Loudoun, close to his existing successful site in Arlington, and C) Hans Riemer was retweeting the site upon its launch, thereby accidentally revealing he was in on the project. He otherwise would not have known about a site that hadn't published or advertised yet. Other cartel members and Riemer allies (about 25 in all) were caught sharing or retweeting in the early days, when in reality no one had ever even heard of the site yet.
There is a cartel. They've launched several websites, and used their control of the few media gatekeepers in the region to solidly prevent my websites from getting any recognition or exposure via the Washington Post, Washingtonian, or local TV channels.
I'm not a Fox News acolyte - they are a globalist news network that was Never Trump until he was elected.
4:18: Dick Morris would tell you that was a very smart move in a 9-person race. I was the only one actively campaigning, and with a platform that would be widely supported if I had won by residents and businesses. Every vote for another Republican in that situation becomes a vote for the Democrats. But this is why you are in a dark room trolling for pizza money from the cartel, instead of a well-paid political operative. It's sad that you are willing to click a refresh button every 30 seconds for 18 hours a day for pizza money.
4:26: A website that hasn't published a story yet does not have "advertising." In fact, they had no advertising for months, and never did have more than the occasional ad from a cartel-associated business. Nice try, but nope, it wasn't advertising.
My gosh are you triggered.
I'd already read the Post, the overnight financial markets, George Conway's twitter and NBC Washington before I even got around to your site. Sheesh. Over-inflate your ego much?
Again. Nothing wrong with selling/buying intangible assets. Whether you understand it or not, that's what it's called when "the original owner who purchased the blue check mark for the brand new Twitter account he had established for the site for $13000"
Aha...it wasn't clear that you weren't referring to a PAC. But
They've launched several websites, and used their control of the few media gatekeepers in the region to solidly prevent my websites from getting any recognition or exposure via the Washington Post, Washingtonian, or local TV channels.
Sweetie, The only one preventing those things is you.
5:00: Whoever talked about buying a blue check mark being "wrong?" The issue was, where do you get $13000 to buy it? Very few local news sites around the country have one.
How would I have prevented myself from being recognized by local media when I pioneered hyperlocal news and established four news sites in Montgomery County, plus a YouTube channel with over 13,000 subscribers? I've even been plagiarized by the Post twice, but never written about or recognized. The editorial board stated they were aware of my sites, as well.
"How would I have prevented myself from being recognized by local media "
Now that's a terrific question that you should be asking yourself.
What are you doing that gets this result?
How is your product different from those that are "recognized."
What positive things are others doing that you aren't?
What negative things are you doing that others aren't?
Is your message clear? Are you talking "at" people not talking "with" them.
As far as elections go, maybe you need a new campaign manager?
"The issue was, where do you get $13000 to buy it?"
Savings? Personal loan? Gift? SBA or Business loan? Family? Friends? Part-time job? Sell something? Buy low, sell high? Win some lottery $$ ? Good poker game? GoFundMe? Law suit proceeds? Test proctor? Drive for Uber?
5:20: So you're admitting that by holding corrupt local officials accountable, I am costing myself recognition by the local media controlled by the political cartel that funds those officials?
That's called journalism, and it is rewarded, not punished in most areas of the country. I'm also guilty of not using the "royal we" when referring to myself. Should I start doing so? You'd better come up with better explanations than these.
"As far as elections go," I need Burt Macklin, FBI to arrest my criminal opponents, not a new campaign manager.
5:32: Nope, none of the above. But angel investors, yes. Remember, that $13,000 was only for the Twitter blue check mark they bought. You left out the rest of the over $100,000 they spent in one year alone.
Bank robbery perhaps, but otherwise, angel investors.
You read that and get that I'm "admitting" that? Tsk. Tsk. That's a shame.
No. Obviously, you see only what you want to see.
It sounds like you wanted the opportunity to get that check mark and are upset about it.
How do you know those weren't how the money was gotten?
Why is it your business? What if you'd paid $13,000 for something and someone wanted to know where you got the money? You'd be beside yourself demanding to know what right they had to know that.
"angel investors" You mean Venture Capitalists? Family and friends?
Are you jealous? I'm not sure what's the big to-do about start-up costs.
"So you're admitting that by holding corrupt local officials accountable, I am costing myself recognition by the local media controlled by the political cartel that funds those officials?"
Nope. *You* are saying that.
If the information is impeccable (and I'm not saying it is, this is just generic)
Then it could be the delivery.
If you're asking me for my personal opinion then I might mention that your writings include "intent" that you would have no way of knowing. It takes something that might be fact-based and turns it into opinion-based.
6:00: The information is impeccable. My articles are no more opinion-based than those in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, or any other local media outlet. And every fact presented is true, meaning every article is fact-based.
Sorry, but it's not ordinary for someone to invest over $100,000 in a hyperlocal news site for a Podunk Junction-scale place like Bethesda or Silver Spring. New York, Philadelphia, yes; Bethesda, no.
Then you have to ask, especially considering all output favors the cartel slant, who are these unusual angel investors? Legitimate question. We're not talking about restaurants or dry cleaners here. We're talking about news sites that impact public opinion about our government, a very serious matter of public interest.
"My articles are no more opinion-based than those in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, or any other local media outlet. And every fact presented is true, meaning every article is fact-based."
That's not accurate. Again I say "your writings include "intent" that you would have no way of knowing. It takes something that might be fact-based and turns it into opinion-based."
"spent over $100,000 in their first year of operation" Who spent $100,000? How do you know? what did they spend it on? Have you seen their books?
Are you upset they have money to spend and you don't? So a business starts and spends money. What's criminal about that?
Bethesda is "Podunk Junction"? Way to insult both your hometown and the primary market for your blog.
7:31: Reading skills are a must - I said it is Podunk Junction-sized as a media market. Nobody spends six figures funding news sites as angel investors for that size of market ordinarily, which is what makes the big spending on my competitors' sites stand out as very unusual.
7:05: It's not their money - it's coming from the cartel. Do you believe the reporters at these sites work for free while doing it as their full-time job? I've got a bridge to sell you if you believe that. Then you start adding in housing costs for those reporters. Wow. The amount is rising. Then all the big money spent on Google ads, Google keywords, promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter. $13,000 Twitter blue check mark. Whoa.
If you aren't knowledgeable about what these things cost, that doesn't change the facts that these sites are spending six figures and they're getting it from the cartel that benefits from people reading those pro-cartel sites instead of mine.
Why do you say they work for free? Full-time?
*where does the money come from to compensate you for your "reporting?"
Why does it matter how they live?
*does it matter how *you* live? how do you manage to live and still do this full-time?
I live here. I'm a tax accountant. I know how much things cost.
Why do you think they got $100,000? Why that number? And "who" got it? A person? A business? Why do you say "angel investors?" Do you know that for a fact? Not an assumption, a f-a-c-t?
Why the anger? Because someone else was resourceful?
There are philanthropic groups that are granting money for local journalism. Have you checked into any of those?
8:11: Again, reading skills - I said reporters don't work for free. They have to be paid. In 2012, reporters didn't make less than about $34,000 a year, which doesn't cover the cost of housing in Bethesda or even MoCo in general.
Then add $13,000 for the blue Twitter check mark. You're already near $50,000 for that alone.
Estimate from an expert in the field was they'd spent over $100,000 in their first year. Eventually the angel investors pulled out because I was destroying them on a daily basis. They then regrouped with new strategies for new websites.
Don't forget, you told us recently you were *not* a tax expert.
You had called me a tax expert. I corrected you to say I wasn't an tax expert because I work mainly in individual tax and small business. I know only a little about tax on publicly-traded entities or international companies.
Why do you think they got $100,000? Why that number? And "who" got it? A person? A business? Why do you say "angel investors?" Do you know that for a fact? Not an assumption, a f-a-c-t? How do you know the source of their funds? Have you seen their receipts?
It sounds to me like you were trying to back into an amount of money you think it would have cost, ran that by an "expert" who said it was a reasonable amount and you now are running with it like it was fact.
What makes you say the "angel investors" pulled out if you're not sure who they are?
What do you mean you're destroying them on a daily basis? How? Number of stories? Traffic? Mentions? Story content?
8:36: They admitted the site was a failure, and sold it for $1 to Bethesda Magazine. I was clearly beating them in scoops and reader engagement on a daily basis. They also didn't do any investigative reporting. Of course, no one other than myself has in Montgomery County.
Look at my coverage of the Little Falls Parkway scandal, as the most recent example. I led the coverage from start to finish. I was the only outlet that investigated where the money was coming from. Such a road diet project has been proposed for many a road. But in every case, the money had to be appropriated by the Council.
Instead, Parks & Planning didn't request an appropriation, emergency or otherwise, and went ahead and illegally used money from a trail maintenance fund for a highway project. Clearly illegal.
No one other than me bothered to investigate. Yet, the story was not picked up by the Post and local TV even after I exposed it.
No other media outlet pointed out that the statistics the planning staff used to justify the permanent road diet weren't credible and weren't backed by actual numbers. I did. It ended with one of the commissioners actually blasting the staff on that very point.
Literally no one else is doing this kind of investigative reporting on County government.
"They admitted the site was a failure, and sold it for $1 to Bethesda Magazine."
[citation needed]
Okay. I understand that you've been doing investigative work. I get that.
Someone's business failed, they sold it for $1.
Did you want to buy it for $1?
So where does the $100,000 fit in?
Were you vying for the same funds?
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