Kenwood cherry blossoms at their peak (Photos)

Cars filled with cherry blossom lovers inched bumper-to-bumper through the streets of Kenwood yesterday, as the trees were at peak bloom. Fortunately, information suggests that Montgomery County did not close down and fine any children's lemonade stands Sunday.

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Montgomery County Council to raise property taxes, after claiming they wouldn't

Remember when I reported that the Montgomery County Council would raise property taxes again this year, despite elected officials' and the local media's claims otherwise? More proof is in. Here is the announcement the County Council is required to print in local newspapers before they can raise your taxes, and it reads, "The County Council of Montgomery County proposes to increase property taxes."

It also details what I had explained: The County's tax scheme deviously increases taxes automatically each year, in an attempt to trick the public into thinking the Council had nothing to do with it. In fact, as the announcement notes, in order to avoid the automatic tax increase, the Council would have to "reduce its real property tax rate enough to fully offset increasing assessments. The proposed budget does not provide such a reduction.

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Hence your tax rate for FY-2019 will be 4.1% higher, and the Council will steal an estimated $56,120,926 from their constituents' bank accounts in the coming year, on top of what you payed last year. The Council's historic 2016 8.7% tax hike walloped many County homeowners at effective 9%-10% rates based on their rising home assessments. Councilmembers had falsely claimed the increase was for "education," but student performance and graduation rates have actually continued to decline after the tax hike, as they have throughout the decade.

If you re-elect Helpless Hans Riemer and 3 new equally-controlled At-Large candidates chosen by the MoCo political cartel, wait until you see the tax increase you'll get in 2019, 2020, etc. A better choice would be to vote for Robert Dyer, who will offer a #DyerTaxCut, repealing the 2016 property tax and 2010 energy tax hikes incrementally over 4 years. Riemer's own former chief of staff recently noted that the energy tax hike appeared to have a devastating effect on the net number of new businesses created in Montgomery County this decade. MoCo had a net increase of only 6 new businesses, while D.C. and Fairfax enjoyed a net addition of 3000 new businesses each.

Bethesda construction update: Brightview Bethesda (Photos)

Let's return to the construction site of the Brightview Bethesda assisted-living apartment building at 4907 Rugby Avenue. The building will be for assisted living and memory care, with a secure second floor for dementia patients. Floors 3-7 will be assisted living divided into studios, and 1-and-2-bedroom apartment units. Units will have kitchenettes, but 3 meals a day will be served in the building. Activity rooms are also planned for patients. Donohoe is the construction contractor.

Solstice Sunglasses closes at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Solstice Sunglasses has closed its Bethesda store at Westfield Montgomery Mall. The closure was not unexpected, as the shop has been hosting an "everything must go!" sale since December. In fact, this was one of the longest closing sales since RadioShack closed at the mall. Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of over 2100 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association.

Sneak peek: Dog Haus Biergarten sets opening date in Bethesda (Photos)

Here's a sneak peek inside the future Dog Haus Biergarten at 7904 Woodmont Avenue. Just about everything is in place - the bar, food menu, TVs, lighting fixtures, and some tables and stools. The restaurant will open on Friday, April 13, 2018 at 11:00 AM.

Escalator madness at Friendship Heights Metro station (Photos)

Escalator "modernization" continues at the Metro station with one of the longest escalator outages in Metro history, Friendship Heights. WMATA says they currently expect the Western Avenue bus bays-to-middle landing escalator to be back in service on December 30 of this year. The longer escalator between the middle landing and the mezzanine is expected to reopen on July 18. Stay tuned!

Moribund MoCo has lowest new-business growth rate in region

You know a jurisdiction's business climate is at rock bottom, when one of its biggest critics is the former chief-of-staff of that jurisdiction's sitting County Council President. Thus, some of the best analysis of the moribund Montgomery County economy has come from Council President Helpless Hans Riemer's former chief-of-staff Adam Pagnucco on the Seventh State blog. Pagnucco has done it again, producing another set of mindblowing stats on the walking-dead MoCo economy.

In a recent post, Pagnucco showed that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Montgomery County has the lowest rate of growth of new business establishments in the region since 2000. Only the tiny City of Falls Church has fared worse, and think of how small they are in relation to Montgomery County (they have only 15,000 residents vs. our 1.4 million).

Who was ahead of Montgomery County in new establishment growth? [If you are a Montgomery County elected official, consider this a trigger warning, and an opportune time to slip a paper bag over your head before your constituents read the following list] Loudoun County with 134% growth of new businesses established, Spotsylvania County 86%, Prince William County 82%, Stafford County 79%, Culpeper County 58%, Arlington County 42%, Fauquier County 42%, Warren County 37%, District of Columbia 37%, Rappahannock County 32%, the D.C. region as a whole 32%, Frederick County 31%, Fairfax City 30%, Fairfax County 30%, Manassas City 28%, Manassas Park City 27%, Jefferson WV 23%, Calvert County 22%, Alexandria 20%, Clarke 19%, Charles County 16%, City of Fredericksburg 12%, Prince George's County 12%.

Montgomery County, by contrast, had a paltry 10% growth rate in new establishments.

Good God. Humiliating!

The Montgomery County Council again has their [briefcases] handed to them by...Culpeper County???? LOL. Fredneck??? LOL. Jefferson bleeping West Virginia? Bleep, yes.

We already knew that Montgomery County has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in two decades. And that the Maryland Retailers Association reported a net loss of over 2100 retail jobs in Montgomery since 2000. But Pagnucco has found even more staggering statistics to add to the Montgomery Moribundity.

Just looking at the post-recession years alone, 2011-2016, the District of Columbia and Fairfax County enjoyed a net gain of 3000 new establishments each. Over those same years, Montgomery County had a net gain of...6. That's a single digit folks. Six.

And how about this: Pagnucco discovered only 19 new business filings in Montgomery County were recorded with the State of Maryland in FY-2016. Nineteen. 

Again, a total humiliation.

Who beat us that year within our own state? Worcester County was at the top, with 138 new business filings. Somebody call Rodney the Lifeguard to save our drowning County Council!

Pagnucco notes that 2011 was the first fiscal year completely impacted by the County Council's massive 2010 energy tax hike. He ends one of his reports with perhaps the most pertinent question in this election year:

"Which candidates for office do you think can help turn this around?"

Myself, for one. Visit my website to see why I am the best choice for the Montgomery County Council At-Large to turn around Montgomery County's utterly moribund economy.