Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Plan aims to improve business competitiveness by reducing raises for county employees.
Montgomery County Councilman Phil Andrews introduced a plan Tuesday to reduce the 2010 increase in Montgomery County’s energy tax by 10 percent. The county's energy tax was raised by 155 percent on homeowners and by nearly 60 percent on businesses and nonprofit organizations in 2010, according to a County Council news release. A 10 percent reduction would reduce county revenues by $11.4 million in fiscal 2014, which begins July 1. Andrews (D-Dist. 3), of Gaithersburg, proposes paying for the energy tax reduction by slashing the pay increases for county employees over the next two years. Andrews, who is running for Montgomery County Executive in next year's election, criticized the agreement struck between the county employees unions and …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Notable outcomes include eased regulations for accessory apartments, passing of the disabled hiring bill and evaluation of potential affordable housing locations.
The Montgomery County Council met Tuesday, Feb. 5. Notable outcomes from the meeting include: County Eases Rules for Accessory Apartments The Montgomery County Council passed a zoning amendment and bill Tuesday that will make it easier for homeowners to add an accessory apartment to a single-family home, The Washington Examiner reported. After almost 10 years of policy discussion, homeowners who want to add a small apartment for an aging parent, a caretaker or a renter can now do so in 90 to 110 days, versus a process that previously took a minimum of five to six months, The Washington Post reported. Residents opposed to the change were concerned it might lead to overcrowding of neighborhood schools, according to The Washington Post, but "…
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
"Police officers are ticketing speeders aggressively,” Montgomery County Councilman Phil Andrews said, according to a report by The Gazette.
Speeders beware, police are ticketing the Intercounty Connector at a high rate. Over the last three months, police officers on the ICC "issued about 10 speeding citations and warnings per day," The Gazette reported, including a total of 887 citations and warnings issued for speeding between October and December. Montgomery County Councilman Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg said he's heard from constituents that “police officers are ticketing speeders aggressively” on the ICC, according to the report. The ICC is patrolled by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, according to the report. Andrews has been vocal on ICC issues of late, calling the road overpriced and underused in December. The road's 55 mph speed limit has also …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews proposes a cut in ICC tolls to get more drivers to use the road, NBC Washington reports.
Montgomery County Council Member Phil Andrews says a deep cut in tolls would increase traffic on the Intercounty Connector and he's calling on the state to do it, NBC Washington reported. Andrews says the $8 round-trip rush-hour toll is among the highest in the nation. He would propose "at least a trial period of several months, if not, a year when the tolls would be...cut in half, in hopes of doubling the traffic," according to the report. A decision on the toll rate is up to the Maryland Transportation Authority. A spokeswoman for the MTA told The Washington Post the ICC is meeting both traffic and revenue projections. The road was designed to carry traffic volumes projected for 2030, according to the report. Andrews said he hopes that …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Former County Executive Doug Duncan met today with pollster and political advisers, according to CenterMaryland.org.
Will Doug Duncan—Montgomery’s longest-serving county executive—return for a run at an unprecedented fourth term? Duncan's political future came into clearer focus Tuesday after he met with advisers in Gaithersburg to mull the 2014 election, Josh Kurtz writes in CenterMaryland.org. The closed meeting hashed over the results of a new poll “that supposedly showed Duncan handily defeating every other potential Democratic candidate,” according to Kurtz. Speculation has long swirled that Duncan—who served as Montgomery’s executive from 1994 to 2006 before a gubernatorial campaign that ended with him dropping out, citing clinical depression—is primed for a return to county politics. If so, he would be joining a field that already has two …
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Officials say the new law complicates enforcement, The Washington Post reported.
New state rules aimed at protecting motorists from predatory towing clash with existing Montgomery County rules, making already complicated regulations even tougher to enforce, The Washington Post reported. Confusion over which rules are more stringent—and therefore should take precedent—has officials unsure how to meet an Oct. 1 deadline for implementing the state rules, The Post reported. The new state rules, in part, require large warning signs in parking lots, limit towing fees and “require wreckers to quickly notify drivers when their vehicles are towed,” The Post reported. But it also would do away with practices such as posting 48-hour warning notices on vehicles violating parking rules. The new state law was the subject of a …
Friday, February 17, 2012
A bill to forbid roadside solicitation aims to get everyone--charity groups and panhandlers alike--out of the street, drawing the ire of county firefighters.
There’s a rumble in the streets of Montgomery County. A few state legislators, at least one council member and some residents are working to put restrictions on the use of the county’s curbs, medians and roadways, all the while facing opposition from county firefighters. Roadside solicitation, the act of asking for money on the side of the street, is the subject of two separate bills making their way through Montgomery County’s delegation in the Maryland General Assembly. Should either of the bills pass, they would authorize the County Council to create laws around the practice. “There’s a serious problem with people entering the roadway and interfering with traffic in order to solicit,” said Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist 20), who is …
Sunday, June 19, 2011
With so many issues left unresolved, you'd think Montgomery County could do a better job at picking its battles.
Sometimes you just have to wonder about the politics of this place. Our local economy is sputtering again, the housing market is flirting with a double-dip, our transportation system is getting more congested and crumbling around us, and local and state budgets are showing years of red ink ahead. Yet, amid all of these truly important issues, what has prompted the most vigorous response from Montgomery County officials lately? Prohibiting fire and rescue personnel from "passing the boot" to raise money for muscular dystrophy and cracking down on illicit lemonade stands at the U.S. Open. Wow, I sure feel a lot better, how about you? I have always wondered about this "passing the boot" issue. As I understand it, such solicitations are not …
Zinzindor
12:55 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Seriously, though: the energy tax is on your electric bill. None of your electricity comes from oil, so the extra hundreds or thousands of dollars per year per user has no impact on oil imports. But it does have impacts on the poor, and probably on health of the elderly. http://leviathanmontgomery.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/fiscal-year-2013/ Interesting how those who don't have a clue are always … more ›