If it were up to the Council alone, the site adjacent to the Metro station would have been yet another residential housing development. Elrich was the rare County elected official to acknowledge that MoCo needs more high-wage jobs as much as it does new housing, when he proposed the biotech use for this site several years ago. Yet the Council attempted to take all the credit for itself in its Monday video, similar to Congresspeople who vote against infrastructure projects in their districts, only to later claim credit for them once they come to fruition.
The attempt to cut Elrich out of the launch announcement was only the latest cheap shot by the Council at the Executive. Some on the Council resorted to subterfuge and outright deception in their successful effort to deep-six Elrich's proposal to restore funding for the Office of the People's Counsel. Councilmembers are still pondering whether to create a competing ballot question for the one that will give voters the option to oust Elrich with a two-term limit in the November election. Perhaps they are weighing the possibility of opening the executive seat to one of the ambitious Councilmembers, versus reducing their own future executive terms by one.
Maryland's unemployment rate rose to 2.8% in June, while Virginia's dropped to 2.7%. The biggest area of job growth in Maryland was in the government sector. In contrast, Virginia's largest job growth was in the private sector, in Professional and Business Services. While Maryland has only added 27,800 jobs total since January 1, Virginia was able to add more than half of that in the last month alone.
Montgomery County used to be a major engine of economic growth not only in Maryland, but in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. It has now ceded that role to Northern Virginia, as MoCo increasingly becomes the bedroom community for workers who are employed elsewhere in the region. In fact, a new Bethesda-to-Tysons express bus has just been proposed to serve those workers commuting to Virginia in the morning. Tysons - and Northern Virginia as a whole - continue to add major corporate headquarters, while Montgomery County hasn't added a single one in over a quarter century.
It's that high-wage job growth that allowed Virginia’s general fund revenues to end fiscal year 2024 $1.2 billion over the official revenue forecast. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin cited "robust job growth" as the driver of that better-than-expected revenue.
In contrast, Montgomery County remains focused on the revenue-sapping activity of adding bedrooms, instead of boardrooms. Aside from presiding over a strong biotech sector that was created by wiser leaders years before they ever took office, MoCo's elected officials continue to put all of their economic development eggs into the residential housing construction basket.
Instead of building a new Potomac River crossing to Dulles International Airport, completing our master plan highway system, creating shovel-ready job sites, and focusing on attracting Fortune 500 companies and aerospace and defense firms to vacant office parks from Clarksburg to Bethesda to White Oak, our County Council is focused on building more luxury apartments and townhomes.
Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson told an audience of real estate developers hosted by Bisnow on July 18 that “[i]n Montgomery County, we’re really trying to change the narrative. We have to view housing as the economic infrastructure that we have to build communities.” That's definitely not the narrative guiding Northern Virginia, Texas, or California. We're in real trouble, folks.
I broke the story about Amazon's plans way back in September of 2020. More than two years passed before a potential opening date was even hinted at, as Amazon itself kept total secrecy about its plans, even as it completed the interior fit-out of the store. The only public confirmation of the store came when signage was installed on the storefront. Yet, with all shelving in place but empty of merchandise, the company then announced it would be postponing the opening until 2023.
That never happened.
Just two months later, Amazon ordered its expensive lighted signage to be removed from the building at 270 Center. It had hung on the unopened store so long that it had already been vandalized. The store was now officially canceled.
Amazon continued to hold its cards close to its vest, even as pundits declared the firm's venture into physical supermarkets a flop, and even began predicting that the existing Amazon Fresh stores might all close. Was it going to wave the white flag, and stick to online grocery delivery? The company was silent.
But the epic story of Amazon Fresh in Gaithersburg wasn't over yet!
Three weeks later, Amazon confirmed it indeed had changed its mind yet again. The company posted a "coming soon" banner on the otherwise blank storefront. A few days later, the lighted logo signage - either repaired or replaced - was installed on the building. Last night, the opening date banner was in place, the logo sign was lit up, and the lights were on inside the store.
You can't completely divest Amazon from its penchant for secrecy, though: paper now covers the windows to block the public's view of the long-completed interior, and the status of possible inventory being placed onto those long-empty shelves. No more "spy photos" like those I was able to post a few weeks ago.
The lights are on...and somebody is finally home at Amazon Fresh in Gaithersburg.
“We are so excited that the National Trust for Historic Preservation saw the same critical need for this work that we do,” Gaithersburg Community Museum Facility Manager Cynthia Cowan said in a statement. “These funds will allow us to preserve and celebrate the rich history of Metropolitan Grove, honoring its memory while those who keep its stories are still here to share them.”
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| Robin Ficker |
Councilmembers who voted against the CRC proposal were Marilyn Balcombe, Andrew Friedson, Natalie Fani-Gonzalez, Evan Glass, Sidney Katz, and Dawn Luedtke. The Councilmembers who voted for the proposal to remove the unanimous vote requirement were Gabe Albornoz, Will Jawando, Kristin Mink, Laurie-Ann Sayles, and Kate Stewart.
Montgomery County's high property taxes are one of several highly-regressive tax burdens on working families and residents who are on fixed incomes. Along with high property assessments, the annual payments have essentially become a second mortgage for many cash-strapped residents. The Ficker Amendment has provided relief from even-more-nightmarish tax bills since it was passed. That's because, as it is, the Council has raised property taxes on residents every year except for FY-2015.
