Today started in White Flint at the
location of the future “Pike & Rose” development that Federal
Realty has initiated. This development is on that big lot where the Toys R Us
was for many years near Montrose Road and 355.
Federal Realty is going to turn
those acres of asphalt into a spectacular community of residences, retail and
commercial space. Today was the groundbreaking, attended not only by yours
truly but the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, County
Executive, Council
President, and others.
I am passionate about moving ahead
on the redevelopment of Rockville Pike, which will become the urban spine of our
economic future. With all the great projects coming online up and down The 355,
that area is going to become one of the most interesting and enjoyable places to
live in the country.
Then
back to the office to continue working on the #FixPepco campaign, which is
taking off--- we have over 2,000 petition signers now. I think its working to put the focus where it needs to be, on the
regulators who are not doing their job. Our Maryland Public Services Commission
is tasked with ensuring that consumers are protected from the monopoly
utilities. They haven’t gotten the job done and the Governor needs to start
over at that failed regulatory agency. Please sign!
Next
up, a Gov Ops committee meeting on an issue that I have been learning more and
more about in my time at the Council – the issue of municipal tax duplication.
This is the problem where residents who live in our county’s municipalities
(about 17% of county residents living in cities such as Rockville,
Gaithersburg, and Takoma Park) pay property tax for a county service that the
city has decided to provide. The county is required by the state to refund that
double property tax. For many years, however, the county did more than just
refund the double property tax; we provided the municipalities with additional
funds. That fact is not well understood; to the contrary, some residents of
these municipalities are under the erroneous impression that they pay higher
taxes because the county does not refund their double taxes.
We
have a lot of work to do to get closer to a resolution and to ensure a process
that works for both the county and the municipalities in the future. The
committee is going to keep focusing on this issue and take some specific steps
later in the year. You can read more about the issue in this council staff memo (PDF).
Finally, a quick interview with ABC News about
#FixPepco, which led the 5:30pm TV news!, and now I am preparing to visit with the Western
Montgomery Citizens Advisory Board at 7pm. I’m sure we’ll be
talking Pepco…
