By Adam Pagnucco.
Part One started our list of the top twenty posts in our first year ranked by page views. We have previously listed posts 11-20. Today we list your top ten.
10. MCPS is Failing to Protect Jewish Children (February 27, 2023)
This guest post by former Town of Chevy Chase Council Member Joel Rubin, who is now running for Congress, did OK when it first went up. But then Joel pumped it out to his national email list – on a Sunday evening, no less – and it went through the roof. That’s a testament to how serious antisemitism is, not just in our area, but all over the nation and beyond.
9. Inspector General: MCPS is a “High Risk Operation” (June 21, 2023)
Normally, an appearance by the inspector general to discuss her budget at the council would not draw a lot of eyeballs. What made this a big deal was that the county had just come out of a bruising tax hike battle that was marketed for schools and our top watchdog was saying MCPS was vulnerable to mischief. Little did we know that two months later, one of the biggest MCPS scandals in recent history would erupt.
MoCo’s prophet, Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi.
8. Denizens Brewing Company is Closing in Silver Spring (September 5, 2023)
The departure of Discovery from Silver Spring was probably more important in strictly economic terms but the loss of Denizens hurt more. Unless you’re a teetotaler, if you live within 10 miles of Downtown Silver Spring, you have probably been to Denizens. This was an iconic business, a Silver Spring original that was deeply connected to our community. This event as much as anything else is causing residents to ask this question: are we losing Silver Spring?
Denizens co-owner Julie Verratti announces the bad news.
7. The Central Fiction of Elrich’s Budget (March 16, 2023)
County Executive Marc Elrich claimed that his 10% property tax hike was solely intended to fund schools. This post exposed that claim for the myth it was. Yes, a loophole in state law allows counties to evade charter limits on taxes to increase school funding. But because money is fungible, Elrich was able to use the tax hike to finance big increases all over the county budget, including many departments which were recommended to get bigger percentage increases than MCPS. A month later, the county council staff confirmed our analysis.
6. MCPS Wants to Transfer Millions Out of Instructional Salaries (September 11, 2023)
We get told every year that MCPS needs a significant budget increase to hire and pay teachers. Then, when we revealed that they transfer some of that money to other uses – especially after a property tax hike was passed in part for them – thousands of residents poured in to read about it. Let’s also bear in mind that they have been doing this for MANY years. Will the county council ever make them spend their money the way they claim they will spend it?
5. Rice Withdraws (April 11, 2023)
The end of the Craig Rice saga. The council was poised to approve the county executive’s nomination of Rice for a new politically appointed position but he pulled out before they could do it. This story was hot because it occurred while a 10% property tax hike was on the table and the juxtaposition of the two issues was too much for many residents. That said, the executive branch to this day believes that if Rice were appointed, he would have drawn way more broadband grant money than would have been spent on his salary.
4. When Did MCPS Management Know About Beidleman? (September 18, 2023)
These smoking gun emails containing sexual harassment allegations against former principal Joel Beidelman went off like bombshells across the county. MCPS’s contracted law firm claims the superintendent and the school board never received them. Do you believe that?
3. Jawando and Mink Introduce Bill to Limit Traffic Stops (February 24, 2023)
If this bill were introduced in the summer of 2020, the council probably would have passed it. But times have changed as crime runs rampant and residents are demanding a stronger police department, not a weaker one. The council’s Public Safety Committee has not had a work session on this bill at this writing so its fate is uncertain. That is especially the case considering that Attorney General Anthony Brown has issued an opinion that it is partially preempted by state law. One thing is sure, though – if Council Members Will Jawando and Kristin Mink go all out to pass it, it will be one of the biggest fights of the term.
2. Mink Asked for Special Treatment from Police (February 2, 2023)
Here’s the story on this one. One of my sources told me a WJLA-TV report was coming that Council Member Kristin Mink, a former defund-the-police activist, had asked the police department to change her flat tire. I saw the report but for a full 24 hours, the TV station did not post a written article online. So I transcribed the video and it was a monster. This was the introduction of many MoCo voters to Mink and it will be slow to fade.
Dispatcher: “It’s one of our county councilmembers, needs assistance.”
1. They Were Warned (April 6, 2023)
This is the most-read post in Montgomery Perspective’s first year and it’s not close. The county executive had proposed a 10% property tax increase three weeks before and claimed it was necessary for schools. This post, based on a county council staff memo, exposed the REAL reason for the tax hike: unsustainable spending in the prior budget, which was passed in an election year. Many thousands of residents now understood that reckless spending by their elected officials had created a bill that was coming due – a bill that THEY wound up paying. We shall see if another post like this one spikes during the next budget.
On to Year Two!