In: BOE, Community Feedback, County Council, Education & Culture, Government, Local Government, MCPS, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Funding, Public Safety, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, Transportation

April 8th, 2024 – This testimony was given to the County Council on the FY2025 operating budget Hello my name is Jason Makstein and I run the blog Moderately MOCO but today I am testifying as a community advocate about various items in the operating budgets. My focus will beContinue Reading

In: Community Feedback, Community Reports, County Council, Local Government, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Safety

March 8, 2024 This was sent in as a follow up to Opinion: Defending Effective Policing: The Case Against Restricting Consent Searches and Bill 2-24 – Moderately MOCO following the County Council Public Hearing on the bill. Any councilmember who is for Councilmember Jawando’s Bill 2-24 must be prepared toContinue Reading

In: Community Feedback, Community Reports, County Council, Local Government, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Safety

February 23, 2024 Councilmember Jawando introduced Bill 2-24 to prohibit police from searching a vehicle when the driver specifically consents to the search. Consent searches are an important tool for police to address serious crime. When police reduce discretionary enforcement, such as traffic stops, violent crime rises. The Montgomery CountyContinue Reading

In: County Council, Local Government, MCPS, School, Superintendent

October 12, 2023 – 10:30AM We got a tip yesterday that Dr. Patrick Murphy, deputy superintendent is no longer employed by MCPS. Murphy was one of the high-ranking school officials who participated in the County Council Meeting about two weeks ago. He is still listed as the Deputy Superintendent onContinue Reading

In: County Council, Government, Interviews, Local Government, Moderately MOCO Interns, Student Interviews

August 6, 2023 – By Adriana Ferrufino Gomez  Full video interview coming soon on YouTube! Natali Fani-Gonzalez, a council member serving members of District 6, spoke about the way her life experiences impacted her in choosing the field of politics.  Fani-Gonzalez came to America with her mom during her adolescentContinue Reading

In: County Council, Local Government, MCPS, Pedestrian Safety, Public Safety, Safety, Transportation

Increased volume and excessive speed are contributing to dangerous areas along Falls Chapel Way. Despite pleas to the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, residents have thus far been unsuccessful in getting a stop sign placed at a busy four-way intersection in a residential area. Falls Chapel Way is an extensionContinue Reading

In: Budget, County Council, County Executive, Government, Information, Local Government

Background A lot has been made of the Montgomery County budget recommended by County Executive Elrich. Including our previous piece on it here discussing the lack of accountability and declining services. There has also been a lot of back and forth between the County Council, County Exec, residents and theContinue Reading

In: BOE, CEOs, Community Feedback, Construction, County Council, COVID-19, Development, Education & Culture, Enrollment, Esther Wells Tweets, Government, Incident Response, Live Stream, Local Government, MCPS, Mental health, Montgomery College, Public Safety, Restorative Justice, School, Superintendent, Taxes, Youth Sports

On Tuesday 5/2/2023, there was a virtual forum hosted by MCPS and featuring Dr. McKnight, Councilmember Jawando, Dr. Williams and BOE member Silvestre. Esther Wells live tweeted the meeting and her tweets have been cataloged into the piece below with some minor edits for clarity. Q: Budgets are in, whatContinue Reading

In: BOE, CEOs, County Council, Demographics, Drugs and Alcohol, Education & Culture, Government, Incident Response, Local Government, MCPS, Policing, Public Safety, Restorative Justice, Safety, SROs

Last week the County Council staff put a very detailed (156 page) report on CEOs, SROs, and restorative justice in anticipation on the Monday 3/20 meeting with the Public Safety (PS) and Education & Culture (EC) committees. You can attend the meeting at 9:30am or watch the meeting live onContinue Reading

In: BOE, Boundary Study, County Council, County Executive, COVID-19, Drugs and Alcohol, Government, Housing, Information, Local Government, Maryland, MCPS, MCPS Enrollment, Mental health, Overcrowding, Policing, Safety, School, Taxes, Testing

Background On Wednesday 3/15, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich released his budget which included an 8% overall increase in budget and 10% increase for MCPS. The cost to tax payers is being advertised as a “10 cents” increase but amounts to about a 10% increase in the tax rate fromContinue Reading