• Sebastian Montes writes, Gaithersburg turns to County Council for help on GE Tech:

    Gaithersburg leaders are urging the County Council not to fund any of County Executive Isiah Leggett’s massive facility relocation plan until the future of the GE Tech Park is resolved.

    Note that the list of “most divisive” issues in Mr. Montes’ article is out of sync with the information in the actual letters sent by the City; in particular, according to the City, the county is ammenable to development restrictions on the 7-acre tree lot and the 14 acres around Lake Placid.

  • Patricia M. Murret writes, Gaithersburg ethics policy under debate:

    Gaithersburg’s 27-year-old ethics policy is raising eyebrows as city leaders work to revamp the measure for a better accounting of gifts given to officials.

    According to records obtained by The Gazette, no city official or elected leader has reported receiving a gift to the ethics commission in the past five years.

  • Nathan Carrick writes, Residents urge action on Gude Landfill:

    Rockville residents who raised concern about a seeping landfill off Gude Drive told Montgomery officials they are not satisfied with the county’s efforts to mitigate the pollution, but the officials say they are doing their best to find a solution.

  • Sebastian Montes writes, Tragedy averted in Flower Hill crash:

    Sunday’s plane crash in the Flower Hill community of Gaithersburg appears to mark the first time in the Montgomery County Airpark’s 50-year history that a plane went down in one of its surrounding neighborhoods, stoking long-held fears among some neighbors that one of the airpark’s annual 100,000 operations will go horribly wrong.

  • Sebastian Montes writes, Recession stalls ailing airpark:

    It’s not that the Montgomery County Airpark has gone quiet: Dave Hopkins still had to yell over the roar of Cessnas and Cirruses taxiing to their tie-down spots Saturday.

    But the 59-year-old from Gaithersburg, who has been in the flying business for three decades, has never felt this much of a squeeze in the four years since he opened DH Aviation, one of three repair shops at the airpark.

  • Janel Davis writes, Spending plan reflects national economic woes:

    As the impact of County Executive Isiah Leggett’s spending proposal for next year was sinking in Tuesday, many observers said the plan made the best of the worst, while some council members complained that union cost-of-living cuts had been assumed in the budget even though they haven’t been finalized.

  • Alan Brody writes, Obama taps Perez for position with Justice Department:

    President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate Thomas E. Perez, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation secretary and a former Montgomery County Council member, for a U.S. Department of Justice post.

    One aspect of Mr. Parez’s resume that is left out of the Gazette’s article is his years of service on the Board of radical immigrant advocacy outfit Casa de Maryland.

  • Ryan S. Spiegel writes, CCT: A worthy project gets short shrift:

    With the passage of the federal stimulus bill, the focus has sharpened on so-called “shovel-ready” transportation projects that could receive much-needed funding. Despite the immense size of the stimulus package, the number of worthy transportation projects still far exceeds the amount of money available, so state and local governments are all jockeying to paint their priority projects as the most worthy.