Montgomery Fix

09/06/2026

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…
And here I am, an independent voter, watching Scott Goldberg and the Montgomery County Republican Party have a Facebook thumb wrestle.
Look, I like Scott. He's funny, he's quick, he's popular, and he knows how to work a comment section. The MCGOP is outgunned and outclassed when it comes to clever retorts.
Below MCGOP's righteous snark, however, are some perfectly legitimate issues: taxes, affordability, crime, MCPS's maintenance backlog, housing, traffic, and people leaving Montgomery County. Not gonna lie, it's kinda fun watching Scott slip the whoopee cushion under MCGOP. But I'd rather see them discuss the issues.
I'm stuck in the middle here. I don't need either side to make me laugh. I already have The Banner Montgomery County for that. I need somebody to give me a reason to vote for them.
So, Scott: Keep being funny. You're good at it.
MCGOP: Stop trying to out-funny Scott.
Everybody, get back to talking about what you'd actually do if you win. That's the part independent voters are waiting to hear.

--by Glenn Fellman

09/04/2026

Twelve days ago, Montgomery Fix asked for your help. You came through, big time. We did it!

09/04/2026

“The Montgomery County Republican Party has spent many years speaking out against county equity policies and using objectionable language towards members of the LGBTQ community. Do you disavow the statements of the Montgomery County Republican Party?” --GCAAR
Details in comments 👇

09/03/2026

A dispute between the Montgomery County Republican Party and the Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS® has erupted over a question GCAAR is asking Republican candidates seeking its endorsement, with the county GOP accusing the association of pressuring candidates to disavow their own party.

09/03/2026

Check out The Banner Montgomery County's new clickbait paid ad with a deliberately false headline. Police announced the end of the specialized alcohol unit last Friday. The alleged DUI crash that killed two people happened the next evening n̴i̴g̴h̴t̴, Saturday. Yet The Banner’s ad and headline blare: “Days after 2 die in alleged DUI crash, Montgomery County police disbands alcohol unit.” That is not a mistake. Their own article gets the timeline right. The headline and ad are a calculated rearrangement of facts to manufacture outrage and clicks.
The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics says “never deliberately distort facts or context.” The Banner did the opposite. If you manipulate the basic sequence of public events to capitalize on traffic fatalities for subscription sales, you have no business claiming the mantle of journalism.

09/01/2026

Glenmont, The Montgomery County Elephant, will make its revitalized public debut at the Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival on September 27, 2026. After that, Glenmont is likely to roam the county, a symbol of revitalization for a shopping center and neighborhood still waiting for their own resurrection.

In 2002, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities conducted the “Party Animals” project, the largest public art exhibit in Washington, D.C. history. It decorated the city with 200 whimsically painted fiberglass donkeys and elephants, symbolizing the Democratic and Republican parties. The w...

08/31/2026

If disbanding the police DUI unit is uncomfortable in light of Saturday night's fatal wreck on I-270, it should be alarming in light of rising DUI arrest trends over the last two years.

The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) announced Friday that it was disbanding the unit specifically responsible for getting impaired drivers off the road. The next night, a suspected drunken driver went the wrong way on Interstate 270 and slammed head-on into another vehicle, killing a moth

08/31/2026

The county's traffic fatality prevention plan calls for engineering, education, and enforcement. Three-legged tables are already unstable. Remove one leg, and a crash is inevitable.
Learn why 2026 is likely to set a 20-year fatality record and how enforcement is key to reversing the trend: https://www.montgomeryfix.com/articles/as-montgomery-county-disbands-dui-unit-arrests-have-been-rising

08/31/2026

I’d driven past him several times this summer.

He sits on the bench closest to the sidewalk under the shaded overhang of a Metro station entrance, in front of a state highway where tens of thousands of people pass by every single day. His suitcase and a few overstuffed trash bags sit within the arms of his wheelchair, while he sits on the unforgiving metal.

He is homeless in Montgomery County.

I noticed him there as I was driving by this evening and doubled back. He told me his name, but here we're calling him Jim. Jim appears to be in his 60s, perhaps older. He’s from Virginia. He didn’t plan to get stuck here in Montgomery County. His life unraveled.

Jim is physically disabled. He’s soft-spoken. He listens. He responds clearly. But something’s off. It could be substance use, a mental health issue, or a cognitive challenge. Maybe it’s just plain exhaustion. I ask him if he’s talked to any county outreach workers.

He looks at me, perplexed.

I explain that Montgomery County has outreach partners who could come out and talk to him about shelter options, emergency housing, or other resources involving healthcare, food assistance and medication. He looks at me as if I’m speaking another language.

“That’d be great.”

I tell him I know some people, that I’m going to make some phone calls, and that I’ll try to get someone out to visit him. I ask if he has a cell phone. “No.” I ask if he's always here. “Yes.”

We talk a little more, and he gets into a family story. It’s long and complicated. He’s not telling it particularly well, and I’m losing him somewhere in the middle. The story itself is upsetting him, so I divert the conversation back to outreach. I ask again if he’s sure no one else has come out here. “No.” Any of the police? Any of the workers at the station? He says they talk to them, but not about that stuff.

I don’t know whether that’s true or not.

I left Jim with a twenty and a promise that I would call Montgomery County and see if we could get someone out there as soon as possible, and that I’d be back by the end of the week.

Where I hope I find an empty bench.

Note: About the photo collage… I had early morning customers in Germantown for my side gig today. I took these pictures while passing through the area. Homelessness in Montgomery County is out of control.

08/30/2026

This is a real screenshot. Even Montgomery Leek couldn't match the irony. We don't know all the circumstances of tonight's fatal crash, but the juxtaposition of the headlines is ominous.