WHere you aware that the person who wrote the editorial is a buddy of the owner of the 9:30 club who of course does not want competion.

Love, Batman

To your points…

1. Who cares who thought up the project? The Lees are in it. And while I agree there is plenty of blame to go around, talking about what could have happened had Duncan or Silverman been in office is about as productive as lamenting the loss of the Gore/Lieberman ticket in 2000. Stay in the here and now, please.

2. Note my comment in the post: “And according to… the Washington Post, they don’t trust Montgomery County. I can appreciate that, too.” Zany is a good word to describe the crap that happens around here, for sure.

3. Agreed. But how much does that impact the deal? It’s all inked out, with monetary values and everything. Does a lack of consolidation prohibit the Lee family from making any more concessions? Is that why they want the public use requirement satisfied with this project? And another 15 years to decide what to do while they make money on a parking lot? What’s *really* going to happen? I want live music here as much as anyone else, but is something a little more concrete in terms of future plans for that block’s economic development too much to ask?

4. I’m being critical of a small, family-owned Silver Spring business? Damn right I am. I’ll be critical of whomever I choose – local business or multinational conglomerate. Riddle me this, Batman: What is the total value of the holdings of Lee Development Group? And how do you classify a “small” family-owned business? I honestly don’t know the answer to those questions, and am interested in hearing them.

Finally: No, the Lees are not THE problem. There are lots of problems here. But this is an opinionated blog, and a specific example of taking things to the extreme to make a point. The Lees have to look out for themselves and their business interests, and I appreciate that. But I don’t see anything wrong with pushing hard in the other direction to try to find some middle ground. Do you?

And I agree about the location – we’d be hard pressed to find something better – or even close to “as good” as the old J.C. Penney building. Can’t there be a better deal to be had, though?

Thanks for the thoughts, @Think People.

1. The Lee’s did not think up this economic development project. Montgomery County Government came up with it. I’d argue that it is likely had Doug Duncan ran as county exec again or had Steve Silverman been elected in 2006, that we’d be talking about or already going to shows at a Birchmere.

2. Montgomery County Government didn’t just start in 2008. Those that have done business in MoCo for a long time have fought many battles, some of them quite zany by standards outside the Beltway or in flyover country. Relative newcomers to this area who don’t actually conduct business with county government might not be aware of the history.

3. The Lee’s aren’t the only landowner in that block of Colesville. Other property owners in that block have not agreed on the value of their property and this has created an issue for economic development to occur as the different properties have not been able to be consolidated.

4. “They have enough money”… do I need remind everyone that the writer is being critical of a small, family owned Silver Spring business? Nothing wrong with criticism but people… think on a bigger level of the ramifications of Thayer’s statement. I don’t know if you he really thought that one all the way through.

I disagree… the Lee’s aren’t “THE” problem. And, raise your hand if you think this thing would have been done already (or that we’d be at a much more advanced stage) had the election of 2006 turned out differently.

I’m also not willing to concede to an inferior location for such an economic development opportunity. Doug Duncan was right again. This *is* the best site. Putting it elsewhere finds us settling again for second best.

If this piece of the pie is as important to Silver Spring’s economic success as Leggett’s office makes it out to be, then seize the damned thing.

I’m also open to having a venue at that Dry Cleaning Institute — right across the street from Montgomery College’s new theater. That would be the shizzite.

We analyze everything to death way too much in Montgomery County. It’s time to make a decision and follow through for once.

We need to find another place for the music hall with another developer. I wonder if there is someway to reconfigure part of Shitty Place to have the music venue fit in there? That would solve a couple of problems.