MoCo Priorities: Podcasts Over Potholes?
Montgomery County, Maryland, has once again reminded us where its priorities lie—and where they don’t.
This week, the county government launched Black Coffee, a brand-new podcast hosted by Frederick Hawkins, designed to “uplift Black voices, stories, and resources” in the community. Each episode promises to feature local changemakers and highlight tools for empowerment. And while the sentiment behind such a program may sound noble on the surface, many taxpayers are left asking a simple question:
Why are we paying for this while basic infrastructure crumbles?
Let’s talk about what’s not being “uplifted” in Montgomery County:
Roads riddled with potholes and patches, where commuting feels more like off-roading.
School buildings that haven’t seen a renovation since the Reagan administration.
Dangerous trees left untrimmed, ready to fall on power lines and homes with the next storm.
Sidewalks that don’t exist in entire neighborhoods, despite being promised for years.
Rush-hour traffic so snarled and mismanaged that it feels like punishment for trying to get to work.
But don’t worry—we have a podcast.
Taxpayers are right to be frustrated. They fund the largest budget of any county in Maryland—over $6 billion—and yet their quality of life is going downhill faster than a Metro escalator in winter. Instead of fixing the fundamentals, county leadership seems increasingly focused on performative politics and trendy social initiatives that make headlines but don’t fill potholes.
We’re not saying community conversations aren’t valuable. They are. But when those conversations are prioritized over maintaining the roads our buses run on or the roofs over our students’ heads, it becomes an exercise in virtue-signaling rather than actual service.
Podcasts don’t solve traffic congestion. They don’t keep kids safe in aging schools. And they don’t help residents when a tree limb crashes through their living room because the county never got around to trimming it.
It’s not racist or heartless to demand priorities that serve all taxpayers. In fact, the families who suffer the most from neglected infrastructure are often the very communities these initiatives claim to serve.
So, Montgomery County: by all means, produce your podcast. But don’t forget to fix the streets your listeners drive on.