Months ago, Washington City Paper ran a blistering piece on the proposed Silver Spring megamall (“Dream On,” 4/5). The gist of the piece was that Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan and the political establishment in the county were saps for Triple Five, the Canadian development corporation that proposed the megamall and that had built the Mall of America. Triple Five would stick the county with a big bill, and the county was too awe-struck by billionaires to say no, the article essentially argued.

City Paper must have been just as flabbergasted as the developers when County Executive Duncan deep-sixed the Triple Five project. However, those of us who live in Montgomery County could see it coming. Triple Five said a few weeks ago that it wanted $300 million in public help, and Duncan said no way. Duncan wants to promote business in Montgomery County, but that doesn’t mean he wants to sell the store.

So far, City Paper’s foray into Montgomery County political reporting produced an article

that missed the mark by about

180 degrees. What do you do for an encore?

Chevy Chase, Md.

via the Internet