Friday, January 31, 2025
Thai Express opening at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda
Thai food aficionados distraught by the recent departure of Ruby Thai Kitchen from Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda can dry their tears. Westfield is bringing in Thai Express, which will open this summer. You'll have no trouble finding your new Thai spot at the mall when it opens. Thai Express will be in Ruby Thai Kitchen's former space in the Dining Terrace food court, next to Charleys Philly Steaks. "Coming soon" signage has been posted in front of that stall ahead of construction.
Virginia created twice as many jobs as Maryland in 2024
The year-end job creation numbers from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics are a total humiliation again for the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County. Our rival across the Potomac River, Virginia, created twice as many jobs as Maryland in 2024. Virginia added 76,900 jobs last year, while Maryland created a paltry 38,400 jobs by comparison. In the closing month of December 2024, Virginia added 4,900 new jobs, while Maryland added a laughable 200. That's a 2 with only two zeros after it.
“Virginia’s labor market continues to demonstrate resilience and growth, with a strong increase in nonfarm payrolls, a growing labor force, and low unemployment,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said in a statement. “Our commitment to business-friendly policies, reducing costs, and fostering innovation has created an environment where both Virginia companies and Virginians can thrive.”
Virginia was named America's top state for business in 2024 by both CNBC and Business Facilities magazine. The latter is a professional journal covering the topic of corporate headquarters relocation. While the Old Dominion has added multiple major and Fortune 500 corporate HQs this century, Maryland was a loser in all of those competitions. Among those choosing Virginia over Maryland were Northrop Grumman, Nestle, Intelsat, Lidl, Gerber, Volkswagen, Amazon, and Hilton Hotels. Here in Montgomery County alone, our elected officials have failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over 25 years.
Who can forget the Montgomery County Council laser-focusing on a bill to ban circus animals on the very day that Discovery Communications was sealing the deal with two other states to move their HQ from MoCo to their cities? Or the Council canceling the biggest transportation project in White Flint on the very day that Amazon representatives were touring that area during their HQ2 search, which we lost to...Virginia? Scrapping your biggest transportation project the same day that a logistics-obsessed firm like Amazon is visiting: Sheer genius! Heckuva job, Brownie!
While Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) is promising higher taxes and fees, and a 75-cent charge on every Amazon and food delivery order, Youngkin is asking the Virginia legislature to cut taxes on his constituents and businesses. Virginia has made major investments in new transportation infrastructure and site development, all while keeping taxes lower than Maryland.
Maryland elected officials, by contrast, have blocked every meaningful congestion relief project, and have directed Maryland State Highway Administration officials to increase congestion by placing absurdly-low speed limits on major commuting state highways. They've even ordered MDSHA to remove vehicle lanes from many of those highways, including Old Georgetown Road, Georgia Avenue, and University Boulevard in Montgomery County alone.
Rather than invest in site development for corporate campuses, and high-wage research and manufacturing facilities, MoCo and Maryland leaders have instead turned such valuable land over to their developer sugar daddies for new stack-and-pack residential housing. Taxes? Nobody in the region pays more than Montgomery County taxpayers.
Given the history of Virginia decimating Maryland in job creation this century, the only surprising thing about the 2024 numbers is that yet another historic drubbing of Montgomery County and Maryland officials is not being covered by the local media. Failure and incompetence are never brought to busy voters' attention. We can still enjoy the irony that Montgomery County's international business trips are - bizarrely - most often to Communist countries like China and Cuba, but that failures in policy and economic growth of the magnitude we find in Maryland often result in removal, or even jail, in those nations.
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Taxpayers pay for IMF, World Bank staffers' enrollment at posh Montgomery County country club
Bretton Woods country club at 15700 River Road in Germantown is in the spotlight, after the New York Post reported that staffers for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank enjoy free enrollment there as a job perk. Employees of either institution have the $12,000-$20,000 initiation fee for membership waived at the expense of U.S. taxpayers, who provide the largest financial contributions to both agencies. Two members of the IMF sit on the club's board of directors, the Post revealed. 80% of the club's 1300 members are now staffers from the IMF or World Bank. The Post report suggested that the lavish perk could make the IMF and World Bank juicy targets for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE spending-cut effort.
Road rage attack in Rockville
An apparent episode of road rage ended in assault at a busy Rockville intersection on January 25, 2025, Rockville City police report. The victim was waiting in traffic at the crossroads of Darnestown Road and W. Montgomery Avenue around noon that day. A man unknown to the victim allegedly approached and assaulted the victim, before fleeing in a "white or off-white sedan, possibly a Toyota Corolla." The motive for the alleged attack is not known at this time.
Police describe the suspect as an Asian male in his early 30s or 40s, who was wearing a beige hoodie at the time of the attack. If you can identify the suspect, or witnessed the incident, you are asked to call police at 240-314-8900.
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
2 robberies in 24 hours at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda
Montgomery County police were busy at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda as the last week in January began. Officers responded to two robberies in 24 hours at the popular retail center at 7101 Democracy Boulevard. A strong-arm robbery was reported at the mall on Sunday, January 26, at 6:30 PM. Less than 24 hours later, on Monday, January 27, a second robbery was called in at 12:40 PM. A business at the mall was the victim in that robbery. The tenant has not yet been identified. An unspecified weapon was implied or employed in the second robbery, but it was not a gun.
Montgomery Mall had nearly made it to the end of the first month of 2025 without a violent crime taking place there. Eleven assaults were reported at the mall in 2024, up from five in 2023. The last assault was on November 12, 2024. A new leadership team was brought into the mall by parent company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield ten days later. The peak holiday shopping period from Black Friday through Christmas then passed uneventfully, in terms of crime. Only the typical shoplifting calls expected at any mall during the holiday season were reported during that time. January had likewise been violent-crime-free, until this past Sunday.
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Maryland restaurants aren't going out of business fast enough, lawmakers in Annapolis say
Maryland's restaurants aren't going out of business fast enough, lawmakers in the state's capital of Annapolis say, and a pair of Democrats in the legislature have a plan to speed up the process. On top of previous hikes to the state's minimum wage, which have been a factor in many restaurant closures and staff reductions statewide, their new bill would create a 2026 ballot question asking voters to approve a minimum wage of $20-an-hour. If approved by voters, the question would also force restaurant owners to pay that $20 wage to tipped workers, as well. The bill is expected to be taken up by the Democrat-controlled Maryland House and Senate next month.
Montgomery County was the vanguard of the proletariat in the effort to raise the minimum wage in the previous decade. The Montgomery County Council was warned by business owners, the Maryland Retailers Association, and the Restaurant Association of Maryland that a significant wage increase would put many enterprises out of business. Their predictions came to pass, as Montgomery's already-moribund economy was slammed by the higher wage requirements, higher taxes and new regulations, and the Council's disastrous "Nighttime Economy" initiative that ended up destroying the nighttime economy. Bars, stores, and restaurants that had endured for thirty or fifty years, serving multiple generations of Montgomery County residents, were suddenly closing left and right.
The nightlife scene in Bethesda looks starkly different from what it was prior to the last decade. In fact, you can't really look at it at all, because it no longer exists. Along with record numbers of restaurant failures countywide, at least 24 nightspots closed in Bethesda alone. Downtown Bethesda's streets are now dark and lonesome after 9:00 PM.
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Demolition of Regal Cinemas Bethesda 10 cineplex in 2017 |
The impact of the Council's "Nighttime Economy" catastrophe in Bethesda was capped off when Barnes and Noble closed, and the Council allowed the town's only major cineplex to be demolished, without requiring the developer to replace the theater - even though the Minor Master Plan Amendment that permitted the demolition provided the Council with the authority to impose just such a requirement. The public plaza outside the former bookstore that previously teemed with crowds during warm weather was suddenly deserted. A "spaces available" sign outside the public parking garage at Bethesda Row that usually read "FULL" during the peak dinnertime hours now showed hundreds of spaces available. The counter was eventually deactivated to cover up the embarrassment.
There are now not only fewer restaurants in Montgomery County, but fewer restaurant workers, as well. Fast food establishments that haven't closed now sport touchscreens that eliminate the number of workers needed to man (or woman) the counter. Chains like McDonald's are on the verge of total automation, only slowed by the open revolt a speedy conversion to this technology would spur among unions, and the mainstream press that already delights in bashing restaurant chains that allow working class people to eat cheaply without government welfare assistance.
Many writing for the "Buzz Insider"-style websites, and even more among the world of TikTok "influencers," were fooled into believing McDonald's' new CosMc's concept is a super-cool place to film yourself waiting in an hour-long line of cars, to get a million video views of yourself making moronic faces while sipping a Sour Cherry Energy Burst. In reality, it is a test run for the "Fight for $25" future, a future of a single supervising employee monitoring an array of robots serving precisely-made Big Macs and Egg McMuffins.
Along with Governor Wes Moore's proposal to raise taxes on the "rich," the proposed wage hike will indeed speed up the bankruptcy process for mom-and-pop restaurants across Maryland. Restaurants - and most retail - are very slim profit margin businesses to start with. The margin is even slimmer in hellaciously-anti-business counties like Montgomery. Having elected officials who don't understand this, or much of anything about how business works, is always potentially fatal to the independent entrepreneur in MoCo and Maryland.
This financial illiteracy among our elected officials leads to measures such as the higher taxes, fees, and wages being proposed fast and furiously in Annapolis this month. It leads to a state where many elected officials and government employees end up making more money annually than the private businesses they regulate. But as we've seen already in Montgomery County, which fell from its lofty perch among the Forbes "Top Ten Richest Counties in America" list during MoCo's purge of the free enterprise system last decade, the more you pile on the taxes and wage hikes, the less revenue you get. Taxation is not only theft, but generates diminishing returns as rates increase. The more you squeeze, the less you get.
Montgomery County has already reached rock bottom in the D.C. region, or close to it, in every significant economic development category compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even Gov. Moore has admitted Maryland's economy is stagnant, and its economic and job numbers lag far behind the national average since 2017. Yet, Annapolis wants to again join Rockville in amplifying the assault on the small businessperson even further. The question for our representatives in Annapolis this year is, "How much lower do you want to go?"
Monday, January 27, 2025
Chateau de Rockville bakery cafe update (Photos)
Here's an update on the Chateau de Rockville bakery and cafe, currently under construction at 1701 Rockville Pike at The Shops at Congressional Village. Permanent signage has just been installed above the storefront. They are hoping to open in February or March 2025. Yes, this is a sister location to the existing Chateau de Chantilly in Virginia. It will be right next door to another recent addition to the property, the Teso Life store.
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Nothing Bundt Cakes opens in Rockville
Nothing Bundt Cakes is now open at 1032 Rockville Pike at Edmonston Crossing. The popular cake appeared in America back in the 1950s, but the innovation was really the pan that molds the cake's shape. Nordic Ware added a "t" to the German word "bund" for a pan that was designed to help a Jewish women's group in Minneapolis replicate a traditional, ring-shaped kugelhopf cake. Success on that effort was followed by wider adoption of the shape and recipe after a Bundt cake won the Pillsbury Bake-Off competition in 1966.
Thirty-one years later, Dena Tripp and Debbie Shwetz founded Nothing Bundt Cakes in Las Vegas. Today, it is the top specialty cake company in America, with over 600 locations. The Rockville location is open from 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM from Monday through Saturday, and from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Sundays. The opening here is great timing, as the chain is currently featuring a Reese's Chocolate Peanut Butter cake "while supplies last." It doesn't get any better than that!
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Rockville construction update: The Pinnacle (Photos)
The Pinnacle, a senior living apartment complex, is now about four stories above street level in White Flint. Located at 11565 Old Georgetown Road, it will eventually rise to 17 stories. Inside will be 113 independent living apartments, 40 assisted-living units, and 48 units reserved for memory care and early-stage-dementia Bridge patients. Residents who are still independent will be right across the road from dining, shopping, and entertainment at Pike & Rose, and walking distance to the White Flint Metro station. The building itself will have its own 15,000-square-feet of restaurant and retail space, and will appear outwardly as a luxury apartment building, rather than a retirement or nursing facility. Developer Silverstone Senior Living anticipates a Q2 2026 delivery for the project.
Friday, January 24, 2025
Assault inside Rockville parking garage
Montgomery County police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault inside a parking garage at Pike & Rose on Rockville Pike last night, January 23, 2025. The assault was reported at 8:37 PM. Police were called to the Trade Street garage at 11860 Trade Street at the property.
Rockville police apprehend alleged hit-and-run driver who struck 3 pedestrians in 2023
Rockville City police, in cooperation with other local law enforcement agencies, have located and arrested a Gaithersburg man they allege struck 3 pedestrians with his vehicle outside of 199 E. Montgomery Avenue in Rockville on December 14, 2023. The driver of the dark SUV that struck the victims drove away after what detectives determined was a deliberate vehicular attack. Police identified Walter Giovanni Marquez-Aviles, 44, of Gaithersburg as the suspect in the attack.
Yesterday at 10:15 AM, police located and arrested Marquez-Aviles in Hyattsville, Maryland. He has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and three counts of 1st-degree assault.
Rockville police thanked the public for their many tips that assisted with the investigation, and successful apprehension of the suspect. They also thanked the agencies that assisted, including the Montgomery County Police Department Repeat Offender Unit, and the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Task Force.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Bartaco opening Rockville restaurant
Tacos will soon be back on the menu at Pike & Rose on Rockville Pike. Bartaco has just signed to open its first Maryland location in the former Nada space at 11886 Grand Park Avenue, according to signage posted in the windows. The national chain currently has restaurants in our region in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. A mostly-Mexican menu will have a few Korean dishes mixed in.
"With a white-washed interior, wanderlust-inspiring photography on the walls, woven basket light fixtures, and a sprawling bar at the center, [Bartaco] feels like it might belong on a beach in South America," Nashville Lifestyles wrote of its dining experience. The Reston Bartaco has a 4.2 out of 5 stars rating on Yelp, and the Bartaco at The Wharf holds a 3.8 star average.
Maryland legislature blocks public from testifying at hearing on Fairness in Girls' Sports Act
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Maryland Del. Kathy Szeliga (R) |
When is a public hearing not a public hearing? When the public is not allowed to testify at the hearing. That's going to be the case in Room 130 of the House Office Building in Annapolis on January 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM, when the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on House Bill HB156, the Fairness in Girls' Sports Act. The hearing is one of several at which the committee has barred the public from being able to offer oral testimony. Only the sponsor of the bill, Del. Kathy Szeliga (R), will be allowed to testify during the hearing.
"I’m disappointed to inform you that the Committee has decided to NOT ALLOW oral testimony from citizens during the hearing," Szeliga wrote in an email to constituents yesterday. "This means I will be the sole voice presenting the overwhelming support this issue has garnered across Maryland. The positive response to my recent op-ed in The Baltimore Sun—spanning all demographics and party lines—demonstrates how much this common-sense legislation resonates with Marylanders."
If passed, HB156 would require "certain interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams or sports sponsored by certain schools to be expressly designated based on biological sex; prohibiting certain entities from taking certain adverse actions against a school for maintaining separate interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams and sports for students of the female sex; and providing that certain individuals have the right to bring a civil action under certain circumstances."
This proposal might delight or enrage you. Either way, your voice will not be heard during the hearing,
We've seen in recent years that, as more citizens become engaged on certain issues like zoning and school curriculums, governing bodies put greater and greater restrictions on speech and participation in public hearings. The Montgomery County Council began to place a limit on the number of citizens who could speak during public hearings, for example, when this was never done in the past. In contrast, public hearings before the Washington, D.C. City Council and some jurisdictions in Northern Virginia literally continue into the night, until every person who wished to speak has been heard. Across the country, citizens have been given less time to speak, and even face eviction or arrest if their 1st Amendment-protected speech triggers megalomaniacal elected officials.
Those who wish to submit written testimony on HB156 can still use these instructions, and register to submit their comments, or to simply check a box that indicates support or opposition. But as any experienced activist can tell you, there is no substitute for the power of - and greater public and media attention to - oral testimony at hearings. Which is why your elected officials are trying to silence your voice - literally.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Pelicana Chicken opens in Rockville
The King of Chicken has ascended the throne in Rockville. Pelicana Chicken is now open at 4 N. Washington Street at the Courthouse Center shopping center. The Korean chicken restaurant has already racked up 17 reviews on Google, with a perfect 5-star score. Many reviewers declared this is the best Korean chicken spot in town. Diners also praised the other authentic Korean dishes on the menu, as well as the atmosphere with K-pop music, a photo booth, and ample television screens.
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Subway "coming soon" to Montgomery Mall in Bethesda
Subway is "coming soon" to Westfield Montgomery Mall, signage just installed at its future space in the Dining Terrace food court promises. I broke the news that sandwich artists will soon be preparing America's favorite sub sandwiches at the mall back in September 2024. Subway replaces longtime tenant J. Chow in the food court. Construction on the conversion of J. Chow to Subway is now getting started behind the wall, and the signage promises a spring 2025 opening.
Specs New York closes at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda
Specs New York has closed at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Signage has been removed from above the storefront. The sunglasses retailer first opened at the mall in 2014. It temporarily closed at least a couple of times in the first four years of its tenancy at the mall, so another return can't entirely be ruled out. Specs appears to be the latest victim of the moribund Montgomery County economy, as this is the only of the chain's locations nationwide to be closing.
Kelly's Cajun Grill temporarily closed at Montgomery Mall due to gas problem
Kelly's Cajun Grill had to temporarily close yesterday at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Located in the Dining Terrace food court, the restaurant cited a "gas supply interruption" as the reason for the closure. A specific day or time for reopening was not given, but it promised to "reopen as soon as possible," so it could reopen as early as today. It's always best to call ahead in this situation, if this is the only reason you are going to the mall. The gas issue did not seem to impact the other tenants around it in the food court last evening.
Monday, January 20, 2025
Man charged in Rockville double homicide
Montgomery County police have arrested a man in connection with a double homicide that took place in the early morning hours of Friday, January 17, 2025 in Rockville. The shocking incident first came to the attention of law enforcement when a County police officer was driving along Shady Grove Road at 3:16 AM, and noticed a vehicle stopped in the intersection with Research Boulevard. Inside the white BMW, the officer found Marcell Jordan Hebron, 26, of Rockville. The officer determined that Hebron was deceased. Bullet holes were visible in the windshield of the BMW.
About four hours later, at 7:40 AM, Rockville City police received a call from a nearby parking lot at 2 Research Court. The caller advised there was a dead body in the parking lot. Rockville officers arrived at the scene to find Leilani Marroquin, 27, of Rockville. Marroquin was also deceased. Officers noted she had suffered gunshot wounds, and recovered shell casings in the immediate vicinity.
Montgomery County police detectives investigating both deaths determined they were homicides. They identified Kaloyan Dimov Stoev, 25, of no fixed address, as the suspect in both homicides. By noon on Friday, detectives had located Stoev at an unspecified location in Rockville, and placed him under arrest. Stoev was transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, where he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, and additional handgun related charges. He is being held without bond. A GoFundMe fundraiser has been established to pay funeral expenses for the victims and their families.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Trump Metro commemorative inauguration farecard sells out in Montgomery County
Democrats may hold every elected office in Montgomery County, but a collectible Inauguration of Donald Trump Metro farecard sold like hotcakes at its subway stations last week. By Saturday, the Trump SmarTrip cards had sold out at every station selling them within Montgomery County. WMATA has now announced that the Trump card has sold out at all D.C.-area Metro stations, but the transit agency will make a limited new batch of them available at the Metro Center station on Monday, Inauguration Day - again, while supplies last.
It appears most buyers intend to hold onto their cards as keepsakes, as relatively few are being listed on eBay for resale. At the time of this writing, resale prices on the site are running from $17.50 to $470. Trump grew his voter support significantly in Montgomery County in 2024, over his results in 2020 and 2016.
The President-Elect, Melania Trump, and their son Barron Trump arrived in the D.C. area last night, deplaning in total darkness, apparently for security reasons, before enjoying a fireworks display at Trump's golf club in Northern Virginia. Donald Trump must surely also be enjoying word of his farecard selling out in far-left Montgomery County. Trump places great importance on TV ratings, poll numbers, sales, and other measures of success in each of his ventures.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Rockville's newest neighborhood under construction (Photos)
Rockville's newest neighborhood, the Farmstead District, is now well under construction on the former site of King Buick GMC at 16200 Frederick Road and adjoining lots. A sales center is open, and offering tours of completed model homes. Two developers have partnered at the Farmstead District: EYA, which is constructing luxury townhomes with available elevators, and Pulte, which is offering 2-level condominiums and 4-level townhomes. "The Barn," a community center inspired by the barn at the historic adjacent farmstead, is also visible and taking shape now at the site. Among its amenities for residents to enjoy will be a fitness center, seasonal pool, fire pit, and multiple seating areas.
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"The Barn" community center |