The Westmore bus depot contract the County Council wrought - what's their next move Tuesday? (Photos)

A picture is worth a thousand words - and here are pictures of the contract Montgomery County quietly signed to purchase 1000 Westmore Avenue for use as a school bus parking facility. 10 acres of undeveloped land in an industrial wasteland cost you, the taxpayer, $12 million at the same time that the County Council was raising your taxes to the highest level in history, and County employees were denied the wage increases guaranteed by their labor contracts.

As the Council prepares to take up the larger controversial issue of the County's "Smart Growth Initiative," and its requirement to find a new location for the Shady Grove bus depot, there are 3 things to watch for in Tuesday's worksession:

1. Will the County Council apologize to the affected communities, and admit that their votes brought us to this point?

Councilmembers, like hack actors ill-prepared for the role of a lifetime, attempted to pose as heroes-to-the rescue once the Carver Coalition was formed to fight a bus depot proposed for the Carver Educational Services Center in Rockville. Problem is, the County Council are the very people who voted to approve funding for the land acquisition, design and construction of bus depots at Carver and Westmore.

That's right. The contract you see here was the direct result of a 2015 vote by the County Council, which provided the funds the County Department of General Services used to purchase the Westmore site. Whoops!

Likewise, a February 9, 2016 resolution passed unanimously by the County Council provided funds for the design and construction of a bus depot at Carver. Councilmember George Leventhal conveniently forgot about that vote when he appeared as a crusader for justice at a Carver-related public meeting. He proclaimed to have nothing to do with the Carver fiasco. When a citizen confronted him with the text of the February 9 resolution, and asked him to read it aloud, Leventhal refused to do so.

Leventhal later stated he had not read the resolution before voting for it, an incredible statement any way you slice it. Our councilmembers don't read the bills and resolutions they vote for?! Unreal.

The Council didn't admit their role then, and they haven't since. Tomorrow is a fabulous opportunity for them to belatedly admit that they alone had the true power to create this fiasco via these two votes, and their longtime support for the insane idea known as the "Smart Growth Initiative." Don't just bash DGS for an hour, own up to your major role in this mess.

2. Will Tuesday just be a back-and-forth between DGS, MCPS and the Council, which loves to hear itself talk? Or will the civic association leaders and municipal elected officials of Rockville and Gaithersburg have a seat at the table, as well?

3. Will the Council end the discussion by pulling the plug on the Smart Growth Initiative, by committing to not signing the Declaration of No Further Need for the existing bus depot on Crabbs Branch Way, thereby risking legal action by the developer?

What the Council hasn't admitted so far, but has a chance to acknowledge tomorrow, is that there is no acceptable site to relocate 410 school buses to within the borders of Montgomery County. Period.

The County has reviewed 200 properties in the desperate search for a depot. Choosing two adjacent to residential neighborhoods at Carver and Westmore proves the point that there is no dream site - otherwise, they wouldn't have risked the political uproar they now face.

Every single site discussed and dismissed in the past was in a residential area, from Potomac to the Webb Tract in Montgomery Village. Every community fought back, and they'll fight back on the Gude landfill (Derwood homes are directly adjacent) and Public Safety Academy (North Potomac homes are across the street) sites if DGS goes there next.

Only by pulling the plug will the County be unable to use the Westmore site for school bus parking. Of course, then the County (a.k.a. you, the taxpayer) will face legal action from the developer, and the costs and payouts that might entail. There again, the Council must be held accountable for its reckless actions in the Smart Growth/bus depot debacle. There must be consequences for their actions.

Tuesday is not a day for the Council to toast themselves as heroes, but a day to begin to face the music for their disregard for their constituents, and for prioritizing developers over people in Montgomery County.

Rockville HDC recommends listing New Mark Commons on National Register of Historic Places

The Rockville Historic District Commission voted last night to recommend that the New Mark Commons development be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. John Hansman, President of the New Mark Commons HOA, said his community's addition to the list would be perfect timing for its 50th anniversary next year.

Hansman testified that the process began when he met a woman at his Bethesda church who had led the effort to list Carderock Springs. That Bethesda community just west of the Capital Beltway along River Road was also built by New Mark Commons' developer, Edmund J. Bennett.

Not everyone is on board for the honor, however. One NMC resident, who said he was also representing several neighbors who couldn't attend, expressed concerns about the impact of the designation. Many in teh community were not aware this process was underway, he said. There is a substantial amount of deferred maintenance in the community, he reported, such as wooden fences that need to be repaired or replaced. He feared that being added to the list would be used as an excuse to not keep the community looking fresh.

HDC Chair Rob Achtmeyer said maintenance issues are a problem in any aging community. He said that code enforcement by the City could address any of those upkeep problems that violate City code. Achtmeyer and preservation planner Sheila Bashiri assured the resident that he and his neighbors would have the opportunity to address the listing when the matter goes before the Mayor and Council, and when it is taken up by the Maryland Historical Trust. They also attempted to distinguish this honorary designation from the more-complicated historic designation, which requires approvals to make exterior changes to your home.

Commissioner Jessica Reynolds said she was comfortable that the community had been informed, and the commission voted to recommend the community be added to the list.

Planning Board disapproves Montgomery County acquisition of Westmore Ave. bus parking site

"They're trying to

strangle us"

Montgomery County Planning Board commissioners lambasted the County's Department of General Services' plan to acquire the WINX property at 1000 Westmore Avenue in Rockville, before voting to disapprove the acquisition. Their comments followed testimony by Rockville's mayor, residents, and civic leaders, which outlined a questionable process and a lack of transparency by the County. Commissioners were also shocked to learn that the DGS had secretly signed a sales contract with the landowner of 1000 Westmore on April 28, just days before requesting a mandatory referral review by the Board.

"It looks like the horse is already out of the barn," Commissioner Norman Dreyfuss said, after reviewing a copy of the executed contract submitted moments earlier by Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton. DGS, it became apparent, had not even shared the existence of the contract with the Planning Department. "The County is going to acquire this property, or default on the contract," Dreyfuss said.

Under the mandatory referral process, even the disapproval of the Board last night will not prevent the County from moving forward with its acquisition, and expected use as school bus parking for Montgomery County Public Schools. The County is desperately searching for several bus parking sites, so it can sell the existing MCPS bus depot in Shady Grove to a developer in a deal known as the "Smart Growth Initiative."

But powerful testimony by Lincoln Park residents showed the politically-treacherous road ahead for County politicians if they decide to press on with the Westmore plan.

"As far back as I can remember, we have been struggling to live in peace in Lincoln Park, and every few years we are fighting some monster that is threatening our security," said Fran Hawkins, a 69 year resident. "When they closed historic Lincoln Park High School (Lincoln High School opened in 1935 to serve black students shut out of County high schools by segregation), they parked buses there for decades," she noted of the MCPS Stonestreet Avenue property now home to decaying trailers. Those trailers replaced the buses when the County moved the depot to 16651 Crabbs Branch Way in Shady Grove, she recalled.

Of the County's abuse of her neighborhood, Hawkins said, “they’ve strangled us. They’re trying to strangle us. That’s the only way i can put it.”

A resident of Douglas Avenue noted that Lincoln Park is a 125-year-old community, and its streets were not well-planned or wide enough to handle hundreds of large buses passing in and out of the neighborhood. She said the quiet existence of the $12 million DGS contract and the way it has handled the process were "disturbing." She questioned how much DGS Deputy Director Greg Ossont actually knew about the community, after he was quoted in the newspaper as saying the buses would not be using neighborhood streets to reach main roads.

In fact, many criticized Ossont for refusing to meet with residents or visit the neighborhood in person, including commissioners. Suzan Pitman, President of the East Rockville Civic Association, said Ossont never even responded to her personal invitation, only sending a mass form email that went to multiple residents yesterday. She questioned how the County could afford to pay $12 million dollars for 10 acres of unimproved property, while having told teachers they wouldn't receive their full raise in FY-2017.

Most residents of the area near 1000 Westmore are "working class," and unable to hire attorneys to fight the County, Pitman said. And those residents are now disillusioned with County officials, she added. "Whatever trust we had that they were looking out for the best interests of residents is gone.”

Another nearby resident who is a teacher in MCPS, said she is tired of her neighborhood being "the disposal for everything the County doesn't want. It's not fair."

"No, we do not want the buses right across from our homes," declared Gladys Lyons of Ashley Avenue, who said she didn't want to "stand on my front porch and look directly over at the buses," and hear horns honking a 4:00 AM when buses start up in the winter.

Such an outcome is "a deplorable idea," said her neighbor, Virginia Cooper, whose husband has lived there more than 50 years. The thought of hundreds of school buses turning at the corner there "gives me shivers," Cooper said.

A Frederick Avenue resident didn't want to think of that, either. "I can't imagine what it will be like to have buses zipping up and down," she said. She opposes the land acquisition “because of the way it’s been done," with no transparency. She professed to be “skeptical of the County for very good reason,” citing the failure of MCPS to clear its own Stonestreet Avenue sidewalk of snow for 10 days this past winter.

Alexandra Destinito, VP of the Lincoln Park Civic Association, said her development is "the best kept secret in town" despite being near the railroad, a Washington Gas facility, "132 ugly rusting trailers" at the MCPS site on Stonestreet, and cut-through traffic from Gude Drive. "Now MCPS would like to add the bus depot," she said. The land swap at Shady Grove is called "smart growth," she said. "Smart for whom?"

Theresa Defino, a Rockville Housing Enterprises (RHE developed Legacy at Lincoln Park) commissioner, said, "this is some sort of otherworldly crazy puppet show going on." She asked the Board to "please do us all a favor and admit the emperor’s got no clothes here.”

The solidarity with Lincoln Park and East Rockville was joined by Christina Ginsberg of the Twinbrook Civic Association, who noted her community's "strong opposition" to the Westmore plan. "We have watched in dismay as MCPS has brought forward 3 sites in Rockville," Ginsberg said, also expressing Twinbrook's opposition to depots at Carver or at the Blair Ewing Center on Avery Road. All three sites are also opposed by the Aspen Hill Civic Association, she said, which submitted a letter to the Board indicating Aspen Hill's opposition.

Ginsberg criticized County Executive Ike Leggett's suggestion to communities opposing bus depots in their neighborhood to come up with another site themselves. "“I find this tactic extremely offensive,” she said. County officials "spectacularly failed in their jobs. It is not up to the citizens to do their jobs for them," she added.

Also supporting Lincoln Park was former Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo, now the President of the West End Citizens Association, and an active opponent of the Carver depot plan. He calculated that if MCPS stuck to its plan to park 100 buses at Carver, it would leave the other 310 to park at Westmore. Giammo invited commissioners to imagine they were residents of Ashley Avenue if that came to pass.

"What is the typical morning going to be like for you," Giammo asked. It would begin at 6:00 AM, he said, when all 310 buses would be started up and left to idle. 310 horns would honk, and 310 back-up beepers would sound, as those are two of the required tests run on every bus each morning. Those sounds would start at 4:00 on frigid winter mornings, he said.

310 bus drivers would all arrive by car into the neighborhood, Giammo said. Then 310 buses would begin to roll off the site, and not always via the routes MCPS is telling the public it will use now. "I can pretty much guarantee you most of these buses are going to go to the west and the south," Giammo predicted, "and they’re going to use residential streets to get there."

Giammo also criticized the process, calling the manner in which Leggett and his staff have approached the issue "profoundly disappointing," as well as the contract "that just shows up out of nowhere."

The timing of that contract in relation to the mandatory referral process "raises serious questions," Newton said. She noted the documents refer to a "land swap. What land is being swapped?" Newton questioned the placement of bus parking 50' away from homes, as well as the challenge of getting WSSC water and sewer service to the site. How can the County justify all of the impacts of moving the depot “simply to free up space to build more homes," she asked.

Newton has sought to avoid neighborhoods within the City from being pitted against each other in this contentious process, with multiple sites targeted by the County. The City provided bus transportation last night to assist residents who otherwise would have been unable to travel to speak in Silver Spring.

The citywide response, and emotional testimony, clearly swayed commissioners. "It’s really hard not to be extremely troubled by what the residents have brought forth,” said commissioner Amy Presley. She said she was not aware of the history of County abuse of the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Commissioners Marye Wells-Hartley and Natali Fani-Gonzalez strongly rebuked the County for both its proposal, and its lack of transparency, community outreach and respect for the residents.

Chair Casey Anderson
admonished County residents
and community leaders to
"step up to the plate."
Huh?
What about the six-figure
salaried County officials and
deep-pocketed developers
who were tasked with finding a
depot site?

Board chair Casey Anderson took an oddly-different approach, partially defending the widely-thought-to-be indefensible County actions - while saying he was not defending them. “As opposed to everybody walking out of here saying ‘shame on the County,' " he said, residents should be asking themselves what they are going to do to help find a new depot. This was doubly strange, given that Ginsberg had earlier called similar admonishments by Leggett "extremely offensive."

Rockville "has a responsibility like the rest of us do," Anderson continued. "How are you going to help the county figure out where to put some of [the buses]? Step up to the plate.” Anderson challenged the leaders of Rockville and Gaithersburg to "exercise some political leadership," in having their jurisdictions be part of the solution. Residents across the County shouldn't say, “not here, not there, no not there either," Anderson scolded. "The buses need a place to park!”

For her part, Newton said the City is indeed ready to work with all parties to help find a permanent solution to the bus depot crisis. She mentioned the former Gude Drive landfill, and the soon-to-be-vacated County Public Safety Training Center, as two potential sites. Both sites would almost certainly face opposition from residents in Derwood and North Potomac, respectively.

Will the residents of Grinnell Dr.
and Dubuque Ct.
"step up to the plate" for hundreds
of horns honking at 6 AM?
Not likely 

Will the folks
in these North Potomac
houses across from the
Public Safety Academy warm
to horn blasts at 4 AM on
frigid mornings? Don't
bank on it

The ball is now in the County Council's court for its discussion of the bus depot debacle next Tuesday. They voted to fund depots at Carver and Westmore, but have tried to sweep those votes under the rug. The reality is, they got us this far and created this mess along with Leggett.

Now the only way out - unless you believe that the County's review of 200 properties countywide somehow missed a "dream bus depot site" - is to either face the wrath of voters by placing these depots over their objections, or to risk the legal consequences of forcing the County to back out of the Shady Grove deal by refusing to approve the Declaration of No Further Need for the existing depot.

This will be entertaining political theater, indeed.

Chestnut Lodge staff report outlines options for handling revised plan submitted by developer

JNP Chestnut Lodge, LLC is legally allowed to submit a revised project plan amendment under City of Rockville code Sec. 25.07.07.14, Final Project Plan Application, a staff report posted ahead of Monday's Mayor and Council discussion says. The only question is how the revised plan should be handled. That plan was submitted on June 1, and some residents and historic preservation advocates have complained that they were not notified of the new plans by the developer.

Rockville's zoning chief Jim Wasilak has the authority to determine whether a revised plan requires additional steps and notification, or even has to be submitted as an entirely new application. Wasilak is asking the Mayor and Council to advise him on the process, given that the Mayor and Council will be the determining authority for the plan amendment.

The report says that the review process for the revised plan could consist of some or all of the following options: "written and electronic notification by the applicant as required for application submission and public meetings, an Area Meeting with the community conducted by the applicant, staff Development Review Committee (DRC) review and recommendation, Planning Commission review and recommendation, another Mayor and Council public hearing or another Discussion and Instructions session."

According to the report, the Mayor and Council could even determine that no additional steps are necessary, and then give staff instructions on how to proceed.

The applicant is proposing to reduce the proposed townhome building's footprint to be 10% larger than the historic Chestnut Lodge that stood on the site before it burnt down in a suspicious 2009 fire. And it is asking to reduce the number of townhome units from 7 to 6.

County Council approves WSSC nominee who was sentenced for DWI

The Montgomery County Council, which has talked tough about drunk driving, voted yesterday to approve the nomination of T. Eloise Foster to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Foster was sentenced for driving while impaired, after being pulled over by a Maryland State Trooper on I-95 in 2007.

At the time, Foster retained her position as Maryland's budget secretary despite her sentencing.

Foster is the latest addition to the water and sewer utility with a spotty driving record. WSSC chief Carla Reid has crashed 5 WSSC-issued vehicles, totaling one of them in a rollover wreck on the Capital Beltway, according to The Washington Post.

Earlier this year, County Councilmember Roger Berliner said that "in order to take serious action against reckless, irresponsible and intoxicated drivers, we need legislators in Annapolis to pass measures that go after the people who should not be on the road with real penalties.” The following month, Council President Nancy Floreen wrote, "The Montgomery County Council joins our Police Chief in calling for the State of Maryland to strengthen our laws against drunk and impaired driving,"

Once again, the Montgomery County political cartel has failed to match words with actions.

Rockville Chamber of Commerce to host Community Fun Day on June 26

The Rockville Chamber of Commerce will host its first annual Community Fun Day on Sunday, June 26, 2016 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Rockville Senior Center at 1150 Carnation Drive.

Get ready to meet local businesses, while kids enjoy games and activities. They'll also be able to see police and fire vehicles and meet the first responders who use them. Everyone will enjoy free BBQ.

The event will go forward rain or shine, as the Senior Center has extensive indoor facilities that can be used if necessary. Donations for the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department are not required, but will be welcomed at the event.

Move by Chestnut Lodge developer stirs controversy in Rockville

Revised project plan
rendering of
JNP Chestnut Lodge, LLC's
townhome proposal

Developer JNP Chestnut Lodge, LLC has submitted a revised project plan amendment to the City of Rockville for its proposed townhome development at 500 W. Montgomery Avenue. The move has stirred controversy among residents and elected officials alike.

Last week, a City email stated that a revised plan had been submitted, and that the Mayor and Council would potentially vote on it next Monday, June 20. Subsequently, additional City emails were sent out to clarify that the Mayor and Council would instead be discussing "the review process" for the unusual filing. The original amendment failed to achieve majority support from either the Planning Commission or the Mayor and Council.

 It is now up to the City zoning chief to determine what the appropriate process is to follow in this case.

The email confusion, and the apparent fact that the new revised plan was not shared with any of the parties of record by the developer, brought former mayor and current West End Citizens Association President Larry Giammo and Peerless Rockville Executive Director Nancy Pickard out to address the issue during the Community Forum of last night's Mayor and Council meeting.

During Old/New Business later in the meeting, the Mayor and Council discussed the issue further, but no action was taken in terms of voting. One question debated was whether or not the Mayor and Council should seek advice from outside counsel on the matter, or rely on the City Attorney.

Revised site plan, which
drops the number of units
to 6 townhomes

Of what little information is available as of press time, the revised plan reduces the number of townhomes from seven to six. The controversial rear design, including garages, remains intact. Most of the filing simply makes the case for why this plan complies with both the City master plan and historical preservation standards. By removing one unit, the length of the project is slightly reduced horizontally, but still does not resemble the original lodge. Opponents of the townhome plan have argued that the original agreement between the City and the original developer remains in effect, and requires a multifamily condo building. With Chestnut Lodge having burnt down in 2009, their position is that the developer must replace the former mental institution with a building of similar proportions, and with the type of housing units that the agreement was based upon.

Developer's new building
footprint comparison between
townhome proposal (blue dotted
line) and the original
Chestnut Lodge (grey filled area)

The new footprint in the revised plan now increases 10% over the original lodge's. What the next step is, will be determined by the Mayor and Council next Monday evening.

Town Center parking solutions miss the target for Rockville business owners

"We're basically

slaves now"

The Mayor and Council discussed solutions for the parking woes of merchants and patrons in Rockville's Town Center last night, as a follow-up to a February worksession on the topic. But the proposals outlined did not address the bane of most Town Center business owners - the competitive disadvantage of 24/7 paid parking in Rockville Town Square versus the free parking available at competing developments like Downtown Crown and Rio/Washingtonian Center.

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and councilmembers considered how to improve wayfinding signage, change City-controlled parking meter enforcement policies (such as using yellow cards for a 5-minute grace period), how sign ordinance limitations might prevent more effective parking signage, whether a consultant should be hired and at what cost, returning the popular Wednesday farmers market to Regal Row, restoring holiday banners to the Town Center area, and having regular consultation meetings with business owners and other stakeholders.

But, invited to the podium by Newton to share their initial reactions, several Town Center business owners said the discussion avoided the main issue - the cost of parking in the garages at Rockville Town Square.

"You don't understand how much we're suffering," said the owner of California Tortilla on E. Montgomery Avenue in Regal Row. "We're basically slaves now," to a parking situation that's deterring business, and the high rents they must pay, he said.

Mellow Mushroom owner Danny Trahan suggested the City save money on hiring a consultant, and listen to the business owners instead. Trahan estimated that the current paid parking situation is costing Rockville Town Square businesses $5 million in sales. By allowing free parking at least during strategic times like evenings and weekends, the increased revenue could refill City coffers and pay for free parking, Trahan argued.

Trahan said he is willing to put up money to help solve the problem, if selling advertising space in garages and in the public square would help offset the cost of free parking. He suggested building a dome structure in the square to allow activities to continue during inclement weather, as has been done in Reston Town Center. Advertising could be sold on the structure, as well as on signs in the garages, he said. Trahan said he would be willing to purchase signage in both locations to promote Mellow Mushroom.

Scott Feldman of Giuseppe's Pizza, where some patrons have stopped going because of parking costs and unfair meter ticketing policies, asked the Mayor and Council to compare the activity in Rockville Town Center on weekend nights to that in Downtown Crown and Rio. "You'll see a big difference," he promised. Many have cited the lack of wait times at Town Center restaurants on weekend nights, in comparison to hour-waits at Rio and Crown, as a metric showing how paid parking is killing business.

But landlords in the Town Center were not prepared to cut them a break at the February worksession. None attended last night's discussion. In February, several noted that there's no such thing as free parking. "If [merchants] want to have free parking, they can have free parking, It's just a matter of paying us," Duball, LLC president and principal Marc Dubick, developer of the Upton/Cambria Hotel and Suites building, said then.

Councilmember Julie Palakovich Carr made a very good point, that there are more garages than the ones in Rockville Town Square in Town Center, and that it would be difficult to have a free parking policy that covered all of them.

But the City is in a real parking pickle that could threaten the future of its Town Center, business owners said. Customer counts were down during the Duball construction, and now Hometown Holidays taste ticket redemption is dwindling in recent years, as well, the owner of Ben and Jerry's said. While the City can refuse to take action on the unpopular paid parking that gives Rockville a bad reputation in the region, he acknowledged, it risks finding many of its downtown shops "boarded up" if they go out of business as a result.

Leggett's WSSC nominee sentenced for DWI in 2007

T. Eloise Foster, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett's nominee to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, was sentenced for driving while impaired in Howard County in 2007. She was sentenced to unsupervised probation, alcohol counseling, 10 hours of community service, and fined $200, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Foster was pulled over by a Maryland state trooper on Interstate 95 in Howard in June 2007. She failed several sobriety tests, and was charged. Foster was budget director for the state of Maryland at the time.

Leggett, who was a victim of a drunk driver himself in a 2009 crash, called for tightening drunk driving laws in December 2015. The County Council is scheduled to interview Foster Tuesday morning at 11:00 AM. They are then scheduled to confirm her appointment 55 minutes later.

"The Montgomery County Council joins our Police Chief in calling for the State of Maryland to strengthen our laws against drunk and impaired driving," Council President Nancy Floreen wrote to the Montgomery County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly in February of this year.

Drivers with interesting driving records seem to be joining WSSC often these days. The Washington Post reported that the agency's latest chief was involved in five accidents while driving WSSC vehicles. She totaled one of those WSSC vehicles in a rollover accident on the Capital Beltway, the Post reported.

Rockville neighborhood could be listed on National Register of Historic Places

A process that began in 2012 has culminated in the nomination of New Mark Commons to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, pending review by the Rockville Historic District Commission. That review will take place at the commission's next meeting, on Thursday, June 16.

Listing on the register gives an honorary recognition of the historic significance and character of a place, but does not prevent architectural changes to homes, or require the review of the HDC to make such changes. It does require any project involving federal funds, licenses or permits to be reviewed by the federal agency involved to determine if the project will have an adverse impact on the historic character of the listed property.

Inclusion on the register also makes communities and homeowners eligible for historic preservation grants.

The nomination acknowledges New Mark Commons' place in history as an example of "Situated Modernism."  Builder Edmund J. Bennett and architects Keyes, Lethbridge, & Congdon emphasized open space, amenities and mature trees. The community was promoted as "a Twentieth Century village that's one foot in the future and a step back to a better time." Like its contemporaries Reston and Columbia, it also features a lake, even though it reduced Bennett's profits to build it.

Included in the staff report and attachments are many other interesting details on the development and features of New Mark Commons. It's very much worth a read for those interested in Rockville history, planning, architecture, and the times in which this neighborhood was constructed.

Planning commission approves new Rockville shopping center (Photos)

A plan for a new shopping center at 1401 Research Boulevard got the green light from the Rockville Planning Commission last night. The unanimous vote by commissioners means the Rockshire neighborhood will once again have retail options within walking distance of their homes. And via their bikes, as one of the most-discussed issues was the question of just how great the demand would be for bike parking at this property.

The new shopping center is currently branded as Research Row. It will include a 40,000 square foot fitness center, with swimming pool and full-size basketball court facilities; a drive-thru fast food restaurant close to the Route 28 side of the property; an in-line retail building (the latest term for "strip mall") with office space; and a smaller-than-usual 28560 SF grocery store building (grocery stores can be 60-70,000 SF, or even bigger in the case of Wegmans). Getting a grocery store tenant could be critical to the success of this retail center, with Rockshire having lost its Giant store.

Commissioner David Hill asked the applicant, FP Research Boulevard, LLC, if their fitness center was viable. The city is experiencing "a saturation of fitness facilities," Hill noted.

Adam Davis, a Vice President at Foulger-Pratt, said that the gym structure will be "a pretty generic 40000 square foot box" that could easily be converted to other retail uses, if necessary.

Other concerns included how traffic exiting Hurley Avenue from the site onto inbound W. Montgomery Avenue would affect already-congested rush hour traffic trying to reach I-270, and the dangers of cars trying to turn left onto Research Boulevard from the curb cuts on that side of the property. Signals and striping will be modified for both roads, representatives for the applicant said.

Planning Commission
Chair Charles Littlefield

While not the fault of the applicant, the downsides of a Countywide push by political leaders to replace office parks with residential, and to a lesser extent, retail, surfaced during the nearly-four-hour discussion. The prospect of losing high-wage office and research jobs (one structure removed for this project was a laboratory) did not sit well with commission chair Charles Littlefield. Replacing those high-wage jobs with retail and restaurant positions is "just not good for people's economic well-being," Littlefield said, although he was supportive of the project in general.

A second problem of the conversion - the rest of the office/research facilities (there's a reason the road has its name, after all) are still there. One of them, a biomanufacturing facility that manufactures vaccines, is directly adjacent to the future shopping center.

The site manager for the biomanufacturing facility said unidentified cars and trucks are always a security concern for them as it is. With truck traffic now increasing with the shopping center, that could present a problem. The site manager said their federal contracts depend on having tight security for their facility. It takes four keycard swipes just to get from his car to his office, he said.

Trucks are examined closely for fear that they may contain explosives, and be used in a terrorist attack on their facility, which handles dangerous diseases its vaccines cure or treat. They not only are concerned about the standard terror threats from abroad, he said, but also from the Animal Liberation Front. While their facility has no animals on-site, he said, the ALF could mistakenly believe there were.

Hill said he was "concerned" about the security issues raised by the site manager, who said he was not aware of any facility like his in the region that was this close to a retail center.

I'm hoping that drive-thru restaurant will bring a new fast food brand not currently in Rockville, or at least return one that left town in recent years. "Two menu boards that taper down to one lane at the pickup window" sounds a lot like a common layout at newer McDonald's locations. It would be nice to get a Hardee's, Jack in the Box or White Castle in terms of new ones, or bring back KFC or A&W.

Hill called Research Row "a great addition to this area of the city."

Donate used bikes this weekend in Twinbrook, enjoy a block party

The Rockville Bike Hub is hosting a block party and bicycle drive this Saturday, June 11, outside Revolution Cycles at 5750 Fishers Lane near the Twinbrook Metro station, from 3:00-6:00 PM. They are especially seeking bikes for kids in 1st through 5th grade. Kids get the bikes as a reward for completing a small service project, as part of a project co-sponsored by the City of Rockville.

Adult bikes are also welcome, and will be distributed for training purposes, or for distribution by Bikes for the World.

Get your bike checked or minor repairs when you visit, or try out an E-bike. VisArts will offer bike-themed crafts, and there will be games and activities for the whole family. For the adults, there will also be beer from 7 Locks Brewery. For everyone, there will be food from local restaurants, and live music by modern/classic rock band Shirkaday.

MoCo planning staff recommends disapproval of 1000 Westmore Ave. as bus depot site

A second Rockville site targeted by Montgomery County as a potential school bus depot, 1000 Westmore Avenue, failed to gain approval from staff at the County Planning Department yesterday. The staff report recommends the County Planning Board disapprove the County's request to acquire the site, a proposal to be taken up by the Board at its June 16 meeting.

In the report, staff indicates that they conclude the proposed acquisition of the site by the County for parking school buses there is inconsistent with the County's master plan and the existing zoning of the property. They say the County has failed to provide sufficient information regarding all of the potential impacts on the surrounding residential neighborhood. In absence of that information, staff says they have independently concluded that the noise impact could be far higher with buses than under other light industrial uses in that zone. Other impacts identified by staff include traffic, safety and environmental issues.

Indicative of the rush to acquire any usable site for buses, the result of County elected officials' failure to do so prior to the deadline for turning over the existing Shady Grove bus depot to developers, the County did not submit a Site Selection Study or analysis. Without such a study, staff wrote, they cannot support the acquisition of this - or any other - site by the County for a bus depot or parking lot.

The IM 2.5-H-50 zoning of the Westmore site does not allow industrial uses with excessive noise, dust or other disruptive impacts, and does not require the sort of transportation links that a fleet of buses would need to get in and out of the neighborhood.

In another indication that the County Council did not do its homework, the County Department of General Services Deputy Director Greg Ossont wrote to planners that DGS is using money allocated to it by the Council last summer to buy the Westmore site. All nine councilmembers voted in February to approve funding for design and construction of a bus depot at the other controversial Rockville site, the Carver Educational Services Center. Several councilmembers have now attempted to distance themselves from that vote, claiming they had not read the resolution they voted for.

Were it not for those two actions by the Council (among others), we would not be in this situation today, an embarrassment the Council understandably wants to downplay. Never has "the dog ate my homework" caused so much trouble for so many communities.

Planning staff heard loud and clear from Rockville's Mayor and Council, and residents, that Westmore - like Carver - was completely unacceptable for a depot. The Legacy at Lincoln Park Homeowners Association, the Lincoln Park Civic Association, Rockville Housing Enterprises, and the East Rockville Civic Association were among the formal organizations weighing in against the bus plan for Westmore.

Several letters noted that the bus plan is in conflict with the Lincoln Park neighborhood plan residents collaborated with the City to pass in 2007, which included the intent to phase out industrial uses around the community.

The final decision now rests with the Planning Board.

Should the Board follow the recommendation, and with the Carver proposal on life support, the County will be in full panic mode shortly in its effort to find a site. Ossont has recently indicated the Gude landfill is off the table due to environmental issues. Where to next? Derwood? Avery Road? Darnestown? The plot thickens.

The question now is, which MoCo community is going to be left without a chair when the music stops in this fiasco, unless the Council simply blows up the whole "Smart Growth Initiative" project, allowing the depot to remain at Shady Grove. It is unclear whether they would face legal action from the developer if they were to do so.

Montgomery County has "open data" - until you ask for it

Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer has used the concept of open data ostensibly to promote transparency in government - but more often has used it to promote himself in the local media. Rockville residents seeking answers about why their quiet residential neighborhoods have been selected to receive Montgomery County Public School bus depots are now finding government isn't quite as open as Mr. Riemer boasted.

In December 2014, Riemer touted the County's "new policy of sharing valuable data openly with the public. The new law is a foundation for a new digital strategy for Montgomery County, which I have helped formulate with County Executive Ike Leggett and his superb team."

Was government information open to the public in May 2016? Only if you have $4892 burning a hole in your pocket.

Land-use attorney Michele Rosenfeld made Maryland Public Information Act requests of MCPS and the Montgomery County Department of General Services for all public records relating to the designation of the Carver Educational Services Center parking lot as a bus depot.

On May 23, the DGS informed Rosenfeld that her request would cost $2332 to process. The same day, MCPS told her their charge would be $2560. Even the Mayor and Council of Rockville have been stonewalled by the County and MCPS in seeking information about the bus depot fiasco. In fact, representatives from both declined to show up at a Mayor and Council meeting where the topic was discussed.

How many County government officials does it take to screw in a lightbulb - or, in this case, comply with an MPIA request? At least 8, with at least four apiece from DGS and MCPS, according to the letters.

The result?

County officials either have to grant a public interest waiver - entirely justified under the circumstances, or someone has to come up with $4892 to find out what secret process led to the Montgomery County Council voting in February to fund design and construction of a school bus depot at Carver. Of course, the Council now claims with a straight face that they did not read the resolution before voting for it (the only other alternative being that they did read it, and are lying to their consituents - neither answer is a good one, folks).

On his campaign website, Hans Riemer says, "Montgomery County’s government is YOUR government. You live here. You pay our taxes. You pay the salaries of each and every public employee, including me. You have a right to know what your government is doing. And I have made protecting that right a central part of my work."

In reality? Not so much. Should you have to pay again, to buy the "right to know what your government is doing?"

Should developers get tax cuts as County faces "perfect storm" of development, school overcrowding?

The first public discussion of two proposed massive tax cuts for developers took place before the Montgomery County Planning Board last night, but we won't have a sense of where this scheme is heading until we hear what the commissioners themselves have to say about it. That discussion will take place at a worksession next Thursday, June 9.

But to hear from parents and PTA officials at last night's public hearing, the school facility needs are great. And according to County Executive Ike Leggett, the County Council's disastrous FY-2017 tax-and-spend-and-tax-again budget means there will be no extra money next year.

The thought of cutting even a dime of taxes for developers - as taxes were just hiked to record levels on residents last week - should not even be under consideration by any credible public servant. We should be talking about an equal tax hike for developers, not a tax cut.

"The idea that growth and density are the solution to all problems" is the problem, suggested resident Max Bronstein. A representative of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster called the massive pending redevelopment in downtown Bethesda, Chevy Chase Lake, Westbard and Lyttonsville "the perfect storm," which will have great impacts on individual schools. He and Bronstein both noted that those single-school impacts often can be hidden from attention by the County's policy of measuring capacity by cluster averaging, rather than by each school's capacity.

Edward Johnson, a public school parent who lives in Bethesda, said the proposed reductions in what developers will pay related to school capacity "stands out as a loss to the County. We already don't have adequate funding" as it is. If anything, Johnson suggested, fees paid by developers should be going up, not down. "The developers are building the houses," said a representative of the Springbrook cluster, and should be contributing toward the cost of the students they are generating.

"We are many, many years behind constructing elementary school capacity" in the County, said Melissa McKenna, the Chair of the Capital Improvement Program committee of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. "Please keep in mind that 2500 students are enough to fill three-and-a-half elementary schools," she said.

One mechanism being used to deliver the massive tax cuts to developers is to only count student generation from developments built in the last 10 years, rather including homes built before then. McKenna asked the board to "reconsider using all-year rates" instead, which the planning staff's own report shows would generate as much as 60% more revenue for school construction - and even that isn't enough, as that's the tax level we're at right now for developers. As it stands, McKenna observed, developer school payments "strike me as under-received."

Clearly the County Council and planning staff are aiming to shift the cost burden of school construction from developers to residents, as the new FY-2017 budget proves. A massive tax hike for you, while giving a massive tax cut for developers, is simply immoral. If we are in as bad of a shape with infrastructure as we are told, what sane person would proposed reducing the burden of developers? What is the argument? To encourage more development with even less revenue to cover costs? Nuts.

A separate issue in the Subdivision Staging Plan that contains the developer tax cut proposals is whether or not to extend the tax exemptions for developers currently allowed via an Enterprise Zone in downtown Silver Spring.

One resident noted that it has cost the Silver Spring community severely in lost adequate facilities revenue, citing the "unintended consequences of the enterprise zone." Twenty years of exemption from school payments and taxes has had "consequences for our schools."

But representatives of downtown Silver Spring projects already in the works say it would be unfair to change the rules now. Attorney Bob Dalrymple, representing Washington Property Company, said his client's profit margin is already "razor-thin" on its Ripley public-private partnership project that includes a new Progress Place facility. "The real issue is the economic viability [of the project] and general fairness here," Dalrymple testified. He suggested the Board grandfather the WPC project to retain the enterprise zone tax terms.

Attorney Pat Harris, not testifying for a particular client, agreed that grandfathering would be a solution. Getting rid of the enterprise zone in the middle of the development process "creates an incredible burden" for existing projects.

Samovar opens at Rockville Town Square

Samovar has finally opened at 201 N. Washington Street in Rockville Town Square. They are celebrating tonight starting at 8:00 PM with an appearance by belly dancer Nimeera, who can be seen wielding a scimitar in the dining room in videos on their new Facebook page. I've been searching Facebook for Samovar for about a year, so it was a bit surreal to actually get a result last night.

Samovar features Russian and Central Asian cuisine. You can check out the menu online. The owner won several National USSR awards for his cooking in the former Soviet Union - it doesn't get any more legit than that.

After approving historic tax hike, County Council now wants new Metro tax

"It's not just, 'no,'

it's 'hell no.'"

Will the massively-inconvenient Metro "safety project" scheduled to begin this weekend actually produce results? That is hardly clear. What is clear, is that the inconvenience is in part designed for a goal beyond safety - softening up you, the taxpayer, for a major tax increase.

We've already dealt with one "urgent" Metro crusade to fix long-delayed mechanical and safety issues throughout the system, leaving many weekend riders standing for hours in stations or taking shuttle buses instead. The results of that were zero, squat, zilch, as the current safety crisis proves.

But the big talk we've been hearing about the need for extreme measures like shutting down whole lines for months just happens to be coming from some of the biggest proponents of new taxes to fund Metro, including D.C. Councilman Jack Evans and Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner.

Funding increased Metro capacity - expanding to 8-car trains, in particular, and increasing capacity on the Red Line north of Grosvenor - was something many transportation advocates have supported. The idea of simply pouring a whole lot of additional money into the bastion of incompetency known as WMATA, however, is a completely different prospect. It is very similar, coincidentally, to the Montgomery County Council's irresponsible decision to massively raise taxes on residents, and bust the bank by going $90 million over the required funding level for Montgomery County Public Schools - without a dramatically-different strategy to tackle the achievement gap than the failed one being utilized now by MCPS. Money down a toilet, in other words.

It's no surprise, then, that some of the loudest voices calling for a massive new tax for Metro are on the Council.

“We hope to have a plan ready to present by the end of September,” Councilmember Roger Berliner told The Washington Post. “Between now and then, we’re going to work with our jurisdictions to see if we can come up with unanimity with respect to a mechanism — a sales tax, a gas tax." 

Are you kidding me?

WMATA has shown zero results, and zero evidence to prove it is changing its ways. The agency is probably in need of a federal takeover, but even the feds don't want to touch this mess.

You'll also note that, once again, no proposal under consideration involves taxing developers, just the residents.

While many local leaders and media types are almost giddy about the pain you are going to feel using public transit starting this weekend, I have a more sobering prediction.

This really, really bad PR campaign designed to make you believe we really need to pour more money into the coffers of an entity ranking somewhere between Barwood Cab and the County liquor monopoly in terms of public popularity, is actually going to deal already-declining Metro a mortal blow. A grand strategy to get more cash is actually going to end up costing WMATA cash.

Because, starting this weekend, folks are going to be getting into their cars, not out of them. They're going to be buying cheap used cars. To a lesser extent, they're going to be biking or using Zipcar or Uber (don't tell the County Council). 

And many, many months from now, they're going to consider the calls for new taxes for a Metro slush fund. And they're going to consider the latest fare increases being proposed for the same service that ain't worth it at half the price.

And you know what they're going to say?

Their reaction will be exactly what Del. David Albo of Fairfax County's was: 

“It’s not just no, it’s ‘hell no,’ ” 

Betrayed by County Council on taxes, constituents speak out

The Montgomery County Council is hearing from constituents after voting unanimously to raise the overall tax burden to the highest level in County history last week. Many have taken to Facebook to vent on the councilmembers' pages:

Mark Bickel reminded Councilmember Hans Riemer that Riemer and his Council colleagues will all still receive a "MASSIVE salary increase" of 28% to $136,258 a year, even as they raised taxes and slashed the salary increases of County employees. The latter move led one County union official to call the nine councilmembers "clowns."

Many of those complaining are Democrats, and are warming to Robin Ficker's proposed ballot question on term limits for the Council. "Hans...dude...a 9% increase in property taxes?" wrote Richard Garifo. "Really? I'm blue to the bone but I have GOT to question how this money is being spent. This term-limit thing is looking pretty good right now."

"An 8.7% tax increase is nothing to be proud of. You should be embarrassed," wrote Ed Rothenberg.

Several citizens have asked to see any document that actually formalizes the agreement that the Council and their Board of Education colleagues have boasted they reached with this budget. The drama quickly ended, however, when a Council staff member acknowledged to Louis Wilen that there is no such document that requires Montgomery County Public Schools to reduce class sizes. Whoops! Not surprising, as the Council has no authority to enforce any such actions by MCPS or the BOE.

New retail center proposed for Rockville Town Center (Photos)

A new commercial building with retail and restaurant space is proposed for a surface parking lot at the corner of Maryland Avenue and E. Middle Lane in Rockville Town Center. Bethesda real estate firm Streetsense is marketing the future spaces, which will include patio seating for restaurants.

The two-story structure would house a 13620 SF gym on top, with five retail/restaurant spaces down below on street level. Streetsense is currently marketing the project as 41 Maryland Avenue. An exterior rendering is somewhat reminiscent of Bethesda Row, a Federal Realty development that Streetsense indeed lists among the designs it says will inspire the architecture of this project.

41 Maryland Avenue is scheduled to deliver in the fall of 2017, Streetsense says.

Click on the floorplans below to enlarge for greater detail:

Images courtesy Streetsense

First look: Old Line Bank in Rockville (Photos)

On this Memorial Day, here's a new bank in Rockville Town Center that takes its branding inspiration from some of the first American soldiers to give their lives in defense of this nation. Old Line Bank derives its name from the Maryland 400, a.k.a., "The Old Line." Revolutionary War soldiers who sacrificed themselves so that the Continental Army could escape to fight again, they are honored in text and art form inside the new bank branch.

There is a monument in Brooklyn, NY to those who fell in this battle on Long Island, who were from the 1st Maryland Regiment. In the Battle of Long Island, they were led by a man whose name is likely familiar to any longtime Marylander who has traveled the state (and in Southern Maryland, in particular), Col. William Smallwood (who eventually earned the rank of General).

Old Line is truly a local institution, headquartered in Bowie. It is one of several smaller Maryland banks entering Montgomery County, with Carroll Community Bank being another. This branch is in the ground floor of the new Upton Apartments, with convenient garage parking inside the building. The address is 196 E. Montgomery Avenue.

MCPS audit finds lack of financial and fraud controls, poor cybersecurity

While the local media is serving up the official Montgomery County Council talking points about the record heist, er, "Education First Budget" officially approved by all 9 councilmembers yesterday, you are turning to this website to learn "the rest of the story."

The budget raised your taxes to historic levels, even requiring a unanimous vote to exceed the County's charter limit on property taxes. It jacked up the recordation tax that you will pay when you sell your condo or home, or even try to refinance your mortgage! And it hiked spending $90 million beyond what the Council was required to allot to MCPS in the budget under the maintenance of effort law - meaning that there's no going back; we will now have to maintain that unnecessarily-high level of spending in perpetuity, requiring additional tax hikes. Even County Executive Ike Leggett, often called "Tax-Hike Ike" by detractors, warned that the County will now face a financial crisis this time next year based on the revenue forecast, even with the new taxes.

Last week, I referred to that new revenue - being handed over without an audit of MCPS or definitively-new strategy to reduce the achievement gap - as just being more money down the MCPS fiscal toilet. Well, the Maryland State Office of Legislative Audits has just released a new report on that toilet - and it may have you reaching for a bottle of Liquid Plumbr.

Auditors found that MCPS had awarded a $900,000 contract for a survey of its employees without bothering to use a competitive procurement process, or even preparing a statement to explain why it was justified or necessary to not put the survey contract up for bid. An unnamed MCPS employee at the management level told auditors that a MCPS "executive management official" instructed those responsible for finding a vendor to choose that firm (believed to be Gallup) without putting it out for bid. The report notes that there are many firms that conduct surveys to choose from.

MCPS also failed to write up a required statement of benefit when it used Intergovernmental Cooperative Purchasing Agreements for computers, fuel and other commodities. It is illegal to execute an ICPA without first providing that statement, which needs to show the purchases will either save money or improve administrative efficiency.

Four MCPS departments did not record or endorse checks and cash receipts before they were transferred to the Controller's office. These receipts were handled by more than one employee in those departments, auditors found. "As a result," the report says, "cash receipts could me misappropriated without detection."

Perhaps even more disturbing - MCPS had no records it show the auditors to show how much money three of those four departments had collected. The one department that could show how much in checks/cash receipts it had taken in reported that $290,000 in such funds was handled at risk of misappropriation.

At the same time as the County Council and MCPS are aggressively pursuing your hard-earned money via record tax increase, auditors found MCPS is not aggressively attempting to collect debts owed to it (and in reality, owed to you, the taxpayer).

As of the last report counted by auditors, MCPS has outstanding accounts receivable (debts owed to it) that total $45 million - that is half of the $90 million that the Council just raised your taxes to give as an extra bonus to MCPS! You can't make this stuff up, folks. We are being governed by people who are either corrupt, or very stupid.

In many cases, auditors found, MCPS did not issue the "Dunning notices" that must be sent in order for debts to be turned over to collection agencies. They also found that three employees had the ability to process credits that would make the debts owed to MCPS appear to have been reduced, while in reality, no actual funds had been collected. Without oversight of those transactions, auditors say, "improper non-cash credits could be processed in the system without detection."

Were any such improper transactions made? The report says MCPS "could not provide supporting documentation for 5 credits totaling $22037. As a result, we could not determine whether these credits were proper."

Examining the procurement system at MCPS, auditors found that 41 employees have been assigned incompatible procurement and disbursement functions without independent review. They could modify purchase order or mark items in the system as having been received, and in one case, had access to the room where checks were printed.

With no independent review or approval of the transactions those 41 employees made, "improper or erroneous transactions could be processed without detection," auditors wrote.

Auditors found that MCPS does not monitor contracts to ensure that payment don't exceed the contracted amounts agreed to. For example, MCPS hired a law firm in a legal case regarding special needs education. It spent a total of $226,000 on that firm in FY-2014. MCPS had the contractual option of paying a daily hearing rate to the firm of $6300-per-day, or hourly services-plus-expenses. Auditors report that MCPS didn't bother to calculate the latter option for each day of the case, and the law firm's invoices did not list the number of hours each day. MCPS did not demand that information, and therefore may have paid more than necessary for the legal services.

In three other cases, where MCPS contracted purchases of computer equipment and milk, "MCPS paid the vendors approximately $1.3 million more than the contract amounts approved."

Regarding personnel and contracts, auditors determined that there are insufficient independent controls on changing employee and salary information in the MCPS computer system.

Moreover, MCPS is having overall computer security issues. This is notable for two reasons - 1) Many parents have expressed concern over both the handling of student information and the issuance of computer hardware to students by MCPS, and 2) Councilmember Hans Riemer has grandstanded as a guru of cybersecurity for self-serving political purposes. Four years after Riemer took office, it was found that the County was still running on Windows 2000, one of the most vulnerable platforms in the world.

Perhaps Riemer has been consulting for MCPS, as auditors concluded the school system's core network firewalls are not configured properly to secure the MCPS network. Auditors found that there is "overly broad" outside access to all devices on the MCPS network, "thereby placing these network devices at risk." Some exterior source locations could have access to "any destination on the MCPS network," auditors wrote.

Firewall logs are not being regularly reviewed, and core firewalls do not currently send urgent emails to MCPS system administrators to alert them to "high severity firewall operational events," the report says. An insecure connection protocol used by administrators shows login credentials in clear text, auditors noted.

Thirty critical non-public servers are improperly connected to a network containing publicly-accessible servers, and 13 email servers that were supposed to be private are instead publicly accessible.

86 third-party business partners of the school system improperly have "network-level access to the entire MCPS network." Oops.

Much like with the Riemer Windows 2000 debacle, every computer tested by state auditors was determined to be running an outdated operating system. 75% of the workstations they tested did not have the latest security updates downloaded. Whoops! Paging Hans Riemer, cybersecurity guru!

13,000 MCPS computers were determined to not even be compatible with the anti-malware software tool the school system uses.

Overall, auditors found, there was no automatic security update or patching system in place.

Speaking of student information, controls over that information were found by auditors to be "not sufficient." The installed version of the student information database software hasn't been supported by the developer since January 2012.

Currently, there is heated debate over a County Council blunder that now threatens to move school bus depots into at least two residential neighborhoods in Rockville. But auditors found that MCPS is doing a poor job of managing the school bus routes. 300 routes are currently failing to meet ridership goals, suggesting they could be consolidated with other low-ridership routes to save substantial funds. MCPS is not doing that, but demanding more money from you to throw after bad.

Bus maintenance work orders are not up to date, either. "MCPS work order reports in the system were not accurate, and could not be used to reliably track the status of bus maintenance work."

Bus parts are highly susceptible to theft and misappropriation, the report states. Indeed, the auditors' review of parts inventory identified "shortages totaling $92,000 and overages totaling $49,500." Sounds like a County Council salary increase's worth.

MCPS isn't doing a much better job controlling health care costs. In FY-2014, for example, MCPS paid $295 million in health care claims. But it didn't verify the legitimacy of those claims. Auditors say MCPS told them it doesn't believe there are any instances of fraud or improper billing. But auditors note that Maryland regularly reviews such claims by state employees, and found that improper health care payments identified by such audits have always exceeded the amount spent to review them. In short, significant funds may be being lost on health care expenses at MCPS. But of course, it doesn't matter - they can just hit you with another tax increase from their friends on the County Council to cover it!

In conclusion, the County Council has once again been proven incompetent and impotent. They have approved a massive increase in funds to a school system that once again has proven to have poor financial accountability. It's telling that the supposedly super-intelligent County Council did not have the intellectual curiosity to seek out the information the audit described above provides before voting to approve additional funds that put taxpayers behind the 8-ball next year. And with no credible new strategy to stop the decline of education in MCPS to justify the heist.

As the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County reported on its blog yesterday, the Council will not even examine the audit until August, when many will be on vacation and not following Council business.

I guess when you have a Masters Degree in Taxation like the Council does, fiscal responsibility can wait.

First look: Habit Burger Grill in Rockville (Photos)

Here's a sneak peek inside the new Habit Burger Grill at Wintergreen Plaza, which will be hosting pre-opening events this weekend. Once officially open, the home of the famous Charburger will operate from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM daily.

Friday, 5/27: 11:30 am & 5pm | Free Burger Day for the first 200 guests. Enjoy an award-winning Charburger, fries, and a drink for free.

Saturday, 5/28: 11:30 am & 5pm | Free Burger Day for the first 200 guests. Enjoy an award-winning Charburger, fries, and a drink for free.

Sunday, 5/29: 11:30am-1:30pm | Fundraiser. 100% of sales will go to Girls on the Run of Montgomery County.

Sunday, 5/29: 5pm-7pm | Fundraiser for Bethesda Lacrosse. 100% of sales will go to Bethesda Lacrosse.

Tuesday, 5/31: 11:30am-1:30pm | Free Habit Day for the first 200 guests. Enjoy a delicious chargrilled meal for free.

Habit Burger is located at 895-A Rockville Pike.