MoCo slouches away from solving MCPS achievement gap

Score another one for "the soft bigotry of low expectations" in Montgomery County. The achievement gap between white students and their African-American and Latino classmates has only gotten worse over the last five years, according to the County's own study of its public schools:

"Since 2010, the economic, racial, and ethnic stratification of students among MCPS high schools has increased."

And since 2010, the County Council and MCPS have spent much money, but have failed to take any substantive action - and most certainly have failed to achieve results.

Now we have the latest example of how the impotent Montgomery County political machine "tackles" the tough challenge of the achievement gap - it runs away from it.

Three out of four students can't pass the Algebra I Final Exam? Just get rid of the exam!

That's right. No new strategies, no hard analysis of what's going wrong. Just get rid of final exams, and replace them with those nifty "extra credit" projects, and other age-old tricks used to push struggling kids through the system for decades, cheating them out of a quality education.

Anybody can do a project. Only a student who has learned can solve the math equations on an exam at the end of the semester.

Try handing your college professor or office supervisor that nifty math-themed collage, instead of your final exam or the economic analysis project you were assigned. The results won't be quite as whimsical as they appear to be in the "leadership" realm of our racially and geographically-unequal school system.

A rudderless system prepared to identify a new superintendent "when they get around to it," MCPS is eerily similar in leadership, money-down-the-drain-spending, and results to the ever-popular WMATA (which can't find a leader, either).

The previous superintendent, Joshua Starr, started his MoCo career with a gaudy champagne toast at the Potomac estate of Mitch Rales, a pioneer of outsourcing American jobs to China; spent much of his time hosting an Oprah-style book club TV program at taxpayer and cable customer expense; and was unceremoniously run out of town as a finisher. "Heckuva job, Brownie."

So they have this idea to get rid of final exams that ensure you actually learned what was taught (assuming parents and education advocates stand by and allow the policy change to go unchallenged). What else do they have in their "toolbox"?

A paltry, pitiful $250,000 Children's Opportunity Fund, with no clear mandate or specific uses for that taxpayer money. A fund led by one of the very school board members who presided over the growing achievement gap, by the way. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Consider that New York City is now ponying up $400,000,000 a year to provide universal Pre-K, widely-accepted to be one of the most obvious and promising ways to reduce the achievement gap, and the contrast couldn't be more clear.

And MoCo's political machine couldn't look worse.

Kids can't pass exams? Get rid of the exam.

Don't like the increasingly-ghastly traffic congestion numbers that might make it impossible to keep approving new development without finally completing the County's unfinished highway system? Just stop counting the cars accurately.

Getting killed by Northern Virginia and DC in job creation? Just use taxpayer money to buy a fake report from EMSI, with fake job numbers that magically show you ahead of NOVA and DC.

Unable to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over a decade? Just use taxpayer money to buy another fake report declaring suburban office parks dead, even while top companies like Google and Facebook are currently booming in suburban office park headquarters.

Farmer's markets and microbreweries; mixing lattes and folding jeans - these are what you imagine your child doing for the rest of his or her life, right? Well, that's what your elected officials imagine them doing, as those are the only private-sector jobs they've created over the last decade. Then they ask, "Why aren't we able to attract young professionals to Montgomery County?"

This isn't leadership. It's slouching. And continuing to deny an equal education to many children in the county isn't just bad politics; it's immoral.

It's easy to ban things. It's easy to tax things. It's easy to politically grandstand with self-promoting legislative resolutions. But leadership and solving the achievement gap are hard. They are difficult. And our current elected officials are clearly not up to the task.

Our leaders have failed their final exam. Rather than get rid of the final exam, maybe it's time the voters get rid of the "leaders".

Southlawn business owners remain wary of industrial area study in Rockville

Business owners whose enterprises are located within the Southlawn industrial area, and in other currently-industrial parts of Rockville, are wary of the motives behind the Southlawn Industrial Area Feasibility Study now underway. Those concerns were expressed by some who attended the third public meeting on the study last night, at the Lincoln Park Community Center.

The study, which was supposed to have occurred years ago, was resurrected after a dust-up over a proposed self-storage facility next to Maryvale Elementary School in East Rockville. Residents protested, and the Mayor and Council ultimately voted to ban self-storage facilities within 250' of schools citywide.

That vote was "a very dangerous precedent," Rockville Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Michelle Day said at last night's meeting. The ban now has industrial businesses citywide spooked that they will be next, Day said. Along with real estate redevelopment pressures, the sense that industrial is on the way out was palpable among some business owners who attended the meeting.

A business owner (far left) comments on
the Southlawn Industrial Area Study
last night in Rockville

"Where are the industrial businesses going to go, besides Frederick," the owner of an auto repair shop not far from Southlawn asked. Before moving to Rockville, he recalled, "I had an auto repair shop by White Flint. I paid $3000 rent" per month. The repair shop that took it over when he moved is now "paying $6000. Bullying somebody out because, 'I can make more money.' I know, because that's what they have done."

Susan Swift, Planning and Zoning Director for the City of Rockville, said "nothing's being proposed yet. These are facts and findings so we can move forward. There may be that nothing in these plans change; there may be a lot that changes. But we're not trying to pit one use against another. We really are trying to benefit everybody."

Residents said they didn't want the businesses to leave, either. One who was instrumental in getting the study revived said "I'm totally fine with [industrial businesses] existing. It's part of my community. I get my car repaired there."

Another resident noted that the residential neighborhoods in Lincoln Park and East Rockville were actually there before the Southlawn industrial area. But, she added, "I don't think the purpose of this is making change. It's so we can co-exist."

Brigitta Mullican, a candidate for Rockville City Council, said "it's important to indicate to business owners that this plan is not about pushing them out."

A landowner in Southlawn said there is far more demand for the warehouse space he currently offers to his tenants than for office space.

The fate of the industrial area will indeed partly be determined by the real estate market, which was a major focus of last night's study update.

Consulting firm VHB did a more detailed study of the market since the last meeting in June. VHB's Nancy Fox noted that the vacancy rate in the Southlawn industrial area had actually increased to 16% in the second quarter this year. Southlawn industrial rents are higher than those in industrial sites in the northern part of the county and beyond. But they are lower than those in the two industrial submarkets it straddles in Rockville.

Considering what other land uses might work in Southlawn did not turn up many promising alternatives. There is already too much vacant suburban office space for this to be an appealing location to build any more, Fox said. Retail is performing better around Southlawn, however, she said. The retail vacancy rate is 5.4% within a 3 mile radius of the study area, and 6.6% along the Gude Drive corridor. By comparison, the County's moribund office market has a 15% vacancy rate.

What kind of tenants might want to redevelop or repurpose industrial sites in Southlawn? Fox said gyms, recreational space, showrooms, retail warehouse outlet stores, biotech companies and business incubators all currently find such sites appealing. Not only do they need features such as high ceilings, space, and loading facilities, but the rents are far lower than in traditional commercial space.

VHB's Paul Mayer said the team has reached a few preliminary conclusions at this point, while stressing they won't make final conclusions and proposals before running them by the public for feedback:

• Expanding land-use types is worthy of study, but not very optimistic
• The current industrial uses have value both for residents, and the region as a whole
• Better dialogue is needed between industrial businesses and nearby civic associations
• Traffic calming measures are needed
• But there is "limited ability to change traffic patterns" on public streets

Mayer said the next meeting will be in mid-to-late October, and that VHB will have completed a traffic study by then. It couldn't be done earlier, he explained, because school was not in session and that would have generated inaccurate traffic volumes.

Planning Commission recommends Rockville accept annexation plan for Silverwood/CarMax site

A plot of land in Derwood housing a CarMax dealership is on its way to being incorporated into the City of Rockville. The 4.032 acre site at 15931 Frederick Road is across an access road from the new Bainbridge Shady Grove apartment development, which was already annexed into Rockville from Montgomery County.

Known previously as Silverwood, the site would be the future home of a 425-unit apartment building, with 500 structured parking spaces. No retail or office components have been proposed, despite the potential Mixed-Use Transit District (MXTD) zoning the site would likely be granted, once incorporated into the city.

That lack of mixed uses did not sit well with some on the Rockville Planning Commission last night. Several commissioners expressed concern that, while the site is indeed proximate to the Shady Grove Metro station, it is otherwise isolated along a busy state highway. A lack of complimentary, walkable retail and restaurant development nearby would likely put residents into their cars to drive elsewhere. Commissioner Jack Leiderman said the isolated nature of the site "sort of robs the rationale for higher density." The site is two blocks from the King Farm Village Center shopping center, along King Farm Boulevard.

Ultimately, Commissioner David Hill made a motion to recommend the Mayor and Council accept the applicant's annexation plan, with a notation of concerns and possible conditions.

Hill suggested the city examine the fiscal impact of the project, investigate environmental concerns regarding the site (including monitoring wells), and consider pedestrian safety, by reserving part of the site's public use space for a pedestrian bridge.

He also recommended the Mayor and Council consider the following potential conditions, based upon last night's discussion by the commission:

1. Capping the building's height at 7 stories. A representative of the applicant said last night that such a cap would be acceptable.

2. Requiring retail space. The applicant says its advisors did not find a viable market for retail space in their review of the site, and that such a requirement would reduce the profit margin for the developer.

A third condition, proposed by Chair Don Hadley regarding the question of whether or not MXTD was the appropriate zoning for the site, was rejected as a friendly amendment by Hill.

Commissioner John Tyner seconded Hill's motion.

Following discussion, the commission voted 4-3 to recommend the Mayor and Council accept the annexation plan. Hill, Tyner, and Commissioners Anne Goodman and Gail Sherman voted in favor; Hadley and Commissioners Leiderman and Charles Littlefield were opposed.

A public hearing on the annexation before the Mayor and Council is expected to take place on November 16, 2015.

Commissioners also voted 5-1-1 to give 300 N. Washington Street's 35% parking waiver request a deferral until the September 30 meeting, with Leiderman dissenting and Littlefield abstaining.

Prepare for an Xtreme Halloween in Rockville (Photos)

If there weren't any ghosts lurking in the shadows at the former Pier 1 Imports space at 1590 Rockville Pike, there are now. Xtreme Halloween is getting ready to open their pop-up Halloween costume, accessory and decoration store there. The store was still getting unpacked in the 11,345 SF space when I stopped by, but expect the scares to begin soon.

Rockville 2040 public listening session in King Farm tonight

The Rockville 2040 listening sessions being held citywide continue tonight in King Farm. Residents, and business and property owners, are invited to the King Farm Clubhouse tonight at 7 PM, at 300 Saddle Ridge Circle.

These sessions are one source of public input on the Rockville Planning Commission's major task of updating the city's Master Plan. Commissioners and city planning staff want to know what you think Rockville should look like in the year 2040, both citywide and in your neighborhood.

If you can't attend, you can find more information on the Rockville 2040 website. There will also be future opportunities to address the Planning Commission directly, as the process goes forward.

New banner, liquor license request up at New York Mart in Rockville (Photos)

More signs of the impending opening of Asian grocery store New York Mart in Rockville - literally. A new banner has been tacked up touting "Coming Soon", and the store has applied for its liquor license from Montgomery County. New York Mart will be located in College Plaza, at the intersection of Route 355 and College Parkway.

Tea Dó hiring in Rockville (Photos)

Tea Dó Contemporary Tea House is hiring a cashier and a barista in Rockville. The bubble tea shop and Japanese eatery is located at 838-C Rockville Pike, and replaces the departed Yocake.

Yesterday, the lights appeared to be on inside, and a roof-height ladder was up against the building, suggesting work continues on the conversion of the space. Of course, that same ladder has been there a week or two ago...