Asbestos project underway at Beall's Grant apartments in Rockville (Photos)

An asbestos remediation project has quietly begun at the Beall's Grant apartments in Rockville. No details are available except a notice stating that the project will be completed this Saturday. Beall's Grant is owned by Montgomery Housing Partnership, and is located at 254 N. Washington Street. I don't know if there's a connection, but MHP recently closed financing on the property from Enterprise Community Partners, including $8.75 million in "construction financing."

Salvation Army Family Store opens in Rockville (Photos)

Rockville's newest thrift store is now open for business. The Salvation Army Family Store opened on Saturday in the former Pier 1 store building at 1590 Rockville Pike. There's something for everyone at the Salvation Army store.

UPS Store coming to Wintergreen Plaza in Rockville (Photos):

A UPS Store will be the latest addition at Wintergreen Plaza in Rockville. The store will be located near Paisano's.

New small business group to host networking event for MoCo restaurant owners March 22

The Montgomery County Small Business Action Network, a new organization encouraging Montgomery County small business owners to be proactive on county government actions that impact their businesses, is concentrating on restaurant owners this month. SBAN will host a networking event for restaurant and bar owners on Wednesday, March 22, from 5:30-7:30 PM, at Hunter's Bar and Grill, located at 10123 River Road in Potomac.

The guest speaker at the event will be Bob Dorfman, the newly-appointed Director of Montgomery County's Department of Liquor Control. Dorfman will remain after his presentation to answer restaurant owners' questions one-on-one. The cost to attend is $25. For $35, you can attend and also become a member of SBAN. There will be a cash bar during the event.

RSVP by email, as space is limited for the event.

Matchbox launches year-long effort to raise funds for child hunger

There's one more reason besides pizza and sliders to dine often at Matchbox in Rockville this year. From today until March 8, 2018, matchbox American Kitchen + Spirit and Ted's BULLETIN will donate 10 cents from every matchbox pizza, and 10 cents of every Ted's BULLETIN Ted's Tart, sold (up to $75,000) at all locations to raise money to fight against childhood hunger.

Chief Executive Officer of matchboxfoodgroup Peter D'Amelio said, "matchboxfoodgroup is grateful for the opportunity to partner with No Kid Hungry, and give back to the community in which we serve and live. Childhood hunger is an important issue for all of us here at matchboxfoodgroup and we're humbled to contribute to the fight against childhood hunger."

Matchbox is located at Congressional Plaza on Rockville Pike, and Ted's BULLETIN is at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg.

Proposed new Rockville neighborhood could have 1900 housing units (Photos)

The Rockville Planning Commission will be briefed tonight on the Shady Grove Neighborhood Center, a mixed-use project proposed by applicant Lantian/1788 Shady Grove 31 II, LLC. City staff says that caveats in the submitted Project Plan could wind up allowing 1900 housing units to be constructed on the 31 acre property. The site is located along Shady Grove Road, between Choke Cherry Road and Gaither Road.

Map showing locations of
green space at the proposed
development

Other elements of the plan include 850,000 SF of retail, office, hotel and institutional uses, such as a nursing home. A "central green" and other small park sites will be located around the 330 townhomes at the development. Maximum building heights will be 85', according to a letter from the applicant's attorneys. A hotel and grocery store are shown on the plan map at the top of this article.

Tonight's meeting will begin at 7:00 PM in the Mayor and Council chambers in City Hall. It will be televised on Rockville Channel 11.

Montgomery County Council to hire immigration attorney - without knowing how much he'll charge

The Montgomery County Council is poised to hire an expensive immigration attorney for undisclosed purposes this morning - and when they vote, they won't even know how much he'll charge you, the taxpayer, per hour. If approved by the Council today, Leon Rodriguez of the law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP would hold the title of Special Counsel "in connection with immigration issues," a Council memo states.

But according to Bill Turque of the Washington Post, the Council does not yet know how much Rodriquez will charge the County for his services. Yet another sign of incompetence and fiscal mismanagement by our big-spending County Council.

Councilmember George Leventhal

What exactly are we paying County Attorney Marc P. Hansen $210,143 per year to do, when for the umpteenth time, we are hiring extra attorneys for County business? Hansen is certainly qualified to address any immigration issue as it pertains to Montgomery County. Is this hire focused on some kind of planned political publicity stunts at the federal level, even as Montgomery County's moribund private sector economy continues to stall, traffic congestion worsens, and schools continue to decline?

Councilmember Hans Riemer

That would be a violation of the Council's oath of office. But with unlimited power to pickpocket your wallet, the Council never passes up a chance to lawyer up.