Fallsgrove crime wave continues with another stolen car

Montgomery County police responded Wednesday to the report of a car being stolen in Fallsgrove, the fourth significant crime in the community since July 26. The vehicle was parked in a commercial parking lot in the 9400 block of Blackwell Road. It was stolen sometime Wednesday evening. Another car was stolen in Fallsgrove Sunday, and two armed robberies have occurred there in the last three weeks.

909 Rose is one of the DC area's few pandemic-ready office buildings

We've been hearing for months about how office buildings will have to be updated to adapt to the new abnormal of Covid-19, and potential future pandemics. But Federal Realty's new Class A office building at its Pike & Rose development in Rockville is one of the few pandemic-ready workspaces in the Washington, D.C. area.

909 Rose, located at 909 Rose Avenue, has several of the features landlords worldwide are considering already installed. These include a dedicated outdoor air system, which circulates 30% more fresh air through the building than required by code.

The building also has the Schindler touchless elevator PORT technology already built in. This eliminates the issue of high-touch elevator button surfaces, and potentially could be utilized to reduce the number of passengers aboard the elevator at one time, a second concern in Covid spread via elevators.

In addition to these rare features, the building also has open floor plates. This is essential at a time when office floorplans are being rethought, and physical separations between workers - including screens, cubicles or assigning employees their own office - are now considered ideal.

Windows are also designed for maximum natural light penetration, which might be an additional plus as direct sunlight is known to kill Covid-19, up to 90% in 34 minutes according to a recent study. And when internet reliability for devices and teleconferencing has never been of more concern, 909 Rose is Wired Silver certified, with a 100% uptime guarantee.

Considering that the building was complete when the pandemic struck, at too late a stage to have suddenly added such integral design elements, the features are a minor coup for Federal Realty in marketing the building. Federal Realty will have these advantages for its own employees, as its headquarters office is one of the already-signed tenants, along with OneDigital.

Urban Plates sets reopening date at Montgomery Mall

Urban Plates has been closed at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda since the nationwide coronavirus lockdown began this past spring. They've remained closed since Maryland and Montgomery County eased their restrictions to allow indoor dining with capacity restrictions. The good news is that they are now going to reopen this coming Monday, August 17, 2020.

Changes to operations will include PPE for all staff, social distancing, and food will now be brought to your table, instead of going through the cafeteria-style line the chain is known for. Their new hours will be Sunday – Thursday: 11:00 AM- 8:30 PM, and Friday - Saturday: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM. Urban Plates is also featuring a summer special to celebrate their return, a $59.95 Ribs Family Meal, which includes four half racks of ribs, two large sides, and 4 slices of grilled rustic bread.

Twinbrook Laundromat construction continues in Rockville

The Twinbrook Laundromat looks closer to completion from the outside, but largely-covered windows and construction fencing make it difficult to gauge full extent of the progress inside. A sign has been installed on the front facade, and another one at the roadside.

They'll be competing with three other laundromats in the area, and it will be interesting to see what their operating hours are. The Aspen Hill Laundromat says it is open 24 hours, a rare throwback to the golden age of Aspen Hill, while the others tend to be closed between midnight and 6:00 AM.

Car stolen in Rockville

Fallsgrove crime spike

continues

Rockville police responded to the report of a stolen car Sunday afternoon. The vehicle was taken from the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 300 block of Prettyman Drive in Fallsgrove sometime between Saturday night, and mid-afternoon Sunday. This was the third major crime in Fallsgrove in a two-week period.

Rockvillle funeral home-turned-retail center gets first tenant

A former funeral home converted into a two-level retail center at 1170 Rockville Pike finally has its first tenant, after sitting vacant for 19 months. The PRD Insurance Group has leased a space on the first floor. PRD currently is located further up the Pike at 842 Rockville Pike.

Montgomery County health officer rescinds order closing private schools

St. Bartholomew's Catholic School
in Bethesda

One of the most bizarre weeks in Montgomery County political history ended yesterday with Health Officer Travis Gayles rescinding his latest order closing private schools through October 1. Gayles knocked over a hornet's nest a week earlier with a similar order issued in the dark of night as the weekend began. Parents filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the order. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan rebuked County officials, and issued his own order blocking the County from declaring a blanket closure of private schools. Gayles rescinded his first order, and then issued a second one based on a different Maryland law. As the week ended, County officials ignored a tepid memo from the Hogan administration, and were moving aggressively to shutter private schools as some began to announce they would start the semester online-only.

The aggressive stance County officials had taken Thursday made their capitulation Friday appropriately bizarre, in keeping with a turbulent week that made national headlines, with Montgomery County a topic on cable news. Gayles said he decided to rescind his order after reading the memo from the Maryland Secretary of Health. But that memo was issued more than 24 hours prior to Gayles announcing he was rescinding the order.

What is clear is that virtually all of the deliberation about the whole matter has taken place behind closed doors, out of public view. If the County had no legal standing, why did it issue the order in the first place? The County has often broken the law and prevailed in court virtually every time. What did they fear would happen this time?

Many believed the move was to stanch the outflow of Montgomery County Public School students to private schools this fall. MCPS had projected it would register 2500 new students for the fall semester. Instead, only 300 had signed up by mid-summer. Parents who felt their children were ill-served by MCPS online instruction last spring sought the in-class instruction many private schools will offer this fall. Student athletes sought private schools where they could still impress college scouts, where MCPS has cancelled sports this fall. And MCPS has been in a steep decline since 2010, no longer considered a premiere school system.

It's unclear what the week-long Kabuki theater by the County accomplished, other than riling up a new group of residents into political activism. Parents may or may not remember that the County Council supported the closure of private schools when they vote in 2022. A few schools and a few students may have changed plans, but ultimately County officials lost more than they gained.

Gayles issued a new order yesterday. It does not force private schools to close, but basically says it is unsafe for them to open, and that they will operate over his objections. The order essentially gives Gayles ground to say, "I told you so," if there is an outbreak of Covid-19 at a private school this fall. However, many have pointed out that summer camps and daycare programs have been operating all summer without a reported outbreak. If the outcome is anything like the run-up, we can be sure it will be unpredictable.