Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub posts Coming Soon signage at Rockville Town Square (Photos)

Coming Soon signs have been posted at the future Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub. This will be the only Irish pub in Rockville when it opens at 100-F Gibbs Street.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Hair Design Zone opens at Rockville Town Square

Hair Design Zone opened yesterday at Rockville Town Square. The hair salon replaces Hair Cuttery, but no one will confuse the two.

As I previously reported, owner Juan Ma is bringing her experience from top salons in Japan to Rockville. Serving both male and female clients, HDZ offers popular salon products, but also a full line of Japan's premiere Milbon brand.

Something else you won't find at your typical neighborhood salon - kimono dressing.

Visit their website for a full list of services, products and prices.

Hair Design Zone
141-C Gibbs Street
301-417-4961

Developers win APFS school standards battle in Rockville

Weary residents who have battled a relentless push by developers to weaken Rockville's Adequate Public Facilities Standards (APFS) on schools often said the issue would keep coming back until the developers prevailed. That happened last night, when the Rockville City Council voted 3-2 to align its school capacity standards with those of Montgomery County. Those standards include allowing capacity to reach 120% (but in reality, MCPS allows individual schools to far exceed even that weaker cap), and to measure overcapacity by cluster, rather than the stricter school-by-school count the city had until last night. The vote sets up not only a slew of new residential development in the city, but also the battleground for this fall's city elections.

Three-fourths of the winning 2013 Team Rockville slate - Councilmembers Tom Moore, Virginia Onley and Julie Palakovich Carr - voted to pass the resolution that had previously been withdrawn by Moore at the Mayor and Council's February 9 meeting.

"We need to work with developers"
- Councilmember Virginia Onley

Both Onley and Moore used hyperbolic language in their arguments, threatening that Rockville would become a "ghost town" if the resolution did not pass. Onley said the change would be a "win-win for the city," allowing a potential 77 affordable housing units to be built in separate projects proposed by developers EYA and Avalon Bay. Palakovich Carr said she was voting with her 3-month-old son's future in mind, saying "funding has been slow to materialize" for new schools under the 2005 APFS standards.

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and Councilmember Beryl Feinberg both dissented in the vote, arguing that the issues of school construction and the APFS are more complicated. Newton said public facilities go far beyond schools, and include traffic capacity, services and other infrastructure that would not be covered by Moore's resolution. Feinberg countered the arguments by Moore and Onley which centered on the potential boon of impact taxes to be collected from new development. There was no guarantee that money would be spent in Rockville, Feinberg noted. "It doesn't mean you get the school any faster," she argued. "If it's not working at the county level," she asked, why adopt that policy in Rockville? Feinberg also suggested that the recession was more likely to blame for lower school construction funds than the APFS.

Newton preferred to pursue other avenues rather than simply weakening the Rockville standards. She suggested the city attempt to have new schools funded by payments directly from developers who want to build projects, for example. Taxpayers are also "upset" over ever-rising county and state taxes, she warned, saying "You can't get blood from a turnip."

The 90-minute debate found proponents of weakening the APFS making some surprisingly odd arguments that could come back to haunt them in November. For example, Moore sounded unconcerned - and Palakovich Carr praised - the bane of MCPS parents countywide - portable classroom trailers. Palakovich Carr said portables have not impacted the quality of education in the county, an assertion that would likely invite dissenting remarks at any county PTA meeting. Portables keep class sizes small, she said.

Moore said the city retains control of traffic issues - but is that true, given that many of the congested roads are actually under the control of the state? The city cannot control the timetable or extent of state highway projects, as Montgomery County officials can tell you.

Other arguments made were equally unsupported by the evidence.

For example, yes, MCPS has a 120% cap on overcrowding. But averaging by cluster allows individual schools to far exceed that cap. The 5-year test allows MCPS to permit development for which school capacity actually never gets constructed, using what Rockville Planning Commissioner Jack Leiderman correctly termed "paper schools". Adopting the MCPS standards, Leiderman argued last year, will allow overcrowding to reach or exceed 180%, far above 110% or the county's supposed 120% "cap".

Moore called the 2005 APFS measure a "failed experiment." But is it?

No overcrowded school in Rockville currently is as over-capacity as the most-crowded MCPS schools elsewhere in the county are. And the APFS has not prevented Rockville from getting new schools built. Here is a list of some completed or future projects for Rockville since the measure passed in 2005:


  • New Richard Montgomery HS (2008)
  • Julius West MS addition (plan underway)
  • Rockville ES No. 5 (Edmonston Drive) (2019)


The wealthiest neighborhoods in Montgomery County, by contrast, are still waiting for construction of a new elementary school. One is not even in the planning process - much less coming online - in 2019 in the Westbard area, currently targeted for massive infill development by the county.

Finally, the APFS has indeed prevented excess development from further overcrowding schools; other parts of the county haven't had that safeguard.

As Montgomery County's record of building booms and budget shortfalls prove, development absolutely does not equal what Palakovich Carr termed "a huge windfall." She said new residents will fund services for existing residents. But who will pay for the services for those new residents? It's great to favor adding housing units, but every one of those units carries a cost in transportation, water and sewer, police and fire, city services and - yes - public education. Hence, MoCo's structural budget deficit, which has County Executive Ike Leggett warning of a property tax increase next year. Wait a minute, I thought massive development generated revenue, you might be asking? Wrong.

Moore - dismissing the overwhelming opposition to his resolution by citizens at public hearings - said, "our job is not to count heads," or to "listen to the angriest...voices at the end of a public hearing."

But who are the "angriest voices" in Rockville on the APFS? Those angry voices arguably belong to developers frustrated by the common sense 2005 APFS standards, and the elected members of the Montgomery County Council who collect campaign checks from them. Those have been the angry voices, who eventually threatened the city to change - "or else."

This is but the latest twist in a disturbingly tone-deaf approach to development being taken by those County Council members, and the Montgomery County Planning Department. Tired of arguing with residents whose neighborhoods are threatened by the real consequences of infill development, they've adopted a "development at all costs", ram-it-through approach.

Urbanizing the suburbs? "Shut up! It's smart growth." Traffic? "Don't count it." Portable classrooms? "Bring 'em on - we love 'em, teachers love 'em, and so do the kids." Overcrowded schools, and schools without playgrounds or other facilities? "Stop whining, you big baby."

Talk about angry voices.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Kaypi Peruvian Chicken opens in Rockville (Photos)

Kaypi Peruvian Chicken has opened at 2005 Veirs Mill Road in Rockville. The restaurant is located in the Twinbrook Marketplace shopping center.
Inside the restaurant yesterday

Friday, May 29, 2015

Rockville councilmember accuses Sentinel newspaper of stealing artwork

Rockville's Sentinel newspaper is coming under fire from the city councilman often the target of its political cartoons. Councilmember Tom Moore says the paper is "systematically stealing artwork" for those illustrations. Moore produced multiple examples of artwork sourced from other artists' works, then apparently repurposed for cartoons published by The Sentinel, on his blog yesterday.

According to Moore's research, the cartoons have taken material from cartoonists Jeff Parker, Walt Handelsman, and Mike Shapiro, among others.

Moore acknowledges readily in his post that he is "the target of many of the Sentinel's cartoons," but says he is "truly offended by the Sentinel’s laziness and its disregard for the intellectual property of its journalism colleagues."

At face value, the evidence Moore presents is certainly credible and compelling. If there was a licensing arrangement permitting use of the artwork, similar to stock photography, obviously only the paper or cartoonist can speak to that. At least one of the cartoonists Moore quoted, Shapiro, seemed to have no awareness that his work had been used.

If the cartoons' creator, William Charles, or The Sentinel would like to respond with their side of the story, I will be glad to print their response. Email me at robert1999 [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Photo courtesy City of Rockville

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Choice Hotels' street name proposal on hold until June

Choice Hotels' decision to not send a representative to last night's Rockville Planning Commission meeting, to discuss the company's request to change the name of Renaissance Street, didn't exactly grease the wheels for a redesignation. Some on the commission suggested it would have been more helpful to have someone from company there to discuss the issue.

The new street, which runs between E. Middle Lane and the Regal Cinemas alongside the Cambria Hotel & Suites, shares a name with a competing hotel brand. As it turned out, the one point the commission agreed upon was that the names suggested by Choice weren't adequate to justify the change.

Among the names floated by Choice's application request are Exchange Drive, Catalyst Drive, Synergy Road and Innovation Drive. Commissioner Jack Leiderman found those "frankly, boring" compared to the existing Renaissance name. He said that one company's anxiety over branding shouldn't outweigh the interests of citizens, businesses and other stakeholders, and that there was a substantial public investment in the redevelopment there over the years.

Commissioner David Hill argued that Choice Hotels had made a significant investment in the city, by locating its international headquarters there. Leiderman noted that the city had already acquiesced to allow Choice to name its tiny street in front of its building a few years ago.

Chair Don Hadley and Commissioner John Tyner were willing to consider the request, even offering some potential names or concepts. Tyner felt the name should reflect activity, while Hadley suggested that the city contemplate a name that reflects public use. Hill threw out "Agora", the Greek term for "gathering space."

Commissioner Charles Littlefield said he would be more inclined to take the request seriously if the company showed it, too, was serious by sending a representative to engage the commission.

Staff Liaison Andrew Gunning said he would attempt to get some public input on the name change, if feasible. The issue will return for further discussion and update at the next two meetings, on June 10 and June 18.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Choice Hotels street name change on Rockville Planning Commission agenda tonight

The Choice Hotels request to change the name of Renaissance Street alongside its new Cambria Hotel and Suites in Rockville Town Center was withdrawn temporarily a few weeks ago. But it returns to the agenda of the Rockville Planning Commission tonight.

Importantly, the proposed options for the new name have changed. The new choices (no pun intended) are Exchange Drive, Catalyst Drive, Synergy Road and Innovation Drive.

This is the only main agenda item for the commission tonight. The meeting will be at 7:30 PM at City Hall, and will also be broadcast live on Rockville Channel 11.