Despite special order proposal, Montgomery County staying in liquor business

The current special orders system for beer, wine and liquor in Montgomery County is hurting bars and restaurants' bottom lines and social media reputations, according to several county businesspeople who testified before the Ad Hoc Committee on Liquor Control last night.

Mark Moore of Bethesda's Tyber Bierhaus said that customers can't always get the special German, Belgian or Czech Republic brews they were expecting there, leading to negative comments online that hurt business. The reason some of his taps are not in use at times, Moore testified, is that the County Department of Liquor Control can't fulfill the special orders.

Hans Olson of Clyde's Tower Oaks Lodge recalled that his business was told by the DLC that a bartender staple, Maker's Mark, was simply not available during the busy holiday season. Another popular spirit, Grey Goose vodka, was unavailable in the county for six weeks on one occasion, he said.

And prominent local chef Geoff Tracy, who owns Chef Geoff's in Rockville and Lia's in Friendship Heights, said the DLC is currently unable to serve MoCo restaurants at the level of service their DC and Virginia competitors currently enjoy.

Montgomery County is the only jurisdiction in the state of Maryland with total government control of liquor through the DLC. The Ad Hoc Committee has been unsuccessful in answering the question of many residents and businesspeople: Why is the county involved in the liquor business to begin with? It is now down to only one reform suggestion, allowing alcohol wholesalers to sell and deliver special orders to retailers and restaurants. DLC would continue to have a monopoly on distribution of "stock" beer and wine.

Of course, this will cost around 15 county employees their jobs, for which the proposal offers little substantial remedy. And it will take a sizable chunk out of the approximately $30 million in revenue the county takes in annually from liquor sales. To make up that lost amount - now even more critical with the Supreme Court Wynne decision costing MoCo $50 million in the FY-2017 budget, and added Purple Line cost of $50 million - the county will have to levy some kind of tax on alcohol sales.

Such a tax or fee could end up raising the cost of alcohol. Some in the hospitality business question why the county is still entitled to revenue, if it is no longer providing any service. Good question. What's the justification? And, while we know "Option 4" will be financially beneficial to a few private liquor distributors, will the new special order system sustain, worsen or improve the current situation for restaurants, bars, and their patrons? Sure, accounting and delivery speed will surely improve, but what about prices, particularly with the unknown county tax added?

Molly Horn, bar manager at the new All Set Restaurant and Bar in downtown Silver Spring, noted that customers can now get the same drink for a lower price right over the border in DC under the county's current system. That's a huge disadvantage to county restauranteurs and patrons.

But the county even gouges retailers, currently. Charleen Merkel of Bradley Food & Beverage in Bethesda said the county is charging private retail stores like hers a higher markup on wine, while selling it for a cheaper price to consumers in county-operated liquor stores.

Of course, Option 4 sounds good under the circumstances. If you were a political prisoner surviving on bread and water in solitary confinement, and the warden said you could have a prime rib and a run around the prison yard once a day, you might consider that good news, too. But it wouldn't make the overall wrong right, and hardly be celebration-worthy.

But there's entirely too much fawning media coverage of the "effort" to reform the liquor system in Montgomery County by Councilmember Hans Riemer. If Option 4 indeed comes to pass, it won't be the end of liquor control by county government. It doesn't assure that prices will be lower in the long term.

What Riemer and other officials are saying is, we're going to give you back a little bit of your business we have no business being involved with in the first place. They're still not getting out of that business. And they still don't trust you, the adult taxpayer, to buy Bud Light or a sub-$10 wine bottle at Giant or CVS.

Before the MoCo political machine apologists say, "but that's the state law, not the county!" - yes, it is.

But charging a tax and allowing private distribution, if Option 4 comes to pass, will require two legislative actions in Annapolis. Why not add in grocery and convenience store sales to the legislative "ask" at the same time? Guess what, they're not going to. Put those pom-poms away.

Speaking of fawning media coverage, when will the local media ask Councilmember Riemer what he knew, and when he knew it, regarding alleged illegal activity in the DLC? Riemer appeared to be highly-involved in an NBC4 investigation, which purported to show employees drinking on the job, and engaged in other illegal activity. Yet that report, which included a well-staged, formal sit-down interview with Riemer, aired a mere 48 hours after Election Day in November 2014.

Was illegal activity in DLC known to Councilmember Riemer prior to Election Day, but not disclosed until after he was safely reelected? Riemer and the County Council have oversight authority over the DLC, and each of them took an oath of office that required them to uphold the law, which would include reporting illegal activity immediately to law enforcement authorities.

Enquiring minds want to know.

Rockville Confederate statue hearing draws a diversity of opinions

An overflow crowd turned out to speak and listen at an unusual work session called by the Mayor and Council Monday night, to discuss the fate of Rockville's Confederate soldier statue on the grounds of the Red Brick Courthouse. Many residents of the city, Montgomery County, and the state of Maryland said removal of the statue would merely be an attempt to erase the history of those jurisdictions' involvement on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Others said it represented a message of pure hate, white supremacy, and an orchestrated attempt to recast the Confederate cause in more noble terms. Some were even descendants of actual Confederate soldiers, who were offended by some speakers' attempts to compare those Americans to Nazi and Japanese soldiers in World War II.

Two additional lines of argument emerged over the evening. First was increased questioning of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett's authority to be "the decider" in this case, after Leggett announced Friday that he had made the decision himself to remove the statue. Along those lines, there were questions as to where the money to move it and store it would come from.

Secondly, two speakers noted that the U.S. Congress in 1958 passed an Act of Congress that made all Confederate veterans American veterans.

The evening began with a panel of local experts on history and the Civil War, as TV station cameras jockeyed for room in the crowded Mayor and Council chambers of City Hall.

“Unfortunately, we can’t pick and choose what we receive from the past,” Matthew Logan, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Historical Society said. Logan said that the statue represented the Confederate sympathies and soldiers of Montgomery County during the Civil War. He hoped that, rather than hide the statue away, it could be used to "launch a broader discussion about how the symbols from our past affect us to this day. The way we resolve this dispute is more important than the ultimate fate of the statue," Logan said.

Nancy Pickard of the Peerless Rockville historical organization said the rush to judgement on the statue "pretends that the past does not exist." She described it as an "important vestige of our city and county history," arguing that "erasing those memories, instead of allowing them to inform and educate, is a mistake."

Historian Eileen McGuckian, who has written extensively on the history of Rockville, called the historic courthouse "the right place" for the statue. The brick structure was so much the center of life, McGuckian said, that the village "was known as Montgomery Courthouse" before it was Rockville. 1913 was a poignant time to erect the statue, she said, because area Civil War veterans were now dying.

In sometimes personal and emotional testimony, Tony Cohen of the Menare Foundation and Button Farm questioned where all of this reconsideration of historic symbols would lead us as a community. Would streets named for local Confederate sympathizers be changed, as well?

Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton said she had just spoken with Leggett earlier Monday. While Newton said he was not yet reconsidering his decision to remove the statue, she added that "he’s looking to work with us," and that the executive acknowledged it would be appropriate for the Historic District Commission to at least give some feedback on the issue.

To those who have said the process is moving too quickly, Councilmember Tom Moore said, "I should have spoken up 18 years ago, when I first arrived in Rockville. I reckon we are moving 18 years too slow."

Councilmember Virginia Onley said she was pleased at the level of interest the community displayed in the topic through its turnout. "There are a lot of folks in this room that I don’t recognize. I want to thank each and every one of you," she said.

A Silver Spring resident said, "just melt the thing down," and use the resulting material to create a new statue promoting unity.

One of the creators of an online drive to remove the statue said it "should be removed immediately, and never returned to public property again." He said it was erected by selfish, "white politicians seeking to unify white Montgomery County residents for their own benefit," during "a time of extreme race hatred” in Maryland.

In equally strong comments on the other side of the issue, a Maryland Confederate heritage organization member said removing the statue would be a "surrender to the Dylan Roofs of the world," saying his group strongly resents the appropriation of Confederate symbols by hate groups.

Civil War re-enactor and county resident Galen Fairbanks said, "only totalitarian regimes edit their history. This is America, let’s act like it."

Brian Karem, editor of the Sentinel newspaper, said he hadn't planned to speak, but actually made a strong point about just how far Confederate sympathies and participation had extended in Rockville during the War Between the States. He recalled the head of the 1st Maryland Confederate Cavalry was a mayor of Rockville. Karem gestured toward a wall in the room and noted that former mayor's "picture is right there on that wall."

Adol Owen-Williams II, asked how many black Republicans were in the room. "Me and me alone," he replied to his own question, pointing out that the NAACP was founded by Republicans. "I vehemently oppose moving this statue," he said, noting the participation of free blacks in the Confederate army. Owen-Williams suggested we face more pressing issues than the statue, but instead the county is "busy focusing on irrelevant things."

Despite Leggett's decision, at least one other discussion will be held in a closed meeting at the behest of County Council President George Leventhal, and the HDC is expected to discuss the issue as well.

The epic story of Zhang restaurant ends on Rockville Pike (Photos)

It was December 30, 2013, when I first reported Zhang Asian Cuisine was taking over the former Chicken Out space at 1560 Rockville Pike. Signage was installed by June 2014. But then...nothing.

"What's going on with Zhang?" readers have asked. The restaurant's prominent location on the Pike, and roadside sign, drew a lot of curiosity. But for the last year, the space has been dark and occupied every time I went past.

Now, the signs are suddenly gone, and the space is for lease again by Saul Centers. It's always possible the owner(s) will open the restaurant elsewhere, but it appears the Zhang story at 1560 has ended for now.

Public art at The Upton in Rockville (Photos)

Here is a public art piece outside The Upton apartments in Rockville Town Center.

Historic District Commission meeting cancelled tonight

The scheduled meeting of the Rockville Historic District Commission tonight has been canceled.

New speed camera deployed in Rockville

Watch out, or watch your wallet. A new speed camera is being deployed this month in the 500 block of N. Horners Lane in East Rockville. 

The good news? No citations will be issued in July. The bad news? Beginning August 3, citations will be issued for vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit by 12 mph or more.

Twinbrook Library to close July 25 for 4.5 months for " refresh " in Rockville

When the Twinbrook Library in Rockville closes at 6:00 PM on Saturday, July 25, it won't open its doors again to the public for about four-and-a-half months. During the closure, Montgomery County's Department of Public Libraries will perform a "refresh" renovation. This is the first Montgomery County library to receive the refresh treatment, a new concept by MCPL to make more frequent improvements countywide, rather than wait for a 20-30 renovation or replacement.

The interior will be rearranged to create a new layout and 2 small conference rooms. The Children's section will be repainted and re-carpeted. Finally, public restrooms will be "modernized."

Twinbrook Library will not be available as a pickup location for holds during the closure. 

The book drop will remain open for returns through Thursday, August 13. Library patrons are being directed to the Aspen Hill and Rockville branches during the closure.