All speakers will have only 3 mins. at Rockville Sanctuary City public hearing March 6

Speakers for organizations and civic associations will have only 3 minutes to speak, instead of the standard 5, at this coming Monday's public hearing on the proposed Sanctuary City legislation. Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton proposed the change near the end of last night's Mayor and Council meeting. Councilmembers agreed with the change, which was suggested to trim the length of what is expected to be a long public hearing with many speakers.

Some residents have expressed dissatisfaction with having only seven days to review an extensive amount of material on the legislation. If adopted, the new policy would codify the role of the Rockville City Police Department in relation to federal immigration law. In plain English, it would formally establish the city's currently-informal status as a Sanctuary City for those who are in the country illegally.

Such status could result in the loss of federal funds for Rockville, one reason the county executives of Montgomery and Howard counties have opposed similar legislation. It is largely a question of semantics for Montgomery, as it currently meets the definition of a Sanctuary County, but does not formally refer to itself as such.

The public hearing will be at 7:00 PM at City Hall this coming Monday, March 6, 2017. To sign up to speak, call the City Clerk's Office at 240-314-8280 by 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

Moribund economy, MCPS declining, roads jammed; MoCo Council's top priority? Vending machines!

Moribund Montgomery County is the only DC-area jurisdiction to suffer a net loss in jobs since the year 2000. The County Council's own reports show Montgomery County Public Schools in a steady decline since 2010, with a growing achievement gap and deadly gang problem. Our unfinished highway system is in utter gridlock, nearly 20 years after voters elected the laughably-named "End Gridlock" council slate. What is the very top agenda item this week for one of that slate's members, George Leventhal?

"Healthy vending machines."

You can't make this stuff up, folks! That's right, Leventhal and...surprise, surprise...Councilmember Hans Riemer will be in the 3rd Floor Conference Room of the County Council Building this morning, for a big press conference to introduce a bill to replace your Big Texas Cinnamon Roll and Mrs. Freshley's Jumbo Honey Bun with bean sprouts and kale chips. The bill will apply to all vending machines on county property, and require 65% of vending machine items to be "healthy."

If you need to kill some time around 11:45 AM, get some cheap entertainment in watching to see if even one reporter asks them how in the world vending machines could literally be their top priority at a time like this. Are you kidding me?

Slightly less than two years after touting a study showing Montgomery to be the healthiest county in Maryland, and giving himself credit for the designation, Leventhal now claims in a press release that "almost one in four children in Montgomery County is not able to maintain a healthy weight. This rate outpaces the national average. More than half of all adults in County (sic) adults (sic) are not keeping a healthy weight."

So let's get this straight, folks. Mr. Leventhal and the Council made us the healthiest county in Maryland (and probably invented the Internet along the way). That past claim of credit now requires us to blame the same County Council for our sudden, supposed two year plunge in health, that Mr. Leventhal says has left us fatter than the average American. How could they have done this to us? All the more reason to throw the bums out in 2018.

Of course, maybe it was the taxpayer-funded gift cards Leventhal's "Healthy Montgomery" organization gave out to MCPS students for sugary, liquid-candy Starbucks coffees and fat-and-sodium-laden Chipotle burritos that can partly be blamed. Perhaps the historic tax increase of May 2016 forced cash-strapped residents to turn to cheap junk food for subsistence purposes. After all, we can't all afford to shop at Whole Paycheck like Hans Riemer.

You apparently can use the hashtag #HealthyVendingMoCo to tell Big Government what you think of their legislative priorities.

Salvation Army thrift store coming to Rockville Pike (Photos)

A Salvation Army Family Store is moving into the old Pier 1 Imports building at 1590 Rockville Pike. The space has most recently been home to an annual Halloween pop-up shop. In fact, if you look closely at the above photo, you can see the remnants of the Halloween store's lettering over the storefront.

There is an existing Salvation Army Family Store at 18705 Frederick Road in Gaithersburg. If you would like to work at the future Rockville store, you can currently apply in person at the Gaithersburg location. They are seeking cashiers and clerks.

Email/call delegates NOW after unusual tactic keeps MoCo Council term limit-sabotage bill alive in Annapolis

Thanks to your calls and emails, and members of a committee who recognized the voting landscape has changed in Montgomery County, House Bill 348 (which would hand the Montgomery County Council a suite of tools to subvert the term limits passed by 70% of voters last November) was temporarily dead yesterday. But in an unusual move, the full delegation failed to respect the vote of their colleagues on the Economic Development Committee, and have kept HB 348 on their voting agenda for today.

Light up their phones and inboxes, and ask them to respect the will of the voters, and KILL BILL 348 by voting NO. The meeting starts at 10:00 AM, so the time to act is NOW.

Use this list of phone numbers and emails, or the email list below (just CC everybody on one message to get the job done):

craig.zucker@senate.state.md.us
anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us
eric.luedtke@house.state.md.us
pam.queen@house.state.md.us
brian.feldman@senate.state.md.us
kathleen.dumais@house.state.md.us
david.fraser.hidalgo@house.state.md.us
aruna.miller@house.state.md.us
susan.lee@senate.state.md.us
bill.frick@house.state.md.us
marc.korman@house.state.md.us
ariana.kelly@house.state.md.us
cheryl.kagan@senate.state.md.us
kumar.barve@house.state.md.us
jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us
andrew.platt@house.state.md.us
richard.madaleno@senate.state.md.us
asolgut@gmail.com
jeff.waldstreicher@house.state.md.us
roger.manno@senate.state.md.us
bonnie.cullison@house.state.md.us
benjamin.kramer@house.state.md.us
marice@maricemorales.com
will.smith@senate.state.md.us
sheila.hixson@house.state.md.us
david.moon@house.state.md.us
jheanelle.wilkins@house.state.md.us
nancy.king@senate.state.md.us
charles.barkley@house.state.md.us
kirill.reznik@house.state.md.us
delegaterobinson@gmail.com

Rockville facing clash on sanctuary city proposal

The Mayor and Council will take the first step in reviewing a new proposal to officially declare Rockville a "Sanctuary City" for illegal immigrants at their meeting this coming Monday night at 7:00 PM. As with Montgomery County, the city already is essentially a sanctuary city, but activists are seeking to make that status official as federal immigration policy tightens under the Trump administration.

There are already petitions for and against the sanctuary city proposal. Executives in Montgomery and Howard County have opposed legislative efforts to officially declare each sanctuary counties, as such designations increase the likelihood that they could lose federal funds. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has even sought to declare recently that the county is not a sanctuary jurisdiction, because it cooperates in limited ways with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts. His assertion left many perplexed in a county known for looking the other way on citizenship status in every facet of government.

Advocates of sanctuary city policies say they help make communities safer, when undocumented immigrants feel comfortable assisting police in solving crimes. Opponents point to the massive costs illegal immigration are placing on taxpayers, particularly in Montgomery County Public Schools, and to an increase in crime and gang activity.

Two illegal immigrants living in taxpayer-subsidized Montgomery County public housing in Wheaton were arrested last year for the kidnapping and gang rape of a 12-year-old girl. Gaithersburg teen Damaris Reyes was found dead recently in Fairfax, after becoming involved with MS-13 members at Watkins Mill High School. And another teenage girl was shot multiple times in a Wheaton gang-related attack in 2014.

A public hearing on the issue will be held on March 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM, and is sure to be a lively debate. In a sign of just how contentious the debate may be, the sanctuary city item was the only one to not have documentation attached to the advance agenda for Monday's meeting yesterday, meaning residents could not yet get an advance look at the proposal.

Contact delegates TODAY to stop MoCo Council's attempt to undermine term limits

As I reported last week, a bill that would give the Montgomery County Council several tools to undermine the term limits on their time in office is under consideration in Annapolis. HB 348 would the first step toward allowing the Council to stagger its terms, with some County Council seat elections moving to presidential years. Term limits passed overwhelmingly last November with nearly 70% of voters approving them. The County Council should not disrespect the voters' wishes for new leaders, and for a four-year cooling-off period for long-stagnant members who will finally be forced out.

Potential abuses the current text of the bill would allow include extension of term-limited councilmembers' terms for an additional two years, cutting short terms of new councilmembers they'd like to get rid of by two years, allowing those forced out by term limits in 2022 to run again in 2024 before the new Council has even four years to change the county's direction, and moving seats not as favorable to the county political cartel (District 2) to presidential years, when voters are paying less attention to county-level issues.

The Montgomery County delegation's Economic Development Committee will take up, and vote on, the bill tomorrow, Thursday, February 23.

CALL OR EMAIL THEM TODAY,

and tell them to respect the voters' clear decision on term limits, and allow the reforms voters wanted to happen play out. The voters have not asked for this bill, some on the Council have.

Ask them to vote "no" and 

KILL BILL HB 348:

Ariana Kelly, Chair - Democrat, Legislative District 16; Phone: 301-858-3642 / 410-841-3642;

ariana.kelly@house.state.md.us

Maricé Morales, Vice-Chair - Democrat, Legislative District 19; Phone: 301-858-3528 / 410-841-3528

marice.morales@house.state.md.us

Sheila Hixson - Democrat - Legislative District 20; Phone: 301-858-3469/410-841-3469 

Sheila.Hixson@house.state.md.us

Anne Kaiser - Democrat Legislative District 14; Phone: 301-858-3469/410-841-3469

Anne.Kaiser@house.state.md.us

Kirill Reznik - Democrat, Legislative District 39; Phone: 301-858-3039 /410-841-3039

kirill.reznik@house.state.md.us

Jeff Waldstreicher - Democrat, Legislative District 18; Phone: 301-858-3130 / 410-841-3130

Jeff.Waldstreicher@house.state.md.us

Then the whole delegation will take up the bill on Friday.

Call or email your delegates 

(carbon-copy every Montgomery County delegate if you can) 

BEFORE FRIDAY

Tell them to VOTE NO on HB 348

Click here 

for their 

contact information

Persiano Furniture Outlets opens in Rockville (Photos)

The long-running saga of the vacant Chicken Out building on Rockville Pike is over. After a mysterious restaurant known as Zhang raised hopes of hungry passing drivers for several years, only to move out before even opening, the building sat empty for nearly two more years. But now, a new tenant has taken over.

Persiano Furniture Outlets has opened at 1560 Rockville Pike, and also has a decent selection of lighting fixtures in addition to furniture.