Rockville Mayor & Council back Paris climate accord

Rockville's Mayor and Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday night supporting the Paris climate accord. President Trump recently announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the accord, citing its economic impact on American businesses and jobs.

The Montgomery County Council recently adopted a similar resolution, as did Washington, D.C.

It's unclear what impact such votes have beyond the political. They do not put us back into the Paris deal, and Gov. Larry Hogan's environmental policies are already far more stringent on Maryland than the Paris accord would have been.

At least Rockville has not made the absurd claim the Montgomery County Council recently did - that they could negate the environmental impact of the Paris withdrawal in the air over Montgomery County. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Rockville becomes a sanctuary city

Rockville did last night what the Montgomery County Council and Maryland legislature didn't have the guts to do earlier this year - declare itself a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. Thumbing their noses at the U.S. Justice Department, and potentially losing millions of dollars in future federal funds, three City Council members voted to pass the Orwellian-sounding "Fostering Community Trust" ordinance. Dissenting were Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and Councilmember Beryl Feinberg.

The ordinance will codify the informal sanctuary policy the City Police department currently operates under. It passes after the toxic Rockville High School rape case, the theft of a Rockville police officer's assault rifle by an illegal immigrant, and the alleged murderer of a Muslim teenager in Sterling was just revealed to be an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

During discussion of the ordinance after two hours of public testimony, Feinberg made an alternative motion to direct the City Manager and Police Chief to devise a written policy on how they would deal with immigration status, within 30 days. Councilmember Virginia Onley opposed the motion, but seconded it for the sake of discussion. Councilmember Mark Pierzchala declared Feinberg's proposal as being too late.

Feinberg countered that "we never had a robust discussion," requiring her to make a last-minute proposal to "force the discussion." She said a written policy would be more "nimble" than a formal ordinance, which could not be suspended during an emergency by the City Manager. Feinberg also termed the ordinance, which would forbid any City employee from inquiring about a person's citizenship status, "unenforceable."

Speakers backing sanctuary status for Rockville hurled invective at opponents throughout the Community Forum segment of the meeting: "racist, xenophobia, hate, anti-immigrant (as opposed to anti-illegal immigrant), genocide, hate-filled time." But Feinberg and Newton questioned that holier-than-thou attitude. "Both sides have been fearmongering," Feinberg said. Newton decried the "venom spread by both sides" in the months-long debate.

Newton said she was "disappointed" that the same councilmembers who only recently released the text of the ordinance would now block another member from proposing a last-minute alternative. She called the ordinance "a solution in search of a problem," noting that Rockville has had no issues with its current police policy. Newton suggested such policy is better written by police, than by politicians with political motives.

"That was just a staggering speech," Pierzchala said. "Thank you," replied Newton sarcastically. "And not in the good sense," Pierzchala clarified.

"This is how this body has been functioning for more than a year now," Feinberg said. "Things will be just shoved in front of us." She bemoaned the "collegiality" among her colleagues. Onley expressed agreement with Feinberg's assessment, even though she did not support Feinberg's proposal. Onley said, "we need work sessions, not surprise attacks and last-minute motions."

When the Mayor called the vote, the Team Rockville slate of Pierzchala, Onley and the sponsor of the ordinance, Julie Palakovich Carr, voted in favor, and Newton and Feinberg voted against it.

There were some intriguing aspects to the discussion prior to the vote.

Proponents of sanctuary status, caught off-guard by the strong opposition by legal Asian immigrants at a March public hearing on the proposal, had claimed many of those speakers were not Rockville residents. But last night, they bused in sanctuary advocates from Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Gaithersburg and Washington, D.C. to testify in favor of the ordinance, doing exactly what they had accused opponents of three months ago.

Second, during the Mayor and Council discussion, Palakovich Carr stated that cities that don't enforce federal immigration law have lower crime rates. That is simply not true. In Frederick, which does enforce federal immigration law, you have a 1 in 196 chance of being the victim of a violent crime such as murder, rape, armed robbery, or assault. In Baltimore, a sanctuary city, your chance of being a victim shoots up to 1 in 65. In Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel has presided over a sanctuary city and record numbers of homicides, it is 1 in 110. In sanctuary San Francisco, it is 1 in 127.

Frederick is clearly safer. In Manassas, after Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart's policy to enforce federal immigration law passed ten years ago, today your chance of being a victim of a violent crime is a staggeringly low 1 in 454. Aggravated assaults in Prince William County have dropped by 27% since then, and not a single racial profiling complaint has been filed with the County police. Police there can only inquire about citizenship status after arresting a suspect and taking him or her to the County jail.

As speaker Liz Matory noted in her testimony during the Community Forum, the research done for the Mayor and Council by staff regarding the proposed ordinance did not take into consideration the policy of Frederick County.

Honeyfish Poke opens in Rockville (Photos)

Honeyfish Poke has opened at Congressional Plaza at 1615 Rockville Pike. The fast casual restaurant serves fresh, raw fish and tofu in a build-your-own-bowl format. This is their first location that isn't in California.

Doña Cecy's Pupuseria opening in Rockville (Photo)

There's a new entry in the pupusa wars in Montgomery County. Doña Cecy's is coming to the Twinbrook Shopping Center at 2002 Veirs Mill Road in Rockville. This, to my knowledge, is the first location for this brand, but they've already got a nifty logo on the sign featuring Doña Cecy herself.

Mayor and Council to discuss adoption of Rockville sanctuary city proposal Monday night

A highly-controversial ordinance that would formalize Rockville's status as a "sanctuary city" returns to the Mayor and Council's agenda this coming Monday night, June 19, at 7:00 PM. The legislation, introduced by Councilmember Julie Palakovich Carr, will be discussed and potentially adopted that night, if a majority support the measure. It would prevent any City employee, including police officers, from inquiring about a person's citizenship status.

At a previous public hearing, the sanctuary ordinance drew emotional testimony on both sides. Since that evening, several high-profile Rockville and Montgomery County crime stories involving illegal immigrants have made national headlines. The alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old student at Rockville High School by two illegal immigrants scuttled a sanctuary state proposal in Annapolis, and threatened to table further discussion of Rockville's proposed law. 

Under extreme political pressure, and with no detailed factual explanation, Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy suddenly declared he would not pursue the rape case any further. McCarthy stated there was not enough evidence to warrant prosecution, despite police officials' earlier statements that they had slam-dunk physical evidence from the scene of the alleged rape in a school bathroom. He did not explain what happened to that physical evidence, characterize the findings of any medical examination, or state whether the victim agreed with his decision, or was still seeking justice. With no media outlet holding McCarthy accountable, the firestorm ended in an instant, clearing the way for revival of the Rockville ordinance.

That didn't stop another illegal immigrant from breaking into a City of Rockville police cruiser, and stealing an assault weapon and several rounds of ammunition. We've never learned what Mario Alvarado intended to do with that assault weapon, or if he had a gang affiliation. We do know that this AR-15-wielding car thief was then improperly released back into the community by Montgomery County, despite U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement having put a detainer on him.

McCarthy's magic wand couldn't help County officials this time. ICE blasted Montgomery County for putting its agents, and county residents, at risk by forcing them to then find and apprehend Alvarado in an uncontrolled public setting. The County ultimately admitted they were in the wrong in releasing Alvarado, humiliating Montgomery County on the national stage once again.

Finally, we learned just how bad the gang situation is today in Montgomery County. A funeral was held for a 15-year-old girl who was executed by MS-13 gang members she became involved with at Watkins Mill High School. Sitting in the pews, and attending the burial service that followed, were armed undercover police officers, in case the gang attacked the funeral. Is that something you thought you would ever hear in Montgomery County, or in El Salvador?

Speaking of El Salvador, it gets worse. MS-13, with their charming motto of "Kill. Rape. Control," has a new rival gang. In response, the Washington Post reported, MS-13 kingpins are ordering their members to travel specifically to Montgomery County en masse. MS-13 leaders say that Montgomery County is the place they hope to establish a strong base of operations, and cited the large number of juvenile and/or unemployed illegal immigrants - living off of free County services - as ripe for recruiting by these soon-to-arrive MS-13 agents.

Guess who will be in the crossfire between these two gangs when they start to fight for territory in Montgomery County? The citizens of Montgomery County. Nice. Can you imagine what that's going to be like?

Despite all of this, the Montgomery County Council continues to insist there is no gang problem in the County. You know, the County where funerals now have to have armed guards, in case gang members attack the funeral!

There will be no public hearing Monday night, but residents can express their opinions on the proposed sanctuary legislation during the Community Forum segment of the meeting. Priority will be given to speakers who have signed up in advance by calling the city Clerk's Office at 240-314-8280 by 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

PM Pediatrics urgent care clinic opens in Rockville (Photo)

A new PM Pediatrics after-hours urgent care clinic has opened at 12254 Rockville Pike, in the Towne Plaza space that was formerly home to Chef Geoff's and Houston's. The company's founders established the network of clinics based on their own experiences in the healthcare industry. They realized most children's visits to emergency rooms weren't for life-threatening medical issues, and that the hospital environment was too complicated and intimidating to provide those children with the best care.

PM Pediatrics has clinics in New York state, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland. The clinics are open until midnight seven days a week. You don't need to make an appointment, but you can "save your spot" and see the current wait time on their website.

Small business event to discuss:"Is your business or family safe in a sanctuary county?"

How do sanctuary immigration policies affect small businesses? That topic will be discussed at the next networking social event of the Small Business Action Network of Montgomery County, on Wednesday, June 28, from 6:30 to 9:00 PM at Hunter's Bar and Grill, located at 10123 River Road in Potomac.

The speaker will be Jonathan Hanen, who the event announcement says will discuss the question, "Is your business or family safe in a sanctuary county?" Montgomery County has been designated by the federal government as a sanctuary jurisdiction.

Recent crime headlines in the County make this a timely discussion, and the County has been blasted by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for not honoring ICE detainers on criminal illegal aliens. ICE said the County put its agents and the community at risk when it recently allowed a man with an ICE detainer who had stolen an assault weapon from a police cruiser to go free, forcing ICE agents to locate and take him into custody in an uncontrolled setting.

SBAN-MOCO is inviting small business owners from across Montgomery County to attend.

The cost to attend the event is $15. The cost to join SBAN-MOCO is $25. There will be a cash bar. Space is limited - to reserve a spot, email your RSVP.