Addie's sets opening date at Park Potomac

Addie's Restaurant will open Tuesday, August 22 at Park Potomac. Although the new iteration won't be in an actual house like the original Rockville Pike location, chef-owner Jeff Black has tried to make his ground floor space at 12435 Park Potomac Avenue to be "as welcoming as Grandma Addie's home," in homage to the namesake and inspiration for the restaurant. There is a "living room," a "dining room," a bookshelf-lined "den," and for a lucky few, a six-seat oyster bar.

As I previously reported, Addie's Mussels and Addie's Rolls are back on the menu, along with a customizable Seafood Tower with a broad array of selections from ponzo marinated uni to old standbys like Addie's premium raw oysters.

Addie's will take reservations, and serve dinner seven nights a week, brunch on weekends and lunch every weekday.

Ride On Extra buses will be free during October

Two of the alternatives to the proposed boondoggle of Bus Rapid Transit in Montgomery County - express buses and free Ride On fares - will be realized on a very limited basis in October: A new express bus service called Ride On Extra will begin service along MD 355, and fares on Ride On Extra will be free that month. Service will run between Gaithersburg and Medical Center station in Bethesda.

The buses are a lite version of BRT, with similar features like low-floor boarding, 10-minute peak rush hour headways, and free Wi-Fi, but will not take travel lanes along Rockville Pike from cars (as BRT will). Ride On Extra buses will also have traffic signal priority, but the County has never addressed how that random impact on traffic signals will affect the synchronization of lights up and down the Pike. It could cause major rush hour delays on an already-jammed road.

There's no mention of how much the month of free service will cost taxpayers, either. Ride On Extra stops will include Lakeforest Transit Center, Summit Ave., Westland Dr., Shady Grove Metro, Montgomery College, Rockville Metro, Edmonston Dr., Halpine Rd., Marinelli Rd., Security Ln., Tuckerman Ln., and Medical Center. There will be new bus shelters and bus stop flag signs to identify Ride On Extra bus stops.

MoCo Council Spanish radio program discusses...federal immigration issue?

A taxpayer-funded Spanish-language radio propaganda program used to promote Montgomery County Council incumbents to the Latino community was an even-greater waste of taxpayer funds this past Friday. En Sintonía con el Concejo del Conado de Montgomery is said to be a program that "talks about important issues before the Council." But the most recent program topic was on a federal immigration law decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, which extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) eligibility for some immigrants.

This issue is not before the Council, and surely is being discussed on other programs on WACA-AM and other Spanish language radio stations in the area. Instead the Council used taxpayer money to comment on national politics, a complete abuse of the system. The main guest was a representative of CASA de Maryland, which is one of the largest benefactors of Montgomery County taxpayer funds, and biggest political backers of the County Council.

No political challengers to the Council - Democrat, Republican, or Green - have ever been allowed to appear on this taxpayer-funded program, a violation of the FCC rules on equal time. The payment of taxpayer funds to WACA also raises serious ethical issues, as WACA provides news coverage of the County Council that is paying them.

Fleming's Ultimate Garage displays classic Mustang, Porsche at Park Potomac

Fleming's Ultimate Garage has been out-of-sight, out-of-mind for many in the general public since its move to a less-visible location on Lofstrand Lane from heavily-traveled Rockville Pike. The classic car restorer and dealer is generating some publicity with a display at Park Potomac, featuring a classic Mustang and newer Porsche.

Rockville construction update: Metropolitan at Rockville Town Center apartments (Photos)

Kettler's Rockville Town Center Phase II development, the Metropolitan at Rockville Town Center, is starting to look more like a residential building now that the real exterior facades are visible instead of the white Tyvek. There's still plenty of Tyvek on the building, especially on the Beall Avenue side.

275 apartments will range from one-bedroom lofts to three bedrooms on the former site of the historic Suburban Trust Building. Amenities will include a fitness center, a yoga room, a pet grooming station, bike storage, two courtyards with outdoor grills, a swimming pool, and a two-story entertainment lounge and terrace. The building is located at 255 N. Washington Street.

 

155' telecommunications tower proposed for Derwood Road

NB+C, an Elkridge, Maryland-based wireless site development firm, is proposing to erect a 155' monopole telecommunications tower "near Derwood Road" in Derwood. There are quite a few homes around that immediate area, but the announcement does not identify the specific spot the 15-story-tall tower will be placed.

The tower will be in a historic area of Derwood, and the public may comment on its impact on any nearby historic sites by writing to Environmental Corporation of America, ATTN: Dina Bazzill, 1375 Union Hill Industrial Court, Suite A, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004. You can also call her at 770-667-2040, ext. 111.

An environmental review may be requested from the FCC, as well. You must identify the specific environmental impacts you believe the tower will have when filing under the FCC "Pleadings System" at FCC.gov.

Fredericksburg office market is hot, moribund MoCo's is not

Fredericksburg is a boom town compared to moribund Montgomery County. While our County Council is fighting any attempt to build the roads necessary to jumpstart our lethargic private sector economy, and only talks about increasing MARC rail capacity and a White Flint station, Virginia is building Express Lanes down to Stafford County and more Virginia Railway Express stops and extensions. Along with the business-friendly policies of Virginia and Spotsylvania County, Fredericksburg is booming, while Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of jobs over the last decade, and a loss of over 2000 jobs in retail alone since 2000.

The latest evidence of the difference in business climate is the Liberty Place project in downtown Fredericksburg. Once conceived of as luxury condos, the project will now be an 86000 SF office building with ground floor retail and restaurants facing William Street. "We're responding to the market," Liberty Place developer Tom Wack told The Free Lance-Star of Frederickburg, which noted the "strong demand for commercial property" in the city. The developers will offer free parking for the public in a garage connected to the office building (imagine that in any urban center of Montgomery County!) as part of a deal with the city.

The Fredericksburg City Council is set to vote on a memorandum of understanding for the deal tonight. Very few office projects are being developed in Montgomery County. The JBG Companies is constructing a new office building on Bethesda Avenue, but could not find an anchor tenant, and will now move its own headquarters into the building from down the road in Friendship Heights to fill the vacancy.

"Downtown's gotten pretty hot," Wack said of Fredericksburg. The office market is heating up as home construction continues to explode around Fredericksburg, which recently scored the idX Corporation factory that fled Maryland and the Lidl distribution center with 200 jobs (Virginia also won the sweepstakes for the Lidl corporate headquarters).

Every imaginable restaurant can be found in Fredericksburg, as well as the kind of hip breweries our County Council likes to talk about. Stafford and Spotsylvania counties are adding the jobs that will put less cars on the roads into D.C. every morning. And new infrastructure to reduce congestion for the commuters and businesses who make the increasingly-smart choice to locate in the Fredericksburg area.

Meanwhile, the bedroom-community-building Montgomery County Council is - as usual - asleep at the switch.