Toy Kingdom to close at Rockville Town Square

The news out of Rockville Town Square is a cannonball to the gut of those hoping small, mom-and-pop businesses have a future in redeveloping areas of Montgomery County. Toy Kingdom will close on December 31, after 11 years in business. All items are now 20% off during a closing sale.

Many residents surveyed for the city's Rockville 2040 Master Plan listening sessions mentioned Toy Kingdom as the type of local business they would like to retain, even as the city continues to grow and redevelop. And the store was frequently cited as an example of how small shops could survive alongside national chains in new urbanist town centers.

"As a parent, this is a big bummer," one patron told me Sunday. "It was a nice little shop, and will leave another hole in Town Center." In a letter to employees and customers, Toy Kingdom's owner called the closure a "difficult decision." If you consider the increasing challenges of climbing taxes and rents, and online shopping - - combined with the "Great Recession" hitting right after the store opened, eleven years can certainly can be considered a very impressive run for Toy Kingdom.

Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of over 2000 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association.

Amici Miei Ristorante to take over The Inkas space in Rockville (Photos)

A new Italian restaurant is coming to Rockville's Town Center. Amici Miei Ristorante will be moving from Potomac Woods Plaza to Federal Realty's Courthouse Center. They will take over the vacant space at 6 N. Washington Street, formerly home to The Inkas. Considering their liquor license hearing isn't until December 7, I wouldn't expect them to open before then, but stay tuned.

Sanctuary policies may be to blame for second Montgomery County homicide victim in 2 weeks

An MS-13 gang member has been charged with first degree murder, in the case of an unidentified homicide victim found in Wheaton Regional Park on September 5. And once again, this may have been a preventable homicide - the man charged had a previous run-in with Montgomery County police in 2016, when he was cited for theft of under $100, according to Maryland court records.

Miguel Angel Lopez-Abrego, 19, had no address then, and still had no confirmed address when he was located in North Carolina by police on November 11, 2017. He has been extradited to Montgomery County, and is due in court today in Rockville for a bond hearing. A preliminary court hearing for Lopez-Abrego has been set for December 22.

Once again, we find the inability of police to check immigration status may have led to the death of a man in Wheaton Regional Park. If Lopez-Abrego had been determined to be in the country illegally while in police custody on October 24, 2016, he would have been deported long before killing the man found in the park this year - a man who police say was stabbed more than 100 times. Instead of ICE taking him into custody for deportation, Lopez-Abrego was let go, and a warrant was issued for his arrest on December 6, 2016.

In just the past two weeks, Montgomery County has seen first-hand that the current policy has led to two preventable homicides. The first was that of a young mother, also in Wheaton. Like her, the victim in this case - while unidentified - was also Latino. In fact, it is the Latino and immigrant communities which are being victimized the most by gangs in Montgomery County. Just ask the Watkins Mill High School mother who buried her 15-year-old daughter (stripped and executed by MS-13) this year, surrounded by undercover police officers in case MS-13 raided the funeral or graveside ceremony.

Ironically, our elected officials hide behind the race card in defending their indefensible sanctuary policies. Of course, they're finding it harder and harder to defend the indefensible. Last Friday, WMAL radio host Larry O'Connor asked every single member of the Montgomery County Council to come on-the-air to defend their sanctuary policies, after it was found that those policies may have directly led to the death of Dania Mendez de Guerra. Not a single councilmember had the guts, confidence or conviction to come on the program and debate O'Connor.

Smoothie King opens at Congressional Plaza

Smoothie King's newest area location is now open in Rockville at Congressional Plaza on Rockville Pike. And not a moment too soon. The health-conscious chain is offering three limited-time Holiday Meal Replacement smoothies for the holidays: Slim-N-Trim Cranberry, The Activator Gingerbread, and Vegan Apple Cinnamon.

Exclusion of Rockville City Clerk from closed Mayor & Council session raising questions

A closed session by the Mayor and Council at last Monday's meeting was preceded by a debate over whether to include City Clerk and Director of Council Operations Kathleen A. Conway in the confidential session. The closed session was advertised in the meeting agenda as one to "consider the
acquisition of real property for a public purpose and matters directly related to the acquisition; 2) to obtain legal advice and consult with staff, consultants, or other individuals about potential litigation related to a land use matter."

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton noted that the wording on the agenda didn't match that of the earlier request for the closed session, which came after a meeting among Councilmember Mark Pierzchala, City Manager Rob DiSpirito, and City Attorney Debra Yerg Daniel. "This is accurate language," Daniel replied. Newton then took issue with Pierzchala's proposed exclusion of Conway from the closed session. Pierzchala said there was a "particular invitation list to this closed session, and it does not include the City Clerk." He suggested that if anyone had a problem with that, to bring the matter up separately from the vote to go into closed session.

"No," Newton objected, "as the wording of this pertains to official City business, we need to have the official keeper of the record there." Pierzchala responded that due to the "very sensitive information" being discussed in the closed session, he only wanted to "have the two people privy to the facts of this" in attendance.

"You have included [Deputy City Attorney] Cindy Walters and [Deputy City Manager] Jenny Kimball....but I don't understand what their purpose is there," Newton said. "Their purpose is to take the notes," Pierzchala replied. "I'm requesting that we have the official record keeper, the City Clerk, Director of Council Operations...be the person who keeps the official notes," Newton said, "if there should ever be any question of what happened" in the closed session. "Kathleen Conway does not have any purpose in the meeting," Pierzchala retorted. "We have someone who will take the notes."

"I am very concerned about what is going on, and what is not being said," Newton said. She added that the Mayor and City Clerk "have to legally attest to" the accuracy of the minutes of a meeting." Daniel disputed that, saying there is no legal requirement for those officials to sign off on the minutes. "But it's been a longstanding practice in the City, has it not?" Newton asked.  "My understanding is that it started under Mayor [Phyllis] Marcuccio," Daniel replied.

Newton asked her colleagues to weigh in, and their responses split along factional lines: independent Councilmember Beryl Feinberg said she thought it would be proper to include Conway, and that Conway could be trusted with confidential information as much as Walters and Kimball. She and Newton were outnumbered by the Team Rockville faction on the Council, with Virginia Onley and Julie Palakovich Carr siding with Pierzchala. "Not that we don't trust Ms. Conway," Onley explained, "but it's not necessary for her to attend this meeting."

Realizing the votes were not there to include Conway, Newton then called for a vote to go into closed session. But the matter didn't end there for some residents following the meeting. Not only did the exclusion of Conway increase speculation as to which land-use matter the closed session was about, but also what message the Council was sending to the City Clerk, and even potential violations of the Maryland Open Meetings Act.

"It leads one to believe there was more going on than what was indicated by the reasons given for going into a closed meeting," Rockville resident Joe Jordan wrote to the Mayor and Council by email. "If anything outside those reasons was discussed, you would be in violation of the OMA." Saying the behavior of Team Rockville members "may have hit a new low for this council," Jordan urged them to improve their working relationship in the final two years of their term.

Photo: City of Rockville

Montgomery County Council clueless in meeting with Maryland transportation official

Another clueless performance by the Montgomery County Council in a transportation meeting yesterday has many in the business community questioning their fitness for office. In a failed attempt to dress down Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's transportation secretary Pete Rahn, their politically-motivated meeting ended up instead exposing how poorly-informed the Council is on the basics of modern infrastructure, its operation, and financing.

Councilmembers repeatedly demanded "transit" be part of Hogan's massive Express Lanes plan for the Capital Beltway, I-270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. They were unaware that it is standard practice for regular and rapid buses to use Express Lanes on highways.

Council President Roger Berliner asked Rahn if he could "fold in" the stalled Corridor Cities Transitway BRT project into the $9 billion dollar Express Lanes project. This was patently absurd for two reasons: The CCT runs on a completely different route than I-270, for starters. And the CCT, like all bus and rail service, will be a money-loser; transit does not generate profits like Express Lanes. What sane private corporation would try to combine the potentially-narrow profit margin of these particular Express Lanes with a surefire money drain like the CCT?

Finally, Councilmember George Leventhal showed how out of touch he is with his constituents when he advised Rahn that the more transit is part of the Express Lanes plan, "the more it will be easier (sic) to assuage our constituents." Huh? His constituents, tired of being stuck in traffic, want the popular Express Lanes plan proposed by Hogan. Leventhal should listen to voices beyond the yes-men in his office before daring to speak on behalf of his constituents.

Rahn, in contrast, demonstrated he has his finger on the pulse of frustrated Maryland drivers. His only misstep was waffling on how much the project might end up costing taxpayers, off-message with Hogan's promise that private companies would take on the financial burden.

Business leaders watching the hearing - and Montgomery's moribund private-sector economy and plunging wealth numbers - were reminded of a similar amateur-hour performance by the Council earlier this fall. In a worksession on autonomous vehicles, councilmembers showed a laughable lack-of-knowledge of the basic nuts-and-bolts of this now-arriving technology.  Many referred to autonomous vehicles as a futuristic fantasy, apparently unaware that Tesla vehicles on the road right now have fully-autonomous capability. The Council also didn't know how the cars might be insured. As more evidence that the Council hadn't even done the most basic research ahead of the session, they didn't know Volvo had just announced it would take on drivers' insurance liability itself.

Clueless.

CAVA Grill to open in Upper Rock today...with free lunch

Your first meal at the new CAVA Grill in the Upper Rock area of Rockville will be free today. CAVA is opening its newest area location at 28 Upper Rock Circle today at noon. Lunch will be free from noon until 2:00 PM. Share the spirit of generosity by making an optional donation to City Blossoms, a D.C. non-proft that helps connect kids with green space in areas that lack them.