Rockville construction update: The Halal Guys (Photos)

The future home of The Halal Guys at Wintergreen Plaza has some Coming Soon signage up in the windows. There's still a ways to go inside, however. As you can see in the photo below, they are also hiring staff right now.

SunTrust posts Coming Soon signage at Rockville Town Square

SunTrust Bank has posted Coming Soon signage at its future home in Rockville Town Square. Their space at 100-A Gibbs Street was a bank in the past as well.

Gyroland opens in Rockville (Photos)

Gyroland has opened at 1701-B3 Rockville Pike, in the Shops at Congressional Village. They have a good selection of Greek appetizers, gyros, souvlaki, and loukoumades, which you might describe as Greek beignets. Gyroland is open from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily (I believe they opened the morning after these photos were taken, because they were taken long before 10:00 PM).

Mr. Banh Mi closes temporarily, Miso Cafe dark at Rockville Town Square (Photos)

Mr. Banh Mi's dining room has been cleared out at the Ritchie Center on Rockville Pike. A sign in the window promises the closure is temporary, but offers no explanation.

On Sunday, Miso Fusion Cafe was dark during its regular hours. Paper was tacked up over the windows at the Korean fusion restaurant, which opened last year at 33-E Maryland Avenue, at Rockville Town Square. No sign was posted to explain the closure.

Urban Hot Pot to hold soft opening this Saturday in Rockville

Urban Hot Pot is just about ready to open at the Galvan development at 1800 Rockville Pike. They will hold a soft opening tomorrow, Saturday, December 9, 2017. Urban Hot Pot will be an all-you-can-eat hotpot spot, complete with rotating conveyor belt. It is right next to the already-open Akira Ramen & Izakaya. The restaurant is walking distance from the Twinbrook Metro station.

MoCo Council president Hans Riemer arrested

A Montgomery County Councilmember who has had trouble obeying the law in the past found himself in handcuffs Wednesday. Council President Hans Riemer was arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol by U.S. Capitol Police yesterday, after refusing an order to disperse following an immigration rally.

"I was arrested today," Riemer wrote on Facebook last evening. Riemer has promised to introduce legislation to declare Montgomery County officially a "sanctuary county" for illegal immigrants, according to Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of CASA de Maryland.

Riemer has run afoul of the law in the past, including violating his own Open Data law this past spring, when he directed that a file required to be posted on the County website be removed. In 2014, he appeared to have inside information on illegal activity in the County's Department of Liquor Control, over which he has oversight authority, but waited to report it until after he was safely reelected that November.

Riemer seizes Council presidency, declares war on his constituents

A backroom political deal culminated Tuesday with a unanimous vote by the Montgomery County Council naming Councilmember Hans Riemer Council President for the final year of their current term. In a rambling seven minute speech, Riemer took aim at the County's established suburban neighborhoods of "cul-de-sacs," which he described as "appealing, if exclusive, suburban communit[ies]" that are home to "those who already have every advantage."

Delivered with a sneering tone and slight smirk, Riemer's remarks echoed those of his colleague George Leventhal a few years ago. Leventhal declared the suburbs "a mistake," and during the Westbard sector plan battle, told residents angry about the plan to urbanize their neighborhood they should just be glad they were "lucky" enough to live there.

"People used to come here to get away from the city," Riemer said Tuesday, announcing a new "metropolitan" identity for a County where a majority live in leafy, suburban neighborhoods. Riemer appeared delusional when referring to the visceral anger displayed by residents toward the Council in the last several years - a backlash that culminated in the passage of term limits by an overwhelming margin in November 2016. Despite having his own term limited by that vote, in Riemer's world, "emotions in our community are charged" because of Donald Trump, not his own votes for tax hikes and urbanization of existing rural and suburban neighborhoods.

Riemer's Trump-like reputation for falsehoods was on full display in yesterday's speech. Moments before casting a vote to pass the controversial Westbard sector plan in 2016, Riemer claimed the Westbard community was "a mile from two Metros." That was a four-Pinocchio whopper, given that Westbard is at least two miles from any Metro station, nowhere near the quarter-to-half mile distance universally agreed upon for "transit-oriented development."

On Tuesday, Riemer stated that the Purple Line would place the University of Maryland "minutes away" from Montgomery County residents. In reality, the light rail's average speed between Bethesda and College Park will be less than 19 MPH. He came up with a new definition for the County's longstanding achievement gap between white and Asian students, and their black and Latino peers. Stunning observers active on education issues, Riemer falsely described Montgomery County Public Schools' gap as only affecting those between the ages of "zero and five." A clever scheme to absolve failed County officials from any blame, but unfortunately, completely false.

Riemer was more honest about the County's hated government-controlled liquor monopoly, which he took steps to strengthen and preserve during his current term. "We may have a reputation for liquor control," Riemer acknowledged. That control has frustrated restaurant and bar owners, who are forced to pay higher prices while getting poor selection and service from the County. Meanwhile, residents are among the few in America who cannot purchase beer and wine from grocery, drug and chain convenience stores.

Riemer's disdain for his suburban constituents, who represent a majority of County residents, raises questions as to how he intends to get anything done this year. It also brought to mind a quote from chef Anthony Bourdain:

"He’s a classic example of the smirking, contemptuous, privileged guy who lives in a bubble. And he is in no way looking to reach outside, or even look outside, of that bubble, in an empathetic way.”