Rockville Mayor & Council to discuss City Manager in closed session

Rockville City Manager
Rob DiSpirito

Rockville's Mayor and Council will go into closed session at their Monday, January 27, 2020 meeting to discuss the City Manager. The session will be closed to the public. According to the meeting agenda, the subjects of the discussion may include one or more of the following:  the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation, or performance evaluation of the City Manager."

City Manager Rob DiSpirito has served in that role since November 2016. Note that Monday's meeting will begin at 5:45 PM instead of the usual 7:00 PM start. It will begin in open, public session at 5:45 with a vote to adjourn to the closed session. The meeting is scheduled to reconvene back into open session around 6:30, pending completion of the closed session.

Photo via City of Rockville

Montgomery County fumbles Eli Lilly factory to North Carolina

Indianapolis residents now know what it feels like to live in Montgomery County. Just as moribund MoCo can't get one of its few remaining major companies - Lockheed - to locate its manufacturing facilities here, neither could Indy get hometown pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to build its new manufacturing facility in the Hoosier capital. Lilly is looking south instead, choosing Durham County, North Carolina's booming Research Triangle Park.

"We continue to grow North Carolina into a worldwide hub for the biotechnology industry," a jubilant North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said in a statement Tuesday.

Biotech and hospitality are the only two economic sectors in Montgomery County that even have a pulse these days, thanks to decisions made by wiser County leaders prior to the Montgomery County political cartel's seizure of the County Council in 2002 (today, the cartel controls all nine Council seats). But just days after the Washington Post reported once again that Montgomery County has fallen behind Prince George's County in job creation (while failing to report MoCo was also behind every other county in the region over the last decade in that department), Montgomery County's elected officials weren't able to score the biggest biotech get of the year so far - the Eli Lilly factory.

Not only did the County Council and economic development officials make no public campaign to attract Lilly, but their fumble also emphasizes how our inept leaders are squandering the biotech advantages their smarter, less corrupt predecessors left them at the turn of the century. North Carolina is catching up, as is Virginia. As MoCo officials continue to drop balls left and right, those and other states will soon surpass us.

North Carolina Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland correctly noted Tuesday that, "North Carolina is one of the nation’s leading centers for innovation in the life sciences." They also have two other things we don't: A friendly business climate, and superior infrastructure.

The Tar Heel state has the Research Triangle Park. Montgomery County was supposed to have a "Science City" in the I-270 corridor. Remember that?

Montgomery County elected officials couldn't even get that done. Of course, they never intended to. "Science City" was a total ruse perpetrated by the Council, and their developer sugar daddies, a decade ago. Sold to you as something like North Carolina's biotech park, that fakeout was merely a Trojan horse for more residential development.

Remember how Clarksburg, Germantown and Shady Grove were going to be booming job centers, with a Corridor Cities Transitway and expanded MARC service? None of that ever happened.

But - the housing all got built.

Jobs continued to divert to Northern Virginia, and I-270 just got more congested with all of the new housing approved by the Council without any new transportation infrastructure to support it. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Now, standing amidst the ashes of a "Science City" ghost town surrounded by stack-and-pack Soviet-style apartment blocs, the Council is saying the whole problem is...there wasn't enough housing built. LOL. [Insert cuckoo clock sound here].

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

What did we lose this week as a result?

462 new pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs, with an average salary above $72,000. 462 jobs are just a drop in the bucket given how stagnant and shrinking Montgomery County's economy is, but we're not in a position to pass any up in such a crisis. We should be, but are not, actively pursuing aerospace, biotech, and defense corporate headquarters, and their related research and manufacturing facilities.

North Carolina's Research Triangle Park's motto is, "Inspiring Bold Ideas."

The Montgomery County Council's is, "Lining our pockets with developer cash."

Our County's should be, "The Bedroom Community for the Booming Job Centers Elsewhere in Our Region."

Rockville firm to employ AI in partnership with major German cosmetics firm

Insilico Medicine, a Rockville biotech firm specializing in artificial intelligence, is going to put AI to work in the skincare field. German cosmetics firm Beiersdorf announced this morning it has entered a partnership with Insilico to apply AI to the search for new active ingredients for skincare products. Beiersdorf owns major brands like Nivea and La Prairie.

In a statement released by Beiersdorf, Insilico CEO Alex Zhavoronkov said the company is "delighted at the chance to prove AI’s potential in the skincare industry moving forward." Beiersdorf’s Senior Corporate VP for Research and Development May Shana called Insilico "the undisputed expert in the field of artificial intelligence." Insilico is located at 9601 Medical Center Drive in Rockville.

Logo courtesy Insilico Medicine

Rockville Swim Center upgrades to debut January 22

The first of several upcoming improvements at the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center will be open to the public on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. Visitors Wednesday will be the first to have access to the all-new lobby area, and the larger, modernized locker rooms. Additional exterior and interior work will continue in the months ahead, requiring the section of the parking lot furthest from Martins Lane to remain closed at this time. The swim center is located at 355 Martins Lane.

Madison Reed Color Bar coming to Rockville

Color is the new blowout. Madison Reed Color Bar, a coloring-only salon concept, recently opened its first DC-area location at Bethesda Row. Rockville residents won't be missing out much longer, though. The chain has just signed a lease at Congressional Plaza.

Madison Reed Color Bar will be located between Noodles & Company and the future Barnes & Noble bookstore. A spring opening is expected. The chain's concept is "stunning color, free of harsh chemicals."

More headlines

from Suburban News Network:

Chevy Chase strip of vacant storefronts once touted as "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive" suffers biggest blow yet as anchor tenant Friendship Heights Giant has closed, as moribund MoCo economy continues to tank

Wheaton Plaza to celebrate Chinese New Year in grand style

Pier 1 stores in Rockville, Gaithersburg to close

Montgomery County's moribund economy is hitting the home furnishings sector. Pier 1 Imports is closing in Rockville and Gaithersburg; both stores have disappeared from the Pier 1 website Store Locator. No official announcement or closing date for either store has been issued by Pier 1's corporate office.

It's interesting that Pier 1 stores in areas with booming economies like Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Waldorf, Bowie, Pasadena, Laurel and Columbia - to name just a few - are remaining open in our region. Pier 1 has been a fixture in Rockville as long as I can remember. 

The pending closures would have come as a shock if it were not for the widespread consensus that Montgomery County's economy has stagnated, according to every relevant benchmark of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics over the last decade. Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of retail jobs since the turn of the century, according to the Maryland Retailers Association.

Derwood armed robbery video released by police

Montgomery County police detectives have released surveillance video from a brazen, daytime armed robbery of a beer and wine store in Derwood. A man with a covered face brandishing a handgun entered Midway Beer and Wine at 16057 Frederick Road around 2:29 PM on January 2, 2020. He allegedly threatened two employees, and demanded cash.

The alleged getaway car

Receiving an undisclosed amount of cash, the suspect fled the store and sped off in a metallic brown Nissan Altima, model year 2016 or later. Detectives say they believe there was a getaway driver waiting in the Altima on Frederick Road.

Anyone with information regarding the suspects or this armed robbery is asked to call the Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5100. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to them that leads to an arrest in this case.