Tuesday, September 8, 2020

First look: Soulfull Cafe in Rockville (Photos)

Soulfull Cafe is getting ready to open in the ground floor of the Main Street Apartments at 50 Monroe Place in Rockville. The cafe will offer baked goods, acai bowls, fresh juices, smoothies and coffees from Dawson's Market. A soft opening is currently scheduled for tomorrow, September 9, 2020, from 7:00 AM-2:00 PM. Here is a sneak peek at the space.











Monday, September 7, 2020

Loudoun County leader blasts Montgomery County for failure of understaffed 911 call center in teen's death

Montgomery County Council has
failed to fully-fund 911 call center staffing,
leaving 54 positions vacant

The Montgomery County Council has failed to adequately staff the county's 911 call center for years, leading to call takers working overtime, and being stressed and exhausted. In recent weeks, the call center has been criticized for its response to a 911 call from the Loudoun side of the Potomac River. By the time the first rescue unit arrived at the correct location, 36 minutes had passed.

"I am baffled by how poorly Montgomery County handled this," Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall said, according to the Washington Post. "How do you wait 17 minutes and then keep waiving Loudoun off, and saying, 'We're taking this call?' They need to work on their 911 center."

But the Post reports that the Montgomery County Council has not only failed to fully staff the 911 center, but is now dragging its feet in investigating the 911 center's failures in the drowning incident in which a 16-year-old family friend of Randall's died. Loudoun has already completed an investigation, and developed a 77-page report. Montgomery County? A Council "briefing is expected later this month," the Post's Dan Morse reported.

It's mind-boggling to consider the tens-of-billions of dollars in wasteful spending and kickbacks to its campaign donors the Council has approved over the last decade. They also managed to have $6.7 million in taxpayer funds vanish, in an embezzlement scheme that has yet to be investigated by the FBI. 

Let's not forget Council expenditures like the $900,000 over-budget Glen Echo Heights sewer pipe, or paying $22,000 for a security camera system that costs less than $1000 retail. And countless extraneous new executive-level positions with six-figure salaries, often filled by political allies of the Council. 

Yet they've failed to spend the necessary funds to staff the 911 call center - where the 911 system itself has experienced two outages in recent years. 

It's a County Council that cannot execute the most basic functions of government. Now, competing jurisdictions aren't only whipping Montgomery County's posterior in economic development, infrastructure and schools, they're also starting to call out its incompetent and feckless elected officials. Considering the local press won't, it's about time someone did.

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Fact check: Is Montgomery County Ride On bus service being cut by Larry Hogan?

A remarkable column about Montgomery County transit appeared in Friday's Washington Post. It was remarkable for two reasons. First, Post columnists have been silent on transit cuts made by the Montgomery County Council over the last decade, including their elimination of the Park and Ride route for Frederick commuters entering Montgomery, and their slashing of weekend bus service in Damascus. And remarkable because it was...false.

Columnist Petula Dvorak was apparently attempting to write a critical piece about service cuts proposed by the Maryland Transit Administration to MTA bus routes and MARC rail service. But a lengthy introduction, and let's-give-the-Council-free-press quotes from councilmembers, suggest that Montgomery County and its Ride On bus service will be the victims of the MTA cuts.

Ride On Route 55 is specifically cited by Dvorak, and later she says the MTA cuts will make the Route 55 buses even more crowded like "sardine cans." She adds that low-income residents in Montgomery County will be "among those devastated by reductions in bus routes." The article paints Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) as the villain who is behind the cuts.

Just one problem - Ride On is not run by the MTA. Ride On is funded by Montgomery County taxpayers, and is run by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. There are no Hogan cuts to Ride On because Hogan has no authority over or involvement with Ride On. There are no MTA cuts to Ride On routes proposed. If any Ride On cuts are made, they will be made by the Montgomery County Council deciding not to fund those routes.

The column wound up literally being fake news. At best, Capitol Hill resident Dvorak did not realize the MTA doesn't run all bus service in the state of Maryland.

Depicting Montgomery County Council members as heroes fighting to save Ride On bus service in the County doesn't even pass the laugh test, much less a fact check. If they are working so hard to save transit, why have they still not restored weekend service on Route 90 in Damascus, a 2010 Ride On cut that left car-free residents stranded in town on weekends?

Is Montgomery County Ride On bus service being cut by Larry Hogan? Nope. It has been cut in the past by the Montgomery County Council, though.

Fact check score: FOUR PINOCCHIOS 

Friday, September 4, 2020

Rock Grove shopping center begins to take shape in Rockville (Photos)

The conversion of the strip mall at the corner of MD 355 and Shady Grove Road into a new shopping center called Rock Grove is well underway. Construction began back in April. You can now see the facade and roofline that was shown in the renderings beginning to take final shape.






Thursday, September 3, 2020

Ritchie Center pad site available for lease on Rockville Pike

Here's an interesting development at the Ritchie Center. The retro-design brick building at 795 Rockville Pike could be torn down to make way for a new retail use, based on a new for-lease listing. Rather than touting the building for lease, it is offering the pad site land itself, a 6970 SF parcel.

This would be a great location for a new fast food restaurant with drive-thru - excellent visibility and vehicular access. We need a Hardee's, Steak 'N Shake, or Jack in the Box quite badly.
Map courtesy NAI Michael

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Hogan: Let's go to the movies! Elrich: Not so fast

Montgomery County won't immediately 
accept move to Stage 3 of reopening Friday

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) declared Tuesday afternoon that the state's coronavirus numbers now permit moving to Stage 3 of reopening. He said that would include movie theaters and all businesses, and would go into effect this Friday at 5:00 PM. But don't call the Moviefone guy for Tenet showtimes just yet, Kramer.
Regal Cinemas Majestic 20 in
downtown Silver Spring is still closed,
like all Maryland movie theaters
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said Hogan's announcement had "taken us by surprise." Because Hogan did not share his executive order with County officials in advance, Elrich said, it would take time to review it. "Although I want to see our community open as quickly as possible, we also must proceed with care," Elrich tweeted, adding that he would continue to rely on "data and science" in making decisions.
New movie posters outside the Regal, but
not always with the right release dates in
the tumultuous coronavirus era
Elrich said it will take at least a few days to review the order and data. He said he was troubled by Covid-19 case numbers being higher this week than last week in the county. Stay tuned for further updates between this morning and Friday.


Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Amazon Fresh grocery store to open on Shady Grove Road

Amazon will open one of its new Amazon Fresh grocery store concepts in Gaithersburg. The store will take over the Office Depot building at the 270 Center on Shady Grove Road.

First opening in California, the stores will offer the Amazon Dash Cart, which identifies the items you place in it. Customers can then push the cart through the Dash Cart checkout lane for instant checkout when leaving the store.

Fresh foods are prepared daily in-store. Amazon Fresh stores will emphasize low prices, compared to the company's higher-end Whole Foods Market chain. Expect a 2021 opening for the store.