Court Rules: City Properly Implemented APFO On Beall's Grant II

Montgomery County Circuit judge >John Debelius has ruled from the bench in favor of the City of Rockville regarding the appeal to overturn the Rockville Planning Commission’s approval of the use permit for the expansion of Beall’s Grant II.

The Court was asked to determine if the city’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) was followed. Judge Debelius determined that the APFO was implemented correctly by Scott Ullery, City Manager and that the City acted reasonably in using the enrollment figures from the Montgomery County Public School administration.

Last October, Contessa Crisostomo from the Gazette summarized the arguments on both sides. Now a judge has made the decision. A written ruling is expected in the next couple of weeks.

There is no word yet as to whether an appeal is planned.

Ultimate Outdoor Summer Guide for Rockville Town Center

>We’re past Memorial Day and officially looking forward to Summer. In case you doubt Rockville’s summer fun, here’s a rundown of the weekly schedule in Town Center. Check the Town Square website regularly for specials. As always, if I’ve missed something, let me know!

MONDAYS

Cheap Date Nights
June 1 to August 10
Retailers are putting together special “date” packages like meals for two, his and her massages or makeovers, and great gifts. Participating retailers: Austin Grill (First Monday benefits a charity), Bobby’s Crabcakes, Cosi, Gifford’s Ice Cream and Candy Co, Gordon Biersch, Jouvence Aveda, La Tasca, Lebanese Taverna, Oro Pomodoro, Pomegranate & Co., Robeks Fruit Smoothies and Healthy Eats, Sushi Damo, and Taste of Saigon.

TUESDAYS

Kids Night will be back!
June 2 - August 11
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Last year was so crowded! Kids Eat Free (with purchase of adult entrée)all night long in some restaurants during the summer months: Austin Grill, Fractured Prune, Gordon Biersch, Lebanese Taverna, La Tasca, Taste of Saigon, and Robeks Fruit Smoothies and Healthy Eats.

*Free Face Painting with any event day purchase at Rockville Town Square (must present receipt from Rockville Town Square store or restaurant dated the day of the event to receive free face painting).

*Live Entertainment on Stage
Shows at 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM
June 2 - Milkshake Duo
June 9 - Speed & Thro
June 16 - Spinny Johnson
June 23 - Gizmo Guys
June 30 - NOW THIS!
July 7 - Bert the Nerd
July 14 - DinoRock
July 21 - Airborne
July 28 - Rocknoceros
August 4 - Reptiles Alive
August 11 - Zak Morgan

WEDNESDAYS

Out to Lunch with Farmers’ Market and Live Music
June 3 - October 28
11 AM to 2 PM
East Montgomery Avenue in front of the Regal Cinemas Rockville 13.
June 3 - The Guzzlers
June 10 - Backroads Band
June 17 - Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition
June 24 - Night & Day Swing
July 1 - The Robert Redd Trio Jazz
July 8 - Janine Wilson’s Roots Rock
July 15 - The Lovejoy Group - Latin Jazz and Afro Rhythms
July 22 - Rock and Roll Revue - Oldies
July 29 - Rick Whitehead Jazz Trio
August 5 - Squeeze Bayou
August 12 - Patty Reese - Love her rock!
August 19 - Rita Clarke and the Naturals Bayou Rhythms
August 26 - Sandra Dean Band’s Classic Rock
September 2 - Project Natale’s Classic and Latin Jazz
September 9 - Crimestoppers’ rock
September 16 - Visions of JAZZ
September 23 - Rags Rock
September 30 - Dani Cortaza Combo’s Latin Brazilian Jazz

Free Movies on the Square
June 3 - August 12
8:45 PM (dusk)
Enjoy the movies while dining at one of the Square cafes or pick up a boxed dinner from one of the restarants. Schedule can change without notice.
June 3 - Marley and Me
June 10 - Casablanca
June 17 - Hairspray
June 24 - Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa
July 1 - Twilight
July 8 - The Dark Knight
July 15 - Kung-Fu Panda
July 22 - Mamma Mia
July 29 - He’s Just Not That Into You
August 5 - Quantum of Solace
August 12 - Monsters Vs Aliens

THURSDAYS

Sky at Five up on The Rooftop
5 - 10 PM
The hippest weekly party for those 21 and over with funky furnishings, food & drink, and hot djs. $5 cover includes one drink. Now that’s a deal for the view alone!

Concert in the Square
June 4 - September 17
6 - 8 PM
Hosted by the City of Rockville
June 4 - The Nighthawks
June 11 - Bob Sima - wonderful folk artist
June 18 - The Tim Ford Group’s jazz
June 25 - Daryl Davis - Rockville’s own blues
June 2 - Dixie Power Trip
July 9 - Ruthie and the Wranglers’s roots rock
July 16 - Bill Kirchen - was great at Hometown Holidays
July 23 - Maryland Summer Jazz All Stars Quintet
July 30 - Seamus Kennedy is Irish folk in case you couldn’t tell.
August 6 - Martinez and Guthrie are folk
August 13 - The U.S. Navy Band Brass Qunitet
August 20 - Rick Whitehead Trio’s jazz
August 27 - The West End - Rockville Central’s own Brad Rourke rocks!
September 3 - Lyuti Chushki is Bulgarian and Macedonia Folk
September 10 - Cathy Ponton King’s bluesy rock
September 17 - Palenke Music Company has Latin Rhythms

FRIDAYS

First Fridays Deck Party
5 - 8 PM
Great view, live music, food and drink. Admission is free for those 21 and over with identification. Food and drinks available for purchase from the sponsors, usually a couple of bucks each.
June 5 - Seamus Kennedy’s crazy Irish music sponsored by La Tasca
August 7 - Billy Coulter sponsored by Gordon Biersch
September 4 - Taylor Carson sponsored by La Tasca

SATURDAYS

Farmer’s Market
May 16 - October 21
9 AM - 1 PM
Corner of Monroe Street and Route 28

Greystone Grill In Town Square Closes

Following up from a tip from one of our >Twitter friends, I took a peek and found that, indeed, the Greystone Grill in Town Square appears to have closed. In fact, it is evidently closed forever:

It’s always sad to see businesses not succeed. But there are still lots of good restaurants in Town Square and this opens the door to something new!

Science & Tech Postdoc Career Fair Set

This just in from our friends at >Rockville REDI:

Rockville Economic Development, Inc (REDI) announces the organization of the fourth annual S.T.E.M. 2009: Postdoc Conference and Career Fair to be held July 22, 2009, 8 am – 4 pm at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center located at 5701 Marinelli Road. Designed for postdoctoral fellows with scientific, technical, engineering and mathematics (S.T.E.M.) backgrounds exploring professional opportunities in the Washington metropolitan region, the conference and career fair includes:

• plenary speakers;
• workshops on interviewing skills;
• resume reviewers;
• immigration experts;
• information on careers beyond the bench including journalism, law, government, non-profits, entrepreneurial opportunities and working for established companies

“The event is designed to help postdoctoral fellows who are performing research at federal laboratories and local universities connect with companies who are looking to recruit this fresh talent for their knowledge-based businesses,” said Sally Sternbach, Executive Director of REDI.

Follow this link for more information.

POTD: Beams

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Here’s another by Rockville Central editor Cindy Cotte Griffiths. This was at night at Hometwon Holidays. Aren’t those beams cool??

Contributor Opinion By Anne Robbins: Employee Compensation Program Unwise And Inappropriate

>To All: For many, many months, I have fought this massive employee compensation, and it seemed that nobody, but Phyllis Marcuccio, our Rockville citizens, and members of other governments, have listened to me. Thank you, Randy Alton, for your recognition that residents have heard the call and will respond. Sadly, our friends in other governments, will think twice when Rockville needs a handout, and that day will come. Rockville taxpayers will pay higher fees and the 4th year of a property tax reduction rate has been scuttled, (I had hoped this would be an annual policy), to fund this unwise, untimely, and inappropriate $1.7 million dollar employee compensation plan. (I exempt our employees covered by a union contract, from any reduction, as I honor union contracts.)

Mayor [Susan] Hoffmann has written about ” punishing our hardworking staff” to not give this huge compensation to the Rockville employees; nothing could be further from the truth as I recognize and honor our superior work force, many of whom, I have known for years. I believe that it would give these employees a good feeling to join other governments in making a statement that, “we are all in the same boat”, recognizing that we are all living in the worst recession since after WWII.

Anne Robbins
City Council Member

This contributor opinion is by Council Member Anne Robbins. It is in response to a letter by Randy Alton published in the Gazette.

This is a contributor opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such opinions for consideration — the more voices the better. We especially welcome people who disagree with us. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

Events In Rockville 5/28/09

>Pick of the Week

Fiesta Real: A Cultural Fair Celebrating Spain

Real Maryland Soccer USL 2
vs. Harrisburg City Islanders
Richard Montgomery High School field
2-3 PM Free Flamenco Lessons
4 PM USL Match Starts
Half-time Professional Music & Dance Show!
General seating $15, Youth (6-17) $10, 5 & under free
Games are played rain or shine.

During Hometown Holidays, the kids went up against Rockville’s own professional soccer players. In our case, the professionals were definitely outnumbered! I promised the team players we would see a game. Our house is a couple of blocks away and we usually hear them. This Sunday you can also learn to Flamenco dance. Real Maryland always promises a special occasion and much more than a soccer game.

Events in Rockville

Here’s the links to Rockville Living’s events in two formats - a one week list or six week calendar.

Six Week Calendar

If you attend an event, we invite you to write a Contributor Review. Just send it to Cindy Cotte Griffths and we will consider it. Rules: Event is in Rockville; fairly recent; article is your work; you are not offering it for publication elsewhere. Try to keep it under 500 words; we will edit for length. Include a photo if you have one.

POTD: Balls

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This cool shot is by Cindy Cotte Griffiths. Evidently Can’t Hang passed out a bunch of beach balls before their show Sunday night . . . .

We're Number Three! We're Number Three!

Our loyal >Rockville Central readers know that one of our favorite sources of political information and commentary is the inimitable Maryland Politics Watch. MPW is the most-read political blog in Maryland.

How do we know? Because MPW’s Adam Pagnucco keeps track of the Free State’s “blogosphere,” and issues periodic reports, based on all blogs that make their stats publicly available (as we do). We’re proud to say that, according to Adam’s research, Rockville Central is the third most read local blog in Maryland, after our friend Dan Reed’s Just Up The Pike. This from Adam’s latest:

Local blogs that do not focus on political ideology now account for almost half of all Maryland site visits. Their combined visit count has leaped from 34,649 in December 2008 to 64,240 in April 2009. The leaders in 2009 site visits through April are Inside Charm City (80,984), Just Up the Pike (30,701), Rockville Central (27,697), Tales of Two Cities (19,547) and Oceanshaman (14,396).

Read the full piece here.

Thank you, readers!

Come To The Pump House Family Friendly Open Mic!

>Rockville Central friend Chas Hausheer dropped a note to remind us all of the open mic coming up this weekend at the Pump House, which is rapidly becoming my favorite place to hang out.

Here is the info:

Family Open Mic Night at the Pump House.

ALL family friendly talents welcome.

Bring your own munchies.

Join the ERCA singing cow for open mic night

All are welcome.

401 South Horners Lane.

May 30 - 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM

I will be out of town, but I do know a few people who will be playing . . . . !

POTD: Happy Day

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Sunday was Rockville Central friend Ruth Hanessian’s birthday party at the Pump House. What a lovely cake!

Hooray For Hometown Holidays

Although the forecasters continually mentioned rain, Hometo>wn Holidays remained dry and mostly sunny during three days of festivities. About 18,000 people on Saturday and 30,000 on both Sunday and Monday attended the spectrum of events in Town Center.

Wandering around meant taking in far more shows than planned. The six stages beckoned from almost every corner. Bill Kirchen‘s toe-tapping honky-tonk emanated pure enjoyment and demonstrated an ease of entertaining. Leaving, TX had me hoping the sun would go behind a cloud for their sakes, while the crowd sat in the shade around the cool Courthouse fountain. When they ended with a new one, Big Sweet Life, I kept thinking Big Street Life because that’s what we were having.

On Saturday, the crowd had a rowdy good time with fiddle rock from Blaggards on the Plaza Stage. Since they hail from Houston, they actually said “Nice singing ya all” with an Irish accent which you have to hear to believe. When the lead singer’s hair is longer than mine and he knows how to use it, I’m sold on the band. They did some family-friendly songs by taking some words out, but looked forward to playing in DC on Saturday night so they could put some words back in. When the Friends of the Library asked them to announce the end of their book sale they jokingly complied. I’m a complete fan of their Stout Irish Rock.

What better place to experience our local high school talent than at Hometown Holidays? On Saturday, Stuck in the Mud including a few band members from Richard Montgomery High School rocked up a rendition of 99 Red Balloons. You have to chuckle when a high school band says “First song we ever wrote way back in 8th grade.” The song, Bigoted was punk-influenced tight. They even bring out the violin and acoustic guitar to mix it up. On Sunday, a big high school crowd also cheered completely different talents from Wootton High School’s a cappella groups , Chaos and the Supertonics.

All these entertainment tastes were sprinkled around the real Taste of Rockville where volunteers sold tickets for $1.25 each to benefit the Chamber of Commerce and Community Ministries of Rockville. Most tastes were 2-3 tickets from a large, impresseive selection of restaurants.

VisArts Fine Arts Festival more than doubled in size and spread to include Gibbs Street and Maryland Avenue. My husband snuck back and bought me earrings and a necklace from Stacy Naughton’s Twisted Glass, funky functional art. Later I added some ceiling fan pulls to our tab. When I pointed a friend in her direction and she also purchased a bunch of gifts. This Fairfax artist is my pick from the Festival and you can shop online if you missed her.

As for the big evening headliners, I missed Saturday night but musician Keegan Corbey, who played the acoustic stage twice on Saturday, told me “Pat McGee was incredible.” On Sunday night, Mayor Hoffmann, the City Council, Jenny Forehand and Jim Gilchrist were all on hand to introduce the main attraction after having what appeared to be a very good time in the sponsor VIP area. Since I was forced to learn reggae in order to get a radio show at my college station, I wanted to catch the Wailers. To actually hear people who knew and played with Bob Marley was a thrill. Can’t Hang opened with their bass back and forth between rock and reggae, but the Wailers are a pure island vibe. Their horns bounced around like the beach balls flying during the performance. From Jammin to One Love, the Wailers announced, “Rockville, we want to give you some good, good loving” and they did. What always intrigues me is how long-time Rockville residents mingle with whatever crowd the band attracts. This year the crowd had more dreadlocks, Hawaiian shirts and caps. Even when people don’t know the entertainers, they want to be a part of the party.

What a phenomenal job from the City staff. The rest of the summer we can do the usual, but on Memorial Day Weekend we come together as a community. While enjoying the fun, we discuss the latest issues and happenings. With something for everyone, Hometown Holidays makes Rockville special.

For the last six years I’ve been in the Memorial Day Parade with my Cub Scout Pack 928. The crowd always happily waves. This year I carried an American flag on a long pole and found the crowd respectful. People stood up for the flag. This gesture made me believe we haven’t forgotten the true meaning of Memorial Day, to remember our fallen soldiers and what it means to be an American.

Get Your Coupons for Free Town Center Parking

>Starting Monday, June 1, 2009 through December 31st, you can pick up a coupon code for 12 free parking visits in the Rockville Town Square parking garages. The only catch is you must live in the City limits, go in person to get the code, and have a picture ID and proof of residency when you do. Only one code per household so you’ll have to share with family members or roomates but it won’t expire.

When the Mayor and Council approved expanded hours for paid parking to begin in the Fall, they also decided to provide some free parking for Rockville residents.

In today’s Press Release from the City, Mayor Hoffmann explains,

It’s very important for the community to have an opportunity to come to Town Square and these free parking coupons will help make that possible. In these challenging economic times we want people to Buy Rockville by shopping and dining locally but even if you aren’t buying something, come hang out in Rockville Town Square.

Here’s where you need to go for your coupon code:

- City Hall, 111 Maryland Ave., Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Residents are advised to call ahead to verify evening hours, at 240-314-5000.

- Twinbrook Community Recreation Center, 12920 Twinbrook Parkway, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

-Thomas Farm Community Center, 700 Fallsgrove Drive, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

The coupon codes are good only for the three City-owned parking garages in Rockville Town Center at 215 North Washington Street, 30 Maryland Avenue, and 330 Hungerford Drive (Route 355) between East Middle Lane and Beall Avenue.

Most of the time I walk over to Town Square!

City Council Candidate Max Van Balgooy Has A Blog

>As Rockville Central readers know, we’re a scrupulously nonpartisan news source and we don’t endorse candidates.

However, we also encourage people to run for office and the more the merrier. We love that stuff! (We first reported when Mark Pierzchala announced his candidacy for City Council and have been keeping up with who has “pulled papers” to run.)

So, in that spirit, we wanted to point you to the new blog of another City Council candidate for 2009, Max Van Balgooy. Max has written a number of comments here at Rockville Central over the last few months. (He has a nice recent post on his blog about his experience at Hometown Holidays this weekend.)

Welcome Max!

(Photo of Max is from his website.)

POTD: Love A Parade

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These guys were loving yesterday’s Hometown Holidays parade. I am not normally a parade person . . . but I enjoyed it too!