POTD: Night!

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Here’s a shot from Rockville Central friend Frank Anastasi. He took it Saturday night (Blizzard night) and says this about it: “[I]sn’t it neat how grainy it is? I like that odd green-ish coloring in some of the snow. In some ways, the place never looked better. And it was so nice and cozy and cheery inside with all the Christmas stuff and the fireplace going.

Stop Hunger Now by Frank Anastasi

On Saturday my son and I took part in a most amazing effort. About 80 people packed 27,500 meals, which will feed starving school children in places like Haiti, in about two hours. How could this be? >Stop Hunger Now has a system that rivals the most efficient assembly line in any auto plant, that’s how. The organization gets volunteers to pack millions of meals it sends all over the world to feed starving school-age children.

Here’s how it happened. One young man arrived at Christ Episcopal Church in a large truck filled with 50 pound bags of rice, granulated soy protein, and dried vegetables this morning. He also had a dozen or so five-gallon pails of chicken flavored multi-vitamins about half the size of a golf ball. And 4,584 small, plastic bags.

Teams of five people used a standing wire rack, a funnel, and various sized plastic cups to fill each bag with the prescribed amounts of the dried food. Runners (and did we run!) shuttled small pails of filled bags from each team to weigh stations, and returned empty pails to the filling teams. Weighers weighed each bag and added or subtracted some rice so each bag met the target weight. Sealers then sealed each bag with a heating press. Packers then packed the sealed bags in boxes ready for shipment. Sustainers replenished each team’s supplies of dried food as they emptied their supply bins filling the bags.

It was the best kind of organized chaos you’ve ever seen! People yelling “Runner!” “Rice!” “Bins! We need more bins!” “Got Soy?” Slip-sliding on spilled rice underfoot. And the best – the SHN guy banging a gong when we’d hit our first thousand meals, then at five thousand, and again and again, on up to the finale. It was crazy, and so much fun.

We started getting organized and receiving instruction on what to do around 10:00 am. By 12:30, the last bags were packed. A little clean up and a lot of shaking of hands, and we were done.

So, think about it. When water is added to the food that goes into each bag and it’s boiled, you have six servings of a pretty tasty chicken-flavored rice and vegetable casserole. So you see, six times 4,584 equals about 27,500 meals! Considering that things like mud cookies (lard mixed with, yes, mud) are a staple of many starving children, it’s easy to see the huge impact that 80 people working feverishly for two hours — and having a blast every minute — will have combating starvation around the world.

You can get in on this action, too. We were told that Christ Episcopal was the first church in Maryland to do this. Want to go next? Look up Stop Hunger Now, or contact me and I will help you find them. Happy Thanksgiving!

Frank Anastasi

Rockville Central encourages readers to submit pieces for consideration on all sorts of things — volunteering, shopping, restaurants, performances, art, cultural events, and more. Rules: it should be in Rockville and it should be a recommendation. Get in touch with us if you would like to submit something! The more voices the better!

Statement By Frank Anastasi: I Have Decided Not To Run For Election This Year

>A statement on by Frank Anastasi:

As reported here first, I picked up a candidate’s package from the City a while back and have been considering running for election to the City Council.

I have decided not to run for election this year. A lot of people whom I admire and respect greatly have encouraged me – many family members, neighbors, friends and relatives, and even a few local elected officials. Their confidence and offers of support have been very flattering and came darn close to pushing me over edge and into candidate territory.

But you can’t run for office because people encourage you to do so. I would love campaigning, and enjoy being on the council even more, if I were to get elected. But running because it would be fun isn’t a good reason, either.

At a National Honor Society induction ceremony I attended recently, a high school junior offered a few thoughts on leadership. He noted that leaders put their own ambitions aside for the higher good. He said leaders put themselves at risk, make personal sacrifices, and often must stand up for unpopular causes.

I found these comments (and others I don’t recall exactly) so meaningful and applicable to my deliberations about running for office. People have told me I am a good leader. Well, I have been a youth sports coach and Cub Scout leader for years here in Rockville. These things have given me an unbelievable sense of satisfaction.

Also, I have led a few, shall we say, citizen initiatives, here in town (anyone remember something about a courthouse?). Rockville is a great place in which to live and work, and I have really enjoyed working with lots of you to make it even better. I do enjoy getting people together and helping them achieve common objectives, and make their lives, our city, and the planet a better place. I do think I would be good at doing that on the Council. Now that’s a great reason to run for elected office.

But right now I have to focus on my family’s financial well being and building my consulting business back up in the wake (let’s hope) of this recession. I know that those of you who have encouraged me to run will understand.

So, I am sorry to disappoint some of you. On the other hand, if you like hearing this news, I am happy to have brightened your day! Whatever, I am sure I’ll be seeing you around town sooner or later. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Frank Anastasi

Last Minute Gift Giving

Still have someone begging you, “Come on, what do you want for the holidays?” Or do you have a nagging sense that you still need to get someone a gift? No, this isn’t another plug for “Buy Rockville”, although I have been doing my share patronizing our new merchants. This is about a great way to help some of our neighbors - the Rockville Holiday Drive, brought to you by the City of Rockville Department of Recreation.>

I saw it in the Winter Rec Guide (p. 25). You can donate from $25 (activity #2660) to $200 (activity # 26661) to give a gift to a less-fortunate child or to an “sponsor” an entire family.

I learned from the nice woman who answered the phone there this morning that all gifts have been purchased for this year, so any donations from here on out will go towards next year’s gifts. She told me that participation for this season’s drive had been very generous. I suspect many donations were made before the new economic reality hit home for many of us, so I wonder about next year.

Last night at a family sit-down dinner (a rare event, and very much enjoyed, even though it was an odd asortment of leftovers), my son mentioned he still needed to get me something. I told him about the Holiday Drive, and the deal was done. I went on-line this morning, clicked on “rock enroll”, signed in, and got myself that present! Pretty cool. If you still need to do some shopping, I hope you consider the Holiday Drive.

News Story on Rockville Courthouse

News Channel 8 will air a story about the Board of Public Work’s approval of the $60 million contract to demolish the former Rockville Library and begin construction of the future Rockville District Courthouse. That will be at 5:30 tonight. In case you missed it, all kinds of interesting documents about the courthouse are here on RC - check some out - >http://sites.google.com/site/rockvillecentral/Home/move-the-court-house-documents or see the April 15 post about it.

Contributor Opinion by Frank Anastasi: Let's Face Reality

>The following contributor opinion is by Rockville Central team member Frank Anastasi:

Certain people say that “Rockville made a deal with Montgomery County and the State” to build the courthouse at the former Library site, and we should stick to it. No one currently in City Hall, however, can produce any proof of that “deal.”And it certainly isn’t in the public record, and it was not considered by the Mayor and Council in any public meeting back then. So let’s all face reality. The only “deal” was between Montgomery County, at that time led by Rose Krasnow’s mentor Doug Duncan, and the State. It was Ms. Krasnow’s role to try to look out for Rockville’s interests and work to minimize adverse impacts of that deal on Rockville, and it appears that she was trying to do that. For example, in a June 20, 2001 Gazette article, Ms. Krasnow stated, “Given the limited size of Town Center, it’s unfair of the county and state to provide less than their fair share of parking.” True then; even more so today.

As Mayor, certainly Ms. Krasnow wasn’t giving the State a pass on complying with zoning code requirements, or letting them slide on adequate safeguards for pedestrian safety and traffic impacts, when they would later design and build a courthouse on the former Library site. Just as Mayor Susan Hoffmann and the City Council today do not want to let the State build a courthouse that far exceeds the zoning code restrictions for that site. For example, a height limit of 75 feet, compared to the maximum height of about 130 feet of the courthouse building as planned now.

And certainly Councilwoman Phyllis Marcuccio doesn’t want to see the state build such a “grotesque” courthouse there - a word used by her predecessor Glennon Harrison in that June 20, 2001 news article - even though she told citizens at the March 13 Town Hall meeting that the city’s Master Plan does indeed show the site’s future use as courthouse. That master plan does not say, however, that the State is free to flaunt zoning code requirements. It doesn’t give them a green light to ignore important siting and design criteria, and the City’s and residents’ requests to address legitimate concerns about safety, parking, and traffic impacts. Any developer has to do those things. Just because the State didn’t have to, didn’t we deserve that it negotiate in good faith with the community, instead of against it at every turn, as they have in this case since 2001?

As of this morning, more than 215 citizens have signed a petition supporting the Mayor and Council’s resolution opposing construction of the courthouse as proposed, and asking the State to hold up on this ill-conceived $71 million dollar expenditure. These are not “a few influential neighbors” as some would have you believe, and they are not NIMBYs as some have labeled us. They are people from all over Rockville - from Twinbrook, Hungerford, Woodley Gardens, New Mark Commons, and yes, the West End - who have learned the facts behind the rhetoric, just as the Mayor and Council did before they passed their resolution.

We have sent the petition to the Senate and House subcommittees in Annapolis who are considering the courthouse’s place in the budget, along with important information that they may not be aware of. Like the initial building plans that show a 40-foot tall building adjacent to the neighborhood, and the current plans with heights up to 130 feet. We have invited them to come to Rockville to see for themselves what “the fuss” is all about. We sent them bunch of photographs, too, just in case they can’t make it out here. Many people who think they support the courthouse at the Library site change their mind when they learn more about the project, especially how the State mistreated Rockville, and what the State is actually proposing to build. We hope that some of those Senators and Delegates will too.

You hear from the other side of this issue that “now is not the time to oppose this project, why did you wait until it’s too late?” To them I offer the headline of that June 20, 2001 Gazette article: “Debate goes on.” Yes, it does!

And to those who say our actions could keep Rockville from getting this courthouse, again I say let’s face reality. It’s the legislators who hold the courthouse’s destiny in their hands, not the citizens of Rockville, or its Mayor and Council. Isn’t that what they have been telling us all along. Isn’t that what they told Governor Martin O’Malley when he asked them to work out a compromise?

Frank Anastasi
Move the Courthouse Steering Committee

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

Contributor Opinion by Frank Anastasi: The Real Time Line

The following contributor opinion is by >Rockville Central team member Frank Anastasi:

To set the record straight and in the interest of full disclosure, people should know that the “chronology” Piotr Gajewski recited to us was prepared by Delegate Lou Simmons following a meeting called by the City and citizens in January 2007. This was when the entire District 17 delegation - that’s Rockville’s elected state representatives - was still deep in their “It’s too late to do anything, too bad you waited so long to oppose this” denial phase.

Is it any wonder the chronology omits many significant, documented, even publicized instances of city officials and citizens beseeching the delegates and state proponents of the courthouse for relief? Of course not.

That is why we have been doing everything we can to get those facts out there. That is why we interjected several important items into the “chronology” last night. Such as:

• The June 20, 2001 Gazette article spotlighting then-Councilman Glennon Harrison’s outrage when he learned the state had doubled the size of the court house after the deal was made to put it on the library site, and still not pay for parking attributable to it. He said the “citizens won’t stand for it.” He was right. [UPDATE: "Court house" in 1st sentence incorrectly read "library" in original.]

• That same article documents the June 11, 2001 West End Citizens’ Association meeting with District 17 delegates when they “poured out their frustrations to the District 17 legislators” about their serious concerns being ignored. That would be the same meeting documented by then District 17 delegate Cheryl Kagan’s notes in her PDA that even include putting forth the Giant Site as an appropriate location — also not in the “chronology”.
• And then we have the item in the “chronology” of the May 2005 meeting that alleges then-Mayor Larry Giammo merely “did not like the building and had concerns about parking.” I bet my next paycheck that Mr. Giammo - and the meeting’s transcript and video recording - will say there was more to it than that. It was most unfortunate for Mr. Gajewski to characterize the Mayor at that meeting as “not saying he thought the library site was a bad place for the courthouse.” Especially when you can find Mr. Giammo’s position on the issue in his 2001 campaign literature.

There are a number of citizens and civic leaders - Sally Stinner, Susan Hoffmann, and Larry Giammo come to mind - who have the most longevity on this issue. They know how this deal went down and all the steps along the way. These people who have been in the trenches fighting this battle from Day 1 have the historical knowledge that one needs to fully understand what happened, when and why. People in this debate — including me — need to be quiet and listen carefully when they speak.

Move the Courthouse is going to Annapolis on Monday to speak with any legislator who will listen in an attempt to get the facts on the record, and to solicit their advice and help to solve this problem. Those signs don’t say Stop the Courthouse for a very good reason - we want a great courthouse to be built in Rockville as soon as possible on an appropriate site. If we — including our Mayor and at least some of our Council members - did not think that is possible, we would not be spending so much time, effort and money trying to accomplish that goal. I would guess, however, that bumper-stickers with STOP printed on them could be acquired quickly and plastered on our signs if we come back from Annapolis having been told that Move is not an option.

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

Contributor Opinion by Frank Anastasi: Not Over Yet

The following contributor opinion is by >Rockville Central team member Frank Anastasi:

That letter from the MC Bar President Mary Ellen Flynn to Mr. Leggett inflamed me so that I wrote to her and copied Mr. Leggett. My letter follows.

This isn’t over yet. The community is rallying — look for “Move the Courthouse” signs coming to lawns near you soon. Also, I hear that the State’s submittal of the current plan to the City in 2005 may not have met the requirement to submit a plan “to the City Planning Commission”. If you wish, register your feelings on the matter with Mr. Leggett or Ms. Flynn. Feel free to use anything in my letter.

January 18, 2008

Mary Ellen Flynn, President
Montgomery County Bar Association

Dear Ms. Flynn:

In response to your recent statements in the paper and your January 17 letter to Mr. Leggett, I wish to point out a few things.

1) You say our opposition to building a courthouse on the former library site is “classic NIMBY”. What an insult to Rockville residents and elected officials alike - this just shows how disconnected you are from the community. But the NIMBY card is always raised when one side can’t be bothered by the basic facts, which in this case are clear. A courthouse, without parking, is a totally inappropriate use of the former library site. Especially when a far superior site exists a couple of blocks away where adequate facilities, and parking, could be built.

2) If it is so impossible to build a courthouse in Rockville unless it is on the old library site, as you say, then why has the Governor bent over backwards to get you to agree to building it at the Giant site? Why does he think the Giant site is a superior site? Why has he said he thinks putting it on the library site would be the worst case of urban design malfeasance ever? Why has he put extra money into the budget to enable redesign of it? Why has he pledged to do whatever it takes if you and the opposition would just agree to work together and build it at the Giant site?

3) Do you just not care that a courthouse at the library site does not meet our city zoning code? Do you not care that the vast majority of people who will have business at the courthouse will have to find a way to get there without any nearby parking, and cross four lanes of very heavy traffic to get to it? Do you really not care that the surrounding residential neighborhood streets will be gridlocked all day long with people driving round and round and round looking for courthouse parking that doesn’t exist? How can you think that these issues are not valid and relevant?

Why do you think a government of the people for the people should be able to just trash a community against its wishes? I thought the court system was supposed to be about justice.

Opposition to building a courthouse at the library site runs very deep, is genuine, and I assure you is not a classic case of NIMBY. Any unbiased person would realize this when acquainted with the facts — if this dispute were to go to an arbitrator, who do you think would win? Your reasons for wanting it there essentially boil down to convenience for lawyers and judges. Should this take precedent over the common good of the community?

Frank S. Anastasi
Rockville

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

News on Courthouse Issue

The Town Center Action team got bad news on the fight over where to build the new courthouse. Rockville Central readers know the city and a growing group of residents oppose the State’s plans to build it on the former library site. >Tonight City Manager Scott Ullery and Mayor Susan Hoffmann explained where the matter stands after a recent summit meeting with everyone from the Governor on down.

In spite of Governor O’Malley’s strong support for building the courthouse at the Giant site and his pledge to go to great lengths to make that happen, State Senator Jennie Forehand remains the lone hold-out among our elected officials who is not willing to work to get the courthouse built at an appropriate location.

To make matters worse, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said it seems certain that the County would exercise its right of first refusal and take back ownership of the former library site if a courthouse is not built there. That takes the wind out of the proposed Giant site land-swap in which the City would buy the library site back from the State.

City officials and residents alike were vindicated, though, in their stand that the delegation was made aware of their opposition to the court being built on the former library site long ago. Former delegate Cheryl Kagan provided notes from her Palm PDA of a June 11, 2001 meeting at City Hall in which then-Mayor Giammo and concerned residents — several of them current TCAT members — presented reasons why the library site was not the place for a courthouse.

Yep, you guessed it, lack of parking, “dark after five”, need for transition between residential neighborhood and buildings in town center were cited. The “Giant site” was specifically mentioned as a preferable alternative. So that’s six and a half years of consistent, logical opposition. So much for the “too late in the game” argument.

The meeting ended with plans for mounting an 11th hour, grassroots campaign to sway Senator Forehand, and seeking a meeting on Saturday afternoon with her and the rest of the delegation to explain just how frustrated Rockville is with the stalemate and what it might lead to.

Some tough talk indeed. I felt the presence of those former Rockville citizens who in 1774 gathered at the Hungerford Tavern, a block or so away, and drew up “the Hungerford Resolves”, a statement of support for their fellow patriots in Boston and against British rule (don’t know what I am talking about? read the plaques out front of BB&T on the corner of Washington and Jefferson).

Don’t you just love Rockville? I know I do!

Stay tuned……..

Don't you just love…..

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A week and a day and it's come down to this….

> ….and I’m not eating it. Well, maybe the pie. Later.

Good riddance leftovers, most of us feel, when it has finally come down to the last crumbs of stuffing and a glob of cranberry sauce (whole berry, of course). Kind of sad, though, isn’t it? An empty fridge after having all that good stuff you get only once a year jam-packed into it just a few days ago.

Make anything special this year? I did, the sweet potato creme brulee I first attempted a few years ago. I swore it off, but brought it back by popular demand this year. I might have seen Emeril make it - Oh Yeah, Babe! My copy of the recipe is off the internet, but it can’t be his, no pork fat. No worry, a cup of sugar, eight egg yolks and a quart of heavy cream ought to register high enough on the artery-clogger scale.

It is a pain to make. Separating egg yolks is just the beginning. You have to bake it in a fancy flan dish, and put the dish in a hot water bath. Placing a big pan of boiling water into an electric oven just seems so wrong. And of course, it isn’t done in the hour or so as they say. So another 45 minutes was risky. Then it has to chill overnight. But it was worth it.

Serve it warm, covered with a glaze of melted brown sugar - the recipe says run it under the broiler a minute, and the microwave works fine. But a torch would be much more festive! And that way, you still have a chance to burn down the house, even though the family vetoed your idea to deep-fry the turkey.

So, gentle readers, have any thoughts on good holiday eats to share? We have been wondering what will sustain RC after the elections. Maybe food? I heard Emeril was cancelled. Maybe he would sign on with us!

But finally, please help me solve this mystery. What’s up with the those Ocean Spray people, putting the cranberries into the cans upside down this year? Inquiring minds want to know……

Election Eve Update

> Well, all we can do now is wait for the polls to open, and then the votes to be tallied after the sun sinks slowly into the west tomorrow evening. But there is news!

Melvin and Howard were successfully relocated yesterday. Yep, they made it to The Big Pond, after surviving against all odds from April to November in this urban jungle we call Rockville.

Congratulations, Melvin and Howard, and congratulations to us all for enduring another campaign year.

Best wishes to all the candidates.

Mail Thing

> It’s not only the candy that hangs around our house after Halloween

Last Election's Voting Data

Ever wonder where the votes come from in our fair city, and how many people voted for our current Mayor and Council last time? I did, and I also wondered if looking at last election’s results might offer any insight into what will happen in three weeks. The following data are available from the City of Rockville.>

Last election, 6,469 voters cast ballots. That’s about 20 percent of the 32,000 eligible voters. Reportedly, these are typical numbers. So, here’s the first message: Anything could happen if a candidate were to really energize the electorate and mobilize a significant number of the non-voting 80 percent.

Incumbent Mayor Larry Giammo won with 4502 votes, just over 70 percent of the vote. Brigitta Mullican, his only challenger, got 1861 votes. The number of voters by district:

Beall Elementary 1168
Ritchie Park Elementary 776
Twinbrook Rec Center 646
Lakewood Elementary 603
Ellwood Smith Rec Center 597
F. Scott Fitzgerald Theater 559
Senior Center 539
King Farm 502
Twinbrook 424
Montrose 322
Absentee Ballots 211
City Hall (election day) 40

What’s this tell us? I’m not sure, but it might help to be popular in the West End and Ritchie Park districts, where thirty percent of the votes are cast.

For Council, Susan Hoffmann (up for Mayor this time) got the most votes, but not by much – 4509 votes compared to Anne Robbins’ 4451. Phyllis Marcuccio came in third with 4182 votes, followed by Bob Dorsey with 3882. Not much of a difference in votes, really, between the four winning candidates. They got about 76 percent of the votes. Joy Young (2724 votes), and Harry Thomas (2421 votes) missed out.

Three things make me think we could be in for some surprises this November 6. Votes of about 4500 Hoffmann supporters are up for grabs by the Council candidates since she is running for Mayor. And, there are 11 people running for the four Council seats. Also, we seem to have an issue that has galvanized a lot of people. A lot of people are voicing definite opinions about how the twice-a-week vs. once-a-week trash pickup decision was handled. That gives the incumbents some risk that they typically don’t carry.

What might these data tell us about this election? I’m not sure, but let’s do some math: 6500 voters X four votes each = 26,000 total votes for Council candidates. If the seven losing candidates were to get on average 2000 votes, which seems reasonable to me, that leaves only about 12,000 votes for the four winners to share. A person could win a Council seat with as few as 3000 votes. Are you going to be one of the voters who can make a difference?

Money In The News

If you’re like me, you love getting that >Gazette newspaper every Wednesday, so you can catch up on all the latest gossip. I like the monthly Rockville Reports newsletter, too. They both came last week packed with financial info that I found facinating.

Gazette first. I always breathe a sign a relief when I get through the first 20 pages or so without seeing my name or picture, especially in the Police Blotter or Obituaries. That behind me, I could focus on the Rockville election news. The Gazette contained info from the first campaign-finance reports filed by mayor and city council candidates. As our publisher and ace political correspondent Brad points out, you and I and our neighbors have contributed more than $16,000 to those three people who would be mayor, and more than $27,000 to the eleven people seeking a council seat.

Ever wonder how this relates to voters? Well, in the last election 6,469 residents cast votes. That is typical, according to those who know. If the candidates don’t raise any more money, do the math and it comes to about $6.60 per voter. If one assumes that those of us who donated money did so because we want our candidate to win, this means on average we would have spent about $6.60 each trying to get our candidates elected.

Surely the candidates will raise more money - in my experience another 30% or so (I once was a mayoral candidate’s treasurer). So for about the price of a movie ticket, on average, we participate in the Great American Experience. I think that’s a heck of a deal.

Now for the Rockville Reports coverage of the news that rocked Wall Street (well maybe just 111 Maryland Avenue), Rockville was awarded a ‘AAA’ Bond Rating from two of the world’s top rating agencies. We are the only city in Maryland — and now one of an elite group of less than five percent of all cities nationwide — to have this distinction.

How’d we get this? Visionary leadership (like getting $267 million in private investment and about $100 million from the city, Montgomery County and the State of Maryland for our new Town Center redevelopment), sound financial management (buget process and senior financial managers), and prospects for growth. Did you know Rockville’s population grew 30% from 2000 to 2007, and its tax base doubled during that time? Our population is projected to have increased 41% over 2000 levels by 2010.

What’s this mean for us taxpayers? Rockville can demand the most favorable terms from investors when borrowing money (issuing bonds). So we should pay less tax than we might have had to pay if it cost the city more to borrow money — again issuing those bonds. Like $30 million worth to pay for the parking garages in town center, and a few million more for more trash trucks to support twice-weekly pickup.