The Montgomery County Commission for Women Counseling and Career Center moved to the first floor of 401 Hungerford Drive on June 28th. This is the space formerly occupied by the Volunteer Center just a couple blocks from the Rockville Metro Station. My understanding is that the Volunteer Center is at a temporary location which is not open to the public until a move back to Rockville Pike in August.

The Commission for Women was established by law in 1972 to advocate for equal rights for women.

If you are not familiar with the services, the Counseling and Career Center offers a wide range of programs to meet the needs and interests of women in our community including:

• short-term goal oriented counseling for couples and inidividuals (both personal and career issues)
• workshops and seminars
• vocational and personality assessments
• Legal Call-Back Program

Legal questions are answered by phone on a call-back basis. Local attorneys provide free telephone consultations on specific questions within a two-week period. (240) 777-8300

Seminars on the calendar for this month are:

Mediation Seminar: Divorce With Dignity
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Divorce Legal Seminars with non-child and child-related issues
The Verbally Abusive Relationship
Divorce, Money and You
Healthy Relationships: Building Better and More Loving Partnerships
Effective Strategies to Reduce Stress

The Center has a highly qualified professional staff. Services are provided at low and affordable fees. Some services are offered in both English and Spanish. Counseling is provided by appointment only.

I’ve taken workshops and have always found the Center to be an invaluable resource.

You can do your part to help make this a reality. Google is asking the various cities to make their cases — and for their residents to make their cases too. Just go to this page at Google and fill out a brief survey (should take maybe ten minutes) to help secure our slot. The deadline is March 26, so get on it!

Here’s the official press release from the City:

The City of Rockville is responding to a Google Request for Information (RFI) and needs support from the community for a trial program that will install and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in several communities.

In support of the application for the Fiber for Communities project, residents and community groups are encouraged to visit the Google Web site at http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi and complete a community member survey. Applications and community member surveys are due Friday, March 26.

If the City’s application is successful, the Fiber for Communities project would provide local residents with one of the fastest networks in the nation, with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, which is more than 100 times faster than most Internet connections.

According to the Google Web site, the project’s goals include the development of “next-generation” applications, testing how and where to build high-speed fiber networks, and operating an “open access” network to give users the choice of different service providers.

Google will offer service on the network, at a competitive price, to between 50,000 and 500,000 users in the selected trial communities.

For more information about the RFI or the Fiber to Communities project, contact Mike Cannon, information and technology director, at 240-314-8162 or mcannon@rockvillemd.gov.

According to the city of Rockville:

Rockville’s Department of Public Works will close the pedestrian bridge that crosses the CSX rail tracks and is located near Stonestreet Avenue, until further notice.

The City of Rockville, in coordination with its consultant Greenhorne & O’Mara Inc., completed a partial preliminary inspection of the bridge on Stonestreet Avenue on Jan. 28 and 29. The routine inspection was performed as part of the Bridge Rehabilitation Program in the City’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP).

The inspection revealed several unsafe conditions, including potential issues with the structural integrity of some portions of the bridge. The consultant recommended the City close the bridge until a more thorough inspection can be performed and recommendations for repairs can be developed and implemented. The duration of the bridge closure is unknown at this time.

Rockville Department of Public Works will restrict access to the bridge and place signs to alert pedestrians. Residents can use alternate routes, including Veirs Mill Road and Stonestreet Avenue.

Rockville’s Department of Public Works has closed the pedestrian bridge that crosses Wootton Parkway located near Lakewood Elementary School, until further notice.

View Larger Map

The City of Rockville, in coordination with its consultant Greenhorne & O’Mara Inc., conducted an inspection of the bridge that traverses Wootton Parkway. The inspection revealed potential issues with the structural integrity of some portions of the bridge. The consultant recommended the City close the bridge for a more thorough inspection, which is scheduled for next week.

Recommendations for repairs will be made based on inspection findings. The duration of the bridge closure is unknown at this time.

Rockville Department of Public Works has closed off access to the bridge and placed signs to alert pedestrians. Detour signs will be placed along an alternate route to help guide pedestrians to the safest alternate route.

Pedestrians should use the crosswalk located at the intersection of Wootton Parkway and Dundee Road to cross Wootton Parkway. They should continue on Wootton Parkway until reaching Lindley Terrace and stay on the sidewalk on Lindley Terrace to the entrance of Lakewood Elementary School.

A Rockville City Police officer will assist with traffic control both before and after school at the Wootton Parkway and Dundee Road intersection through the end of the week.

Drawing From The City

According to Rockville Central friend Max van Balgooy, one issue on citizens’ minds at the recent meeting of the Mayor and Council in Twinbrook is RideOn bus Route 45. Specifically, Montgomery County is considering canceling Saturday service on this route in order to plug the hole in its budget.

This seems a shame, and short-sighted given that just a few years ago it cost almost a million dollars to get the route up and running, and that it is envisioned as a key element in the business development plan for Rockville’s town center area.

Our friend Jonathan Smith let us know that the County has scheduled a public forum on the Route 45 (and other routes) cancelation. It is:

Monday, February 1, 2010
6:30 pm until the last speaker is done (whew!)
Executive Office Building Cafeteria, Terrace Level
101 Monroe Street, Rockville, Maryland

If you use this bus, you might consider making yourself heard at this meeting.

• On Tuesday January 26 from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. the water service on the following addresses will be shut-off: 100, 100-A, 103,105,107,109 and 111 N.Stonestreet Ave. (If the City is unable to perform this work due to inclement weather , the work will be perform on January 27)
• On Wednesday night January 27 from 10 P.M. to January 28 at 5 A.M. the water service on the following addresses will be shut-off: 200, 202,205,207,216 and 218 Park Rd. (If the City is unable to perform this work due to inclement weather , the work will be perform on January 28 10 P.M. to January 29 5 A.M.)

Thanks Chas!

Rockville’s Department of Public Works will collect Christmas trees as part of its regular recycling collection. The trees will be taken to the Montgomery County Recycling Center, where they will become mulch.

Residents should place cut trees at the curb for pick up on regular recycling days, and they should also remove all ornaments and metals, wires, stands and decorations, including tinsel. Trees should not be bagged.

The City will also collect artificial trees that are no longer wanted. Since these trees are not recyclable, residents seeking to dispose of an artificial tree should dismantle it and place the pieces in their gray refuse cart.

For more information on recycling and refuse service, or Christmas tree collection, call 240-314-8568.

Leaf Collection Begins in Rockville

Residents Should Rake Leaves to the Curb or Next to Pavement
When No Curb Exists

Each year, Rockville’s Department of Public Works provides two leaf pick-ups during a 10-week period for residents between mid-October and December.

Residents should rake leaves to the curb or just next to the pavement if no curb exists. Leaves can be raked anytime immediately before or during collection week. Doing so just before collection will help reduce the accumulation of leaves near and on the streets, which can lead to fire hazards or grass being damaged if left too long.

Limbs, rocks and other heavy objects should be removed from leaf piles. Leaves should not be placed in plastic bags. Residents who prefer to bag their leaves may place the leaves in biodegradable paper bags or in 32-gallon containers, and place them at the curb for collection on their regular weekly yard waste collection day. This collection occurs year round.

Place leaves at the curb by 7 a.m. on the collection dates. The City will follow the following schedule:

• Area 1 (east of Route 355 and south of Broadwood Road including the Twinbrook neighborhood): Nov. 9-13 and Dec. 14-18.
• Area 2 (east of Route 355 and north of Broadwood Road): Nov. 16-20 and Dec. 21-24.
• Area 3 (west of Route 355 from Falls Road north through King Farm): Oct. 19-23 and Nov. 23-27.
• Area 4 (neighborhoods west of I-270): Oct. 26-30 and Nov. 30-Dec. 4.
• Area 5 (west of Route 355 and south of Falls Road): Nov. 2-6 and Dec. 7-11.

The schedule and map can be found online here.

Rockville encourages alternative methods for getting rid of leaves to save collection and disposal costs and to help the environment. Some alternatives are to mulch leaves or to compost them.

Here’s the map, in case you don’t want to click:

It was impossible to believe we had a leak of this severity and for this length of time. There was no change in our water pressure. There was no standing water on our property. There was no water damage in the house. When I thought about the multiple trips I typically take with watering can in hand from rain barrel to garden while we were actually losing a gallon of water per minute under the house, well, I was almost moved to tears at the waste. How could we have known – and isn’t there a Rockville Water Czar watching for this kind of thing?

We needed help and answers. The City of Rockville informed us that on a particular date, they left a paper hang tag on the door warning that our water bill was irregularly high. There was no paper hang tag. Not on the door, not on the lawn. Even if the City did leave a paper hang tag, is this really the most responsible way to let a resident know about a broken water pipe involving this much of a waste of resources? My neighbor was practically harassed when the bottom 3 inches of her white picket fence was beginning to wear away. She was threatened fines through letters, repeated phone calls, and of course, paper hang tags.

I e-mailed [mayor] Susan Hoffmann. I met her at the Farmer’s Market a few years ago during her first term. I was impressed by her supposed interest in environmental issues. Surely she should know about this incident. She would care. And surely, she’d have some sort of idea for how a resident can pay a $2500 water bill. To make the financial situation more of a nightmare, by the time we received the first bill, we were a month or two into service for the next bill, which turned out to be about $1500. I get no response from Susan Hoffmann. Nothing. The Assistant to the City Manager was lovely however. She was quick to respond and always careful to show that she understood our situation. Despite several e-mails back and forth that yielded no real solutions, I noticed Susan Hoffmann’s feedback was curiously missing. I again copied Susan Hoffmann and expressed my frustration with the responsive yet ineffective messages from the Assistant and asked to hear from Susan Hoffmann. No comment. Perhaps I had set my hopes too high after meeting her at the Farmer’s Market and being impressed with her environmental agenda. I didn’t need her to pay my bill. I didn’t need her to come to my house with a box of tissues. A simple, “Wow, we’ll figure out how to deal with this”, or even a simple “omg” probably would have sufficed. Instead, I got no comment. Come on now, is Rockville really that big that she can’t find time for a simple “omg”?

We did get Rockville’s “ONE-TIME” discount on our water bill – a problem since I still consider myself young and hope to live in Rockville for a few more years yet – what if this happens again? We will have already used our one-time get-out-of-jail-free card. A problem for residents since I’m certain there are people in Rockville on fixed incomes who can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars in water bill when they’re not sufficiently notified about a severe water pipe break. A problem since the environmental aspect was never addressed. A problem since the City refused to acknowledge that the paper hang tag method may not be the most effective method of informing residents- and that there are no plans to make any changes to this method, despite my best arguments.

In the end, we took advantage of our one-time discount, paid the still very large water bill and spent over $3000 in repairs. Hopefully there is currently no leak under my house. I suppose I wouldn’t find out until the bill came though. For now, all is quiet in my little section of Rockville. Lawns are going dormant with our cold weather – save for the popping up of “Hoffmann for Mayor” lawn signs.

Will I vote for Hoffmann? Probably. I like the direction in which Rockville has been headed. Our city has become a great place to live and work. Vibrant. Exciting. With efforts to be green. But will I put a Hoffmann lawn sign on MY lawn? No comment.

Wendy Kiang-Spray

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!

Rockville Central does not endorse candidates. We are encouraging towards all people who choose to run for office the city and try our best to make ourselves open to all. We actively encourage candidates to submit opinion pieces and other news. We don’t include every last bit, but we try to be fair to all and give useful information about what is happening.

From the City’s press release:

Rockville City Police completed installation on June 1 of four new fixed-camera locations to its Speed Camera Program and will begin issuing tickets to violators of the posted speed on Friday, June 19.

Warnings only will be issued to violators of the posted speed from June 4 to June 18. . . .

Tickets are issued to drivers who are traveling at least 11 miles per hour over the speed limit. Violators receive a $40 citation in the mail. Money collected from the program is used for things such as sidewalk improvements and extensions, streetlights at intersections and crosswalks, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and two new officers who will be dedicated to traffic enforcement.

In addition to the fixed cameras, there’s a City van that goes around to various locations to catch speeders. You only get a ticket if you are going 11 miles or more than the speed limit. (So don’t give me any “civil liberties” claptrap.)

Here’s a map showing all the City speed camera locations:

(Red is stationary, purple camera is the van.)

The new ones are at:

• 500 block Redland Boulevard (westbound)
• 500 block Redland Boulevard (eastbound)
• 600 block Great Falls Road (northbound)
• 700 block Twinbrook Parkway (northbound)

Thank you to the City for continuing this program. It provides revenue for things the City needs and keeps traffic reasonable in places where it needs calming.

That’s just my opinion, mind you.