Rockville Will Be The State Capital (for a day!)

Governor Martin O’Malley and Maryland’s Executive Cabinet will spend Thursday, July 30, 2009 in Rockville, declaring it Maryland’s “Capital for a Day.” The monthly program brings the State Capital to “every corner of Maryland”. Started in 2007, the program provides an opportunity for officials to share and discuss local concerns.

The City’s Press Release explains:

During the visit Thursday, the governor, cabinet secretaries, state and county elected officials, city staff, business and community leaders, and the Rockville Mayor and Council will participate in tours of the city, a business roundtable, briefings and meetings. The day will culminate with a cabinet meeting at 1:15 p.m. in Town Square. The cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon is open to the public.

Last night at the Mayor and Council meeting, the staff suggested Mayor Susan Hoffmann could hand over some paperwork to the Governor, but it was decided it was probably best to use the regular procedure. Personally, I don’t think we want to take a chance on misplacing documents during the trip!

If you are available at 1:15 p.m., stop by Town Square for this special opportunity.

State Clean Energy Center To Be In Rockville

According to many sources, the state of Maryland has chosen Rockville, Our Fair City, to be the home of the new Maryland Clean Energy Center.

The office, whose mission is to keep the Free State at the forefront of clean and renewable energy research, will be housed at the Universities at Shady Grove. (Well, that’s just outside our coverage area, but still.)

This from the Maryland Daily Record:

The Maryland Clean Energy Center will foster development of green technologies statewide, including at an industrial park near Annapolis, a demonstration site in Frederick and an incubator in Baltimore, President Kenneth M. Connolly said.

A five-member staff, assisted by student interns and volunteers, will be based at the Camille Kendall Academic Center at the University System of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus just outside Washington.

This is big news, as it further solidifies our reputation at the forefront of tech. All up and down the I-270 corridor, we’ve got tons of biotech, clean energy, engineering, and other foreward-looking startups. We’ve got the human genome covered and . . . we’ve even got a big-deal gaming company.

Contributor Opinion By Carl Henn: Slot Costs Outweigh Benefits

The following contributor opinion is by Carl Henn:

Choosing our president won’t be our only task when we go to the polls on November 4. We also must decide if Maryland should bring slots back. Maryland had more slots than Nevada until 40 years ago, then banned them based on the observation that they left a trail of wrecked lives in their wake and left gambling interests in control of many counties. People would spend their kid’s lunch money on slots and some turned to crime to feed the machines as they become addicted to the one-armed bandits.

The slots plan for Maryland is supposed to raise $660 million for schools. This sounds like a lot, and indeed it is. But that is the gross increase in funds, not net. Money spent on slots isn’t spent at restaurants or clothing, so we’ll be short on other tax revenues. We will need to pay more for police and social services to deal with the harm that gambling addiction causes. Studies show that over time the cost of gambling exceeds its revenues. Further, $660 million is now conceded to be an overestimate. It’s now $500 million at best.

I am troubled by the ‘something for nothing’ attitude that pervades slots. We won’t need to make tough decisions because slots will save us. Likewise on a personal level slots undermine sound decision making. It’s hard to save money. It’s harder still when you think each quarter you plug in a machine may solve your financial problems. Worse, when you do get a payout, folks are likely to think of it as found money. Found money is likely to be spent frivolously rather than saved. Slots undercut sound decision making both for governments and individuals.

A focus on energy and transportation brings other insights to the slots issue. We are now at or very near the peak of global oil production. The current downturn in the price of oil is temporary. High prices will return shortly and go higher still than we have recently seen.

This undercuts the argument that we need slots because the money will otherwise leave the state. As the price of oil rises, we will have less discretionary income to gamble away and driving to West Virginia or Delaware will recede as an option for most Maryland residents.

As the price of oil went up, it took asphalt, steel and concrete with it, causing a $100 million over run in the first part of the first ICC construction contract. Governor O’Malley then cut all of the construction funds for the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway in order to keep the ICC on schedule.

The over run they have admitted to so far is just the beginning. The ICC will continue to over run and more money will be needed to keep the ICC going. That’s where slots come in. O’Malley has already said that slots will help us to avoid budget cuts. So here is the plan – Pass slots and provide the proceeds as promised to the gaming sites, horse racing industry and education. Then reduce state support to education and use that money to fund the ICC.

Most of the people supporting slots have said that we need it for the additional money it will raise. But we should be honest about what we are raising the money for and that there are better alternatives. It isn’t too late to cancel the ICC. O’Malley could cancel it tomorrow with one phone call. This would go a long way toward solving our temporary funding problem. In the long run, the costs of slots exceed its benefits.

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors as well as other guest columns. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. We encourage you to join the growing list of contributors! To submit your piece for consideration, contact us.

(Image from Baltimore City Paper)

Montgomery College To Get New Science Building

The Washington Business Journal reports that Montgomery College’s flagship Rockville campus has received $29 million from the State to build a science center.

Lt. Governor Anthony Brown made an appearance today to deliver the check.

Per the Business Journal:

“Community colleges are the largest suppliers of workforce training in Maryland and Governor O’Malley and I are proud to support their efforts,” said Brown, in a statement. “With the addition of the Rockville Science Center, Montgomery College will provide the training and skills to even more Marylanders and will continue to promote Montgomery County’s vibrant I-270 biotech corridor.”

The building is expected to house chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, and geosciences. It’s also slated to be LEED gold-certified, placing it on the cutting edge of environmentally aware development.

State Board Approves New Court House On Old Library Site

Rockville Central friend Roald Schrack attended an important Board of Public Works meeting yesterday and sent along the following report:

Yesterday, October 15, there was a meeting of the State Board of Public Works that I attended. The Board consists of Gov. Martin O’Malley, Treas. Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot. The Board must approve all public works in the state.

The board unanimously approved the construction of the planned courthouse in Rockville at its planned location on the old library site. The meeting was a public hearing with many items up for decision. Testimony in favor of the planned location was presented by former Mayor Rose Krasnow and [state senator] Jennie Forehand. Testimony against the courthouse construction was presented by Frank Anastasi. The members of the board spoke extensively about their decision and reviewed many points made by proponents and opponents. They consistently supported the construction of the courthouse in the library location. This hearing was the final step in approving the courthouse construction.

Thank you, Roald, for the update.

Barve Pleads Guilty

Maryland House of Delegates majority leader Kumar Barve, who represents the district that includes Our Fair City, today pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol. This move stems from his arrest last November in Gaithersburg.

Barve was represented by his District 17 colleague, Rep. Luis Simmons.

According to the Associated Press, “Delegate Kumar Barve apologized today and promised that he will ‘never do this again.’ Barve received unsupervised probation before judgment in a plea agreement.”

Photos From Move-The-Courthouse Rally [UPDATED]

The Sign

What started life billed as a “press conference” and later became a “rally” in support of not locating the new district court house on the site of the old Rockville Library building was a success. A nice knot of concerned citizens showed up in the middle of the day to pick up “Move The Courthouse” signs, and four [OOPS: THREE] of the five members of the Mayor and Council, and the former mayor, were all present to support the effort. [UPDATE: I guess you might want to know who. Mayor Susan Hoffmann and Councilmembers John Britton and Phyllis Marcuccio, and former mayor Larry Giammo were there. Sorry for the confusion.]

A Throng

Town Center Action Team Plans News Conference on District Courthouse Location

The citizens’ group TCAT (Town Center Action Team) is holding a press conference on Thursday, January 31 at 10:00am at the corner of Vincent and S. Washington Streets. The purpose of the press conference is to make public how many citizens of Rockville feel about the courthouse going in the location of the old library.

TCAT is encouraging all those who are concerned about the proposed location to come to the press conference.

My Opinion: In Search of the Elusive Courthouse Parking

This opinion piece is by Cynthia Cotte Griffiths. It is in response to an article written by Mary Ellen Flynn.

After reading Mary Ellen Flynn’s Contributor’s Opinion yesterday, in which she stated “With public parking already located nearby (some even on the same side of the street as the old Library site)…”, I decided to try to find this existing parking that could be used for the District Courthouse.

So I dropped the kids at school and went to park by the old library site to take some pictures. I couldn’t find a parking spot. Now, I’m not saying this to be sarcastic or even funny, but I couldn’t. So I drove home, parked, and walked over. It’s cold out there today.

The only public parking on the same side of the street is the Council Office Building parking which is Permit Only.

I was thinking that if they have space in this parking garage, perhaps they would share with the District Courthouse, but it was full except for a few spots on the top level:

There is also the Jury Parking lot on Rt. 28, but it is almost always full:

My only conclusion is that there is no existing public parking on the same side of the street as the old library site. People need to understand that there is no parking anywhere for this Courthouse proposal. The use of false statements to sway an argument always disturbs me, probably because I was a Philosophy major. People might be persuaded by the rosy picture painted, so the facts need to be proven. It would be unfortunate if the courthouse supporters turn around in the future and state that they thought there was parking available because someone wrote that there was parking. There is no parking existing or planned for the current District Courthouse proposal.

If this plan goes forward, the City of Rockville should not fund a single penny of the millions of dollars that will be required to not only build parking for the Courthouse but also mitigate the traffic and neighborhood problems created by the Courthouse. The residents of Rockville should not have to bear the cost of the State’s terrible urban planning which is being forced upon us.

Contributor Opinion by Mary Ellen Flynn: Time for the New District Courthouse to be Built at the Old Library Site

This contributor opinion is by Mary Ellen Flynn, president of the Bar Association of Montgomery County. It is in response to an article by Frank Anastasi:

I respect that you, your friends and colleagues have a different viewpoint from the one shared by me, the entire Montgomery County Delegation of Legislators, the County Executive, all of the Courthouse Elected officials, and many public officials and County residents on the subject of the location of the new Rockville District Courthouse at the old Library site. We who support the construction at the old Library site remain steadfast in our position, as it is firmly based on facts relating to location, cost, and positive benefits to be gained for the entire County and State.

The old Library site is directly across the street from the current District Courthouse building, so infrastructure already exists for the placement of the Courthouse at that location. The site’s proximity to the Circuit Court, State’s Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and other County agencies associated with the everyday legal business conducted in our County Seat would facilitate efficiency, not only for lawyers, judges and other public officials, but for the County’s citizens who conduct business in this judicial quadrant on a daily basis. With public parking already located nearby (some even on the same side of the street as the old Library site) and easy access to both Circuit Court and many court-related agencies within a convenient two-block area, efficiency would result. It is anticipated that shorter, less confusing travel among the courthouses and other judicial agencies would occur if the Circuit and District Courts were located within a centralized area rather than being separated and on opposite sides of the expansive Town Center.

As is well-documented, a great deal of taxpayer money has been authorized and already spent on purchasing and designating the old Library site as the location for the new District Courthouse. Additionally, architectural designs specific to that site have been ordered, prepared and paid for. These plans are now only waiting for State funding. At a time when fiscal prudence is on the minds of all County and State taxpayers and no overabundance of funds exists in any of the governmental coffers, the scrapping of completed architectural plans on which significant money has already been spent, the incurring of millions of dollars solely due to construction delays, and the risk of diverting $71 Million of State funding away from this much-needed courthouse are unacceptable to most County residents.

Although it is understood that at the outset any new construction will not be without concerns and opinions on both sides, the concerns and opinions on construction at the old Library site have been voiced and addressed as completely as is practicable. Now, with the positive benefits of the old Library site far outweighing the few negatives, it is time for the new District Courthouse to be built at the old Library site, so that the judicial, commercial and residential sectors of our County Seat can once-again operate as effectively and efficiently as possible and thrive.

Mary Ellen Flynn, President
Bar Association of Montgomery County, MD

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.