Last week at the Kick-off Meeting for Rockville’s Pike: Envision a Great Place, the consultants hired by the City for this process explained some basic principles in the areas of transportation, retail economy, and urban design. I genuinely enjoyed the presentations and believe the information is useful beyond the Rockville Pike discussion.
Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin will be focusing on the transportation component of the plan. Their lecture was jam packed with information, not unlike the Pike jam packed with holiday shopping traffic. Basically, roads st
ay while people and land use change. We were shown pictures spanning 100 years to demonstrate this principle. Making Rockville Pike bigger will not solve any problems because the zoning would wind up changing with it. The most efficient road is one lane in each direction with a left turn lane. Also the most efficient speed limit is 25-30 miles per hour, because if it is higher the cars are further apart and if it is lower there are less cars moving through. Places need to be connected by a network of efficient roads not one large road. Choices need to be given so residents can go in different directions and not be held hostage by one street.
Right now, Rockville Pike is successful as low-density retail shopping. Economic Research Associates explained that this will continue until the land under the retail becomes more valuable and then there might be an opportunity for change. Aging corridors fail when they don’t adapt. Senior citizens and “millennium kids” both have an interest in being able to walk and find services close together. The market never dictates if there is a good, strong plan in place. ERA will help us determine what is possible from an economic perspective.
People probably came away hearing different messages about urban design from ACP – Visioning and Planning. But what I heard is that if the Pike is to be successful, it would need a broad range of housing options for people of all ages and economic backgrounds, open space for spontaneous and organized activities, and buildings designed to be sustainable in the future. They emphasized that the absolute best places have great sidewalks. When you visit a place you are impressed by what you can see from the sidewalk.
After considering what these consultants first presented, it will be quite interesting to see the final result of the process 18 months from now.
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This just in from the City:
The City of Rockville will hold another public forum meeting on the RORZOR Proposed Draft Zoning Ordinance Revision on Thursday, January 10, 2008 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Glenview Mansion-Civic Center Park. This meeting replaces the public forum that was canceled on December 5 due to inclement weather.
On January 23, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7:00 p.m. to gather input on the proposed draft document. The public is encouraged to attend and will be allowed to give public testimony. The meeting will be held at City Hall in the Mayor and Council chambers.
To request a presentation on the Zoning Ordinance during a civic association or group meeting, e-mail Jenny Kimball, Assistant to the City Manager, at jkimball@rockvillemd.gov or contact a neighborhood resources coordinator at 240-314-8340.
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For those interested in pondering the future, the agenda for the upcoming Mayor and Council meeting (Monday, 12/17 at 7:00 pm) is now posted and available. If I get an update I will re-post, so this link will always have the latest version I have.
Note that not only is trash on the agenda, but there is an interesting discussion about the selection process for boards and commissions. In my candidate interview with Phyllis Marcuccio, she indicated she was very interested in reviewing how people were selected to be on such bodies:
[Phyllis] says that, if re-elected, she would like to start by "cleaning up the process by which we choose candidates for boards and commissions." In her view, "we have slipped" in the way we applied the existing process in recent years.
Not sure I will be there, but if so, come say hi!
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(Apologies to Malcolm McLaren.) I have a soft spot for folks who have animal statues in their yard . . . unless this is really a pet turned to stone through some evil spell.
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Warning: Long post.
Anyone who was awake until the end of the most recent Mayor and Council meeting – or who reads the Gazette – knows that the City is set to reopen the “trash issue.” It probably ought not to come as a surprise, as trash was such a campaign issue that, for those in the region who do not live in Our Fair City, it became the one thing our city election was known for.
The issue has had the added benefit of generating low-hanging-fruit headlines that use the term “trash talk” (note to headline writers: retire that).
The last term saw the City institute a pilot program whereby trash was collected using automated trucks on a once-weekly basis. Most everyone who was a part of the pilot (Hungerford and Monument areas of town) liked it, though there is some dispute as to the validity of the surveys (some say the questions were leading). But, as the City was preparing to really make the shift from twice- to once-weekly pickups, a number of citizens came to the fore who were vocally opposed.
People in favor of once-a-week pickup say that frequency is more than adequate, that it will save money, and reduce pollution. Those opposed say that it is not at all clear how much, if any, money will be saved, that once-weekly pickup is not adequate and there will be garbage festering and overflowing, and that on holiday weeks people will have to wait two weeks for their pickup. (There may be other arguments, but those are the chief ones that have been raised. In the interest of transparency, my personal opinion is that once-per-week is sufficient for all, but I do not hold that opinion strongly.)
As many know, the previous Mayor and Council (taken as a group) did not exactly function well together. The trash issue became a flashpoint and exposed deep rifts and resentments among the members.
Eventually, near the end of the last term, the members were able to agree to 1) maintain twice-weekly pickup; and 2) create a commission (which has applicants but no appointed members) to study the issue.
A majority of the incoming Mayor and Council, though, is in favor of once-weekly pickup, and late at the December 10 meeting, it was requested that the issue be placed on the agenda for the next Council meeting, December 17.
So, for City-watchers, the next Mayor and Council meeting will be one to watch, as a partially new cast of characters take up this contentious issue and we will see if they are able to address it with the civility with which they ran their campaigns.
This issue prompted two candidates who did not make it in the last election, Rich Gottfried and Mark Pierzchala, to voice their own opinions to one another, an exchange they kindly shared with me. They each crystallize an important public voice so, with their permission, we are sharing the key elements of this exchange with you.
Rich Gottfried led it off:
Just when you thought it was safe to take your garbage out to your curb twice a week, the councilman who did not want to talk about the City's refuse and recycle program during his campaign requested an update to the Council's previous decision regarding trash service be brought back on December 17's Mayor and Council Agenda. . . .
I guess the citizens of the City of Rockville were hoping and praying that this M&C would not be another two year discussion on the refuse and recycle program... that this Council would move ahead and discuss the numerous other more important issues facing the citizens of Rockville like the . . . many, many more TAXES and FEES!
What the new Mayor and Council should focus on and request the City Manager to do is: 1) re-prioritize the FY2009 Budget, amounting to approximately $106 million dollars, so the citizens of Rockville’s tax dollars are spent on improving, maintaining and purchasing the infrastructure needed in the water, sewer and storm water management fund areas, and 2) to streamline personnel and operating expenses which amount to in FY08 $50 million dollars. An approximately ten percent reduction in these areas could cover the needed expenditure for improving, maintaining and purchasing the infrastructure needed and no TAX and FEE would be needed! It is all a matter of choice and priorities.
But here they go again talking about $2 per month per year (which amounts to $24 per year) increase from citizens when Hundreds, Thousands, and Millions of other dollars are being requested from citizens pocketbooks.
And
Mark Pierzchala weighed in:
I was at the meeting on Monday all the way to the bitter end. The trash issue was brought up at the very last minute during the agenda review. I and others were surprised it came up that way. I see in tonight's Gazette that Piotr thinks trash decisions will be reversed on December 17.
Trash in Rockville is a symbolic issue that stands in for more than refuse and recycling alone. In the last Mayor and Council it also was symbolic of discord among the elected. To me it also symbolized insufficient analysis; mayor and Council weren't even asking the right questions at times. While I agreed with Dorsey, Marcuccio, and Robbins that the refuse hearing was necessary, I believe that it was faulty in that the once-a-week option was taken off the table before the hearing. I don't think we should be surprised that the issue has come back. I was expecting it to come back early next year.
While I agree with you that many of the taxes and fees you mention deserve much attention, and I'll be part of that, the trash fee increase over the years will be larger than your email stated. Even if the increase is not large, it is still more than it should be because of the twice-a-week decision and going in the wrong direction.
Thank you to these Rockville citizens for speaking up, for sharing their views, and for remaining so agreeable.
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Rockville Central friend (and East Rockville Civic Association president) Linda Ekizian passed along a note from the City's resource coordinator.
The City is encouraging all of us, as the snow falls (it will) and we get out there to shovel (we will), to consider helping a senior to remain independent by clearing their snow, too.
When I lived in Maine, I bought my first snow blower, and I loved using it so much I cleared our elderly neighbor's drive as well as our own. I am sure she looked on, amused, as I brought all this newfangled technology to bear on the fluffy stuff she'd been living with since the Roaring Twenties. Regardless, the taciturn New England nods of thanks I used to get through the window made my day.
Linda reports that there's an added bonus: High school students can earn community service credit for doing this. Interested people can contact the City at 240-314-8810 to get matched with a neighboring senior.
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I just thought this silhouette was striking.
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Before the Rockville Town Center redevelopment, many of you may remember that The Waygoose gift shop was by Magruders on North Washington Street. They relocated to Bethesda during the rebuilding phase and everyone kept hoping that they would keep their promise to open a second location. On May 1st they did open on Maryland Avenue and they are back in Rockville.
The Waygoose is not simply a gift shop but rather a gallery bursting with crafts from North American artisans. It’s
filled with unusual and wonderful creations and inventions. True artists take their handcrafts to a new level. This unusual graphite pen looks like a branch and it will write for 7-10 years!
I must admit that at both the old and the new locations in Rockville, I have had friends working as shopkeepers. Because everyone is friendly and knowledgeable, you will feel as if you do too.
It’s the perfect place to find something special for someone special. My family and friends have received many gifts from The Waygoose. Truthfully I don’t enjoy shopping. When I have to buy a gift, I want to know that I will find something at the one place I go with the limited amount of time I have.
The Waygoose has pottery, jewelry, baby items, crystals, salad hands, clocks, cards, c
utting boards, bird houses, ornaments, wall art, and many things I never dreamed existed. You can even “Give ‘em the Boot” (It’s a bird house made out of a real old boot!). Since I love these crafts, my time is spent figuring out who should receive them as gifts, but really I want them for myself. It’s not every day that you will hear a shop referred to as a gallery!
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I remember a beautiful beehive honey pot tied in gold ribbon my mother chose for my third grade teacher. I always trusted her to know just what to give my teachers, who were always female and about my mother’s age. I knew figuring out how to select these gifts – Jean Nate body splash, gourmet honey, scarves – was just a small facet of the feminine wisdom my elegant mother would pass along to me one day.
Of course that was 1970 when kids had one teacher on whom to shower such annual holiday affection. Today, my two children have a total of 12 teachers, some of whom they only see once a week. This year, as once again I try to convince my 9 year-old that his teachers would prefer a Starbucks card over a big box of cheap chocolates I confess that neither inherited wisdom nor my pocket book have prepared me to show the appreciation our family feels for these people in my children’s lives.
So far we’re leaning towards Starbucks cards and homemade cookies in an attempt to straddle the useful (but crassly labeled dollar amount) and the heartfelt. Hmm, a tough straddle that cannot compare with the pride I felt walking into school with a beautifully wrapped honey pot – one of my first lessons in the joy of giving, rather than receiving.
How do you handle the teacher gift-giving season? What do you think?
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Clotheslines . . . a great way to
save energy (came to mind as our former Vice President picks up his
Nobel in Oslo). I like how green this one is, and how curly it is too. Though, it does not appear heavily used!
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At Monday's Mayor and Council meeting, the governing body of Our Fair City voted unanimously to create the Rockville "Green Building Program." The initiative will "examine all aspects of the City’s environmental impact over the next year and to pro-actively solicit public input in the shaping of any final recommendation before it is given to the Mayor and Council for review," according to a City press release. "A major goal of the Green Building Program creation process will be to determine the best approach for the City of Rockville."
“I am very excited about this program because the ‘green’ movement is something I am very passionately involved in,” said Rockville Mayor Susan R. Hoffmann. “This is a new initiative for Rockville, but by doing this, we recognize the importance of making our City more energy efficient as well as more eco-friendly. I am very interested in seeing Rockville transformed into a model green movement City.”
Indeed she is, as Hoffmann
campaigned on this issue (and
took heat from the
Gazette for it when they editorialized: "We are disappointed that Councilwoman Hoffmann’s top priority during this campaign is the environment").
In that sense, as one of the first significant policy moves since inauguration, it marks a first step towards making good on her campaign promise.
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Rockville animal-lover Elyse Gazewitz has prevailed in court and her capuchin monkey, Armani, has come home in time for Christmas.
Yesterday, Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Terrence J. McGann ruled in favor of Gazewitz and found that the County had improperly held Armani in captivity months after its justification for holding the monkey had "lost its mooring" because the single criminal dangerous-pet-keeping charge had been dropped in July by the prosecutor. Even after that charge was dismissed, the County kept Armani at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo awaiting the outcome of a civil charge.
Judge McGann said the County should have released the monkey right away. He also held that the monthly maintenance charge the County demanded of Gazewitz -- just over $1,300 per month -- to be "exorbitant," and McGann said, "Many outstanding universities may not charge as much." His ruling requires the County to reimburse Gazewitz.
Upon reuniting with his owner after so long in captivity, according to the Washington Post, Armani was visibly moved:
The monkey fell on the ground as Gazewitz tried to put on his pink leash. He yelped loudly for a while, until he was placed in a pet crate and put into an awaiting van. "That was the wild animal they kept talking about," Sheila Gazewitz [Elyse's mother] said.
(Photo Armani's Wish.)
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(With apologies to the Carter Family and to Uncle Tupelo . . . classic video.) "McMansions" for rent. Ouch. This Photo Of The Day is in honor of
today's meeting of the
Fed's Open Market Committee.
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WTOP brings word that Montgomery County Executive Isaiah "Ike" Leggett has sent a letter to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley complaining about the state's draft plans (released Nov. 19) for dealing with the latest BRAC round.
Sorry, my old defense industry background is showing. BRAC is the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. (In true military form, the initials are really a truncated anagram.) The most recent BRAC has set in place a significant shift: Over the next few years, Walter Reed Army Medical Center is set to be moved to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Among Montgomery County's requests is a dedicated offramp from the beltway right to the Bethesda hospital on Wisconsin.
Makes sense to me. Have you been on Wisconsin in that gauntlet
Last week at the Kick-off Meeting for Rockville’s Pike: Envision a Great Place, the consultants hired by the City for this process explained some basic principles in the areas of transportation, retail economy, and urban design. I genuinely enjoyed the presentations and believe the information is useful beyond the Rockville Pike discussion.
ay while people and land use change. We were shown pictures spanning 100 years to demonstrate this principle. Making Rockville Pike bigger will not solve any problems because the zoning would wind up changing with it. The most efficient road is one lane in each direction with a left turn lane. Also the most efficient speed limit is 25-30 miles per hour, because if it is higher the cars are further apart and if it is lower there are less cars moving through. Places need to be connected by a network of efficient roads not one large road. Choices need to be given so residents can go in different directions and not be held hostage by one street.
