Assault at Gaithersburg park

It's been a rough week in the parks of Montgomery County. Another violent crime in a park was reported in Gaithersburg early Monday evening, May 20, 2024. Gaithersburg City police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault at a park in the 600 block of Coral Reef Drive at 7:49 PM Monday. That appears to be Malcolm King Park.

Aggravated assault in Clarksburg park

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an aggravated assault at a park in Clarksburg early Sunday evening, May 19, 2024. The assault was reported at a park in the 12800 block of Snowden Farm Parkway at 7:52 PM Sunday. Piedmont Woods Local Park is located at 12835 Snowden Farm Parkway. A firearm was utilized in the assault.

Roller Disco night in Germantown April 14

Prepare to time travel back to the 1970s and 1980s on Friday, April 14, 2023! A Roller Disco event will be held that evening from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the inline skating rink at Ridge Road Recreational Park, located at 21155 Frederick Road in Germantown. Only roller skates and inline skates are allowed inside the rink.

The event will feature a live DJ, and food for purchase from O’Boy Pizza, Catalyst Hot Dogs, Trippy Tacos, and Clayboys Shaved Ice. Attendees must bring their own skates. Seating is available, but guests are encouraged to bring their own chairs and blankets to have a picnic on the grass.

The event is open to people of all ages, and is free to attend. “We are excited to bring Roller Disco to the community,” Montgomery Parks Activation Program Manager Michael Coppersmith said. “We encourage guests to go all-out and embrace the theme, and enjoy music from the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Alleged would-be deer hunter arrested in Clarksburg (Photos)

The Montgomery County division of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police announced its officers arrested an individual near Little Bennet Regional Park in Clarksburg Monday night after a traffic stop. Officers were patrolling the area looking for illegal hunting activity, when they observed a light being shone on deer from a car. After pulling over the vehicle, they discovered one occupant was allegedly illegally in possession of a handgun. Police say that person has been charged with multiple offenses relating to Maryland natural resource and weapons laws.

Photos 2 and 3 courtesy M-NC Park Police

Montgomery County transit use, return to offices remains far below pre-pandemic numbers, data show

Park use and grocery/pharmacy shopping

now less than during pandemic

New Google Mobility data show life in Montgomery County has yet to resume pre-pandemic patterns over the first three months of 2022, and some activity categories have even declined below their pandemic numbers. Transit use in the county has been even worse this year than it was last fall, dropping from 43% below early 2020 ridership numbers to 48% below in early 2022. Workers are heading back to the office only 1% more so far this year than they were last fall, with residents working on-location 30% less than during the same period before the pandemic in 2020.

Wheaton Claridge Local Park

County residents in 2022 so far are still staying home 10% more than they did in early 2020. In a troubling change, residents have actually reduced their time in parks and in grocery and drug stores. Google data during the pandemic months of 2020 and 2021 had showed residents were actually spending more time in parks, grocery stores and drug stores than they were before the pandemic. Now even those categories have gone negative.

Buses lined up at
Rockville Metro station

Residents spent 5% less time in parks between January 21 and March 4, 2022 than they did over the same period in 2020. They spent 6% less time in grocery and drug stores so far this year than they did in early 2020, which is odd considering that Covid-19 cases were way up when the year started, and shelves were bare for several weeks at grocery stores. And they've spent a whopping 30% less time in other types of retail stores and in recreation activities this year than they did in January - March 2020.

County residents spent less time
shopping at CVS Pharmacy so far
this year than they did over the same
period in 2020

The data collected by Google is limited to those users who have opted in to allowing the tech giant to track their phone's location. It measures both the frequency of visits, and the amount of time those users stay in the places categorized in the results, such as grocery stores, transit stations and parks.

Transit, office use still haven't recovered in Montgomery County, mobility data show

Use of parks continues to surge

New mobility data released by Google indicates Montgomery County residents still aren't riding transit or going to the office in pre-pandemic numbers, despite having one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. Google compared data acquired from devices between September 29 and November 10, 2021 with pre-covid-outbreak data collected between January 3 and February 6, 2020. 

Transit use is still down 43% from early 2020 ridership numbers, the new data show. Employees are traveling to office workplaces 31% less this fall than in early 2020. 

Montgomery residents are still spending
more time in pharmacies than before the
pandemic, but less than they did this summer

County residents are still shopping in grocery stores and pharmacies more than they did before the pandemic, but only 2% more often, down from 7% more at the time of my last report. Shoppers are still not going into other types of retail stores or recreation facilities as often as they did pre-covid; those numbers are still 11% below the early 2020 baseline.

Use of Montgomery County parks during the
pandemic continues to surge

Montgomery County still has a new appreciation for the great outdoors, though. Fall use of parks countywide shot up to 42% higher than that of early 2020; that number was up only 28% more in warmer July and August 2021, by comparison. 

Gaithersburg seeks public input on Diamond Farms playground proposal tonight

The City of Gaithersburg is seeking public input on a proposal for a new playground at Diamond Farms Park. They are also encouraging parents to bring children who will be the primary users of the future playgrounds to get their opinions. The equipment being replaced is targeted towards children of ages 2-5. Equipment geared to older kids in the park is still too new to be replaced.

The community meeting for Diamond Farms Park takes place tonight, Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at the Robertson Park Youth Center, 801 Rabbitt Road. The 90-minute meeting will start at 7:00 PM.

MoCo Planning Board to discuss 6-month pilot allowing ebikes/scooters on trails

The Montgomery County Planning Board will discuss a proposed six-month pilot program that would allow e-bikes and electric scooters to operate on some County trails at their meeting this Thursday, May 9, 2019. Montgomery County is still working out an agreement with four dockless e-bike companies for the pilot. If approved by the board, the pilot could begin as early as this month.

Only bikes powered by rechargeable battery will be allowed on the trails during the pilot. The trails selected are the Matthew Henson Trail (Aspen Hill/Silver Spring), Sligo Creek Trail (only the Montgomery County section), Long Branch Trail, Rock Creek Trail, and the paved sections of the Northwest Branch Trail within Montgomery County. Signs will be posted at the selected trails, and public announcements will be made by County government agencies, at least two weeks prior to the start of the program, County officials say.

Paved surface trails where e-bikes
and e-scooters could be used during
the six-month pilot program

Planning staff says that the trails selected are more often used for longer distance trips through stream valleys. The Parks Department wants to evaluate the results and user feedback before allowing the electric bikes on busier trails like the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda. They'll be examining conflicts with other trail users, rules violations, safety, logistics, and personal vs. commercial use.

Gas scooters and electric hoverboards and skateboards will remain illegal on all County trails during the pilot. Bikes cannot have throttle assist mechanisms.

The groundwork for the pilot was laid by a related park directive approved two years ago by the board. Staff are recommending approval of the pilot program.

Smoking and e-cigs extinguished at most Gaithersburg parks

Smoking is now prohibited within 25 feet of city playgrounds in Gaithersburg, including e-cigarettes, under a new park ordinance passed by the Mayor and Council in July. The rules took effect yesterday. Only some smaller parks, such as Constitution Gardens, are exempt from the 25-foot ban.

Other changes under the new ordinance? The dog exercise area at Green Park is now for city residents only, and sledding, tobogganing, snowboarding, and skiing are now permitted in city parks. Not permitted? Launching model rockets without permission from the city.

Cricket is the new soccer in I-270 corridor, MoCo officials say

"[C]ricket today in the United States is where soccer was thirty years ago," a Montgomery County Department of Parks memo to the County Planning Board says, in making a request that the body approve the dedication of two cricket fields in the Interstate 270 corridor. The memo argues the sport, invented in England around the 16th century, is growing in popularity among residents and the world. "It is estimated that the World Cup of Cricket will be watched by over 1 billion people," it predicts.

The department is asking for the fields to be constructed at southwest corner of Schaeffer Road and Burdette Lane in the South Germantown Recreational Park, and at the corner of Skylark Road and Piedmont Road at Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park in Clarksburg. Should the latter site not become available to Parks, the department suggests locating the second field at South Germantown, as well.

Should the fields be approved at this Thursday's board meeting, Parks says it will fund the first in its FY-2017-22 Capital Improvements Program budget. The department is also hoping to construct two cricket fields in the eastern part of the county, and says additional fields could be needed in the I-270 corridor.

Planning staff are recommending approval of the requests.