Sugarland Factory makes last minute name change to Lil' Cakes & Creamery in Gaithersburg

Sugarland Factory, the bakery and sweets shop coming soon to Gaithersburg Square shopping center, has made a last minute name change. The new name is Lil' Cakes & Creamery. Their permanent sign permit request will go before the Gaithersburg Planning Commission on Wednesday, October 2, 2019.

Cinco de Mayo construction delay in Gaithersburg

Construction at Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican restaurant and bar coming soon to Market Square in the Kentlands area of Gaithersburg, has temporarily been halted. Montgomery County, City of Gaithersburg, and WSSC inspectors have issued stop work orders at the site. Hopefully things get resolved quickly, as this is one of the most-anticipated new arrivals at the property.

No MCPS schools make 2019 Blue Ribbon Schools list

Montgomery County Public Schools were shut out again in the U.S. Department of Education's 2019 Blue Ribbon Schools list. Not a single MCPS school was named a Blue Ribbon School this year, and it's not the first time this decade this has happened. MCPS performance has steadily declined across the board since 2010. Its failure to close the achievement gap certainly did not help earn an award that partly considers schools' success in doing so among its criteria. Overall academic excellence is the other major consideration for recognition as a Blue Ribbon School.

The failure to show in this annual federal measure of academic excellence is just the latest embarrassment for MCPS. Surging drop-out rates, questions about student safety, failure to fully-vet staff, repeated sexual abuse scandals, a persistent achievement gap, poor test scores, and a chronic class attendance problem have already tarnished what was once considered the premiere school district in the Mid-Atlantic. MCPS has also begun to earn a national reputation as lightweight in academic rigor; a new, easy grading system has really taken the shine off top marks, and when students continued to fail final exams, MCPS simply got rid of the exams. Neither move will impress college admission officials as word spreads.

Unlike Montgomery County, public schools from Calvert, Howard, Prince George's and Worcester counties were recognized on this year's Blue Ribbon Schools list. Only one Montgomery County school made the list this year, and it was a Catholic school - St. Raphael School in Rockville. Students there celebrated with Chick-fil-A, according to the Catholic Standard. 

Montgomery County officials have continued to throw greater amounts of money at MCPS, with no positive result, clearly indicating that the problem is not funding alone. With Montgomery County floundering on every front from education and economic development to crime and traffic congestion, it's clear we need new leaders who actually know what they are doing, and will put the best interests of children ahead of their own political calculations. We must overcome a political cartel that suffers from a severe case of Lake Wobegon Syndrome, and accept that this County is in real trouble, folks.

Another Montgomery County job center lost

Montgomery County continues

to become the bedroom community

for job centers elsewhere in region

The developer of 1800 Research Boulevard in Rockville, a property approved for an office development, is requesting a master plan amendment to flip it to residential. FG Office Group, LLC, a Lerner shell company, is seeking to build a 350-unit residential building with courtyards and two "amenity spaces." One will be a pool, and the other a green space with patio and picnic areas.

Previously, the site had been designated for a 210,981 SF office building. The site would seem ideal for a biotech or medical research company, given its proximity to the I-270 biotech corridor, Shady Grove Hospital and The Universities at Shady Grove. But Lerner says it has concluded there is no market demand for office presently. Lerner adds that it has been unable to find tenants for their existing Fallsgrove office building on Shady Grove Road.

The moribund Montgomery County economy continues to stymie the office market. Some developers have been forced to move their own headquarters into their new office buildings because they are unable to sign an anchor tenant. Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. The end result is that a planned job center at Fallsgrove, similar to changes at King Farm, Bethesda, Wheaton, Silver Spring, and elsewhere in the County, will now be permanently lost. So even if the County changes leadership and policies to be more business-friendly down the road, those new jobs can't be placed here to reduce the number of County residents driving to job centers in Northern Virginia and the District.

Germantown construction update: Top Golf Germantown (Video+Photos)

The main building structure at the future Top Golf Germantown is taking shape. Netting to catch driven golf balls is also being put into place across the trademark tall poles at the far end of the green.

Wawa responds to Gaithersburg concerns about proposed gas station/convenience store

Wawa has filed its official response to concerns raised by Gaithersburg residents and elected officials during a public hearing on its proposed gas station and convenience store at 405 S. Frederick Avenue. Much of the content was already stated by Wawa representatives during the public hearing discussion.

A few points that stood out as new in the memo: Fuel delivery trucks will not be allowed to idle engines on-site. Wawa says it has checked again about the possibility of aligning its new sidewalk with the existing one in front of the Holbrook Shopping Center, but found it is not possible, due to utility placement and the new driveway that will be constructed. There will be no outdoor seating, and no car wash, to reduce potential noise generated.

Wawa also notes that Montgomery County's regulations on how close a gas station can be to a school, home, playground, wetlands, etc. do not apply within the City of Gaithersburg. In reviewing laws, they also determined that there is no restriction on the dimensions of automobile filling stations in Gaithersburg's zoning code.

The Mayor and Council are scheduled to make their final decision on approval of the Wawa at their October 7, 2019 meeting.

Gaithersburg construction update: UU Hot Pot & Kebab (Photos)

UU Hot Pot & Kebab is bringing some of the latest Asian cuisine trends in Rockville north to Gaithersburg. Located in The Majestic apartments at the Spectrum development, the restaurant will likely be the only hot pot establishment in the city when it opens. There had been Riverside Hot Pot before, but unfortunately, it closed. UU Hot Pot & Kebab will also feature skewers, as the name suggests. The progress on the interior of the restaurant is pretty far along, as you can see here.

Climate activists may shut down commuter routes into D.C. Monday morning with #ShutDownDC protests

Climate activists are threatening to block major roadways commuters use to reach downtown Washington, D.C. Monday morning, September 23, 2019, as part of an ongoing series of protests to coincide with the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Participating organizations are not revealing which roads or intersections they plan to blockade during an action they are calling #ShutDownDC.

Montgomery County, the County Council, and the County Department of Transportation are apparently asleep at the switch, and have not released any statements on the expected protests or possible delays. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has released a statement warning commuters to plan several alternative routes to your destination, or to take public transportation. "The groups have planned first-amendment protected events on Monday to potentially include the intentional disruption of traffic on high-volume roadways around the District," the statement says.

With no way to know what these folks have planned, it would be wise to plan ahead and check traffic reports before leaving for work Monday morning - and give yourself extra time to get there, if your route is affected.

Montgomery County Council vape shop bill poised to set economic destruction record

Would be third County economic sector

totally wiped out this decade after

food trucks, nightlife

The Montgomery County Council is poised to set a world record this fall - and it's not one to be proud of. Known for a record of economic failure, high taxes, jammed roads, failing schools and banning stuff, the Council is turning to that last font once again with a new vape shop bill and zoning text amendment package. To call it heavy-handed would be an understatement - it would literally require almost every single vape shop in Montgomery County "to close within 24 months." In doing so, the Council would destroy an entire sector of the County's economy - vaping and smoke shops - for the third time in a single decade, following their destruction of the food truck and nightlife sectors over the last eight years.

As usual, the Council is not on firm legal or logical ground. No resident should feel comfortable with the County in the hands of elected officials who would destroy a whole sector of the economy without even having a knowledge of the topic and industry they are "cracking down" on. If one did have a grasp of the basic facts, he would not be introducing a bill based entirely on hyperbole and panic generated by misleading media reports.

Vaping hysteria is suddenly and mysteriously sweeping the nation. If you believe many media reports, Juul users are keeling over by the dozens. Actually, that's fake news. The majority of "vaping deaths" appear to have resulted from people trying to use unauthorized THC vaping cartridges. THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.

Not a single person in Montgomery County or Maryland has died from immediate use of legal, nicotine vaping products. The Council laughably cites three students being hospitalized after "vaping on school grounds." Many, many more students have been hospitalized after using various other drugs on school grounds than that. It is currently illegal for minors to purchase e-cigarettes and vaping products. Why wouldn't the Council crack down on illegal sales, if the real concern was use by minors?

Predictably, no local media outlet is pressing the Council on its latest Draconian solution in search of a problem. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the lawsuits that are sure to follow passage of a bill designed to put specific enterprises out of business.

Once again, the County Council's hypocrisy and doublespeak has been exposed. They said we needed more millennials to move here. They've claimed for years that we needed to allow unlimited development of luxury apartments to attract those millennials. But the development they approve isn't within the price range of most millennials.

They claimed they would make us "hip," and launched the disastrous "Nighttime Economy Initiative" that ended up cratering the nightlife sector countywide, with eighteen nightspots closing in downtown Bethesda alone.

Finally, the Council deep-sixed what was a booming food truck industry by banning the trucks from public streets. Food trucks are a major draw for young professionals in urban areas - you know, the very people the Council said we needed to attract. What does the Council then do? Implode the food truck industry, with 96% of trucks either going out of business or fleeing back into the District, where many of them can be found at lunchtime just over the border in Friendship Heights, D.C.

It's as if the County Council wants to make sure Montgomery County's national reputation as a terrible place for young people and businesses is solidified for all time. Vaping is very popular among young adults. For better or worse, it is "hip," to use the Council's outdated dad-jeans lingo. So no housing, no nightlife, no lunchtime food trucks and no vaping for you, millennials. Enjoy your life in Northern Virginia - heck, that's where your jobs are anyway. Might as well live there, too! Wait, you already do?

And that's the real capstone of the Kill Vaping Bill. Despite record-high taxes, County revenue is down, and we are in a structural budget deficit. The Council has driven our economy into the ground over the last two decades, and has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. Ultra-rich residents have fled in droves, slashing tax revenues that were being provided by some of our wealthiest denizens, and shuttering storefronts up and down "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive" in Chevy Chase. And the County's debt, if it were a government department, would be the third-largest department in the County government.

After passing a corruption-bloated, reckless and irresponsible budget in May - and raising taxes in the process - one of the major bond rating agencies sent out an urgent alert warning investors. That means our AAA bond rating is in danger of being downgraded. And just as a recession may be around the corner.

This is the time that the Council would destroy yet another entire sector of our economy, and forgo all of that revenue from a popular consumer product? This is the time that they would, yet again, deter young adults from choosing to live in Montgomery County?

What are these folks smoking?

Sears Gaithersburg closing to put 94 employees out of work

More details about the impact of the Sears store closing at Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg are becoming known. Sears has informed the Maryland Department of Labor that 94 employees will be fired when the store and its Auto Center close.

The holding company that now owns Sears is giving a specific date of December 1, 2019 for the closure. If that holds, it means the store would miss out on the bulk of the Christmas shopping season and revenue.

Maryland in general isn't looking as "open for business" as its governor has claimed. The Nestle-Dreyer's Ice Cream plant in Laurel, Maryland has informed the DOL that it plans to lay-off 69 workers on November 1. Nice Christmas presents for Maryland workers from Wall Street!

Cinépolis Kentlands opening September 20 in Gaithersburg - here's a sneak preview (Video+Photos)

Cinépolis, the new movie theater at Market Square in the Kentlands area of Gaithersburg, will officially open this Friday, September 20, 2019. The theater's new staff is being trained this week, and you can see a movie before Friday for half-price for that reason. Here's a look around at the interior, the concessions menu, and ticket prices.