Oakwood Apartments vandalized, burglarized in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County police are seeking the public's help in identifying and locating a man they allege broke into the Oakwood Residences at Rio Apartments at 9890 Washingtonian Boulevard on November 15 around 12:09 AM. The suspect broke into the building by forcing his way through an locked inner front door, detectives say.

Inside the building, police allege the man went on a mini-rampage, busting into a storage room and knocking over a washing machine and dryer. He is also accused of damaging an interior wall.

Detectives have not yet released a motive in the bizarre case. But they have released surveillance footage of the suspect flinging throw pillows across a lobby.

Investigators are asking anyone with information regarding this suspect to call the 6th District Investigative Section at 240-773-5770. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to them that leads to an arrest and/or indictment for this crime.

Sign installed at Dog Haus Biergarten in Gaithersburg

The sign is up - and already lit - at Dog Haus Biergarten, coming soon to Market Square in the Kentlands in Gaithersburg. There's still work to be done inside. I highly recommend the hot dogs at Dog Haus. Stay tuned for an opening date!

Cinco de Mayo sign installed in The Kentlands

The permanent sign is up at Cinco de Mayo, coming soon to the Market Square development in The Kentlands in Gaithersburg. It's a slick-looking sign, very professional. Future customers have been anxious to see signs of progress here, and this is a big one.

The final days of Sears at Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg (Video+Photos)

This is the final week at Sears - there are six days left of closing sale bargains before the legendary department store closes its doors forever at Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg. Even the store fixtures, racks, and mannequins are available for sale. Here are scenes and a trip through the store for bargain hunters, and the true fans of Sears and Lakeforest Mall! It wasn't the "decline of bricks and mortar" that took out this American icon and retail giant - it was Fast Eddie!

Marc Elrich is right on Montgomery County housing targets

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is yet again the target of another hit piece in The Washington Post, which makes no secret of its disdain for Elrich, labor unions, and the men and women of our police department. Incredibly, the article, "Executive won't back housing targets" (Metro section, November 21, 2019) presents no defenders of Elrich's position. It instead attempts to paint him as a man entirely alone. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Elrich is the most popular elected official in Montgomery County, in both die-hard following and in actual votes cast. One of the key reasons is his willingness to put citizens over the interests of developers in situations exactly like this. As I reported earlier this month, the developer-controlled Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has put forward an "affordable housing" scheme designed to profit - surprise! - developers.  It has asked local jurisdictions to build a specific number of new, low-income housing units by 2030. Of Montgomery, it has asked for us to allow 23,100 additional low-income housing units to be constructed by 2030, in addition to those already approved or proposed.

Needless to say, agreeing to such a target would bankrupt the County for multiple reasons. MoCo has a structural budget deficit as far out as the future projections go. Our economy is so moribund, Montgomery ranks rock bottom in the region by every relevant federal economic development statistic from job creation to new business starts to new business growth this decade. We haven't attracted a single major new corporate headquarters to the county in over two decades.

The County's debt is so large, if it were a department, it would be the 3rd-largest department in the County government. Despite record-high taxes, County revenue is actually declining. Many of the ultra-rich have fled to lower-tax jurisdictions in our region, taking their money with them. And most significantly, because the in-the-red-every-year budget has proven definitively that residential housing growth costs more in new services than it generates in revenue (even as places like Clarksburg have grown 800% in population in recent years). Imagine adding 60573 more taxpayers who will not make any significant contribution to revenue, while requiring education, medical care, food, police and fire service, social services, and more.

Adding 60753 low-income residents beyond those already on their way by 2030, while simultaneously subsidizing developers to generate those units, would be a financial disaster. And it must be noted that MWCOG is not counting or restricting the number of existing affordable units that may be demolished - a phenomenon that has led to a net-loss of affordable housing in Montgomery County over this decade. Just this week, I reviewed plans for a major redevelopment on Battery Lane that will result in a net-loss of affordable units. Will the same County Council that attacks Elrich, and supports the housing targets scheme, block the net-loss Battery development? Of course not.

But take a look at this article.

Reporter Rebecca Tan tells us that the "unprecedented push to address the region's affordable housing crisis has hit its first major snag." That is biased language in favor of the scheme in the very first sentence. She then describes Elrich as "stubborn." This is wild - I've never seen another Democratic executive in the region referred to in pejorative language like that by a Post reporter. He is "a serious roadblock to addressing the housing shortage," and his "position is particularly concerning given that Montgomery, a wealthy suburb of 1 million, has been asked to create more affordable units over the next decade than any other locality."

I recognize Tan is new to covering the County, but her report appears to lack the context of the County's disastrous budget picture and moribund economy. It doesn't matter how "wealthy" a jurisdiction or any enterprise is, if it annually spends more than it takes in.

Tan notes that the County Council, as I reported, voted unanimously to adopt the MWCOG housing targets. What she doesn't note, is that each of them accepted thousands or more in dollars of developer campaign contributions. And that Elrich, by contrast, does not accept developer money.

This is a key point of context - why is it missing from the article?

Tan allows delusional 2022 Elrich challenger Councilmember Hans Riemer to say, "Marc Elrich stands alone," the theme she bashes readers over the head with throughout the piece. She goes on to quote five people critical of Elrich's position - all of whom are funded by development interests - without acknowledging their conflict of interest.

There are many activists, neighborhood leaders, and residents who agree with Marc Elrich whom Tan could have quoted. Contrary to journalistic standards, she did not. She even allowed Riemer to lie about the infamous fake-news claim that Elrich would prefer jobs go to Frederick County, which was pushed by the developer-funded Greater Greater Washington blog last year.

Elrich inherited a moribund county economy, and neither he nor the Council have made any significant moves to change our business climate and regional competitiveness since taking office last December. But Elrich has an impeccable record of standing up for the vulnerable, looking out for the interests of residential neighborhoods, and providing better protections for renters. As Tan's article notes, Elrich is pushing for a "no net loss" housing rule. That is exactly the type of policy that will actually ensure affordable units are available for decades to come. To paint a longtime advocate for the less-fortunate as a "NIMBY," as Tan does, is absurd. She states "some critics" call him that, but failed to produce any for her report.

The fact is, as Elrich has noted in years past, Montgomery already has in the planning pipeline sufficient units to meet the expected population demand by 2030. And the reality is, Montgomery County decides how much our population grows - if we don't build, they can't come. So our fate really is in the hands of our elected officials, not those of fate itself.

Council President Nancy Navarro and others chastise Elrich for "denying" and "pretending" that there isn't a "housing shortage" or "need for affordable housing."

But there is growing evidence that we don't have a housing "crisis." Recently, the County Housing Opportunities Commission moved hundreds of residents out of the Ambassador apartments in Wheaton, and is demolishing the building. They moved them into vacant units in their other buildings across the County. Not far away, the owners of affordable and spacious apartments at Halpine View told attendees at a public meeting that they have many vacant units, with little public demand for them.

Wait a minute...we have a "crisis," but we could give up an entire apartment building, have enough vacant units idling elsewhere in the County to take all of those folks in, and have vacancies at Halpine View? This doesn't sound like a crisis to anyone with common sense.

What is this all really about?

As Tan expertly manages to note in yet another Montgomery County cartel talking point, people like Elrich may be "seek[ing] to shield single-family neighborhoods from bigger or denser development." That is exactly what voters in those neighborhoods elected him to do - protect them from the plans of the Council and their developer sugar daddies to impose urban mixed-use zoning on all established SFH-zoned neighborhoods across the County.

What this is really about is adopting Wild West zoning, and the MWCOG-County Council plan to have you the taxpayer fund developers, who will profit from overbuilding while bankrupting the County and destroying the successful suburban and rural neighborhoods those taxpayers live in. All under the guise of "helping the poor." It's quite obvious who's really being helped by this scheme, and it's not the poor.

We don't even have adequate infrastructure to handle our current population. Until we do, or until developers agree to provide more roads, schools, etc., pulling up the ladders to the extent we can - while protecting the existing housing of current residents of all income levels - is the only responsible way forward in housing policy.

Marc Elrich is right - and he is anything but "alone" on this issue.

Maryland Lottery still waiting to hear from Gaithersburg winner

Did you purchase a Multi-Match Maryland Lottery Jackpot ticket at the Giant store at 842 Muddy Branch Road in Gaithersburg for the August 19, 2019 drawing? If so, you may have won $775,000 you haven't claimed yet. In a statement, the state lottery operator said that holder of the winning ticket has yet to step forward to receive their prize.

Public hearing set for proposed Damascus sidewalk

Montgomery County is proposing to construct a sidewalk along the west side of Oak Drive, and along the east side of MD 27 (Ridge Road) between its north intersection with Oak and Bethesda Church Road, in Damascus. The sidewalk would provide a continuous pedestrian connection between the Damascus Recreation Center and Bethesda Church Road.

Map of Oak Drive segment

A public hearing on the proposed sidewalk has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 7:00 PM in the all-purpose room/cafeteria of Damascus ES at 10201 Bethesda Church Road. The feedback received will determine whether or not the proposed sidewalk is constructed.

Map of MD 27 segment

Gaithersburg's OpGen offering hope as nation confronts superbug crisis

Amid all of the bad news about the superbugs - antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungal infections - ravaging America, there are glimmers of good news about future solutions from Gaithersburg's OpGen. The company says it is advancing on several new products to tackle superbugs.

"We are encouraged that our Acuitas products can help address these rising threats," OpGen Chairman and CEO Evan Jones said this morning. The products include the Acuitas AMR Gene Panel test, which is being developed for patients with complicated urinary tract infections. According to OpGen, the test can identify up to five pathogens, and 47 antimicrobial genes.

OpGen is located at 708 Quince Orchard Road.

Applied Biomimetic cuts ribbon on new Gaithersburg production facility

One of AB's original investors, Jorgen Clausen, helps Danish
Ambassador to the U.S., Her Excellency Lone Dencker Wisborg
cut the ribbon on the new Gaithersburg production facility

When one tries to find any positive grains of sand in the barren desert of the moribund Montgomery County economy, the biotech sector is the best bet. Once again some rare good news comes from the biotech corridor along I-270, as Applied Biomimetic officially opened its new Gaithersburg production facility. A ribbon cutting celebrated the new addition, which Vice-President William Harvey says will manufacture several new products in the coming months.

Applied Biomimetic's breakthroughs have been applied to enzyme production and improving infant formula. “This has no doubt been an interesting journey for Applied Biomimetic to get to this point – not just during the last couple of years when we relocated here to Gaithersburg, but also many years ago, when we started in the basement of university facilities in Cincinnati and a laboratory at the Danfoss campus in Denmark," CEO Steen Sondergaard Nissen told about 100 attendees. Also in atendance was the Danish ambassador to the United States, Her Excellency, Lone Dencker Wisborg, and one of the company's original investors, Jorgen Clausen.

We're fortunate the seeds were planted for biotech success by smarter leaders before the Montgomery County political cartel seized control of the County Council in the 2002 election. But more must be done, as Virginia and Pennsylvania's booming economies have allowed them to rapidly begin to catch up to our head start. Unfortunately, our corrupt County Council is rapidly turning the very office parks that could attract biotech, aerospace, defense and tech firms into residential housing.

Applied Biomimetic is located at 942 Clopper Road.

Photo courtesy Applied Biomimetic

Gaithersburg Mayor & Council to discuss City Mgr. performance in closed session

Gaithersburg's Mayor and Council will adjourn into closed session Monday night to discuss the performance of City Manager Tony Tomasello. The session is closed to the public. Tomasello has served as City Manager since 2012.

ICE captures sex abuse suspect MoCo released after 3 days at large

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers located a man accused of sexually abusing a child in Montgomery County hiding in Virginia, three days after Montgomery County released him from jail. ICE found Luis Fredy Hernandez-Morales, 48, in Springfield, Virginia on Friday.

ICE officials blasted Montgomery County for not honoring its detainer on Hernandez-Morales, saying the County had put children in Montgomery County and Northern Virginia at risk while he remained at-large. In a statement, ICE called Hernandez-Morales' release "the latest in a continuing list of public safety threats Montgomery County, MD has released into the community rather than allow a lawful transfer into ICE custody."

"This case shows how the noncooperation policies of one jurisdiction can have serious public safety impacts on its neighbors,” ICE Washington Field Office Director Russell Hott said yesterday. Hernandez-Morales is involved with the youth ministry program at Iglesia de Dios en Cristo, located on W. Diamond Avenue in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County police have said. They have expressed concern that there may be additional child victims in this case.

MD, VA agree on Capital Beltway Accord, American Legion Bridge widening

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced a historic Capital Beltway Accord at a joint appearance at the Capital Region Transportation Forum in Washington, D.C. yesterday. The bi-state agreement, which does not yet specify a timetable for completion, would widen the failing American Legion Bridge between the two states by adding tolled Express Lanes on and near the bridge. The states would split the cost, with the heaviest burden being picked up by Maryland, and both states expecting tolls will cover the entire $1 billion projected expense.

The accord also puts the backburnered Hogan plan for Express Lanes on the Beltway between the Legion Bridge and I-95 back on the table. No details on the staging of the that project in relation to the bridge widening were put forward Tuesday. The bridge changes would almost certainly fail to solve congestion if the new Express Lanes end at River Road instead of I-95, as they would only create another choke point there.

Adding Express Lanes to the Beltway and I-270 won't take the place of a new Potomac River crossing, which would take about 25% of rush hour traffic off of the Legion Bridge, according to a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments study earlier this decade. They won't provide the direct access to Dulles International Airport from Montgomery County that international businesspeople have made clear they require to consider locating their headquarters here.

In fact, without a new Potomac River bridge north of the Legion Bridge - and major changes to County and Maryland tax and regulation schemes, Tuesday's accord would simply be another victory for Virginia and the crafty Northam from an economic development standpoint. Improved travel times for non-Dulles-related traffic on the Beltway would certainly help all of us, and are absolutely worthy of public support. But without direct Dulles access and a competitive business climate, the Beltway accord will simply reinforce our position as the bedroom community for the booming job centers in Northern Virginia.

The accord is a win for Hogan, however, as he considers a surprisingly-strong bid for the U.S. Senate. If he stands his ground on the Potomac-to-I-95 Beltway Express Lanes this time, Hogan will have delivered a start on major traffic relief on both failing interstates in Montgomery County in time for the 2022 election. Hogan was also the governor to finally get the new Nice Bridge project moving after decades of delay; that structure is scheduled to be well under-construction by the time he would take on Van Hollen.

Hogan hasn't even been grandstanding to the extent he could on transportation. He has quietly delivered new improvements on I-270 - such as new feeder lanes that allow entering vehicles from some ramps to proceed on the freeway without having to merge - over the last year. Surprisingly, he hasn't called a press conference to crow about these small but significant traffic flow upgrades.

Considering Van Hollen's weak legislative record, scandalous history of conspiring to reduce African-American turnout in his 2016 primary run against Congresswoman Donna Edwards (earning a rebuke from Hillary Clinton herself in the process), and Hogan's bipartisan support, this could be a top-tier contest. Neither man excites the core base of his party. But if these transportation projects move forward, Hogan will have done something Van Hollen hasn't in over a decade - deliver actual change for his constituents.

Germantown's Hughes showcasing satellite internet in Africa today

Hughes Network Systems, one of the few remaining remnants of now-moribund Montgomery County's once-strong tech and aerospace sectors, is in South Africa today through Thursday to showcase its JUPITER satellite internet ground system. The platform is 5G-ready, and can handle thousands of internet sessions simultaneously.

"Hughes has been supplying satellite ground systems to telecom service providers in Africa for over 30 years," Hughes International Division SVP and GM Ramesh Ramaswamy said in a press release Monday. "We value our partners across the region who have chosen the JUPITER System to power connectivity that changes lives for the better every day."

Operation Homefront teams with Choice Hotels for Veteran's Day

Two Montgomery County organizations are teaming up for Veteran's Day to thank servicemembers for their sacrifices and contributions to the country. Gaithersburg nonprofit Operation Homefront and Rockville's Choice Hotels will provide family travel and reunion opportunities for veterans. In addition, if you place reservations for Choice Hotels on their Salute to Savings web portal today, you will get 15% off and a portion of your reservation's proceeds will go to Operation Homefront.

"We are deeply grateful to the entire Choice team for all they and their customers have done and continue to do to help us help a very special group of our fellow citizens - our troops and their families," Operation Homefront's President and CEO, Brig. Gen. John Pray, Jr., (Ret.), said in a statement. "With their unwavering support, we are able to give military families the opportunity to thrive, not simply struggle to get by, in the communities they have worked so hard to protect."

Cinco de Mayo applies for liquor license in Gaithersburg

After several unexpected construction delays, it's good to see any sign of progress at Cinco de Mayo, coming soon to Market Square in the Kentlands. The future Gaithersburg restaurant and bar has now applied for its Montgomery County liquor license. Their hearing is scheduled for November 21 at 11:00 AM.

MoCo Council approves budget-busting developer-backed housing scheme

The Montgomery County Council quietly adopted a developer-backed regional housing scheme in a unanimous vote Wednesday. A vote that received little attention from the local media, and was preceded by no public process to promote taxpayer buy-in. Why was that? Probably because the plan, along with the almost-certain Kirwan Commission spending increases ahead, is likely to bankrupt Montgomery County and lead to massive future tax hikes. And because each of the nine councilmembers has accepted thousands of dollars from their developer sugar daddies.

Only the Council itself appeared eager to brag about its vote in a press release yesterday. But braggadocio doesn't substitute for mathematics aptitude nor budgeting skill, as the Council's annual structural budget deficit proves. The Council just put you, the taxpayer, on the hook for a massive spending increase - in education, social services, police and fire, health care, and developer tax giveaways - even as they (presumably?) know there's no way in hell future councils will be able to pay for it.

What does approving the developer-backed Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' "regional housing targets" actually mean? It obligates Montgomery County to build 23000+ new housing units for low and middle-income residents by 2030, in addition to those already planned. The County Council couldn't even be honest about that in the press release, which falsely claimed the number as 10,000 additional low-income units.

The initiative sounds good, and like most developer initiatives, it's meant to. The reality is, the scheme is all about developer profits, and taxpayers will be left holding the bag.

MWCOG itself predicts that 75% of the new residents coming to Montgomery County by 2030 will be low or mid-income residents. That not only means they will contribute little in tax revenue to the county, but that spending will have to skyrocket to provide the services and infrastructure such a population surge would require.

This would be difficult enough of a fiscal equation to square - massive new spending, with only 25% of the new residents able to shoulder the huge costs. But then you look at the bigger picture, and the alarm bells really start going off.

Montgomery County's moribund economy, job creation, business starts, and business growth are all rock-bottom in the regional rankings this decade. Despite record-high tax rates and tax hikes, revenue is actually declining, even as the County Council continues to spend more. Many of the ultra-wealthy have fled Montgomery County to lower-tax jurisdictions in our region, taking huge chunks of revenue that used to balance the County budget with them. Greater spending, fewer revenue-generating residents...it simply doesn't add up, no matter what brand of calculator you use.

Then you look at the debt and cost obligations of the County. The bond rating agencies have already criticized the current Council's budgetary dirty tricks, which have failed to adequately fund government retiree health benefits, for example. Our councilmembers might be shocked to learn that even governments have to pay their bills. How such incompetent people were allowed to take power is a sad commentary on the sham, Soviet-style 2018 election, which had no general election debates or local media coverage of the County Council races. Joseph Stalin would be proud.

Debt is skyrocketing. If the County's current debt was a department, it would be the third-largest department in the County budget. The last thing a sane elected official would do in that situation is agree to a massive spending increase.

Finally, there's the coming budgetary atomic bomb: The Kirwan Commission. Kirwan is the biggest threat to the County's fiscal health since the state threatened to make the County pay more toward teacher pensions earlier this decade.

Kirwan is proposing astronomical amounts of new education spending, with no appreciable change in the actual curriculum or methods. Spending on education has already been jacked up year after year by the Council, to no avail. Test scores and graduation rates continue to decline, while the achievement gap remains the same or worsens.

Spending hikes proposed by the Kirwan Commission would literally be flushing good money after bad down the MCPS toilet. Money isn't the problem at MCPS. And don't forget, the maintenance-of-effort-on-steroids law adopted by Maryland will require us to maintain that level of spending into the future. There is no escape once these spending increases are approved.

Taken together, the housing targets adoption and the Council's rabid desire to adopt the Kirwan recommendations on the backs of the taxpayers, have placed Montgomery County on an accelerated course to fiscal oblivion. We can't go on like this.

Gaithersburg incumbents reelected

Incumbency was a powerful advantage in Tuesday's Gaithersburg elections. That, and the failure of challengers to get their names printed on the ballot, led three sitting Councilmembers to victory over write-in candidates. Neil Harris, Ryan Spiegel and Robert T. Wu will return for another four-year term on the City Council.

Give the write-ins credit for hard work, though. On the 2249 ballots cast in yesterday's election, 1104 write-in votes were cast. Write-in candidates were particularly popular among voters who cast ballots at City Hall, Asbury Methodist Village and in the Villa Ridge Community Room.

Home Goods Gaithersburg update (Photos)

Home Goods on Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg has been shuttered and condemned since a partial roof collapse in August. A banner across the store's front facade promises they will be "re-opening soon." But the building is still barricaded off, and as you can see here, there is still damage visible even at the front of the store's exterior.

AT&T Store coming to the Kentlands in Gaithersburg

Just in time for cell phone Christmas shopping, an AT&T Store will be opening in The Kentlands at Kentlands Market Square. The store will located next to Daviko Gems at 109-A Market Street in Gaithersburg.