Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Coming Soon signage gives first info about Pet Parents in Bethesda (Photos)

Pet Parents has no website, social media or contact information - and as a result, no public indication of what the new business at 4907 Fairmont Avenue will offer customers. Until now. Coming Soon signage just installed at the storefront in the Bainbridge Bethesda refers to "premium, all-natural, health-promoting products combined with extraordinary services." Stay tuned for more details.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robert are Justice Tuesdays still happening?

Anonymous said...

Looks like neither Hogan nor McAuliffe want to build the Second Crossing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/planners-to-weigh-2nd-potomac-river-crossing-from-montgomery--again/2017/07/10/051d8cfe-658b-11e7-a1d7-9a32c91c6f40_story.html?utm_term=.df3b42b88355

Anonymous said...

No report on Berliner's proposal re the Second Crossing? Both the Post and BeeBee have scooped you.

Robert Dyer said...

10:00: No "scoop" - Berliner has totally opposed the new crossing for years. What do you mean, "proposal?" He's against the bridge!

7:37: McAuliffe lied to his business sector constituents last year, then, when he strongly endorsed building it at a Dulles event. I have no clue how Hogan could oppose the critical bridge international companies have said they need before they'll even seriously consider relocating here. Yet he supports the Purple Line, which no CEO has ever even mentioned?

Anonymous said...

"I have no clue how Hogan could oppose the critical bridge international companies have said they need before they'll even seriously consider relocating here. Yet he supports the Purple Line, which no CEO has ever even mentioned?"

Because he's one of the few pragmatic Republicans left. He is very pro-business but believes that a balanced approach to public infrastructure construction generates a better return for the state.

Spending four times the cost of the Purple Line to clear cut through neighborhoods and woodland in Potomac so that BWI (now the region's busiest airport) can get overtaken by Dulles again makes no sense, which is why no reasonable politician in Maryland wants it.

Even widening I-270 (which is also prohibitively expensive) is a higher priority.

Robert Dyer said...

9:12: Politicians protecting the political cartel of Baltimore's interests at the expense of high-wage Jobs in Montgomery County - this is your explanation - is definitely not "pro-business."

The cost of constructing a new Potomac River bridge and highway could be near zero for taxpayers, if a private company built them as toll facilities. Virtually all of the right-of-way on the Maryland side is already in government hands.

Express Lanes on I-270 could likewise be built privately, but they won't reduce congestion, only provide a very useful alternative if you're running late.

Anonymous said...

"Virtually all of the right-of-way on the Maryland side is already in government hands."

Complete, utter bullshit. There is nothing south of the south end of Sam Eig Highway. The proposed route south and west of there, and location of the bridge, was never finalized. And in the meantime, many subdivisions have been built blocking any path that had been proposed.

Robert Dyer said...

10:34: Horse****. Anybody using Google Maps can see the route of the I-370 extension from Sam Eig all the way to the Potomac River.

Wrol said...

Hi Robert, do you mind showing us on a map overlay the proposed route? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

It makes no sense for Maryland to fund the bridge because it will just further siphon business to the lower tax, less regulated state of Virginia. Virginia-based businesses are clamoring for it because many of their employees prefer to live in Montgomery County and have difficult commutes. The reason they prefer Montgomery County is because the schools and government services are superior to those of Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Once that commute gets easier, the businesses currently located in Montgomery will flee because their employees will follow. The difficulty of hiring high skill workers (and expense of higher wages to compensate for the long commute) are currently the only things keeping those businesses from moving to Virginia.

Anonymous said...

5:24AM Horse-hockey right back at you! You can see the route right through neighborhoods. You can't get to VA without tearing up a community. Period.

Robert Dyer said...

6:20: MCPS has been in steady decline since 2010, getting worse by the year. No businessperson is deciding on MoCo over Fairfax on schools alone; the schools are just as good in Fairfax. Government services? The only area we exceed Fairfax is in the giving of free stuff to the poor and non-citizens, hardly the demographics for the kind of high-wage, high-tech jobs you are referring to. I mean, MoCo can't even collect the trash recently, or keep 911 service operating.

It is a tough commute, and that is because most of the jobs are currently in NoVa and DC. Having direct access to Dulles will allow us to create more jobs here, taking cars off of the road during rush hour.

Anonymous said...

Any updates on Justice Tuesdays? Do they still happen or was some sort of agreement reached?

Robert Dyer said...

6:30: Which community? The highway would come off of Sam Eig in a NW direction between the 270 interchange and Washingtonian Boulevard, and then take the Muddy Branch highway facility, er, park, all the way down to the Potomac.

Robert Dyer said...

7:04: Not this week.

Anna said...

A thruway with no exits, built high over the park ?
Basically taking over the Muddy Branch Greenway Trail?
The 9 miles of Montgomery County’s newest multi-use natural surface trail are accessible to most users, but they aren’t flat or boring by any means. The trail traverses varied terrain and ecosystems including rocky upland forest, streambanks and meadows, and passes by rich vernal pools, earthen mill remnants and the Potomac Horse Center and on its way from Darnestown Road in Gaithersburg down to historic Blockhouse Point Conservation Park. A brand new bridge now allows users to cross over to Pennyfield Lock and the C&O Canal. montgomeryparks.org

Robert Dyer said...

8:20: I don't know what the exact design will be in terms of grade-level, but you are correct that it would be a thruway with no exits (unless a community along the route wants one, but in terms of preserving quality of life, there's no need for exits between Sam Eig and the Virginia side). It would actually make the trip faster to not have ramp traffic entering at various points along the way.

Anonymous said...

Dyer: Can you post some kind of map or do a post about this? I'm really intrigued. All I hear is that lots of homes would need to be demolish, and the Agricultural Preserve destroyed to build the new bridge on the MD side. I'm very skeptical of those claims.

As for the effect of building a bridge, maybe Virginians will now start using BWI more. It's a major hub for Southwest, and BWI is the busiest airport of all 3 in the region. It also has shorter security lines compared to IAD and DCA every time I fly (I travel a lot), and (gasp!) private, competitive parking options like Park n Fly and PreFlight Parking. MD is also expanding the international terminal so it will be ready for more flights should they come.

This bridge could actually be a boon for BWI. They've usually got lower fares than IAD, especially since Dulles is saddled with a lot of debt load they incurred building that air train between terminals, which is reflected in landing fees charged to carriers.

Heck, could we run a Metro line along the crossing, to connect Shady Grove and the Dulles stops?

Ok, not until my preschool-aged kids are grandparents, based on the slow pace of progress in MoCo....

Robert Dyer said...

11:36: You are correct that the highway and bridge could carry Metro to Dulles, as well.

I don't have the ability to post an image here in the comments, but I suggest simply loading up Google Maps, and looking at the stretch of Sam Eig Highway between Washingtonian Boulevard and the I-270 interchange. You will see an area of empty land northwest of that segment of Sam Eig that can carry the road to the Muddy Branch stream valley, a highway facility set-aside that goes all the way to the Potomac River, with the need to go over or under River Road before the bridge.

All the talk of "demolishing homes" is hogwash from the various MoCo cartel house organs with their low-info propaganda reports. Leventhal's assertion of the "most-valuable real estate," is equally ridiculous - what is developable along the highway's route has already been developed.

I can't rule out this helping BWI with tourist travel. It's important to separate that from business travel, where Dulles excels mightily over BWI in flight frequency and international business destinations.

Whereas Hogan appears to be thinking of the leisure traveler using Southwest for Spring Break in Florida, and a lower Route 50 toll to Ocean City...that's all very nice, but...what we really need is to improve business travel for the large international firms we are (currently not really) trying to attract to the county. That's what direct access to Dulles gives us immediately.

Anonymous said...

GAY