L.L. Bean opens today at Pike & Rose (Video + Photos)

L.L. Bean will open their newest store this morning at Pike & Rose. Located at 925 Rose Avenue, it is the only L.L. Bean location in the state of Maryland right now.

CLICK HERE: WATCH: L.L. Bean store tour

An invitation-only event was held yesterday for L.L. Bean fans, who were able to shop the two-level store before the general public. On hand for the event was L.L. Bean retail store Senior Vice-President Ken Kacere, who presented a $5000 donation to local chapters of the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Also spotted on the premises were Montgomery County Councilmember Sidney Katz, and the famous L.L. Bean Bootmobile, which attracted cellphone camera users passing through Rose Park in front of the store.

Kacere thanked property owner Federal Realty, noting that it had taken the Maine-based firm over a decade to find the ideal location for a store in this area. He said Pike & Rose not only wanted L.L. Bean, but that the youth of the development meant they would have the opportunity to build exactly the store design they wanted. There will be activities and giveaways all weekend at the new store.

Montgomery County Councilmember
Sidney Katz (left) stopped by

L.L. Bean Senior VP Ken Kacere (second from left)
presents local Girl Scout and Boy Scout leaders with
a $5000 contribution

The L.L. Bean Bootmobile,
inspired by the company's first
product, had Pike & Rose patrons
pulling out their cellphones for a photo

Nighttime demolition underway at Apex Building (Photos)

Structural demolition of the Apex Building at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda is finally underway. Workers were destroying an upper floor last night. Carr Properties had to request a noise waiver to perform the after-hours demolition. Because the area being demolished was significantly back from the roadway, over the driveway, the right lane of southbound Wisconsin Avenue remained open to traffic.

Jobocalypse ahead after Montgomery County Council approves $15 minimum wage

"That's a lot of extra

Slurpees to sell"

The potentially-devastating impact of a $15 minimum wage was evident moments after it was unanimously passed by the Montgomery County Council yesterday. A Bethesda restaurant owner observing the proceedings, who had been planning two additional ventures in the county, declared he would never open another restaurant in the jurisdiction. He said his existing downtown Bethesda restaurant might even have to close in the coming years, as a result of the new financial burden in a razor-thin-profit-margin industry.

Just consider the impact of two full restaurant operations, with all of the employees those would entail, now never existing. All of those jobs just vanished, and the economic impact of that unemployment far outweighs the slight cash boost to workers in existing restaurants - assuming they don't lose their jobs, or get replaced by touchscreen kiosks. Now multiply that among other entrepreneurs deciding to take their dreams - and jobs - elsewhere. Montgomery County's outlay of services, required by those unemployed folks, will increase, not decrease. Taxpayers will pick up that bill, along with the increased prices of food and merchandise. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Of course, this is exactly what the Council wants. The more unemployed people, the more people who have to crawl on their knees to the Council for "services." Dependency on government is the aim, and that involves keeping those at the bottom of the ladder from climbing the rungs.

Councilmember Hans Riemer and his colleagues effectively terminated the middle-class business opportunity of Airbnb a few weeks ago. Up until that point, a modest real estate investor could have bought a few small homes and condo units, and generated a good cash flow from Airbnb rentals.

Without the same level of tenant damage concerns, or having to seek evictions of problem tenants, a middle-class County resident could have more-easily generated money for larger investments and ventures than with traditional renting. Now, you can only rent out your own current place of residence - just one unit - and you have to be on the property during the rental. Nothing makes an Airbnb more appealing than a hotel room than a landlord sitting on your couch, right? Thanks, Hans!

Imagine, initiative and some work allowing County residents to attain upper class status - status the County Council enjoys now, as they work a few hours a week for $137,000 a year. Notice they don't consider you deserving that amount, too. $15 isn't even close to a living wage in Montgomery County, and they know it.

Increasingly moribund Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of over 2000 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association. We've had a net loss in jobs since 2005, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. Montgomery County's restaurant sector has "slowed since 2012, and remains flat," according to Melvin Thompson of the Restaurant Association of Maryland. 

Surprisingly, Councilmember Craig Rice also voted for the bill, despite his previous and correct concerns about the impact on African-American job-seekers, young workers in particular. According to a 2015 survey by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, BETAH Associates, Inc. and Montgomery College,  only 8.7% of black high school students surveyed in the County are employed, and only 30.7% of black high school dropouts have been able to obtain employment. Among Montgomery County's young black high school graduates, only 39.7% of those surveyed are currently employed. 

The hits just keep on coming from the most anti-business elected officials in the region. A Council that has done literally nothing to improve traffic congestion, or to provide direct access to in-demand Dulles International Airport for international businesspeople, is spending most of its time criticizing Gov. Larry Hogan - - who is actually doing something in proposing Express Lanes for I-495 and I-270, and funding Metro. And that's when they're not telling us which snacks to buy from vending machines, or banning circuses.

Reaction to the $15 wage vote by local Chambers and business organizations was muted yesterday. In the next few days, we'll find out if those leaders are ready to "get dangerous" and challenge the MoCo cartel, as former Gov. Bob Ehrlich exhorted them to do in 2004. Or go quietly into the good night, in the most moribund private sector economy in the D.C. region.

Civil rights icon Walter Fauntroy joins fight, rally to save African-American cemetery in Bethesda

The Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a civil rights icon who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, is throwing his support behind a march to save an African-American cemetery in Bethesda at 1:30 PM this Sunday, November 12, at Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road. Fauntroy was a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and beyond his many actions on the civil rights front, also served as a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the District.

Also adding his name to the fight is the Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Senior Minister at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Northeast Washington, and the Immediate Past National President of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice (MRSEJ). Hagler has made his mark as an activist in the District, Boston and Chicago, where he once staged a sit-in that convinced Sears to hire hundreds of minority employees. He has also been active in the Palestine solidarity movement.

Fauntroy and Hagler joined Macedonia Baptist Church Pastor Rev. Segun Adebayo in issuing a letter to other area congregations, calling on them to support the cause and attend the march. "As religious and secular leaders," the ministers wrote, "we believe that the ground in which our ancestors are buried is sacred and blessed ground. But, corporations and misdirected members of government have 'hardened their hearts' to the cries of the community calling out for justice. Dr. King faced such criticism and it only emboldened him to press forward with the work of justice. When Dr. King was asked why he had come to Birmingham, he simply answered: 'I’m in Birmingham because injustice is in Birmingham.'"

"We ask you to march with us on Sunday, November 12th, to assert the notion that the first generation of freed Africans in Montgomery County, do matter. Their lives mattered. Their contributions matter. They do not deserve to remain unnoticed and defiled."

Montgomery County, developer Regency Centers and the County Housing Opportunities Commission have proposed building a parking garage on top of the cemetery, which is located on Regency's Westwood Tower property. Construction workers building the apartment tower already desecrated the cemetery once during the late 1960s, and then covered most of the graveyard with a parking lot.

The HOC last week issued a statement declaring that it now had no immediate plans to build the garage, but said it could in the future, offering no actual promise or guarantee it would not. HOC also made the strange claim that the church did not need permission to conduct an archaeological study of the hidden cemetery, a ridiculous assertion given that HOC does not own the property - and because Regency Centers has so far declined to allow anthropologists chosen by the church to conduct such a study. In fact, Regency and HOC fought the church all summer, refusing to reach just such an agreement for a study during mediation sessions.

Sunday's protest will begin at Macedonia Baptist Church. Protesters will then march to the cemetery site. Be there!

Thor: Ragnarok poster wall at ArcLight Cinemas Bethesda (Photo)

MD A.G. opposing $4 billion deal...for company in his own state

A virtually unprecedented situation is unfolding in Maryland. The state's attorney general, Brian Frosh, is opposing a $4 billion dollar merger expected to be a financial boon for a company...in his own state. In a move that has left many in the business community again scratching their heads over the anti-business mania of the Montgomery County political cartel, Frosh last Friday joined his peers in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in opposing the merger of Sinclair Broadcasting and Tribune Media Company.

Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Sinclair forecasts the merger would be a boon in boosting revenues, cutting costs and generating cash flow to pay down debts. Should such benefits come to pass, the cash flow would also go to the state of Maryland via taxes. But now Maryland's own attorney general is stepping in to try and stop the deal, which is currently before the Federal Communications Commission.

Despite that potential revenue boost for the state, Frosh is calling the merger "a bad deal for Marylanders." The attorney general claims the deal would raise the cost of cable, and reduce programming choices for viewers. Apparently, Frosh is unaware of Netflix, HBO Now, Sling TV, Hulu, YouTube TV, Playstation Vue, Amazon Prime Video, CBS All Access, Crackle, Tubi TV, Acorn TV, and Pluto TV, just to name a few.

Frosh and his fellow travelers also say the merger would improperly use the UHF Discount rule to avoid the FCC cap on total station reach, and advise the FCC to wait until the District of Columbia Circuit Court issues its final ruling on the UHF rule. But clear heads can rule today that the Montgomery County political cartel has once again lost its wits.

While the deal should certainly be scrutinized by regulators, it is astonishing to witness a state's attorney general trying to sabotage a deal - and lower profits for - a company in his own state. It does not help Montgomery County and Maryland shed their horrible international reputation as anti-business jurisdictions. And will therefore give just one more reason for corporations to avoid us and relocate to Virginia instead.

Bad deal.

Community reopens as burger restaurant

The burger to try before you die. That's the new message on the sandwich board outside of Community at 7776 Norfolk Avenue. The Mark Bucher venture that began as a diner has refocused on its strengths and most-popular items, with burgers and its locally-famous donuts taking center stage.

Bucher has major burger credentials, including having been a founder of the BGR chain. The restaurant's beef is dry-aged for 38 days, and delivered fresh daily from Roseda Farms in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Their potato bun is a custom-order from Martin's Bakery, which like their Nueske's bacon and Kreider Farms eggs, is from Pennsylvania. They are also offering turkey and veggie burgers.

8000 Wisconsin Avenue redevelopment moving forward

A major development project is being proposed for property assembled as 8000 Wisconsin Avenue. This will be between the future Toll Brothers 8008 Wisconsin condo building and JBG Smith's 7900 Wisconsin project. The development will include up to 460 residential units, and up to 25000 SF of retail and restaurant space. Maximum height for the property is 175'. Plank, Inc. is the owner, which is a shell company for S.S. Papadopulos, according to real estate records.

A required public meeting will be held on Thursday, November 16, 2017, at 7:00 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, located at 4805 Edgemoor Lane, in Room D.

Shilla Bakery opens in Bethesda (Photos+Menu)

Shilla Bakery has opened at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The bakery is located in the Dining Terrace, right by Chick-fil-A. This location is so new, it isn't even listed on the local Korean bakery chain's website.