Bethesda Purple Line construction update (Photos)

Construction of the Purple Line light rail system from downtown Bethesda to New Carrollton continues to ramp up on our end of the line. Site facilities have begun moving into place, including two-story trailers and a large Apollo Ice ice freezer, and a generator to power them.

Pile drilling is underway, as you can see in these photos, and will continue this Saturday, May 12, between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Trucks are delivering concrete for the piles along previously-set routes on local streets. They are working primarily in the Elm Street work zone.

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Some of the most interesting sights are views of the tunnel under Wisconsin, and the Purple Line rider access that is being constructed in that corner. Perhaps the coolest piece of equipment on-site is an official Purple Line Transit Constructors Ford F350 truck.

Near delivery, West Lane Apartments changes name to The Brody (Photos)

The Hills fans may have found the perfect address in downtown Bethesda. SJG Properties' West Lane Apartments project is on the verge of delivery at 4901 Montgomery Lane, but at the last moment, the building's name has been changed to...The Brody.

A new website has been created with the name change, and offers some new details, such as the use of Porcelanosa tile (a rare find in recent buildings) and L'Arte Design Italian cabinets. The 112-unit building has a 2-level underground parking garage, a gym, a terrace bar, and a rooftop deck. That curved facade over the lobby entrance remains the feature that sets this building apart from others delivered since the Great Recession.

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Former Safeway cleared out in Bethesda (Photos)

Here's a look at the stripped space that until recently was a Safeway store at 7625 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda. Still no indication as of this morning as to the existence or identity of a next tenant.

Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of over 2100 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association, and the local media is now admitting what I've been reporting for years - Montgomery County's economy is officially moribund. The County's debt is so large, that if it were a department, it would be the third-largest department in the County government. We're in real trouble, folks.

Fascino opens at Westfield Montgomery Mall (Photos)

Fascino has opened at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The Italian menswear store doesn't have a permanent sign installed yet, but got started with an opening party Saturday in the just-vacated Hoamgar space on Level 1, in the Nordstrom wing.

Audi Bethesda now has bicycle loaner program

Tom Brady probably wishes his Audi dealer had what Audi Bethesda just added. The dealership at 7106 Woodmont Avenue has just launched a bicycle loaner program. It's not only the first Audi dealer in this market to have the program, but the whole concept is so new even nationally, that this article is the first in the world to report on it.

See and be seen on an Audi bike around Bethesda Row, and turn heads on the Capital Crescent Trail - a real conversation starter. Coincidentally, Audi Bethesda's service facility is on the CCT at 5206 River Road.

Photo courtesy Audi Bethesda

Firefighters respond to report of smoke at Residences at Capital Crescent Trail (Photos)

Firefighters responded to a report of smoke at the Residences at Capital Crescent Trail apartment building at 5325 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda just after 12:00 AM this morning. The response was significant, as it is in any potential high-rise fire. According to scanner reports from firefighters inside the building, formerly known as the Park Bethesda, the search initially centered on the building's fourth floor. Finding nothing, they started at the bottom level and worked their way to the top.

Ultimately, no fire or source of smoke was found. At least one person was carried down to the building's lobby to receive medical treatment. Firefighters were well-prepared for any potential, however, as they had immediately connected hoses to nearby hydrants upon arrival.

Helpless Hans Riemer out of his depth on MoCo's moribund economy

Montgomery County Council President Helpless Hans Riemer appeared lost in his laughably-disastrous attempts to dismiss growing media reports of the county's tanking economy. Confronted with data from the United States government showing Montgomery at rock bottom in growth of new businesses in the region, and suffering from a stagnant economy, Riemer rambled incoherently for 30 minutes before reporters Monday - while frequently consulting cue cards on the table prepared by his staff. If you play a drinking game taking a shot each time Riemer looks down at his cue cards, you'll be knocked out a few minutes into the press conference.

Many are still trying to translate Riemer's stream-of-consciousness remarks Monday. At one point, Riemer responded to a reporter who challenged him to cite a specific error in the Sage Policy Group report with this whopper: "If you combine four or five points, seem (sic) to create a version of reality that is really a very distorted version of reality. So that's, that's fundamentally, you know, whether one data point from one year to another year might have shown what that report showed isn't really the point."

Huh?

That wasn't even grammatically correct or logically coherent, much less an answer to the reporter's demand for specifics.

Ignore the official government data, Riemer advised reporters, suggesting that his own anecdotal thoughts somehow trump numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). He then threw out a number of ridiculously absurd excuses for Montgomery's woes, even while claiming there are no woes.

Riemer pointed to the federal budget sequestration impact. That made no sense, because sequestration had a far greater impact on Northern Virginia in recent years, as counties like Fairfax are home to many more defense contractors than Montgomery County. Yet Fairfax County enjoyed a net gain of 3000 new businesses this decade - which included the sequestration years. How many did Montgomery County gain over the same period? Six. SIX! Humiliating, but certainly not the fault of sequestration, as the Fairfax boom proves.

The Council President also argued the Great Recession was to blame, and that Montgomery County was enjoying "better outcomes" than other jurisdictions in the region. Again, totally false. Despite the recession "slowing down" the regional economy, all the other jurisdictions around us outperformed Montgomery County. In fact, Montgomery County was whipped across the board in economic development and job creation by not only Fairfax, Loudoun and other wealthy D.C.-area counties, but even by upstart whippersnappers like Culpeper, Spotsylvania and Rappahannock Counties.

Riemer really went off the deep end by touting Montgomery County's low unemployment rate and high incomes. Neither statistic actually has anything to do with the strength of Montgomery County's economy. They simply mean that Montgomery County residents are employed in high-wage jobs outside of our county, in places like D.C. and Fairfax County. Low unemployment in no way reflects the number of jobs in a jurisdiction, only the employment status of its residents. Yet Riemer said the low number of new businesses created this decade in Montgomery couldn't possibly be true, because of our low unemployment rate. Huh? The two statistics have nothing to do with each other.

One has to worry that someone with as poor of a grasp of basic economic concepts and data as Helpless Hans Riemer is currently in charge of directing the county's economic future. If someone actually believes that the unemployment rate reflects the number of jobs created within Montgomery County, they are clueless about economic development. God help us!

Most entertaining were the many times Riemer couldn't find an answer to a reporter's question on the cue cards in front of him. After searching his flash cards frantically for an answer to exactly why Sage's new business number was somehow wrong, Helpless Hans looked, well, helplessly around the room. "I think I'm going to have to refer you to Council staff for the exact details about why this new business starts [sigh] conversation is just out in left field."

Wait, the Council President doesn't know the numbers? And he's in charge of the next budget, and getting paid $137,000 for this job? Wow. Humiliating. If he doesn't know the numbers, why is he challenging the report?

Riemer then suggested the new business starts number doesn't correspond with other data from BLS.

"Okay, so what does BLS say?" a reporter pressed.

Riemer looked helplessly around the room again. "I don't know if Council staff is here," he stammered. "You'll have to, I'll have to, to get you together with Gene, um, after today."

LOL.

Andrew Metcalf of Bethesda Magazine asked Riemer regarding the County's Economic Development Corporation, "Can you think of any major accomplishments or achievements they have? What exactly has MCEDC done in the last two years?"

Riemer consulted his cue cards again to no avail. "Okay, so, what are the successes of the Economic Development Corporation? Um, [grimaces] I might need a little staff here. Uh, you know, uh, yeah, my economic development team is not here."

Asked when Montgomery County opened dialogue with Discovery Communications after it was known they were considering relocating from Silver Spring, Riemer replied, "I don't have that information." In other words, there was no dialogue.

As they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Riemer is clearly not yet prepared to take that step. And as a result, Montgomery County's moribund economy cannot move forward until he is replaced.

ELECT ROBERT DYER

Follain posts Coming Soon signage at Bethesda Row (Photos)

Just one day after I broke the news about Follain opening at Bethesda Row, the non-toxic skincare store has posted Coming Soon window screens. The store will be located in the former Calypso St. Barth space at 4810 Bethesda Avenue.

Marriott secret police in Bethesda?

A most strange situation was encountered on Woodmont Avenue last evening. Parked alongside the site of the future Marriott International headquarters was a police tactical vehicle. The vehicle did not display the name of any law enforcement agency or department, with only the word "Police" as any indication of its purpose. Complete with front-end battering ram, the imposing vehicle had Utah-registered tags. The Marriotts are among the most famous Mormons in the world, making this quite a coincidence...or not?

Candidates speak in support of Moses African Cemetery at HOC meeting

Several candidates for Montgomery County Council, as well as other members of the community, spoke in support of the Moses African Cemetery at yesterday's meeting of the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission.  Commissioners listened to the remarks, but did not make any public comment regarding the effort to protect the desecrated graveyard, and establish a museum to tell the history of the lost black community in what is today a commercial/industrial area on River Road in Bethesda.

Among the candidates who spoke were yours truly, Robert Dyer; Brandy Brooks, Bill Cook, Ashwani Jain, Meredith Wellington, Jim McGhee, and Ana Sol Gutierrez. Jarrett Smith and Craig Carozza Caviness could not attend, but their comments were read into the record.

Jo Saint George, the Criminal Justice/Legal Redress committee chair for the County NAACP chapter, said it was "disappointing" that private developer Regency Centers sold the Westwood Tower property to the HOC without addressing the cemetery issue. In her experience as an attorney in Arizona, she said, developers would usually respect any cemeteries or graves found on their property, and it was unusual for the local government to bail them out by purchasing a cemetery site. The controversial outcome in the Moses cemetery case suggests "there is possibly not a respect for the lives" represented by the graves, she said.

Gutierrez said she was surprised that the HOC was not taking advantage of the many grants and loans available to preserve and commemorate sites like the Moses African Cemetery. As a legislator in Annapolis, she said she frequently sees such funds being approved for other counties. Gutierrez offered to help the HOC obtain such funding.

Brooks urged commissioners not to continue trying to sweep the cemetery issue under the rug. Cook promised "our voices will only get louder," reciting the names of the commissioners for effect, when he warned that they would go down in history associated with the same racism and greed that led to the original desecration of the cemetery in the late 1960s.

Resident Wendy Hestick testified that the HOC's mishandling of the cemetery reminded her of the agency's poor record at Tobytown, another historic black community which still exists in Potomac. The scandal over the Moses cemetery led to the neglected cemetery at Tobytown being tidied up about a year ago. HOC's record is anything but tidy, however, as some have noted the agency built houses on top of some of that cemetery's graves years ago.

The County only recently was shamed into providing long-requested bus service to Tobytown, as well. Hestick said one problem is that HOC is not accountable to the community, only to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD recently published a scathing audit of HOC's units in the County, where 75% of the apartments inspected failed to meet HUD standards. Shockingly, the County Council ignored the audit when approving HOC's ambitious plans to redevelop the Westwood Tower site, and build a parking garage on top of the Moses cemetery. Well, knowing the County Council, it probably wasn't that shocking.

Will HOC take the leadership steps needed to differentiate itself from the clear record of institutional racism in Montgomery County government? Stay tuned!

Meet MoCo Council candidates Thursday, May 3 at Randolph Hills forum at 8 PM

The Randolph Hills Civic Association is sponsoring a Montgomery County Council and District 18 General Assembly candidate forum tomorrow night, Thursday, May 3, 2018, from 8:00-9:30 PM at the Veirs Mill Recreation Center, located at 4425 Garrett Park Road in Silver Spring.

Candidates will introduce themselves for 2 minutes each, and then attendees can speak one-on-one to candidates who will be spread around the room.

Among those participating is Montgomery County Council At-Large candidate Robert Dyer.

Cork & Fork closes at Bethesda Row

Cork & Fork has closed at 7110 Bethesda Lane. The windows have been covered tightly. Their lease expired April 30.

MoCo Council candidates to testify in support of Moses African Cemetery at HOC today

Candidates for the Montgomery County Council will testify in support of the Moses African Cemetery this afternoon, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission headquarters at 10400 Detrick Avenue in Kensington at 4:00 PM. The desecrated cemetery is hidden on the HOC's Westwood Tower property on Westbard Avenue in Bethesda.

Any interested person may also testify this afternoon, as the candidates will be speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting, which is open to all who sign up. Candidates speaking today will include Robert Dyer; Shruti Bhatnagar; Brandy Brooks; Craig Carozza-Caviness; Bill Cook; Hoan Dang; Ana Sol Gutierrez; Ashwani Jain; Will Jawando; Jim McGee; and Dalbin Osario.

“This demonstration of solidarity with the African community by ten candidates seeking public office represents a historical first,” said Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, Social Justice Ministry Chair at Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda. “Historically, county politicians have been lined up in unison against African-American interests. This is a significant first in that after centuries of hostility toward people of color we have broken through intergenerational prejudices, and all of these candidates recognize our ancestors’ basic humanity.”

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“Moses African Cemetery should rightfully be conveyed into the safekeeping of Macedonia Baptist Church,” Coleman-Adebayo said. “Our church is the only surviving institution of that once thriving African community and the only institution among an array county government and private businesses that did not actively participate in the dismantling of the African community, the disenfranchisement of our people and the desecration of Moses Cemetery. After at least a century of betrayal by those in county government and their private partners, the county cannot be trusted—and HOC cannot be trusted—with the preservation of our history and the sanctification of Moses African Cemetery.”

Indochino, Follain to open at Bethesda Row

Two new tenants have signed on at Bethesda Row. For men, Indochino will offer custom menswear, including shirts, suits and wedding collections. Having established a strong online presence, Indochino already has Bonobos-style bricks and mortar locations in Tysons, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Beverly Hills and Boston.

For women, Follain - according to Forbes magazine - will aim to be "the Sephora of green beauty." The beauty and skin care chain was launched by blogger Tara Foley, who sought to market non-toxic make-up and skincare products to health-conscious women. The latter are in no short supply in Bethesda, which should bode well for Follain, which will still have to compete with bluemercury in the same Federal Realty development.

Hoamgar closes at Westfield Montgomery Mall

Hoamgar has closed at Westfield Montgomery Mall. The first location of the Chinese high-end fashion chain outside of Asia has been cleared out. They had a pretty good run, having been open at the mall since May 2013.

Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of over 2100 retail jobs since 2000, according to the Maryland Retailers Association, and a damning report has exposed what I've been saying for over a decade: Montgomery County's economy is moribund.

Taylor Gourmet signs installed at Pike & Rose (Photos)

Signage has been installed at the future Taylor Gourmet at Pike & Rose. This will be the hoagie purveyor's third Maryland location. Will they open in time for the limited-time Nacho Taco Trio to be ordered here? Stay tuned!

Tacos at Taylor Gourmet?

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, Taylor Gourmet has added tacos to their menu for a limited time, at all Maryland, D.C. and Virginia locations except Reagan National Airport. Their Nacho Taco Trio went on sale Monday. The three tacos are filled with fried chicken, nacho cheese sauce, lettuce, tomato, diced red onion, pepper jack cheese, and topped with crema and crushed Nacho Cheese Doritos.

Taylor Gourmet is located at Bethesda Row at 7280 Woodmont Avenue.

Bethesda's Round House Theatre preparing for major renovation in early 2019

Downtown Bethesda's popular Round House Theatre is preparing for a major interior renovation next year. The renovation of the 36160 SF playhouse will cost over $6 million, and aims to create a more intimate and flexible performance venue, and a more-dynamic public space in the theatre's lobby.

Round House Theatre will close in January 2019 for the renovations, and the final two shows of the 2018-2019 season will move to the Lansburgh Theatre in the District. The renovations are expected to be complete in time for the launch of the 2019-2020 season in the fall of 2019.

The expansion will coincide with a broadening of the theatre's programs, with an emphasis on boosting the futures of local playwrights and actors. Round House is also implementing a capital plan to put its future on a more solid financial foundation.