Tuesday, October 20, 2009

You are not voting at Beall Elementary this year and other election information

Residents who live within the corporate limits of the city and are registered to vote may vote in City of Rockville elections. Rockville residents who missed the deadline to register to vote can still do so on Election Day.

The City's election ordinance allows for same day voter registration on Election Day. To register on Nov. 3, and vote, residents should go to City Hall. Those residents must then also vote at City Hall. Residents who choose to register - and vote - on Election Day must bring a valid photo ID, such as a driver's license or state issued ID card, and proof of residency.

Rockville is divided into 10 voting districts and polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Two of the polling locations have changed. Voters in District 2 will now vote at Rockville Swim and Fitness Center (previously Beall Elementary School) and voters in District 8 will now vote at Thomas Farm Community Center (previously Lakewood Elementary School).

Residents who wish to vote but are physically unable to access the voting room in the polling place can use the curbside voting option. In order to be eligible for use of curbside voting, residents must arrive at the polls in a car and have a companion notify an election judge in the voting room of the need for assistance.

Absentee Ballot Info for Upcoming Election

Registered voters who are unable to vote at their district polling place on election day, November 3, 2009, or who will be out of town, can vote by absentee ballot. You can apply at http://www.rockvillemd.gov/election09/absenteerequest.htm to request an application form to receive an absentee ballot.

After receipt of this form, an absentee ballot application will be sent to you. The signed application must reach the City Clerk's Office by Tuesday, October 27, 2009. Absentee ballots will be mailed starting Monday, October 5, to qualified voters from whom applications have been received. No absentee ballots will be mailed out after October 27.

After October 27, 2009, if you still wish to vote absentee, you or your authorized agent must pick up the ballot in person in the City Clerk's Office in City Hall, 111 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20850 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., weekdays. Absentee ballot applications will be accepted and processed through Election Day, November 3, 2009.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Area Meeting to Discuss County Proposal for Addition to Judicial Center

The County is asking the City to approve an application to allow development of an addition to the existing Montgomery County Judicial Center at 50 Maryland Avenue, at the corner of West Jefferson Street and Maryland Avenue. The Area Meeting will be held on November 9, 2009 from 6:30 pm to 8:30pm at the Executive Office Building Auditorium located at the lobby of 101 Monroe Street.

At this meeting the County will make every effort to illustrate how the property will be developed and answer questions. If you have any questions, please contact Randall Hawkins at 240-777-6099.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Piotr Gajewski's Responses to Questions Asked at WECA Candidates' Forum

Since Piotr Gajewksi was unable to attend the WECA Candidates' Forum, due a prior professional commitment, many residents asked WECA to give him the opportunity to respond here.


(May not be the exact wording)

Q1. I have lived in Rockville since I was 1 year old and that was in the early 1960s. Rockville has always had such a “livable” feel to it with many small local businesses and the like. Now to put it bluntly, I don’t recognize my hometown. My local pizza place is now a wine restaurant (whatever that is). The High’s where I bought milk is gone and in its place are a bunch of boutiques and chain restaurants. After years of the Town Center, there is still no grocery store. Do you think this is progress? What are you planning to do to get us some useful stores? A grocery, a hardware store, a garden center?

A1. This is a difficult topic. The stores that one person finds useful are not necessarily the stores that another person finds useful. The reason that the High’s is no longer here is because not enough people found it useful. The reason that a wine restaurant (if that is what it is) is here is because enough people find it useful for it to prosper. It is as simple as that.

I was also a kid in the early sixties. I lived in Poland, under communist rule, where the government decided what stores were needed for each neighborhood. I can tell you from personal experience that government does not do a very good job of dictating what store should go where.

And so it is in Rockville. If reelected, I promise to continue to stay out of the way while Rockville’s residents, voting with our spending habits, decide what stores we should have in Rockville and where.

With respect to the grocery store in Town Square, I share the frustration. Clearly Town Square is a right place for a grocery store, which is precisely why a major grocery store chain has been willing to pay monthly rent on an empty store front just to keep the place reserved for the future store. It is frustrating that the store has not yet opened, but soon this will be “yesterday’s story,” and the grocery store will be in Town Square for decades to come.

Q2. One issue that has clearly been of great concern to many residents is the massing of high-density, affordable housing in certain parts of the city, like the Haiti area of the West End – a policy that many feel violates the city’s master plan which calls for “scattered site” affordable housing. If elected, how will you address these concerns?

A2. The master plan makes a passing reference with respect to scattered sites for affordable housing without trying to define this concept in any way.

Certainly, if the City ever gets in the business of providing affordable housing (and I hope that the City never needs to do that), we may want to set some bench-marks in this respect. However, when affordable housing is being erected by non-profits (with a mission of providing affordable housing), trying to bean-count, according to some yet to be developed formula, where such apartments may or may not be erected would not be productive.

I happily live within 150 feet of an affordable housing complex. I could not ask for better neighbors and I would be delighted to have more.

Q3. The State and County had to cut back by laying off employees, furloughing employees and cutting back on programs. Do you think the $1.7 million in raises to city employees were appropriate given our current economic downturn?

A3. I am appalled that the State and County did not foresee the economic downturn and are so poorly managed that they had no choice but to layoff employees, even after raising taxes.

Rockville was able to honor its contractual obligation to its employees without raising taxes.

To renege on our employee agreements, simply to further lower Rockville’s property tax rate, would be unethical, and would potentially expose the City to costly litigation. Having credibility as a government means telling the truth and keeping promises, both to our citizens and to our employees (too few of whom are also residents, because they already cannot afford to live here).

Q4. Business and restaurants in the Town Center are either going under or are barely holding on. Many owners feel the recent increase in parking hours will negatively impact their business. How will your resolve this issue?

A4. The premise of this question is inaccurate. Businesses in Town Square are actually thriving at a higher level than businesses in other parts of Rockville. A few have closed – victims of a tough economy, questionable business plans, or both.

For each business that has closed, a new one has taken its place, because investors are eager to locate in Town Square to make money. There are no boarded up storefronts in Town Square. There are numerous empty storefronts in Rockville Pike strip malls where parking is free.

Having said that, Town Square business owners have recently proposed a new protocol for Saturday and evening parking in Town Square, and on Monday, October 12th, I joined my Council colleagues in endorsing this proposal.

Q5. The Master Plan says the city should identify all possible ways to preserve open space, and underdeveloped parcels should be evaluated for parkland acquisition before they are developed as infill. Why hasn’t the parcel where Victory Housing is proposed to be built been considered for green space? How do you reconcile that it hasn’t with Rockville’s claim as Tree City USA and the State and County programs to encourage citizens to plan more trees?

A5. I am comfortable with Rockville’s present commitment to open spaces, which includes 905 acres of parkland in 65 parks.

The owner of the property slated for Victory Housing, Montgomery County, has no interest in selling the property. Of course, even if the site were for sale, a revenue source would need to be identified in order to purchase this prime piece of real state in downtown Rockville.

I do not advocate raising Rockville’s property tax rate in order to purchase additional parkland.

Candidates Respond to Additional Questions from WECA Citizen’s Forum

Ten of the candidates running for Rockville mayor and council positions have responded to additional questions from the WECA Candidates' Forum. Click on the links below to see the responses.

If Rockville participates in another public-private partnership, such as Town Center, would you support or oppose Rockville taking on a major partner such as Federal Reality, which has a track record of preferential treatment of national chains to the detriment of local businesses?

Are you a current (dues paying) member of your neighborhood civic association? What involvement have you had in your neighborhood civic association? What have you achieved as a result of those efforts?

There is a perception in the community that the city is not defending citizen’s rights to a reasonable schedule when it comes to new development proposals and a fair process. Why do developers get years, working hand-in-hand with the city, out of view of the citizens? Citizen’s hear about it years later and get only 2-3 months to come up to speed and respond. Would you work to change this process to make it more objective, fair to citizens, and not pro-developer? What specific changes would you recommend?

How can Citizen’s complaints be better addressed other than once a month mayor and council meetings?

Everyone is in favor of senior housing and low-income housing, but why is there such a heavy concentration of each in Rockville?

What would you plan to do about the abandoned housing in the West End?

When is Rockville giving up on our off-year elections? This would increase voting dramatically.

Should increases in planned fees be put off in light of State and County budget cuts?

How do you feel about the ICC?

Can we reduce the number of city policemen if we continue to use cameras for speed enforcement? Since millions of dollars are collected and the contractor is managing the cameras with a good percentage of the fees, would it be appropriate to see a savings?

One of the greatest protections that our residentially zoned neighborhoods have from commercial encroachment is that non-conforming uses in residential zones are not allowed to be expanded. Pumphrey’s Funeral home has stated to many neighbors that they want to expand their parking on the vacant lot on West Montgomery Ave. and would need a zoning text amendment approved by the mayor and council to allow this. What is your position on either allowing or not allowing expansion of non-conforming uses in residential neighborhoods?

If you could go back in time and redesign Town Center, what would you do differently? Give specific examples of the mix of businesses you think would have enabled Town Center to better weather this economic environment.

A house in the 700 block of Beall Ave. has sat unfinished and vacant for the last 2 years. The property has been a mess for the past 2 years. The front yard is covered with construction materials and the grass is 2 feet high. Why hasn’t the city government done anything to remedy this situation? What will you commit to do between now and the election to remedy the situation?

The city’s conversion of the old post office to the new police station was originally set to cost less than $5 million. It will now cost nearly $10 million. How can you justify such a large cost over-run?

Rockville has always had wonderful city services. I wish I could say that I thought that this was still true. Our twice weekly trash pickup, that I used to joke that I didn’t want to part on the street or else risk having them pick up my car, is being replaced by once-a-week “just what I can fit in the City supplied can,” service.
Rockville has its own police force, yet when my tires were slashed while my car was parked in front of a friend’s Croydon Park home, the Rockville City Police would not let my friend file a police report, since it was not his car, and it was parked on the street, and not on his property.
Why are we paying for these services when Montgomery County has trash pick-up at one a week and they have a police force that I am paying for already? I don’t mind paying for services when I get a return on my taxes, but we’re paying extra and getting nothing extra in return.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Funeral at Pumphrey Funeral Home

We have received notification of a Military funeral taking place between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM this evening at Pumphrey Funeral Home on West Montgomery Ave.

Do not be alarmed, as the funeral will include a 21 gun salute.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Vehicle Break-ins

From the Rockville City Police:

A series of car break-ins have occurred over the last few weeks at several locations in the West End. The following is a snapshot of the events that have been identified by our Crime Analyst so far:

Vehicle Break-ins:

* Wall Street - 2 vehicles entered
* Williams Street - 1 vehicle entered
* Evans Street - 1 vehicle entered (the only vehicle that appears to have been secured and had a window smashed)
* West Argyle street - 1 Vehicle entered
* 100 Block of North Street - 2 vehicles entered, victim states doors were locked. GPS stolen. Only one vehicle was ransacked. Responding Officer was able to obtain latent prints.
* 100 Block of Monument Street - a GPS was taken from an unlocked vehicle.
* Stevens Court - A tag stolen from a car.


Although anything in your car may be valuable, GPS units remain a "Hot" item for thieves. Remember to completely remove any indication of a GPS unit from your car. Remove the mount and any related wiring and ensure they are hidden from view. As an extra precaution, clean off the suction cup "ring" that remains on the windshield when you remove such a GPS mount. Keep you cars interior free from clutter and store briefcases or bags in the trunk.

Our patrol shifts have been made aware of the problems and were directed to increase their levels of patrol in the area. This "Increase Patrol" request will last for several weeks and any results are returned to Captain Rappoport for tracking purposes.

Crime prevention is a collaborative effort between the community and the police department. It is extremely important for anyone who observes or hears anything unusual to promptly report the suspicious activity to the police at 240-314-8900. Criminals committing car break-ins can take as little as one minute to enter your car and remove property.