MCDOT

Safe Routes To School is a nationally recognized program that aims to significantly improve safety for students who walk and bike to school. In Montgomery County, the SRTS program also combines a safer roads component to slow down drivers and build new pedestrian and bicycle safety treatments such as new crosswalks, and bump-outs at an intersection and add stop or yield signs

“As a former teacher, I understand the importance of and fully support the County’s commitment to ensuring the safety of our students,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “As part of our Vision Zero efforts, we will continue to invest in sidewalks, bike paths and public safety staffing surrounding our schools. ​Our most recent budget reflects the County’s commitment, with the highest amount ever allocated toward making walks to school safer. We want to encourage our students who live close enough to be able to safely walk or bike to school by providing them with the necessary infrastructure and resources to keep them safe.”


North Bethesda

Josiah Henson Pkwy and Town Rd are currently closed due to a damaged gas line near Pike & Rose.  According to Chief Spokesperson for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services Pete Piringer, construction workers struck a high pressure gas line along Town Rd. HazMat crews are currently on the scene and MCFRS is currently on standby. The Block Food Hall has been evacuated as a precaution. No residential occupancies appear to be directly involved. We will post an update when more information becomes available.

Per mcfrsPIO on twitter: “construction excavation area, damaged gas line leaking, area has been evacuated, checking area for hazards, some lanes/roads blocked. Towne Road and Prose St., Pike & Rose, gas leak, hazmat, @mcfrs PEZ723, PE721, PE726, PE703B, PE720, AT723, AT703, RS703, M726, A721, HM707, SU725, BC702, BC704, SA700, EMS703 & others responding”


Crime

The Baltimore office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has tweeted that it’s “seeking info about the “Red Hat Guy”, wanted for committing a bank robbery on September 16, 2022, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The suspect displayed a black handgun and is described as a White male, 50 to 60 years old, and 6’0″ to 6’2″ (tweet below)”

At approximately 12:25 p.m., 3rd District Officers responded to the location for the report of an armed bank robbery that just occurred. The investigation by detectives has determined that the suspect entered the bank and approached an employee. The suspect displayed a black handgun and demanded money. The employee handed over an undisclosed amount of money to the suspect who then left the bank.


Bethesda

New York based men’s fashion store Psycho Bunny, which specializes in “4,000 stitch bunny-embroidered polos”, is scheduled to open this Friday, September 30, at Westfield Montgomery Mall (7101 Democracy Blvd). The clothing line currently has collaborations with Daddy Yankee, Justise Winslow, and Jay Versace.  Psycho Bunny will be located on the bottom level of the mall.

From their website: “We could have done what everybody else was doing. But we didn’t. Instead we set out to make the perfect polo and the most luxurious tee you’d ever wear. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Our Pima cotton is woven from longer, smoother fibres. This has a number of benefits, most important of which is that it gives the fabric an incredibly soft on-body feel. The longer fibres are more durable, too—less prone to warping and tearing, while retaining their colored dye considerably longer than traditional cotton.”


Damascus

Back in May we let you know about ‘That Smoothie Place’ coming to Damascus, taking over the location that was formerly home to Sprint in the Damascus shopping center at 9815 Main Street, suite 106. The store is now expected to open within the next couple weeks.

That Smoothie Place has been operating as a food truck since 2018, frequenting Damascus and other surrounding areas.  They offer a variety of smoothies known as “Rock Star Smoothies” named after popular rock stars of the past and present. The featured photo shows a special known as “The Lennox” named after Annie Lennox of the popular 80s group Eurythmics and contains apple, banana, apple cider  and a few other ingredients. Other smoothies on the menu include the Ozzy, Ringo Starr, Jagger, Morrison, and more.


Downtown Silver Spring

Back in June we let you know that a Nike Unite store is coming to Downtown Silver Spring, taking over the location that was formerly home to DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse location at 910 Ellsworth Drive. The store has set an opening date of November 3rd, per its Google listing (photo below, first reported by Source of the Spring).

An employee at the Nike Unite store told us that the pricing and products offered at a Unite store are similar to that of a Nike Factory store (often found at outlets), with a slightly different layout and a specific return section for items purchased on Nike.com. Nike describes the Nike Unite concept as:


Gaithersburg

Back in March we let you know of a the third Crumbl Cookies location that will be coming to Montgomery County, as a new store signed on at 277 Kentlands Blvd, next to Panera, in the space that was formerly home to TD Ameritrade. We stopped by yesterday and a representative let us know that the cookie spot will open on Thursday, October 6th (which is also what Google lists as the opening date in the screen capture below).

Crumbl Cookies is a bakery with locations nationwide that sells chocolate chip and sugar cookies every day, but the rest of their offerings rotate. Their flavors range from experimental (watermelon chilled sugar cookie), to cookie twists on classic desserts (peach cobbler cookie), to more traditional cookies (peanut butter brownie cookie). The first MoCo location opened at Federal Plaza in Rockville in 2020 and opened a Germantown location earlier this month.


Gaithersburg

The upcoming 9.54-acre Pleasant View Park will be located at the former Consumer Product Safety Commission site on Rt. 28. (10901 Darnestown Road). A 16-month construction period is anticipated, with completion in February 2023. Below we have additional information and photos on its progress.

Per the City of Gaithersburg: The City is developing a 9.54-acre park with parking, community gardens, a bicycle skills course (pump track), open space, pavilions, a playground, fitness pods, and a welcome plaza. A new parking lot will be constructed at the park’s west boundary. Vehicular access to the park will be through the drive that extends from Darnestown Road. Pedestrians will be able to access the site from Darnestown Road via a path that will be located parallel to the access drive into the park. Pedestrians will also be able to access the park from Marsh Lane. A Ride-On bus stop is located on Darnestown Road at the park entrance.


Montgomery Planning

Planning Board shows support for draft recommendations and equitable engagement efforts to date; provides suggestions for next steps on countywide plan that will offer strategies for enhanced pedestrian connectivity, safety, and accessibility across Montgomery County

Per Montgomery Planning: – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, presented the Pedestrian Master Plan’s draft design, policy and programming recommendations to the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday, September 22. The Planning Board expressed support for the draft recommendations in the Pedestrian Master Plan and shared recommendation feedback with Planning Staff.


Beyond MoCo

Fatburger, which was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1947, has opened a restaurant in nearby Manassas, VA at 8097 Sudley Rd. The restaurant opened earlier this month and is the first Fatburger location in the DC area.

While FatBurger is a fast food restaurant, the food is cooked and made to order. It was originally named “Mr. Fatburger” until the “Mr.” was removed in 1952. Some Fatburger restaurants have liquor licenses as well as “Fat Bars”. Its franchise headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California. In addition to the United States, the chain operates in 19 other countries, and there are east coast locations in Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.


Silver Spring

Per our public safety report, Cordell Pugh: SLIGO CREEK DEATH INVESTIGATION: ~2PM Monday just off of Sligo Creek Parkway near Schuyler Road (Montgomery County, MD). Driver stopped along Parkway spotted body along/near Creek. (M-NCPPC territory.) Details limited.

We’ll have an update as soon as more information is available. Featured image courtesy of Google Maps.