Maryland

Per the State of Maryland: Governor Wes Moore released the following statement on President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address:

“I’d like to thank Senator Cardin for the invitation to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address—it was historic both in celebrating the Biden-Harris administration’s achievements and in sharing their vision for America’s future. Marylanders should be confident in our strong support and partners in Washington—including President Biden, Vice President Harris, and our Congressional delegation—who will work closely with us to build on bipartisan legislative accomplishments and do everything we can to help Maryland’s working families.


Gaithersburg

African International Market will be opening soon in the Festival at Muddy Branch shopping center on Muddy Branch Rd in Gaithersburg. The store is being opened by the family that owns the African market at 13011 Wisteria Dr. in Germantown, which opened back in 2021. The store will sell international items from Africa, Latin America, and the Carribbean, including the “best of fresh Ghana yams, ripe and green plantains, smoked goat meat, beef, fresh fish, halal meat, kenkey, shitto, fried fish, agege bread, and a lot more.” Grand opening information will be announced soon.

The Festival shopping center is currently home to Family Dollar, Lotte Market, Matthew’s Grill and Planet Fitness.


Germantown

Back in April we let you know of the impending arrival of Laperaux, the Journeymanchef’s Bistro,  the new restaurant coming to 18056 Mateny Rd in Germantown- the former home of Gumbo Ya Ya, Dickie’s BBQ Pit, and Cafe Mileto (located in the Cloppers Mill shopping center, in the same strip as Shoppers). The French bistro is now open and taking reservations. For now, the restaurant is open for dinner service starting at 5pm (Tuesday-Saturday) with brunch to follow shortly.

Chef and owner Gregory Webb, who has earned such accolades and awards as “Chef of the Year 1998” in Houston, Texas, “Winner all Categories” at the Texas Open Wild Game Cookoff, “Top Chefs of Mexico City” and many others, will be bringing a French bistro to the location (menu available below). The restaurant will offer high casual cuisine created by Webb, who has competed against Bobby Flay on The Food Network, and won numerous ‘chopped style’ competitions put on for various local charity and fund raising events, including DC Central Kitchen’s Chefs Cook Off.


Germantown

Exterior construction nears completion at the Fairchild Property on Century Blvd in Germantown in the area surrounded by what is mainly comprised of one-story pad-site restaurant uses (IHOP, Red Robin, Señor Tequilas), and surface parking lots. Our featured image, taken on Monday night, shows the progress made at the upcoming apartment building.

The Fairchild Apartments will feature 6 stories of multifamily residential when completed. The 209,185 sf building will consist of 212 units and 3 levels of parking. The building will also feature amenities such as a Club Room with kitchen, a fitness and yoga room, a business center, a card room, and a courtyard with a pool. The new building will share the block with the Fairfield Marriot Hotel, and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurant. The entire block is developed as one interconnected network of pedestrian and vehicle circulation and parking, including shared use and access agreements, per planning documents. There is currently one direct point of access to Century Boulevard centered on the block, and there is a second shared access location on the Top Golf site located east of the hotel. Other than trees and grass in parking lot islands, there was little existing vegetation and no identifiable environmental resources on the Fairchild Property.


Event

Beautiful venue; great art, gifts and hand-crafted items; refreshments; and meet the award-winning painters, photographers, mixed media artists, ceramicists, fiber artists, and more – some 40 artists in all. It’s an extraordinary array of framed wall works, 3-d media including sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, and fiber pieces, and unframed prints.

Among them, you’ll see:


Crime

On February 7, at approximately 6:40 pm, Takoma Park Police responded to the 7000 block of Carroll Avenue for the report of a stolen auto. The victim was delivering food when his vehicle was stolen.  The outstanding stolen vehicle is described as a 2019 gray Honda Civic, VA Tag #TTU1834.  Case #230006278.

Per Takoma Park Police: The outstanding vehicle has been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) stolen vehicle database. Investigation continues. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to please call us at 301-270-1100


Gaithersburg

A development plan that proposes 72 stacked townhouse (2-over-2) units along with green amenity space at the intersection of Central Avenue with South Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg was approved by the Gaithersburg City Council on Monday. Additional information below from our previous report:

One Central LLC has submitted a schematic development plan that proposes 72 stacked townhouse (2-over-2) units along with green amenity space in Gaithersburg. Per the plans submitted to the City of Gaithersburg, the Property is located at the northeast quadrant of the intersection of Central Avenue with South Frederick Avenue. Nearby and vicinal uses (on the north) include the Devol Funeral Home and surface parking lot; (on the west) South Frederick Avenue; (on the south) single family housing structures believed occupied by office/employment use;, and (on the east) Unity of Gaithersburg Church, Rockville Evangelical Church, and single family residential.


Maryland

With 17 state capitals being the most populated cities in their states, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2023’s Best State Capitals for Safety & More, and Annapolis comes in at #17. To identify the most livable seats of state government, WalletHub compared all 50 state capitals across 49 key metrics, ranging from the cost of living to K–12 school-system quality to the share of residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Best vs. Worst


Maryland

S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, David Trone and Glenn Ivey (all D-Md.) announced $42,882,024 in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding, through the Safe Streets for All grant program, for Maryland localities to upgrade outdated roadway infrastructure and improve safety.

$7,500,000 for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to improve trail crossings through safety measures such as installing new traffic signals and additional lighting and launch an educational safety programs campaign to improve for pedestrians and cyclists in Montgomery and Prince George’s County.


Uncategorized

Per Montgomery County: On Tuesday, February 7, Montgomery County Councilmember Gabe Albornoz introduced Bill 7-23, which would require gas stations in Montgomery County to post the credit price of regular gasoline. Current Maryland state law requires gas stations to display the lowest price of regular gasoline. Many gas stations charge different prices according to method of payment with the lowest price typically requiring payment in cash. Bill 7-23 would require the additional disclosure of the credit price for regular gas which is typically higher.

“We have all experienced that moment of noting the posted price of a gallon of gas, pulling up to the pump and then realizing that the credit price is much higher. The intent of the existing state requirement to display the lowest price of regular gasoline overlooks that most consumers use credit cards to purchase gas,” said Councilmember Albornoz, who chairs the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee. “Our residents find the lack of disclosing the credit price to be misleading and frustrating. I’m grateful to my fellow Councilmembers for their support of this legislation to protect our consumers.”


Bethesda

NSA Bethesda, under Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) and Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFFC), will conduct annual training exercises to practice and reinforce skills and measures to take when an active shooter, terror or other security-related incident occurs.

The exercises begin Feb. 6 and conclude Feb. 17, excluding Feb. 11-12. During this time, as part of the training, real world responses including the placement of barriers and heightened security measures may occur (e.g. 100% ID checks). A possibility exists that traffic may be substantially impacted in and around the installation during training drills tied to the exercise.


Bethesda

Lidl is coming to Bethesda. The grocery store will open at the 41,300 SF location that was formerly home to Safeway on Old Georgetown Road for over 25 years, according to a report by Robert Dyer. Safeway closed at 7625 Old Georgetown Road in in March 2018 after opening in 1991. An opening date for the upcoming Lidl is not yet available.

Lidl opened its first grocery store in Takoma Park in December 2020. That was followed by a store in Glenmont in 2021, and the grocery store then opened a location in Montgomery Village about a year ago. Locations in Germantown and Rockville are also planned.