Per MCDOT: Starting on Monday, Sept. 11, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) will begin its semi-annual interior washdown to degrease and clean 21 County-owned parking garages in Bethesda, Silver Spring and Wheaton. The cleanings will occur on nights and weekends starting with Bethesda garages in September and concluding with Silver Spring garages on Saturday, Nov. 4. Some garages will experience partial closures during the cleanings, including select entrance/exit areas and ramps. The full schedule of garage cleanings can be viewed here.

Metro Board Chair Paul C. Smedberg has been awarded 2023 Outstanding Public Transportation Board Member by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for his vision, leadership, and commitment to transit. More below, per WMATA:

Since first joining the Metro Board of Directors in 2016 and being elected Chair in 2019, Smedberg’s leadership has helped Metro return to a state of good repair through an aggressive capital program, guided the transit agency through the pandemic, spearheaded the selection of a new General Manager, and helped Metro recover ridership faster than any other transit agency in the country.

“I am honored and humbled to be recognized as an Outstanding Public Transportation Board Member by APTA and the transit industry,” said Smedberg. “For over 20 years, I have been a proud advocate for transportation in the National Capital Region. I’d like to thank the staffs and fellow Board Members at all the organizations with whom I’ve had the privilege of working – Metro, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Virginia Railway Express and the City of Alexandria. This award would not have been possible without them. I’m very proud of our collective accomplishments for transit customers and employees, making our region a better place to live, work and play.

“Chair Smedberg is a trusted, accomplished, and effective leader, and his national recognition as an outstanding public transit advocate is much deserved,” said Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke. “Working together, we’ll continue to build on the great progress being made at Metro to deliver excellent service to our community.”

Other successes under Smedberg include adopting and implementing a new strategic plan, creating a more equitable fare system, reimagining bus and rail service, maintaining and expanding Metro as a regional asset and reemphasizing Metro’s community commitment through improved public safety programs.

“Paul Smedberg has had a great impact at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority through his leadership in championing transit as a priority for the Washington region,” said Jennifer DeBruhl, Director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. “Mr. Smedberg has helped WMATA navigate challenging times and deliver service improvements like the Potomac Yard station and Silver Line extension that improve the lives of people and the economy.”

Smedberg first joined the Metro Board as an Alternate Director in January of 2016 representing the City of Alexandria and was appointed Principal Director in January 2019 representing the Commonwealth of Virginia. He also served on Alexandria City Council from 2003 to 2018, the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Operations Board from 2006 to 2018, serving as Chairman in 2013 and 2017, and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) from 2006 to 2018, serving as Chairman in 2014 and 2018.

Per the Maryland Attorney General’s Office: The Independent Investigations Division (IID) of the Office of the Attorney General today released the dashboard and body-worn camera footage from the fatal police-involved shooting that occurred on July 22, 2023, in Montgomery County.

The decedent was previously identified as 19-year-old Franklin Castro Ordonez of Gaithersburg, Maryland. The IID will generally release body-worn camera and dashboard camera footage within 14 days of an incident. The release of the body-worn camera footage in this incident was delayed to allow investigators time to conduct witness interviews. The Independent Investigations Division continues to investigate the circumstances of the fatal shooting.
Video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI_IHB0-0Cg

Per MCPD: Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Auto Crime Enforcement Section (ACES) have arrested and charged 29-year-old Victoria Sok of Silver Spring with auto theft.  On Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at approximately 4:30 p.m., detectives were proactively patrolling a neighborhood in Silver Spring when they located the suspect inside of a vehicle, that was reported stolen in Washington, D.C.

Detectives also determined that Sok has an outstanding out-of-state warrant. SOK was arrested and transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, where she was charged with auto theft related charges. She is being held without bond.

Victoria Sok (Original Image)

Swarovski has reopened in a new location on the upper level of Westfield Montgomery Mall (7101 Democracy Blvd) in Bethesda. Swarovski closed its previous location this past spring to make room for a new Rolex storefront at Liljenquist & Beckstead, which is taking over the former Swarovski space. Swarovski is an Australian based company that specializes in jewelry, watches, and crystal decorations.

In other Westfield Montgomery news, VinoRita Wine Slushies is now open mall’s food court, taking over the kiosk space that was previously home to HalfSmoke, Gelato Galax, and Coldstone Creamery. Alcohol infused slushie flavors include the best selling “Black San,” which is a Blackberry Sangria, Peach Frose, Strawberry Daquiri, and Blueberry Pomegranate. Non-alcoholic options include Blue Raspberry and Lemonade.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CwDUfSzNTff/

Imagination Stage (4908 Auburn Ave) in Bethesda has announced that founding Artistic Director Janet Stanford will be leaving the company next summer after 30 years. Full details below courtesy of Imagination Stage:
“Founding Artistic Director, Janet Stanford, has announced that she will depart Imagination Stage in the summer of 2024, after over 30 years at the youth arts powerhouse. Stanford, along with Founder Bonnie Fogel, was instrumental in transforming the small performing arts program into a nationally-prominent regional theatre and leader in positive youth development through the performing arts for children ages 1-21. After Fogel retired in 2020, Stanford successfully led Imagination Stage out of the pandemic and, beginning in April 2022, has partnered with Managing Director Jason Najjoum to plan for a sustainable future for the organization at a perilous time for performing arts organizations. Thanks to the diversified and extensive programming throughout the DMV that she has championed, Stanford leaves Imagination Stage in the strongest financial position of its 43-year history.

In a letter to friends and colleagues, Stanford expressed gratitude to the hundreds of dedicated and talented colleagues, staff, board members, fellow artists, and supporters that she has had the opportunity to work with. “A commitment to youth is the North Star that draws us all,” she writes. “Together, we have done much in four decades to bring the arts to more than a million young people, and to nurture them with the “slow food” that only live theatre can provide.”

Since joining the company in 1993, Stanford has produced 160 shows, directed 55, written 9, commissioned 50 new works, and introduced innovative educational programs that prioritize social justice and finding a young person’s unique identity or “voice” through theatre arts. She has long been a leader in promoting equity, diversity and inclusion: by establishing the ‘Youth Speaks to Age Series’ in the 1990’s that brought a dozen new scripts by BIPOC playwrights to the field; by featuring Deaf actors and actors with physical and cognitive disabilities in 9 mainstage productions; and by casting diverse actors in everything so that ALL children see themselves in the stories on stage.

Stanford viewed Imagination Stage’s location near the nation’s capital as an opportunity to be a portal to the rest of the world for best practices in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA).  She traveled frequently on grants, or with the support of Embassies, and on Theatre Communications Group delegations to festivals in South America, Europe, the U.K., Scandinavia, Canada, and Asia. She brought guest artists to Imagination Stage including an acrobatic choreographer from Montreal, a magician from Belfast, a composer from Berlin, and playwrights from Canada and the UK. In 2007 she piloted EdgeFest, an international festival for children which morphed into the company’s connection with Kids Euro Festival, the European Union’s program for children that brought hundreds of performers from 28 EU countries to Washington DC each year for a decade.

A firm believer in cultural and artistic exchange, Stanford is glad that our students had begun to travel to international theatre festivals pre-pandemic, and to welcome others from abroad to Bethesda. She is proud of Imagination Stage’s professional collaborations with TYA companies in Barcelona and London, and was instrumental in getting Imagination Stage’s Theatre for the Very Young (TVY) play Inside Out to the 25th Anniversary Festival of Children’s Theatre in South Korea in 2017. She has also partnered regularly with Honolulu Theatre for Youth to bring an Asian-American perspective to our audience, most notably with Anime Momotaro, directed by Eric Johnson, which received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding TYA Production (2013).

At home, Stanford forged fertile artistic partnerships with fellow TYA Theatres. She did co-commissions with Seattle Children’s Theatre and Childsplay, AZ, and a co-production with Charlotte Children’s Theatre on an original version of 101 Dalmatians. Locally, she partnered with choreographer Septime Webre of The Washington Ballet to co-create dance theatre pieces for The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (2012) and The Little Mermaid (2016). She wrote the librettos and lyrics for both these pieces in collaboration with composer Matthew Pierce.  Stanford’s legacy includes introducing TVY to American audiences.  In 2008 she and Associate Artistic Director Kathryn Chase Bryer co-created Wake Up, Brother Bear as the first in their repertoire of developmentally appropriate, small audience pieces for 1-4 year-olds.  In addition to continuing to delight pre-schoolers and their families at Imagination Stage, five of these shows are leased to companies across the country by Plays for New Audiences.

Stanford was honored by Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (TYA/USA) with the Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA, and Imagination Stage has won a total of 12 Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Production–Theatre for Young Audiences seven times.  She has twice been nominated for Outstanding Director of a Musical. Stanford has presented at numerous Theatre Communications Group and TYA/USA conferences. She has written articles and reviews for the TYA/USA magazine, served as a judge on many grants panels, and taught at Catholic University of America, American University, Goucher College and Georgetown University (SSCE). Stanford is a member of Actors Equity and of the Dramatists’ Guild.

Imagination Stage Board President Kim Barnette has “thoroughly enjoyed working with Janet over the past 6 years as an officer on the Imagination Stage Washington, DC Board of Trustees and now as President of the Imagination Stage Maryland Board. Janet is a well-respected, quiet force in the realm of Theatre for Young Audiences. Her talent and body of work speak volumes! She has created such a rich legacy at Imagination Stage and we are forever grateful. We are confident that we will find the most appropriate successor to continue the vision that she has for Imagination Stage at the 50 year mark and beyond.”

Jason Najjoum says, “I have watched Janet in awe as we have worked together over the last 18 months. She is a fierce advocate for the needs of children, but also incredibly kind and whip smart–constantly growing as a leader and artist while also being our role model. I will dearly miss working with her daily, but am grateful that she will continue to advise us from the Board of Trustees. And I am honored that she and Bonnie have entrusted the organization to us, the next generation of arts educators.”

Stanford will be remembered for her insistence on well-crafted scripts. She commissioned and produced top-flight international writers like Charles Way (U.K.) and David S. Craig (Canada).  Among the twenty DC area writers she nurtured are Psalmayene 24, current Mellon Foundation Playwrighting Awardee and Playwright-in-Residence at Mosaic Theater Company, Joan Cushing (a.k.a. Mrs. Foggybottom) whose musical adaptations of books have had 400 productions at TYA theatres nationwide, and Karen Zararias, one of most produced playwrights in regional theatre today.  Zacarias says, “Janet Stanford is the first person to commission a play from me. Since the 1990’s, Janet has made it her mission to ask playwrights of color to create new plays for her audience. The craft I learned while writing my children’s plays under her direction has translated into a vibrant artistic muscle that has influenced and bettered my work for adults. She made me a better writer…and a better person…by reminding me to never lose sight of why I am writing a story. With Imagination Stage, I have watched her grow an idea into an institution with substance and integrity and provide an impetus and home for all the new stories she has fostered. She has changed the face and content of TYA.”

Stanford’s extraordinary contributions to Imagination Stage will be honored, along with those of other women who made Imagination Stage, at the organization’s upcoming Annual Gala on March 2, 2024 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. For more information and to support this event, please contact Emma Cummings at [email protected].

Imagination Stage’s Board of Trustees will form a committee to conduct a national search for Stanford’s successor.”

Signage is up for No Regrets Pizza Co. at 5454 Nicholson Lane in North Bethesda. The pizzeria/bar will be located on the lower level of the Harwood Flats apartment building. An opening date has not yet been set and we will update with additional information (menu, etc.) when it becomes available. The news of No Regrets Pizza Co. was first reported by Robert Dyer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu8ApTIRfgf/

Coming soon signage is up at the upcoming Chuck E. Cheese at 5238 Nicholson Ln in North Bethesda/Rockville. Chuck E. Cheese will be moving from its current Rockville location at 5270 Randolph Rd in Loehmann’s Plaza (10,500 SF) to the new, larger location (16,331 SF) in White Flint Plaza, taking over the space that was previously home to Retro Fitness. According to a representative at the Randolph Rd Chuck E. Cheese, the new location will feature a trampoline zone and is projecting a September opening. Images of a Chuck E. Cheese trampoline zone below, courtesy of @atlanticterminal on Instagram.

Chuck E. Cheese has an additional Montgomery County location at 1127 University Blvd E in Takoma Park. The children’s indoor entertainment arcade also had a location in Gaithersburg that closed in 2020 after being in business at Gaithersburg Square for over 30 years. Per the Biz Journals report, the new location will “feature a 17-foot digital wall and other technological advances over the older locations. There will still be some Chuck E. Cheese mainstays, including things like skee-ball, air hockey, and, of course, pizza.” The Rockville location has also matched pre-2019 numbers this year, hosting 289 birthday parties.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CrgK5jyAXrI/?img_index=1

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police- Missing Persons/Cold Case Unit are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Juan Machado, a missing 18-year-old. Machado was last seen on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in the 1700 block of Mt. Pisgah Lane in Silver Spring. He is 5’6″, 180 lbs., with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Juan Machado is asked to call Montgomery County Police Non Emergency (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line).

Concern for Missing Eighteen-Year-Oldhttps://t.co/xRqRE6N5bM#mcpnews #MissingPersons pic.twitter.com/enOYzoGrDV

— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) August 17, 2023