2015, 2016 MDDC News Organization of the Year! Celebrating 161 years of service! Vol. 163, No. 3 • 50¢ SINCE 1855 July 13 - July 19, 2017 TODAY’S GAS Here we go again . PRICE Rockville political differences rise to the surface in routine commission appointment $2.28 per gallon Last Week pointee to the City’s Historic District the three members of “Team him from serving on the HDC. $2.26 per gallon By Neal Earley @neal_earley Commission turned into a heated de- Rockville,” a Rockville political- The HDC is responsible for re- bate highlighting the City’s main po- block made up of Council members viewing applications for modification A month ago ROCKVILLE – In most jurisdic- litical division. Julie Palakovich Carr, Mark Pierzcha- to the exteriors of historic buildings, $2.36 per gallon tions, board and commission appoint- Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton la and Virginia Onley who ran on the as well as recommending boundaries A year ago ments are usually toward the bottom called the City Council’s rejection of same platform with mayoral candi- for the City’s historic districts. If ap- $2.28 per gallon of the list in terms of public interest her pick for Historic District Commis- date Sima Osdoby and city council proved Giammo, would have re- and controversy -- but not in sion – former three-term Rockville candidate Clark Reed. placed Matthew Goguen, whose term AVERAGE PRICE PER GALLON OF Rockville. UNLEADED REGULAR GAS IN Mayor Larry Giammo – political. While Onley and Palakovich expired in May. MARYLAND/D.C. METRO AREA For many municipalities, may- “I find it absolutely disappoint- Carr said they opposed Giammo’s ap- Giammo previously endorsed ACCORDING TO AAA oral appointments are a formality of- ing that politics has entered into the pointment based on his lack of qualifi- Newton in her campaign against ten given rubberstamped approval by boards and commission nomination cations, Giammo said it was his polit- INSIDE the city council, but in Rockville what process once again,” Newton said. ical opposition to Team Rockville, not See “Rockville,” may have seemed like a harmless ap- The appointment was rejected by his qualifications is what prevented page 8 Editor’s Metro taking leaks Notebook seriously on Red Line by Brian J. Karem terproofing. By Kathleen Stubbs @kathleenstubbs3 Metro Board of Directors mem- ber Michael Goldman, who repre- Metro is testing a way to water- sents Montgomery County, said Son of a ... proof a group of Red Line stations, Wiedefeld briefed him prior to an- but the pilot requires single-tracking nouncing the pilot. The pilot was un- After six months of being on weeknights and station shutdowns der Metro General Manager Paul baffled,and baffling others, on weekends for the next four weeks. Wiedefeld’s discretion so he didn’t the president does something Metro spokesperson Richard consult the Board for approval. genuine and human Jordan said Metro awarded the water- “As he presented it, we have a Page 4 proofing contract for $4.9 million. major problem there which was a Red Line riders will continue to cause of major outages,” Goldman see single-tracking, which began said matter-of-factly. “It’s caused a June 10, Monday through Friday after hell of a lot of delays on the Red line.” 9 p.m. for the next three weeks, as Free shuttle buses will replace well as four consecutive weekend shutdowns starting Saturday so that Metro and its unnamed contractor can See “Red Line,” make progress on installing the wa- page 8 COURTESY PHOTO State’s attorney John McCarthy announces the sentencing of Eulalio Tordill. Medical Marijuana on hold See Story on page 9 MMCC. The MMCC website said By Vic Simon @vtime492 from March through May that the Berliner slams new bridge planning board of the Council of Gov- The South did Commission’s target date for first By Neal Earley The first availability of Mary- availability was “late summer.” @neal_earley ernments will consider whether or not rise land-licensed medical marijuana ap- Forward Gro in Anne Arundel fund a study on a building another pears likely to be in November, a cou- County received its final grower li- Montgomery County Council crossing across the Potomac. Current- In the Cal Ripkin ple months later than the state gov- cense May 17, said MMCC executive President Roger Berliner (D-1) blast- ly there is only one bridge, the Ameri- League All Star game, the ernment’s earlier forecast of “late director Patrick Jameson. Forward ed a new push to build another bridge can Legion Bridge, which connects South had its way with the summer.” Gro is owned by Gary Magnum and over the Potomac River to connect the County to Virginia. The next clos- North. On July 6, Gov. Larry Hogan ap- Mike McCarthy, co-founders of Bell Loudoun County, Virginia to Mont- es bridge north on the Potomac, is at Page 20 pointed nine new Maryland Medical Nurseries, the state’s largest orna- gomery County promising it will nev- Point of Rocks, which connects Fred- Cannabis Commission members, and mental flower greenhouse operation. er be built. erick County to Virginia. reappointed one member. Hogan’s Other growers should be fully li- “This is a zombie bridge and we Berliner said he opposes a second appointees collectively comprise a censed soon, and begin cultivation. need to put a stake in this,” Berliner bridge in the County connecting to majority of the 16-member Commis- Philip Goldberg, CEO of Green Leaf said. “Our County has been opposed Virginia, because it would hurt the en- sion. Medical, told the Sentinel that its to this bridge forever and remains op- vironment and promote sprawl. As of July 11, only one grower posed to this bridge. It is a distrac- Berliner said that the proposed bridge and one dispensary had gotten final or See “Medical,” tion.” would likely have to go through the “Stage II” license approval from page 8 Next week the transportation County’s agricultural reserves. 2THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY SENTINEL JULY 13, 2017 EFLECTIONS R The Montgomery County Sentinel, published weekly by Berlyn Inc. Publish- ing, is a community newspaper covering Montgomery County, Maryland. Our of- November 7, 1979 fices are located at 22 W. Jefferson Street, Suite 309, Rockville, MD 20850. Founded in 1855 by Matthew Fields. All mail to: P.O. Box 1272, Rockville, MD City of Rockville considers mini-bond sale 20849-1272. Subscription Rates for The Montgomery County Sentinel – Weekly by mail: $40.00 per year & $26.50 for Se- Each week The Sentinel visits a Brunswick, N.J. and presented re- A recent decision by the city Assembly to authorize such sales. nior Citizens. (USPS) 361-100. memorable story from its archives. ceived enthusiastically at a recent council to add a solar heating system City attorney opinion on the legality meeting of the Maryland Municipal to the Municipal Swim Center has of mini-bonds, Lawton said, but Ti- Bernard Kapiloff Rockville city council members League – would be to sell the same been touted by several council mem- tus did say he saw no immediate PUBLISHER E MERITUS and city staff are giving some kind of tax-free bonds, at the same bers as a prime candidate for this sort problems. Lynn G. Kapiloff thought to a money-raising proposal interest rate, but in smaller denomi- of financing approach. As Lawton If the mini-bond issue is tried, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/ that would pay for city projects and nations. That, the logic goes, would explained, not only would city resi- Lawton said, a few “appropriate pro- PUBLISHER earn tax-free interest for city resi- allow city residents who keep most dents be able to benefit financially jects” that citizens “can identify with [email protected] of their savings in banks or savings from this kind of program, but they and see” will be selected. He sug- dents at the same time, through the Mark Kapiloff sale of so-called “mini-hands.” and loan institutions to earn six per- might feel a close tie to community gested such things as the swim center ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Like most cities, Rockville pays cent or so interest tax free on betterment projects. solar project and bike trails as exam- [email protected] for major construction projects by amounts as small as $100. Rockville is currently planning ples. selling municipal bonds to large in- “What makes the proposal fea- more traditional bond sale for Janu- A mini-based sale would proba- EDITORIAL vestors. The bonds pay interest, sible,” explained Rockville finance ary of about $5.5 million, much of bly be fairly small, Lawton said, in Brian J. Karem which is tax free, and are usually re- director John Lawson, is a solution to which will be used for projects al- order to see how well it is accepted. EXECUTIVE EDITOR paid between five and 20 years after the paperwork for banks that accom- ready built or underway. Lawton said The city currently owes on [email protected] they are bought. One major draw- panies most bond sales. Instead of is- as soon as work on that issue is out of about $27 million in outstanding Brandy L. Simms back, however, is that they are sold in suing coupons that must be re- the way he hopes to draw up a pro- bonds, and will spend this year a lit- SPORTS EDITOR large denominations, and generally deemed by investors and processed posal for a mini-bond sale next year. tle over $3 million a year to help pay [email protected] only wealthy investors can take ad- by banks, the semi-annual dividend Lawton said he knew of no legal them off, Lawton said.