ROCKVILLE — Members of two county council committees voted down the possibility of building a footbridge between Silver Spring’s new library and the Wayne Avenue garage.
If the issue is accessibility for disabled bookworms, then find a cheaper way to do it, members of the human services and economic development committees charged Tuesday afternoon. (more…)
Photo: Guess who's got a Facebook account. Courtesy of Facebook.
An East Silver Springer who developed training programs for community organizers has been named the new director of Silver Spring’s regional center.
Reemberto Rodriguez ” is a perfect fit for the position,” MoCo exec Ike Leggett said in a press statement announcing the appointment. “His extensive background in building community partnerships, planning and revitalization will be put to good use in Silver Spring.” (more…)
ANNAPOLIS — A state bill that would allow vintners to ship wine directly to consumers caught some flack Monday from opponents worried over who was signing for that FedEx package, and who would be collecting sales tax on that deal.
“All of these liquors are easily accessible to underage drinkers. You don’t have to show an ID online,” Del Sonny Minnick (D-Dist 6) said during the House economic-matters committee meeting. “We want the state to be responsible to underage drinkers.”
If passed, the bill would allow local and out-of-state wine dealers to sell and ship bottles directly to Maryland consumers. Currently, consumers who want that special bottle of sumpin’ sumpin’ must buy it from a local retailer, or ask that retailer to order then receive said sumpin’ for the consumer to pick up.
It’s a broke-down system, bill sponsor Del Tom Hucker (D-Dist 20) wrote to the committee. The setup — where the wine producer, wholesaler and retailer must get their liquor licenses aligned before anyone pours a single drop of vino — is “a joke,” the Indian Spring rep said.
Wine aficionado Paul Hoffstein called the bill a win-win, where Maryland vintners can make a little cash shipping bottles to local and out-of-state customers, and dudes like him can have less common bottles delivered to their homes. And don’t sweat the kids trying to score hooch online.
“Shipping costs are between $35 and $50 a case,” Hoffstein testified. “This isn’t a way for teenagers to get liquor. This is a niche bill.”
But Chuck Ferrar, who owns Bay Ridge Wine and Spirits in Annapolis, gave the bill a thumbs down. Online and mail-order sales would make it tough for the state to collect sales tax, a nasty proposition in this fiscal environment, he told the committee.
“They’re gonna give us $90,000 in permit fees, and we’re gonna lose $10 million in taxes,” Ferrar testified.
Whether the bill advances beyond this committee is unknown. A similar bill went down in flames last year.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Kai Hendry.
ANNAPOLIS — Kids know better than to walk into a liquor store and ask for beer, wine or a bottle of scotch (not without convincing ID, anyway). Now, one MoCo state delegate wants to be sure they can’t score another form of hooch at the local 7-Eleven.
On Monday afternoon, Del Bill Bronrott (D-Dist 16) pitched his idea to ban the sale of “alcopops” at stores licensed to sell only beer. Instead, he said frou-frou drinks like Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezer and Mike’s Hard Lemonade should be sold at stores licensed to sell the harder stuff.
“As many as 10 million underage children drink,” Bronrott testified before the House economic-matters committee. Pin some of that booze abuse on the alcopops, which he said were marketed directly at young people and were available in urban convenience stores.
Marlene Trestman, with attorney general Doug Gansler’s office, was down with Bronrott. “These drinks bare no resemblance to what we traditionally label beer,” she testified. “This bill would put those beverages where distilled spirits are sold.”
So what the hell is an alcopop?
According to the bill’s text, such a drink is no more than 6% alcohol by volume — the same as beer. But unlike beer, which is totally the product of fermentation, an alcopop can pull just under half of its alcohol content from other sources of booze. In other words, it’s a mixed drink.
“These are not flavored beers,” Trestman said. “They’re lemonades, they’re colas.”
But should alcopop sales be restricted to hard-core liquor stores, as the bill demands?
If that were to happen, downtown Silver Springers would have to hit the county-operated liquor depot on Colesville Road to score what The Penguin mailroom guys dub “wussahol”. Smaller joints like the hood’s assorted delis would be out of the running.
And that was the rub for Del Donna Stifler (R-Dist 35A), who sits on the economic-matters committee. The Harford County rep said small stores that handle their business legitimately would be stuck with sacrificing revenues, despite their compliance with checking IDs and keeping kids out of the liquor case.
The committee should announce today whether the bill will move forward for further consideration.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user FaeryBoots.
The county’s chief of neighborhood revitalization is the new boss at Silver Spring’s regional center, at least for now, a press statement announced Friday.
Roylene Roberts, who works with the department of housing and community affairs, takes over the wheel from Gary Stith, who ran the show on Georgia and Wayne Avenues for eight years. Stith announced earlier this month that he was taking a gig as the new deputy director of planning and special projects with the department of general services.
As for Roberts, her last five years were spent coordinating revitalization work in a couple of hoods for the housing department. Before that, she was the director of regional assistance with the state housing department.
“I have been very fortunate to meet and work with many community members on a variety of Silver Spring initiatives, and I look forward to strengthening and furthering these working relationships,” Roberts said.
The Silver Spring regional center — one of five around the county — acts as a liaison between MoCo’s executive branch and people in the hood. It’ll be up to MoCo exec Ike Leggett to chose its permanent director, whom the county council must confirm.
As Congress gets down to business on an economic-stimulus plan, county leaders want to be sure that some of that cash flows into downtown Silver Spring and other parts of MoCo.
“Montgomery County is a prime example of a local government that is able to quickly translate federal dollars into active projects,” MoCo exec Ike Leggett and council president Phil Andrews pitched to Maryland’s senators and Congressional reps in December. “With additional funding, we are poised to implement any number of ’shovel-ready’ projects quickly.”
One of those projects — ringing up at $100 million — would retrofit existing apartment buildings to be more energy efficient. The county’s older buildings, like the Depression-era Falkland Chase apartments, tend to be sieves as far as energy conservation goes, yet they house most of a community’s proletariat class, the county’s 28-page wish list for funding described.
“Because utility costs are passed on to the consumer, there is little incentive for multi-family complex managers to improve the energy efficiency of these properties,” the wish list stated. “Similarly, tenants can change behaviors but cannot change the characteristics of the facility.”
But low- or no-interest loans to landlords could get those apartment buildings in better shape, reduce energy consumption, improve property values, create “societal equity”, and pass the savings on to renters, the county argued.
The best part (for renters, anyway): In order to qualify for the loans, landlords must swear up, down and sideways to keep rent increases below county-recommended guidelines for up to five years after retrofitting wraps. If MoCo scores the cash, the retrofitting program could roll in six months.
Another proposal would drop lighted bike paths, racks and valet parking at the transit center, currently under construction outside Silver Spring’s Metro station. Because many of downtown’s bike paths have already been mapped out and the necessary real estate marked, the county can stick a shovel in the ground in two to six months for $1.3 million, the wish list read.
That proposal includes a bike station with repair services and valet bicycle parking on the triangular jug handle at Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue. Lockers and showers could be added later, the county said.
The area’s big project — about $1.2 billion big — is the Purple Line mass-transit ride. If funded, the light-rail or bus rapid-transit line (no one’s decided yet) would connect Bethesda with New Carrollton through downtown Silver Spring. A public meeting to hash out details on proposed routes goes down in front of the county planning board Thursday.
The nation’s economic-stimulus package is still sprouting, but US Rep Chris Van Hollen (D-Md 8) told Bloomberg News that the overall tab could run between $700 billion and $1 trillion. If approved, it would be the largest economic-stimulus package ever in US history.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user thebittenword.com.
Updated Jan7, 2008 for clarity.
Read The Penguin's coverage of a mass-transit project that might roll through downtown Silver Spring.
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Boxed wines and rosés are back in vogue. Just ask The Penguin's sommeliers.
