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Wednesday, January 22, 2014
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Page A-14
Toilets from the Toolbox
Some called it a “cursed” space in the Kentlands, a twostory restaurant location that has seen a handful of businesses come and go. But, who knew the key to success at the spot is a potty? The city believes so much that the bathroom will break the spell, it is betting on it with city residents’ tax dollars — 10,000 of them, to be exact, out of a fund meant to bring jobs to the city. Even though the property at 654 Center Point Way is owned by the commercial real estate firm Beatty Cos., the city has agreed to help pay to build bathrooms on the first floor of a restaurant being leased by Matt Largent who is working to open up Largent’s Restaurant & Bar. The money is coming out of an TAXPAYERS PAY TO HELP economic development incentive called the Toolbox. PRIVATE FIRM program According to the city’s ApMARKET ITS plication and Instruction Guide, PROPERTY “Incentives are generally directed toward existing businesses (in operation for more than 2 years) that exhibit growth potential and provide stable, well-paying jobs. Additionally, certain incentives are related to longterm marketability of commercial space.” One of the qualifications listed is the assistance of longterm commercial vacancies through tenant “fit-up” grants. Was the original intent of the Toolbox grant program to help commercial real estate firms market their properties? Or was the Toolbox fund meant to help local companies alter spaces to fit their new company’s needs — like a biotech firm upgrading the HVAC system of a warehouse? The bathroom project at the soon-to-be Largent’s Restaurant & Bar is projected to cost about $60,000. That’s not chump change for a guy taking a chance on a location with an awful track record. Shouldn’t Beatty have invested in its own property to fix a design flaw and keep a tenant? The Toolbox applicant must be relocating to the city or expanding a business currently in the city, according to the fund’s guidelines. In addition, the Toolbox application lists restaurant and retail uses as eligible only if they involve the opening of a subsequent location of an existing business or the expansion (at least 1,000 square feet) of a business currently in the Olde Towne Enterprise Zone. Downtown Kentlands is not in the Olde Town Enterprise Zone and this is the first Largent’s in the city. No doubt this empty commercial property has been a black eye in the downtown Kentlands business district, and leasing the space has proven difficult. But, isn’t providing a desirable space the job of the property owner? Providing a successful platform for a client like Largent and thus a long-term lessee of your property, is the job of the property owner, not the job of the taxpayer. It’s much like a homeowner who paints the interior of his home or fixes a leaky faucet before putting it on the market to attract a buyer. Maybe homeowners looking to sell their property should ask the city to chip in.
Getting along on the playground The struggle in today’s electronic-device society usually is how to get children outside to play. Friendship Heights Village has the right idea by deciding to build a new neighborhood playground at Page Park. The debate there is the scope and look of the playground. We took notice when Cleonice Tavani Carleton spoke critically of the current plan, likening it to “the manyheaded Hydra, the monster of Greek antiquity slain by Hercules.” Carleton’s words were supported by an artist rendering showing large tentacle-like tubes jutting out of a base that appears to be as tall as a townhouse. We commend village officials whose instinct is to give youngsters something big, bright and adventurous. The firm working on the plans, G.E. Fielder & Associates, has an impressive portfolio of elaborate playground projects and a serious approach. But we can see the point of people who live nearby and think the current plan, with more than a dozen pieces of equipment, clashes with the character of the neighborhood. We hope village officials and the design firm take those reservations to heart and scale back the plan. The enclosed tubes in the plan look fun to slide down, but probably are meant for older children. Eliminating those would be a positive step toward creating a good fit. We suggest a session in which village officials, the design firm, parents and nearby residents look for common ground. But, first, they should play — a board game, charades, anything. As Plato said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
The Gazette Karen Acton, President/Publisher
LETTERS TOT HE EDITOR
For deer, sharpshooters may be only option
In his letter to The Gazette [“We don’t need hunts to manage deer,” Jan. 15], Avi Goldscheider strenuously objects to the managed deer kill in Montgomery County. Evidently Mr. Goldscheider confuses “managed deer kills” with kill to extinction. There is no current program in Montgomery County calling for the elimination of deer or most other wildlife. Management of the current deer herd is the only wildlife control program underway and it does not call for deer elimination. The writer mentions better and more humane ways to keep the deer population under control such as birth control, fencing and trained dogs to herd the deer. Birth control has been tried in other states and has never proved effective. Fencing is not an option. The Department of Agriculture states that a white tail deer can easily jump 12 feet or as much as 15 feet if pursued by a predator. That would require a magnificent fence. Trained dogs used for herding erroneously implies that once the deer are herded into a specific area they would like it well enough to stay. That will never happen. Also, if a herd of deer is threatened, the
Pay attention to the central committee Over the course of the past two decades, Montgomery County has become a bastion of the Democratic Party, with not a single Republican representing its residents at any level of government following the 2012 election cycle. This was no accident; Democrats have both a population advantage and a history of good governance in our county. But with great power comes great responsibility. In the coming months, a new generation of Democrats will be campaigning for election to the little known Democratic Central Committee, the local party’s official administration. Some of our county’s most important elected officials and civic activists have served on the central committee. Furthermore, in lieu of special elections, the central committee recommends candidates to the governor to fill General Assembly vacancies. Central committee members work tirelessly for the party, without pay and often at the sacrifice of family and friends, and many help to shape policy both at the county and state levels by influencing the party’s platform. I urge both readers and journalists alike to take a sincere interest in reporting happenings on the committee.
Hamza Khan, Potomac The writer is a Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates, District 15.
usual reaction is that the herd scatters making herding virtually impossible. Mr. Goldscheider further states that the management practices will give hunters an excuse to invade our parks. Since the kill is to occur from dusk to dawn, Maryland deer hunting laws restrict hunting to one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. This virtually eliminates hunting by casual sportsmen and allows hunting only by the “trained sharpshooters” specified by the program. The writer provides statistics from other states that have had deer-management issues. He says that after 17 years of deer culling, Wisconsin’s deer population has remained unchanged. It sounds to me like Wisconsin’s deer-management program is working. In making a point that the deerculling program in New Jersey is ineffective, he says that the deer population has actually increased from 63.2 deer per square mile in 1996 to 65 deer per square mile in 2009. An increase of 1.8 deer per square mile in a 13-year span can hardly be described as a population explosion. The question remains as to what the deer population would have been if culling programs had not been
implemented. Mr. Goldscheider’s point that where deer management occurs, the deer population actually increases defies logic. He says that surviving deer have less competition over scarce food sources and nature fights back with multiple births the following season. If the deer population increases, I would assume that there would be more competition next season which would not result in multiple births. The writer’s points regarding culling’s effects on plants, salamanders, and other creatures cannot be substantiated. As Ohio State’s researcher, Katherine Greenwald, stated, “Officials need to know more about the forest ecosystem before making decisions about wildlife management.” Granted that management of the deer population is a constant recurring problem but using sharpshooters appears to be the only viable solution. Introduction of predators to keep the deer numbers low is not the way to go. Pennsylvania tried it in small areas where coyotes were imported but now these areas have a bigger problem.
Tom Bolavage, Derwood
Is Gansler who we want? For Doug Gansler to liken Obamacare’s implementation in Maryland to a “Saturday Night Live skit” shows a disturbing pattern. Maybe he should have considered attending a meeting of the Health Care Reform Council, which he is a member of, and been a part of a solution. Instead he elected not to show up for one meeting in the last two years. Mr. Gansler then said, “It’s very hard for anybody to point to anything that Anthony Brown has ever managed or ever run.” Anthony Brown was awarded the Policymaker/Elected Official Award in 2011 by the Associated Defense Communities for his work with the Base Realignment Closure in Maryland. Anthony Brown’s leadership has resulted in Maryland having the highest women-owned and African-American businesses per capita in the U.S. What about Mr. Brown’s work on the Purple Line?
Mr. Gansler was the only sitting county prosecutor ever reprimanded by the Maryland Court of Appeals in 2003 for comments on two high-profile cases while he was the County Prosecutor in Montgomery County; he claimed the reprimand was political payback. Then in 2006 Mr. Gansler joking called Frederick County “Fredneck.” Mr. Gansler implied that Mr. Brown was using race to get elected in July of 2013, when asked to apologize his comment was, “I don’t know what I would apologize for.” Doug Gansler has not learned from his past mistakes and refuses to accept any responsibility for his past irresponsible comments. Is this leadership and what we want in our next governor?
Jim Martin, Bethesda
Article omits support from town center developer The article on Jan. 1 [“Clarksburg-Boyds development issues at forefront in 2014”] does a very good job of summarizing the numerous land use issues facing the upcounty as we begin 2014. However, the article omits one key fact regarding Clarksburg Premium Outlets at Cabin Branch. It fails to mention that, in addition to the community’s broad and deep support for the proposal, it is also supported by the owner of Clarksburg Town Center. In a letter sent to the Montgomery County Hearing Examiner regarding Clarks-
burg Premium Outlets, the Elm Street Development president wrote that specialty outlet retail “will generate additional economic activity and bring new people and shoppers to Clarksburg and the Town Center.” When you add that fact to the support Cabin Branch has won from the Montgomery County Planning Board, the County Hearing Examiner, and, most importantly, the Clarksburg community, it is clear that the time has come to approve Clarksburg Premium Outlets at Cabin Branch.
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Sandy Barrier, Clarksburg
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