gaithersblog.net

According to the County Council agenda for next Tuesday, January 22:

10:45 BRIEFING - County Property Use Initiative, a proposal to relocate services from Public Safety Training Academy (PSTA) and County Service Park to GE/Edison Tech Park in Gaithersburg

This meeting will be televised live on CCM Channels Comcast 6, RCN 6, and Verizon 30; repeated on 1/25/08 at 8 pm.

This page has information on additional ways to hear and see this session.

Gaithersblog readers may recall my earlier posts on this topic. Additionally, a Gaithersblog reader has pointed out to me that one of the primary uses the County has in mind for this property — County Liquor and School Cafeteria distribution warehouses — may in fact not be allowed under the current zoning (I-3) for this property. According to the City Code, Part II, Chapter 24, Article III, Division 15, I-3 Zone, Section 24-143 (emphasis mine):

(2)	Public buildings and uses subject to the following requirements:
	(a)	The minimum lot or parcel area shall be at least twenty (20) acres in size.
	(b)	No on-site parking or storage of trucks, either within a building or on the exterior, or motor vehicles other than automobiles for employees and customers of the facility are allowed.
	(c)	All parking areas shall be set back at least fifty (50) feet from any common property line or public right-of-way and shall be screened by fencing or planting at least four (4) feet in height.
	(d)	No distribution uses are allowed. For the purpose of this section “distribution uses” is defined as the primary use of the property for the collection and transfer or dispensing of personal property or equipment to public or private recipients.

Note this restriction on distribution uses only applies to public buildings and uses, and therefore the current Peapod grocery distribution warehouse is not excluded under this rule.

The County is currently asserting that they are not subject to City zoning — Ike Leggett said so in response to a question in his call-in show last month, and County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Diane Schwartz Jones said as much in her presentation at the January 7 City Council Meeting. But for them to come in and blatantly violate not just the spirit but the letter of the City’s ordinances right from the get-go, is pretty offensive in my opinion.

In my mind, this raises the question of whether there will be any sort of controls whatsoever on that property once it is taken over by the County. If the County believes that the City’s zoning doesn’t apply, and the County doesn’t have any zoning for that property because it is outside the jurisdiction of M-NCPPC, would this not mean that the County can do just whatever it likes there? All the assurances that the County might be making about the compatibility of their activities on that property have to be taken with an enormous grain of salt.

Folks, I think that the City of Gaithersburg is about to get 100 acres smaller.

Reports from the County’s website. Note that, because of the July 4th holiday, this report covers a two-week period from 06/26/07 to 07/11/07. Some of these are repeats from City reports.

• A strong-armed robbery occurred at 9701 Fields Road on Saturday 6/30 at 2230 hours. The victim claimed he was walking when the first suspect walked past him, then turned around and hit the victim in the head with an unknown object, before taking the victim’s wallet, cell phone and $100. The victim’s friends claimed to have witnessed the attack and said the suspect came from a vehicle with the other suspect in the driver’s seat. There were inconsistencies in the victim’s stories and the officer noted the victim’s injuries were more serious than what would occur if he was only hit one time.

  Suspect: H/M, long black hair, black tank top

  Vehicle: black or dark blue Toyota Matrix 4D, unknown driver

• A strong-armed robbery occurred at 200 Muddy Branch Road by the Festival Shopping Center, on Wednesday 7/4 at 1300 hours. The victim was walking down the rear stairwell to the parking lot when the suspects approached, grabbed the victim around the neck and knocked him down. They beat and kicked the victim and took his wallet with $50. The suspects fled towards Muddy Branch Road.

  Suspect: W/M, 20-25 yrs. old, 6’-6’1”, NFD

  Suspect: W/M, 20-25 yrs. old, 5’4”-5’5”, NFD

  Suspect: W/M, 20-25 yrs. old, 5’5”, NFD

• An armed robbery occurred at the Chevron, 100 N. Frederick Avenue on Wednesday 7/4 at 2033 hours. The suspect took a bag of Cheetos to the counter but waited until all the other customers left the store. He put the bag in his mouth and when the employee opened up the register, he removed a silver revolver from the small of his back and demanded money. He went behind the counter and took approximately $848 from the register. He fled on foot out the front door.

  Suspect: B/M, 25-30 yrs. old, 5’10”/160 lbs., beard, white baseball cap, black shortsleeved shirt, blue shorts, black shoes

• A strong-armed robbery occurred at 1200 block of Knoll Mist Lane on Sunday 7/8 at 0001 hours. The suspects jumped the victim and hit him in the head. He claimed he was knocked unconscious and when he woke up he was completely naked.

  Suspects: one B/M, and one W/M, NFD
  

  Knoll Mist Lane is near Watkins Mill Road & Travis Ave.

• There was an armed robbery at 400 Victory Farm Drive on Wednesday 7/6 at 2030 hours. The victim got off the bus on Girard Street and the suspect approached and demanded money. He hit the victim in the head with a black semi-automatic gun and demanded his cell phone. The victim fled and was stabbed in the back twice.

  Suspect: B/M, 18-20 yrs. old, dark complexion, white hat, white shirt, black ‘shiney’ pants

  Suspect: B/F, 18-20 yrs. old, 5’6”-5’8”/150-160 lbs., blue flowered print shirt, jeans

  Suspect: B/M, 18-20 yrs. old, 6’/150-160 lbs., red bandana, purple shirt, blue shorts

  Suspect: B/M, 18-20 yrs. old, dark complexion, red bandana, black sweatshirt & pants
  

• A strong-armed robbery occurred at Deer Park Road and Brighton Drive on Wednesday 7/4 at 2135 hours. The victim was walking when the suspect grabbed her and attempted to put his hand down her pocket. The victim gave conflicting stories of the incident.

  Suspect: B/M, 5’8”, NFD
  

• An armed robbery occurred at Muddy Branch Road and Frederick Avenue on Thursday 7/5 at an unknown time. The victim was walking when the suspects approached and grabbed him from behind. They cut the victim with a broken glass bottle and fled on foot. The victim flagged down a passing citizen and went to the hospital to report the incident.

  Suspect: B/M, 6’/190 lbs., white T-shirt with blue stripes, blue jeans, with another suspect, NFD
  

• An aggravated assault occurred on State Court on Tuesday 7/10 at 0420 hours. The suspects forced their way into the residence and beat the victim. One suspect fired a shot into the wall and one shot may have grazed the victim’s head.

  Suspect: three B/M’s, all with bandanas on their faces, NFD
  

  State Court is near Girard & East Diamond.

• A strong-armed robbery occurred on 42 Brighton Terrace on Wednesday 7/11 at 0115 hours. The victim was in front of her residence when the suspects drove up and offered her a ride. She told the suspects to bring her to a friend’s house on W Deer Park Road. They drove to Deer Park Road and Brighton Drive. The victim told them she didn’t want to go there and got out of the vehicle. They demanded her purse, hit the victim, and then drove off.

  
  Suspect: W/M, 21-23 yrs. old, 5’10”-6/fair complexion, “Justin” tattooed on his left arm

  Suspect: B/M, long braided hair, (driver)

  Vehicle: light colored sedan, NFD

  Brighton Terrace is between Summit Hall Park and I-270.

• A possible rape occurred at the Motel 6, between Saturday 6/30 and Sunday 7/1. The victim and her friends were drinking in a room and then met up with residents of another hotel room to continue their drinking. The victim recalls being in her room then nothing else until she woke up the next day. Her underwear had been removed and she believes she had intercourse.

  Suspect: B/M, 40’s, thin build, ‘with a weird voice’

  The Motel 6 is on Quince Orchard Road, just west of I-270.

• A suspect was arrested for impersonating a police officer at Stedwick Road and Montgomery Village Avenue on Friday 7/6 at 1030 hours. The suspect was involved in an accident and originally told officers he was a police officer. He then changed his story to being a special police officer, then he was starting his own security company. He had a realistic-looking BB gun in a holster on his waistband. He has priors for the same offense in Baltimore and Montgomery County.

  Defendant: Eric Grant, B/M, 33 yrs. old, 6’2”/192 lbs., mustache, has priors for theft, concealed weapon and impersonating police, of 2049 Foxwood Terrace (5D)

  Vehicle: white ’07 Dodge Charger 4D, MD/3DCC76
  

• Officers responded for an assault on West Side Drive on Saturday 6/30 at 2105 hours. The victim and a friend were walking home when the suspects started following them. The victims went inside the house and the suspects threw a brick through the sliding glass door. The suspects fled and one suspect shot some type of gun in the air. One victim thinks they saw a muzzle flash but no shells were found.

• A strong-armed robbery occurred at 8800 block of Thomas Lea Terrace on Friday 7/6 at 2230 hours. The victim got out of her vehicle and the suspect demanded her purse. She resisted but the strap broke and the suspect fled on foot. MCP K9 tracked to the Welbeck area. The second subject was seen driving out of the area at a high rate of speed and was stopped. The show-up by the victim was negative.

  Suspect: B/M, 30-35 yrs. old, 6’1”-6’2”/190 lbs., beard, muscular, black ‘bucket’ hat, blue short-sleeved shirt, tan shorts

  Thomas Lea Terrace is southeast of the corner of Goshen & Warfied Roads.

• Officers responded to Lakeworth Drive on Sunday 7/8 at 1030 hours for a domestic dispute. The suspect had fled before officers arrived. He had made suicidal statements and rifle rounds were found in the residence, leading officers to believe the suspect could possibly be armed. They found him nearby and the suspect repeatedly told officers to shoot him. He resisted arrest and struck one officer in the face, causing a large laceration. He was EEP’d and charges will be placed when he is released.

  Suspect: Elgin Etchison, 2/M, 40 yrs. old, 6’4”/250 lbs.

  Lakeworth Drive is near Muddy Branch Road, between School & West Side Drives.

• A lock was pried off of a construction trailer at 9707 Key West Avenue between 1715 hours on Tuesday 6/16 and 0630 hours on Wednesday 6/27. They searched the trailer and cooked a can of chili in the microwave.

• Three vehicles were broken into sometime between midnight and 1100 hours on Tuesday 7/3 on West Side Drive. All three had a window broken and only loose property was taken.

  • 300 block West Side Drive Took a GPS and cell phone charger
  • 300 block West Side Drive took a radar detector, GPS and a cell phone charger
  • 300 block West Side Drive First attempted to pry the window, then broke it, took a cell phone and a flashlight

• A ’03 Ford Escape was taken from Palmspring Drive on Tuesday 7/3 between 0240 and 0340 hours. The victim left a set of keys inside the vehicle. He had seen the vehicle on Muddy Branch Road at 0230 but didn’t realize the vehicle was his until he arrived at his residence. Officers saw the suspect in the vehicle at 0330 hours on Muddy Branch and the suspects bailed out at 299 Muddy Branch Road. One suspect fled into the woods and the other fled to the shopping center. The suspects left soda, a jacket, diapers and a bicycle behind in the vehicle.

  Suspect: B/M, 5’6”-5’7”, shaved head, black skull cap, black jacket, jeans, black tennis shoes

  Suspect: B/M, 5’8”-5’10”, black T -shirt

  Palmspring Drive is near Lakeworth Drive, mentioned above.

• There were two vehicles stolen on Muddy Branch Road. A Honda that was stolen from the R2 beat on 6/26 was found on 6/29 at 423 Muddy Branch Road.

  • 7/5 THU 1955 hrs. 828 Muddy Branch Road behind Manhattan Pizza The victim left the vehicle running unattended. Blue ’99 Saturn SL 4D, MD/tags
  • 6/28-6/29 THU-FRI 1700-1100 hrs. 279 Muddy Branch Road Festival SC ’92 Honda Accord

• Graffiti vandalism was found on a vehicle on King James Way between 1800 hours on Wednesday 7/4 and 0550 hours on Thursday 7/5. Black spray paint was used to spray the entire side of the vehicle in a circular pattern. The victim said she has a protective order against her husband but does not believe he is responsible.

  King James Way is in the triangle formed by Muddy Branch, W. Diamond and I-270.

• Officers responded to the woods in the area of W. Diamond Avenue and Bureau Drive on Tuesday 7/3 at 2248 hours for a check-the-welfare call. A friend of the suspect was concerned due to the suspect’s intoxication level and the fact that the suspect is diabetic. The suspect had wandered into the woods and officers found him with a knife in his hand. He lunged towards the officers but eventually was arrested. A marijuana pipe was also found on the suspect.

  Defendant: Harvey Springer, W/M, 40 yrs. old, 5’10”/150 lbs., of 18033 Cottage Garden Drive (5D)

• A residential burglary occurred on E. Darby Court on Tuesday 7/10 at 0242 hours. The resident was asleep inside the residence at the time.

  Suspect: B/M, 5’10”5’11”, corn rowed hair, red baseball cap, red shirt over a white Tshirt, blue jeans

  Suspect: B/M, white tank top undershirt, jean shorts or pants, **armed with a baseball bat
  

  E. Darby Court is off Longdraft Road, near Game Preserve & Clopper Roads.

• A theft occurred at Panera Bread, 498 N. Frederick Avenue on Sunday 7/1 between 1250 and 1301 hours. The victim was eating when the first suspect bumped into her and excused himself. The victim felt a tugging at her purse but didn’t think anything of it at the time. She realized later her wallet, with cash, was taken.

  Suspect: B/M, 20-30 yrs. old, 6’-6’2”/200 lbs.,

  Suspect: B/M, 20-30 yrs. old, 5’4”-5’6”, heavy build
  

• A ’95 Honda Accord was taken from 9 Wicker Place on Saturday 7/7 at 2330 hours. The vehicle was recovered following a hit-and-run accident on Lakeworth Drive in the P1 beat on Sunday 7/8 at about midnight. A witness saw a B/M, with a white shirt, NFD fleeing the scene.

  Wicker Place is near E. Darby Court, mentioned above.

• A citizen saw juveniles spray painting his vehicle in the 900 block of Clopper Road on Tuesday 6/26 at 2200 hours. The suspects fled on foot but all three were identified by the victim. Investigation is continuing.

• Seven kiosks were broken into at Lakeforest Mall on Friday 6/29 at 0700 hours. Security arrested the suspects in the mall after observing them on the surveillance video. The suspects also admitted committing several similar burglaries on 6/24.

  Defendant: Juvenile, B/M, 15 yrs. old, 5’4”/120 lbs., dredlocks, beard, tattoo “RSP Mora 1963-1993” on his right arm, of Suitland, MD

  Defendant: Juvenile, B/M, 16 yrs. old, 5’7”/135 lbs., dredlocks, of NW DC
  

• A residential burglary occurred at 18200 block of Willow Creek Way on Monday 7/2 at 1536 hours. According to the CAD, an arrest was made but no report has been turned in yet.

  Willow Creek Way is southwest of the corner of Midcounty Hwy & Goshen Road.

• A residential attempted burglary occurred at 4 Maryland Avenue on Wednesday 7/4 at 0050 hours. The suspect was very intoxicated and kept jiggling the victim’s front door handle. He was arrested nearby in the cemetery.

  Defendant: Thomas Tarloy, W/M, 43 yrs. old, 5’9”/198 lbs., homeless

  Maryland Ave is in Oldetowne, between MD355 & Russell Ave.

• A suspect attempted to pass a counterfeit $100 bill at the Central News Stand at Lakeforest Mall on Monday 7/9 at 2130 hours. When the employee questioned it, he attempted to use a real $20 bill but security arrested the suspect. He had four other counterfeit bills on him.

  Defendant: Fernando Sanchez, 6/M, 38 yrs. old, 5’7”/150 lbs., mustache, homeless
  

• A residential burglary was reported on Sunday 7/8 at 10000 block of Wedge Way. The victim’s son claimed he came home and found a broken window and video game systems and a wedding ring taken.

  Wedge Way is near Watkins Mill & Steadwick.

• A residential burglary occurred in the 8000 block of Exodus Drive on Sunday 7/8 between 2030 and 2130 hours. The second suspect is an acquaintance of the victim’s son. They asked the victim about his dirt bike and the son offered to sell it to them. They declined and the victim saw the suspects cutting through their yard an hour later.

  Suspect: B/M, 16-18 yrs. old, 5’11”/145-150 lbs., black ‘Compton’ hat, black T-shirt, blue jeans, carrying a black backpack

  Suspect: Nathan, B/M, 16-18 yrs. old, 5’3”/115 lbs., thin build, carrying a black backpack
  

  Exodus Drive is off Woodfield Rd, south of Brink.

• A theft from a vehicle occurred at the Lake Marion Community Center on Wednesday 6/27 between 0900 and 1030 hours. A witness saw the suspect in the suspect vehicle parked beside the victim’s vehicle. The suspect drove off when he saw the witness looking at him. The victim’s vehicle window was broken and a purse was taken.

  Suspect: B/M, NFD
  Vehicle: red SUV, possibly a Ford Explorer
  

  Lake Marion Community Center is on East Village Ave.

• A ’04 Honda Accord was stolen from 9400 block of Chadburn Place between 2100 hours on Tuesday 6/26 and 0900 hours on Wednesday 6/27. The vehicle was recovered with a punched ignition at 423 Muddy Branch Road on 6/29, near where another Honda was taken on the same date.

  Chadburn Place is between Wightman & Warfield Roads, west of Goshen.

• A residential burglary occurred on Sternwheeler Court on Thursday 6/28 at 1210 hours. The victim was in the basement when the suspects broke the sliding glass door and started to come in. The victim yelled and they fled on foot.

  Suspect: H/M, 5’3”/180 lbs., chubby build, bandana on his face, no shirt, blue jeans

  Suspect: H/M, 17-20 yrs. old, 5’5”-5’6”/145-155 lbs,. tan khaki shorts
  

  Sternwheeler Court is near Gaithersburg Middle School.

• The Gaithersburg High School had an attempted burglary on Saturday 6/30 at 1525 hours. School security saw the suspects on video entering the school, with one suspect carrying bolt cutters. Officers were unable to find any sign of entry. The suspects were later seen by security leaving the school.

  Suspect: five suspects, one W/M, one with a pink shirt, NFD in report
  

• There were two different burglaries of the same apartment on Crestwood Drive by homeless suspects. Both suspects were found asleep inside the apartments by maintenance

  • 7/2 0730 hrs. Robert Burks, B/M, 43 yrs. old, has priors for aggravated assault, theft, stolen vehicle and CDS
  • 7/3 0550 hrs. John Collins, B/M, 45 yrs. old, 6’3”/240 lbs., priors for armed robbery, theft, CDS and resisting arrest

  Crestwood Drive is off N. Summit Ave, south of Girard.

• A burglary occurred at Old Siam, 108 E. Diamond Avenue between 2200 hours on Monday 7/2 and 1030 hours on Tuesday 7/3. A window was broken and only coins were taken from the cash register.

• An aggravated assault occurred at 8519 Snouffer School Road on Monday 7/9 at 1921 hours. The suspect was arrested but information is via the CAD; no report was available.

  Defendant: Rico Custis, Unknown race M, 36 yrs. old, NFD
  

• A burglary occurred at 8137 Morning View Drive on Sunday 7/1 at 0410 hours. The adult female victim was asleep in a chair when she woke up to the suspect fondling and kissing her breast. The victim screamed and the suspect fled. Other residents in the house chased the suspect and he was arrested nearby. There was a recent similar case in the 5th District.

  Defendant: Sidney Smith, B/M, 46 yrs. old, 6’3”/175 lbs., light complexion, of 12150 Flag Harbor Drive

  Morning View Drive is near Midcounty Hwy and Washington Grove Lane.

• There were two burglaries and possibly one attempted burglary on Snouffer School Road this week. All of them had a front door or window broken. 7/4 WED 0219 hrs. 8441 Snouffer School Road 6-12 Only beer was taken.

  • 7/7-7/8 SAT-SUN 2330-0930 hrs. 8403 Snouffer School Road B&B Beer & Wine Only took a display case of lottery tickets.
  • 7/7 2030-2052 hrs. 8097 Snouffer School Road Absolute Furniture Possible attempted burglary, employee found the front window broken.

• A ’00 Yamaha scooter was taken from 18200 Flower Hill Way, the Flower Hill Shopping Center on Sunday 7/15 between 1515 and 1730 hours. A witness saw the suspects unloading the scooter from the suspect vehicle at 7900 Spiceberry Circle on 7/3. The ignition wires had been cut.

  Suspects: An unknown number of 1BM’s

  Vehicle: dark colored mini-van

• Janel Davis writes: Third pedestrian dies on county streets

  This week’s incidents are part of the 92 pedestrian-vehicle collisions — incidents reported by police whether or not a pedestrian is hurt — that occurred in the first 93 days of this year. One bicyclist has also been killed. This year’s numbers do not include incidents in Takoma Park, which reports its incidents separately.

  An extensive report on pedestrian collisions in 2006 has just been posted on the County’s website.

• Margie Hyslop writes: Local legislation spends closing days in limbo

  Much legislation that would let counties, cities and towns make changes is languishing in the final week of the General Assembly’s session, which ends at midnight Monday.

• Melissa J. Brachfeld writes: First phase of extending Crabbs Branch Way OK’d

  The county Planning Board on Thursday approved the first phase of a preliminary plan that would eventually extend Crabbs Branch Way north across Shady Grove Road, where it ends now, to Amity Drive.

Update 3:

Natasha Altamirano writes in The Washington Times: County land eyed to set up Gaithersburg day-labor site:

The county’s other day-labor centers in Silver Spring and Wheaton, operated through the immigrant-advocacy group CASA of Maryland, provide some vocational training, health care and other services.

CASA spokeswoman Kim Propeack said operation details of the new center haven’t been worked out. Mr. Lacefield said county officials plan to discuss those details with CASA.

The county estimates one-time setup costs of $45,000 for the center and annual facility costs of $24,000 for trailer rental and electricity. The County Council has approved $114,730 for operational costs.

Update 2: Sebastian Montes writes in the Gazette, Crabbs Branch is county pick for day-laborer center:

The county hopes to have the center running by mid-February, Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield said in an interview Thursday.

‘‘It is not going to go up before we have a chance to get comments from the public,” he said.

Some residents in the Shady Grove Sector planning area are not happy with the county announcement. They say the area is already burdened with enough.

‘‘You name it, we’ve got it. Don’t just dump this in our area,” said Derwood resident Brad Botwin.”

He listed the county’s trash transfer station, a bus maintenance yard and other industrial facilities in addition to the end-point of the future Intercounty Connector.

‘‘And now to have this plopped in … it’s exhausting. Enough. I’ve just had it,” Botwin added.

On Monday Botwin, a 22-year Derwood resident, resigned his position as co-president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance to form a new group — Help Save Maryland.

That group will work to prevent the day-laborer center from opening, he said.

Update: Ann E. Marimow writes in The Washington Post: Leggett Announces Plans for Day-Laborer Site:

Leggett’s pick, which is not subject to approval by the County Council, will be reviewed by the county Planning Board at a public hearing next month.

Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz, who is scheduled to meet with Leggett tomorrow, said he would withhold judgment until after their conversation.

“Until I actually speak to Ike, I don’t know for sure what they are suggesting and what they are doing,” Katz said, adding that “the fact that I’m meeting with him is a very good step.”

The new center would be modeled on the county’s existing facilities in Silver Spring and Wheaton, and would cost taxpayers an estimated $24,000 a year to operate, in addition to $45,000 in start-up costs.

---

As of Thursday morning, there isn’t much coverage in the press concering the labor center announcment yet, but I’ll add more as I find it. If you find more please feel free to leave links in the comments or send me an email. Thanks.

Today’s Washington Times had an editorial on the subject:

If at first you don’t succeed, try 29 more times. That was Gaithersburg’s failed approach to the issue of day-labor centers catering to illegal aliens, which city officials proposed for 30 different locations in 2006, each time facing an angry phalanx of local opposition. They finally gave up the ghost in November. Newly installed Montgomery County Executive Isiah “Ike” Leggett seems to have learned nothing from that experience.

Or, more to the point, Mr. Leggett’s lesson is to build the thing just past city limits, where those nettlesome Gaithersburgers and their NIMBYism cannot stop it. As has been reported in recent weeks, Mr. Leggett is determined to get a center built. His deputies have identified locations near Shady Grove Road and Route 355 just over the border from Gaithersburg on the presumption that this time, the locals won’t object to a day-labor center.

Channel 9 had a story on last night’s 11:00 news (video available on their website):

Brad Botwin, a member of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance claims the site is near the intersection of Shady Grove Road and Crabbs Branch Way. He said he learned of the Leggett’s decision from staffers from the Montgomery County Department of Park and Planning. Botwin and others, like Susan Payne, a Gaithersburg resident and co-founder of “Citizens Above Party” are furious that the decision appears to have been made without any public hearings

• Sebastian Montes writes, Loans to day laborers could be in future
  

  Montgomery County began funding day-laborer centers as a solution for immigrant workers more than 10 years ago, and County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) believes it is time to expand the thinking. He wants to move away from relying solely on the centers to address the employment needs of a growing number of day laborers.

  ‘‘I’m not interested in having sites all over the county,” Leggett (D) said in an interview last week. ‘‘I do not want that to become our standard operating procedure, that every community gets one.”

  Moving workers from short-term hires to permanent jobs is the long-term solution, Leggett said. His idea is to tap into the county’s economic development money to make loans to entrepreneurial day laborers so they can create their own micro-enterprises.

  Under the last administration, the county recognized the immigrant advocacy group Casa of Maryland as the only agency with the know-how to run the county’s day-laborer centers.

  Besides providing a formal structure to the hiring process, Casa offers English and Spanish classes, legal aid, financial advice, vocational training and citizenship classes at its centers and helps immigrants tap into a range of outside government social services.

  Casa received more than $1.28 million in noncompetitive county grants last year — $1.5 million of its $3.3 million income came from government sources, according to its 2005-2006 annual report.

  Critics of the county’s current policy point to a growing distaste for day-laborer centers, which serve an undetermined number of illegal immigrants.

  That dynamic played out bitterly last year in Gaithersburg as landlords, business owners and neighbors to more than 30 potential center sites objected loudly enough to convince city leaders that they would never find an appropriate site. After six months of trying, the city called an end its search in November.

• Melissa J. Brachfeld, Liza Gutierrez and Sebastian Montes write, Shady Grove neighbors angered by laborer plan
  

  With county officials looking to open a day-laborer center in the vicinity of the Shady Grove Metro station, some nearby residents are vehemently against plan while others are relatively indifferent.

  County Executive Isiah Leggett’s point man on the issue, Chuck Short, said the county is confident that the impact on neighborhoods will be minimal because the site is embedded within an industrial area.

  However, some Rockville and Derwood residents are not convinced.

  In a letter e-mailed to The Gazette, Brad Botwin, co-president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance, wrote, ‘‘Had Montgomery officials bothered to conduct any research at all, they would quickly have discovered that this property is part of the county-approved Shady Grove Sector Plan.”

  Brad Botwin also has a letter in the Gazette, which is similar to one he sent to me a few days ago.

• Chris Robinson writes, Another armed robbery occurs in Olde Towne
  

  Gaithersburg police are investigating an armed robbery that happened last week in the 200 block of East Diamond Avenue.

  This is the fourth armed robbery in the Olde Towne area in the past month.

  On Jan. 3, a 53-year-old woman was exiting the vehicle outside her home in the 400 block of North Summit Avenue when two men, one armed with a black pistol, demanded the woman’s handbag.

  I reported these incidents last Wednesday.

It appears that finally, after more than a year of effort, Gaithersburg residents may have succeeded in stopping the placement of a day laborer center in their city [*], although it took a new County administration to bring it to resolution.

Ann E. Marimow writes in tomorrow’s Washington Post:

In his first month in office, Leggett (D) has directed special assistant Chuck Short — a veteran of county debates that have pitted neighbors against newcomers — to “get this resolved and put this behind us.” Those involved in the discussions say Leggett has taken a fresh approach to the policy and politics, and they are hopeful a temporary site can be selected just outside of Gaithersburg as soon as this week.

Gaithersburg City Manager David B. Humpton said the administration of former county executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) “knew what a hot potato it was, and they wanted to keep it in Gaithersburg. There was no partnership. The partnership was a farce.” With the Leggett administration, “I feel a lot of promise,” Humpton said last week, acknowledging that “there are still going to be wrinkles in the road.”

In the long term, Leggett wants to get Montgomery out of the business of paying for day-laborer centers by using economic development money to help train workers so they can open their own businesses that would offer temporary job services.

“You don’t want to end up with centers scattered all over the county,” Leggett said. “We have to come up with a solution for people to find work in a dignified manner and have less reliance on these sites.”

More immediately, Short expects that the county will create a center using temporary trailers on county property just over the border from Gaithersburg. He has identified three possible locations near Shady Grove Road and Route 355 and said he is “very close” to making his recommendations to Leggett.

“Nothing moves very quickly in government, but we could move this one in 30 days,” said Short, who was the county’s health and human services director in the 1990s and helped open its first day-laborer center in Silver Spring.

This is, of course, why having a city government is useful — they kind of have to listen a bit more to their residents. The County, on the other hand, can proceed on something like this with virtually no public process. This is somewhat disappointing to some who wanted to stop a center in any form:

The prospect of moving outside the city limits appeals to the workers and residents such as Searles but has drawn criticism from others, who object to the county spending taxpayer dollars to assist any immigrants who are illegal. If the center is beyond the city’s borders, it would not be subject to Gaithersburg’s planning process.

Susan Payne, who met with Short last week and has helped derail potential city sites, decried what she said was a lack of data to justify such a center. “Ike Leggett is saying to the taxpayers, ‘I want to bleed off resources that could be used for other programs and train people for jobs that aren’t legally allowed to work.’ “

I would be curious to know what sort of data Ms. Payne thinks would justify a Center. I fear she might be just a bit disingenuous here. From my perspective, the presence of day laborers (or at least persons who appear to be looking for day work) in the Gaithersburg area is indisputable. If a day labor center does nothing else, it minimizes the vulnerability of an anti-solicitation ordinance to court challenge. If the County is willing to place the center in what is essentially an industrial/commercial location — as the area around Shady Grove & MD355 most certainly is; heck, that’s where the waste transfer station is — then the threat it presents to residential neighborhoods is minimized. I consider this a victory and a good compromise.

Now, if only the City Council will have the guts to pass an anti-solicitation ordinance, so that we can do something about all the day laborers who might remain scattered around the City and unwilling to move down to an official hiring site. Without that, this victory will be muted almost to extinction.

* Update: It was pointed out to me that keeping the center out of the City was not clearly the goal of the City residents, and I think this is correct. The motivations for opposing any specific placement of a day laborer center varied considerably. Some were only trying to ensure that it was placed in an appropriate location, e.g. not in a residential neighborhood. Some owners of commercial buildings who had been asked to lease for this purpose only refused to allow it on their properties. Some were attempting to prevent the establishment of any day laborer center anywhere. But the net aggregate effect of all this opposition was to cause all efforts to establish a center within the City limits to fail.

Update: The video of this meeting is now available on the City’s website.

Update 2: See below regarding a new Gazette article.

It’s late, so I can’t cover everything, but here’s a bit of an overview of what happened:

• The Mayor and Council tonight decided to defer yet again to the leadership of the the County on the day laborer situation. Despite assurances from the City Attorney regarding the supportability of the proposed text, the majority of the Council — everyone except Henry Marraffa — came out against approval of the anti-solicitation ordinance (actually, no one would second Mr. Marraffa’s motion) and in favor of deferring the decision until after the City has more opportunity to negotiate with the new County Administration. It was a contentious meeting. The Council had to deal with what was probably one of the rowdiest audiences I’ve seen there, at least since the last time this came up, and it wasn’t even a public hearing. The day laborers and their advocates, who undoubtedly had a heads-up that nothing bad was going to happen, stayed away in droves. Thus it was mostly Olde Towne residents, sick to death of all the dithering and inaction, who created the tension. Most of the Council members yet again asserted their ostensible concern over the situation these residents were dealing with, while offering them nothing in the way of a realistic solution or even leadership in that direction.

  Just last November, the City had given up on finding a place for a center — a decision which led to a nasty epistolary exchange between the City Manager and the County Chief Administrative Officer. Quoting one of Mr. Humpton’s letters,

  I discussed this matter publicly with our Mayor and City Council during their regular meeting of November 6, 2006. They unanimously concurred with my conclusion that, after an exhaustive search, it does not appear possible to have a site located in the City which meets the spirit of our Task Force’s criteria and is acceptable to a property owner.

  Now, in tonight’s meeting, some Council members appeared to want to dig at this scab and start looking around the City again for some place to have a temporary, or even permanent site. From what I can tell this is to placate the County, which seems to have this unexplained jones for a center within the City limits (although see below, and I swear I wrote the previous sentence before seeing the Gazette story). Meanwhile, dozens of day laborers continue their unsupervised daily assembly at 17 N Frederick (as well as several other spots up and down MD 355) to stand around in in the unseasonably mild weather and wonder what it would be like to get work, and the Olde Towne residents wonder if the City is ever going to find a solution which will give them their neighborhood back.

• Remarkably, despite the County’s objections and concern over a law that appears to require the City not to have APFO regulations more restrictive than the County’s, the Council voted 3-2 to pass the APFO that is sensitive to the two-year MCPS funding horizon for school construction, rather than the 6-year fantasy horizon in which all good things are not only possible but likely.
• A motion to approve Hazma Halici’s application to destroy the Talbott House failed on a 3-3 vote. The Mayor, John Schlichting and Mike Sesma all voted against the motion. Henry Maraffa voted for it, apparently out of general hostility toward the principals of historic preservation, while Geri Edens and Stanley Alster voted for it, largely because they voted for it the last time, but also because they thought the standard was too weak and they hadn’t bothered to change it since the last time this came up.

---

Update 2:

Sebastian Montes has another article in the online Gazette:

Once it became clear that the council would defer the fate of the controversial anti-solicitation ordinance, last night’s meeting devolved into open heckling and verbal tirades against city leaders. The group of outraged residents, mostly from Olde Towne, at one point stormed out of the meeting in disgust.

‘‘They’re gutless. They know what the right thing to do is, but they’re looking for political cover,” said resident Dan Searles after as the group discussed the recall outside City Hall. ‘‘This is a time for real people, real adults, real leaders, to stand up. And they refuse.”

‘‘The mayor told us he was committed to passing this ordinance. And we trusted him. And we waited — we waited all the way to January because we had his word that they were committed to passing this,” said Olde Towne resident Mike Stumborg.

The angry residents raised the specter of a recall in the fall, but held off to give city leaders time. After last night’s inaction, they said they are ready to pursue a recall.

‘‘We waited to give these guys a second chance to see if they would do even anything. And they’ve done nothing. How much longer can or should we wait for them to lead the city?” Stumborg said Wednesday morning. ‘‘The five of them [besides Marraffa] didn’t even have the backbone to allow it to be voted down so that the people of Gaithersburg could see where they stood. It’s spineless, unconscionable, shameful and shows no leadership. And it sends a message to the county that Gaithersburg can be walked all over.”

Several of the residents were members of a city-appointed task force that studied the day-laborer issue last year, including its chairman, Prentiss Searles, who won wide praise for even-handedly navigating the task force through the contentious issue.

The ordinance was one of the task force’s key recommendations.

---

As a footnote to the day laborer topic, I notice now an article by Sebastian Montes in this week’s Gazette, concerning Chuck Short’s return to County Government to take on the day laborer issue. Quoting,

With ‘‘adequate blame to be spread on everyone” for having so far failed to open a center, Short said he is interested more in moving forward than in picking at old wounds.

‘‘It’s not my goal to win a battle, it’s to find a solution that addresses the common good,” he said.

To that end, Short met ‘‘over coffee” three weeks ago with Gaithersburg City Manager David B. Humpton. Their professional relationship goes back several years.

The early talks are already yielding possibilities that have them feeling optimistic, they both said in interviews with The Gazette.

While Short believes that the city has some level of obligation, he said he is not going to ‘‘obsess over the city limits issue” — the notion that the center must be in Gaithersburg proper.

That question had become a bone of contention in recent months.

‘‘We’re percolating ideas,” Humpton said, both short- and long-term, including a number of specific sites that are ‘‘proximate” to Gaithersburg.

Both added that they are arranging a meeting between Leggett (D) and Mayor Sidney A. Katz (D), probably in the next few weeks.

The question I have is: If the County relents and builds a center outside of the City limits, will the Council take that as a signal that they don’t have t