TRIMMING PEPCO’S TRIMMING Legislator proposes reining in tree-cutting. A-3
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NEWS: Sherwood senior gets a surprise visit from university’s admissions staff. A-3
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
25 cents
City residents sound off on growth, schools
A big downtown canvas
Change in ordinance would align Rockville’s standards with county’s n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Marshall Adams works Friday on his mural on 275 North Washington, a two-story office and retail building that developer JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase is building in Rockville Town Center. Adams is visible at top left, in a yellow hard hat. The 35-by-70-foot project, started in the fall, is about 65 percent finished.
Newman leaving Leadership Montgomery Longtime head of community group to ‘re-wire’ in September n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
As Esther Newman went around Montgomery County in 1989, she began to notice that she was seeing many of the same people over and over again on various boards and committees. And not only were the faces the same, but they overwhelmingly shared two characteristics, she said: They were white and almost entirely male. Out of that experience grew Leadership Montgomery, the
organization Newman founded and has led for 26 years. Last week, she announced her plans to leave the Rockville nonprofit in September. A committee will be appointed to find Leadership Montgomery’s new CEO. She said she intends to stay active in the county and in community service, a plan to “not retire, but re-wire,” she said. Newman has been a leader since early on. At Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C., she was vice president of the student council and editor of the school newspaper. She got married out of high school and had two children.
But when they went to school, Newman did, too. She earned her associate degree from Montgomery College, a bachelor’s degree from Antioch University and a master’s in applied behavioral science from Johns Hopkins University in 1983. Newman said she took great pride in getting her education while also raising a family. “Somehow, I found ways to do it all,” she said. She got involved in various organizations that found her working with community leaders, and started looking for ways to provide opportunities
See NEWMAN, Page A-8
1997 FILE PHOTO
Esther Newman, CEO of Leadership Montgomery, said she plans to “re-wire,” not retire, when she leaves the Rockville nonprofit in September.
Several county pets featured in 2015 calendars Winston, of Rockville, among canine stars enjoying newfound fame n
BY
ANDREW SCHOTZ STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Winston, a Lakeland terrier belonging to Beth and Essex Thompson, sits with their 17-year-old son, also named Essex, in their Rockville home. Winston’s photo was included in a puppy calendar. Essex holds an uncropped version of the calendar image.
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See PETS, Page A-8
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TEAM TRANSITION Sherwood senior embraces new role to lead boys basketball team.
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See GROWTH, Page A-8
Super Bowl Sunday means super snacks n
Rockville, Bethesda caterers prep for the big game
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
If you can pick it up with one hand — underinflated game balls excepted — it’s a perfect food for the Super Bowl. Come Sunday, when the Seattle Seahawks defend their NFL championship against the New England Patriots in Glendale, Ariz., the one-hand grasp is what hosts and guests will want for their game day snacking, according to local caterers. “It tends to be mostly finger foods, jerk chicken wings or calypso chicken wings — anything
that’s easy,” said Roger Hernandez, a sales associate at Caribbean Caterers in Rockville. Hernandez said his company is preparing food for some Super Bowl parties, although most customers want their food dropped off rather than opting for full-service catering. Mostly, he said, Caribbean Caterers is preparing finger foods for small parties of 30 to 40 people. Jennifer Lucks of Lucks Caterers in Rockville said her company also is going that route for the Super Bowl parties it’s catering. “A lot of people like hors d’oeuvre kind of things, things they can set out,” Lucks said. She mentioned pigs in a blanket and fried wontons as
See SUPER, Page A-8
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Amongst their peers, they’re celebrities, at least for a year. And their owners are thrilled. Several Montgomery County pets are featured nationally in five 2015 cat and dog calendars. They include Winston, a Lakeland terrier who belongs to Essex and Beth Thompson of Rockville. Winston was not yet 2 years old when the Thompsons submitted his picture, hoping he
could be in the 365 Puppies a Year calendar. That was seven years ago. Beth Thompson was excited to learn several months ago that Winston, now 9, made the puppy cut for 2015. The five calendars — 365 Puppies a Year, 365 Cats, 365 Kittens a Year, 365 Dogs and Bad Cat — are all products of Workman Publishing in New York. Kim Peifley of Germantown has three gray cats that got into Bad Cat, even though they hadn’t done anything particularly naughty. The photo shows the litter mates, who turned 2 in August, clinging to each other
A proposal to change a relatively obscure law known as the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance is generating more than its fair share of heat in Rockville. More than 50 people braved Monday night’s snow to speak at a second hearing on the topic, after 36 people testified at the initial Jan. 5 hearing. A vote by the mayor and City Council is set for Feb. 9 on the controversial plan to change Rockville’s system for determining how development affects school growth. The proposal would change Rockville’s adequate public facilities standards for when a school is at full capacity from the current 110 percent of program capacity to 120 percent, as well as averaging capacity of schools by clusters rather considering individual schools. Both changes would align the city with Montgomery County’s standards for determining school capacity. The current lower threshold prevents more school overcrowding, say its proponents. Advocates for a change say it hasn’t stopped overcrowding and only impedes the city’s economic development. The proposal also would use
the county’s system of projecting capacity five years after a project is approved, rather than in the first two years of approval as the city does, and reserve capacity when a project is applied for rather than when a project is approved. Victoria McMullen, a retired Montgomery County Public Schools teacher, said the county’s idea that the “new normal” of 120 percent is acceptable is “objectionable in itself.” A 120 percent standard will actually mask overcrowding of 130 percent or more because cluster averaging waters down statistics to make schools look less overcrowded than they really are, McMullen said. In addition, five-year averaging allows underestimation of crowding by counting schools years before they’re funded or built, she said. “Out-of-control residential development will result in a catastrophe for our schools and our children’s future,” McMullen said. Gene Thirolf, a former president of the Beall Elementary, Julius West Middle and Richard Montgomery High School parent teacher student associations, said weakening the ordinance would damage the city’s credibility with the school system, county executive and County Council. The differences between the city and county positions aren’t that great, Thirolf said. “But those differences make
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