As the county prepares its next budget, which outlines spending for July 2026 – June 2027, the Bethesda community is pushing a recreation center as a priority.

The Montgomery County Planning Department predicts downtown Bethesda’s 2050 population will be more than double the 2020 population. As the area grows, so will the need for county services, like parks and recreation.

The planning department called out the need for a dedicated recreation center back in the 2017 Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan. There’s been little progress.

“There isn’t a timeline. When the stars are aligned then things can happen,” said Elza Hisel-McCoy, west county planning chief. “I definitely would not say it’s stalled. A free-standing Recreation Center on a piece of property somewhere in the county is a complex undertaking.”

In a written statement to the county government submitted Oct. 8, Kristen Nelson, chair of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board, said Bethesda doesn’t have equitable access to recreation spaces.

On behalf of the advisory board, Nelson urged government leaders to take meaningful steps towards a recreation center.

“Bethesda’s continued success depends on ensuring residents – and businesses — have access to the same community infrastructure found elsewhere in the county,” Nelson said.

“A civic and recreation center would improve public health, expand equity, and reinforce downtown Bethesda’s role as a connected, inclusive, and vibrant place to live, work and gather.”

Rec center ‘long time coming’

Montgomery County has 22 recreation centers, eight senior centers, five indoor aquatic centers and seven outdoors pools maintained by the recreation department.

Monika Hammer, recreation department spokesperson, said it’s important people have access to adequate resources to exercise to stay health and active.

“There’s a lot of different factors that are taken into consideration when it comes to locations of centers. That can include center usage, population, looking at things with the racial equity and social justice lens,” she said. “We want to be accessible to everyone in the county.”

There’s a lot of moving parts to decide where a new recreation facility will go, Hammer said.

At least four different county agencies are involved in planning and execution, Hammer said. Plus, capital projects like recreation centers are expensive.

Downtown Bethesda hasn’t seen any new parkland or recreation spaces since the passage of the 2017 plan. Other priorities in the plan, like economic growth through new development, have seen major progress.

The area has seen over 3.8 million square feet of new development. The county has already approved 3.6 million more.

Amanda Farber, a Bethesda resident, said downtown needs more parks and recreation spaces. But finding a location is hard.

“The recreation center has been a long time coming,” she said. “There was a point in time where the county really was investing a lot in these sorts of amenities in downtown Bethesda.”

Then, she said, the county shifted focus towards private development to support public spaces.

What’s next?

Montgomery County is exploring public-private partnerships to get the recreation center off the ground.

“There was a general feeling that the amenities were a little bit slower in coming than everybody would have preferred,” Hisle-McCoy said.

Working off that feeling, the county adopted an updated plan in May 2025 with incentives to entice developers to partner with the county and make the recreation center a reality.

Developers who take up the offer could get a tax break and approval to build a taller facility than regular zoning laws would allow.

Hisle-McCoy said the incentives will help everything “get into the right alignment” to deliver the recreation center.

The public-private model worked in Silver Spring.

A partnership between the county and an affordable housing provider made way for the Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center, which opened last February.

The $72 million facility offers a variety of free programming, like dance and fitness classes, recreational sports, water aerobics and more. Attached to the facility is a 15-story affordable housing building for seniors.

“I call it the Ritz Carlton of rec centers,” Farber said. “They included everything. It’s amazing.”

To see the same success in Bethesda, the county government has to decide what it wants to see in a recreation center.

Multiple community organizations, including the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board, have asked the county council to fund a Program of Requirements Study, which would define physical requirements for the space and operational goals for the center.

The county is hosting public input sessions on the upcoming budget throughout October and November. The budget must be set by June 1, 2026

The post Bethesda needs a recreation center. Can it get one? first appeared on 91����.

They swayed their hips and snapped their fingers in downtown Bethesda as the queens sang “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” to the familiar tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”

performed with glowing smiles and carved cheekbones. For them, drag is a safe space.

“Drag, it is theater. It is political. It is comedy. It is very joyful,” Vettick said.

Jazz agreed, saying that performing is a “special moment” that lights up the room.

“With these difficult moments that we’re living, bringing joy to the people is something very important.”

Saturday’s Drag Story Hour is the first of many that will be held in the event space of the new , which opened its first physical location at the end of August.

More space, more programs

The center has offered satellite programs since its founding in 2017. Having a dedicated space has let the event calendar expand “exponentially,” said Maddie Roepe, program director at the new Bethesda location.

“We can’t count on institutions to look out for us or take care of us when things are hard,” she said. “We need a level of support that sometimes our government and our larger cultural institutions are not willing to provide for us. We will provide for each other.”

She said having a physical space will help expand access to support for the queer community. MoCo Pride Center is the first Pride center in Montgomery County.

LGBTQ+ people are at higher risk for mental health challenges and sexually transmitted infections, according to the

They are also more likely to experience housing instability or homelessness, according to a 2020 study from the .

While the Pride center is a place to foster community, MoCo Pride Center CEO Phillip Alexander Downie said, it’s also a hub that connects people with necessary services, like health care navigation and STI testing.

The center also hosts various peer support groups, including for people who are sober and families of LGBTQ+ people.

There are multiple community spaces in the center, like a coworking room and LGBTQ+ library and archive, open for drop-in use seven days a week.

Downie said services will expand as community needs evolve, with legal and mental health clinics already planned.

He said the physical space will help create “consistent” access to services that make navigating queer life easier.

Without reliable access to educational services, like a Pride center or inclusive school club, young LGBTQ+ people may turn to the internet to learn — which puts them at risk of relying on misinformation, said Erin Gill, a researcher who focuses on education policy’s effect on queer students’ wellbeing.

Pride centers serve the same purpose for communities as gender and sexuality alliances do for students, she said. Having those designated spaces makes it easier for young people to feel a sense of belonging.

Students in schools with inclusive curriculum, gender and sexuality alliances, and culturally informed educators feel safer, more connected to school, face lower rates of bullying and report better mental health than peers in schools without those supports, Gill said.

In communities with Pride centers, Gill said, young people report lower instances of bullying, harassment and violence. They also report better mental health than people in communities who don’t have access to safe spaces.

‘Vital’ to MoCo

As the MoCo Pride Center grows, so will its financial need.

As a nonprofit organization, Downie said all donations and grants given to the center go toward paying staff and funding programs.

He said Montgomery County government is the largest benefactor, having allocated $515,000 to the Pride center this year.

Downie said he hopes as the center grows, county investment will too.

Councilmember Evan Glass, the first openly gay person to serve on Montgomery County Council, said the Pride center is vital to the wellbeing of the county.

Glass is campaigning for the 2026 County Executive election and said he will do everything he can to support and enhance the center in years to come.

He said it is vital the center has the support it needs to fight against the rhetoric of President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Trump is trying to destroy everything we believe here in Montgomery County. A cornerstone of that is our beautiful diversity in making sure everybody feels safe and welcome,” Glass said. “We need to double down on our commitment to our diversity and the Pride center is a foundation of that.”

Trump has signed multiple executive orders since the start of his second term that scale back protections for LGBTQ+ people, particularly the trans community, by banning transgender people from serving in the military and limiting access to gender affirming care.

‘A game changer’ for queer youth

When looking to the future, Glass said it’s inspiring to reflect on how far support for LGBTQ+ people has come. He said there were no spaces like the Pride center when he was growing up.

Without that solid educational support system, Glass said he didn’t have a place to explore his identity.

“There was no built-in community that I could reach out to. That is what the Pride Center is now — a place for people of all ages to get the help, love and support that they need,” he said. “It would have been a game changer for me, and I hope that it will be a game changer for other young people.”

The MoCo Pride Center is filling a long-neglected gap by bringing services to the LGBTQ+ community.

Wing, a small business owner who asked to only be identified by their chosen first name, was born and raised in the county.

They recently opened their own small business, , which makes sustainable upcycled and vegan art. They set up Saturday a booth at the MoCo Pride Center’s first Wellness Weekend, which is a vendor fair that also connects people with services.

Wing said they first started questioning their sexuality in middle school but didn’t have anywhere to turn to for support.

The Pride center is a resource they wished they could have had growing up, Wing said.

Queer space ’empowers people’

Vettick said it is refreshing to see times grow and change to offer more accessible resources to the queer community.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, she said she was left to her own devices to navigate being queer.

“There was a lot of questions that I had that I was not able to get answers to. Having these kind of queer spaces that are open for everybody with so much resources that are educational, you’re able to get your answers and be represented,” she said. “We didn’t have that back then, and it’s so important right now.”

Vettick encouraged Jazz to pursue their drag dreams, Jazz said.

In a time where queer safe space was hard to come by, the duo created their own.

Jazz said the Pride center will make it easier for future generations to explore their own identifies.

“All of us should have a place where we feel safe, we feel love, and we feel empowered to be ourselves, which is I believe the purpose of life,” Jazz said.

“Creating safe spaces empowers people to live their truly best.”

The post ‘It is political:’ Creating queer safe spaces in Montgomery County first appeared on 91����.

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition filed a lawsuit in August 2024 to bar developers 1784 Capital Holdings LLC from building on property the coalition says could have hundreds of enslaved people’s bones. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Carlos Acosta ruled in late August that the coalition has until February to finish discovery so court hearings can proceed on schedule.

“This, just like every case that comes here, is an important case. It’s not just important to the parties involved. It’s important to a lot of people in the community,” Acosta said at an August court hearing.

Acosta denied a motion by the Arizona-based developers to dismiss the lawsuit, calling it “premature.”

The developers maintain there is no evidence of human remains on the property.

“It’s just rhetoric,” said Jarvis Stewart, who owns a communications firm that represents 1784.

“It’s just vicious, calling my client the most horrible names – racists and bigots – with no proof.”

Stewart said the company recovered multiple bone fragments during the excavation process, but archeologists they hired determined they were animal bones.

The discoveries were removed from the site, stored for over one year, then tested for human DNA multiple times, Stewart said.

During the DNA testing process, the bones were destroyed.

To test for human DNA, according to a court affidavit, a forensic analyst smashed the bones “into a fine powder.”

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, who founded the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, called the removal and subsequent destruction of the bones “one of the crimes of the century.”

She said the bones are human and belong to Bethesda’s African ancestors.

“That was their only means of communicating with future generations, with their bones. Those bones would have told the story of what happened to them,” she told 91����.

“When you assume the arrogance of destroying someone’s ability to tell their story, that is vile and despicable.”

Bethesda’s African history

In the early 1800s, nearly 50% of the people in Montgomery County were enslaved African Americans, Bethesda historian Hank Levine said.

After the U.S. emancipated slaves, many African Americans left Bethesda.

Some stuck around.

“After the Civil War, free Black people were able to purchase land in some areas, including along River Road. That becomes a Black neighbor,” Levine said. “They built a church. It’s still there.”

That church is Macedonia Baptist Church. It is the only remaining building from the Black neighborhood on River Road.

Coleman-Adebayo’s husband is the pastor. She said that’s how she first learned of Moses African Cemetery.

One of the congregation members, Harvey Matthews, said he used to play at the cemetery as a little boy in the 1950s.

The developers don’t argue that the cemetery existed, but there is debate over where the boundary is.

Developers discover bones on property

The developer 1784 originally bought multiple adjacent parcels of land for $11 million in 2017, according to Montgomery County land records.

In the early stages of construction, the company found “artifacts” and other things “related to early 1900s grave sites” on one parcel, Stewart said.

The company deeded that land back to the county.

Construction continued on the adjacent section of property and is ongoing today. That’s the piece of land where 1784 recovered what company officials said were “animal bones.”

Boyd Sipe is an archeologist at Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc., the company 1784 hired to oversee the archeological excavation on site.

In a sworn court affidavit, he said “no human remains or funerary objects were found on the property.”

Multiple archeologists have examined the recovered bones.

In an email to Sipe, Towson University professor Dana Kollmann, a forensic archeologist, said she could not conclude that recovered bone fragments were “conclusively non-human” without DNA testing.

Coleman-Adebayo said that is important evidence that points to needing more conclusive examination.

After that email, 76 of the 132 recovered bones fragments were tested for human DNA.

Of the 76 bone samples tested, 74 had DNA levels “below the limit of detection,” according to court fillings from March.

Of the remaining two samples, only one showed evidence of human DNA, according to a report from Benetta George, the DNA analyst who did the testing. She attributed the trace amounts of human DNA to possible contamination during the transportation and testing process.

That’s not conclusive for Coleman-Adebayo. The recovered bones are likely human, she said.

So far, experts paid by the developers have done all the DNA testing on recovered artifacts. Court filings said 1784 spent $331,058 on archeologic services from Wetland Studies.

Coleman-Adebayo said the coalition needs access to what is left of the recovered bones so they can perform their own analysis.

She said there might be a different kind of test that can produce conclusive results with the trace amounts of DNA left on the bone fragments.

The land being built on had the perfect conditions to be a mass grave, Coleman-Adebayo said.

“That was swamp. It was just an incredible amount of water. Because it was agriculturally unproductive, it was environmentally perfect to be used as a mass burial because you couldn’t do anything else with it,” she said.

She said the bodies of Africans who were kidnapped and brought to the U.S. to be slaves were likely thrown in that mass grave.

The coalition recovered over 30 “funerary artifacts” from construction site dirt, Coleman-Adebayo said, which builders dumped at a landfill.

Those artifacts include scraps of fabric and bottles, which Coleman-Adebayo said points to funeral activity because African cultures often place bottles on grave sites to protect the spirit of the dead.

Tammy Hilburn, a cultural property crime expert, volunteered to monitor the construction site with the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition. During those observations, she said there was minimal oversight from the developers’ archeologists.

She observed an object on top of a “freshly excavated” pile of dirt and took a photo. Later, when reviewing her pictures, she said “it was evident … that object was a tombstone,” according to court documents filed by the coalition.

Stewart said anything recovered from the site is normal waste from “people living their lives,” not an indication of funeral activities.

“The property we are currently building on does not have any artifacts or any tombstones and all this other stuff that the coalition is suggesting,” he said.

What happens next?

Although the judge granted Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition until February to prove there are human remains on the development site, construction doesn’t have to stop.

Stewart said the projected completion date of the project is Spring 2026.

The company recently filed a countersuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court against the coalition to stop the group from interfering with construction. Judge Acosta postponed that ruling until after discovery is finished.

Stewart said the company recognizes Montgomery County’s history of “highly regarded, highly respected African American communities.” That’s why 1784 promised $250,000 to paint a mural honoring Bethesda’s African American population on a retaining wall near the storage facility.

The coalition isn’t interested in compromise, Stewart said.

“They want the land. They’ve wanted the land from the very beginning,” he said.

Coleman-Adebayo said winning the court battle would “stop the ongoing desecration” of Moses African Cemetery.

To prove the land is part of the cemetery, the coalition will hire its own experts to survey the property and examine any recovered artifacts. That will include DNA testing of the bones 1784 recovered from the site, Coleman-Adebayo said.

Ideally, she said, the coalition and Macedonia Baptist Church would partner to control the land and build a museum telling the history of the River Road community.

“We’d like to turn that area into a sacred space where people from all over the world can come, not to store their refrigerators and couches, but to understand the horror of what we call European barbarism,” Coleman-Adebayo said.

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For diners in D.C., sometimes eating at a restaurant is not just about satiating one’s hunger – it’s an act of solidarity. Patrons are now turning to their forks as a form of protest, a way to support international causes ranging from Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty to Palestinian rights.

This movement, called allows people to make a difference through their dining choices without ever holding a protest sign.

Traditionally, gastrodiplomacy has been associated with government officials engaging over meals and advertising their countries cuisine. Iconic moments include  with Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, marred by an unfortunate vomiting incident, and President-elect Donald Trump’s historic .

However, the power of food extends far beyond formal diplomacy, as chef and gastrodiplomacy researcher Sam Chapple-Sokol said. In an article for Public Diplomacy Magazine called “War and Peas,” he argued that food serves as an accessible entry point for everyday people to engage with international conflicts.

Nearly a decade ago, Chapple-Sokol teamed up with Johanna Mendelson-Forman, a professor at American University’s School of International Service, to create a course in conflict cuisines that took students to Ethiopian, El Salvadorian, Afghan and Korean restaurants in D.C., framing these spaces as informal classrooms. “Those restaurants are kind of unofficial embassies of their countries and of their people,” Chapple-Sokol said. “So that an American populist can start learning about those places.”

At Ruta Ukrainian Restaurant in Capitol Hill, the first Ukrainian restaurant in D.C., Director of Operations Ruslan Falkov embraces this concept wholeheartedly. “Every day in our staff meetings, I tell everyone, ‘You are ambassadors of Ukraine, every one of you because you are showcasing Ukrainian dishes,’” Falkov said.

More than 90% of Falkov’s staff is Ukrainian, and many were taken in after fleeing Russia’s war on their county. “So, it is not only place where they work, but it’s also place where they have found friends,” Falkov said. “It’s a community right now.”

The restaurant has recently opened its second location in Bethesda, Maryland. Falkov noted a shift in public interest following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “[Americans] know more about Ukraine, and now they have learned more about our cuisine,” Falkov said. “They developed an interest in understanding and experiencing our cuisine.”

The menu offers a variety of traditional Ukrainian dishes, including several variations of the classic borscht, holubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with meat or vegetables), and varenyky (Ukrainian dumplings). Their signature dish is Chicken Kyiv, a fried chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms and served alongside creamy polenta.

Aiden Carlton, a student at American University and the secretary of the organization Students Supporting Ukraine, shared that he often dines at Ruta after attending protests in support of Ukraine. “There isn’t much Ukrainian representation here in D.C.,” Carlton said. “Having Ruta, a place where people can enjoy authentic Ukrainian food regardless of their political involvement, helps draw people in and fosters a personal connection.”

Carlton, like many patrons of Ruta, are not of Ukrainian heritage, Falkov said.

While Ruta decorates its dishes with miniature Ukrainian flags and serves signature blue-and- yellow cocktails, not all restaurant owners find such displays of national pride as widely accepted.

At Detour Coffee Co., a Palestinian-owned cafe, the response has been a bit more contentious. Following the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the coffee shop in Arlington, Virginia, began serving espresso in cups featuring the Palestinian flag and adorning its cash register with stickers in support of Palestine. Noelle Miranda, the cafe’s marketing coordinator, said that these actions have led to a surge of negative reviews on Detour’s Google page.

But Miranda, said on behalf of the owner Ahmad Ayyad that he wanted his shop to be a space for Palestinian allies. “He was like, ‘I don’t care if I lose pro-Israel people, because, you know, I’d rather not have them as customers,’” she said.

Despite some backlash, Detour is busier than ever. Miranda said that Detour has gained many former Starbucks customers amid a perceived support of Israel and legal dispute with its workers union over a pro-Palestinian social media post. “We definitely did become a lot busier, you know, with like Starbucks getting canceled last year,” she said.

Miranda said that Detour Coffee’s partnership with Z&Z, a Middle Eastern bakery, has brought even more attention to the cafe. It’s pop-up events, with proceeds donated to humanitarian efforts in Palestine, have drawn such large crowds that the shop had to add outdoor seating to accommodate the overflow.

Despite the growing support, confusion about Detours stance persists. “There’s a lot of the misconception, of course, with the genocide that we support hate or terrorism,” Miranda said. “That’s not what we’re saying. What we’re saying is that these people are being oppressed, and we support them to be free.”

Palestinian chef Jinan Deena, micro-influencer, and owner of pop-up restaurant Bayti, said that creating Palestinian dishes has been a form of resistance in itself. “For Palestinians, the land gives us so much nourishment,” Deena said. “By claiming our food, they cannot disconnect us from our identity.”

When Deena moved to D.C. in 2017, she noticed how frequently Palestinian restaurants and food were falsely labelled as Middle Eastern or Lebanese to avoid pushback or out of fear. Even her own family’s restaurant in Ohio chose to distance itself from their Palestinian identity in its branding.

By the time Deena launched her pop-up in 2021, she felt she had to claim her heritage. “Okay, we’re Palestinian. This is who we are,” Deena said. “We’re probably going to turn off a lot of people who hate that word, but we’re probably also going to attract the right people, and that’s exactly what’s happened.”

At her third annual olive harvest pop-up event in September, Deena said the crowd was more diverse than in previous years. “It’s great, I never wanted my events to just be for the people in my community,” Deena said. “I wanted to reach people outside of that.” Her activism on Instagram, she said, has allowed her to connect with both new and longtime supporters.

A portion of the proceeds of the event went to Palestinian non-profit, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, which provides employment and funding to Palestinian farmers.

These sort of pop-ups and fundraisers have changed political activism for diners in what Chapple-Sokol referred to as “citizen culinary diplomacy.” In this way, Chapple-Sokol said, restaurants have become a public forum where politically active individuals can work.

But simply dining at restaurants or shopping at businesses owned by a Ukrainian or Palestinian, without any fundraising or advocacy element, has minimal impact on the situation in the country of conflict, Chapple-Sokol said. In the decade since the beginning of his research, Chapple-Sokol has come to understand this topic as far more complicated than he once wrote about. Sometimes food cannot be the great unifier.

“There is no such thing as hummus kumbaya,” he said. “Just by spending $600 on dinner at a restaurant doesn’t change the realities on the ground in Gaza,” Chapple-Sokol said. “But if the goal of the dinner is to learn or share the experience with
others who might be on a different side of the conversation, that can be foundational.”

Even without fundraisers, Deena said Palestinian restaurants need continued support. “I encourage people to support Palestinian businesses because we need our businesses to continue to thrive in the future so that we can carry on the traditions and so that people will always know who Palestinians are,” Deena said.

The activist calls for everyone to be conscious consumers and deliberate with their dollar. It’s not enough to boycott a corporation like Starbucks, but to be active participants in their local economy by supporting small, locally owned shops. “You should be thinking, if I am boycotting this, I am going to actually put my money money into something better,” Deena said.

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A Wash investigation, utilizing the and from 2023 and 2024, found that car theft is down by 23% in Bethesda-Chevy Chase and 12% countywide.��

Montgomery County’s rate had previously seen a steady increase going back to 2021.��

Councilmember Sidney Katz is the current chair of the Public Safety Committee of Montgomery County and believes that the Drone as First Responder initiative is to thank for the decrease in crime over the last year.��

“The drone is there within 90 seconds, and it can then come down with its camera, and it can see whether or not the call, the response is necessary, and how fast that response needs to be, whether it needs to be a red light and siren for those police officers to come in,” Katz said.

The initiative was initially started in 2023 to “provide air support to 911 or police generated calls for service in a safe, responsible and transparent manner,” according to the Montgomery County Department of Police.��

In the last year, regarding theft in the Silver Spring, Wheaton and Gaithersburg areas, all the locations of the initiative in the county. According to Katz, Bethesda is the next area to receive the initiative.

91���� looked into the car theft crime trends in those three areas before and after the drone program was implemented, finding that Silver Spring’s (3rd District) and Wheaton’s (4th District) car thefts are down in 2024.

2nd District Commander Amy Daum said she believes the drone initiative will come to Bethesda next due in part to the area’s dense population.

“Bethesda has the third highest call volume in the county,” Daum said. “And that’s in part because it’s densely populated, right? We know that. We also know that we’re right on the DC line. So, we have a lot of incidents that jump back and forth between those two places, but it’s important for us to be able to address that.”������

Both Katz and Daum also addressed the shortage of police officers in Montgomery County, and how this plays a role in crime rates and how the drone initiative can aid in combating the shortage.

“When we talk about the combat of the shortage of officers, we need to effectively use technology in some ways in order to help with what we know,” Daum said. “We know that we have a staffing shortage, so the drone helps in that respect as well.”

Katz also said that as Chair of the Public Safety Committee, the group works with the police department to aid in bringing more police onto the force.

“So, we’re trying our best to enhance the air shortage of personnel, but we’re also doing our best to increase the personnel as well,” he said. “We give signing bonuses…It’s that we’re doing more and more classes. It’s all of those sorts of things that we’re trying.”��

“I look forward to continuing to work with the community to ensure that our residents are as safe as possible, but that is an effort that goes in both directions right, we do encourage our community members to do things like lock their cars and bring their valuables inside,” she said.

Though Katz and other members of the committee and the police department are working to enhance the drone initiative as well as bring more officers onto the force, community members like Lisa Bodley-Bjorklund believe response time, specifically in Bethesda, needs to continue to improve. She also believes that the high theft rate is partly due to community members in fiscal need.��

“I guess, like, response time, it needs to be a lot faster,” Bodley-Bjorklund said. “And also having more resources for people who might need the money, and that’s why they’re stealing things. Having more shelters available, and the capacity of them is really high now, I think so, having just more resources for people so they don’t have to resort to doing those things.”

Though looking toward the future and keeping the community in mind, Daum believes that the crime rate in Bethesda will not shift exponentially from this year to the next.

“I can tell you that in Bethesda, we have seen a drop in crime,” she said. “I think that we are looking at this year to next year, I think we’re looking at maybe a one to 2% higher rate of crime. I don’t think that it’s going to be anything extraordinary.”��

Also, according to Daum, the 2nd District is down 67% in non-fatal shootings 9% in carjackings, with them being down 44% county-wide and 25% down in car theft all from 2023 to 2024. However, the area is seeing an increase in shoplifting and robberies.��

Daum also encourages residents of the area to stay up to date on what is happening in Bethesda and the 2nd District through trustworthy sites, like the police’s webpage, instead of word-of-mouth sources and to remain vigilant.

“I look forward to continuing to work with the community to ensure that our residents are as safe as possible, but that is an effort that goes in both directions right, we do encourage our community members to do things like lock their cars and bring their valuables inside,” she said.

With her hope looking into the new year and crime rates down due to initiatives like the drones and incentives from leaders to recruit more officers, Daum believes that both residents and officers can work together in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase communities.��

“I think that the Bethesda community is extraordinarily supportive of its police officers, and I look forward to continuing to build on the relationships that we’ve built in the last couple of years between the cops that work here in the community that we serve, and I think that that will be important throughout the county moving forward,” Daum said.��

The post Car theft down in Bethesda-Chevy Chase due to drone Initiative first appeared on 91����.

They had joined together as a part of a larger UUA Mosaic Conference to discuss how to work for human rights and social justice. And on the bottom floor of the building, the youth members learned why and how to promote democracy.��

Neha Majumdar began attending the South Kensington congregation in. when she was around eight years old. Majumdar and her parents moved to the area about a year earlier and were introduced to the organization by a family friend.��

Now 17, she was one of the roughly fifteen young adults who had attended that Friday’s Service-Learning Project. According to Majumdar, this was her first type of youth democracy event at Cedar Lane, and the turnout was impressive.

“It was really interesting because all these kids from across the country and also kids that are local, kids that I’ve known since elementary school, were there and it was like a really cool blend of people, and I think that we all kind of brought a lot to the table in the conversation,” she said.��

The learning project included a morning discussion on why each attendee thought democracy was important and personal to them. This then trickled into an afternoon of letter writing to swing states where the teens utilized their own experience with democracy to urge members of swing communities to vote.

“This is the first time we’re doing this particular type of thing and inviting youth who may not attend Cedar Lane every week to engage in this type of work,” the Rev. Dayna Edwards said in an interview before the event. “But, you know, Unitarian Universalists love a letter-writing campaign. So, it is something that is part of the social justice work that we’ve done, you know, for various different issues.”

And though Cedar Lane has touched youth like Majumdar, the UUA congregation is still working to engage the outside community of Bethesda-Chevy Chase to get involved in not only the election but protecting democracy through what they call social justice ministries.

“One of the things that we try to do here at Cedar Lane, one of our mission statements, is to be a multi-generational community,” Edwards said. “And so, it’s important for us to learn how, for all of us to learn how to interact with, you know, each other, regardless of our age. So often in our society, we are segregated by age. And so, part of the beauty of church is bringing different groups and ages together.”

Members of Cedar Lane, and the broader congregation know the organization’s mission to be a welcoming environment for all, UUA conference planner Sana Saeed said.

“We are also rooted in our own values, around believing in the inherent worth and dignity of all people and the interconnectedness of the world that we live in,” Saeed said. “And how do we work together to be the beloved community that we see for ourselves.”

And though Cedar Lane is a congregation, its members do believe that its mission is more than election outreach.��

“I think that like going to this conference kind of opened my eyes a little bit more because I think that it’s really easy to think about religion and to think about a place that is technically like a congregation, technically like a church of some kind, as like a very stereotypical kind of format of conversation, right?” Majumdar said. “But realistically, Cedar Lane brings so much of a different feel to the table.”

Non-partisan engagement inside and outside the community seems to be how members work together to protect the democracy they believe could crumble. Whether that be through large events like the Mosaic Conference, or smaller ones like the youth service day, to Cedar Lane, it is just about getting involved in democracy.

Edwards is the Minister of Faith Formation at Cedar Lane and oversaw the service day, learning that the youth really did want to aid in the UUA’s mission of protecting democracy.����

“You know, sometimes I’m blown away by their insight into the process,” she said. “I mean, some of them go to private school, some of them are homeschooled, but overall, Montgomery County is doing a good job of teaching about the democratic process, and that shines through in their willingness and eagerness to engage in activities outside of the school that are going to protect democracy.”

“I think that like going to this conference kind of opened my eyes a little bit more because I think that it’s really easy to think about religion and to think about a place that is technically like a congregation, technically like a church of some kind, as like a very stereotypical kind of format of conversation, right?” Majumdar said. “But realistically, Cedar Lane brings so much of a different feel to the table.”

Majumdar agreed with Edwards, and the overall congregation’s belief in protecting democracy through the youth, in and out of school. Majumdar has been involved in student government since she was in middle school and has had the opportunity to work on different organizations in D.C, like interning for Congressman Jamie Raskin.��

“My personal opinion is that the most like, non-partisan way to kind of get engaged in your community is to vote, have a say, even if you’re not sure kind of how you feel about politics, necessarily, or you don’t have a platform to kind of share your voice, voting is the best way to do that,” Majumdar said. “So, I think things like that are kind of what fueled me to get engaged in that more.”��

Edwards said she believes Cedar Lane is a place for the youth to be themselves, like during the service event.

“As the national political climate is shifting, I think it’s important for especially youth to have safe places to be fully themselves and to explore their identity and all the ways that that makes sense for them,” Edwards said. “Whether it’s their racial identity or their sexuality identity or their gender identity, just having a place where everybody in the community knows that Cedar Lane is going to be a place where they can be fully themselves.”

Andrew Batcher is the Social Justice Coordinator at Cedar Lane, and within his purview, he helps encourage the broader community to vote and accept all, creating ministries for LGBTQ+ and racial justice to educate the broader community as well as doing like the youth postcard campaign through UUA’s UU The Vote movement.��

“I mean, a lot of people are very concerned about the threat to democracy right now and so that’s a major spiritual issue,” Batcher said. “I mean, that’s something that creates a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, and also a lot of desire to do something, right?”��

And with the congregation near D.C., the worries and want to do something for many members in pertinent, including the youth. Majumdar believes the organization’s closeness to the nation’s capital is “empowering” and is one of the reasons why Cedar Lane is intent on protecting democracy.

“D.C. is a powerhouse for change for our country, because everything about legislation, anything that is now, has to do with the changing and the kind of shaping of our country happens literally at our doorsteps,” Majumdar said. “I think that, like at Cedar Lane, they do really try to put a focus on how we can help to think about that a little bit more and have a conversation about what we want to do to further that change in our local spaces. Because change is not just national, it’s state-based, locally based.”

Locally, Cedar Lane will continue to have events revolving around democracy, even after the election. According to Edwards, the day after the election, Wednesday, Nov. 6, the congregation will host a post-election check-in and soup supper, and Sunday, Nov. 10, an election breather, with both open to anyone in the Cedar Lane, and broader communities.

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In the wake of this influx of construction, the Montgomery County government took action to bridge concerns from Bethesda residents. It has hired a home inspection specialist charged with overseeing construction standards.��

The announcing Matthew Kauffman joined the team of home inspectors with his 27 years of experience.����

“His extensive experience will be crucial in thoroughly examining new homes and addressing concerns raised by consumers regarding home builders’ work,” the press release said. “With the increasing number of new home construction projects in Montgomery County, the role of the new home inspector is essential in upholding high standards resolving disputes.”

In an interview with 91����, Kauffman said he is determined to help residents who have complaints about their newly built homes in the area, as well as juggling the different types of new-home construction corporations.��

“I’m dealing with not just new home builds, but also contractors of all types dealing with home improvements and home repairs,” Kauffman said. However, he did not comment on the influx of complaints of the new home construction in residential areas and stuck to discussing the needs of new consumers.��

“We still want to hear what people have to say. We talk to them and try, and bring people together, because our primary goal is to see the consumer made whole,” Kauffman said.

Despite seemingly numerous pushbacks on new homes from longtime residents of the D.C. suburb,�� Montgomery County’s Office of Consumer Protection hired Kauffman only to investigate consumer complaints of new home construction companies in the Montgomery County area.

Companies also have built larger homes on smaller plots. The construction companies call them “premium homes.” Long-time residents of the region took to calling them “McMansions,” something they are not keen on having.

Debbie Holder, a “local home-grown” of the Potomac-Bethesda area for 54 years, was once in the real estate business. She is still not in favor of the large houses being put up.

“They’re ripping up all of these homes and putting up all these ‘McMansions’,” said Holder. “They’re building these huge houses on these little lots.”

Younger and current residents of the area feel the same about newer, more expensive homes, with cheaper construction. Mimi Roa, twenty-eight, works in Bethesda and lives in nearby Rockville, Md., and knows of the concerns of long-time residents as construction increases.��

“I would not want to buy a new house,” Roa said. Holder, backing this claim, commented on how these new homes are built.��

“If you watch the construction being built, they’re not made well at all,” Holder observed. “They are built so quick.”

“We still want to hear what people have to say. We talk to them and try, and bring people together, because our primary goal is to see the consumer made whole,” Kauffman said.

From 2020 to 2024, Bethesda’s population increased by, resulting in a rough total of 67,000 residents in the census-designated area of Montgomery County.��

According to the, Bethesda is home to some of the top public schools in Maryland, including Walt Whitman High School, making the area a destination for young families seeking high quality education.

With such a population increase for an already densely populated area of 13.2 square miles, there comes a need to build more housing. Many construction companies in the area, like Paramount Construction Incorporated, have begun to tear down older homes, building modern homes in their place to create more housing.����

“There is more demand than supply,” Paramount’s says. “Since there are very few large parcels of land remaining in Bethesda, builders and developers are buying old homes and tearing down the house to get to the land. Yes, in many cases, the land that old functionally obsolete house sits on is more valuable than the house.”��

Bethesda, being only 20 minutes from D.C., is a perfect place for new residents to migrate to, allowing for the phenomenon of what Holder calls the “mowing down the old and putting up the new.”��

These newer, more expensive houses cause an uptick in real estate cost. If residents of Bethesda were curious to know the cost-of-living compared to a national level, they could be surprised by the results.��

According to data from The Council for Community and Economic Research, nationally, the average sale price for housing is around $500,000. For Bethesda, it is $1.32 million, which is 203.9% of the U.S. average.��

But these so-called luxury homes or “McMansions” are nothing new to the Bethesda residential areas. In an online anonymous forum called for parents of D.C., the discussion of these larger and newer homes has been a topic since 2018.��

“I drive through Bethesda a lot and any smaller cute original home that gives neighborhood charm is being torn down,” said one user. “The traffic gets worse and worse with each new McMansion and the construction is a nightmare for neighbors.”

The consumer complaints come from new residents moving to and building homes in the area, including these “McMansions”. Despite the county’s mission, Bethesda residents believe that home inspectors within the county are there for profit and will not stop the building of cheaply made homes.��

“They don’t care,” Holder said. “It’s money in their pocket.”��

Other long-time residents of the area, like Roa, are hopeful that hiring Kauffman “could help them solve issues,” regarding how construction of new homes brings about complaints from Bethesda citizens. Roa also acknowledges that new residents building luxury homes in the area that go to inspectors may differ in opinions of older residents.

��“I feel like the new homeowners are not as concerned with the problems in the area as older homeowners,” she said. “So, I feel like it is hard to say if they will care about the same issues.”

��How new home building will be affected by Kauffman’s hiring is still yet to be seen. 91���� will be watching closely as new homes continue to go up and citizens make their concerns known.

The post Bethesda new home construction, upset residents and the county’s response first appeared on 91����.

For 32 years, the music and food festival Taste of Bethesda, taken over by Bethesda Urban Partnership, has welcomed local restaurants to showcase their cuisine to residents and visitors of Bethesda, and this Saturday, Oct. 5, was no exception.��

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., patrons could purchase food tickets to use at any of the 43 restaurant tents open. At the same time, festival-goers enjoyed live music from local artists in the area.

Christina and Luke Gilday live around the corner from the annual event and brought their dog early into the day’s festivities to check it out.��

“It’s so, so, so packed,” Christina said. “I wasn’t expecting all these people so quickly after it opened.”

Sherri Watkins, a Bethesda resident, also attended the festival with her dog, a nine-week-old chihuahua puppy. Watkins said she and her dog were experiencing the festival for the first time together.

“When I walked by, I thought, ‘This will be a great place to stop by and let her really experience and develop her brain,’” Watkins said. “I’m here for her, too, to make sure she can interact with a lot of people and smell all the different smells and hear all the different sounds. And I’m just really impressed with what the community’s been able to bring in here, and that there’s so many people here having a great time.”

Not only was the event dog-friendly, but it was also family-friendly. With face paint for children and an entire area dedicated to “Kid’s Corner,” families like Rachel Rodriguez’s come for the event every year.

“I have three kids, and we have gone to a lot of these restaurants, so we thought it would be fun to come down here and try different things,” she said.����

Several businesses in the area were able to showcase their brands as well during the festival. M&T Bank employees from different areas of the DMV area worked ticket tents and promoted their business while doing so.��

Theresa Ramsaroop and Michael Reid with M&T Bank took in the festival while on a break from selling tickets.����

“It’s definitely family-oriented,” said Reid, the Northwest D.C. bank locations manager. “This is my first time volunteering and thanks to Theresa, she has explained how great it is every year and she’s definitely correct with that.”

Ramsaroop manages the M&T Bank in Bethesda and agreed with Reid’s sentiments. “I like the diversity here,” she said. “There’s such a wide array of different foods/restaurants here. I think it caters to all different taste buds.”��������

From Indian food to pub food, the over 40 restaurant participants offer event goers a wide array of cuisines. Silver, an “upscale” version of the DMV Silver Diner chain, was one of the many popular choices of the day.����

“I know people are enjoying our food,” Marketing Manager of Silver Gabby Howenstein said. “We have already ran out of one of our items so far.”��

Julie Brown, General Manager of Rock Bottom Brewery saw a similar high turnout for her restaurant’s tent, stating, “I think we are going to see some top-tier sales this year.”��

According to Stephanie Coppula, Director of Marketing and Communications of Bethesda Urban Partnership, each ticket purchased and utilized at the restaurant tents makes a profit for the vendors. At the end of the event, the restaurants turn the tickets into Bethesda Urban Partnership and, in turn, get 60% of their ticket sales, while the Bethesda organization keeps 40%.

“I’ve certainly heard from restaurants over the years that this is one of the best marketing activities that they do,” Coppula said. “And I think that’s just some of the best marketing a restaurant can do is actually, you know, getting to try their food.”

The Taste of Bethesda event originated in 1992 through a collaboration of downtown restaurants. It was taken over by Bethesda Urban Partnership when the organization was founded two years later.����

Jason Liu is the Urban Partnership Marketing and Events Manager, and according to him, one of his main roles is planning Taste of Bethesda. Liu said that planning for the event begins in May by reaching out to Bethesda restaurants to turn in applications to participate. He also said that this was the first year since before COVID-19 that the festival had nice weather to enjoy.��

“This year, it’s beautiful weather,” Liu said. “I think you can tell that there’s large crowds, people are happy, and we couldn’t have asked for more.”��

Coppula believes that the mission of the Urban Partnership in Bethesda and the festival event help showcase the town’s close community.

“Our goal is to market and maintain downtown Bethesda, and we’ve kind of always been this small community, as you know, just outside of Washington, DC, but with a high concentration of restaurants,” she said. “So, I think restaurants have always been near and dear to the community here. The restaurants really support each other, and I think it’s just kind of grown and become this really fun community day.”

For more on vendors, please visit .��

The post Taste of Bethesda brings in a culture of cuisine and community yet again first appeared on 91����.

The high school, located in Montgomery County, will be one of many in the county to receive vape detectors in its bathrooms this school year, though the timeline of installation is unknown at this time.

County officials are currently looking into utilizing 2 million dollars from a settlement between several Maryland County Schools and the vape company Juul. The schools involved reported that the company marketed vaping to children, in part due to the flavors of e-cigarettes advertised.��

This year, The study states that 14% of high school students in the state use e-cigarettes. “Nearly 50% of high school students who use tobacco reported using menthol tobacco products,” the report said. “Ninety-seven percent of those who use electronic smoking devices usually vape flavors other than tobacco flavors.”

Shelton L. Mooney, Principal of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, said in an interview that he is “hopeful” that the school will have the vape detectors this year.��

“I am also hopeful that it’s a technology that works,” Mooney said. “Yes, I’ve heard kind of the horror stories about the technology not working well, and I would hope that whatever we’re doing is something that is going to actually give us more positive results than false positive results.”������

Montgomery County issued a vape detector pilot program in five high schools last year to test the devices. This initiative allowed the county to “know what works, what doesn’t work,” as President of the Montgomery County Board of Education Karla Silvestre said. ��

Mooney added that the discussion of these detectors has been ongoing for several years to ensure the community’s safety.

“From a broader picture kind of point of view, high schools, particularly the vape detectors, have been an ongoing conversation over the past two or three years amongst high school principals, even with MCPSs safety and security, as we continue to look for ways to kind of address those concerns that are arising in students and make sure that we’re providing a safe environment for everyone,”�� he said.��

Silvestre, who is also the mother of a Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School student, said the county is now “ready to utilize that money and the lessons learned from those pilots to begin to install the vape detectors.”��

The president heard feedback from students regarding the influx of vaping occurring in bathrooms before the pilot program was implemented. ��

“It’s so hard to control because, you know, it’s just so easy to put in your backpack and your pocket,” Silvestre said. “You know, kids were complaining to us that it was out of control, that they would walk into a bathroom, and it was just vape smoke everywhere.”

The initial pilot program allowed not only students to see that measures were being taken, but also showcased to Montgomery County how the detectors worked. According to HALO, a vape detector manufacturing company, the tool senses “the unique chemical compositions of various aerosols, including vape smoke and THC.”

When the sensors go off, school officials will then be notified and respond, says Silvestre, who also says some of the settlement money will allow a few schools in the county to hire personnel that will be directly responsible to respond to alerts.

On Aug. 20, Silvestre and the rest of the Board of Education to Superintendent Thomas M. Taylor to appropriate the 2 million dollars towards vape detections, pending the County Council’s approval.��

“As a result of ongoing serious incidents within MCPS and throughout the nation, it is imperative to enhance safety and security in all schools and seek opportunities to address areas for improvement that can increase efficiency, reinforce policies, mitigate hazards, and reduce risks,” the letter read.��

Though this may not be foolproof to always detect and stop vaping, as well as the sensors picking up other chemicals in the air, the installation of the tools does provide hope to decrease vaping of minors at not only Bethesda-Chevy Chase, but all Montgomery County schools participating.��

“So, we just want to have a tool that we can use to kind of signal, even if it doesn’t do away with it 100%, but it really signals to students that this is not acceptable, and we’re going to be monitoring it more carefully,” Silvestre said.��

narrowing in on the exploration of ideas to keep school communities safe throughout the year. According to an email sent from Montgomery County in a press release, reporters had the opportunity to listen to Montgomery County officials, including Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno.����

Though implementation cannot start until County Council’s approval and there are no specifications for this in upcoming agendas, officials are still hopeful the detectors’ installations will begin soon.

“I’m confident that the county council will pass the supplemental budget amendment that’s before them,” Madaleno said in the briefing.������

As principal of the high school, Mooney strives for good education and safety measures to be in their best shape during the academic year.��

“My hope is really the same this year as it is for every year that you know, every student, every staff member who walks in the building leaves at the end of the day safe and having been able to experience a good education, a good educational environment,” Mooney said.����

As a parent, Silvestre believes safety starts with the power of the students in the school community.��

“I think the students themselves are so powerful in terms of the say, you see something, say something strategy, right,” she said. “I just think that we really need to use the power of the students that acknowledge that they have with the See Something, Say Something to be able to prevent bad things from happening in schools.”

The post Vaping and other safety precautions discussed for the new school year first appeared on 91����.

The “Housing Production Fund” was established by the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) with Montgomery County to finance the construction of new, mixed-income housing throughout the county in March 2021.��

Despite being commended for its progressive strategies, Montgomery County has faced criticism for its existing housing plans, simultaneously endorsing affordable housing initiatives and promoting luxury apartment markets. This duality has sparked debates among community members who question the county’s commitment to addressing the diverse housing needs of its residents.

Stacy Eastway, 48, concerned over rising rent, contacted the county to rent a place under one of the county’s initiatives in August 2023.��

“I never receive a response. How are we supposed to access these programs and initiatives when the county officials never reply?” said Eastway.��

Eastway, who works at Sibley Hospital, pointed out the difference between her income and rising rent prices every year.

“I will never be able to afford a house in Montgomery County. Rent going up every year is just concerning,” said Eastway. “The apartments raise the rent by $600 every year. I don’t get a raise that much.”

Montgomery County,, has implemented policies and programs that have set benchmarks nationwide.�� However, the experiences of certain individuals within the community suggest a more complex narrative.��

In a meeting organized by the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County last Tuesday, Chris Gillis, director of policy and neighborhood development at Montgomery Housing Partnership, said, “No, we’re not doing as much as we should have in the affordable housing domain.”

The meeting targeted��how much progress is being made around affordable and attainable housing. While the county is happy about the $100M fund, it is still unclear where the money will go.��

91���� contacted the Department of Housing and Community in Montgomery County about using the Housing Production Fund but didn’t receive a response.��

Andrew Friedson, Montgomery County councilmember, acknowledged that buying a house in the county is out of reach for so many people in the meeting. The Council is continuously working towards the planning and implementation, he said.��

“We are concentrating on mixed-income housing to reduce the rents and help the residents. Other plans include converting parking lots into public housing which seems to work really well in Bethesda, Grover and Forest Glen,” said Friedson.��

Some argue that the praised initiatives may not be as universally effective as portrayed, with concerns arising about the accessibility and suitability of the existing housing options provided.��

Anne Williams, a resident of Montgomery County going through a specific disability, expressed how difficult it is to afford a shelter with medical bills to be paid.��

“To me, it’s a moral failing if you cannot afford the housing you need. But the core of my problem is that the difference between health and sickness is luck, pure and brutal,” said Williams.

Notably, the spotlight on high-income areas like Bethesda and Chevy Chase adds nuance to the debate.��

While these locales are expected to be affluent, there is an acknowledgment that the progress toward more inclusive housing solutions may require time.

Community members emphasize the importance of ensuring that the benefits of affordable housing programs extend beyond specific neighborhoods and income brackets.

Amy Johnson, a resident of Gaithersburg in Montgomery County, talked about how she toured the apartment buildings under the affordable housing initiatives and found the units under ‘not livable’ conditions.��

“I toured seven places, and none of the places matched with the pictures shared on their official websites. The places were filled with bugs, roaches and poop. It’s disgusting. There was no water. The doors don’t lock,” said Johnson, which highlights the issue with existing housing plans.

Lisa Govoni, the Housing Policy Coordinator at MoCo Planning Dept. of the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, said that the county is missing middle-income housing and needs to work on existing housing strategies.��

Moreover, the shows significant increases in the cost of living, particularly in housing and childcare costs.��

The Self-Sufficiency Standard specifies how much income families of various sizes and compositions must earn to live in selected geographic locations without receiving governmental or private assistance.

As the discourse unfolds, Montgomery County finds itself at the intersection of its celebrated achievements and the perspectives of those who contend that the reality on the ground does not align with the county’s acclaim.��

The ongoing debate underscores the complexities inherent in addressing affordable housing issues and highlights the need for a comprehensive, inclusive approach that caters to the community’s diverse needs.

The post Community voices clash with Montgomery County’s lauded affordable housing plans first appeared on 91����.