Distribution is Not Equitable, Mayor and Council’s Letter Said
Maryland must make more COVID-19 vaccine doses available to Montgomery County residents, the Mayor and Council wrote in a Jan. 26 letter to the state.
Author: Public Information Office (Page 1 of 143)
The state has expanded eligibility for all Marylanders 65 and over to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
Montgomery County is in Phase 1B for vaccine distribution, which includes residents age 75 and older.
Please note that the vaccination program is administered by the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.
For more about information about vaccine distribution and priority groups in Montgomery County’s COVID-19 portal and sign up for the county’s email/text vaccine updates.
A new portal, at covidvax.maryland.gov, allows eligible Marylanders to enter their address, ZIP code or location to view vaccination clinics available within a 50-mile radius.
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed paperwork Jan. 13 designating the Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Cottage, at 19 Thomas St. in
the city’s West End, as Rockville’s first National Historic Landmark.
Located on the former grounds of Chestnut Lodge sanitarium and restored
by Peerless Rockville, the 1936 home, also known as Frieda’s Cottage, served as home and office for Dr. Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, a pioneering
psychiatrist in the treatment of schizophrenia.
It joins a small number of National Historic Landmarks in Montgomery County, including the Clara Barton House in Glen Echo and the Rachel Carson House in Silver Spring.
Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, fair mobility for all.
Vision Zero is a strategy for a safer community.
- Sets a goal of reducing, and eventually eliminating, traffic-related deaths or serious injuries.
- Recognizes that people make mistakes and crashes will occur, but also that no one should lose their life or suffer life-altering injuries because of such mistakes.
- Acknowledges that many factors contribute to safe mobility and requires an approach to examine the whole system.
- Recognizes that while transportation safety benefits everyone, some members of the community are more at risk for experiencing a serious crash.
- Uses data to target the cause of crashes before they occur, in order to lessen the severity of injuries.
These were some of the top-performing news items on city media channels in 2020:
Twitter (@rockville411): Top tweets included a traffic alert about demonstrations on June 5 in response to the police-related death of George Floyd in Minneapolis; a police alert about a coyote on the loose on Oct. 1; census takers on Aug. 25 at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church; and a statue of Washington Senators pitcher Walter “Big Train” Johnson at Dogwood Park.
A new payment system debuts in January
Check your mailbox in January for:
- New account information.
- 4 How to register.
Then:
- View and pay your utility bill online, anytime, with a credit/debit card or e-check.
- Receive bills and receipts via email with a paperless option.
- Get email and optional text message reminders.
- Choose to pay online or by mail, phone or text message.
- Create your own payment schedule with FlexPay:
– Use Auto Pay to avoid late or missed payments, or
– One-Time Pay to quickly view and pay without registering.
It’s safe, simple and secure. www.rockvillemd.gov/utilitybilling
The city’s Human Rights Commission will launch its Multimedia Scholarship Competition on Monday, Jan. 25.
This annual competition is an opportunity for students who live in and/or attend high school in Rockville to compete for scholarships by responding to one of several prompts focused on human rights.
The prompts, applications and additional information will be posted Monday, Jan. 25 at www.rockvillemd.gov/humanrights. The deadline for submissions is Monday, March 29.
Students may choose their desired medium, e.g., an essay, poem, song, painting, etc., through which to respond to the prompts. Submissions will be judged by a panel of HRC members, a community leader and a high school faculty member. Judging will be based on creativity, work quality and relevance.
First-, second- and third-place winners will be announced at a Mayor and Council meeting and will be awarded up to $2,500 in scholarships.
Quick Links, Facts and Phone Numbers
When winter weather strikes, turn to the city’s website at www.rockvillemd.gov.
Closure and snow emergency information will be available on the website, as well as through Facebook (www.facebook.com/cityofrockville) and Twitter (@rockville411), and by signing up for Alert Rockville notifications at www.rockvillemd.gov/alerts.
Stay home and stay well with online seminars from the Rockville Senior Center in January.
For details, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/recreation. Register online, call 240-314-8800 or email seniorcenter@rockvillemd.gov for more information. Sessions are free, unless otherwise noted, and take place from 1-2 p.m.
The Mayor and Council will hold a second public hearing virtually, Monday, Jan. 11, to gather input on whether to develop recommendations to regulate short-term residential rentals in Rockville.
A short-term rental is when a dwelling a unit, or part of a dwelling unit, is rented for a short period of time, usually fewer than 30 days. Most short-term residential rentals are coordinated through third-party companies such as Airbnb, Priceline and Expedia.
While short-term rentals take place in the city, no laws currently govern the practice.
At their Nov. 9 public hearing, the Mayor and Council requested a second hearing to collect the community’s thoughts and opinions on residential short-term rentals prior to any recommendation for the development of regulations.
For more information, see the staff report in the Nov. 9 agenda at bit.ly/SRT11920.
