DATE: May 5, 2003
Representative Meets With Mayor and Councilmembers As City Seeks Federal Funding Help for New Downtown
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 5, 2003—Congressman Chris Van Hollen today toured the site of Rockville’s new Town Center, pledging to the City’s Mayor and Council that he will continue to seek federal support for the downtown development.
One of the Congressman’s first acts in his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives was to help secure more than $2.9 million in federal funding for four City of Rockville projects. Today, the Mayor and Council demonstrated to the Congressman how those funds are being used.
This was Congressman Van Hollen’s first formal visit with Rockville’s Mayor, Larry Giammo, and City Councilmembers Bob Dorsey, John Hall, Jr., Susan Hoffmann and Anne Robbins. After a brief meeting at City Hall, they walked three blocks down Maryland Avenue to Middle Lane—the site of the future Town Center, which will include the new Rockville Regional Library.
Congressman Van Hollen was shown how infrastructure grants that he helped obtain earlier this year will be used to improve pedestrian safety in Rockville’s Town Center. The Mayor and Council are asking the Congressman’s support to obtain $8 million in additional federal funding to support the development of Town Center.
“The City of Rockville has great plans,” Congressman Van Hollen said while standing on the site. “I want to thank you for all of the imagination you are showing. Everybody is working together to make this happen. I am here today to say we at the federal level look forward to working with you to make this dream become a reality.”
Overall, about $98 million in public money will be required for the project—about one-third of the total cost in developing the 15 acres that will be the focal point of the new downtown that will include a creative mix of retail, restaurant, entertainment, residential and office space. The intent has been to turn the downtown area of the Montgomery County seat into a center of business by day and an entertainment district after 5 p.m. Construction is scheduled to begin this winter.
The public money will come from a partnership of federal, City, State of Maryland and Montgomery County support.
“We really appreciate Congressman Van Hollen coming to spend time with us and expressing his strong support for what we are looking to do here in our Town Center,” said Mayor Giammo. “The money from the federal government will go a long way in helping us move the project forward. We want to create a new heart for the City of Rockville—the kind of place we can enjoy with family and friends.”
Representatives of the Greater Rockville Partnership, the Rockville Chamber of Commerce, local neighborhood associations and Federal Realty Investment Trust (the private developer of Town Center) were at Middle Lane to meet with the Congressman and members of the Mayor and Council.
The funding that the Congressman helped secure for Rockville this year included $1.5 to upgrade police technology. The City is working toward upgrading its mobile units with state-of-the-art technology. Police Chief Terry Treschuk and members of his department were at Middle Lane with a unit that has been upgraded to demonstrate the technology and how these funds are making a difference.
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