RedGate Tee Time, Town Square Grocery Signs and Jonestown Local Ties

Happy hot Monday, Rockville.

Why is that when the spring rain finally stops it feels like we automatically fast-forward to summer? Oh well. It's still great to feel the warmth of the sun. (I'm on a Beach Boys kick lately, what can I say?) And it's a great day to be in Rockville.

(Sorry, that's me ripping off Craig Ferguson's monologue transition—"It's a great day for America!"—which has to be a goof on Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" re-election campaign ads.)

So let's get into this "it's-too-nice-out-to-do-like-Brian-Wilson-did" edition of "The Rundown":

• It's a lengthy agenda for the Rockville City Council tonight. But make no mistake, the work session on the proposed budget for the Department of Recreation and Parks promises to take center stage, with again promising to swallow up the council's time like a bunker swallowing one of my errant tee shots. Former mayor Jim Coyle offers his take and a bit of historical perspective on RedGate over at Rockville Central.
  Other highlights of the council's agenda are the approval of a sign plan for Rockville Town Square. The plan would include relocating the "Crossroads" sculpture from the Hungerford Drive (Route 355) side of the parking garage to the Town Square-facing facade of the Arts and Innovation Center in order to make way for signage for . The council also will consider whether to grant naming rights for the Town Square pavilion to the yet-to-be-publicly-named grocery store.
• Though I was very young when Jonestown happened, I've been familiar with the tragedy long enough to know that is where the reference to "drink the Kool-Aid" originated. What's amazing to me, after learning more about Jonestown on its 30th anniversary in 2008 and hearing accounts of how Jones' followers did not necessarily willing imbibe the lethal cocktail, is how much "drink the Kool-Aid" has become part of the lexicon. And after learning just how victimized Jones' followers were—and realizing just how insensitive and inaccurate the "Kool-Aid" reference is—I now cringe when I hear the reference and I've tried to cut its use out of my speech. (If only I could say the same thing about swearing.)
  It was just last week that I learned something else about Jonestown: It has a Rockville connection. The  will host . Kohl, formerly Laura Reid, is a 1965 graduate of , was a member of the Jim Jones Temple and lived within the Jonestown settlement in Guyana. Her appearance is sponsored by .
• A Rockville group home for disabled adults owned by Jubilee Association of Maryland, Inc. (one of my favorite county nonprofits) got a landscaping makeover from Allentuck Landscaping Company, Inc. of Clarksburg on Friday. The Earth Day makeover was part of the Professional Landcare Network Day of Service, in which landscape professionals organize volunteer projects to beautify green space. In 2009 and 2010, PLANET members completed more than 480 projects in 43 states and in Canada, with nearly 5,000 volunteers donating more than $1,000,000 in time, material and services. This year, 3,000 volunteers were scheduled to take part in 175 projects.
• New county code enforcement laws on home-based businesses, off-street parking and paving front yards went into effect on Sunday. More details can be found here.
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