As we know our decision to move Rockville Central entirely to Facebook as a publishing platform has created quite a stir here in Rockville, but it has also created a stir among those who write about media and journalism.

We thought we were the first site to try this approach and after all the commentary, this seems to be true. We have been overcome by the extent of the coverage worldwide.

On the day we announced, Nieman Journalism Lab Assistant Editor, Megan Garber, called to chat about our move. Her article Rockville Central set to become a Facebook-only Outlet provided a terrific description of our excitement and reasoning.

Her article was then picked up by quite a few other sites:

Future Journalism Project: Local Paper Rockville Central Moves To Facebook-only reports on our switch while looking at Facebook stats and the recent evidence that Facebook plans to expand the journalism field.

The Next Web: Could Facebook Become A Better News Reporting Tool Than Twitter? Also describes Facebook’s advertisement for a Journalist Program Manager then gives updates from Gawker and Egypt about Facebook before describing our move.

Media Bistro: Rockville Central To Become Hyperlocal News Site – Without the Site – It Will Go Facebook Only also picked up the story.

Journal Standard: A peek to a possible future is a fine article but it didn’t get it quite right because we will be posting full articles using Notes in Facebook. We aren’t limiting ourselves to wall posts.

Media News At This Hour also highlighted the news.

In the meantime, friends wanted to write about our decision:

Former Silver Spring Penguin editor, Jennifer Deseo, has moved on to New York and currently writes The Hyperlocalist. When she heard the news, she kept slapping her knee as she thought about more and more ways a Facebook-only platform could really work, so she wrote Where hyperlocal meets the “like” button.

Rockville Patch editor Sean Sadam contacted us to report on this local news story, Rockville Central Moving To Facebook.

Since Patch is about to become part of the Huffington Post Media Group, the story was picked up by the Huffington Post Rockville Central To Become Facebook-only News Outlet.

Other news outlets also covered the story:

New York Observer: Local News Site Goes Facebook-Only discusses our move and Tumblr (which allows ads) and speculates that if Facebook were to come up with a revenue-sharing arrangement with news sites it could “boost news readership significantly, quantitatively and qualitatively, in all demographics”.

Lost Remote: Community news site to move entirely to Facbook thinks that if our goal is to create community, it’s “brillance”.

Mashable published an extensive article Facebook’s Growing Role In Social Journalism exploring the new world of Facebook and journalism including the events in Egypt and Libya. The piece also describes Rockville Central’s move, in fact it starts with it.

The Mashable piece was picked up and linked by many sources including MacSoftware, Gazelle Interactive, and quite a few others.

A couple of blogs had a few words to say:

Jr Deputy Accountant TLP: Bad News for Paperboys believes someone is lazy.

Zera’s Blog tells us to think “New World Order”.

We drew some attention internationally:

In the Ukraine an article tells of our move to feysbuk:  Facebook-only Media: A Format That Saves Local Projects From the Competition? You will need a translation — and some points might be lost in it!

In the UK: Community News Site To Move Entirely To Facebook where he comments “For online news folks, that may sound absolutely absurd. Suicidal, even. But it may be a stroke of brilliance, especially for part-time hyperlocal sites that arent generating ad revenue. Community is the secret sauce of hyperlocal. The key differentiator.”

The Dutch site De Nieuwe Reporter also wondered if their TMG site would follow in our footsteps: Is The Future Of Local News On Facebook And Hyves?

Our move was even discussed on a tv show:

NBC’s North Carolina Today’s Chit Chat show did a segment on our move which they called a “sign of the times”.

We’ve been asked if we expected this attention and we did not!

When Rockville Central was founded, we made a point of using the free tools we could find, like Blogger. We wanted to be an example of how people could create and share online as a community without a financial investment. Anyone can do it! Hopefully this publicity will inspire many more to try. We hope you will join us on our Facebook page and continue the conversation.

Facebook.com/RockvilleCentral

This is an incredible and cool shot by Rockville Central friend Scott DeGasperis. It is an example of “tilt-shift” photography, this one done with Photoshop.

NOTE: As of March 1, all new Rockville Central content can be found at our Facebook page here.

Remember, you DO NOT NEED a Facebook account to read our Facebook page.

Hope to see you there!

This week we announced we would be moving Rockville Central 100% to Facebook. All the news outlets are always looking for the “story” while at Rockville Central we were always seeking to bring people into public life while fostering positive discussions concerning the issues. At least 74% of adults use Facebook so we decided to go where people are congregating. Even though the site is completely accessible without a Facebook account, we hope people will share news, photos, videos, and thoughts as we interact as a community. When I described this comic during an interview with Nieman Journalism Lab‘s Megan Garber, she quoted me as saying “There’s this big party. And we want to be in there.”

About ROCK’burb: Last year we were tossing around ideas for new features on Rockville Central. We thought Saturday morning comics would be fun. Since I’ve always wanted to draw a comic strip, I decided to give it a try. Sometimes an idea pops up in my head and sometimes my whole family thinks up a panel about our lives here in Rockville.

Do you like to draw? We’re hoping we have other cartoonists who would be interested in submitting comic strips. If you have one about life in Rockville, please send it along! We’d love to see it and may even publish it. Remember, be nice! Email us: hello@rockvillecentral.com.

I absolutely love this decorative plant. It fascinates me.

Here’s our weekly community-produced real estate listing.

The Gallery Of New Listings contains pictures and descriptions of the new homes on the market as of yesterday, click on this link or the photo above for the information.

Gallery of New Listings contributed by Lisa AbramsRE/MAX Realty Services, (O)301-652-0400, (C)301-437-6742, Lisa@TheAbramsRealtyGroup.com

More information on local real estate is also available from Hillstrom Homes, one of our advertisers. They have a site specifically for Rockville: RockvilleHomes.com.

The data included in this post is a compilation of many different databases obtained from various sources, Rockville Central makes no claims as to its accuracy, you should not assume it is error-free.

Photo by Steve Bailey. On left Veronika Gajer playing Velma Kelly, and Claire Ortuzar playing Roxie Hart.

Everyone’s talking about the Richard Montgomery High School Black Maskers production of Chicago which is opening this weekend! You’ll be sure to enjoy this wonderful production.

Give ‘em the old razzle dazzle. Razzle razzle ‘em. Give ‘em an act with lots of flash in it and the reaction will be passionate.

Chicago has everything that makes a musical shine: a “universal tale of fame, fortune and all that jazz”. You’ll recognize all the show-stopping songs. I hear these students can dance!

FRIDAY February 25
SATURDAY February 26
FRIDAY March 4
SATURDAY March 5

ALL PERFORMANCES AT 7:00 PM

SAVE WITH RESERVED TICKETS IN ADVANCE: ADULTS $13 STUDENTS $5
AT THE DOOR: ADULTS $14, STUDENTS $6

After roughly five decades of discussing options and drawing routes… purchasing parcels of land and dealing with politics… rising costs and controversy… the Intercounty Connector (ICC) finally opened yesterday.  As readers likely know, this east/west road will ultimately connect I-270 to I-95 and Route 1.  It will make trips to BWI airport a breeze, and will link jobs and friends from across the state.

On Monday, Governor Martin O’Malley led the ribbon-cutting for the first segment of this road. This long overdue event, held in the bitter cold (with rain for good measure), was well-attended by current and former elected officials, business leaders, and long-time community members who have consistently supported this transportation improvement.

The significance of this long-awaited (and for some, long-dreaded) day was reflected by the presence of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who joined his Deputy, former MD Transportation Secretary John Porcari at the ceremony.  Former Governor Bob Ehrlich, former County Executive Doug Duncan, and many former transportation, business, and legislative leaders were also in attendance.  The Mayor, City Manager and entire City Council of Gaithersburg were there to celebrate; Rockville was represented by City Manager Scott Ullery.  State Senate President Mike Miller asked local State Senator Jennie Forehand to represent him; Maryland House Speaker Mike Busch asked the same of Del. Kumar Barve.

What does the opening of the ICC– the new Route 200– mean to you?  Check it out and see (best to do so before tolls kick in on March 7th).  You’ll find it attractive, clean, and quick… and your taxes helped build it!  I suspect we’ll all choose BWI as our airport more frequently now that it is so much easier and quicker to get there.   Check out www.mtaiccbus.com for the details on the $5.00 trips that are scheduled hourly between the Shady Grove Metro station and the airport.  Thanks to the ICC, it will be much easier to get to the airport without worrying about traffic or steep parking fees!

It will be interesting to see how many drivers choose the Intercounty Connector for their regular commute or for pleasure trips.  The sticker shock of the tolls will certainly dissuade many of us, but transportation officials predict that the time savings will entice drivers onto the road.  Remember that– just like Metro– the ICC uses time-sensitive pricing.   Rush hour commuters (those using the road 6 -9am & 4-7pm on weekdays) will pay $1.45.  It will be less expensive for off-peak hours ($1.15 from 5-6am, 9am-4pm and 7-11pm on weekdays, and 5am-11pm on weekends) and a bargain at 60 cents for the overnight hours of 11pm-5am.

I’ve heard from a number of people who hope their commutes will be quicker based on other people using the Intercounty Connector.  It remains to be seen how many of us will become “those people” who will choose the ICC on a regular basis.

Cheryl Kagan served in the MD House of Delegates from 1995-2003 and supported the ICC throughout her tenure.

This is a Reader’s Note. We welcome submissions on all sorts of things — shopping, restaurants, performances, art, cultural events, meetings, and more. Get in touch with us at hello@rockvillecentral.com if you would like to submit something!

I am fascinated by this house. I am sure that it is a daycare (though I did not see a sign) — but it also is a pretty awesome advertisement for Disney.

Click the image for the RSS feed address!

People who use RSS feed readers to keep up with news have shared dismay at our recent decision to shift to an entirely Facebook platform. They worry they will not be able to see our articles in their readers. But, fear not! You can subscribe to an RSS feed for all of Rockville Central’s “notes” which are what our articles will become.

Simply add this subscription to your feed reader:

http://www.facebook.com/feeds/notes.php?id=11270373798&viewer=0&key=c034072652&format=rss20

(If that seems like a lot of gobbledeygook to you, don’t worry. RSS readers will get it.)

We are excited to let you know of a new development here at Rockville Central.

Since we began in June 2007 (here’s our first post), we have always stressed the community aspect. We aim to be an open, fair, and civil space in which to share views about what’s going on in Rockville. That means this site has always been about you, the participant. That focus has spurred very gratifying growth and we have remained in the top five local blogs in Maryland for a number of years.

However, traffic and readership has never been the most important measure of success for us. We are far, far more interested in knowing things like:

• How many people entered public life who had not participated before?
• How deep and robust were comment exchanges on key articles?
• How many people were sending article contributions and adding their voices?
• What other community web sites were getting started?

These measures, too, have been very gratifying as all of them have come true. Especially that last point. As new friends like Patch have gotten started and the Gazette and even the City of Rockville itself have implemented features we pioneered, and as current friends like Rockville Living have continued to grow, we are excited that the online community in and around Rockville is on its way to being vibrant and alive. The community is well served by this ecosystem of news, opinion and information.

Now, it is time for us to move to the next chapter in the life of Rockville Central.

Some time ago, we initiated Rockville Central’s Facebook page, and this has grown to become its own robust space for comments and participation. What’s more, in examining our traffic logs, it is the most important source (after Google) of traffic to the rockvillecentral.com site.

We believe that this suggests that Facebook is where people, by and large, have decided to go for their first-stop online community activities. Which begs the question: Why have a separate site, and try to drag people away from Facebook? Why not go where they are?

For entities and organizations that are trying to turn a profit, or have other institutional or organizational reasons to have a separate identity, it can make sense to have a separate web space. But Rockville Central is different and, as we thought hard about it, we realized we could find no compelling reason that Rockville Central needs to exist as a separate rockvillecentral.com site.

And so, as of March 1, all new Rockville Central content will be found solely on our Rockville Central Facebook page. We hope you will join us there. Everything you have come to know and love about our articles will also exist in Facebook. You can comment, share, and interact — all with more ease and in one place. We’ll no longer have conversations in two different locations.

One thing that will change is that we will do less duplicative reporting. For a city its size, Rockville is well-covered, journalistically. We don’t need to duplicate the efforts of our friends. (How many recaps of the Mayor and Council meetings can you read, really?) We will focus instead on trying to build community and providing content and services that are different and not currently offered by others.

We don’t know necessarily what that will look like, but we are excited to see it emerge!

This is a bold step for us, and, to our knowledge, there are no other Facebook-only hyperlocal community hubs such as ours. It is our next step in trying to blaze a trail.

The existing rockvillecentral.com will continue to exist, and all current content will remain. Old links will still work. But, after February 28, there will be no new posts on that site, and all commenting will be closed. We invite you, instead, to post on our Facebook page.

Thank you for your loyal readership all these years, and we hope you will continue along with us as we embark on this next phase of our life.

We’ll see you over on Facebook.

Your friends,

Cindy Cotte Griffiths
Editor

Brad Rourke
Founder and Publisher

Here is an awesome dead snowman from Rockville Central friend Janet Piczak Brown. It is the FINAL DEAD SNOWMAN. Here is what Janet says: “Have been meaning to send off a picture of our snowgirl but thought the very warm weather would make it better. Here we see her hat and the rocks that were her eyes, nose and mouth. One of her arms is to the left of the hat.”

On Monday morning I sent a press release to the Gazette announcing that I was soliciting signatures on a petition condemning Joe Jordan’s attempt to silence my criticism of using taxpayers’ money to bail out the RedGate golf course, I also announced that additional information is available on my website (www.rocktrash.org).

Here’s a summary of what led me to take this step.

At Citizens’ Forum last summer (and here on Rockville Central), I posed 10 questions to the golfing community about the future of the RedGate golf course. The RedGate Advisory Committee largely ignored these questions on their quest to convince taxpayers that somehow we benefit from the privilege of paying huge subsidies for other people to play golf. September gave way to autumn, and I slipped into my normal budget season schedule of working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. From October through the end of January, I was totally uninvolved in City issues and had no time to follow Mayor and Council action on any issue. I confess that I didn’t even have time to read Rockville Central!

I was gone, but apparently not forgotten. In late January, I was astounded to hear that Joe Jordan, chair of the RedGate Advisory Committee, had filed a FOIA request for all emails between me and Rockville City email addresses. I asked the City for confirmation and received a copy of Mr. Jordan’s FOIA request for my email, and a second FOIA request that he filed asking for email between the City Manager, the City Finance Director, and the Director of Parks and Recreation.

I don’t mind having a vigorous debate about the substance of public policy. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy and respect Rockville Central so much. But going on a fishing expedition for the email of your political opponent, and using City staff as a political punching bag go well beyond anyone’s definition of acceptable political behavior.

So, at the Feb 7th Citizens’ Forum, I spoke out against Mr. Jordan’s tactics, saying “You don’t have to be a political genius to see that Mr. Jordan’s action is designed to intimidate and silence critics of using taxpayers’ dollars to bailout the Golf Course.” I went on to say that his actions are “a perfect example of why many, if not most, Americans view politics with disgust.”

For anyone doubting my characterization of the intent of Mr. Jordan’s FOIAs, I refer you to his statement in the Feb. 16th edition of the Gazette:

“[I asked for it] because of [Stigile's] outspokenness on the golf course,” he said. “I don’t know [how it will be useful].”

I don’t care how you parse his statement, it says he targeted me because I oppose the golf course bailout.

I thought the public exposure might cause Mr. Jordan to rethink his political tactics. However, late last week, I learned that Mr. Jordan has expanded his FOIA request to cover email through Feb 12th of this year.

As I said at Citizens’ Forum, I fully support Mr. Jordan’s request for copies of my email. He absolutely has a legal right to see public records. In fact, I asked the City on Feb. 7th and again on Monday morning to post all of my email on the City web site, so that everyone can enjoy them.

But just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right. Mr. Jordan represents the City. His political tactics send the wrong message to any resident who wants to participate in the political process and isn’t a life-long fan of the Broad Street Bullies’ brand of hockey. (Sorry Caps fans.) I concluded my remarks at Citizens’ Forum by saying that this kind of politics is not acceptable from someone who represents the City, and I asked the Mayor and Council to discharge Mr. Jordan from his position on the Advisory Committee.

If you are appalled by political intimidation like this, I invite you to go to my website at www.ROCKTRASH.org and sign my petition condemning Mr. Jordan’s behavior.

I hate this kind of politics. It’s cheap and tawdry, and it taints all of us, even when we are pursuing honorable means. But turning our heads only encourages more of the same.

Art Stigile

p.s. I don’t send many emails, and I rarely keep email, so I don’t have copies of all of them. But I’ve posted a few that I have on my website. Enjoy!

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to hello@rockvillecentral.com. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!

Here’s an up-from-the-ground shot of the brand new courthouse. You know, the one they couldn’t design right so it creates a death ray whenever the sun hits it. This is from the non-death ray side.

The high winds over the weekend toppled the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse and tore the tarp off the District Courthouse in Rockville.

Early Saturday morning, the winds ripped the $30,000 tarp into pieces. Only one small triangle remained hanging on an upper corner of the building by noon.

Have you found any large white pieces of tarp? Most likely it blew east! One piece was littered the entryway of Rockville City Hall. I didn’t hear of any accidents or destruction from the demise of the tarp. Perhaps large pieces are scattered around town and people don’t know their origin.

As we reported, the Department of General Services of the State of Maryland installed the tarp on Saturday, January 22, 2011 as a temporary measure until a real solution could be found for the high intensity reflection which was destroying surrounding vegetation and melting sections of parked cars.

During the winter, the ray has not been too hot. However, summer is another matter. If you haven’t experienced it yet, you should. The intensity is pretty amazing.

Will the State pay for another tarp which could easily be destroyed again? Have they found a solution to the problem? Since the six-story curtain was purchased, they must not have devised a quick fix.

Another death ray exists in Las Vegas. A high-tech film to cover the windows of the Vdara Hotel was not completely effective last September. Since that death ray was burning people and scorching their hair at the pool below, they added more umbrellas!

We would need a pretty big umbrella on Vinson Street!

Notwithstanding today’s POTD, the scheduled opening (tomorrow) of the Intercounty Connector (ICC) has been postponed until Wednesday. Here is the announcement from the State:

As a result of forecasted precipitation overnight, the Intercounty Connector (ICC)/MD 200 is now scheduled to open to traffic by 6 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, weather permitting. The expected wintery mix will prevent crews from completing final work that must be performed overnight to adjust traffic patterns on adjacent highways that is required for the opening of the ICC.

“For safety and logistical reasons, we need to push the opening of the ICC about 24 hours,” said Acting Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Executive Secretary Harold M. Bartlett. “There is transition work that must take place overnight before we can open the ICC and that work cannot take place in wet or icy conditions. This is certainly an anticipated day and we appreciate motorists’ understanding that we also need Mother Nature’s cooperation in this.”