Brian Lewis/Gazette file photo Demolition of the old Magruder's shopping center this summer signaled the beginning of construction on the new downtown Rockville redevelopment project.

No hurricanes, like in 2003.

No snipers (thankfully), like in 2002.

No contentious local elections, like the county/state races in 2002 and Rockville city elections in 2003.

That's not to say we didn't have plenty of stories to write. And some of them were very important.

If anything describes this year, we'd have to say it was a year of hellos and goodbyes, to people and places.

Perhaps the biggest news in the city of Rockville was saying goodbye to the old Magruder's shopping center and hello to the start of the downtown redevelopment project.

The talking, negotiating, debating and wrangling were over, and construction on the $352 million Town Square project charged full steam ahead to break ground on June 15. Demolition of the shopping center followed over the summer, with Mayor Larry Giammo operating some heavy machinery to crush part of the shopping center himself.

That sight invoked memories of County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a former mayor of Rockville, climbing on a piece of construction equipment to hang the "Tear down the mall" sign a decade earlier, paving the way for the razing of the old Rockville Mall.

Also in the center of town, developers are looking to develop two more sites with -- here's that term again -- mixed uses. The owners of the old Bank of America took plans before the City Council for more residential units in that block, but were asked to bring back plans with more green space and a lower density of housing. On the parking lot site in front of the Regal Cinemas, where the old mall once stood, developer Akridge faced criticism of heights and densities from the council and has scaled back its mixed-use project.

In addition to downtown development, projects popped up along Rockville Pike from Twinbrook to Shady Grove.

The Twinbrook Commons project, a massive retail, residential and office complex straddling the Twinbrook Metro Station and the city-county line, continued to make progress through the bureaucracy at both levels. Late in the year the city welcomed an annexation application from developer JBG Companies so that project could be contained within city limits. The City Council will return to the issue of annexation and the preliminary plans for that project in January.

Across Rockville Pike from the Twinbrook station residents and shoppers watched as Congressional Village took shape this year. The complex containing more than 400 apartments, ground-floor retail and some office space began opening some retail outlets over the summer.

On the northern end of the pike, JBG also took on an old office park site on Shady Grove and Choke Cherry roads near King Farm, asking the city to sanction a change in use on the property to develop yet another mixed-use community. The Upper Rock District, as it is dubbed, would combine residential, office and retail space as well as live-work space.

In Lincoln Park, the city approved redevelopment of the Lincoln Terrace public housing property, which will result in new townhouses and single-family homes for low-, moderate- and market-rate buyers.

Just south of the new Giant grocery store on Hungerford Drive, more than 200 apartments opened in the Westchester at Town Center project built by Archstone. That developer also is building a project at the corner of First Street and Veirs Mill Road that will likely be discussed in more detail in 2005.

Outside of city limits, a controversial plan to more than double the housing density in the Shady Grove Sector started winding its way through county bureaucracy.

Planners say the answer to future traffic congestion is to bring more housing to where the jobs are. Supporters of the plan argue the proposed sector plan represents an important test of the county's commitment to Smart Growth.

Opponents point to strains the proposed influx of 5,400 to 6,350 residential units would place upon the area's infrastructure and services.

The County Council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to consider the plan in January.

Before tackling Shady Grove, the County Council had approved the Upper Rock Creek Master Plan. Months later, it passed two zoning text amendments designed to reinforce environmental protection standards in the Upper Rock Creek watershed and preserve open space in the Rural Neighborhood Cluster Zone.

In Leisure World, prospective residents lined up overnight to ensure themselves a spot in Creekside, two adjoining five-story residential buildings, weeks before the condominium project was set to get under way. The 189-unit project is located on over 12 acres, the last remaining piece of undeveloped land within the 1984 Development Plan for the Leisure World planned retirement community.

In the community

The East Rockville Community could soon be saying hello to a face lift of sorts. After two years in the making, the City Council approved a neighborhood master plan in March. The plan calls for limiting industrial uses in the neighborhood, maintaining the single-family home nature of the area, and introducing retail and "main street-style" development along corridors such as North Stonestreet Avenue.

The Lincoln Park Civic Association and Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation nominated the Lincoln Park neighborhood for historic designation in February after years of interest in doing so. The process will continue into 2005, with presentations to the community in the spring and public hearings before the City Council next summer.

The Aspen Hill community feared it would have to say goodbye to its beloved Matthew Henson State Park after the state Department of Natural Resources put the 93-acre park on a list of excess property that could ultimately be sold.

Facing negative publicity, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) quickly disavowed the sale of state parks. In a letter addressed to the civic group, he states that park property would not be sold to developers, but left open the possibility of selling to willing counties.

The Aspen Hill Swimming Pool closed its gates for the last time this year, saying so long to a community that had embraced it for four decades. Die-hard members said the neighborhood around the Beaver Terrace property had changed since it began operating in 1965. Less stay-at-home parents, changing age demographics and new competition from public pools lowered membership levels.

The Aspen Hill pool group sold its property to a Silver Spring developer for approximately $230,000.

A century-old Derwood building on the corner of Chieftan Avenue and Derwood Road was saved from demolition when the county Planning Board agreed in April to provisionally place it on the county's Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites. The decision protects the old Derwood Post Office and Store while its owner and the county negotiate a property rezoning deal, allowing the historically significant structure to be renovated into a multi-unit apartment building.

Business comings and goings

The year brought some interesting changes for the business community.

Hence Maynard, longtime proprietor of Burbank's Luncheonette on West Montgomery Avenue in Rockville, sold that building in February for $250,000 to Joseph Soleimon. The building is attached to the former In Style Consignment Boutique, where in 2003 someone killed that store's owner and set a fire to cover the crime. The fire badly damaged both buildings.

Although Soleimon's first preference was to have reopened a café or restaurant in the space, Soleimon's attorney said in August his client was considering leasing the space to a bank.

Eight tenants formerly located in the now-demolished Magruder's shopping center on North Washington Street in downtown Rockville chose to say goodbye to the community after the City of Rockville attempted to assist them in finding a new place to set up shop.

Those businesses include Zi Pani, Made By You, Hiro Sushi, Center Cleaners, Rockville Nails, Good Looks By Helena, General Nutrition Center and Starbucks.

The city spent $7.7 million by mid-December on moving costs, transition packages and property loss, including a $1.8 million settlement with Magruder's. City staff estimates that about $200,000 more will be paid out before the relocation expenses are complete.

In Aspen Hill, the Cactus Grill, a popular Mexican restaurant in Aspen Hill Shopping Center, closed in January after a 12-year run.

Faced with declining business and the threat of closing its doors, Theo's Greek restaurant on Wootton Parkway won the right to serve beer and wine after a bill was filed on its behalf in the state legislature early this year. The county Board of License Commissioners approved Theo's liquor license in July after the state legislature passed a bill that circumvents the old rule of not allowing alcohol to be served within 300 feet of a religious institution. Opa!

Healthy farewells

It was goodbye to smoking this year in the city of Rockville.

The city's smoking ban, which mirrored that enacted in Montgomery County in late 2003, took effect on Feb. 1 -- Super Bowl Sunday. It banned smoking in bars and restaurants, forcing many establishments to come up with new ways of maintaining a regular crowd. By the end of the year, no Rockville restaurants or bars had gone under because of the ban.

When news came in October that the British company Chiron would not be distributing the flu vaccine this season, people across the country did everything to try to ward off the bug.

Hundreds of people lined up in places like the Giant grocery store on Hungerford Drive and the Giant at Leisure World to get one of a few hundred flu vaccine doses available.

New schools, new principals

The community welcomed a newly renovated Rockville High School, though its opening came down to the wire this fall.

City inspectors gave their consent to occupy the building just minutes before the first day of school was scheduled to start, allowing 1,200 students waiting outside to enter.

The project's troubled timetable continued when the general contractor, Hess Construction Co. of Gaithersburg, contested approximately $30,000 in fines after the school failed a series of inspections in September. City officials emphasized the school was safe to occupy, but said the contractor failed to correct a wide range of problems first noted during the weeks and days before school began on Aug. 30.

On the other side of town, it was nearly goodbye to a popular daycare program when parents of children enrolled in the program at Lakewood Elementary School learned in May that the school and city officials had been trying to deal with a mold problem in the program's trailer on school property since December.

An attempt to remove the mold in March was unsuccessful, and the children were moved into a classroom at Lakewood. Tests of the air and samples of mold from the trailer found that it was not a health threat, according to the company that analyzed the samples. The city promised not to renew a contract with the owner of the moldy trailer and reimbursed parents a portion of their fees.

As for new faces, area schools said hello to four new principals in Rockville and Aspen Hill this year, with the addition of Nanette Poirier at Julius West Middle School, Dr. Edward Newsome Jr. at Maryvale Elementary, Sister Carol Rigali at St. Mary's Catholic School and Kristin Alban at Lucy v. Barnsley Elementary.

Poirier previously served as assistant principal at Julius West. Newsome is a 31-year education veteran who has worked as a principal at elementary, middle and high schools. Rigali is an educator with 18 years of experience in principal positions. Alban had been an elementary teacher and former principal intern.

Another new principal, Susan Milloy at St. Patrick Catholic School, also opened a brand-new school at the corner of Norbeck and Muncaster Mill roads. The school opened this school year for students in kindergarten through third grade, and will eventually expand to the eighth grade.

Political possibilities

Despite the dearth of local political contests this year, politics continued to be a hot-button topic in the community.

Mayor Larry Giammo said a few months ago that he would seek a third term in the city's elections in November 2005.

There has been some speculation that Giammo might not run for another term, that he might return to a private business enterprise or perhaps seek a position in a higher elected or appointed office.

Giammo's announcement ensures a highly charged battle for the city's top seat in 2005, as Planning Commissioner Brigitta Mullican announced in 2003 that she would run for mayor. Mullican, active in Rockville's Sister City Corp., has been seen at several civic association meetings around the city in recent weeks.

The presidential race was on many people's minds this year, even though everyone was sure Sen. John Kerry would win Maryland's electoral votes.

One group, the Olney Chapter of Mothers Opposed to Bush, was particularly vocal on a local level, and the MOBsters quickly grew to include women from other nearby communities, including Derwood and Rockville.

And last but not least, politics even crept into the art world this fall when a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan was stolen from an art exhibit at Montgomery College.

Just a few months after the Great Communicator was laid to rest in California, a portrait of a tuxedo-clad Reagan raising a wine glass was taken from an exhibit entitled "The Art of Politics: A Fair and Balanced Look at Political Portraits."

Hellos, goodbyes and I do's

The Rockville Police Department welcomed one of the city's own into its ranks in July when former public information specialist Nikki Hawkins joined the police force. Hawkins was chosen by her class at the Montgomery County Police Academy as the graduation speaker and was the first woman to win the physical fitness and defensive tactics award, as well as the coveted Capt. James E. Daly Jr. award, the top award given to a graduate who has put forth the greatest individual effort.

The city manager's office in Rockville operated in a state of flux in 2004 with the departure of five-year manager W. Mark Pentz in January. Assistant City Manager Catherine Tuck Parrish served as acting city manager throughout most of the year until the City Council hired Scott Ullery, an assistant county administrator from California, for the position. Ullery started his post in Rockville at the end of November.

The nation's, if not the world's, attention focused briefly on the community when a slight, 13-year-old boy who called Rockville home died in June and was remembered at a funeral service in Wheaton. Mattie Stepanek, a poet and peacemaker and longtime face of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, was eulogized as an angel and a messenger from heaven by former President Jimmy Carter. He died from complications related to his rare form of muscular dystrophy.

Oprah Winfrey, a close friend of Stepanek's, was among the celebrities who attended the funeral.

City Councilman John F. Hall Jr. made it a hat trick of nuptials this summer, wedding his longtime girlfriend, Malgosia Babiuch of Marki, Poland, in three ceremonies. The couple, who have been raising their 12-year-old son, Jan, from two continents, married in Poland and in two ceremonies in Rockville.

Perennial political candidate and habitual conspiracy theorist Lih Young was evicted from her Fallsmead home in November, along with her husband Kan Hua Young. The couple apparently defaulted on a mortgage payment, according to court documents. Young, who is a frequent visitor to Rockville City Hall and who testifies regularly at public hearings and City Council meetings, has not yet made a public appearance since her eviction.

In the community, two leadership roles of significance shifted. Robin Weiner, president of the East Rockville Citizens Association, stepped down to take a position on the city Planning Commission. Former East Rockville President Phyllis Marcuccio took over as president of that organization again. And in Twinbrook, longtime activist and former candidate for City Council Harry W. Thomas was elected head of the Twinbrook Citizens Association.

The community said farewell to centenarian Mary Estelle Berberian, who died in March. Berberian championed the cause of senior citizens since the 1970s in Rockville. She pushed for the establishment of the city's Senior Center as well as shuttle buses to help seniors stay mobile.

The Rev. Mansfield "Kasey" Kaseman announced he would retire as executive director of Community Ministries of Rockville and pastor of Rockville United Church in the spring. A well-known figure, the 65-year-old Kaseman has worked to help the city's vulnerable residents by combining the efforts of public, private and religious organizations.

Russell Dawson, a 30-year volunteer firefighter, became the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department's new fire chief.

Leisure World of Maryland had a change in administrative leadership. Robert Sullivan, who arrived at Leisure World in 1981, retired in September. Long-time deputy general manager Kevin Flannery replaced him.

Nancy Savas became head librarian at the Aspen Hill Library in July, replacing interim manager Diane Monnier, who returned to her regular job as head of children's services at the Rockville Library.

Cicadas and pythons and pets, oh my!

We all said hello, begrudgingly, to the noisy, red-eyed bugs that emerged from their 17-year slumber in May.

The periodic, or Brood X, cicadas soiled windshields, but proved to be more of a nuisance than residents originally feared.

En mass, their pulsating mating song resembled the sound of the Starship Enterprise opening its phaser banks, giving local life a surreal science fiction flavor.

The last of the clumsy flyers completed their life cycle after about six weeks, leaving eggs that turned into burrowing nymphs not to be seen for another 17 years.

And speaking of creepy-crawly critters, Rockville City Police officers removed an 8- or 9-foot carpet python from an apartment in the 700 block of Monroe Street on March 4. The snake had been left at the apartment by a former roommate and escaped its tank, crawling behind the refrigerator, police reported. The remaining roommates called the police when they realized it was missing. Pythons are not classified as exotic animals, so it is legal to possess a python in the city, police said.

There is good news for man's best friend. county Park and Planning has come up with possible sites to build new dog exercise areas in Cabin John Regional Park and the Leisure World vicinity. The proposed parks would be a minimum of one acre of fenced land in which dogs could play and owners could interact.

Possible area sites include the Norbeck-Muncaster Local Park, the East Norbeck Local Park and two sites in Olney Manor Recreational Park. The sites in Cabin John Regional Park are under consideration. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled in January.

The fate of the Aspen Hill Memorial Park remains in question after a Potomac woman who claims to have funded the purchase of the pet cemetery in 1988 sued the Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary for control of the property and $660,000 in damages.

Dorothy M. Shapiro alleges the wildlife organization's president, Dianne D. Pearce, and its "agent," Victor Reimer, violated covenants and restrictions tied to the 7.79-acre property commonly known as the Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery at 13630 Georgia Ave.

Pearce and her attorney failed to return telephone calls seeking comment, but denied the allegation in court documents, stating the covenants and restrictions are no longer binding.

Chesapeake Wildlife Sanctuary and Pearce were ordered in October by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge to stop soliciting charitable donations in the state until the sanctuary files delinquent annual reports for fiscal years 1997 through 2002.

And last but not least

The viewing public said hello to Rockville residents who joined the ranks of reality television.

Jennifer Abrams, daughter of former Rockville City Councilman and current Montgomery County School Board member Steve Abrams, joined the cast on NBC's "Average Joe" this spring, competing for the attention of one young man. The bachelor said goodbye to Abrams, who now lives in New York City, in the early rounds.

This fall viewers of the second season of "Apprentice," featuring Donald Trump, got to watch as Rockville bridal shop owner Sandy Ferreira, 28, competed for a top job in Trump's organization. Ferreira, who owns Distinctive Designs Bridal on Crabbs Branch Way, finished in the semifinal round before Trump bid her his infamous goodbye, "You're fire."

And to end the year, millionaire businessman Glenn Stearns, who grew up in Rockville and graduated from Richard Montgomery High School, took home the prize and won escape from the island on TBS' "The Real Gilligan's Island."

His winnings included a quarter-million dollars in cash. Hello!