September 18, 2024 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow visits with the Executive Director for Rockville Economic Development Cindy Rivarde, also know as REDI. Over the 30 mins we'll chat about Rockville's growth, what Cindy and her amazing team do when it comes to enticing corporations, small, medium and large businesses come and flourish in Rockville, MD.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we had a
chance to talk about economic development, specifically in Rockville, Maryland,
with the chief executive director for Rockville Economic Development, Inc.
Also known as Ready, Cindy Rovard. Over the next thirty minutes,
we'll find out about some of the amazing categories of
businesses that are coming to Rockville, the city's growth over
(00:21):
the past several years, and what exactly Cindy and her
team do to get and invite corporations businesses, whether they're small, medium,
or large, to this ever growing regent. By the way,
if you want to find out more about what Cindy,
your team, and Rockville Economic Development do, you can check
out their very cool website with tons of info. Just
log on to Rockvilleready dot org. Here's my conversation with Cindy.
(00:42):
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Good morning, Cindy, morning, how are you. I'm well, It's
great to talk to you. A lot of our listeners
know that when it comes to economic development, I'm not
an expert, and I don't even play one on the radio,
but I love what people like you and your team
do because it means about bringing local businesses in or
(01:03):
national businesses in and the tech or the health industry
and Rockville. I hope in the next thirty minutes so
we have good news about what's happening since almost your
six years there, about what you've been doing as chief
executive director. But do me a favor just for our
listeners that might might not know what an economic development
department does, especially with Rockville. What does the actual department
(01:25):
and you do.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, So what we do is we help the City
of Rockville grow their tax base, grow jobs, create economic opportunity,
and really position Rockville is a place of choice for
workers and for businesses, and also to highlight the things
(01:46):
to do and see there that would be attractive to
people who want to live, work, or play in the city.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Now, as chief executive director, what do you specifically do?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I oversee the operations of the organization. We have about
a staff a staff of about ten, so I do
HR finance it and programming and strategic planning. I work
with the board to help them develop their strategic plan
and goals annually. I work with the governments that are
(02:17):
funding us, mostly the City of Rockville, to make sure
we're in alignment with the mayor and council want to do,
and then obviously supervised staff.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
It's a lot. I mean, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I'm always curious about this because any job I've ever
gone to, I've got my job description, I kind of
know what I'm doing, and then over the years it
evolves into something much more. Would I be correct that
that even happen for you too over the almost six
years you've been there.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, certainly, certainly it's morphed and we went through the pandemic,
which was a big challenge for everybody, and we all
found new ways of doing things. But yeah, it's a
big job, and it's been exciting because I get to
make decisions and create vision and work with people to
try to make the community the best it can be
(03:05):
and what they would like it to be.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
But definitely, yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So in just a little bit, I do want to
talk to you about us going through the pandemic and
how it changed probably the business model, not only for
people that you're welcoming into Rockville, but maybe how you
work with people in general and bringing businesses in, whether
they be small, medium, or large so we'll talk about
that in this a little bit, But if you could
for maybe the landscape of Rockville, because I know there's
(03:32):
only so much property that people have access to and
you can go into that. I don't know if there's
data you'd like to talk about, but when we talk
about Rockville and economic development, you know, how much of
Rockville are we talking that is available for people to
move into right now?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
For a business, well, you know, we can always run
a search for somebody through COSTAR, which is a it's
kind of like MLS for commercial real estate and put
in the parameters of what people need. We also may
be aware of deals that are ending or people who
are planning to make a change that may not be public,
(04:06):
and we may be able to connect people to those
opportunities if they reach out to us. So you know,
it's an ever changing landscape of what's available.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
We have a lot of office space, we have.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Light industrial, we have commercial retail, and you know there's
opportunities for multifamily and we have a lot of things
in the pipeline as well.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So it's a pretty active market.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So Sydney, I'd love to find out about how businesses
and corporations find out about you and specifically Rockville. Now
I don't doubt, and you can tell us how exactly
where it's say you go out and pitch yourself two
different and I want you to talk about that. But
also I imagine that there's word of mouth that there
may be is a health company that's in Rockville and
they love it and they're doing well. Probably word gets
(04:55):
out an industry that rock feels pretty cool, and you
might want to think about moving your corporation here. But
how does all that work?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Obviously we have a lot of information on the internet.
So if you find our website, if you know you're
interested in Rockville and you google, we should come up.
And we work a lot with partners, so we have
regular conversations with the brokers in the area.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
They're aware of what our incentives are.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
How we can help, and so they can convey that
to their clients. And if they're looking for something and
it's a confidential search, you know, we are able to
assist with that. You know, we work with the universities.
We work with other economic development agencies in the area.
So there's the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation and then
(05:43):
there's the Department of Commerce for the state. So we're
regularly working together and talking about what opportunities there.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Are and how we can pitch them together.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Or you know, if somebody comes to the state and
they're interested in certain locations and we're one of them,
we help them with showing the area to that prospect
and then we all go to trade shows.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
As you were intimating before.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Sure, it sounds like you have a giant rolodex of
just relationships, which I think is just ultra important to
continue to get the message about all the cool things
that Rockville will offer. So I'm curious about different industries
in the almost six years that you have been with
Ready as you do this and it's grown and it's
morphed and it's fluid when it comes to what you
(06:29):
do and bringing businesses in what seems to be some
of the leading categories that have really attracted people to
the Rockville region.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, so Rockville is the epicenter of life science bioscience
in our area. We're actually ranked third in the nation
for life science bioscience, largely because the proximity to FDA
and NIH and the really talented workforce that we have here.
You know, with Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland just
(07:00):
have really from from PhDs to people who can work
in the labs, a lot of technical ability here and talent.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
So we're behind Boston.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And California, but you know, we're very competitive and always
you know, talking with the folks who do the work
up in those locations to see what are they doing,
How can you know, how can we keep competing? And
we see that some of the companies in Boston, for example,
UH open satellite locations here to be closer to the
(07:33):
federal agencies as well, so that it's even if they're
a competition, it doesn't mean that there's not still opportunity
for our area.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I want to get back to relationships that you have,
but also businesses will have with government officials maybe at
a local level too. And I don't want to assume anything,
but I imagine you and business relationships with city councils when
it comes to what tax breaks are available to them,
welcoming business and maybe some things that they'll get. So
(08:02):
I imagine there's constant relationship of talking advocating to make sure, hey,
we can all work together to bring these businesses in.
Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on those relationships.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
We work very closely with the Mayor and Council of
the City of Rockville. They're a main funder and they
have set up a couple of incentive programs that we
administer to help attract and retain business.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So one is called a move Expansion.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Grant, and if you're new to Rockville, you can get
up to four dollars a square foot for the space
capped at forty thousand, and if you're expanding space, we
also support that. This pairs with very similar program that
the county has, so if you're also new to Montgomery County,
we can work together and make that more of an
attractive package. We also pioneered this program called a Small
(08:50):
Business Impact Fund, and it's got a component of social
responsibility to it. So a business in Rockville who needs
to gale to the next level and needs, you know,
a little bit of assistance to do that can apply,
and we have a committee that reviews applications. And they
also have to be doing something for the community beyond
(09:12):
just running a business, so you know, for example, they
could be teaching kids how to run a retail business,
or they could be providing like dental services to people
who can't.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Afford them those kind of things.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And we've given money to people for doing marketing campaigns,
for buying pos systems, just whatever it needs to get
them to be a stronger business employing people. And they
have both been very, very successful in distinguishing Rockville as
a competitive and desirable place to locate the business and
also you know, allowing for more engagement with businesses so
(09:49):
that we really understand what are their needs and we
can keep pivoting to provide resources.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
And I imagine to your point, there's got to be
a regular dialogue because it's fluid all the time. Things
are always changing, so having that community as constantly probably
is just a really big deal. Correct it is?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
It is?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I always say economic development is half having all the
digital information available for people who don't want to talk
to us, and the other half is relational and really
high touch, developing trust, providing value.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I also want to talk about maybe other categories over
the last maybe five plus years that are starting to
come to Rockville. You mentioned the sciences, and I think
it is so wonderful and that were ranked third in
the country is really extraordinary and when you had first
told me about that. I know, obviously it makes sense
because we're the proximity, so I love that. But also
I'm sure there are some wonderful tax breaks and other
(10:40):
incredible things that the region brings to them that they're
all coming in. But are there some other categories that
either are pleasing you, whether it's surprising you or not,
but that are coming in that you're excited about?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Oh, definitely.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So we work with our board annually to develop what
strategic goals we have. So life science is obviously one,
but small scale manufacturing has become a very important area
of opportunity for us.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
We have light industrial land.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Available in twin Brook, the twin Brook area and East
Gooty area which we call Rocky East, and you know
there's just businesses from people making health bars to empanadas,
to need to small drug runs for you know, to
meet demand for drugs that may not be done by
(11:30):
the big guys you know who. There is much smaller scale.
But there's this company in Raphel it's very cool that
has developed ability to take this almost trailer to a
hospital and if they need more antibiotics, create them there.
So small scale manufacturing is a wide range of products
really anything that somebody can make, and we had a
(11:53):
consultant help us figure out what the opportunities are and
what our plan to support this industry sector might be
going forward. So we're about to just launch a cohort
for people who are half emerging businesses in this area
to get technical assistance.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So it will cover things like.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Distribution, supply chain, how to position yourself for the holiday time.
And there's still a couple spots, so if somebody has
a business that would be interested in this program, please
reach out to us. I'd say also, rock Felle's very
strong and professional services, so we have a lot of
you know, lawyers, doctors.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Healthcare is a very big industry.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I think healthcare has the most jobs available, so if
somebody needs a job, healthcare is certainly a industry sector
where you will always have work. And the entrepreneurial ecosystem
in our area is also extremely strong, so people who
are starting a business, they're innovative, there's a lot of resources.
(12:54):
We run the Maryland Women's Business Center, which helps people
launch and grow their businesses. It's open to people of
all genders and it's an SBA certified program. So we
provide free one on one business counseling to help people
do their business plan, a marketing plan, solve problems, get
connected to resources they need, and then we have a
(13:15):
series of workshops that may be of interest.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So i'd like to I'd like to talk about a
little bit more as I learned all the amazing things
you do. I mean, you're basically offering people here is
a blueprint if you are interested in coming in how
we can assist you so you're not on an island
all by yourself here when it's starting your business. And
I imagine, especially for some small small businesses that might
not have the acumen that they think they need, you're
(13:38):
going to be there to assist them. I think that's
just wonderful that you and your team do that.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, and you know pretty much if you're going somewhere
in the country, always look for the Economic Development Agency there.
We're a wealth of information and we can help in
a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Okay, I want to talk about I guess what happens
when businesses come to town, because this is something I learned.
As you know, I have a sports background and I
learned a long time ago about economic development. When you
build a sports stadium. The tremendous thing that can be
built around and happen to the economy job creation. It's
really endless. And you can go into this if you like,
(14:14):
when a business, small, medium or large comes in, but
just think, let's think of one of the maybe the
life scientists buildings, and a business came here to Rockville.
So you're employing people directly. Maybe they're building new stuff,
so that's creating jobs, and then you've got the jobs
for people in the area. But also they're bringing people
from out of town. And remember they drive, they have
(14:36):
kids that go to school, they buy, you know, grocery products,
they pump their gas. It goes on and on and
on and on. It's a tremendous amount of money. I
imagine Cindy that comes in if a business comes in,
about what can be created from that? Can you go
into that a little bit more because it's ow it's
it's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, definitely, that is how it works.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
And you can track how many times a dollar rotates
with in the community before it leaves, and that's sort
of the economic impact measurement that we try to do.
And there's different modeling for it, but Yeah, that's the idea,
is that you want to keep the dollars circulating in
the community because that builds more more wealth. There is
(15:19):
a fascinating it's arts and not sports, but Americans for
the Arts has a calculator, so if you run an
arts organization, you can go in there and put your
details in and it will tell you what that economic
impact is for your organization. So it's a really that
that model shows you exactly what you're talking about, which
(15:39):
is kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's fascinating. And going back to the sports angle, you know,
you have to think folks that when somebody comes into
your city, and we're going to use Rockville of course
as an example, you know they're spending their harder and
money on the hotel industry, on rental cars, and I
mean it just goes on and on and on about
how much money can be pumped into the economy depending
on what they're attending here. I was curious about that
(16:01):
when it comes to tourism because we have so much
in the DMV here and there's obviously a lot of
people that are going to come through Rockville, whether they're
going to stay, they're going to come through maybe because
they're one of their favorite restaurants, or maybe one of
the great hotels that we have in Rockville or any
of those kind of things. What kind of figures are
we looking at the latest data that you have a
people when it comes to a tourism that maybe come
(16:21):
to the region, they get to enjoy the area, whether
it's maybe for a small, medium, or large stay. And
we don't have to hold anything real specific to you whatsoever,
but I imagine once again it's an enormous amount of money
that must come into the economy on an annual basis.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Oh definitely. And I'm just I was pulling up you
can see me. I know other people can't. I'm on
the board of Visit Montgomery. Yeah, and so I get
to see the numbers. And what is great about our
area is hotel nights and the revenue coming in for
tourism is back to pre pandemic level. So obviously was
(17:00):
a big dip because the hospitality industry got hit so hard,
but we're back to being very healthy and Rockville in
particular is performing well.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
As far as hotel nights, you know, a lot of
it is local travel.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So if people want to go to the agg reserve
and go to the wineries. They may be staying in
a hotel in Rockville, they may be eating dinner in Rockville.
But in our region there is so much to do
and see that a long weekend is a fun thing
to do and to get yourself a hotel room for that.
We do have business travel and then Visit Montgomery in
(17:37):
particular focuses a lot on bringing conventions here, so they
have sales folks who go out and try to drive
traffic here. We partner with Visit Montgomery from at Ready
to create explore Rockville dot org, which is a tailored
website for.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Things to do and see in Rockville.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So it's a really good resource if you want to
see you know, what's coming up on the calendar, or
we have a business directory in there. So we try
to drive that kind of traffic to our local businesses,
many of which are restaurants.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
As you know, we have.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Amazing international dining scene here.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, there's so many cultures here. It's so diverse.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You can really get any kind of authentic food here
that you would like, and so that's a great resource
to help find them.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
You know, you and I could spend probably a full
half hour just on restaurants, and because you know, I've
lived all over the DMV and this is just an
exceptional foody area, folks. I mean, it's really you know,
I'm sure most of you have checked out restaurants in Rockville,
but it seems like they're growing exponentially all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I know the industry can be a little volatile. We
all know that restaurants are hidden myths sometimes and it's
a tough business hitting, but when you really knock it
out of the park, it can be pretty extraordinary. How
are we doing this overall with restaurants staying and coming
into the Rocker region? Are we had a healthy bar
right now? Cindy.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, it's actually really doing well. Right now.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
We've had a number of new restaurants open up in
town Square, which is in the heart of rock Fills downtown.
Kung Fu Kitchen just had a riff and cutting. There's
Little Minor Taco I know, I'm going to forget somebody.
There's the Cushi sushi that's brand new, and then the
staples like the Thai food is fabulous, the Goyoza Japanese barbecue,
(19:28):
and then we have in other parts of the city
you know, along with the Pike, Mikinos is great Greek food.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
East Pearls one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I know, I'm going to not say everybody ill Pizzico
really great Italian. And then in King Farm there's there's
wonderful restaurants there, the Boat and Narrow. I'm trying to think,
I know something else just opened there and I'm I
think it's Chinese there too.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, there's a lot. And by the way, I have
so much I drove by the sushi placement and open
and folks if you think, because there's lots of places
you can get you know, great sushi. And Rockville there
was a lineup that was immense the day they opened,
which just goes to show you when there's a good
new restaurant and there's buzz in Rockville about something that's
really cool, including sushi, people are going to line up
(20:14):
and cowed at it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Yeah, it's got a really cool vibe there.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, it really does. It really does.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Well.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Listen, I want to talk about other things. You know,
you had mentioned the arts a little bit, and this
region is just I mean, it's just full of the arts.
Is that something that also your team tries to get
to come into the area here when it comes to that,
and I'd love you just to expound on maybe what
has come in the last five years and maybe you know,
you don't have to give us any details about what
(20:42):
you might be working on. They might be secreted. But
what all is how are we doing with arts in
the area.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Well, you know, with this arts we're really anchored with
a regionally well known, well run, exceptional arts organization. So
they have programming from you know, kids camps to class
is to really high end shows.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
By by you know, nationally known artists and local artists.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So they're a great partner. The city itself has one
of the oldest public art programs in the entire country.
We have over fifty pieces of art in the public
art program. Exceptionally good. You know, there's a lot of
wonderful programming. The f Scott Fitzgerald Theater has the Lyric Opera,
(21:30):
the Little Theater, the ballet and like, let's see, there's
the Clay co Op. I know, the rock Felle Art
League is also really good. I participate in that because
I pay nice and you know, those are area artists
who get juried into shows at the Glen View Mansion.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
The quality right now, there's a watercolor.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Show up that is exceptionally good. So if you have
a chance to go see that, you should. Let's see
what else in our own office, we are starting to
do rotating art shows. We just took down a show
by Terry Thompson, who's a Baltimore based artist, and in
November we're bringing in Bobby Schulman, who does abstract artists.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
She's a Montgomery County artist.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So you know, we're trying to have that dialogue of
the importance of the creative mind, especially in an area
of science where we want innovation and creativity. And when
you engage in the arts, you start to think about
patterns and you put disparate things together and you see
what happens. And so even you know, the arts are
(22:37):
very important to keeping that innovation and creativity alive in
all areas of business.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well that's why I asked you, because you know, with
the arts kind of dissipating maybe at our middle school,
high school level in certain regions, it's so important imperative
to have the arts for everybody's life, enrich it. And
because you know we're in kind of a museum area.
You know in the DMV. I love that you are
staying with the arts and trying to bring them to
the area. And it sounds like you just hid the
(23:04):
tip of the iceberg about what's available here. So thank
you for that. Early in our conversation, I tas the
pandemic about you know, about what you had to go through.
You know, we all were very clear what we had
to personally go through. But you as a business here
and bringing businesses to the region, obviously, I know that
everything probably came to a crashing halt. Was still people
(23:24):
planning behind the scenes about what they wanted to do.
It was just backlogged a little bit. So what happened
with you and your team and working with businesses during
COVID and has the business model changed for you? And
is everybody catching up to come to Rockfille when they
wanted to do it before you know February twenty twenty.
What what all transpired?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
There's there's a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I would say, first, you know, our team, because we
are an SBA certified program, we also had to be
prepared to help people get through the Federal aid PPP
and IDLE loans. I know, my team helped over eight
hundred childcare businesses get set up to be able to
get AID, so that was a huge effort. In kudos
(24:08):
to my staff, especially Martha Haimenez. I'll give the shore
it out. And as we know, childcare is one of
the lynch pins to getting people back to work and
still a real pain point from Maryland. We need we
don't have enough childcare spots for people to go back
to work still, so it's a huge important area. You know,
(24:30):
our own operations, you know, I onboarded people, I was
handing off laptops and parking lots to people.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I met a lot of new employees you know that way.
And we moved to Zoom, which you know his Zoom
has been.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Fabulous and we found actually as far as the workshops
and things we do, that was more convenient and a
lot of the ability to have meetings with people in
other areas of the country became so much easier. So
we've stuck with having workshops virtually because then people aren't
trying to do a commute, their kid can be there
(25:05):
if they need to, and they're still getting the information
they need from us. As far as businesses, you know,
we launched a round table series with with Montgomery College
at the at that time we're not still doing it,
but through the pandemic, we would host virtual roundtables to
discuss some of the challenges that businesses were trying to
(25:28):
address during this time, you know, with human resources, with
you know, making the decision of what the policies and
procedures should be.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
So we were leading.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
A lot of that discussion with our local businesses so
that they could talk with each other and see you know,
some of it was you who just had to figure
out what made the most sense post pandemic.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Obviously Amazon Justice making their whole staff go back in
five days a week. So there are some companies that
feel that way. Certainly some real estate companies because that's
their bread and butter. They have said, we've got a model,
we need to be back in the office to show
that people need to be in the office. And you know,
I do think that with younger employees and people who
(26:14):
are new on a team.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You needed that time to bond.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That being said, to get the talent you really want,
most everybody needs some flexibility. So I don't see our
particular staff going back to not allowing some flex time.
I would say at this point we're probably all in
the office at least three days a week, if not more.
But it's not dictated when it's really based on what
(26:40):
do you need to do to get your job done
and do you need to meet with somebody and do
you need to be at a business so that you
can see what they need. So it's more driven by
the work that needs to be done than you know,
punching a time clock for.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Us right and changing adapt like everybody's had to in
my business and yours and anybody that wants to come
to Rockfield, well, listen, we only have about two minutes left,
so I just want to give the floor to you, Sandy.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time.
It's so cool what you and your team do. But
we have a lot of people that I imagine want
to start a business here or maybe they have one,
but maybe they haven't been introduced to you. So if
(27:13):
you just maybe wrap up some final thoughts about you know, you,
the team at ready and everything with Rockfelle economic development
that you're doing and welcoming people to this area, if
you could please, floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Great and absolutely if you if you're a business in
Rockville or our area and or you're thinking about coming
to Rockville, please give us a call.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Our website is Rockville Ready r d I dot org.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
You can also look at Maryland WBC dot org if
you want the technical assistance, and explore Rockville dot org
for the local tourism. But yes, we can help people
find a real estate location. We can help you find resources.
You know, if you need a professionals, if you need
to be connected to a bank that does small business loans,
(27:58):
anything that you need, if you need delays onto the government,
or if you're having trouble with a permit, we're happy
to help and try to solve the problem, to figure out,
you know, what the hold ups are and how to
best move forward. So we're here as a resource to
help business. We want business here. It's it's it's a
very important part of the community that makes this a
(28:19):
very vital and healthy economy.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I think it's safe to say, Cety the Union team
do a lot of the heavy lifting for people, don't you.
We try to, Yeah, you really do. Let's give that
website just one more time for everybody.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Sure Rockville Ready r EEDI dot org outstanding.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Well, Cindy, thank you so much for this. I hope
we get a chance to stay in touch because I
know in your business everything is fluid and there's something
new every day. We've got just down the street from
us a big grocery chain that's going to be going
in on Rockville Pike that we're all very excited about.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Here we talk about Wegmans.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, yes, and that's a big deal, folks. You know
when a big grocery chain like this comes to the area.
Great sandwiches, by the way, that's just a personal thing.
I don't endorse them, but they do have that. But
that's a real big deal. When something like that comes
to town and we're so excited, then that's just a
tip of the iceberg. Go all the cool things that
are happening in Rockfille. So listen, continue success. Thank you
again for your valuable time. Give my best to the
(29:10):
entire team, and we really appreciate joining us on Community
DC great.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Thank you for having us.
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Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we had a
chance to talk about economic development, specifically in Rockville, Maryland,
with the chief executive director for Rockville Economic Development, Inc.
Also known as Ready, Cindy Rovard. Over the next thirty minutes,
we'll find out about some of the amazing categories of
businesses that are coming to Rockville, the city's growth over
(00:21):
the past several years, and what exactly Cindy and her
team do to get and invite corporations businesses, whether they're small, medium,
or large, to this ever growing regent. By the way,
if you want to find out more about what Cindy,
your team, and Rockville Economic Development do, you can check
out their very cool website with tons of info. Just
log on to Rockvilleready dot org. Here's my conversation with Cindy.
(00:42):
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Good morning, Cindy, morning, how are you. I'm well, It's
great to talk to you. A lot of our listeners
know that when it comes to economic development, I'm not
an expert, and I don't even play one on the radio,
but I love what people like you and your team
do because it means about bringing local businesses in or
(01:03):
national businesses in and the tech or the health industry
and Rockville. I hope in the next thirty minutes so
we have good news about what's happening since almost your
six years there, about what you've been doing as chief
executive director. But do me a favor just for our
listeners that might might not know what an economic development
department does, especially with Rockville. What does the actual department
(01:25):
and you do.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, So what we do is we help the City
of Rockville grow their tax base, grow jobs, create economic opportunity,
and really position Rockville is a place of choice for
workers and for businesses, and also to highlight the things
(01:46):
to do and see there that would be attractive to
people who want to live, work, or play in the city.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Now, as chief executive director, what do you specifically do?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I oversee the operations of the organization. We have about
a staff a staff of about ten, so I do
HR finance it and programming and strategic planning. I work
with the board to help them develop their strategic plan
and goals annually. I work with the governments that are
(02:17):
funding us, mostly the City of Rockville, to make sure
we're in alignment with the mayor and council want to do,
and then obviously supervised staff.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
It's a lot. I mean, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I'm always curious about this because any job I've ever
gone to, I've got my job description, I kind of
know what I'm doing, and then over the years it
evolves into something much more. Would I be correct that
that even happen for you too over the almost six
years you've been there.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, certainly, certainly it's morphed and we went through the pandemic,
which was a big challenge for everybody, and we all
found new ways of doing things. But yeah, it's a
big job, and it's been exciting because I get to
make decisions and create vision and work with people to
try to make the community the best it can be
(03:05):
and what they would like it to be.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
But definitely, yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So in just a little bit, I do want to
talk to you about us going through the pandemic and
how it changed probably the business model, not only for
people that you're welcoming into Rockville, but maybe how you
work with people in general and bringing businesses in, whether
they be small, medium, or large so we'll talk about
that in this a little bit, But if you could
for maybe the landscape of Rockville, because I know there's
(03:32):
only so much property that people have access to and
you can go into that. I don't know if there's
data you'd like to talk about, but when we talk
about Rockville and economic development, you know, how much of
Rockville are we talking that is available for people to
move into right now?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
For a business, well, you know, we can always run
a search for somebody through COSTAR, which is a it's
kind of like MLS for commercial real estate and put
in the parameters of what people need. We also may
be aware of deals that are ending or people who
are planning to make a change that may not be public,
(04:06):
and we may be able to connect people to those
opportunities if they reach out to us. So you know,
it's an ever changing landscape of what's available.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
We have a lot of office space, we have.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Light industrial, we have commercial retail, and you know there's
opportunities for multifamily and we have a lot of things
in the pipeline as well.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So it's a pretty active market.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So Sydney, I'd love to find out about how businesses
and corporations find out about you and specifically Rockville. Now
I don't doubt, and you can tell us how exactly
where it's say you go out and pitch yourself two
different and I want you to talk about that. But
also I imagine that there's word of mouth that there
may be is a health company that's in Rockville and
they love it and they're doing well. Probably word gets
(04:55):
out an industry that rock feels pretty cool, and you
might want to think about moving your corporation here. But
how does all that work?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Obviously we have a lot of information on the internet.
So if you find our website, if you know you're
interested in Rockville and you google, we should come up.
And we work a lot with partners, so we have
regular conversations with the brokers in the area.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
They're aware of what our incentives are.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
How we can help, and so they can convey that
to their clients. And if they're looking for something and
it's a confidential search, you know, we are able to
assist with that. You know, we work with the universities.
We work with other economic development agencies in the area.
So there's the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation and then
(05:43):
there's the Department of Commerce for the state. So we're
regularly working together and talking about what opportunities there.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Are and how we can pitch them together.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Or you know, if somebody comes to the state and
they're interested in certain locations and we're one of them,
we help them with showing the area to that prospect
and then we all go to trade shows.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
As you were intimating before.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Sure, it sounds like you have a giant rolodex of
just relationships, which I think is just ultra important to
continue to get the message about all the cool things
that Rockville will offer. So I'm curious about different industries
in the almost six years that you have been with
Ready as you do this and it's grown and it's
morphed and it's fluid when it comes to what you
(06:29):
do and bringing businesses in what seems to be some
of the leading categories that have really attracted people to
the Rockville region.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, so Rockville is the epicenter of life science bioscience
in our area. We're actually ranked third in the nation
for life science bioscience, largely because the proximity to FDA
and NIH and the really talented workforce that we have here.
You know, with Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland just
(07:00):
have really from from PhDs to people who can work
in the labs, a lot of technical ability here and talent.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
So we're behind Boston.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And California, but you know, we're very competitive and always
you know, talking with the folks who do the work
up in those locations to see what are they doing,
How can you know, how can we keep competing? And
we see that some of the companies in Boston, for example,
UH open satellite locations here to be closer to the
(07:33):
federal agencies as well, so that it's even if they're
a competition, it doesn't mean that there's not still opportunity
for our area.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I want to get back to relationships that you have,
but also businesses will have with government officials maybe at
a local level too. And I don't want to assume anything,
but I imagine you and business relationships with city councils when
it comes to what tax breaks are available to them,
welcoming business and maybe some things that they'll get. So
(08:02):
I imagine there's constant relationship of talking advocating to make sure, hey,
we can all work together to bring these businesses in.
Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on those relationships.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
We work very closely with the Mayor and Council of
the City of Rockville. They're a main funder and they
have set up a couple of incentive programs that we
administer to help attract and retain business.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So one is called a move Expansion.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Grant, and if you're new to Rockville, you can get
up to four dollars a square foot for the space
capped at forty thousand, and if you're expanding space, we
also support that. This pairs with very similar program that
the county has, so if you're also new to Montgomery County,
we can work together and make that more of an
attractive package. We also pioneered this program called a Small
(08:50):
Business Impact Fund, and it's got a component of social
responsibility to it. So a business in Rockville who needs
to gale to the next level and needs, you know,
a little bit of assistance to do that can apply,
and we have a committee that reviews applications. And they
also have to be doing something for the community beyond
(09:12):
just running a business, so you know, for example, they
could be teaching kids how to run a retail business,
or they could be providing like dental services to people
who can't.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Afford them those kind of things.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And we've given money to people for doing marketing campaigns,
for buying pos systems, just whatever it needs to get
them to be a stronger business employing people. And they
have both been very, very successful in distinguishing Rockville as
a competitive and desirable place to locate the business and
also you know, allowing for more engagement with businesses so
(09:49):
that we really understand what are their needs and we
can keep pivoting to provide resources.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
And I imagine to your point, there's got to be
a regular dialogue because it's fluid all the time. Things
are always changing, so having that community as constantly probably
is just a really big deal. Correct it is?
Speaker 3 (10:03):
It is?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I always say economic development is half having all the
digital information available for people who don't want to talk
to us, and the other half is relational and really
high touch, developing trust, providing value.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I also want to talk about maybe other categories over
the last maybe five plus years that are starting to
come to Rockville. You mentioned the sciences, and I think
it is so wonderful and that were ranked third in
the country is really extraordinary and when you had first
told me about that. I know, obviously it makes sense
because we're the proximity, so I love that. But also
I'm sure there are some wonderful tax breaks and other
(10:40):
incredible things that the region brings to them that they're
all coming in. But are there some other categories that
either are pleasing you, whether it's surprising you or not,
but that are coming in that you're excited about?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Oh, definitely.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So we work with our board annually to develop what
strategic goals we have. So life science is obviously one,
but small scale manufacturing has become a very important area
of opportunity for us.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
We have light industrial land.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Available in twin Brook, the twin Brook area and East
Gooty area which we call Rocky East, and you know
there's just businesses from people making health bars to empanadas,
to need to small drug runs for you know, to
meet demand for drugs that may not be done by
(11:30):
the big guys you know who. There is much smaller scale.
But there's this company in Raphel it's very cool that
has developed ability to take this almost trailer to a
hospital and if they need more antibiotics, create them there.
So small scale manufacturing is a wide range of products
really anything that somebody can make, and we had a
(11:53):
consultant help us figure out what the opportunities are and
what our plan to support this industry sector might be
going forward. So we're about to just launch a cohort
for people who are half emerging businesses in this area
to get technical assistance.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So it will cover things like.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Distribution, supply chain, how to position yourself for the holiday time.
And there's still a couple spots, so if somebody has
a business that would be interested in this program, please
reach out to us. I'd say also, rock Felle's very
strong and professional services, so we have a lot of
you know, lawyers, doctors.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Healthcare is a very big industry.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I think healthcare has the most jobs available, so if
somebody needs a job, healthcare is certainly a industry sector
where you will always have work. And the entrepreneurial ecosystem
in our area is also extremely strong, so people who
are starting a business, they're innovative, there's a lot of resources.
(12:54):
We run the Maryland Women's Business Center, which helps people
launch and grow their businesses. It's open to people of
all genders and it's an SBA certified program. So we
provide free one on one business counseling to help people
do their business plan, a marketing plan, solve problems, get
connected to resources they need, and then we have a
(13:15):
series of workshops that may be of interest.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So i'd like to I'd like to talk about a
little bit more as I learned all the amazing things
you do. I mean, you're basically offering people here is
a blueprint if you are interested in coming in how
we can assist you so you're not on an island
all by yourself here when it's starting your business. And
I imagine, especially for some small small businesses that might
not have the acumen that they think they need, you're
(13:38):
going to be there to assist them. I think that's
just wonderful that you and your team do that.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, and you know pretty much if you're going somewhere
in the country, always look for the Economic Development Agency there.
We're a wealth of information and we can help in
a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Okay, I want to talk about I guess what happens
when businesses come to town, because this is something I learned.
As you know, I have a sports background and I
learned a long time ago about economic development. When you
build a sports stadium. The tremendous thing that can be
built around and happen to the economy job creation. It's
really endless. And you can go into this if you like,
(14:14):
when a business, small, medium or large comes in, but
just think, let's think of one of the maybe the
life scientists buildings, and a business came here to Rockville.
So you're employing people directly. Maybe they're building new stuff,
so that's creating jobs, and then you've got the jobs
for people in the area. But also they're bringing people
from out of town. And remember they drive, they have
(14:36):
kids that go to school, they buy, you know, grocery products,
they pump their gas. It goes on and on and
on and on. It's a tremendous amount of money. I
imagine Cindy that comes in if a business comes in,
about what can be created from that? Can you go
into that a little bit more because it's ow it's
it's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, definitely, that is how it works.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
And you can track how many times a dollar rotates
with in the community before it leaves, and that's sort
of the economic impact measurement that we try to do.
And there's different modeling for it, but Yeah, that's the idea,
is that you want to keep the dollars circulating in
the community because that builds more more wealth. There is
(15:19):
a fascinating it's arts and not sports, but Americans for
the Arts has a calculator, so if you run an
arts organization, you can go in there and put your
details in and it will tell you what that economic
impact is for your organization. So it's a really that
that model shows you exactly what you're talking about, which
(15:39):
is kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's fascinating. And going back to the sports angle, you know,
you have to think folks that when somebody comes into
your city, and we're going to use Rockville of course
as an example, you know they're spending their harder and
money on the hotel industry, on rental cars, and I
mean it just goes on and on and on about
how much money can be pumped into the economy depending
on what they're attending here. I was curious about that
(16:01):
when it comes to tourism because we have so much
in the DMV here and there's obviously a lot of
people that are going to come through Rockville, whether they're
going to stay, they're going to come through maybe because
they're one of their favorite restaurants, or maybe one of
the great hotels that we have in Rockville or any
of those kind of things. What kind of figures are
we looking at the latest data that you have a
people when it comes to a tourism that maybe come
(16:21):
to the region, they get to enjoy the area, whether
it's maybe for a small, medium, or large stay. And
we don't have to hold anything real specific to you whatsoever,
but I imagine once again it's an enormous amount of money
that must come into the economy on an annual basis.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Oh definitely. And I'm just I was pulling up you
can see me. I know other people can't. I'm on
the board of Visit Montgomery. Yeah, and so I get
to see the numbers. And what is great about our
area is hotel nights and the revenue coming in for
tourism is back to pre pandemic level. So obviously was
(17:00):
a big dip because the hospitality industry got hit so hard,
but we're back to being very healthy and Rockville in
particular is performing well.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
As far as hotel nights, you know, a lot of
it is local travel.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So if people want to go to the agg reserve
and go to the wineries. They may be staying in
a hotel in Rockville, they may be eating dinner in Rockville.
But in our region there is so much to do
and see that a long weekend is a fun thing
to do and to get yourself a hotel room for that.
We do have business travel and then Visit Montgomery in
(17:37):
particular focuses a lot on bringing conventions here, so they
have sales folks who go out and try to drive
traffic here. We partner with Visit Montgomery from at Ready
to create explore Rockville dot org, which is a tailored
website for.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Things to do and see in Rockville.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So it's a really good resource if you want to
see you know, what's coming up on the calendar, or
we have a business directory in there. So we try
to drive that kind of traffic to our local businesses,
many of which are restaurants.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
As you know, we have.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Amazing international dining scene here.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, there's so many cultures here. It's so diverse.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You can really get any kind of authentic food here
that you would like, and so that's a great resource
to help find them.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
You know, you and I could spend probably a full
half hour just on restaurants, and because you know, I've
lived all over the DMV and this is just an
exceptional foody area, folks. I mean, it's really you know,
I'm sure most of you have checked out restaurants in Rockville,
but it seems like they're growing exponentially all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I know the industry can be a little volatile. We
all know that restaurants are hidden myths sometimes and it's
a tough business hitting, but when you really knock it
out of the park, it can be pretty extraordinary. How
are we doing this overall with restaurants staying and coming
into the Rocker region? Are we had a healthy bar
right now? Cindy.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, it's actually really doing well. Right now.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
We've had a number of new restaurants open up in
town Square, which is in the heart of rock Fills downtown.
Kung Fu Kitchen just had a riff and cutting. There's
Little Minor Taco I know, I'm going to forget somebody.
There's the Cushi sushi that's brand new, and then the
staples like the Thai food is fabulous, the Goyoza Japanese barbecue,
(19:28):
and then we have in other parts of the city
you know, along with the Pike, Mikinos is great Greek food.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
East Pearls one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I know, I'm going to not say everybody ill Pizzico
really great Italian. And then in King Farm there's there's
wonderful restaurants there, the Boat and Narrow. I'm trying to think,
I know something else just opened there and I'm I
think it's Chinese there too.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, there's a lot. And by the way, I have
so much I drove by the sushi placement and open
and folks if you think, because there's lots of places
you can get you know, great sushi. And Rockville there
was a lineup that was immense the day they opened,
which just goes to show you when there's a good
new restaurant and there's buzz in Rockville about something that's
really cool, including sushi, people are going to line up
(20:14):
and cowed at it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Yeah, it's got a really cool vibe there.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, it really does. It really does.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Well.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Listen, I want to talk about other things. You know,
you had mentioned the arts a little bit, and this
region is just I mean, it's just full of the arts.
Is that something that also your team tries to get
to come into the area here when it comes to that,
and I'd love you just to expound on maybe what
has come in the last five years and maybe you know,
you don't have to give us any details about what
(20:42):
you might be working on. They might be secreted. But
what all is how are we doing with arts in
the area.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Well, you know, with this arts we're really anchored with
a regionally well known, well run, exceptional arts organization. So
they have programming from you know, kids camps to class
is to really high end shows.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
By by you know, nationally known artists and local artists.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So they're a great partner. The city itself has one
of the oldest public art programs in the entire country.
We have over fifty pieces of art in the public
art program. Exceptionally good. You know, there's a lot of
wonderful programming. The f Scott Fitzgerald Theater has the Lyric Opera,
(21:30):
the Little Theater, the ballet and like, let's see, there's
the Clay co Op. I know, the rock Felle Art
League is also really good. I participate in that because
I pay nice and you know, those are area artists
who get juried into shows at the Glen View Mansion.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
The quality right now, there's a watercolor.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Show up that is exceptionally good. So if you have
a chance to go see that, you should. Let's see
what else in our own office, we are starting to
do rotating art shows. We just took down a show
by Terry Thompson, who's a Baltimore based artist, and in
November we're bringing in Bobby Schulman, who does abstract artists.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
She's a Montgomery County artist.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So you know, we're trying to have that dialogue of
the importance of the creative mind, especially in an area
of science where we want innovation and creativity. And when
you engage in the arts, you start to think about
patterns and you put disparate things together and you see
what happens. And so even you know, the arts are
(22:37):
very important to keeping that innovation and creativity alive in
all areas of business.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well that's why I asked you, because you know, with
the arts kind of dissipating maybe at our middle school,
high school level in certain regions, it's so important imperative
to have the arts for everybody's life, enrich it. And
because you know we're in kind of a museum area.
You know in the DMV. I love that you are
staying with the arts and trying to bring them to
the area. And it sounds like you just hid the
(23:04):
tip of the iceberg about what's available here. So thank
you for that. Early in our conversation, I tas the
pandemic about you know, about what you had to go through.
You know, we all were very clear what we had
to personally go through. But you as a business here
and bringing businesses to the region, obviously, I know that
everything probably came to a crashing halt. Was still people
(23:24):
planning behind the scenes about what they wanted to do.
It was just backlogged a little bit. So what happened
with you and your team and working with businesses during
COVID and has the business model changed for you? And
is everybody catching up to come to Rockfille when they
wanted to do it before you know February twenty twenty.
What what all transpired?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
There's there's a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I would say, first, you know, our team, because we
are an SBA certified program, we also had to be
prepared to help people get through the Federal aid PPP
and IDLE loans. I know, my team helped over eight
hundred childcare businesses get set up to be able to
get AID, so that was a huge effort. In kudos
(24:08):
to my staff, especially Martha Haimenez. I'll give the shore
it out. And as we know, childcare is one of
the lynch pins to getting people back to work and
still a real pain point from Maryland. We need we
don't have enough childcare spots for people to go back
to work still, so it's a huge important area. You know,
(24:30):
our own operations, you know, I onboarded people, I was
handing off laptops and parking lots to people.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I met a lot of new employees you know that way.
And we moved to Zoom, which you know his Zoom
has been.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Fabulous and we found actually as far as the workshops
and things we do, that was more convenient and a
lot of the ability to have meetings with people in
other areas of the country became so much easier. So
we've stuck with having workshops virtually because then people aren't
trying to do a commute, their kid can be there
(25:05):
if they need to, and they're still getting the information
they need from us. As far as businesses, you know,
we launched a round table series with with Montgomery College
at the at that time we're not still doing it,
but through the pandemic, we would host virtual roundtables to
discuss some of the challenges that businesses were trying to
(25:28):
address during this time, you know, with human resources, with
you know, making the decision of what the policies and
procedures should be.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
So we were leading.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
A lot of that discussion with our local businesses so
that they could talk with each other and see you know,
some of it was you who just had to figure
out what made the most sense post pandemic.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Obviously Amazon Justice making their whole staff go back in
five days a week. So there are some companies that
feel that way. Certainly some real estate companies because that's
their bread and butter. They have said, we've got a model,
we need to be back in the office to show
that people need to be in the office. And you know,
I do think that with younger employees and people who
(26:14):
are new on a team.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You needed that time to bond.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That being said, to get the talent you really want,
most everybody needs some flexibility. So I don't see our
particular staff going back to not allowing some flex time.
I would say at this point we're probably all in
the office at least three days a week, if not more.
But it's not dictated when it's really based on what
(26:40):
do you need to do to get your job done
and do you need to meet with somebody and do
you need to be at a business so that you
can see what they need. So it's more driven by
the work that needs to be done than you know,
punching a time clock for.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Us right and changing adapt like everybody's had to in
my business and yours and anybody that wants to come
to Rockfield, well, listen, we only have about two minutes left,
so I just want to give the floor to you, Sandy.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time.
It's so cool what you and your team do. But
we have a lot of people that I imagine want
to start a business here or maybe they have one,
but maybe they haven't been introduced to you. So if
(27:13):
you just maybe wrap up some final thoughts about you know, you,
the team at ready and everything with Rockfelle economic development
that you're doing and welcoming people to this area, if
you could please, floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Great and absolutely if you if you're a business in
Rockville or our area and or you're thinking about coming
to Rockville, please give us a call.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Our website is Rockville Ready r d I dot org.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
You can also look at Maryland WBC dot org if
you want the technical assistance, and explore Rockville dot org
for the local tourism. But yes, we can help people
find a real estate location. We can help you find resources.
You know, if you need a professionals, if you need
to be connected to a bank that does small business loans,
(27:58):
anything that you need, if you need delays onto the government,
or if you're having trouble with a permit, we're happy
to help and try to solve the problem, to figure out,
you know, what the hold ups are and how to
best move forward. So we're here as a resource to
help business. We want business here. It's it's it's a
very important part of the community that makes this a
(28:19):
very vital and healthy economy.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I think it's safe to say, Cety the Union team
do a lot of the heavy lifting for people, don't you.
We try to, Yeah, you really do. Let's give that
website just one more time for everybody.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Sure Rockville Ready r EEDI dot org outstanding.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Well, Cindy, thank you so much for this. I hope
we get a chance to stay in touch because I
know in your business everything is fluid and there's something
new every day. We've got just down the street from
us a big grocery chain that's going to be going
in on Rockville Pike that we're all very excited about.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Here we talk about Wegmans.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, yes, and that's a big deal, folks. You know
when a big grocery chain like this comes to the area.
Great sandwiches, by the way, that's just a personal thing.
I don't endorse them, but they do have that. But
that's a real big deal. When something like that comes
to town and we're so excited, then that's just a
tip of the iceberg. Go all the cool things that
are happening in Rockfille. So listen, continue success. Thank you
again for your valuable time. Give my best to the
(29:10):
entire team, and we really appreciate joining us on Community
DC great.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
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