what's up the pike: do people even rollerblade anymore?

- Rita's Italian Ice is celebrating the start of their 2010 season by giving away free italian ice on Saturday from 12 to 10pm. The Burtonsville Rita's is onRoute 198, but they also have locations in College Park, Olney, and Aspen Hill.
- You've probably already heard that there'll be a meeting to discuss the new Silver Spring Civic Building, which after years of anticipation will finally open this July. The meeting will be next Tuesday, March 23 from 7 to 9pm at the Discovery Building.
- Costco's still thinking about opening up in Wheaton . . . Wheaton, Illinois, also known as Bizarro Wheaton or the Other, White Wheaton. Of course, the arguments for and against the big-box store coming to Wheaton, IL are the same as they are here.
For: "the Costco representative said a store would create about 300 jobs and, after three or four years, generate as much as $3 million annually in sales tax revenue for the city. 'The Costco thing has a lot of potential once you start to think about it,' [Bizarro Wheaton Official] said.
Against: "We've got a residential neighborhood right next door," [Other Bizarro Wheaton Official] said. "So it is a fairly incompatible use. I really respect the neighborhoods, and I don't want to do anything to damage them."
- It looks like Greg Sanders, son of recently-departed transit activist Harry Sanders, is following in his dad's footsteps with a blog post dismantling the libertarian argument that we have so much "suburban sprawl" because duh, everyone wants to live there. Greg's response (for those uninterested in planner-geekery): Downtown Silver Spring.
- Maryland state legislators are mulling a bill that would provide loans to people seeking to improve the energy efficiency of their home or business. Lisa Piccinini from UMD for Clean Energy - whose Matt Dernoga we interviewed last fall - writes a guest post about the program, and its implications for our environment, on Rethink College Park.


