Friday, July 24, 2009

what's up the pike: righteous indignation

Has "Hellsworth" chilled out this summer? Do you feel safe in Downtown Silver Spring? Talk about it.

Through The Fence
- Despite the project's fifty-year history and lingering controversy, The Post's Dr. Gridlock insists that the ICC is still "obscure" to local residents because construction isn't as visible as it is on a highway that's being widened. Try telling that to people who live in neighborhoods like Avonshire or Tanglewood.

- Two County Council committees scuttled a proposed pedestrian bridge connecting the new Silver Spring Library to a parking garage across Wayne Avenue in a vote last Tuesday. While bridge advocates say it'll make the library more accessible for the elderly and handicapped, opponents question its estimated $750,000 cost and say it'll reduce foot traffic on local streets.

- As the listservs (and Thayer Avenue) point out, a new outdoor market on Fenton Street at Silver Spring Avenue will do some test runs in September and October before going full-time next spring. Vendors are encouraged to sell items like crafts, furniture and music. It sits on the site of the Silver Spring Park mixed-use development, which may render the market homeless around 2011. (Click on the link to find out about a community meeting on the project next week.)

- On Saturday, learn about ways to hold onto your house at a Housing Crisis Forum, hosted by Mt. Jezreel Baptist Church and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Theta Omega Omega chapter. Hosted by Councilmember Valerie Ervin, representatives from the state and county Department of Housing and Community Affiairs, the Housing Initiative Partnership, and the Association of African American Financial Advisors. The event's from 10am to 2pm, Blair High School, 51 University Boulevard East.

- A proposed self-storage facility at Route 198 and Dino Drive in Burtonsville may be stifled by a zoning change going before the Council on Tuesday specifying what uses are allowed there. Civic activist Stuart Rochester says approving one next to an existing storage place takes away from the "diversity of uses" in the area and stifle efforts to revitalize the village center. The hearing's at 1:30pm this Tuesday at the County Council Office Building in Rockville.

3 comments:

Robert said...

The Council Committees' vote on the library bridge was incredibly uninformed. The bridge would be the least expensive way to comply with handicapped parking and access requirements. Plus, it would increase foot traffic in Fenton Village, not reduce it. Having to cross Wayne and all its traffic on the street from the parking garage dissuades people (especially the elderly, handicapped, and those with small children) from going to Fenton Village already. Adding the Purple Line to Wayne will only make that worse. The bridge would make it easier to go to Fenton Village. The full Council should overturn this misguided recommendation

C. P. Zilliacus said...

Dan, I must take exception to
your comments about Avonshire.

The Board of Directors of
the Avonshire has consistently
supported the construction of
the ICC along its master-planned
route for literally decades
prior to the start of
construction in 2007.

How do I know this? Because
I have been a member of
Avonshire's Board since the
late 1980's.

The Board has long taken the position
that the ICC was on the M-NCP&PC
Master Plan of Highways since
long before our community was built
between 1981 and 1985 (I
am an original owner and have
maintained residence there
since 1985), and its
construction will be
beneficial for
community property values.

Note that as a child, I lived
in Four Corners (from 1960 to
1985) and was there when the
Capital Beltway (e.g. the
Circumferential Highway, as it
was frequently called in the
early 1960's) was completed
in 1964, and overall,
the road was also a benefit to
Four Corners.

Aside regarding the Capital
Beltway - a fellow Maryland
product of ours, Jeremy L. Korr,
wrote the only serious scholarly
historical study of the road
as his Ph.D. dissertation in
American Studies about 2001,
and you might enjoy reading it
(full disclosure: I provided
Jeremy some minor help in
pointing him to sources
and reviewed the full
document some months before
he finished it).

Dan Reed said...

Read it again, C.P., and send your comments to Robert Thomson, not me.

The Post's Dr. Gridlock insists that the ICC is still "obscure" to local residents because construction isn't as visible as it is on a highway that's being widened. Try telling that to people who live in neighborhoods like Avonshire or Tanglewood.