Friday, July 16, 2010

meeting next wednesday on public space

Silver Spring Civic Building, Inaugural Weekend
I'm feeling some serious deja vu from the public outcry after a man was assaulted in downtown Silver Spring on Monday. It feels just like the weeks after "riots" broke out during a concert on Ellsworth Drive last year.

There's a lot of nasty accusations, a lot of "I-told-you-so" from people who opposed the redevelopment and perhaps want to see it fail, and lots of grumbling on the listservs about "why can't we be like Bethesda" or "see, this is what the Metro brings." (The woman who made that comment had a "sent from my really cool iPad" signature, which was appropriate given the level of ignorant elitism she showed.)

But there's also a meeting on "Accessing Public Space in Silver Spring," sponsored by the Citizens Advisory Board, Silver Spring Town Center, Inc., IMPACT Silver Spring, and Presidents' Council of Silver Spring, also known as Prezco. It's not specifically about what happened this week, but I imagine that the unanticipated uses of public space here will probably get a lot of attention, which is a good thing.

The recent opening of the Silver Spring Civic Building has increased awareness of and heightened interest in the opportunities for and challenges of accessing public spaces in Silver Spring.
 
• Learn about and ask questions about existing arrangements between the county and nonprofits and/or community organizations.

• Provide information about need for administrative, programmatic, and meeting space

• Begin a dialogue about availability and costs

 
The purpose of the meeting is to:
 
• Define more succinctly the needs of the community

• Inform the community about how to access public space

• Understand the needs of organizations and the fiscal challenges to accessing space

• Hold ourselves accountable for constructive follow up on identified issues and next steps

• Gain a mutual understanding about the roles and responsibilities, limits and opportunities, restrictions and capacity of both the community and government


The meeting is this Wednesday at 7pm in the Silver Spring Civic Building - which, if you don't already know, is located at the corner of Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive.

1 comment:

Terry in Silver Spring said...

The skating rink area was LOADED with both skateboarders and teens on bikes this weekend. Didn't see anyone I'd call a thug, though. I wonder if that was one group of kids that various people spotted and that beat up that poor man.

I want Silver Spring to flourish and don't want it to be like Bethesda. Bethesda is fine, but expensive and a bit fussy. We don't need a twin to that.