tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303066152024-03-17T02:52:11.534-04:00just up the pikeDan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.comBlogger1792125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-8211344404369233002022-04-18T07:00:00.024-04:002022-04-18T07:00:00.185-04:00east county could get a new grocery store and senior housing, and some neighbors fear the worstMontgomery County envisions a new town center along Route 29 in White Oak, and after a decade, plans are finally moving forward. But at one local church, there's a disagreement about whether "love thy neighbor" extends to a proposed development next door. <div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIMAWX2d4VtcONAWeSm_V7DU4eL84FHybgB1jDRRrbRhKCJtl_b-EThr5PVQ-VYO6p5EyyArHt_xqFKUJ6KyE1Pkkx825mYTCSFiBPXoIdhf46TsY6B3QV9ytU8NN0JM0x6vUlSPSeeZE9WCw0u7DQgJLs2iaaA9v2DLlpoznxc6Tw4oskW00" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="1274" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIMAWX2d4VtcONAWeSm_V7DU4eL84FHybgB1jDRRrbRhKCJtl_b-EThr5PVQ-VYO6p5EyyArHt_xqFKUJ6KyE1Pkkx825mYTCSFiBPXoIdhf46TsY6B3QV9ytU8NN0JM0x6vUlSPSeeZE9WCw0u7DQgJLs2iaaA9v2DLlpoznxc6Tw4oskW00=w400-h222" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A rendering of the proposed grocery store and senior apartments, with East Randolph Road on the right. All images from the Planning Board report.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><br /></div><div>This Thursday, the Planning Board will <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LMA-H-145-Randolph-Road-Staff-Report-Final.pdf">hold a public hearing on and review Conley Square</a>, a proposal to build a small grocery store and 234 homes, including affordable senior apartments, townhomes, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/42112/in-praise-of-the-stacked-townhouse">stacked townhomes</a> at the intersection of Old Columbia Pike and East Randolph Road. Today the vacant 11-acre property is zoned for single-family homes on half-acre lots, so the board will recommend whether to rezone the nearly 11-acre property to allow mixed-use development ahead of a hearing at the Board of Appeals on May 2.</div><div><br /></div><div>If built, Conley Square would be one of the first new developments along Flash, a bus rapid transit line between downtown Silver Spring and Burtonsville that opened in 2020. It’s next to the Tech Road station and a few other projects moving forward, including a shopping center with <a href="https://mocoshow.com/blog/amazon-grocery-store-to-be-included-in-white-oak-town-center-according-to-recent-report/">an Amazon Fresh grocery store</a> and <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/210806_H-141-White-Oak-Apartments_8.27-FINAL.pdf">390 apartments and stacked townhomes</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>People are mad</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Over the past month, members at the Southern Asian Seventh-Day Adventist Church - which sits next door to the proposed development and would share an entrance with it - have sent form letters to the Planning Board opposing it.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LMA-H-145-Randolph-Road-Staff-Report-Final.pdf#page=103">The letters</a> claim that a new grocery store and homes will “will bring in undesirable people into the peaceful surrounding,” adding, “Some of the concerns are drugs, prostitution, vandalism, theft, and crimes.” Some letters implied that, as many members are of East Indian descent, the development would lead to anti-Asian violence.</div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVJwMtKfi87VsXnJpAJLQrBuRVxk_FzmHOO65sDbf_XQYuWQkiqD5nRcxltIWFceJm-C2bCnqLY1wCsJCUxsOzeEjrVN75S2pZVoHP1-pkI0hmzC46CT1fETG0wlvH2hmnBYoyP09AaZ1qRcLgWsUFpS9UGbE0PqpBD--f1cIXqRfrx108t8U" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="1274" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVJwMtKfi87VsXnJpAJLQrBuRVxk_FzmHOO65sDbf_XQYuWQkiqD5nRcxltIWFceJm-C2bCnqLY1wCsJCUxsOzeEjrVN75S2pZVoHP1-pkI0hmzC46CT1fETG0wlvH2hmnBYoyP09AaZ1qRcLgWsUFpS9UGbE0PqpBD--f1cIXqRfrx108t8U=w400-h264" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Neighbors said the proposed development shown here could bring drugs and prostitution.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>Planning staff pushed back against those claims. "It is widely accepted that the more
activity and people there are in a specific area the safer the area
becomes," <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LMA-H-145-Randolph-Road-Staff-Report-Final.pdf#page=52">notes their report</a>, referring to <a href="https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/philly-streets-get-test-of-jane-jacobs-eyes-on-the-street-effect">"eyes on the street,"</a> the idea that people living and shopping in an area would help discourage criminal behavior.</div><div><br /></div><div>The church, which has worked closely with Chevy Chase-based developer Nova Ventures on the design, wasn't happy about their parishioners' letters. <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LMA-H-145-Randolph-Road-Staff-Report-Final.pdf#page=88">In a letter signed by six church officials</a>, they note that 90% of its members at a 2019 meeting voted to support Conley Square.</div><div><br /></div><div>“We vehemently disagree with any characterization that the proposed development…will be detrimental to our Church community,” reads the letter. “The plans will create an attractive new intergenerational neighborhood,” adding that it “will serve a growing senior population within the community that, as an institution, we believe deserves our respect and reverence.”</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhK3B5TJFqDARbk0idS2jkATkOcZFCSAo0BkwVDeuMVeeuI5EvAMqX3Rz_yI3tfydDLqm5BHUi84P9gTtAHXZMm9hO9IccrETVE1xO1MIc7JrhQ8z9B6198N3bb-3CfRjCgOHfj9y1JlEW3nap7iBzSnxBSaIwFx5RpOqHVWZFXmgad4u8dq7k" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1256" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhK3B5TJFqDARbk0idS2jkATkOcZFCSAo0BkwVDeuMVeeuI5EvAMqX3Rz_yI3tfydDLqm5BHUi84P9gTtAHXZMm9hO9IccrETVE1xO1MIc7JrhQ8z9B6198N3bb-3CfRjCgOHfj9y1JlEW3nap7iBzSnxBSaIwFx5RpOqHVWZFXmgad4u8dq7k=w400-h309" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A site plan of Conley Square. Southern Asian Seventh-Day Adventist Church borders the property to the left, and another church owns land at the bottom.</i></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>The site's other neighbor - another congregation that's planning to build a church - isn't opposed, and other churches and residents wrote the Planning Board in support. “I like maintaining trees and do not want more traffic - however, I also want affordable housing options,” <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LMA-H-145-Randolph-Road-Staff-Report-Final.pdf#page=93">wrote one neighbor</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>How East County got so many churches</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Southern Asian Seventh-Day Adventist Church is one of a wave of houses of worship that opened in East County <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/churches/prayer97.htm">beginning in the 1980s</a>. There are so many churches, temples, and missions in the area that New Hampshire Avenue is <a href="http://www.welovedc.com/2010/06/22/dc-mythbusting-highway-to-heaven/">jokingly called the Highway to Heaven</a>. How did this happen?</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/affluent-montgomery-county-has-pockets-of-poverty-mostly-in-the-east/2014/09/06/e09dbb6a-1cea-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html">East County grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s</a>, including thousands of apartments and townhomes clustered a proposed rapid transit line that was never built. Some neighbors were unhappy about this and open about their disdain for renters, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2008/06/bville-charrette-defining-undesirable.html">even calling them “undesirables” and “transients.”</a> Meanwhile, environmentalists were worried about water quality in the Paint Branch and the Patuxent River, which <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2012/09/consensus-to-save-burtonsville.html">provides drinking water</a> to much of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.</div><div><br /></div><div>In response, Montgomery County placed a bunch of development restrictions there, such as limits on impervious surfaces and downzoning vacant land from allowing apartments and townhomes to allow only single-family homes on big lots. For nearly 20 years, the county <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/35495/in-white-oak-the-regions-east-west-divide-becomes-an-urban-suburban-one">simply refused to approve large developments in the area</a> due to traffic concerns, so development just <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2008/07/maple-lawn-threatens-burtonsvilles.html">headed further north to Howard County</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>These rules impacted religious buildings too—and community members had fought some of those as well. But in 2000, then-president Bill Clinton signed <a href="https://www.justice.gov/crt/religious-land-use-and-institutionalized-persons-act">the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act</a>, which said that zoning couldn’t exclude houses of worship. East County had lots of vacant land and that you couldn’t do much else with anymore, so more congregations moved in. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>This is what East County needs</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Today, East County is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/11/10/montgomery-county-redistricting-east-election/">one of the region's most diverse communities</a> but lacks basic amenities. That's slowly changing. The Food and Drug Administration and Washington Adventist Hospital both relocated here, bringing thousands of jobs. In 2013, MoCo approved the White Oak Science Gateway plan, which would replace an aging office park <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/64234/a-town-center-in-white-oak-may-finally-take-shape">with a hub of biotech companies, researchers, shops, and housing</a> in a compact, walkable community. Flash’s opening <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78932/marylands-first-bus-rapid-transit-line-is-almost-finished">finally fulfilled the promise of rapid transit</a> along Route 29, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66620/montgomery-wants-to-build-a-better-bus-system-but-anti-brt-activists-are-opposed">sort of</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHfVT0I8ddR1ybQVLxcjMVrjeg6HgyDFjhk45a7iwfN6E4jgT5m_kUhBNqY63lAEcIc96uHayf42kkUMqfx6Ocs3jP0Vt05XykkS5zRDjDQcfOta5r5HzQ5m4Tek9ktVEYkB2zVeZzPjaf1K8xh0a2FUr9AxLP8uc0uROt3e8g0j0GXZGnPxM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1430" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHfVT0I8ddR1ybQVLxcjMVrjeg6HgyDFjhk45a7iwfN6E4jgT5m_kUhBNqY63lAEcIc96uHayf42kkUMqfx6Ocs3jP0Vt05XykkS5zRDjDQcfOta5r5HzQ5m4Tek9ktVEYkB2zVeZzPjaf1K8xh0a2FUr9AxLP8uc0uROt3e8g0j0GXZGnPxM=w400-h229" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A birds-eye view of the Conley Square proposal, showing the Southern Asian Seventh-Day Adventist Church parking lot on the right.</i></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>Like the DC area as a whole, Montgomery County now has a major housing shortage. County planners note that <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1447634994827075587">we may have too many big, expensive single-family homes</a>, and need more apartments and townhomes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unlike in the past, East County community members actually want lower-cost homes, according to a Planning Department <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/FBC_community_engagement_report_Final.pdf">report of recent community engagement</a>, along with better transit options and more stuff to do nearby, like restaurants, grocery stores, recreational activities, and community events. Officials at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church world headquarters, literally across the street from the Conley Square site, say it’s “hard to recruit Millennials” to work there because “there’s no Metro here.” </div><div><br /></div><div>In supporting Conley Square, the Adventists are showing what it means to be a good neighbor. This project will provide the housing its community members want and need, as well as access to fresh food, transportation, and good jobs, things that are key to a good life. In turn, it'll help East County get the critical mass it needs to draw even more of the amenities residents want. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Now what?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The Planning Board will review Conley Square on Thursday, and if you have comments about or want to support this project, you can write them at <a href="mailto:MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org">MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org</a> by 12 noon on Wednesday or <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/meetings/signup-to-testify/sign-testify-form/">sign up to testify</a>.</div></div></div>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-91866080520661269512022-01-12T11:36:00.002-05:002022-01-12T11:36:25.311-05:00downtown silver spring as a "black space"<p><em>This article is part one of a two-part series exploring Silver Spring, Maryland’s historical and contemporary role as a black space.</em></p>
<p>There are a lot of conversations going on right now about the future of downtown Silver Spring. Here’s one we should be having: Silver Spring is one of the region’s most significant Black business districts.</p>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/36257967071/in/photolist-XeZypi-W4Yteb-WJAJAu-X1H6cx-WXTh1V-WGNr2m-VvJHrE-WvadY3-VqEiMU-W3os83-WeoAEi-WhPzLb-V33PXX-VzogBL-VtQftN-VtPSr1-VF46U3-VzaQLj-UwGXXP-VGHJzu-Vvcmtg-VCHoaW-Vzedph-VpKFDN-V8soH9-UEJDtj-TU8EHS-UYMoEZ-UUWayq-USCwYG-Uj9VSj-UMmWsC-UNGNkt-Uuf6ma-UpPxnd-UxMwcM-TaKNqR-THCfeL-TzVEtw-U7cH1D-U1YqTW-U5fAxe-TVPkqj-TLqmKo-T9jAj9-TkqgTK-TefdFu-S7RycK-T9rmdq-T4FaX6" title="I love summertime in #silverspring because we get so many awesome street musicians—no schedule, no county program—and they can draw a crowd with a cover of "she will be loved." #dtss #busking #maroon5 #igdc"><img alt="I love summertime in #silverspring because we get so many awesome street musicians—no schedule, no county program—and they can draw a crowd with a cover of "she will be loved." #dtss #busking #maroon5 #igdc" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4437/36257967071_70edb651e8.jpg" width="500" />
</a><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/36257967071/in/photolist-XeZypi-W4Yteb-WJAJAu-X1H6cx-WXTh1V-WGNr2m-VvJHrE-WvadY3-VqEiMU-W3os83-WeoAEi-WhPzLb-V33PXX-VzogBL-VtQftN-VtPSr1-VF46U3-VzaQLj-UwGXXP-VGHJzu-Vvcmtg-VCHoaW-Vzedph-VpKFDN-V8soH9-UEJDtj-TU8EHS-UYMoEZ-UUWayq-USCwYG-Uj9VSj-UMmWsC-UNGNkt-Uuf6ma-UpPxnd-UxMwcM-TaKNqR-THCfeL-TzVEtw-U7cH1D-U1YqTW-U5fAxe-TVPkqj-TLqmKo-T9jAj9-TkqgTK-TefdFu-S7RycK-T9rmdq-T4FaX6" title="I love summertime in #silverspring because we get so many awesome street musicians—no schedule, no county program—and they can draw a crowd with a cover of "she will be loved." #dtss #busking #maroon5 #igdc">This winter, Montgomery County planners are working on </a><a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/downcounty/silver-spring/silver-spring-downtown-plan/">recommendations for the Silver Spring Downtown Plan</a>, which will guide the business district’s growth and evolution over the next twenty years. And a few months ago, the Montgomery County Council <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-council-overrides-elrichs-veto-of-silver-spring-business-district/">voted to move forward</a> with the <a href="https://www.silverspringbid.org/">Silver Spring business improvement district</a>, which would <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78734/business-improvement-districts-are-expanding-across-the-washington-region-whats-a-bid-anyway">create a private non-profit</a> to handle marketing and promotions for the downtown area.</p>
<p>While both of these efforts have discussed the role of small businesses in downtown, there hasn’t been a huge focus on specifically Black-owned or oriented businesses. A recent study found that of downtown’s 100+ “minority-serving” businesses, <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Attachment_Diverse-Community-Study_Final-Report_210412.pdf#page=15">the majority of them focus on Black, Black African, and Caribbean patrons</a>.</p>
<p>What does that look like in practice? In Silver Spring you’ll find a<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/in-silver-spring-maryland-a-shared-office-space-aimed-at-the-african-tech-community"> coworking space for the African diaspora</a> and a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/06/14/black-interior-designers-equity-challenges/?fbclid=IwAR1xW32K04kwzjYYpheMx8sNYbIChxaItOa7ozbVq-ES000_RffcdfkV9_E">hub of Black interior designers</a>. On the weekends you’ll find <a href="https://mocoshow.com/blog/one-ethiopian-fest-this-sunday-in-silver-spring/">Ethiopian</a>, <a href="https://mocoshow.com/blog/taste-of-jamaica-this-sunday-in-silver-spring/">Jamaican</a>, and <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring-news/veterans-plaza-hosting-ivorian-economic-cultural-festival/#:~:text=Veterans%20Plaza%20in%20downtown%20Silver,(Sunday%2C%20August%208).&text=According%20to%20The%20MoCo%20Show,is%20celebrated%20on%20August%207">Ivorian</a> festivals, as well as the region’s only <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/06/29/black-lqbtq-pride/">Black Pride</a> event. And in the evenings you’ll see lines outside Black-owned clubs and bars like Society Lounge, Republic Garden, and Kaldi’s Social House, <a href="https://fb.watch/7bTtXuBuw-/">immortalized in a Tostitos commercial</a>.</p>
<p>Silver Spring’s <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39188/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria">Ethiopian restaurant scene is well-known</a>, but it’s <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring-news/koite-grill-is-one-of-tom-sietsemas-7-favorite-places-to-eat-right-now/">Senegalese</a>, <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring-news/the-angry-jerk-is-one-of-eater-d-c-s-15-hottest-new-restaurants/">Caribbean</a>, and <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring-news/money-muscle-bbq-featured-in-eater-d-c-s-where-to-find-outstanding-barbecue-around-d-c/">Southern barbecue</a> restaurants are getting attention too. Not only were there <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77877/suburban-protestors-speak-out-against-police-brutality">several Black Lives Matter protests</a> throughout Silver Spring last summer, but two designers <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/business-owners-paint-black-lives-matter-on-street-in-silver-spring/">painted a Black Lives Matter mural</a> outside their downtown clothing store.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><strong>Silver Spring as a “Black Space”</strong></p>
<p>Silver Spring is usually depicted as a place with no majority race or ethnicity. As of 2019, Silver Spring inside the Beltway was 31% white, 32% Hispanic, 28% Black, and 7% Asian. Yet it has extra significance for Black residents: a 2018 study from Stanford, Harvard and the Census Bureau found it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html">was one of the few places in the US</a> where little Black boys do as well as their white counterparts as adults.</p>
<p>Armando Sullivan, an architect who grew up nearby, sits on the board of BlackSpace, a nonprofit that promotes places that center and support Black people. In <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79804/this-nonprofit-pushes-to-create-and-protect-black-space">an interview with GGWash</a>, he calls Silver Spring a “Black space,” which he defines as “a feeling and an energy…if you feel your community reflected in your space, that gives you a sense of ease and tranquility.” He adds, “There are a lot of Black people [in Silver Spring] and I’ve always felt more comfortable in school because of that. I appreciated it culturally and from a safety standpoint.”</p>
<p>So even though Silver Spring isn’t majority-Black, many Black people claim it as their own.</p>
<p>Still, others don’t see Silver Spring’s larger contribution to the culture. TikTok user Coco J <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@itscocoj/video/6957138027382672646">posted this viral video describing “the DMV”</a> - a term that originated in the region’s Black community - as “DC, Prince George’s County, part of MoCo. We barely go past Silver Spring.” She adds, “We don’t even really bang with Silver Spring for real for real, we just use it for their little center area.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t always like this.</p>
<p><strong>A brief history of Silver Spring’s Black middle class</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://ggwash.org/view/42962/scarred-by-urban-renewal-silver-springs-lyttonsville-neighborhood-gets-a-second-chance">Lyttonsville is a Black neighborhood</a> in Silver Spring that dates to the 1850s, and DC’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/19/us/the-shifting-gold-coast.html">historically Black and affluent Gold Coast</a> lies just across Eastern Avenue from Silver Spring. But like <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/80245/see-how-these-maps-show-how-racial-demographics-have-changed-in-the-region-since-1970">most of the Maryland and Virginia suburbs</a>, the area was <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/09-30-PB-Presentation.pdf">predominantly white and heavily segregated</a>. Silver Spring had a concentration of jobs and shopping, growing housing stock, and access to transportation, but was <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/09-30-PB-Presentation.pdf#page=31">largely off-limits</a> to non-white people.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, Silver Spring became home to one of the region’s <a href="https://placesjournal.org/article/housing-is-everybodys-problem/?cn-reloaded=1">first integrated apartment complexes</a>, and <a href="http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_2_Special_Issue_January_2012/4.pdf">a subdivision a few miles away called Tamarack Triangle</a> that intentionally welcomed Black homebuyers. But the area’s Black community was still small enough that comedian Dave Chappelle, who grew up here in the 70s and 80s, joked about how isolated he felt in a <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/01/dave-chappelle-bird-revelation-equanimity-best-jokes.html">2017 comedy special</a>. Dry cleaner Samuel Myers, better known as Jim Dandy, is credited as <a href="https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=5278&Dept=1">the first Black small business owner in downtown</a>, opening his shop in 1972.</p>
<p>By 1981, however, Washington Post reporter Keith Richburg called Silver Spring a “landing spot for a burgeoning Black middle class and the immigrants.” Another Post story in 1986 noted that 17 schools in Silver Spring and Takoma Park were at least 30% Black, twice the countywide rate. And in the 90s Prince George’s County, two miles to the east, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/14/magazine/the-new-black-suburbs.html">emerged as the nation’s most affluent majority-Black county</a>. This is pretty unusual: Rice University counts exactly <a href="https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2021/01/13/19-prosperous-majority-black-zip-codes-us-two-in-houston-disparity">19 prosperous majority-Black zip codes nationwide,</a> 11 of which are in the DC area. These <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79489/prince-georges-countys-belt-of-high-income-majority-black-census-tracts-really-is-unique">comfortable Black communities form kind of a ring</a> to the east of Silver Spring, stretching from eastern Montgomery County across Prince George’s south to Waldorf in Charles County, then looping back up through Wards 4, 5, and 7 in DC.</p>
<p>This presented an opportunity for businesses either for or by Black people. whether you’re Muhammad Ali <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1994/11/07/float-like-a-butterball/1130e9cd-a226-4ee2-a80e-51426102ab89/">trying to launch a chain</a> of rotisserie chicken restaurants in 1994, opening a streetwear store named Ward 9,<a href="https://wamu.org/story/18/05/22/prince-georges-county-came-ward-9-residents-feel/"> a nod to DC’s majority-Black suburbs</a>, or launching the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/03/18/silver-spring-wins-tv-ones-headquarters/ee0e3859-50eb-49aa-9904-e5c5d179a8a0/">Black-owned media network TV One</a>, which joined Discovery Communications in 2004 because of the area’s concentration of film production companies. In 1996, <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/january-february-2014/coming-to-america-2/6/">sisters Lene and Abeba Tsegaye opened Kefa Cafe</a>, one of Silver Spring’s first Ethiopian businesses, which helped the area become a hub <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39188/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria">for the region’s Ethiopian community,</a> the largest African immigrant group in the DC area.</p>
<p><strong>Silver Spring’s bright but fragile relationship with Black businesses</strong></p>
<p>A few years ago, researchers at George Washington University noted that Silver Spring <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/28826/walkable-urban-places-enjoy-economic-success-but-face-social-equity-challenges">has remained racially diverse</a> despite redevelopment that in other parts of the region has been associated with gentrification and displacement. There hasn’t been a lot of research as to why this is, but Silver Spring’s hub of Black businesses is a big part—and is arguably the big story in the downtown area right now. If you don’t believe me, just look at the lines of people outside the bars on Georgia Avenue most nights.</p>
<p>But this is fragile. Research for the Downtown Plan suggests that <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring-news/planning-board-begins-reviewing-existing-conditions-downtown-silver-spring-adjacent-areas/">the area’s Black population is decreasing</a>. Meanwhile, some Black business owners <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2021/09/montgomery-county-council-overrides-veto-of-silver-spring-bid/">say they weren’t consulted in the creation of the BID</a>, and in response, state legislators <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/silver-spring/state-lawmakers-plan-legislation-to-modify-possible-silver-spring-business-district/">are looking at ways to make it more inclusive</a>.</p>
<p>So how can we ensure that Silver Spring’s role as a Black space gets the attention and support it needs? I’ll talk about that in part two.</p>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-66111504814493561192021-12-07T13:48:00.003-05:002021-12-07T13:48:19.349-05:00who’s speaking out against montgomery county’s plan to thrive?<p>Montgomery County council members are currently reviewing Thrive 2050, a “plan for other plans” that will guide zoning and policy decisions in the coming years. It updates the county’s General Plan, first written in 1964, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change">tackles some of the big issues of our time</a>: climate change, segregated neighborhoods and schools, skyrocketing home prices, and a sluggish economy.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/51730743422/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="thrive protesters at the planning department"><i><img alt="thrive protesters at the planning department" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51730743422_0182cd3e9a.jpg" width="500" /></i></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Protesters opposing the Thrive 2050 plan in November 2021. Photo by the author.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></p>
<p>Council members may finally pass Thrive, even as a group of residents tries to stall or block it, arguing that there hasn’t been enough community input. It appears, however, that opponents want more say for themselves — not the increasingly diverse residents who need to be heard the most.</p><p>Of Thrive’s recommendations, one that’s gotten the most attention is allowing more <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/82183/montgomery-county-considers-allowing-more-housing-types">affordable duplexes, townhomes, and apartments</a> in areas where you can only build a single-family house.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/51731813968/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="artspace townhomes"><img alt="artspace townhomes" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51731813968_ab5f19ecfc.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>New townhomes near downtown Silver Spring. Image by the author.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Thrive doesn’t change zoning, but it would empower the county to allow more homes in areas near transit or major roads. The <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/80477/montgomery-county-is-contemplating-ways-to-create-more-affordable-homes-in-its-wealthiest-neighborhoods">plan ties this to racial equity</a> — noting that single-family zoning was created to keep Black people out of white, affluent neighborhoods and that today, wealthy neighborhoods use zoning to block more affordable homes. Planners also suggest that opening up these communities can address our <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-design/2021/06/thrive-explained-why-we-need-more-of-every-kind-of-housing/">chronic housing shortage</a>, allow more people to walk, bike, or use transit instead of driving, and retain the county’s workforce as many people who work here can’t afford to live here.</p>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<p>Some residents who are upset about changes to <a href="https://thewash.org/2021/11/16/thrive-montgomery-2050-reimagines-mocos-suburbia/">single-family zoning</a> say the plan still needs more public feedback. They’ve led a months-long <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/04/war-on-single-family-home-neighborhoods-surfaces-in-maryland-more-density-diversity/">campaign against the plan</a>, leading up to a protest outside the Planning Department last month.</p>
<p>But in reality, county officials have been working on Thrive since 2018 and have held over <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/82377/rich-neighborhood-provides-helpful-list-of-places-where-cheaper-homes-can-go">160 community meetings</a>, many of which focus on people we don’t always hear from like immigrants, renters, and students.</p>
<p>As of December, there will have been five public hearings: one at the Planning Board in November 2020, two at the County Council in June 2021, and two more council hearings November 30 and December 15.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/51731805748/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="thrive zip code analysis"><img alt="thrive zip code analysis" height="429" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51731805748_2f08006df5.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A geographic look at Thrive testimonies. Image by the author.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script></p>
<p><strong>A breakdown of supports and their opposition</strong></p>
<p>Inspired by <a href="https://www.c-ville.com/money-talks">this project in Charlottesville</a>, I looked at the speakers’ lists and testimony for Thrive’s first four hearings — including 200 statements from about 180 community members — and compared them to the public tax record. This way I could find out who, and where support and opposition come from.</p>
<p>The research showed that most of the testimony on Thrive came from people living inside the Beltway, which isn’t unusual as this area is known for being <a href="http://www.theseventhstate.com/?p=9789">politically active</a>. One area where both groups overlap is Zip code 20910 (close-in Silver Spring), which accounts for 24% of opponents and 41% of supporters.</p>
<p>Beyond that, opponents and supporters come from different places. Opponents are concentrated in the county’s southwest: nearly one-third of opponents live in Chevy Chase (zip code 20815), while 16% live in Bethesda (zip codes 20814, 20816, and 20817). There is also a pocket of opponents in the Aspen Hill area (zip codes 20853 and 20906).</p>
<p>Supporters clustered on the east side, which is historically more diverse and less affluent. Nine percent live in Takoma Park (zip code 20912), while 16% live in the outer parts of Silver Spring (zip codes 20901, 20902, 20903, and 20905). There’s also a concentration of supporters along the 270 corridor, with 11% from Rockville (zip codes 20850, 20851, and 20852).</p>
<p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Montgomery County's revised general plan, Thrive 2050, makes no direct changes to exclusionary restrictions but broadly proposes that we implement changes to make the county more welcoming and environmentally friendly.<br /><br />Opponents of this plan look very different from supporters. <a href="https://t.co/IGe2XFP3yU">pic.twitter.com/IGe2XFP3yU</a></p>— Gray Kimbrough (@graykimbrough) <a href="https://twitter.com/graykimbrough/status/1462164755259473926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p></p>
<p>There’s also a distinction between the types of homes supporters and opponents live in. In their testimonies, many supporters said they rent, live in apartments or townhomes, or moved to the county more recently. Most opponents said they own single-family homes or have they have lived in the county for a long time.</p>
<p>Eighty-eight percent of opponents are in the public record, meaning they’re homeowners, and 81% own single-family homes. The average opponent’s home is assessed at $894,000. Sixty-three percent of opponents own homes valued for at least $540,000, the county’s median home price in October 2021, and 25% own homes worth over $1 million.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, just 57% of supporters own homes, and 49% own single-family homes, which more closely reflects the county’s housing stock: 65% of Montgomery County households <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/MP_TrendsReport_final.pdf#page=7">own their homes</a>, and 48% of <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/34103/single-family-homes-are-the-minority-in-montgomery-county">homes are detached</a>. The average supporter’s home is assessed at just $565,000, and 27% own homes valued over the county’s median home price of $540,000.</p>
<p>Opponents tend to have owned their homes for longer. 40% have owned their home for at least 20 years, and 19% for at least 30 years. Meanwhile, just 18% of supporters have owned their home longer than 20 years, and 14% bought a home within the past 5 years.</p>
<p><strong>When people say more community input, they’re talking about themselves</strong></p>
<p>Opponents have claimed that Thrive is the result of a broken process, but maybe it’s because they’re unhappy with the outcome. In the four hearings so far, most people who gave testimony <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change">spoke in favor or supported</a> it with amendments. Organizations backing the plan range from <a href="https://jufj.org/eli-wykell-thrive-2050/">social justice groups</a>, <a href="https://t.co/r9wivMKMNe?amp=1)">environmental groups</a>, <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/opinion/opinion-with-acute-housing-needs-ahead-thrive-is-a-top-priority/">affordable housing providers</a>, and the county’s <a href="https://mocofoodcouncil.org/thrive2050testimony/">food council</a>. Most council members said <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-council-majority-expresses-support-for-montgomery-thrive-2050">they support it</a> as well.</p>
<p>Let’s be clear: Montgomery County, like most places, can always do more and better public outreach. But when opponents talk about who should give more input, they’re often talking about themselves. For DCist, Ally Schweitzer recently <a href="https://dcist.com/story/21/11/02/thrive-montgomery-2050-controversy/)">interviewed one resident</a>, who says, “We won’t have any power anymore” if the county legalizes duplexes in his neighborhood, comparing it to voter suppression because he and his neighbors won’t be able to block them.</p>
<p>The Montgomery County Civic Federation, a group of neighborhood associations, wants to scrap the plan and restart the process with them as “equal participants” despite having met with Planning Board chair Casey Anderson about the plan four times going back to 2019. <a href="http://www.montgomerycivic.org/files/CFNlatest.pdf">Their alternative</a>: only changing zoning in places like Burtonsville or around Lakeforest Mall, both of which are less-affluent, majority-minority communities. It’s unclear if any of these communities are actually represented in MCCF’s membership.</p>
<p>County council president Tom Hucker notes that in a progressive place like Montgomery County, there should be buy-in for tackling racial equity and climate change. "If people read it, they will find it very non-controversial because it basically confirms what most people believe in,” he said on a recent episode of the <a href="https://t.co/u7OaSX4LwQ?amp=1">Politics Hour</a>.</p>
<p>Over the next several weeks, the council will review Thrive and have the opportunity to make edits. For now, no vote has been scheduled.</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-11563144850737179372021-10-13T14:03:00.000-04:002021-10-14T14:03:13.571-04:00pit bull bans are a housing issue<p>It’s Pit Bull Awareness Month, which is a time to celebrate this misunderstood (but very common) dog breed and help get them adopted. One barrier to finding these dogs loving homes are breed-specific laws and housing restrictions, which were intended to protect people from unsafe dogs but have long failed to do so.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBF124Aig2dSBuY9iXS9p_uDAi7RMPaXk4knPomwMlC9R4zGMBH3-bMzTgDCcCT8mTzPP4ODdZ2CSoDURSQnhyphenhyphen16vg9D9lbi1cy_99opoxZcg37y1pvaCDlz4o7POVNkc60xQdew/s2048/Photo+Jul+02%252C+6+09+11+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBF124Aig2dSBuY9iXS9p_uDAi7RMPaXk4knPomwMlC9R4zGMBH3-bMzTgDCcCT8mTzPP4ODdZ2CSoDURSQnhyphenhyphen16vg9D9lbi1cy_99opoxZcg37y1pvaCDlz4o7POVNkc60xQdew/w300-h400/Photo+Jul+02%252C+6+09+11+PM.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aruba (left) and Drizzy (right), two pit bulls who found loving homes. Photos by the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Meet my dog Drizzy. My partner and I adopted him last summer. Like many dogs, he can usually be found going for long walks or destroying squeaky balls. We’ve enjoyed him so much that last summer, we fostered another dog named Aruba. She’s an eight-month-old puppy who was found as a stray.</p>
<p>Both Drizzy and Aruba are pit bulls. Drizzy came from a rescue in Virginia, and we own a home in Montgomery County, so there was no issue when we wanted to adopt him. It wasn’t so easy for Aruba. She came from the shelter in Prince George’s County, which has banned pit bulls since 1997. Anyone caught with a dog suspected of being a pit bull can get fined up to $1,000 or even go to jail.</p>
<p>Instead, dogs like her <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/pit-bulls-are-in-special-need-of-forever-homes-amid-bans/54416/">usually end up at other shelters or with groups like</a><a href="https://www.vindicatedrescue.org/"> Vindicated Pit Bull Rescue</a><a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/pit-bulls-are-in-special-need-of-forever-homes-amid-bans/54416/">,</a> which saved Aruba. In turn, they have to find a potential adopter outside of the county. But that family can’t live in an apartment complex or a homeowner’s association, because they often ban them too. Despite being a puppy with no record of harming anyone, she was treated like a danger because of how she looked.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><strong>WTF are pit bulls?</strong></p>
<p>There’s actually no such thing as a pit bull: <a href="https://www.thesprucepets.com/pitbull-dog-breeds-4843994">the term </a>can refer to several different breeds, including American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier, but is often used to describe dogs with big heads and stocky builds. As a result, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109002331500310X">studies show</a> that even shelter staff and veterinarians have a hard time picking out pit bulls based on physical features.</p>
<p>Due to overbreeding, many “pit bull type dogs” are mixed breeds. For example, a DNA test for Drizzy found that his top four breeds are American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Chow Chow, and German Shepherd. When I take him for walks, people usually either clock him as a pit bull or a lab.</p>
<p>Pit bulls were bred for a variety of reasons: some were family dogs, or helped around the farm. One (alleged) pit bull mix named <a href="https://barkpost.com/good/pit-bulls-history-of-americas-dog/">Sergeant Stubby</a> served in World War I and <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/05/dogs-of-war-sergeant-stubby-the-u-s-armys-original-and-still-most-highly-decorated-canine-soldier.html">returned to the US a hero</a>. Others were <a href="https://love-a-bull.org/resources/the-history-of-pit-bulls/">bred to fight</a>, and this led to stereotypes that the dogs were inherently dangerous.</p>
<p><strong>People were mad </strong></p>
<p>Starting in the 1980s, a series of<a href="https://vault.si.com/vault/1987/07/27/the-pit-bull-friend-and-killer-is-the-pit-bull-a-fine-animal-as-its-admirers-claim-or-is-it-a-vicious-dog-unfit-for-society"> high-profile pit bull attacks</a> led to communities around the United States instituting bans on owning or breeding pit bulls. The dogs were frequently associated with criminal behavior. A <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/html/scared-pit-bulls-you%E2%80%99d-better-be-11995.html">1999 article in City Journal </a>compared their presence in a neighborhood to “drug dealing, prostitution, or aggressive panhandling.”</p>
<p>Breed ban supporters relied on <a href="https://www.tuftsyourdog.com/dogtrainingandbehavior/dear-doctor-pit-bulls-and-locking-jaws/">myths about pit bulls</a>, like that they had locking jaws or <a href="https://dogtime.com/dog-health/general/1220-american-pit-bull-terrier-temperament-dog-bites?fbclid=IwAR0KbpmVYZXTlYhnRAkjEPz0juWG4RImHd656xm90iY_ocMNaoK81FGrYBM">were overly aggressive</a>. Then DC councilmember Jim Graham, who repeatedly tried to pass a pit bull ban, told<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/11/02/dc-asked-to-ban-pit-bulls/d517b417-ba00-4a7c-9bac-7d786f670869/"> the Washington Post</a> that “In the wrong hands, these dogs are lethal weapons.”</p>
<p>In some ways, this was a natural reaction. A news story would appear about a dog attacking somebody (like in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091601632.html">Takoma Park in 2007</a>) and elected officials would propose a ban, assuming this would keep people safe. Prince George’s County banned “pit bull type dogs” in 1997 after a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/02/26/unleashing-a-danger-or-appreciating-pets/c753796c-9cd5-42b5-a419-fa1204c0a593/">dog attacked an 11-year-old boy</a> and, over the next four years, euthanized 2,400 dogs.</p>
<p><strong>Breed specific laws didn’t work</strong></p>
<p>But pit bull bans didn’t make communities safer. The town of North Beach, Maryland <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-not-the-breed-its-the-behavior/2012/05/25/gJQAVbrTqU_story.html">got rid of its ban</a> because, as one councilmember put it, there was “no practical way to prove whether the dog that attacked is in fact a ‘pit bull’.” In 2005, the animal control director in Prince George’s County <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/09/25/md-face-off-intensifies-over-ban-on-pit-bulls/ac4e8a6f-a939-4ce7-97fd-84be762e1277/">said that 70% of the pit bulls they impounded were “nice dogs,</a>” and that the law prevented them from going after dangerous dogs. As Malcolm Gladwell <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/02/06/troublemakers-malcolm-gladwell">pointed out in his 2006 New Yorker feature </a>about pit bulls, actual data shows that dogs of all breeds can bite and attack people.</p>
<p>Today, most jurisdictions in the region no longer have pit bull laws. <a href="https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/3.2-6540/">Virginia bans</a> breed-specific laws entirely. <a href="https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/titles/8/chapters/19/">DC restricts dogs</a> that “without provocation” cause a serious injury to a person or another animal. The <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/owners-not-breeds-predict-whether-dog-will-be-aggressive-180949962/">focus is now on bad owners, not dogs</a>. And shelters that <a href="https://www.humanerescuealliance.org/blog/posts/pitbull-bans-have-no-place-in-a-humane-community">once euthanized pit bulls</a>, like the Humane Rescue Alliance now fight breed bans.</p>
<p>The holdout is Prince George’s, which upheld the ban in 2019. Leaders admit that it didn’t actually keep the dogs out of the county, which still impounds hundreds of suspected pit bulls each year: “If we’re sitting up here and say that pit bulls don’t exist in Prince George’s County, we’re all lying to each other,” <a href="https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2019/10/pit-bull-ban-stands-in-prince-georges-county/#:~:text=Prince%20George's%20County%20is%20the%20only%20jurisdiction%20in%20the%20D.C.,been%20in%20place%20since%201997">councilmember Sydney Harrison told WTOP</a>.</p>
<p><strong>This is a housing issue </strong></p>
<p>If you want to rent a home in Prince George’s County, <a href="http://also I may be writing about the safe passage amendment but as an update to a transit equity story, it shouldn't interfere with your piece">your lease</a> will likely include some variation on this phrase: “Tenant certifies that Tenant does not own a pit bull nor will Tenant acquire, harbor or maintain a pit bull upon the premises during the term of this lease.” This is common in other jurisdictions too.</p>
<p>When my partner and I rented an apartment in Montgomery County three years ago, the lease listed 38 restricted breeds, including American Pit Bull Terrier, German Shepherd, Husky, and more obscure ones like the <a href="https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/briard/">Briard</a>, <a href="https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/jindo/">Jindo</a>, and <a href="https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/kuvasz/">Kuvasz</a>. If your dog wasn’t on the list, the property manager could still reject them after a “visual inspection” or if another resident objected.</p>
<p>Thus, you could lose your housing because of somebody’s perception of your dog. The Best Friends Animal Society found that 13.7% of dogs surrendered to shelters were there because of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/17/pandemic-pets-shaming-animal-welfare/">their owners’ housing issues</a>, like getting evicted.</p>
<p>That’s if you can find housing in the first place. “Pet-friendly” apartment complexes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/realestate/rentals-evictions-pets.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage">may still have restrictions</a> and tend to be more expensive or charge extra in pet rent, putting them out of reach for many pet owners. Many landlords require rental insurance, but insurance companies can <a href="https://www.humanerescuealliance.org/blog/posts/when-your-best-friend-cant-fcome-home">deny or restrict your coverage</a> if you have a pit bull). Until 2014 in Maryland, landlords <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/experts-say-pit-bulls-dont-exist/2012/08/28/b0c410b8-f14c-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html">can be held liable </a>if a tenant’s pit bull attacks somebody. Even if you own a home, homeowner and condo associations can restrict or ban pets.</p>
<p>So people can end up in really tight situations. The New York Times interviewed one man who wanted to move closer to family in Colorado, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/realestate/suburb-to-city.html">but had to wait until Denver repealed </a>its pit bull ban last year. One Arlington resident described how she and her roommate, unable to find a rental that would take a pit bull, and <a href="https://www.arlnow.com/2020/12/17/whats-next-end-dog-breed-based-discrimination/#:~:text=Virginia%20Code%20states%20that%20%E2%80%9CNo,canine%20or%20canine%20crossbreed%20prohibited.%E2%80%9D">ended up in a house that lacked running or hot water</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zaV3GhQ7hBoabZA392EdL326oJm3M70_pLpOgqq1TyxTfqe18gGH4fQ2CMBVV_MHKkQ-J-OLvDo0RMEpd5ByTNxviFCctIMQzZmzeIhPiSUIY3qbMDZxsNH0eYG0gcG80kEDcA/s2048/IMG_5546_jpg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zaV3GhQ7hBoabZA392EdL326oJm3M70_pLpOgqq1TyxTfqe18gGH4fQ2CMBVV_MHKkQ-J-OLvDo0RMEpd5ByTNxviFCctIMQzZmzeIhPiSUIY3qbMDZxsNH0eYG0gcG80kEDcA/w300-h400/IMG_5546_jpg.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drizzy in front of our house.</td></tr></tbody></table><strong>Stereotypes are dumb</strong></p>
<p>After a month with us, Aruba found a loving home outside Prince George’s to a family that owned a home. But many pit bulls in our region aren’t so lucky. In 2019, the county euthanized 400 dogs who could not find homes.</p>
<p>To be honest, before I adopted Drizzy I thought they were dangerous too. I couldn’t have told you what a pit bull even looked like, but when I first saw “PIT BULL” on his medical papers, I was worried. I couldn’t square that with the sweet, goofy dog we had just brought home: is this what people were so afraid of? But I have learned these misconceptions about pit bulls have real consequences for innocent dogs and their families.</p>
<p>This Pit Bull Awareness Month, I hope you’ll take time to learn about this awesome but misunderstood breed, and how we can give them a chance at better lives.</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-60110981422639775562021-08-31T13:06:00.000-04:002021-08-31T13:06:00.074-04:00residents of a rich MoCo neighborhood provide a helpful list of places where cheaper homes can go<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/51416453900/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Second Avenue in Woodside"><img alt="Second Avenue in Woodside" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51416453900_b57c1dfb7a.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of Woodside with downtown Silver Spring in the background. Image by the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Montgomery County has a chronic housing shortage, particularly for low- and middle-income people. In Silver Spring’s Woodside Park neighborhood, nearly 200 residents signed a letter listing other places where those homes can go. It’s part of an ongoing campaign to keep affluent neighborhoods from opening up to new homes and new people.</p>
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<p><strong>The price of homes in Montgomery County are rising steadily</strong></p>
<p>Home prices in Montgomery County increased 14% last year, <a href="https://wtop.com/business-finance/2020/11/montgomery-county-median-home-price-hits-a-half-million-dollars/">and for the first time the median home price topped $500,000</a>. For a single-family home,<a href="https://www.redfin.com/county/1324/MD/Montgomery-County/housing-market"> it’s nearly $800,000</a>. This isn’t unique - jurisdictions across the Washington region and around the nation are struggling with rising home prices. What all of these places have in common is a chronic shortage of new home construction, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-homebuying-larger-floor-area-homes-less-starter-homes-available-2021-7">particularly for lower-priced homes</a>. Montgomery County <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/68435/heres-where-montgomery-county-is-and-isnt-growing">needs to build over 80,000 homes in the coming decades</a> to fill the gap. In 2020, <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BPPRIV024031">it permitted just 1500</a>.</p>
<p>It’s easy to lose track of all the things <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/82183/montgomery-county-considers-allowing-more-housing-types">county leaders are doing to address high housing costs</a>: <a href="https://dcist.com/story/20/10/27/md-montgomery-county-council-overrides-veto-to-stop-apartment-development-above-metro-stations/">tax incentives</a>, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79872/two-bills-could-bring-rent-control-and-missing-middle-homes-to-montgomery-county">rent stabilization</a>,<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78672/montgomery-county-takes-major-step-toward-ending-housing-moratorium">lifting a ban on new homes near crowded schools</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/montgomery-votes-unanimously-to-loosen-regulations-for-adus-bringing-temporary-close-to-months-long-debate/2019/07/23/db621c10-ad4d-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html">letting people build accessory apartments</a>. Now, they’re targeting what might be the biggest obstacle: in most of Montgomery County’s residential land, you can only build one house per lot due to single-family zoning.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9P3CGbJR6MMZuur0vGBM1Kki9RKx71lEMSbi51eLqe_g1gT4rds8YolpcLoM15KGU4a_nUqZVVJlg1GzN0Nl8jwpvjUr0lgwptWigQkcnmJSSJAEEMQSIvNL4JojoCcSQ-6aIKQ/s1024/housing_numbers_1024_851_90.jpeg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9P3CGbJR6MMZuur0vGBM1Kki9RKx71lEMSbi51eLqe_g1gT4rds8YolpcLoM15KGU4a_nUqZVVJlg1GzN0Nl8jwpvjUr0lgwptWigQkcnmJSSJAEEMQSIvNL4JojoCcSQ-6aIKQ/s400/housing_numbers_1024_851_90.jpeg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Land uses in Montgomery County, courtesy of Montgomery Planning.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>For the past few years, the county has looked at ways to allow <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/housing/attainable-housing-strategies-initiative/">modestly-priced duplexes, townhomes, and apartments</a> (among other house types) in single-family zoned areas, at least near bus lines, train stations, or major roads like Connecticut Avenue. This fall, the County Council could vote to approve <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change">Thrive 2050</a>, a vision for the next 30 years that would open the door for the zoning changes needed to actually build these homes.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49968503867/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="fourplexes on nolte avenue"><img alt="fourplexes on nolte avenue" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49968503867_65aeca8f7b.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fourplexes on Nolte Avenue, in East Silver Spring, are an example of the types of housing that could go in Woodside Park. Image by the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>This could open up neighborhoods where people want to live, but a lack of homes and prohibitive costs put them off-limits to all but the wealthy. One of those places is Woodside Park, a 1920s-era neighborhood in Silver Spring <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/silver-springs-woodside-park-an-older-suburb-holds-on-to-its-pastoral-vision/2021/03/16/2afe8f0a-84d5-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html">where the average home sells for over $860,000</a>. Nearly all of its roughly 500 residences are stand-alone houses on large lots, but as the neighborhood is within one mile of the Red and future Purple lines, Montgomery County is considering recommendations that could allow up to four homes on each lot.</p>
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<p><strong>People are BIG mad </strong></p>
<p>Earlier this summer, 197 Woodside Park residents <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/Resources/Files/agenda/col/2021/20210617/testimony/testimony73-RobertaFaul-ZeitlerUpdated.pdf">signed a letter to the County Council</a> opposing the county’s housing efforts, claiming they would “deeply undermine the character, natural assets, and future stability” of the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Instead, they provided a helpful list of places where the county could build more affordable homes instead. Some locations were in vacant office buildings and underused parking lots.They specifically recommend putting those homes in three places: downtown Silver Spring, a portion of downtown called Fenton Village, and White Oak.</p>
<p>Those areas have two things in common. One is that <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/64234/a-town-center-in-white-oak-may-finally-take-shape">they’re either zoned for</a> or <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71732/did-silver-spring-build-its-way-to-being-more-affordable-sort-of">already building lots of new homes</a>, including <a href="https://www.mymcmedia.org/officials-speak-on-affordable-senior-citizen-housing-throughout-the-county/">deeply affordable homes</a>. They’re also majority-minority - <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39188/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria">Fenton Village in particular is known for its Ethiopian community</a> - and less affluent than Montgomery County as a whole. Woodside Park is a majority-white neighborhood with significantly higher incomes than the county.</p>
<p>Some of the people who signed the letter are not white. Most would argue they are not bigots. But they live in a neighborhood that was built to exclude. Lots in Woodside Park were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/silver-springs-woodside-park-an-older-suburb-holds-on-to-its-pastoral-vision/2021/03/16/2afe8f0a-84d5-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html">originally sold with covenants barring non-white residents and homes considered to be too modest</a>. In 1937, <a href="http://users.starpower.net/oshel/H09.htm">the developer and residents sued a builder</a> claiming his homes were “cheap in appearance and construction” and forced him to make them bigger.</p>
<p>For much of the 20th century, Montgomery County was a place where non-white people were restricted in where they could live, shop, and work. Woodside Park was one of those places. It appeared on <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1360032086179123201">redlining maps</a> as an area where the government would back home loans, as opposed to less affluent or non-white communities. Like <a href="https://mcatlas.org/zoning/">many parts of the county</a>, it was also zoned almost entirely for single-family homes, <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11840548/the-racist-history-of-single-family-home-zoning">a policy originally designed</a> to keep non-white people out of wealthy, white communities. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/80202/how-zoning-in-montgomery-county-can-impact-a-neighborhood-block-by-block">And in many parts of the county</a>, it works as intended - for people of color as well as working-class people, and increasingly middle-class people.</p>
<p>That zoning also created a political process that favored people who could afford those places and wanted to keep others out. For decades, <a href="http://users.starpower.net/oshel/H09.htm">Woodside Park residents fought attempts to build townhomes or apartments</a> within its limits, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66673/montgomery-county-rejects-affordable-housing-in-silver-spring-will-build-it-elsewhere">most recently blocked affordable apartments for seniors</a> from being built nearby.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50313832787/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Protected Bike Lane on Lockwood Drive"><img alt="Protected Bike Lane on Lockwood Drive" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50313832787_315f72bb3a.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bus rapid transit station in White Oak, where Woodside Park residents recommend affordable housing can go instead. Image by the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Woodside Park is just one of the groups fighting the county’s housing efforts, which include some of our wealthiest neighborhoods. One group launched Facebook ads showing a bomb landing on a house: “Upzoning is Coming! And Your Home is Ground Zero.” Another claims that affordable “<a href="https://www.rg4mc.org/">$300-400k” single-family homes already exis</a>t (look for yourself, they do not) and that the county will replace them all with “<a href="https://www.rg4mc.org/">dense rentals</a>”. The Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights has a flyer trying to scare people with <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1395708773298212867">a really cute little apartment building</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Lots of neighbors are doing this now</strong></p>
<p>Decisions about what types of homes can go where directly impact someone’s ability to access jobs, fresh food, medical care, friends and loved ones, or any of the things that make life worth living. Naturally, people in places like Woodside Park like having access to those things! But when they successfully fight to preserve their exclusive neighborhood, the rest of us bear the cost: <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them">segregated schools</a>; <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/2019%20Reports/RevisedOLO2019-7.pdf">racial disparities</a> in wealth, health, and education; congested roads as the young, the working-class, and people of color get priced out; and a degraded environment from suburban sprawl and vehicle pollution.</p>
<p>Those issues were front of mind as Montgomery County planners began work on Thrive over two years ago. <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Thrive-Montgomery-Outreach-appendix-4-12.pdf">Since then, they’ve held over 160 community meetings</a>, online and in person, including with the communities fighting it today. They also reached out to groups we don’t normally hear from, including renters, people of color, younger residents, and small business owners. Ads on buses and in Metro stations and materials in eight different languages put this work where people could see it and in ways they could understand it. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/80477/montgomery-county-is-contemplating-ways-to-create-more-affordable-homes-in-its-wealthiest-neighborhoods">At public hearings</a>, a slim majority of residents spoke in favor of it.</p>
<p>Montgomery County is just one of dozens of cities, counties, and states looking at zoning as a way to address their housing crises, including Portland, Minneapolis, Austin, Norfolk, and Atlanta. After several tries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/business/california-duplex-senate-bill-9.html">California finally passed a bill legalizing duplexes statewide</a>. In each of those places there has been a backlash from affluent residents. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/01/us/charlottesville-va-zoning-affordable-housing.html">Here’s how a planning commissioner in Charlottesville described it:</a> “There’s fear and anger at being targeted. They don’t feel centered in this process. And they are correct.”</p>
<p>For a long time, even the possibility of this backlash kept reform off the table. In 2010, the Planning Department <a href="https://www.montgomeryplanning.org/development/zoning/documents/Ag_ResZones-ZAPDRAFT_10.14.10_DevPatternsAttachedRMD6note2.4.10.pdf">began exploring zoning changes</a> to encourage duplexes, townhomes and little apartment buildings but quietly shut the project down. Montgomery County is a very different place today. Will officials be able to make a different decision, or will they lead us down the same old path of exclusion?</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-52134178949165877922021-02-22T11:42:00.001-05:002021-02-22T11:42:05.392-05:00MoCo wants to create more affordable homes in wealthy neighborhoods. but when?<p>Montgomery County has a <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/housing/housing-needs-assessment/">housing shortage</a>, particularly <a href="https://dcist.com/story/21/02/17/maryland-must-build-thousands-more-homes-to-keep-prices-affordable/">for lower-priced homes</a>. The median home price is now $500,000, <a href="https://wtop.com/business-finance/2020/11/montgomery-county-median-home-price-hits-a-half-million-dollars/">14% more than last year</a>. Inside the Beltway and near the Red Line, prices can be significantly higher as people compete for a limited supply of houses.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49968490782/in/datetaken-public/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIAT8hQAUJuwJQOxVbNLUImkna1k-rSCVmGrNSFKkwBsBkYObFB-Ity09Q-HkcGbzg3GvjRjAueuKY6u_3XgC5UOLV9LwCQfKnP5jsS1RJSpSKPYIJ1NEzPHn3_BETOCrf1sOxAA/w400-h300/49968490782_47c2ce5254_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Montgomery County wants to make it easier to build “missing middle” homes, like this triplex in Silver Spring. All photos by the author.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>That’s happening in part because of single-family zoning, which was <a href="https://www.kut.org/austin/2017-12-08/how-a-91-year-old-u-s-supreme-court-case-from-ohio-echoes-in-austins-codenext-fight">created in the early 20th century</a> to <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11840548/the-racist-history-of-single-family-home-zoning">keep Black people out </a>of white and affluent neighborhoods by making townhomes and apartments illegal. This policy — along with racial covenants and redlining — still contributes to segregation today, but it also makes housing more expensive and inaccessible for everyone. That’s why places from <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article248544635.html">Minneapolis to Sacramento</a> are opening up their single-family zones.</p>
<p>In December, County Councilmember Will Jawando <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79872/two-bills-could-bring-rent-control-and-missing-middle-homes-to-montgomery-county">introduced a bill</a>, ZTA 20-07, that would allow duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings on “R-60” lots within one mile of Red Line stations. If passed, the bill would change planning permissions for about 24,000 lots where today you can only build one house and an accessory apartment.</p>
<p>“We must have an all hands on deck approach that includes multiple solutions” to address the housing shortage, he wrote in <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ZTA-20-07_Final.pdf#page=42">a letter to the County Council</a>.</p>
<p>Montgomery County <a href="https://wamu.org/story/19/11/25/is-montgomery-countys-top-official-practicing-nimbyism-in-disguise/">has a goal to build 41,000 homes</a> by 2030 to meet the shortage. The Planning Department is already working on its own plans to create more “missing middle” homes, including one focused on <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77901/montgomery-county-looks-at-missing-middle-housing-for-silver-spring">downtown Silver Spring </a>that could involve zoning changes and Thrive 2050, which looks at the entire county and will <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change)">not involve any zoning changes</a>. Both of these efforts will play out over the next several months, with many opportunities for public input.</p>
<p><strong>Hurry up, or wait</strong></p>
<p>So now there’s a debate: pass Jawando’s bill and allow more homes today, or take our time and potentially allow more homes in the near future?</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Bill supporters - who were a slim majority at a <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/OnDemand/testimony/20210211/item1.html">public hearing</a> on ZTA 20-07 two weeks ago - say we can’t wait to address our housing issues. (Supporters also had a slight edge during a hearing at the same time for Councilmember Jawando’s other housing bill, which would require <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79872/two-bills-could-bring-rent-control-and-missing-middle-homes-to-montgomery-county">rent control for apartments near transit</a>.)</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50959863092/in/datetaken-public/"><img border="0" data-original-height="1638" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMV1v6D3tjyCdk49Z95dizHnZf4qBNbt9qEGWGLue7AwmJ2gVuDZO8ovItS3YBl0a-fhdssn4YQJx_NmjJKOYGV7fD95PhmA6G6kUOzpU1sEZbqQ_XeSo0gFR7bhQy2nNjLwqjOQ/w400-h320/705+silver+spring+ave+under+constructio+from+the+back_cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A new single-family home being built near downtown Silver Spring. This home was recently on the market for over $1.4 million.</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Many speakers like Katie Nolan of Silver Spring talked about their struggles finding an affordable home here. “There aren’t a lot of apartments that allow pets or are near transit or fit our budget,” she said. “We need more housing in Montgomery County that people can actually afford.”</p>
<p>Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland, which builds homes for low-income families, also supports the bill. “Single-family zoning created communities segregated by income and race. it’s imperative we dismantle segregation and ensure access to all neighborhoods,” said vice president of community development Sarah Reddinger.</p>
<p>Many bill opponents represented towns like Chevy Chase or Somerset, or neighborhoods in Bethesda and Silver Spring that primarily consist of single-family homes. These are the neighborhoods where home prices are increasing rapidly and teardowns and flips are increasingly common.</p>
<p>“We already struggle with stormwater management and parking problems,” said Carolyn Greis, councilmember for Chevy Chase Section 3, adding that townhomes and apartments would raise “compatibility concerns” with homes in her village.</p>
<p>Greis and others argued that the County Council should wait until after the Thrive 2050 plan was finished, though many of them made similar complaints about that plan, which recommends opening up single-family zones near rail and bus lines. It also talks about how wealthy neighborhoods exert influence over decision-making, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change">which adds to our housing shortage</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Why not both?</strong></p>
<p>The Planning Board recently weighed in on the bill, and said: why not both?</p>
<p>“It is critical that we expand Missing Middle Housing options in Montgomery County,” says Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson in a <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/montgomery-planning-board-votes-to-send-comments-to-county-council-on-missing-middle-housing-zoning-text-amendment/">recent press release</a>. “Councilmember Jawando’s ZTA is a good first step, but we need to consider it as part of a more comprehensive look at how to introduce a wider range of options and calibrate our approach to this issue to make sure it is as effective as possible.”</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50959914612/in/datetaken-public/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlu8PMLRBbzp2bogoIL90Fxsk_qVEUeYPbi3y-fuvtMOwOJLQwSB7XbSsgOoUgIu_FGrk-VTvAod9pNT5xSAKbHkBxjD-jj4suBqjXkemOgm_DzGhlXzOpchv-IrGJ2KE5WA-HhA/w400-h266/artspace+townhomes+seen+from+sligo+ave.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>These townhomes under construction in downtown Silver Spring are part of a development with homes for low- and middle-income households.</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The Planning Board is finishing a draft of the Thrive 2050 plan now and the Council will review it this spring. It doesn’t change zoning, so something like ZTA 20-07 is still needed. So the board <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ZTA-20-07_Final.pdf">offered ways to make the bill work better</a>.</p>
<p>For starters, they suggested tweaking the zone’s height, size, and parking requirements. Jawando basically kept these same for townhomes, duplexes, and apartments as for a single house. The idea is to make sure new homes blend in, but they might be too restrictive and stifle new construction instead of encouraging it. That’s what Emily Hamilton, a housing researcher at George Mason University, (and GGWash contributor) <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-29/to-add-housing-zoning-code-reform-is-just-a-start">found </a>in a study of other communities who have opened up single-family zoning.</p>
<p>Another recommendation is to include R-40 and R-90 zoned lots, which are the same as R-60 but different sizes. That would add another 4,000 lots to the areas covered by the bill.</p>
<p><strong>Doing nothing is not an option</strong></p>
<p>The next step for Jawando’s bill is for the council’s Planning, Housing, and Economic Development committee to review it, though other councilmembers suggest they’d like to wait until later this year to do so. If it passes that committee, the bill goes to the full County Council for a vote. Meanwhile, this spring the council will also get a draft of Thrive to review. The Silver Spring Downtown Plan is still being written, so it’ll be a while before we see anything there.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the Planning Board emphasizes that doing nothing will only make our housing issues worse. “Taking no action will depress the supply of homes, resulting in housing continuing to get more and more expensive,” reads their report. “Even small, modest numbers of duplexes, triplexes, and small apartment buildings could help combat teardowns and rebuilds.”</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-11687467505658875802021-02-05T12:45:00.001-05:002021-02-05T12:45:08.444-05:00this black history month, think about the power you wield<p>When little kids learn about Martin Luther King, Jr., they usually <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/30306615/1168746750565887580#">hear a version of this story</a>: when Dr. King was a child, a white friend says they can’t play together anymore because his parents won’t let him play with a Black child. It’s the inciting incident in Dr. King’s story, what inspires him to fight for justice.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50911755411/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFRKImsVAeC2H77OmbQYk-21Ou4ZRinq40vgvb4jX0g_MyPyg73sgKuAAsIEmBhLEyuYptcMDOxxgiGOUwc1jKbISn57uVzR3RoerUPOhOoys5Un5rwHwbRgRIDCFkuNv2jEq_Ig/w400-h300/BLM+Protest+at+Bethesda+Library.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Students organized this Black Lives Matter protest in Bethesda last summer. Photo by the author.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>King came from a relatively comfortable family. He grew up in <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/kin.htm">a large Victorian house</a> originally built for a white family. Both of his parents went to college, as did he and both of his siblings. His sister was a professor. None of those things could protect him from the whims of a white person defining where, when, how, or even if they would engage with him.</p>
<p>Decades after the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement">Civil Rights movement</a>, segregation and discrimination persist because that power imbalance still exists. This Black History Month, if you’re planning to do a day of service or support a Black-owned business, I encourage you to take it a step further and examine the power structures in your community.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Think about the spaces you move around in:</p>
<ul>
<li>Think about your neighborhood. Who lives there? Are there different kinds and prices of homes? Now think about your neighborhood association or HOA. Who goes to the meetings? Who leads those organizations? Do they look like your neighborhood?</li>
<li>Think about your kids’ school. Who goes there? Does the school look like your neighborhood? Who’s on your PTA? Do they look like your school?</li>
<li>Think about your workplace: Who works there? Do certain groups appear to have some roles more than others? Do hiring practices ensure that diverse candidates are interviewed for all positions? Who’s in leadership, and who makes the decisions?</li>
<li>Think about your social circles: Who do you socialize with? Do they look like your neighborhood? What does your kids’ social group look like? Does it look like the schools they attend?</li>
</ul>
<p>Chances are these spaces may have some Black people in them. But are they the only ones in the room? And are you ever the only white person in these spaces? I am half-Black, half-East Indian, and queer. From the neighborhoods I grew up in, to the schools I attended, to the places where I work and socialize today, I am often the only Black person, the only person of color, or the only queer person in the room. You get used to it. But I don’t usually get the choice.</p>
<p>Like that white parent who didn’t want Martin Luther King, Jr. playing with his child, white people often can choose how and where they interact with people of color, whether in decision-making roles, or by simply being able to choose between spaces where most people look like them.</p>
<p>This was the intended result of decades-old policies designed to exclude. In the early 20th century, the federal government’s <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=34603bd48c9f496fa2750a770f655013">redlining maps</a> denied mortgages to Black communities, and <a href="http://www.mappingsegregationdc.org/#mapping">racial covenants</a> kept Black people from buying homes in white communities. As these policies deprived Black people of opportunities to build equity and wealth, zoning ensured that white and affluent communities <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11840548/the-racist-history-of-single-family-home-zoning">could keep affordable homes out</a>, essentially barring non-white people. School districts dragged their feet on integration: <a href="https://montgomeryhistory.org/online-exhibit-desegregation/integration/">Montgomery County took seven years after Brown v. Board of Education</a> to close its Black-only schools.</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIvXxAIiLlPr2kVpSnEXcuX6NCIfYYRNyBP_sd5oYnEtWuSrPHvO_6_9ORDLt2khzuLjPwFzwiT9GmXQCazRPQi3Zn4HNvH4A-_ZC-KezCVIzosaJhu3ybxgd3JawHMH50jkXCg/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIvXxAIiLlPr2kVpSnEXcuX6NCIfYYRNyBP_sd5oYnEtWuSrPHvO_6_9ORDLt2khzuLjPwFzwiT9GmXQCazRPQi3Zn4HNvH4A-_ZC-KezCVIzosaJhu3ybxgd3JawHMH50jkXCg/w397-h400/Rock_Creek_Hills_596_600_90.jpg" width="397" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>These 1930s-era ads for homes in Montgomery County were explicit about discriminating against non-white people. Image from the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rockcreekhills/" target="_blank">@rockcreekhills Instagram</a>.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvED4LMQr0MWb0qOGuTGW0S-CrCLzn597jehD8WLgj8zJuE8reHFP8zU0op2Tug4JZS0XUXh9-xFvEcLton5dtcxrsTPWKcFPjCT5uAGmBAzzVUmbPO5E5LbvhP0hCEAnosffulw/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="463" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvED4LMQr0MWb0qOGuTGW0S-CrCLzn597jehD8WLgj8zJuE8reHFP8zU0op2Tug4JZS0XUXh9-xFvEcLton5dtcxrsTPWKcFPjCT5uAGmBAzzVUmbPO5E5LbvhP0hCEAnosffulw/w243-h400/rezoning_latest_version_463_760_90.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In a 1947 Washington Post article, Montgomery County residents said they were “continually harassed” by efforts to build apartments in their neighborhood.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Affluent, white communities in what’s called the “<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/28826/walkable-urban-places-enjoy-economic-success-but-face-social-equity-challenges">favored quarter</a>” tended to attract lots of investment - schools, jobs, transportation, shopping - while Black communities either didn’t receive the same level of investment or were placed in harm’s way: <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1304167624947965952?s=20">built in a floodplain</a>, or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/maryland-beltway-expansion-might-require-moving-part-of-historical-african-american-cemetery/2020/10/17/ae4696ca-0da5-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html">had highways routed through them</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this, the region is unique in the United States for one reason: we have a <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79489/prince-georges-countys-belt-of-high-income-majority-black-census-tracts-really-is-unique%5C">large Black middle class</a>. The Kinder Institute for Urban Research identifies just 19 prosperous, majority-Black zip codes in the nation, <a href="https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2021/01/13/19-prosperous-majority-black-zip-codes-us-two-in-houston-disparity">11 of which are in the region</a>. And <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html">Silver Spring is one of the few places in the nation</a> where little white boys and little Black boys do just as well as adults. That promise is compelling for many Black people around the country. Spurred by an article in Black Enterprise magazine that said DC was the best place for a Black professional to work, my dad, fresh out of college, packed up his car and drove up here from rural North Carolina.</p>
<p>Yet even here, the legacy of segregation undermines that success. Like Dr. King, living in relative comfort still means grappling with the consequences of systemic racism.</p>
<p>Those white, affluent neighborhoods that benefited from redlining 80 years ago are still white and affluent today, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79489/prince-georges-countys-belt-of-high-income-majority-black-census-tracts-really-is-unique%5C">sit on the opposite side of the region</a> from those majority-Black, affluent neighborhoods which, as a result, are a long commute from jobs and amenities. Homes in majority-Black communities are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/23/redlining-black-wealth/?arc404=true">worth dramatically less</a> than identical homes in majority-white communities - an average of 15% less according to a recent <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/devaluation-of-assets-in-black-neighborhoods/">Brookings study.</a> Not only does this <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/06/black-net-worth-wealth-gap/?arc404=true">keep Black families from building wealth</a> and ensures that white neighborhoods stay segregated.</p>
<p>Local school systems remain <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them">stubbornly stratified by class and race</a>. A recent study found that compared to white people, Black people in Montgomery County have <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/2019%20Reports/RevisedOLO2019-7.pdf">lower incomes, worse educational and health outcomes, and pay more of their income for housing</a> - and other jurisdictions are likely no different.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">350 people crowding the cafeteria at Julius West MS in Rockville for a meeting on MCPS’ school boundary analysis—our front, officials told us the room is full and we might want to attend one of the other scheduled meetings <a href="https://t.co/eDvR9wMrKR">pic.twitter.com/eDvR9wMrKR</a></p>
— dan reed(@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1204917025824526338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p>Of course, people will shrug that off and say that’s just how things are. Legal segregation is over, anyone can live where they want, and segregated neighborhoods and schools exist because people like them. It’s an argument that makes racism a personal failing (<a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/racist-graffiti-found-on-bethesda-high-schools-campus-again">spray-painting racial slurs on a school</a>, for example) instead of a broken system that we all play a role in, whether we like it or not.</p>
<p>Think about this: Just in the past few years, white neighbors in our region <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77498/battle-over-school-boundaries-divide-candidates-for-montgomery-county-school-board">have tried to block school integration</a>, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77901/montgomery-county-looks-at-missing-middle-housing-for-silver-spring">zoning changes</a> that would <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change">allow more affordable homes</a> near them, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/judge-dismisses-third--and-final--lawsuit-against-purple-line-project/2020/04/14/52add03a-7e6c-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html">better transportation</a> to and from job centers in affluent white neighborhoods. Most of these people would insist that they don’t have racist intentions. But they’re exercising the right to choose who can or can’t be in the spaces they inhabit. Unintentionally or not, this protects a status quo laid in place by policies enacted decades ago that continues to produce racist outcomes.</p>
<p>So this Black History Month, I encourage you to think about who’s in the room, who’s the only one in the room, who decides who gets to be in the room. It’s one part of a bigger, broken system you may actually have the power to change.</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-59885491788486138842020-12-17T11:24:00.002-05:002020-12-20T10:54:50.924-05:00two bills could bring rent control and “missing middle” homes to montgomery county<p>If you’ve tried to find a home in Montgomery County recently, you know things are rough. The county has a housing shortage, with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/theres-a-plan-to-fix-the-dmvs-affordable-housing-crisis-but-a-key-players-not-on-board/2019/11/20/311ed7b8-0a2a-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html">23,000 homes needed in the next 10 years</a>. The median home price in the county is a <a href="https://wtop.com/business-finance/2020/11/montgomery-county-median-home-price-hits-a-half-million-dollars/">half-million dollars</a>, 14% more than last year. Rents are <a href="https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/multifamily/dc-area-apartment-rents-fell-32-as-pandemic-impact-began-in-q2-105322">rising more slowly</a>, but some tenants still <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2020/09/montgomery-co-apartment-complex-backs-down-on-attempted-rent-increases/">received 33% rent increases this year</a>. An estimated <a href="https://www.mymcmedia.org/county-estimates-20000-tenant-units-are-delinquent-on-rent/">20,000 households are behind on rent</a> due to pandemic-related financial hardship, and <a href="https://wamu.org/story/20/09/02/cdc-federal-eviction-ban-dc-maryland-virginia-2/">could get evicted</a>.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xir_Xe-yOOmLrezjrTc6ZH6eC_fAz-93BIY4DB69X6GE3CIWr-cM_aTFEWmDUsQfjh0SxTan8Xhw3rKTVmdR9bSA3TcjgkjFEPHyT0Pgpu5ZAzG67qiwtq8pUTIDBbI2NRj2rQ/s2048/triplex+and+duplex+on+silver+spring+avenue.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xir_Xe-yOOmLrezjrTc6ZH6eC_fAz-93BIY4DB69X6GE3CIWr-cM_aTFEWmDUsQfjh0SxTan8Xhw3rKTVmdR9bSA3TcjgkjFEPHyT0Pgpu5ZAzG67qiwtq8pUTIDBbI2NRj2rQ/w400-h300/triplex+and+duplex+on+silver+spring+avenue.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Montgomery County could legalize "missing middle" homes, like this triplex and duplex in Silver Spring, within one mile of Metro stations. All images by the author</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>This year, county leaders have hustled to find solutions: <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/coronavirus/county-officials-cap-residential-rent-increases-at-2-6-during-pandemic/">capping rent increases during COVID-19</a>, <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/council-passes-tax-incentive-for-housing-developments-on-metro-stations/">tax incentives to build homes at Metro stations,</a> and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79636/montgomery-eliminates-housing-moratorium-lowers-development-fees">getting rid of the housing moratorium,</a> which <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them">blocked new homes near crowded schools</a>. Last week, County Councilmember Will Jawando introduced two bills dubbed “More Housing for More People” that could go even further.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><strong>One bill would introduce rent control</strong></p>
<p>The first bill would make Montgomery County’s “<a href="https://montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/housing/landlordtenant/voluntary_rent_guideline.html">voluntary rent guideline</a>” or suggested rent increase mandatory for rentals within a mile of stations on the Red and Purple lines, and within a half-mile of Bus Rapid Transit stations.</p>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8i4ZJUPjpX52ID1axf1aXrfeB2uaaClAwWTmog0_yrmKfusBczR7fKIg3o7nkfPbtkEDAhCLlR4_uOHXzTLNyLZtx-bUijyqZnOylzk9zIzzFn0FuUP17606Ti0FHn1PFFp5TQ/s2048/apartments+seen+from+nolte+park.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8i4ZJUPjpX52ID1axf1aXrfeB2uaaClAwWTmog0_yrmKfusBczR7fKIg3o7nkfPbtkEDAhCLlR4_uOHXzTLNyLZtx-bUijyqZnOylzk9zIzzFn0FuUP17606Ti0FHn1PFFp5TQ/w400-h300/apartments+seen+from+nolte+park.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Montgomery County could institute rent control for apartments near transit, like these buildings in East Silver Spring.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Landlords in those areas wouldn’t be allowed to raise the rent above the guideline, which changes each year. The guideline is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or how the cost of basic needs changes from year to year. This year, it’s 2.6% (or an increase of $52 for a $2000/month rental). For new rentals, the law would kick in after five years.<p></p>
<p>There are about 200 places in the US <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2019/11/rent-control-housing-crisis-affordability-supply">with rent control</a>, including the <a href="https://dcist.com/story/20/12/08/montgomery-county-rent-control-public-transit/?fbclid=IwAR30l6VCcegmR0ak4OlTXqvOcIN_1oUf1BvgIkOsgEZNRRHtYMZrzSYIQVs">city of Takoma Park and DC</a>, which has about <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/42843/rent-control-explained">80,000 rent-controlled apartments</a>. Like Montgomery County, rent increases in both places are tied to CPI, though DC allows increases up to two percent higher, with a cap of five percent. DC’s law also applies only to buildings built before December 31, 1975.</p>
<p><strong>Another bill would make it easier to build duplexes, townhomes, and apartments</strong></p>
<p>The second bill, <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/Resources/Files/zta/2020/ZTA%2020-07.pdf">ZTA 20-07</a>, would allow “missing middle” housing, or duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings in areas where only single-family homes can be built, as long as it’s within one mile of the county’s 13 Metro stations. This bill applies to R-60 zoned lots, which must be at least 6,000 square feet and allow one home <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/73141/montgomery-county-just-made-it-easier-to-build-an-accessory-apartment">and an accessory apartment</a>.</p>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XcB1Pz3E9tpMGq-xnU14q5lXuCN_fbkAR2LnMoZZftGrSpk0e7FDMglTu2Vgfe0pCCAuJ9Il81V4Vx9m1Shd3YgxfaoKjhaalHCeCVWbSs3p0_RkQvhxe1sVLveouk9f15-dWQ/s1024/moco-zoning.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XcB1Pz3E9tpMGq-xnU14q5lXuCN_fbkAR2LnMoZZftGrSpk0e7FDMglTu2Vgfe0pCCAuJ9Il81V4Vx9m1Shd3YgxfaoKjhaalHCeCVWbSs3p0_RkQvhxe1sVLveouk9f15-dWQ/w400-h300/moco-zoning.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>About 5% of Montgomery County's land is set aside for stuff other than single-family homes.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />New buildings would have to fit the same standards for height, setbacks, and parking that currently apply to single-family homes, but could have two, three, or more homes instead of one. Within a half-mile of the Metro station, you could build a bigger building with less parking, though not a taller one. The bill would cover about 6% of the county, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it would basically double the areas of Montgomery County that are zoned for anything other than single-family homes.<p></p>
<p>Most R-60 lots can be found in close-in places like Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Wheaton, and Silver Spring and Bethesda (outside their downtowns). <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/68435/heres-where-montgomery-county-is-and-isnt-growing">Very few homes are being built</a> here, except for large, million-dollar homes that replace <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78789/here-are-seven-ways-montgomery-county-is-changing-2">older, more affordable ones</a>, because that’s all the zoning will allow. In this <a href="https://ggwash.org/files/More_Housing_for_More_People_Fact_Sheet.pdf">fact sheet about his bills</a>, Jawando notes that these regulations were designed to keep neighborhoods segregated and exclusive.</p>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYP0mvKk0QNHQvdEfILdJbhXYb1vz3L6qSwqJVddTYdzqzNa86A9c6NVK34sCBO8PUV3OQh60crg87kfxam1TuY4MU8GjYefVmG_RhdlY4FGcscOxrG9YFtVzBuiEvAuH7ie9XJQ/s1529/Bethesda-McMansions.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1529" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYP0mvKk0QNHQvdEfILdJbhXYb1vz3L6qSwqJVddTYdzqzNa86A9c6NVK34sCBO8PUV3OQh60crg87kfxam1TuY4MU8GjYefVmG_RhdlY4FGcscOxrG9YFtVzBuiEvAuH7ie9XJQ/w400-h248/Bethesda-McMansions.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Between 2012 and 2019, nearly all of the homes on this Bethesda street were torn down and replaced with newer, larger ones.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />This isn’t the first time somebody’s tried to do this. The bill’s goals are similar to the <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/79780/moco-is-working-on-a-plan-to-tackle-racial-equity-public-health-and-climate-change">draft Thrive 2050 </a>plan, which talks about allowing “missing middle” housing in single-family neighborhoods near transit, as well as the new plan for <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77901/montgomery-county-looks-at-missing-middle-housing-for-silver-spring">downtown Silver Spring</a>. In March, state delegate Vaughn Stewart’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-03/maryland-s-ambitious-pitch-for-denser-housing">Modest Home Choices Act</a> would have legalized “missing middle” homes throughout Maryland in affluent neighborhoods near transit with lots of jobs.<p></p>
<p>If the bill passed, Montgomery County would join a bunch of other places that have opened up single-family zones, including <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/11/housing-crisis-single-family-homes-policy-227265">Minneapolis</a>, <a href="https://www.sightline.org/2020/08/11/on-wednesday-portland-will-pass-the-best-low-density-zoning-reform-in-us-history/">Portland</a>, <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/the-fight-to-make-austin-affordable-housing/">Austin</a>, <a href="https://www.sightline.org/2019/11/15/it-shouldnt-take-a-decade-to-re-legalize-duplexes/">Durham, and Grand Rapids, Michigan</a>, while other places like <a href="https://www.arlnow.com/2020/09/29/arlington-missing-middle-housing-study-sets-october-kick-off/">Arlington</a> and <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-mayors-plan-to-create-affordable-housing-would-rezone-single-family-residential-neighborhoods/S2HI6PFD7JB5ZJJONT3AM7TTUQ/">Atlanta</a> are looking into it..</p>
<p><strong>People are mad</strong></p>
<p>It’s likely the rent control bill will upset folks in the business and development community. At least here in Silver Spring, some residents are upset about the “missing middle” bill because it could bring more affordable homes <a href="http://users.starpower.net/oshel/history.html">to affluent communities that have long fought them</a>. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77901/montgomery-county-looks-at-missing-middle-housing-for-silver-spring">As with the Silver Spring Downtown Plan</a>, some residents have said inflammatory things about townhomes and apartments (mostly on neighborhood listservs so far), like that they would "destroy" the community. We'll likely hear more from them in the future.</p><p>But the bigger question for now is:</p>
<p><strong>Would rent control make homes more affordable?</strong></p>
<p>There are generally two schools of thought in Montgomery County (and other places) about how to make homes more affordable: <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-design/2018/08/more-on-housing-as-infrastructure/">build more homes</a>, because the <a href="https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/11/09/riemer-how-montgomery-county-can-get-growing-again/">shortage of available homes is pushing prices up</a>; or rent control, because the <a href="https://commonwealthmoco.com/2019/01/18/county-executive-marc-elrich-calls-for-county-wide-rent-stabilization-at-budget-forum">market can’t make homes affordable enough</a>.</p>
<p>Jawando’s two bills say: why not both? “My message with introducing both of these now at a critical time, when people are struggling to stay in their homes, is that we need more housing and we need more affordability for more people,” <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/multifamily-zoning-proposed-near-metro-stations/">he told Bethesda Beat</a>.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of debate about whether rent control works. Stanford University <a href="https://archive.curbed.com/2019/10/15/20915405/rent-control-does-it-work-2020-election">found that it can reduce displacement</a>, while several studies argue that rent control <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2019/11/rent-control-housing-crisis-affordability-supply">doesn’t stop new housing construction</a>. The Brookings Institution <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-does-economic-evidence-tell-us-about-the-effects-of-rent-control/">found that rent control works in the short term</a> but decreases affordability in the long term, and Brigham Young University notes that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119006000635#!">it caused developers to convert rentals to condominiums</a>. Takoma Park might be a cautionary tale: it <a href="http://www.theseventhstate.com/?p=9023&fbclid=IwAR2nKZDCS8TiNUIXR5M9dq0VAzUELHHhZ-rQUB4cCvXD-vYoodSsoKp_q2c">may have lost rentals</a> since rent control began, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/69684/can-takoma-park-embrace-a-progressive-housing-policy">apartments haven’t been built in the city </a>since the 1970s.</p>
<p><strong>What about “missing middle” zoning?</strong></p>
<p>Studies generally show that building more homes can lower prices. The Upjohn Institute found that new homes can <a href="https://www.upjohn.org/research-highlights/new-construction-makes-homes-more-affordable-even-those-who-cant-afford-new-units"> “open up” affordable homes</a> by luring more affluent people away from them, and NYU notes that <a href="https://cayimby.org/yes-building-market-rate-housing-lowers-rents-heres-how/">new apartments can lower rents</a> in buildings nearby. We’ve seen that in Silver Spring, building thousands of apartments has caused <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71732/did-silver-spring-build-its-way-to-being-more-affordable-sort-of">rents to go down </a>with some exceptions.</p>
<p>“Missing middle” homes can be <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/34118/a-hidden-height-limit-holds-back-affordable-mid-rise-construction-in-dc">cheaper to build because they use wood-frame construction </a>as opposed to high-rise buildings, which require concrete or steel. In places with high land values like Montgomery County, more flexible zoning means affordable housing builders can actually work there. (Like Habitat for Humanity, who builds really nice townhomes like these in <a href="http://www.hanoverlandservices.com/project/habitat-for-humanity-of-carroll-county/">Carroll County</a> or <a href="https://www.crozetgazette.com/2016/09/02/habitat-for-humanity-seeks-volunteers-for-crozet-project/">outside Charlottesville</a> or in <a href="https://www.westword.com/news/habitat-for-humanity-has-built-600-houses-in-denver-the-gonzalez-family-just-got-one-10561297">Denver</a>.)</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">in my ongoing ZONING CHANGES adventure on the neighborhood listserv I fell down a rabbithole of looking at Habitat for Humanity townhomes. Look at these deeply affordable cuties <a href="https://t.co/911vi3DG35">pic.twitter.com/911vi3DG35</a></p>
— dan reed(@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1336773423872286722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p>That said, <a href="https://tcbmag.com/giving-triplexes-a-try-in-north-minneapolis/">few homes have been built in Minneapolis</a> since it legalized triplexes in 2019, because banks are reluctant to finance them and <a href="http://www.citypages.com/news/triplex-building-permits-requested-in-minneapolis-this-year-3/572278171">city regulations still make them difficult to build.</a> Researcher and GGWash contributor Emily Hamilton says communities need to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-29/to-add-housing-zoning-code-reform-is-just-a-start">tweak other regulations</a> in addition to zoning. One good example is Portland, who used height and density rules to encourage <a href="https://www.sightline.org/2020/08/11/on-wednesday-portland-will-pass-the-best-low-density-zoning-reform-in-us-history/">building deeply affordable</a> homes that otherwise might not make financial sense.</p>
<p><strong>We have a housing crisis. Let’s talk about how to fix it!</strong></p>
<p>Most officials in Montgomery County seem to agree: the rent is too damn high, and we need to do something about it. In a county that’s <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78789/here-are-seven-ways-montgomery-county-is-changing-2">becoming more diverse and less affluent</a>, we need to rethink policies that prioritize one type of housing for one type of household. Over the next several weeks, we’ll get to have a conversation about how to do it.</p>
<p>There will be a public hearing for both bills sometime in February. You can <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/calendar.html">sign up to testify</a> for either bill here. After that, the council will have work sessions to discuss and edit each bill, before having a vote sometime in the winter or spring.</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-59220932715272998922020-12-07T12:26:00.005-05:002020-12-07T12:31:18.654-05:00MoCo is working on a plan to tackle racial equity, public health, and climate change<p>The Montgomery County we know today may exist because of a little-known document written over 50 years ago. As county planners work on a replacement, they’re tackling some big issues, like racial equity, public health, and a slow economy.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6frReMUxohDPmqcd-cfg424e0YkzUOEpPTRKMwSHnBJTwkIdV31JAsUGbnNW_TotM4Zl7StEm6ZgxLVHzVIjAotzs00-YcfItqfkY7PFTi9axwyhWiS5Q6e2-wVpEVAfqnGCcA/s2018/Working-Draft-Plan-Thrive-Montgomery-2050-final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1378" data-original-width="2018" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6frReMUxohDPmqcd-cfg424e0YkzUOEpPTRKMwSHnBJTwkIdV31JAsUGbnNW_TotM4Zl7StEm6ZgxLVHzVIjAotzs00-YcfItqfkY7PFTi9axwyhWiS5Q6e2-wVpEVAfqnGCcA/w400-h274/Working-Draft-Plan-Thrive-Montgomery-2050-final.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A glimpse of our possible future? Image by Montgomery County Planning Department.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>When most people think of Montgomery County, they might think of a prosperous, affluent bedroom suburb. It is one of the nation's richest counties and the largest employment center in Maryland. But <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78789/here-are-seven-ways-montgomery-county-is-changing-2">household incomes have been flat for 30 years</a>, and <a href="https://wtop.com/business-finance/2020/11/montgomery-county-median-home-price-hits-a-half-million-dollars/">home prices jumped 14% just this year</a>. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them">Schools</a> and <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2020/12/montgomery-county-outlines-long-term-growth-plan-through-2050/">neighborhoods</a> are segregated by class and race, and Black and Latinx residents are <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/2019%20Reports/RevisedOLO2019-7.pdf">more likely to be unemployed or pay more of their income for housing</a>. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of adults were overweight or obese.</p>
<p>Over the past year, Montgomery County planners have been trying to find solutions, and put them together in Thrive 2050, an ambitious document for how the county should grow and change over the next thirty years. Thrive wouldn't actually change laws or policies: Planning Board chairman Casey Anderson called it a “<a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/focus-is-on-diversifying-housing-types-racial-equity-in-countys-next-general-plan/">plan for other plans</a>," helping leaders make laws or policies in the future. The plan's <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/MP_ThriveMontgomery_Explainer_112020_v2_singles.pdf">big themes</a> include racial justice, affordable homes, and more transportation options.</p>
<p><strong>"A plan for other plans"</strong></p>
<p>This isn't the first big plan Montgomery County has made. In the 1960s, the Planning Department produced <a href="http://montgomeryplanning.org/community/general_plans/wedges_corridors/wedges_corridors64.shtm">“On Wedges and Corridors”</a>, when people were leaving cities for the suburbs. Back then, the county doubled in population every 10 years, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHbfi37jRWW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">growing as fast as cities like Los Angeles and Houston</a>. At the time, new suburban developments were messy and disorganized, lacking schools, roads, or parks.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0RmpNTbxwPRDx_2liAfpnMvh7EEF9tgB41iof_H8ZDOg-_nGx-bn2FpkgDrTr2cGN9WlT8-wyo22ygUjCbwdTD-suh4OhxMSs5ON7joE4Lu_sapN4zM9EL4L9yWC1VOKJVk5TQ/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0RmpNTbxwPRDx_2liAfpnMvh7EEF9tgB41iof_H8ZDOg-_nGx-bn2FpkgDrTr2cGN9WlT8-wyo22ygUjCbwdTD-suh4OhxMSs5ON7joE4Lu_sapN4zM9EL4L9yWC1VOKJVk5TQ/w400-h360/wedges_and_corridors_800_720_90.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The original "Wedges and Corridors" concept for Montgomery County. Image by Montgomery County Planning Department.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />To fix this, nationally-renowned planner Harland Bartholomew proposed putting most future growth in a “corridor” along I-270, where residential “wedges” would sit on either side, but mostly to the less-affluent east. Many of On Wedges and Corridors’ <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/11177/wedges-and-corridors-still-shapes-montgomery">recommendations happened</a>, like the county’s park system, the Agricultural Reserve, and the Red Line.</p>
<p>Other things didn’t pan out, <a href="https://boundarystones.weta.org/2015/12/17/roads-not-traveled-dc-pushes-back-against-freeway-plans">like a “North Central Freeway</a>” through Takoma Park and Silver Spring. The plan also didn’t anticipate the county’s massive job growth. Bartholomew also <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/70408/harland-bartholomew-the-man-who-zoned-washington-dc">didn’t want any apartments in rich white neighborhoods</a> like parts of Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Silver Spring. The county sort of ignored this with downtown Bethesda and downtown Silver Spring, but otherwise basically left those communities alone.</p>
<p><strong>So what are we going to do?</strong></p>
<p>200,000 new people are estimated to move here the next 20 years, and unlike in the 1960s, they can’t go in a field somewhere far away. So there’s a lot of stuff in the <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Public-Hearing-Draft-Plan-Thrive-Montgomery-2050-final-10-5.pdf">draft plan</a>, which is 166 pages long: More urban farms. A fourth Montgomery College campus in East County. Having courses where the public can learn about planning.</p>
<p>But Thrive's big idea is to replace “Wedges and Corridors” with “Complete Communities,” where instead of traveling long distances for daily needs, people could reach most daily needs within a 15-minute walk, bike ride, or drive. Shops, offices, and other amenities would be closer to where people live. Opening up single-family zoning to allow "<a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/housing/missing-middle-housing/">missing middle</a>" homes, like duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings, would give people more housing options that fit their budget and needs. Building out <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/33042/montgomery-approves-countywide-brt-plan">the Bus Rapid Transit network Montgomery County approved in 2013</a> would give people an option for longer trips.</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJTj_eWnEg7rgkh2NyP0EIvM8P1KnQKkOMpglPAZUm1M0Jy5rT4yiI0vUHxhx9f0eMJESX35547pzKxgB97uMb95XsMjvzN1RF4kouM_3cjTJ539CHgUTMjttszJ7dQJ1sQNKdg/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="661" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJTj_eWnEg7rgkh2NyP0EIvM8P1KnQKkOMpglPAZUm1M0Jy5rT4yiI0vUHxhx9f0eMJESX35547pzKxgB97uMb95XsMjvzN1RF4kouM_3cjTJ539CHgUTMjttszJ7dQJ1sQNKdg/w330-h400/Screen_Shot_2020-12-06_at_7.03.59_PM__661_800.png" width="330" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Thrive envisions replacing aging suburban strips - like this Sears department store in White Oak - with walkable neighborhoods. Image by Montgomery County Planning Department.</i></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Of course, this sounds a lot like downtown Silver Spring or downtown Bethesda. Thrive envisions more places like this along the Red Line and future Purple Line, and major roads like Veirs Mill Road, Connecticut Avenue, and Columbia Pike, where today there are strip malls and spread-out neighborhoods.</p>
<p>The plan explicity ties this to racial equity. Due to <a href="https://t.co/S8dkHlT7tI?amp=1">redlining</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/racist-housing-covenants/2020/10/21/9d262738-0261-11eb-8879-7663b816bfa5_story.html">racial covenants</a>, <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11840548/the-racist-history-of-single-family-home-zoning">exclusionary zoning</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/05/17/528822128/the-color-of-law-details-how-u-s-housing-policies-created-segregation">many other racist policies</a>, people of color in Montgomery County could not choose where to live or shop or work for most of the county's history, the legacy of which still impacts us today. Thus, giving all county residents more choices in where to live and how to get around could go a long way to fixing that - and make it easier to help the environment and the economy.</p>
<p><strong>A few people are mad</strong></p>
<p>During a <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmncppc.granicus.com%2FMediaPlayer.php%3Fview_id%3D7%26clip_id%3D2336%26fbclid%3DIwAR3JESAyuXC9QTC1FDjXTBosqd2zwhpfmcJNSHCsCcTFxojY_NK147ZgDJs&h=AT0gmZYxd8x9dn9oEKLycqP8JvWsb9t-33bPNsyZJT499U6SF68FPXY29idOwHO70U0e32QUFxNo4wv8QBxQakVtZlzlE3nanMG4YR7CwVRqS_SX8ZhahEclrf9MbVjhZps4HJU0Dv3oVVgkqXi0Lw&__tn__=H-R&c[0]=AT1Vt20wje7kLDTGIfBpJoa2h12jI4r7l2SCXoVUuFehZ1_jN28jBQaP8CWtHfSoowxR6OA9Pdck7tX61BVjgioOP1b7xNqHfPXmwmFfRJJ35mlVMiVicGyX1c6PpPNxu9Ihb2bsT5mUYWaoIPPf3nE1504cNLU9xGW2RH48Or1MZWoY5IOC5Ny50vWp0OQYeOw0ZbKGJA2lGyJu1SnPTdA">marathon public hearing</a> earlier last month, <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/over-85-residents-testified-on-thrive-montgomery-2050-draft-plan-at-planning-board-virtual-public-hearing/?fbclid=IwAR2uKUIBIAM4WwqQRDxP1316He7cdris-ecegHvs3KMJgUCzYbBy2JkLSts">85 people testified, according to the Planning Department</a>. About two-thirds of the people who testified supported the plan, citing the high cost of housing, or a desire to not drive everywhere. Some speakers cited the racist history of planning in the county, and research about <a href="https://opportunityinsights.org/neighborhoods/">how the neighborhood you grow up in can dramatically change your life’s path</a>.</p>
<p>“Restrictive zoning has contributed to segregated communities where children grow up in areas with little opportunity to learn and grow with the amazing diversity we have in our county,” said former school board member Jill Ortman-Fouse, adding that Thrive would “[break] down those barriers that isolate populations and [give] all our families the opportunities they deserve.”</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmp4deaT91VW7rPcyISIwzJH7-JXycSMdSJGMCY2ivrCE5lYhQs8zSQoamP9aBEmfOzglf82qvBlUmn94HdOFRlQMa-x4V89pdWdmzRmN-_SHf04aiddYBkVPZTe1Xn369hn1qNA/s2048/BLM+Protest+at+Bethesda+Library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmp4deaT91VW7rPcyISIwzJH7-JXycSMdSJGMCY2ivrCE5lYhQs8zSQoamP9aBEmfOzglf82qvBlUmn94HdOFRlQMa-x4V89pdWdmzRmN-_SHf04aiddYBkVPZTe1Xn369hn1qNA/w400-h300/BLM+Protest+at+Bethesda+Library.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Black Lives Matter protest in Bethesda in June 2020. Residents cited Montgomery County's racist history in supporting Thrive. Image by the author.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Yet some people were uncomfortable with Thrive’s recommendations about equity, particularly in regards to changing single-family zoning. County Executive Marc Elrich questioned whether you could solve equity without changing “the single family neighborhoods.” “For Equity, are we better off with 15-minute living or investing in early childhood education and schools?” <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Item10_Attachment-3-Comments-Received-Since-June-11-2020.pdf#page=86">he wrote in a letter to the Planning Board</a>.</p>
<p>Speakers from wealthy communities were upset that the plan called out communities that “have become highly adept at using public process to block new housing." The Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights called that line “confrontational.” (<a href="https://www.cccfhmd.org/issues">Their website has a helpful list of things they are using the public process to block</a>.) The Montgomery Countryside Alliance called the plan and the Planning Department “<a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Item10_Attachment-3-Comments-Received-Since-June-11-2020.pdf#page=48">unnecessarily adversarial</a>.” And Elrich, who has <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/74809/elrich-and-navarro-spar-over-housing-and-economic-development-in-montgomery-county">tried to block new housing during his career</a>, said it was “unfriendly to community participation.”</p>
<p><b>What happens next</b></p>
<p>Ben Ross notes that even people who don't like Thrive aren't trying to block it, but <a href="https://twitter.com/benrosstransit/status/1329794524261064707?s=21">slow down the process</a>. It'll still be a while before Thrive becomes official.</p>
<p>Throughout the winter and spring, the Planning Board will work on the draft, before voting to approve it in April. From there, it’ll head over to the County Executive for his comments, before going to the County Council, who will have another public hearing and their own chance to make changes before voting on it late next year.</p>
<p>If you want to give feedback on Thrive, the official public comment period ends Thursday, December 10, though you can still email the Planning Board after that at <a href="mailto:mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org">mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org</a>.</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-64091949593762872872020-09-16T12:30:00.010-04:002020-09-16T12:45:15.459-04:00flash, maryland’s first bus rapid transit line, is almost finishedMaryland’s first Bus Rapid Transit line will open in Montgomery County later this year. Let’s take a look at one of the stations under construction.<div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50313655176/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Rear of April Lane Flash BRT platform"><img alt="Rear of April Lane Flash BRT platform" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50313655176_ef074f721b.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The April Lane station on Flash, Maryland's first bus rapid transit line. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/albums/72157715999446537">Click here for a slideshow</a>. All photos by the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><a href="https://ggwash.org/view/69628/brt-more-rapid-bus-service-comes-to-montgomery-county">Under construction since 2018</a>, Flash BRT is an 14-mile line that will run along Route 29 (Colesville Road and Columbia Pike) from the Silver Spring Metro station to Burtonsville, making 11 stops along the way.</p>
<p><a href="https://ggwash.org/view/73360/montgomery-county-rockville-pike-two-bus-rapid-transit-projects-veirs-mill-design-for-md-355-brt">It’s the first</a> of three lines Montgomery County is working on - the other two are on Veirs Mill Road between Wheaton and Rockville, and along Route 355 between Bethesda and Clarksburg. Route 29 is one of the busiest bus corridors in the region, and Flash buses will come every 7.5 minutes during rush hour and run from 5am to midnight.</p>
<p>One of the stations will be April Lane, located on Lockwood Drive in White Oak where buses will briefly detour to serve a large cluster of apartment complexes. When I stopped by in August, the station (or stations, since there are platforms on both sides of the street) was almost finished, save for a few signs that hadn’t been installed and some construction debris.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50313832787/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Protected Bike Lane on Lockwood Drive"><img alt="Protected Bike Lane on Lockwood Drive" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50313832787_315f72bb3a.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A protected bike lane runs behind the Flash BRT station on April Lane.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Each station has these distinctive canopies, which protect riders from the rain and sun and make the stations easier to find. There’s also a tall blue and gray pylon, which contains a route map and a screen with real-time updates on when the bus is coming.</p>
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<p><a href="https://ggwash.org/view/70905/montgomery-countys-first-brt-station-is-under-construction">To reduce travel time</a>, riders will pay their fares at a machine in the station before getting on, and special traffic signals will give buses priority at intersections. The station platforms are slightly higher than the sidewalk and at the same level as the bus, allowing riders to walk or roll off smoothly.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/federal-government-to-pitch-in-10-million-for-route-29-bus-rapid-transit/">part of the federal grant</a> Montgomery County received to build Flash, there are also new bicycling amenities. Ten Capital Bikeshare docks, several of which are at Flash stations, let people who live or work nearby bike to the bus. Lockwood Drive already had bike lanes, so the stations are built on a little island between the bike lane and the traffic lane.</p>
<p>“Floating bus stops” like this protect bicyclists from car traffic while also keeping them out of the way of buses pulling into the station. People walking to the Flash station cross the bike lane at little crosswalks next to the platform, similar to bus stops along the new Second Avenue bike lanes in downtown Silver Spring.</p>
<p><strong>A loooong history</strong></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50312990738/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pylon, April Lane Flash BRT station"><img alt="Pylon, April Lane Flash BRT station" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50312990738_960565e15e.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This pylon contains a map of the Flash BRT line. A screen showing real-time transit information will come later.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The April Lane station is a good illustration of why Flash BRT is so important and why it’s been such a long time coming. Montgomery County first proposed building light rail along Route 29 in the 1980s, and the Planning Board rezoned large swaths of nearby land, including around April Lane, for apartments and townhomes so that people could live near it.</p>
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<p>Yet rapid transit never came, beyond an express bus service that opened in 1985. Over time, a <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/34388/segregation-is-causing-montgomery-county-schools-achievement-gap-but-josh-starr-wont-admit-it">combination of white flight</a> and the <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/31707/watch-poverty-suburbanize-in-montgomery-county">suburbanization of poverty</a> made East County more racially and socioeconomically diverse. Instead of investing in better transportation, Montgomery County put the area in a development moratorium - basically a ban on new housing or businesses - for 18 years, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/affluent-montgomery-county-has-pockets-of-poverty-mostly-in-the-east/2014/09/06/e09dbb6a-1cea-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html">due to opposition from community leaders</a> who sometimes seemed uncomfortable with the area’s new diversity.</p>
<p>Today, East County still has lots of big homes that <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1205889261318365186?s=20">could easily pass</a> for Potomac. But many people moved here for affordable homes next to a transit line that never got built, and are stuck in a community several miles from Metro, job centers, and other amenities. As a result, East County has <a href="http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/95386/2017.12.28_montgomery_county_finalized_7.pdf">higher poverty rates </a>and worse economic outcomes than the rest of Montgomery County.</p>
<p><strong>BRT could do a lot of good, if</strong></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50312992068/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Bikeshare at April Lane Flash BRT station"><img alt="Bikeshare at April Lane Flash BRT station" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50312992068_34b6826972.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 Capital Bikeshare stations were installed alongside the Flash BRT line.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Flash BRT could help change that. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/62117/five-things-moco-says-brt-will-do">A 2017 study predicts</a> it will shorten travel times, reduce congestion, double transit ridership, increase access to jobs and economic opportunities, and support our nighttime economy. The line already appears to be attracting stuff, like the new White Oak Medical Center, a 180-bed hospital; <a href="https://www.mocoshow.com/blog/trader-joes-is-coming-to-white-oak-html/">a new Trader Joe's</a>; and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/64234/a-town-center-in-white-oak-may-finally-take-shape">Viva White Oak</a>, a research park with shops, offices, and housing. Drawing more investment to this area <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/43074/montgomerys-new-bus-rapid-transit-system-will-make-the-county-more-equitable">could improve racial equity</a> in one of Montgomery County's most diverse communities.</p>
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<p>What BRT won’t have, unfortunately, are dedicated bus lanes. Then-Montgomery County Councilmember Marc Elrich <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/33042/montgomery-approves-countywide-brt-plan">proposed a countywide network of Bus Rapid Transit routes</a> in 2008, arguing that this was the fastest and most affordable way to address congestion.</p>
<p>Ever since then, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66620/montgomery-wants-to-build-a-better-bus-system-but-anti-brt-activists-are-opposed">residents from affluent neighborhoods</a> near the line's southern end, like Woodmoor and Woodside Park, loudly fought them, because they didn’t want to give up space for cars on Route 29.</p>
<p>As a result, Flash buses will run on the shoulder of Route 29 between Burtonsville and New Hampshire Avenue, before merging into traffic with everyone else. Not only will this make the service slower and less reliable, but it could deter riders.</p>
<p>That might change. In 2017, residents Sean Emerson and Sebastian Smoot <a href="https://betterbrt.growingeastcounty.com/">proposed a way</a> to squeeze in bus lanes without taking away car lanes, and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation agreed to study it. This summer, <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/Resources/Files/US29Study/US%2029%20Mobility%20and%20Reliability%20Virtual%20Workshop%20Presentation%20-%20July2020.pdf">MCDOT concluded</a> that bus lanes would in fact speed up buses, but recommended looking at “managed lanes” that allowed buses and carpools, because it could reduce delays for drivers.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Flash buses are scheduled to start rolling through East County later this year. You can find out more, and get updates, <a href="https://www.ridetheflash.com/us29/#:~:text=The%20project%20is%20currently%20in,25%2C%202018%20in%20Briggs%20Chaney.">at the Flash BRT website</a>. You can also <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/albums/72157715999446537">check out more photos here</a>.</p></div>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-10349333506431920592020-09-14T14:05:00.004-04:002020-09-14T14:05:47.652-04:00ellsworth drive is one of silver spring's most successful public spaces. should it stay in private hands?<p>Despite its name, Ellsworth Drive has become one of the region’s most successful pedestrian retail streets. As plans for a facelift move forward, community members are worried that what makes this place special and enticing could be lost.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRLrJltHmWyR13uaR36S8r1YRrAFTH1bQRkvivRIVbhsJe-WdVvjwNAQyP4j7a5lp2NCutFCut2WmF8POCvpaMbmnq3KPZxMSh80wDCdBekdynFmfo2V3O9qU4f1-7TBj5jN9Dg/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1535" data-original-width="2047" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRLrJltHmWyR13uaR36S8r1YRrAFTH1bQRkvivRIVbhsJe-WdVvjwNAQyP4j7a5lp2NCutFCut2WmF8POCvpaMbmnq3KPZxMSh80wDCdBekdynFmfo2V3O9qU4f1-7TBj5jN9Dg/w400-h300/ellsworth+2019.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellsworth Drive last summer. Montgomery County owns the street, but leases it to a developer who runs and maintains it. Photo by the author.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Twenty years ago, this street was a back alley, lined with loading docks and parking lots. Today, Ellsworth is arguably the most important street in Silver Spring, if not Montgomery County. On a Friday night in the summer, Ellsworth is the place to see and be seen for a big swath of suburban Maryland.</p>
<p>Little kids play in the fountain. Teen boys skateboard and try to one-up each other, weaving around couples on dates. There are usually a handful of buskers, some with amps, alongside panhandlers. Proselytizers march with sandwich boards past Hare Krishnas waving tambourines. At the corner of Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street, a man pushes a cart selling roasted nuts, who was recruited here from New York by former MoCo planning official <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/12937/montgomery-county-loses-out-by-losing-rollin-stanley">Rollin Stanley</a>.</p>
<p>Ellsworth also hosts a number of major events, from the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade, to the annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival and Blues Festival, the Zombie Walk, a weekly farmers’ market, and this summer, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77877/suburban-protestors-speak-out-against-police-brutality">several Black Lives Matter protests</a>. No surprise that the big-D Downtown Silver Spring complex (not to be confused with the wider downtown Silver Spring area) that lines Ellsworth Drive was first marketed as a “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070606085657/https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/shoping.html">good old fashioned sensory overload</a>.”</p>
<p>And until March, it was completely car-free, making Ellsworth one of the few exceptions to a long history of failed pedestrian malls. Developer Peterson Companies, which manages the street, wants to keep it that way, and has big renovation plans in mind. In order to make them happen, This fall, the Montgomery County Council will decide whether to give Peterson more control over Ellsworth Drive.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><strong>What Peterson wants to do</strong></p>
<p>Ellsworth was rebuilt in 2004 as part of the massive Downtown Silver Spring redevelopment project, and has been a pedestrian street (<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/7697/rather-than-close-ellsworth-drive-narrow-georgia-avenue">with some exceptions</a>) ever since. To do that, Montgomery County “abandoned” the street, basically saying that it was no longer needed for through traffic. Montgomery County owns the land beneath the street and legally considers it a <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2007/07/ike-leggett-gives-final-word-on.html">public space</a>, but leases it to Peterson Companies, which runs Downtown Silver Spring. Peterson manages and maintains the street except for a bit at the eastern end, close to Fenton Street, which Montgomery County still controls.</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAb86ZBmFeUn2XbnB_ERmSGQjigU0zSOTu5SEy2H7lXykANHQf4wxhmOXStIaVrbytzOfPnRSM0xQfbGA7xBYuc74FThDgGYqfhBQUTXLw-mNHQGYrKcShPQkRt8doSL-lr0dtUA/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1372" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAb86ZBmFeUn2XbnB_ERmSGQjigU0zSOTu5SEy2H7lXykANHQf4wxhmOXStIaVrbytzOfPnRSM0xQfbGA7xBYuc74FThDgGYqfhBQUTXLw-mNHQGYrKcShPQkRt8doSL-lr0dtUA/w400-h270/Screen+Shot+2020-09-13+at+6.05.01+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The yellow area is what Peterson Companies already controls, the red area is what they're asking Montgomery County to abandon. <a href="https://eplans.montgomeryplanning.org/UFS/31997/92417/AB-771%20SR%20Road%20Abandonment.pdf/AB-771%20SR%20Road%20Abandonment.pdf">Image</a> by Montgomery County Planning Department.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Today, Ellsworth has sidewalks running along the sides and asphalt down the middle, except for a big plaza in the middle of the block where the curbs go away and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/63912/on-dcs-playgrounds-the-giant-water-fountains-kids-spray-in-will-stay-open-">there’s a popular splash pad</a>. Last fall, Peterson and builder Foulger-Pratt revealed their <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/74146/after-15-years-downtown-silver-spring-is-getting-a-big-update">plans</a> to renovate Downtown Silver Spring, including a big overhaul of Ellsworth Drive. The first phase was a new paint job, and several murals by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DTSilverSpring/photos/a.375936459419/10157592531529420/?type=3&theater">DC creative agency No Kings Collective</a>.</p>
<p>“The nature of retail is changing. It’s much more focused on experience,” Bryant Foulger of Foulger-Pratt said at a community presentation about the project last fall. “We’re also focused on physical plant. Things are wearing out…so we’re thinking about ways to refresh it.”</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdRsroGW8a-sT7KI8I7N8Upg4EF8TUCS8aHkWphWmahCQav59cPAB1WGxiaSVlBvEXQaFDQflw-vvEtRzIZEN91qeqUWCDYJQ48CeClJQ7w63zbIzL_pQgr7biG6EUoj5C_b7ASw/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdRsroGW8a-sT7KI8I7N8Upg4EF8TUCS8aHkWphWmahCQav59cPAB1WGxiaSVlBvEXQaFDQflw-vvEtRzIZEN91qeqUWCDYJQ48CeClJQ7w63zbIzL_pQgr7biG6EUoj5C_b7ASw/w400-h150/downtown_silver_spring_refresh_800_300_90.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>Ellsworth Drive could get covered in artificial turf. Image by Foulger-Pratt used with permission.</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Next up: removing the splash pad replacing it with a more traditional fountain and a large, movable performance stage. The developers also plan to permanently close Ellsworth Drive to cars, by covering the center portion in plastic turf. They envision placing <a href="https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/refresh-coming-soon/#:~:text=Downtown%20Silver%20Spring%20is%20currently,setting%20for%20numerous%20outdoor%20events.">outdoor seating</a> on the turf, along with “family-friendly gathering spaces” and games, like cornhole and ping-pong.</p>
<p>In order to do that, however, Peterson and Foulger-Pratt need Montgomery County to “abandon” the eastern end of Ellsworth Drive, closer to Fenton Street. Over the next two weeks, the County Council will take public comments on whether this should happen. So far, the public is not super excited about it.</p>
<p><strong>People are mad</strong></p>
<p>There are several camps of people who are upset with the plans for Ellsworth Drive. <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Item-5-Correspondence-Downtown-Silver-Spring.pdf">In letters to the Planning Board</a>, which approved the abandonment over the summer, residents raised a variety of concerns. Some parents are <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/74146/after-15-years-downtown-silver-spring-is-getting-a-big-update">upset that the splash pad is going away</a>, as it’s a popular place for kids to play. Bicyclists are upset about losing a popular and car-free bike route through the heart of downtown.</p>
<p>Many of the concerns revolve around the turf itself, even as downtown Silver Spring had a big, and popular <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2008/07/turf-2005-2008.html">artificial turf plaza</a> from 2005 to 2008. Some worry that putting turf on Ellsworth will impede events that happen in the space, like the weekly farmers’ market.</p>
<p>Others argue that the turf <a href="https://twitter.com/KLucasMcKay/status/1304876580959813636">won’t be accessible </a>for people living with disabilities or using mobility devices like canes or wheelchairs. The Maryland Sierra Club and other environmental activists <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/maryland/synthetic-turf">say synthetic turf is toxic</a>, will increase stormwater runoff, will contribute to the heat island effect, and requires significant resources to clean and replace every few years.</p>
<p>The ACLU of Montgomery County is circulating a petition, with over 350 signatures, arguing that putting turf on Ellsworth Drive <a href="https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-silver-spring-fountain-plaza?fbclid=IwAR0OYKUpTVjTMQaJI6NMAUAZMmqXeaPOvNBZADeNCjAlVcBTAjkNoeCZrpY">kicks out skateboarders</a>, who have been skating on Ellsworth Drive <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/12/whats-up-pike-think-we-should-bring-rad.html">since the 1990s</a>, and <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2010/07/rodriguez-defends-skateboarding-ban-in.html">have been pushed out of other spaces in Silver Spring</a>. Many skaters in Silver Spring are Black and brown youth, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/usc-skateboarding-study.html">skaters are often policed more</a> than young people of other backgrounds or doing other activities.</p>
<p>Peterson has tried to address these concerns <a href="https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/turf-resources/">with an FAQ on their website</a>, which claims that they’ll use “eco-friendly turf” that will still accommodate events and bicyclists. They also have an email and social media ad campaign urging people to write the County Council and “Save Downtown Silver Spring.” Yet they’d never asked community members if they wanted any of these changes to such a significant public venue in the first place.</p>
<p><strong>A rough relationship with the community</strong></p>
<p>Since Downtown Silver Spring opened, Peterson has had a strained relationship with the community. In 2007, one of the developer’s security guards threatened to have photographer Chip Py arrested <a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/dcphotorights/discuss/72157600373050223/">for taking photos on Ellsworth Drive</a>. Peterson staff told him that the street was a private space, and they banned photography because they didn’t want people to write bad things about the development, or for stores’ competitors to photograph and steal ideas from their displays. The ensuing controversy <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2007/07/photogs-for-free-speech-flood-ellsworth.html">led to a Fourth of July march on Ellsworth</a> where marchers took photos of the street.</p>
<p>While Peterson <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2007/06/peterson-backs-down-but-hassled.html">eventually changed their policy</a> - and Montgomery County promised <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2007/07/ike-leggett-gives-final-word-on.html">that the street was a public space and that people had the right to free speech there</a> - they have still tried to exert control on who, and what, can happen in the space. A year after Chip Py’s march, he was accosted again for <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2008/02/questions-over-where-first-amendment.html">handing out campaign literature</a>. In 2011, Peterson and a number of Silver Spring business leaders <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2011/08/community-members-debate-seek.html">unsuccessfully pushed a teen curfew</a> following a fight after a concert in Downtown Silver Spring. In 2019, Peterson security <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/silver-spring/girl-told-to-leave-silver-spring-fountain-because-of-her-swimwear/">kicked a 7-year-old girl out of the splash pad</a> for wearing swim trunks instead of a one-piece swimsuit.</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzk_K8GhFPX3rKfBJcNHkM9Jp5Navsbzp7Yn68nvguoH6yQ8nW7StjMugnRw_NBZRbZmVaxEA3-qaIeZBWAeTLsiB2v2Hu4alxUsl4B5EhOWOFOSlKJ63NY4K7wrNeumGLM8Ciw/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEzk_K8GhFPX3rKfBJcNHkM9Jp5Navsbzp7Yn68nvguoH6yQ8nW7StjMugnRw_NBZRbZmVaxEA3-qaIeZBWAeTLsiB2v2Hu4alxUsl4B5EhOWOFOSlKJ63NY4K7wrNeumGLM8Ciw/w400-h300/ellsworth+2020.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellsworth Drive today. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Peterson has allowed drivers to park on the street, sometimes for hours at a time. Photo by the author.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />More recently, the developer unilaterally reopened Ellsworth Drive to car traffic for the first time in a decade after the COVID-19 pandemic started, to allow curbside pickup for restaurants on that block. For the past six months, the street has become a de facto parking lot. Despite a 10-minute parking restriction, drivers will simply leave their cars there for hours to avoid paying for parking in nearby parking garages, where there are thousands of<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/34652/thousands-of-public-parking-spaces-in-bethesda-and-silver-spring-sit-empty-every-day"> empty spaces available.</a></p>
<p>A group of residents including Alison Gillespie, Pete Tan, and myself reached out to restaurants on Ellsworth who say say that the only outreach they had was a survey asking if they wanted curbside pickup. As streets in other parts of Montgomery County have closed to allow restaurants to have outdoor dining, <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/bethesda/patrons-applaud-bethesda-streeterys-outdoor-eating-concept-in-no-rush-to-sit-inside/">like Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda</a>, residents and businesses have asked for the same on Ellsworth. County councilmembers Evan Glass and Tom Hucker say they <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/silver-spring/residents-want-more-outdoor-seating-in-downtown-silver-spring/">support outdoor dining</a> with some space for curbside pickup, but Peterson has refused to consider reopening the street to people.</p>
<p><strong>What happens next</strong></p>
<p>In many ways, the fight over Ellsworth Drive reflects a broader tension in Silver Spring and other urbanizing places: who is public space for? Over the past 16 years, people in Silver Spring and surrounding communities <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2008/08/new-ways-to-hang-on-ellsworth-emerge.html">have made Ellsworth their own</a>, creating a spontaneous, messy, and energetic space, frequently in ways it wasn’t intended for. By any measure, that’s what a successful public space looks like.</p>
<p>Not only that, but the success of Ellsworth as a community destination has enriched the businesses along it, as well as Peterson and Foulger-Pratt. That’s one big difference between Downtown Silver Spring and some of Peterson’s more suburban developments, like <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/12412/green-day-urbanism-gets-people-excited-for-the-real-thing">Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg</a> or National Harbor. Ellsworth isn’t just a driveway or a hallway in a shopping mall, yet the companies Montgomery County has trusted it with seem to treat it like one. Ellsworth is a public place, and with it come expectations about the public’s ability to shape and influence how it works.</p>
<p>As the county considers whether to give Peterson more control over this space, community members are asking whether they’ve earned that privilege.</p>
<p>If you’d like to weigh in on the future of Ellsworth Drive, and whether Montgomery County should abandon the rest of it, you can write to the County Council, using the contact information on their <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/contact.html">website</a>. Make sure to say you’re commenting on item AB 771, Abandonment of Ellsworth Drive.</p>Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-24169411408643083142020-09-14T07:00:00.001-04:002020-09-14T07:00:08.965-04:00soon, you'll be able to drink in montgomery county parks<p>Starting Thursday, you might be able to legally enjoy a drink in a Montgomery County park. A new directive from Montgomery Parks will allow alcohol, including beer, wine, and spirits, in a designated area in nine county parks. It’s a trial, and would only take effect through next May.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS70cA_GEhImvK3K7nVZ0qhgVsBnugVKtOUblUv_N5fJTdwsb7yHpvENEfMe9Mz8MwreOd0mx_EC_tIwdzsprupg3Nt3fCKYaGXAR1mDlXFO37_W-ZgadXOgZmYageqUvgnieIjA/s4032/IMG_0247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS70cA_GEhImvK3K7nVZ0qhgVsBnugVKtOUblUv_N5fJTdwsb7yHpvENEfMe9Mz8MwreOd0mx_EC_tIwdzsprupg3Nt3fCKYaGXAR1mDlXFO37_W-ZgadXOgZmYageqUvgnieIjA/w480-h640/IMG_0247.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A juicebox in Sligo Avenue Park, which is not one of the parks where you'll be able to drink harder things. Photo by the author.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><a href="https://dcist.com/story/20/09/08/montgomery-parks-drinking-picnic-moco-eats-maryland/">The proposed rules</a> are part of “Picnic in the Park,” a new effort by Montgomery Parks to promote its parks and support local restaurants. Visitors to nine parks in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Bethesda, North Bethesda, Wheaton, and Germantown can order takeout from a nearby restaurant and have it delivered to the park.</p>
<p>Under <a href="http://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/revised_Picnic-in-the-Park-Alcohol-Directive_PACP_20-0902.pdf">the new directive</a>, people would now be able to enjoy a drink in designated areas within one of the nine parks. The county <a href="https://wtop.com/food-restaurant/2020/03/montgomery-county-adds-hard-liquor-to-restaurant-takeout-and-delivery/">began allowing restaurants to sell alcohol to-go</a> when everything shut down in March due to Covid-19, but has kept the rule in place even as restaurants were allowed to have indoor dining. Of course, you’ll have to be 21 to drink in the park, and people are encouraged to drink responsibly.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>The new rules are part of <a href="http://ggwash.org/view/78360/montgomery-county-is-finding-creative-ways-for-people-to-reclaim-streets-during-the-pandemic">a growing movement in Montgomery County</a> to give people more room to spend time outside while maintaining social distance. With encouragement from a group of advocates, Montgomery Parks has <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/coronavirus/county-to-close-additional-roads-on-weekends-for-pedestrians-cyclists/">closed several miles of roads in parks</a>, including Sligo Creek Parkway and Beach Drive. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/78368/advocates-push-for-19-miles-of-shared-streets-in-montgomery-county">turned miles of residential lanes into “Shared Streets”</a> where through traffic is discouraged to make it safer to walk and bike.</p>
<p>During the summer, that expanded into outdoor dining, which also means outdoor drinking. In Bethesda, DOT worked with local restaurants to <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/bethesda/patrons-applaud-bethesda-streeterys-outdoor-eating-concept-in-no-rush-to-sit-inside/">shut down Woodmont Avenue for outdoor dining</a>, along with some space for curbside pickup. The Maryland State Highway Administration <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/dine/silver-spring-rockville-close-streets-to-make-way-for-expanded-outdoor-seating/">agreed to close two lanes of Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring</a> (a state road) for outdoor dining. Neighbors and County Councilmembers are <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/silver-spring/residents-want-more-outdoor-seating-in-downtown-silver-spring/">currently trying to do the same on Ellsworth Drive</a> in downtown Silver Spring (though developer Peterson Companies, which controls much of the street, has been resistant).</p>
<p>This was only announced last week, though Parks Department officials say they’ve heard from some residents who oppose it. Naturally, some people are worried about this encouraging bad behavior, especially in an area where kids might be nearby.</p>
<p><strong>People already drink in parks</strong></p>
<p>One block away from our house is Sligo Avenue Park, which is not in the Picnic in the Park program. It has a grill and some picnic tables where many of our neighbors like to eat outside. That’s become especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic, as we know it’s safer to socialize outside than inside.</p>
<p>If you’re fortunate enough to have a yard during the pandemic, you’ve probably hung out in your yard with friends and family, and perhaps even enjoyed a meal or a drink. There are a number of large apartment buildings in our neighborhood, and for people who don’t have private outdoor space in their homes, Sligo Avenue Park is basically their backyard.</p>
<p>Just as people drink in their backyards, people already drink in this park, often in a little clearing to the side, away from the playground and the tennis courts. My partner and I walk our dog in this park every day. Nobody really gives us any trouble here. But it sucks to find beer bottles and food waste in the grass, and more than once we’ve had to pull an errant chicken bone out of our dog’s mouth.</p>
<p>Trash and bad behavior are two concerns I’ve heard from people in the few days since the proposed rules were announced. Another concern is that the rules could be enforced unevenly, and target people who may already drink in parks. When I first tweeted about this Tuesday, the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, a grassroots organization that opposes police brutality, <a href="https://twitter.com/SilverCoalition/status/1303544967277826049">replied</a>, “They will arresr [sp] and harass the poor and unhoused folks for this, however it’s okay for the middle class.”</p>
<p>The new rules don’t prohibit BYOB, but they don’t exactly encourage it. There’s a risk that encouraging people to enjoy takeout drinks and food in a park - in other words, people who can afford takeout drinks and food - might make it easier to police the actions of someone who can only afford a drink and wants to enjoy it in one of the few places available to them. Instead, Montgomery Parks has an opportunity to set norms for good behavior while drinking in a park, regardless of who you are: be respectful of others and pick up after yourself.</p>
<p><strong>Now what</strong></p>
<p>On Thursday, the Montgomery County Planning Board, which oversees Montgomery Parks, will review the proposed rules and vote to approve them. After May 31, 2021 they’ll expire, and can be renewed for up to 12 additional months. If you have thoughts about this, you can contact the Planning Board <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/agendas/">by visiting their website</a>.</p>
<p>What do you think? Do you look forward to grabbing a drink in a Montgomery County park?</p>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-15905606608162737112020-07-02T12:23:00.005-04:002020-07-02T13:33:03.965-04:0014 years!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As longtime readers know, I started this blog 14 years ago last Friday, June 26, at the age of 18. I was passionate about this place, but it was a lonely effort. Most of my friends had other things to worry about, and they were tired of me ranting in class or at parties or at shows about the Purple Line.<br />
<br />
I wish 18-year-old me could see how much things have changed!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/50068485978/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="BLM protest at Walter Johnson High School"><img alt="BLM protest at Walter Johnson High School" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50068485978_a1bc8cbe5b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A socially-distanced protest at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, organized by two recent graduates. Photo by the author.</td></tr>
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This spring, I've had the chance to meet a number of young people in Montgomery County who are leading the fight for equity and justice in our community, from the <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking.html">MCPS school boundary analysis</a> to <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2020/06/across-maryland-and-virginia-suburban.html">over two dozen Black Lives Matter protests</a> that have happened here since May. They live in all parts of the county. They come from a variety of different backgrounds. What unites them is their energy, their persistence, and their willingness to say what needs to be said.<br />
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Zoe Tishaev, a graduate of Clarksburg High School, organized a two-hour discussion on exclusionary zoning in Montgomery County called A Legacy of Segregation, where I spoke along with Jane Lyons from the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Planning Board member Partap Verma. You can watch it here:<br />
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Last weekend, I had the honor of speaking at a BLM protest at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda organized by Matt Garfinkel and Nat Tilahun, two MCPS grads who understood the power of making yourself heard right here at home.<br />
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These are just two examples, but I'm constantly inspired by the hard work of our student activists - and challenged to push harder for what's right. As grown-ups (am I a grown-up yet?) we would do well to listen to them.<br />
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Anyway, here's the text of my speech on Saturday. Here's to 14 years of Just Up The Pike, and here's to 14 more years:<br />
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Hey! My name is Dan Reed, I grew up in Montgomery County, went to MCPS, graduated from Blake High School. I want to thank Nat and Matt for inviting me here today, and to thank Congressman Raskin and Councilmember Jawando for speaking this afternoon.<br />
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The past few weeks, and the past few months, have been hard for all of us. Yet through all of this one thing that gives me hope is discovering that things we assumed to be impossible were, in reality, bent branches ready to break. Put together, we can squint and see little glimpses of a very different world, one where people could have vastly improved lives and we, as a society, can actually make the changes needed to realize them.<br />
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Growing up here, I got used to the casual, pleasant bigotry of my friends and classmates and people in this community. I learned where the good and the bad neighborhoods and good and bad schools were, the assumptions about how you’re supposed to talk and how you’re supposed to live, the coded language and dogwhistles and ignorant jokes. We all grew up in this. It took moving away and coming back to realize that Montgomery County has this reputation for tolerance and openness, but doesn’t always deliver.<br />
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For the first time, I wonder if we might actually live up to our name. I never thought four weeks ago I would see people march through the streets of Bethesda and Silver Spring and Gaithersburg and White Oak and Damascus in support of Black lives. Over the past few weeks a lot of my white friends have asked me what they can do to help, and I struggled to find an answer.<br />
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Marching and protesting is a start. Putting a Black Lives Matter sign in your yard is a starts. Reading books is a start. Supporting black-owned businesses and organizations is a start. The work is doing. I’m a half-black, half-Indian queer person, I don’t speak for everyone, and I can only tell you what I know. But I have a list, and I’ll share it with you. Here are 10 things I am asking you to do:<br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Listen to Black people. Do not complain that something is just their opinion, that you don’t want to talk about race. If you’re getting defensive, think about why, and listen some more.</li>
<li>Think about the words you use, the way you describe neighborhoods and schools, the way you value or devalue the signifiers of race and class, and where that came from.</li>
<li>Anti-Blackness rolls deep, and with it comes other forms of racism and classism and sexism and homophobia and transphobia and ableism. Being anti-racist means deconstructing all of your other biases.</li>
<li>Stop saying “I love diversity, but.” Within that "but" are people's hopes, dreams, and opportunities, and whatever words follow it have the power to extinguish them in the name of your comfort.</li>
<li>Teach your boys, especially, to respect women, to stop saying “that’s so gay,” that spray-painting the N-word on your school is not a joke, and teach them to hold themselves accountable the way everyone else already has to.</li>
<li>Vote in local elections. Donald Trump does not control zoning or schools or transportation, and those are three things that we can directly affect here in our community. Give your voice, and your donations, to candidates who support equity and justice. We have a school board election this November.</li>
<li>Fight for integrated neighborhoods. Montgomery County was built on racist zoning and redlining intended to protect white neighborhoods and wealth from black and brown people. We need to change that. Fight for affordable housing, for getting rid of exclusionary zoning rules, and stop saying Not In My Backyard.</li>
<li>Fight for integrated, equitable schools. School boundaries aren’t the total solution but they’re a start, and it’s time to change them. Tell the Board of Education you want the boundary analysis, and you want schools to have resources based on their needs, not based on how rich the parents are.</li>
<li>Fight for safe streets for everyone. Our roads were built for moving lots of cars, which privileges people with money, but also excludes people who can’t drive or don’t want to drive from fully participating in society, which often means Black lives. 17-year-old Jake Cassell was not Black, but he died on Old Georgetown Road last year because there was no place for him to bike.</li>
<li>Stop making excuses. Share. This is Montgomery County, one of the wealthiest places in the wealthiest countries in human history. We have enough resources to share for you and for your child and for everyone else. We don’t have to treat this as a zero-sum game.</li>
</ol>
This list, like this meeting today, are a start. I want to believe that this place that raised me and made me who I am is capable of everything we claim to be. It starts today, and it starts with you. Let’s do it.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-2677691479040624242020-06-09T10:34:00.001-04:002020-06-11T14:00:35.447-04:00thomas hardman (1958-2020)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPmCwDUsyFRRoiWs5pvzUetBN3CKy8FueghIihiX7L8KVEXzhjIAAODMLPhpRsF_mMpp7Z_BXawwRN2Gg7lphSoBsgxQtsjGOmz8TtrTcyNXqD8MRVaAuGe1ypHlDWA-p-645jw/s1600/Thomas+Hardman+Outside+Dunkin%2527+Donuts%252C+April+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPmCwDUsyFRRoiWs5pvzUetBN3CKy8FueghIihiX7L8KVEXzhjIAAODMLPhpRsF_mMpp7Z_BXawwRN2Gg7lphSoBsgxQtsjGOmz8TtrTcyNXqD8MRVaAuGe1ypHlDWA-p-645jw/s320/Thomas+Hardman+Outside+Dunkin%2527+Donuts%252C+April+1.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas outside Dunkin' Donuts in 2008.<br />
Photo by the author.</td></tr>
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Thomas Hardman, a longtime Aspen Hill resident, computer programmer, occasional political candidate, and moderator of several local Facebook pages, was found dead in his Gaithersburg apartment over the weekend. An autopsy reports that he had a heart attack. He was 62.<br />
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Thomas's friend, civic activist Cary Lamari, reported the news on Facebook last night. Lamari says he asked people if anyone had heard from him since he hadn't posted in several weeks, and filed a missing persons report. Montgomery County police conducted a distress call and found Thomas Sunday night. He was not married, and did not have any children.<br />
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From Cary's Facebook page:<br />
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Thomas was liked by many people on Facebook and in the Aspen Hill Community, He attended Robert Perry High school and has been a staple in County political discussion for many years. You could always find Thomas at meeting in the Aspen Hill Civic Association meetings and he had a wonderful historical memory of past events and developments in our Community...Thomas was a good and Moral person and will be missed.</blockquote>
Thomas was a big part of the JUTP community as well. Back in the early days of the blog, Thomas was a frequent commenter and a longtime friend of the blog, eagerly offering his thoughts over coffee at Dunkin' Donuts (and it was always Dunkin' Donuts).<br />
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From 1980s punk rock to obscure science fiction to Linux to the arcana of Montgomery County, Thomas always had a good anecdote to share and an eagerness to find solutions. According to <a href="http://www.thomashardman.com/">his personal website</a>, he received a patent in 2008 for an "invention in the field of computing and dataprocessing."<br />
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When Montgomery County Councilmember Marilyn Praisner passed away in 2008, Thomas ran in the Republican primary in the special election to fill her seat. He lost the primary, and Marilyn's husband Don Praisner ultimately won. When he passed away the following year, Thomas ran again and lost. "I was the most unpopular Republican in Montgomery County and I took that as a clue," he joked in a <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/04/thomas-hardman-out-from-behind-screen.html">2009 interview</a>.<br />
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In recent years, Thomas moderated a <a href="http://www.aspenhillnet.net/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page">wiki page about Aspen Hill</a>, and several Facebook pages about Montgomery County history and news. He strongly believed in the power of the Internet to share ideas, and did not suffer fools. “I know I can be a little trollish,” he told me, again in 2009. “I don't want to come off as annoying as Robin Ficker, but I think that would take a God-given gift I don't possess. I try to be thoroughly knowledgable and a little annoying. If I were young it would come off as 'edgy,' but at my age, I guess it seems curmudgeonly.”<br />
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To be honest, I don't know much about Thomas after that. He moved to West Virginia, then returned to the county, but by then we fell out of touch. I'll always remember him as someone who wasn't afraid to speak his mind and encouraged me to do the same.<br />
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I'll update this space with any information about funeral arrangements. In the meantime, I'll be keeping him and his family in my thoughts.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-82483714778284020832020-06-05T12:43:00.002-04:002020-06-05T13:10:57.076-04:00montgomery county could loosen up single-family zoning in silver spring, sort of<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Downtown Silver Spring is one of the region’s youngest and most diverse neighborhoods, but rising home prices could make that a thing of the past. To address that, Montgomery County will look at ways to loosen up single-family zoning in the area.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49968503867/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="fourplexes on nolte avenue"><img alt="fourplexes on nolte avenue" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49968503867_65aeca8f7b.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fourplexes in Silver Spring. Montgomery County could allow more of this to be built. Image by the author.</td></tr>
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After a public hearing Thursday, the Planning Board voted 4-0 to expand the boundaries of the <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/area-1/silver-spring/silver-spring-downtown-plan/">Silver Spring Downtown Plan</a>, a 20-year vision for the area that will cover everything from parks to streets to zoning. It'll allow planners to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/76723/montgomery-county-weighs-its-zoning-options-to-tackle-a-growing-population-and-a-housing-shortage">legalize “missing middle” homes</a>, like duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings, in areas where only single-family homes are allowed now.<br />
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"We have unrest in this country because we have people who are excluded from opportunities," said commissioner <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/72745/its-casey-anderson-and-partap-verma-for-montgomery-county-planning-board">Partap Verma</a>. "I grew up in missing middle housing, and if it wasn't for the opportunities that my immigrant parents had then, I wouldn't be here before you."<br />
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<strong>Downtown is back, but a victim of its own success</strong><br />
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Montgomery County <a href="http://www.montgomeryplanning.org/community/silverspring/maps/sscbd_existingzone.jpg">currently defines downtown Silver Spring</a> as an area bounded by 16th, Spring, Cedar, and Fenton streets, and Eastern Avenue. After <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/72300/these-1970s-plans-show-the-silver-spring-that-could-have-been">decades of decline and disinvestment</a>, downtown has bounced back in a big way, attracting new residents and businesses. It’s become a <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39188/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria">hub for the region’s Ethiopian community</a>, as well as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/04/19/washington-areas-hottest-new-beer-destination-is-downtown-silver-spring/">destination for beer lovers</a>. Silver Spring is also one of the few places in the United States <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html">where black and white boys do equally well as adults</a>.<br />
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Silver Spring has historically been an affordable area, but we <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/theres-a-plan-to-fix-the-dmvs-affordable-housing-crisis-but-a-key-players-not-on-board/2019/11/20/311ed7b8-0a2a-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html">have a regional housing shortage</a>, and there's a growing demand for close-in neighborhoods with transit. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71732/did-silver-spring-build-its-way-to-being-more-affordable-sort-of">Thousands of new apartments</a>, including apartments set aside for low-income households, have been built in recent years, but it's not enough. In the 20910 zip code, which contains downtown and surrounding areas, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/64106/nobody-wants-east-countys-big-houses-anymore-heres-how-we-can-fix-that">home values are now higher</a> than they were before the Great Recession.<br />
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Cross the downtown Silver Spring borders and you'll go from high-rise buildings to single-family homes on large lots. On many blocks, smaller homes are being torn down and replaced by new mansions that sell for over $1 million dollars.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49968238596/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="ritchie avenue mcmansion"><img alt="ritchie avenue mcmansion" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49968238596_3c0fa88d99.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Million-dollar houses like this one on Ritchie Avenue are an increasingly common sight around Silver Spring. Image by the author.</td></tr>
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At a March meeting, Planning Board commissioners agreed that the Silver Spring Downtown Plan should expand to capture areas within walking distance of, <a href="https://ggwash.org/tag/purple-line">the future Purple Line</a>, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/69628/brt-more-rapid-bus-service-comes-to-montgomery-county">Flash bus rapid transit line</a>. “I think we’re hypocrites,” said Vice Chair Natali Fani-Gonzalez. “We’re saying that we need more housing and more density near the Metro, but we’re not going to do the work. I’m not going to be the hypocrite.”<br />
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<strong>Where the new boundaries could go, and what could go in them</strong><br />
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Thursday, Montgomery County planners <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Silver-Spring_Boundary-Options-Staff-Report-2020-0528.pdf">presented three options for expanding the Silver Spring Downtown Plan area</a>. A fourth would basically leave everything alone and have the Planning Department look at expanding housing options countywide, but did not require them to do anything. All four board members present - chair Casey Anderson, Fani-Gonzalez, Verma, and Gerald Cichy - voted in favor of "Option D," which would push the boundaries out a few blocks near the future Purple Line and Flash BRT. A fifth board member, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/63576/montgomery-council-tina-patterson-dan-reed-planning-board">Tina Patterson</a>, left before voting.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzoJGeQi39BMJsBGjVZBEFDYh3V8CBcokbQ_RtrIxkXCaBuD8sYjfzrqMurTOkZsA_waljNXp5Y77GWmIiNDLTB2DMbK7GGzjNX8-Rjc6oWupq0FOFkA1YgUC2kyZQ6-aQRs0Tw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-06-05+at+12.38.54+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="511" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzoJGeQi39BMJsBGjVZBEFDYh3V8CBcokbQ_RtrIxkXCaBuD8sYjfzrqMurTOkZsA_waljNXp5Y77GWmIiNDLTB2DMbK7GGzjNX8-Rjc6oWupq0FOFkA1YgUC2kyZQ6-aQRs0Tw/s400/Screen+Shot+2020-06-05+at+12.38.54+PM.png" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The current boundaries of downtown Silver Spring (solid black line) and new boundaries as of Thursday (dotted orange line). <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Silver-Spring_Boundary-Options-Staff-Report-2020-0528.pdf#page=9">Click here for a larger version</a>. Image from the Montgomery County Planning Department.</span></td></tr>
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<br />This change doesn't guarantee that anything would happen. But it does allow the county to allow duplexes, townhomes, or apartments on blocks where only single-family homes are legal today. This year, both <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/76484/no-one-benefits-from-laws-that-restrict-middle-housing">Maryland</a> and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/75267/a-virginia-delegate-just-proposed-a-bill-that-would-ban-single-family-zoning">Virginia</a> discussed bills that would do this statewide, though neither passed.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49968238011/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="silver spring avenue triplex"><img alt="silver spring avenue triplex" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49968238011_f28673833b.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One neighbor called triplexes like this home on Silver Spring Avenue "conceptual and aspirational." Image by the author.</td></tr>
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You'll find a few missing middle homes around Silver Spring now, but they're rare <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/70232/washington-region-single-family-zoning-an-update">because of mid-20th-century zoning laws</a> designed to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/74995/gentle-density-can-save-our-neighborhoods">keep neighborhoods white and exclusive</a>. Many are hidden in plain sight because they're designed to look like single-family homes that just happen to have an extra front door. A few were built in the 1980s and later. These homes tend to be more affordable than other housing types: they take up less land, reducing costs; they use cheaper wood-frame construction instead of steel or concrete; and some are simply old.<br />
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<strong>People are big mad</strong><br />
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For decades, some Silver Spring neighbors have <a href="http://users.starpower.net/oshel/H09.htm">treated the downtown boundary like a wall</a>, holding back the world from their suburban-ish streets. In the 1960s, that meant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Central_Freeway_(Washington,_D.C.)">stopping a proposed highway</a>, but today they fight plans to build anything from <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/37994/as-silver-spring-urbanizes-neighbors-disagree-on-who-belongs-there">townhomes</a> to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66673/montgomery-county-rejects-affordable-housing-in-silver-spring-will-build-it-elsewhere">affordable housing for senior citizens</a>, arguing that they all belonged on the other side of Spring Street.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49968503277/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="house being demolished on silver spring avenue"><img alt="house being demolished on silver spring avenue" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49968503277_26df6b7f5f.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A home in East Silver Spring being demolished so it can be replaced by a mansion. Image by the author.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Downtown_SilverSpring_Correspondence.pdf">In letters to the Planning Board</a>, some Silver Spring neighbors claimed that shifting a line on a map would “destabilize” their community. “The changes that you are considering would increase this traffic, ruin the park like atmosphere of our beautiful oasis of a neighborhood and decrease property values,” wrote Chris Shlemon of Woodside Park.<br />
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Bethesda residents chimed in, fearing that their community was next. “This process if approved will set a precedent for potential annexation of large sections of nearby residential neighborhoods into master/sector plan areas,” wrote Melanie Rose White, chair of the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights. “This action regarding Silver Spring is of major concern to us.”<br />
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At Thursday's public hearing, residents invoked Rachel Carson, who helped start the environmental movement here in Silver Spring, as a reason to not build homes near public transit. Others echoed County Executive Marc Elrich, and said the <a href="http://www.theseventhstate.com/?p=12611">Planning Board shouldn't make decisions</a> until the Covid-19 pandemic is over. Some white neighbors listed the races and nationalities of their neighbors as a reason why their neighborhood didn't need more affordable homes.<br />
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<strong>A lot of people support this too</strong><br />
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Many residents wrote or spoke in support of the changes. (This is partially my fault, I encouraged my friends and neighbors to write in.) Seventeen Woodside Park residents signed a letter saying they don't agree with their neighbors who wrote in against it. Others talked about their struggles finding an affordable home here.<br />
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I've never provided testimony for the county planning board before. This is the kind of thing that people typically present when they do that, right? <a href="https://t.co/o8iB7v0RJF">pic.twitter.com/o8iB7v0RJF</a></div>
— Gray 'serial millennial myth debunker' Kimbrough (@graykimbrough) <a href="https://twitter.com/graykimbrough/status/1268530913232785410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“We are incredibly fortunate to live, work, and raise our children in Silver Spring,” wrote Jennifer Lancaster of East Silver Spring, “but living here shouldn’t have to be a matter of luck, or an opportunity reserved for those who can afford $600k townhomes and $1.3 million dollar mansions.”<br />
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Several people talked about friends and loved ones who got priced out of Silver Spring. “MoCo residents worry about whether they could ever afford a house in our area, will they be able to afford their rising rent, will they have to move to Prince George’s or Howard County and sacrifice their best life in Silver Spring for an affordable home elsewhere?” wrote Tino Fragale, <a href="https://everydaycanvassing.org/">a community organizer</a> who lives in Four Corners. “With this expansion, we can give so many folks the opportunity to live in the best city on earth.”<br />
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<strong>Now more than ever, we need an inclusive Silver Spring</strong><br />
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Work on the Silver Spring Downtown Plan will continue over the next two years. In the meantime, last week’s killing of George Floyd has caused people to pay attention to issues of racial inequality in our country, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77877/suburban-protestors-speak-out-against-police-brutality">and many are taking to the streets in protest</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/drlungamam/status/1267153615078199298">Housing policy is a big part of that</a>: it doesn’t just decide who lives where, but who can access education, health care, or economic opportunities. In Montgomery County, decisions about housing have intentionally excluded people, <a href="https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/how-would-kamala-harris-housing-proposal-affect-dc/15685">from 1930s redlining maps</a> and 1950s racial covenants that kept black families from buying homes in white neighborhoods, to 1970s zoning that <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/72300/these-1970s-plans-show-the-silver-spring-that-could-have-been">blocked low-income housing from certain areas</a>.<br />
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We have a chance to fix these mistakes in Silver Spring. Not everyone will agree with that, particularly those who’ve historically benefitted from them. But the Planning Board is taking some steps in the right direction.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-10038764335623419972020-06-02T10:46:00.001-04:002020-06-02T10:46:31.190-04:00across maryland and virginia, suburban protesters speak out against police brutality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
All over the United States, people have taken to the streets to protest police brutality against Black people after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis last week. Many of these demonstrations have taken place in center cities, including here in downtown DC. Yet suburban communities in Maryland and Virginia have stepped up as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghweJRmCWHjUKSLZYlOHuGTbPFd2-ZxXVT6JrX5oZ0yt3iGi0pSnXOT2VJ1AQPaqutLiq5TgtRb818nD0H1fvYD6f2gyxCmRLQ5wsTTmx-jASQylDIt54E2_XTpqKGxDx9_fBJRw/s1600/EZYF8qtWoAA2Tey.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghweJRmCWHjUKSLZYlOHuGTbPFd2-ZxXVT6JrX5oZ0yt3iGi0pSnXOT2VJ1AQPaqutLiq5TgtRb818nD0H1fvYD6f2gyxCmRLQ5wsTTmx-jASQylDIt54E2_XTpqKGxDx9_fBJRw/s400/EZYF8qtWoAA2Tey.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protesters kneel while blocking Germantown Road at a protest on Sunday. <a href="https://twitter.com/rachelvetica/status/1267206895246467074">Photo by Rachel Taylor</a>.</td></tr>
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Protests started in the DC area on Friday, after two days of rioting in Minneapolis following George Floyd’s death on May 27 (One officer has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867219130/george-floyd-independent-autopsy-homicide-by-asphyxia">charged</a> with third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with Floyd's death). Since then, there have been demonstrations around the White House every afternoon. The first suburban protest may have been Saturday evening in Manassas, a community in Prince William County with a large Latinx population, a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/12/26/167705271/debating-the-impact-of-an-immigration-crackdown">long history</a> of <a href="https://wtop.com/prince-william-county/2017/01/pr-william-co-seeks-tougher-immigration-enforcement/">harassing immigrants</a>, and a <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/immigrants-march-against-prince-william-county-policies/1885649/">history of protest</a>.<br />
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Manassas protesting for what is right a thread <a href="https://t.co/myMAFwDXV0">pic.twitter.com/myMAFwDXV0</a></div>
— Tony 🛸 (@tonyxd173) <a href="https://twitter.com/tonyxd173/status/1266914181250457602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Demonstrators blocked <a href="http://www.insidenova.com/photos-manassas-protest-over-the-death-of-george-floyd/collection_9ea94148-a362-11ea-abbb-ef73ed393886.html">Sudley Road</a>, a state highway lined with big-box stores and shopping centers. Tweets from the protest show a line of people in a standoff with police, peacefully holding posters. As in cities around the nation, police responded with violence. Twitter user Tony posted photos of police <a href="https://twitter.com/tonyxd173/status/1266914181250457602">tear-gassing</a> and shooting rubber bullets at the crowd.<br />
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Additional demonstrations followed on Sunday. In Germantown, protestors blocked <a href="http://twitter.com/rachelvetica/status/1267179559373455360">Germantown Road</a>, a six-lane highway like Sudley Road, <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/police-fire/protesters-gather-on-germantown-road-to-speak-out-about-death-of-man-in-minneapolis/">for several hours</a>. In Leesburg, there was a peaceful protest outside the Loudoun County <a href="http://www.loudountimes.com/news/big-crowd-turns-out-in-leesburg-for-peaceful-demonstration-protest/article_94cd36d0-a37a-11ea-ad7a-73f031161b00.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share">courthouse</a>, where a Confederate memorial remains standing. In Arlington, protesters kneeled in <a href="http://twitter.com/ARLnowDOTcom/status/1267174996729790478">Shirlington</a> before marching three miles to the <a href="http://twitter.com/srepetsk/status/1267202058752610308">Ballston</a> Metro station. And in Silver Spring, roughly 50 people held an <a href="http://twitter.com/MyLineIsRed/status/1267207085294522369">impromptu march</a> along Georgia Avenue, stopping in front of Woodside United Methodist Church to hold signs.<br />
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Peaceful protest going on near the Rio in Gaithersburg. So proud of everyone who is out here with us. Shake the suburbs tf up. <a href="https://t.co/quWf6JtKao">pic.twitter.com/quWf6JtKao</a></div>
— Chrissy 🌹 (@keepitchrissy1) <a href="https://twitter.com/keepitchrissy1/status/1267558004020445185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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At some protests, including Manassas and another one in <a href="http://twitter.com/algiers_diamond/status/1267297017220534272?s=21">Stafford County</a>, police openly antagonized peaceful demonstrators. But at other suburban events, police cooperated with protesters. In Germantown, police intervened only to keep protestors from walking down an on-ramp to I-270. A viral tweet from Curtis Kill shows Montgomery County police officers talking to demonstrators and even <a href="http://twitter.com/Agethoy/status/1267248979449913350">kneeling</a> with them.<br />
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On Monday, students held a protest in <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/students-join-current-protest-movement-with-a-rally-march-in-gaithersburg/">Gaithersburg</a>, led by Magruder High School student Nicole Badobre. When a white man attempted to disrupt the protest by yelling “All Lives Matter,” the crowd grew agitated, and police officers ushered the man <a href="http://twitter.com/CaitlynnPeetz14/status/1267530443685060609">away</a> to deescalate the situation. Bethesda Beat reporter Caitlynn Peetz captured a video of Badobre <a href="https://twitter.com/CaitlynnPeetz14/status/1267530443685060609">patiently explaining</a> to the man why he’s wrong.<br />
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<strong>Where we protest is the message</strong><br />
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While many Maryland and Virginia residents headed downtown to protest this week, others chose to stay closer to home. Some may have lacked access to transportation (especially as <a href="https://www.gwhatchet.com/2020/05/31/d-c-capital-bikeshare-stations-go-offline-before-third-night-of-citywide-protests/#:~:text=Capital%20Bikeshare%20provides%20more%20than,night%20of%20protests%20in%20D.C.">Capital Bikeshare</a> and <a href="https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Metrorail-and-Metrobus-service-adjustments-Monday-June-1.cfm#:~:text=In%20the%20interest%20of%20public,hours%20early%2C%20at%209%20p.m.">Metro shut down service</a>) and others wanted to send a message to local leaders. A Twitter post shows <a href="https://twitter.com/dcteensaction/status/1267298678848585733">additional protests planned in Montgomery County this week</a>, including in Bethesda on Tuesday and Rockville on Friday.<br />
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“This is not ‘urban’ unrest,” <a href="https://twitter.com/drlungamam/status/1267563201656500227">tweeted Willow Lung-Amam</a>, an urban planning professor at the University of Maryland. “Its unrest among Black people & communities that cut across city, suburban, & rural lines.”<br />
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One key difference with suburban protests is that students play a large role. In 2014, the Minority Scholars Project, a group of Montgomery County Public Schools students who advocate for racial equity, marched on the county <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2014/04/students-protest-mcps-achievement-gap.html">courthouse</a> in Rockville to protest the achievement gap. Following Donald Trump’s election in 2016, students at several Montgomery County high schools <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2016/11/student-protests-in-montgomery-county.html">walked out</a> of class, demonstrating (among other places) atop a parking garage at Wheaton Plaza. Students across the region <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-student-leaders-to-take-stage-at-march-for-our-lives-in-dc/">walked out</a> of class again in 2018 for the March for Our Lives against gun violence, which culminated in a rally at the US Capitol.<br />
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Another difference is where suburban protests occurred. Some communities like Leesburg have a historic public square that was designed for assembly and free speech. In the White Oak area of Montgomery County, people gathered to honor Black people <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/montgomery-council-member-wants-county-to-treat-racism-as-public-health-emergency/">killed</a> by police at a local park.<br />
But in newer places like Germantown and Manassas, protests happened on big roads that are designed for moving lots of cars but are the most prominent space in the community. The Gaithersburg protest happened at <a href="http://ggwash.org/view/32017/its-not-the-end-of-the-suburbs-but-a-transitionv">Rio and Crown</a>, two adjacent “town centers” with an artificial lake, restaurants, and new homes <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/construction-on-new-housing-in-crown-neighborhood-kicks-off/">selling</a> for upwards of $400,000. Rio and Crown are a popular hangout, and even though the streets and plazas there are privately owned, they effectively function as public spaces.<br />
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<strong>What happens next?</strong><br />
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The past two days of suburban protests have given thousands of people the chance to peacefully speak out against racism and police brutality. I can only hope that these will lead to meaningful change, at least at the local level. Already, Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando will introduce legislation declaring racism a <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/montgomery-council-member-wants-county-to-treat-racism-as-public-health-emergency/">“public health emergency”,</a> citing the pervasive impact of racism on everything from transportation to health care. Yet it’s unclear where we go next. Here in Montgomery County, residents are demanding reforms after police <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/i-dont-want-to-shoot-you-police-body-worn-video-camera-captures-fatal-encounter/2020/05/09/41b0c064-9193-11ea-9e23-6914ee410a5f_story.html">fatally shot</a> a Black man named Finan Berhe last month outside his home in White Oak.<br />
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Meanwhile, <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1267493722926825475">vandalism in Silver Spring</a> and <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/police-fire/looters-damage-businesses-in-friendship-heights-sunday-night">looting in Friendship Heights</a> have only put people more on edge. I’m proud of my suburban neighbors for stepping up this weekend. I just hope that we can <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1267195792265285632">keep it up</a>, peacefully, and actually push for meaningful change for people of color here and around the country.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-61552684796443179372020-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:002020-05-29T08:00:03.808-04:00this questionnaire shows MoCo school board candidates' commitment to equity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As we speak, voters in Montgomery County are receiving ballots for the June 2 primary, which includes a crowded and often nasty race for school board. To help voters learn about the candidates, a group of progressive organizations put together an "<a href="https://onemontgomery.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/boe-equity-questionnaire_final.pdf.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3-9YXIB_Pbr9u-4tMPGs9-CttJrMrXivZmQ8e8fIN_sA1E6sBVFoh2wkc">Equity Questionnaire</a>" on major issues affecting students.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKTxy1qgJJjEXm5U_75M8DmxonRIb8rqGxdjQtwVW95ITlnk4C961n5c-2CbaXlP6CGfAFC-RkUyu784jOE0FF90pMVrqLZ8M4FUsc7C0W_xyjntx8dVE_63QMEvvPL14nV1l1Cw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-05-19+at+3.16.56+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1305" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKTxy1qgJJjEXm5U_75M8DmxonRIb8rqGxdjQtwVW95ITlnk4C961n5c-2CbaXlP6CGfAFC-RkUyu784jOE0FF90pMVrqLZ8M4FUsc7C0W_xyjntx8dVE_63QMEvvPL14nV1l1Cw/s400/Screen+Shot+2020-05-19+at+3.16.56+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://onemontgomery.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/boe-equity-questionnaire_final.pdf.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3-9YXIB_Pbr9u-4tMPGs9-CttJrMrXivZmQ8e8fIN_sA1E6sBVFoh2wkc">Click to see the entire questionnaire</a>.</td></tr>
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Montgomery County Public Schools is the largest school system in Maryland, and its Board of Education is responsible for 165,000 students and a nearly $3 billion budget. It's a very diverse system and a fast-growing one, which raises questions about how MCPS should best use its resources.<br />
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While this year's school board race has largely revolved around a sometimes-controversial look at <a href="http://ggwash.org/view/77498/battle-over-school-boundaries-divide-candidates-for-montgoery-county-school-board">school boundaries</a>, there are other big questions, like whether MCPS should do more for <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-developing-first-of-its-kind-lgbtq-class/">LGBTQ students</a> or place <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/do-police-belong-in-schools-a-suburb-wrangles-with-how-to-keep-kids-safe/2020/02/21/f12abc72-4dee-11ea-b721-9f4cdc90bc1c_story.html">police officers</a> in schools.<br />
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There are also a lot of candidates in the primary, from which the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November. Thirteen people are running for the at-large seat, which is vacant.<br />
Incumbent board member Shebra Evans has two challengers in District 4, which covers Silver Spring and Wheaton, while fellow incumbent Rebecca Smondrowski has a challenger in District 2, which covers Gaithersburg and North Potomac. (Since there are only two candidates running in District 2, it won't appear on your primary ballot.)<br />
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To help voters understand the issues, over a dozen progressive organizations in the county teamed up to make <a href="https://onemontgomery.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/boe-equity-questionnaire_final.pdf.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3-9YXIB_Pbr9u-4tMPGs9-CttJrMrXivZmQ8e8fIN_sA1E6sBVFoh2wkc">the "Equity Questionnaire,"</a> which asks candidates about everything from school boundaries to teacher hiring. Those organizations, which include SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice), Impact Silver Spring, the LGBTQ Democrats of Montgomery County, Jews United for Justice, and One Montgomery, aren't making any endorsements but share a commitment to social justice. There's a chart showing the candidates' answers to 12 yes/no questions, followed by more in-depth answers on specific topics.<br />
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This questionnaire only reflects the candidates' answers, which don't always line up with answers they gave to other organizations or public statements they've made. If you're really interested in digging into this race, you can also check out the <a href="https://www.vote411.org/maryland">League of Women Voters' voter guide</a>, which includes all of the Montgomery County school board candidates.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-89933798188625437122020-05-08T11:08:00.002-04:002020-05-08T12:14:56.710-04:00battles over school boundaries divide candidates for montgomery county school board<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Most years, school board races in Montgomery County can be pretty quiet. This spring, a study about school boundaries in this affluent yet diverse county have made the Board of Education election an explosive debate about race and class in public schools. It may be the most important race on the ballot.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/10679845485/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3iNiidIgSPp_knqz3f7UfuL3Jm0JRjnwTMzjCatUPOuZQtaJKdSswkDSnzPHu30DD7YjJg1xosHZg-okPk53Vefwzdo46V_9AeJ5OtoYmgP8T63OuDVGbFGDO-weRT8d2oJxrQ/s400/paint+branch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Students outside Paint Branch High School in 2013. All photos by the author.</td></tr>
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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) comprise a very diverse school system: 72% of MCPS students are non-white, and the system has more students on free or reduced lunch than DC Public Schools has students. It is also growing rapidly. Although it is already the largest school system in Maryland and serves over 165,000 students, more than 2,000 additional students have enrolled each year for the last several years.<br />
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The Montgomery County Board of Education oversees MCPS and its nearly $3 billion budget. Eight of its board members are elected in something like a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpartisan_blanket_primary"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">jungle primary</span></a>: anyone from any political party can run, and the top two vote-getters in the June 2 primary will go to the general election in November. There are three seats up for grabs, one at-large seat and two district seats, which everyone votes for regardless of where they live. Meanwhile, middle and high school students nominate and elect a student as the ninth <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Montgomery_County_Public_Schools,_Maryland,_elections_(2020)"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">member</span></a>, which <a href="https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/student-leadership/smob/election-process.aspx"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">they’ll vote for</span></a> on May 20.
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<b>We’re talking about school boundaries</b>
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School board members in Montgomery County are considered part-time, and receive a very small salary to make decisions from the converted auditorium of what was the county’s <a href="https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/carver/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">black high school</span></a> in the 1950s. But they have a lot of power. In 2018, student board member Ananya Tadikonda proposed that the school board look at <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/school-district-to-conduct-countywide-boundary-study/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">school boundaries</span></a>, which in some areas haven’t changed in 30 years. The school board hired a consultant, <a href="https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/boundary-analysis/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">and their research </span></a>— which began last fall — affirmed things that many parents or students already knew or assumed:<br />
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<li>Schools have become segregated by class and race, with most white, Asian, and higher-income students clustered on the western side of the county, and most black, Latinx, and lower-income students clustered on the east side and in the Upcounty. Montgomery County’s Office of Legislative Oversight has done <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/34388/segregation-is-causing-montgomery-county-schools-achievement-gap-but-josh-starr-wont-admit-it"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">multiple studies</span></a> finding this is hurting <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-segregation-exacerbates-student-achievement-disparities-report-says/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">student performance</span></a>.</li>
<li>There are many overcrowded schools, with nearly 10,000 students attending classes in trailers, while schools that are underused have a total of about 10,000 empty seats.</li>
<li>Some 40% of students going to their assigned school (not counting students who are in magnet or special programs) don’t go to the school closest to their house.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-dgarrOqhB-yH3gyeY0vS7DVZCyJVLZhi063n45D1MmLX-e2vjhsIzLKN5xNTR9smpc7QMREQMlnd259Ud57MoyyRBskIZZtnlW3bTbkT-05_EfNo6ThFvt5myG_nSV_Ox_pdw/s1600/boundaries_map_5.8_800_575_90.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="800" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-dgarrOqhB-yH3gyeY0vS7DVZCyJVLZhi063n45D1MmLX-e2vjhsIzLKN5xNTR9smpc7QMREQMlnd259Ud57MoyyRBskIZZtnlW3bTbkT-05_EfNo6ThFvt5myG_nSV_Ox_pdw/s400/boundaries_map_5.8_800_575_90.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <a href="https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/publicinfo/Boundary_Analysis/interim-report/MCPS_InterimReport_Full.pdf">boundary analysis</a> found that students on free and reduced lunch (FARMS) are clustered in East County and the Upcounty. Image from WXY Architecture + Urban Design.</td></tr>
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Looking at school boundaries could address each of these issues, by reducing segregation, making better use of empty space, and even allowing students to attend schools closer to home. School officials have repeatedly said they’re years away from actually making any changes, and asked the consultants to not give any specific recommendations for boundary changes.<br />
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But parents on the county’s affluent west side, fearing that they would lose access to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">high-ranked schools</span></a> that command very high home prices, began organizing to stop the boundary analysis. They were joined by a group of parents from a <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1219640817213693953?s=20"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">newly-built </span></a>neighborhood in Clarksburg who are <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/upcounty-boundary-appeal"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">suing</span></a> the Board of Education for a previous decision to send their kids to a <a href="https://onemoco.org/a-parents-perspective-on-the-upcounty-boundary-changes/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">different, and lower-ranked</span></a>, high school.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>People are big mad</b><br />
<br />
In a nutshell, here is what happened next: in December, parents at a<a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/this-is-just-people-screaming-tension-boils-over-at-school-boundaries-meeting/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;"> community meeting in Rockville</span></a> heckled a presenter to the <a href="https://www.mymcmedia.org/boundary-study-meeting-gets-heated/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">point of tears</span></a>. The following month, convicted felon Paul Manafort’s spokesperson (who lives in Chevy Chase) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1215314193118789633?s=20"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">accused</span></a> the school board of lacking integrity. There were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-boundary-questions-touch-off-debates-about-race-income-equity/2019/07/07/f5ee422a-9cdb-11e9-9ed4-c9089972ad5a_story.html"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">more meetings</span></a>, more yelling, hundreds of <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/hundreds-of-public-comments-about-school-boundary-review-in-montgomery-county-released/2196633/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">angry letters</span></a>, and another lawsuit.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
“Diversity may not be important to you, but it’s important to your kids that they experience this.” <a href="https://twitter.com/xanushax?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@xanushax</a>, a 2019 MCPS grad, got more boos for saying this <a href="https://t.co/VaPtqjUe74">pic.twitter.com/VaPtqjUe74</a></div>
— dan reed, dad jokes/antiracism 2020 (@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1204935182777761793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
PTA listservs (which are supposed to be nonpartisan) began urging their members to vote for certain candidates. Homeowners’ associations in Potomac sent out mass emails claiming MCPS would implement “<a href="https://mailchi.mp/1a0fe225be66/speak-out-on-redistricting-6110897?e=3e443f01fc"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">cross-county busing</span></a>”, while a North Bethesda real estate agent held “<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boundary-analysis-development-impact-seminar-tickets-98267838751"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">boundary analysis workshops</span></a>” to counsel homeowners about whether they should sell. Private schools ran Facebook ads targeting parents worried about redistricting.
As students from across the county <a href="https://wamu.org/story/19/04/02/how-students-in-montgomery-county-are-leading-the-push-for-school-redistricting/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">organized</span></a> to support school redistricting, the same parents who said they were doing this “for the kids” <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1204935182777761793?s=20"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">heckled</span></a> and <a href="https://onemoco.org/stop-attacking-students-who-speak-out-for-equity/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">attacked</span></a> them. That’s when the school board race exploded.<br />
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<b>Okay, back to school board</b><br />
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There are two district seats and one at-large seat up for election this year. Incumbent school board member Rebecca Smondrowski (District 2, Gaithersburg) has just one opponent, so she’ll sit tight until November. Fellow incumbent Shebra Evans (District 4, Wheaton and Silver Spring) has two opponents, including former sports radio host <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/17/after-layoffs-hit-team-980-steve-solomon-launched-podcast/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Steve “Solly” Solomon</span></a> of Wheaton.<br />
<span class="s1" style="color: black;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbikC77QXUEPp77smXNL9e6FBk2uxrWlIZGiQu6aZocEDUovHpQozGa20duKEcCyMcfe4i_lmGBxXVme94xjHDL9mdIMVaIBJ9F0LnCi0mCBwevL5_OVDixn4eVb9LFTYHqo6rzQ/s1600/Stephen+Austin+Sign+Outside+Whitman+HS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbikC77QXUEPp77smXNL9e6FBk2uxrWlIZGiQu6aZocEDUovHpQozGa20duKEcCyMcfe4i_lmGBxXVme94xjHDL9mdIMVaIBJ9F0LnCi0mCBwevL5_OVDixn4eVb9LFTYHqo6rzQ/s400/Stephen+Austin+Sign+Outside+Whitman+HS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A sign for Stephen Austin outside Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, which is in the process of getting a $24 million addition.</td></tr>
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The at-large seat is the most competitive and high-profile race, as former principal Jeanette Dixon is stepping down <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/41208/why-montgomery-county-school-board-is-the-race-to-watch-in-2016"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">after one term</span></a>. There are 13 people running for her seat. Most of them are running against the school boundary analysis, but these are the two most prominent opponents:<br />
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<span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://stephenaustin4boe.com/">Stephen Austin</a></span> of Bethesda works in finance and started a Facebook group to organize opposition to the analysis. His slogans are “Neighborhood Schools” and “Great Local Schools For All.” While this might sound harmless, these slogans have a long history of racist ties, as they were used by <a href="https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/the-origins-of-antibusing-politics-new-york-city-protests-and-revision-of-the-civil-rights-act"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">some white parents</span></a> to protest school integration in the 1960s. His campaign has other troubling connections: he received $3,000 from an <a href="https://bettermontgomery.us/current-local-elections/boe/endorsements"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">organization founded</span></a> by <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/conservative-chinese-americans-are-mobilizing-politically-and-digitally"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Zhenya Li</span></a>, who fights local pro-immigrant laws, and he’s <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/msolmnn/status/1256634819603247105"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">donated money</span></a> to an anti-school redistricting lawsuit brought by a lawyer who spent over a decade fighting the inclusion of <a href="https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/05/01/opinion-fomenting-fear-and-division-in-montgomery-county/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">LGBTQ curriculum</span></a> in Montgomery County schools. In recent weeks, his campaign has illegally placed hundreds of signs on public roads and at parks and schools.<br />
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<span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://www.jayguan4boe.com/">Jay Guan </a></span>of Clarksburg is an engineer and advocate for the Chinese-American community whose platform includes preparing students for changes in technology and better engagement for immigrant families. His slogan is “Community Schools,” which is a real program in Maryland where schools <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/08/01/states-lead-the-way-on-community-school-innovation/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">partner with social services organizations</span></a>, but he’s also <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BJ3T3P6FF963/$file/Jay%20Guan.pdf"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">repeatedly spoken out</span></a> against changing school boundaries, which still sounds a lot like “Neighborhood Schools”. He’s been endorsed by state delegate <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/67844/our-endorsements-for-state-legislature-in-montgomery-county"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Lily Qi</span></a> and former school board member Michael Durso.<br />
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There are three candidates running on what you could call “pro-equity” platforms, and support the school boundary analysis.<br />
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<span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://www.sunildasgupta.com/about-sunil.html">Sunil Dasgupta</a></span> of Rockville is a political science professor at UMBC and former PTA president who emphasizes student mental health and reducing class sizes, and wrote a <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/general-news/schools/new-boundary-change-coalition-emerging-montgomery-county/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">seven-part series</span></a> looking at the politics of school boundaries. Dasgupta has <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vnqg5cY7OkYlC45AhFqFHzwTATtwayDbFbNVQ2Plz7c/edit#gid=1318350741"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">endorsements</span></a> from the teachers’ union, Progressive Maryland, and SEIU Local 500, county councilmembers Sidney Katz and Hans Riemer, and YIMBY MoCo.<br />
<br />
<span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://www.lynne4students.org/">Lynne Harris</a></span> of Silver Spring is a teacher at Edison High School, a longtime PTA parent, and former president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs whose platform includes increasing access to advanced classes for students of color. Harris has <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vnqg5cY7OkYlC45AhFqFHzwTATtwayDbFbNVQ2Plz7c/edit#gid=1318350741"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">support </span></a>from County Executive Marc Elrich and councilmembers Evan Glass and Gabe Albornoz, Ananya Tadikonda, the former student school board member, and YIMBY MoCo.<br />
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<span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="http://dalbinosorio.com/">Dalbin Osorio</a></span> of Gaithersburg is a former teacher and wants to make the curriculum more reflective of students’ diverse backgrounds. His<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vnqg5cY7OkYlC45AhFqFHzwTATtwayDbFbNVQ2Plz7c/edit#gid=1318350741"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;"> sole endorsement</span></a> is from Run For Something, a group that endorses young progressive candidates.
Guan and Austin <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/guan-austin-lead-fundraising-for-montgomery-at-large-school-board-race/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">have each raised the most money</span></a>, followed by Dasgupta, but their donors come from different areas.<br />
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Recent MCPS grad and GGWash contributor Brian Kramer looked at several candidates’ finance reports and found that <a href="https://twitter.com/brianrkramer/status/1255520017178865664"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Guan’s</span></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/brianrkramer/status/1255173470541025281"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Austin’s</span></a> donors are clustered in Bethesda and Potomac, home to the county’s highest-ranked and most racially segregated schools. <a href="https://twitter.com/brianrkramer/status/1255631134152589315"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Dasgupta’s</span></a> are spread more evenly throughout the county, while <a href="https://twitter.com/brianrkramer/status/1256597314426343424"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">Harris’s</span></a> donors are primarily around Silver Spring.<br />
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<b>You have a stake in this, whether or not you have kids</b><br />
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I don't have kids. But I did graduate from MCPS in 2005, and I went to diverse schools that exposed me to kids from all different backgrounds and walks of life. Those experiences made me who I am today, but I didn’t really follow school issues until 2013, when my brother entered high school and I realized that the experiences I had didn’t happen by accident. Diverse schools, and diverse communities, are something you have to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/opinion/linda-brown-school-integration.html"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">maintain and nurture</span></a>.
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<br />
That year, a group of parents, teachers, students, and community members like myself started a group called <a href="http://www.onemoco.org/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">One Montgomery</span></a>. We hustled to raise awareness about the impacts of <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/31601/de-facto-segregation-threatens-montgomery-public-schools"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">segregation on our schools</span></a>, even as <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/34388/segregation-is-causing-montgomery-county-schools-achievement-gap-but-josh-starr-wont-admit-it"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">MCPS denied</span></a> it was even happening.
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<br />
Today, people seem to get it, if only because the disparities have become so stark. In diverse neighborhoods, schools are <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1125853490255937536?s=20"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">falling apart </span></a>due to deferred maintenance or <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/springbrook-parents-concerned-about-losing-music-instructor/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">losing teachers</span></a> due to under-enrollment, even though their students have greater needs and fewer resources than ever. Meanwhile, we’re spending millions on <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/planning-board-gives-green-light-to-whitman-addition/"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">massive additions </span></a>for schools that virtually no black or poor students attend, while students do ignorant, racist stuff like <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/students-allegedly-caught-exchanging-n-word-passes-at-md-school"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">this</span></a> or <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/students-sing-racist-song-on-montgomery-county-school-bus-video-goes-viral"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">this</span></a> or <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/racist-graffiti-found-at-walt-whitman-hs/65-ccf9f103-f5f9-412e-b302-0ad43ff293d4"><span class="s3" style="color: #dca10d;">this</span></a>. Not only is this a colossal waste of our tax dollars, but it makes our community a worse place to live.
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<br />
The <a href="http://montgomery%20county%20board%20of%20education%20at-large/">primary</a> election for the Montgomery County Board of Election will be June 2, 2020.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-9375228986642893032020-05-06T14:00:00.000-04:002020-05-06T14:00:04.911-04:00guest post: a silver spring's trip through (an article about) greenwich forest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Andrew Lindemann Malone is one of the OG Silver Spring bloggers. He grew up here, and as early as 2003 was <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2011/08/blast-from-past-before-it-was-silver.html">writing about the then-early stages of downtown's revitalization</a>. Today, he still lives here and offers this live reading of the Washington Post real estate section, known for its over-the-top profiles of the area's bougiest neighborhoods:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVAe9N4j1WJFYC9d5rGjieBbV60Z0cMaVE5nOK5X1mC69qB30jh5XIccthx6o7mpEoau5H2CVF5pzMcy25_Sz1sRdaFlrM2IGnbEpKtXa9aPN7c3WxN1A8yBmmAj0JU06TfNqQA/s1600/EV5hWtXWsAEtJNb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="651" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVAe9N4j1WJFYC9d5rGjieBbV60Z0cMaVE5nOK5X1mC69qB30jh5XIccthx6o7mpEoau5H2CVF5pzMcy25_Sz1sRdaFlrM2IGnbEpKtXa9aPN7c3WxN1A8yBmmAj0JU06TfNqQA/s400/EV5hWtXWsAEtJNb.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from the Washington Post I <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1251544791768317955">tweeted the other week</a> -ed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For wanna-be urbanists such as myself, the r<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/in-bethesda-a-small-enclave-holds-back-the-mcmansions/2020/04/15/96d7e608-7a96-11ea-b6ff-597f170df8f8_story.html?arc404=true">ecent Post real estate section article about Greenwich Forest</a>, a neighborhood in Bethesda, is structured like a horror movie: You read through it and everything sounds creepy in a normal Bethesda way, but a shocking twist at the end upends your assumptions about the narrative. So to make fun of the article properly, I am going to quote the end part first.
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<i>Living there: The neighborhood is bounded by Huntington Parkway on the north, Overhill Road and Moorland Lane on the east, Wilson Lane on the south, and Hampden Lane on the west.
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<i>There are two listings on the market: a four-bedroom, six-bathroom house for $3.6 million and a six-bedroom, six-bathroom house at $2.7 million.
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<i>Last year, the average price of homes sold was just under $1.3 million. The lowest-priced was a four-bedroom, four-bathroom house that sold for $825,000. The highest-priced was a five-bedroom, five-bathroom house that sold for $2.4 million.
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Ah, Bethesda real estate, full of large numbers. But nothing surprising here.
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<i>Schools: Bradley Hills Elementary, Thomas W. Pyle Middle School and Walt Whitman High School.
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<i>Transit: Greenwich Forest is served by several bus routes and is about a mile from the Bethesda Metro station on the Red Line. The nearest main thoroughfares are Old Georgetown Road and Bradley Boulevard.
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Wow, so this neighborhood is single-family homes and so close to transit? I hope they are tightly packed to maximize use of our precious existing infrastructure.
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Now, back to the beginning of the article:
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<i>At a time when many older homes in Montgomery County are being torn down and replaced by behemoth beacons of modernity, Greenwich Forest stands in stark contrast to the McMansionization of neighborhoods that surround it.
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<i>This small Bethesda enclave, composed of 94 houses, takes pride in its historic homes hidden among large oak trees.
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<i>These houses are not shacks. They sell for high prices and seldom go on the market. But the value of these homes is more than their square footage.
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Yes! It’s the land! They’re going to talk about how to maximize this precious resource of land close to the Metro station and almost adjacent to the J2 bus! Or…
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<i>“When I saw Greenwich Forest, I was just taken with how charming it is,” said Christine Parker, a longtime resident who wrote a book on the history of the neighborhood. “I have more of a European sort of taste. I’m not someone who likes things big.”
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I am sure all the four-bedroom, four-bathroom single-family houses are somehow not big, just like all the similar single-family houses that you can find in Europe, located a mile from heavy rail.
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<i>When the teardown, build-over mentality threatened to turn the neighborhood’s Colonial and Tudor Revivals into oversized villas and modern boxes, the neighborhood sprang into action. The Greenwich Forest Citizens Association applied for a historic designation for the original lots in 2011. […]
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<i><br /></i>
<i>Now Greenwich Forest, first imagined by the builder and developer Morris Cafritz and architects Alvin A. Aubinoe and Harry L. Edwards, and built between 1926 and 1949, is protected by Montgomery County’s Planning Department and Maryland’s Historic Trust.
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Such a Bethesda move to successfully petition the government to enshrine your aesthetic preferences in law when they are threatened by outsiders.
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<i>There are no sidewalks here. Wide roads curve gently around the U-shaped perimeter of the neighborhood, and people often stroll the sloping streets.</i><br />
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<i>“You walk around, it still looks like you’re in the 1930s or ’40s,” [David] Schindel [,former president of the Greenwich Forest Citizens Association], said.
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An idyllic time in our nation’s history for those people who were white and had money! More on this topic later.
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<i>Since the designation was granted, the drama over the neighborhood’s future has subsided.
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<i>“It’s been pretty quiet here, but that’s why people move to the forest, right?” Schindel said.
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You live a half-mile from Old Georgetown Road. That’s not the forest. You live in an urban neighborhood with a lot of trees.
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<i>Greenwich Forest’s quaint setting is in contrast with its darker history. When the neighborhood was first marketed, the advertisements made clear not everyone was welcome, particularly African Americans. […]
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<i>“Sadly, restrictions by race and ethnicity through deed covenants were common in early 20th-century subdivisions,” said Kelly.
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That’s awkward! Good thing we eliminated de jure segregation, which ensured the end of de facto segregation as well, right?
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<i>Even though Greenwich Forest now welcomes anyone who can afford to live here, its demographics haven’t changed much.
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<i>“We don’t have any African American owners,” Schindel said, adding the neighborhood attracts an international community.
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So, I must acknowledge that it is impossible to tell from the article in what tone these remarks were made, and perhaps it was the reporter’s fault that Schindel appears to be contrasting African Americans with “an international community.” Nevertheless: OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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<i>Greenwich Forest is an enclave for people who like historic houses and nature.
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And who have boatloads of money and don’t mind not living near any black people.
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<i>“You don’t really need a huge house to be happy,” Parker said. “Better to have a place that has charm and is respectful of the Earth.”
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I have never visited Greenwich Forest, so perhaps it is indeed charming. But here “it has a bunch of trees I like” is being confused with being respectful of the Earth overall. Rather than plopping single family houses down on huge lots near downtown Bethesda, thus forcing thousands of workers to drive ‘til they qualify, fouling the air and adding carbon dioxide to the upper atmosphere, we could raze this subdivision, pop in some damn sidewalks, and build garden apartments three stories high around the trees, creating attractive workforce housing that would result in many fewer car trips overall.
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So here you have a neighborhood that was segregated at its creation and has preserved not only its layout and architecture but also its segregation to the present day; a neighborhood composed almost exclusively of million-dollar homes that its residents claim are modest somehow; a neighborhood designed for the emissions-belching automobile that purports to be environmentally friendly; a neighborhood where it would literally be illegal to knock down a house on an enormous lot and, I don’t know, build two houses, not just because of the zoning but also because the Montgomery County Council has determined that it would transgress our collective cultural heritage to do so.
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In other words, Greenwich Forest is peak Bethesda.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-25272620633107284372020-04-17T12:00:00.000-04:002020-04-17T12:00:15.132-04:00so, what am I up to right now? a summary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Almost every day, my partner and I go for a long walk in Sligo Creek Park, which is three blocks from our new house. It's a nice routine during a time when we can't do most normal things. I especially enjoy walking on Sligo Creek Parkway itself, which is one of several streets <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2020/04/montgomery-co-to-open-additional-section-of-sligo-creek-parkway-for-recreational-purposes/">Montgomery County has closed to car traffic</a> during the Covid-19 pandemic to give people space to exercise.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49749850263/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="bikes and family in the sand"><img alt="bikes and family in the sand" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49749850263_299d102cf2.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying Sligo Creek Park while the parkway is closed to traffic. All photos by the author.</td></tr>
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Of course, while we're supposed to be keeping our distance from people, we run into a lot of friends and neighbors. Last week, a longtime reader asked me, "Why haven't you been writing? I haven't seen anything from you in a while." So, I figured it was worth sharing a few things I've been up to:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>We moved back to Silver Spring in November, and just as I took six months to write about how <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/06/we-moved-to-rockville-pike-and-if-youre.html">we moved to North Bethesda</a> last year, I'm gonna take six months to write about that. My partner and I bought a house! While we feel immensely lucky - especially now that we're stuck in the house all the time - the whole experience of finding a place to live reminded us of the need to change the way we talk about housing here, and the desperate need to <a href="https://www.npr.org/local/305/2020/01/13/795427706/why-the-housing-crisis-is-a-problem-for-everyone-even-wealthy-homeowners">address our regional housing shortage</a>.</li>
<li>During the winter, I worked with the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/maryland">Sierra Club's Maryland chapter</a> to produce a series of posts about how to fix Maryland's traffic and housing issues, which you can find on Greater Greater Washington. Here's one looking at <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/75948/maryland-cant-afford-the-costs-of-building-more-highways">the costs of building more highways</a>, things we can do <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/76978/transportation-alternatives-to-building-more-highways">instead of building more highways</a>, and why <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/77069/how-addressing-housing-issues-can-decrease-congestion-on-local-roads">we need to look at our housing policies as a traffic solution</a>.</li>
<li>I worked with housing advocates from across Maryland to help Delegate Vaughn Stewart craft the <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/76484/no-one-benefits-from-laws-that-restrict-middle-housing">Modest Home Choices Act</a>, which would have created more housing options, and affordable housing options, in Maryland's most jobs-rich and transit-rich communities. While it didn't pass, the resulting <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/76702/two-of-three-bills-that-could-assage-the-housing-crisis-in-maryland-inch-closer-to-becoming-law">Planning for Modest Homes Act</a> will go a long way to addressing our region's rising cost of living.</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49749861338/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="walking the dog on empty georgia avenue"><img alt="walking the dog on empty georgia avenue" height="375" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49749861338_1859c938c5.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking the dog on an empty Georgia Avenue after Maryland's stay-at-home order took effect.</td></tr>
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I'm also keeping a close eye on several efforts that will have a big impact on Montgomery County, and East County, in the coming months. One is Montgomery County Public Schools' <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking.html">ongoing school boundary analysis</a>, which is on hold for now. Another is the Planning Department's <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/area-1/silver-spring/silver-spring-downtown-plan/">new Silver Spring Downtown Plan</a>, which will look at how downtown Silver Spring should grow or change in the next few decades, and will begin work this summer.</div>
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The third is <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/master-plan-list/general-plans/thrive-montgomery-2050/">Thrive Montgomery 2050</a>, which is an update of the county's General Plan, a broad vision for how all of Montgomery County should look in the future. Right now, county planners are drafting goals for the plan. I'm part of a grassroots group called <a href="https://www.smartergrowth.net/maryland/montgomery-county/montgomery-general-plan/">Montgomery for All</a>, which wants the plan to focus on social equity, affordable housing, and green transportation. <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/item10_Attachment-2-Vision-and-Goals-for-PB-on-4-16-20-final.pdf">After reading the Thrive draft goals</a>, I sent in my thoughts to the Planning Board, which are below. You can also write the Planning Board <a href="https://montgomeryplanningboard.org/">through their website</a>.</div>
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<i>Dear Chair Anderson and members of the Montgomery County Planning Board,
</i><br />
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<i>Thank you for taking the time to read my comments today! My name is Dan Reed, I grew up in Montgomery County, and my partner and I live in Silver Spring. I’m also a part of Montgomery for All, a grassroots organization that’s advocating for a General Plan that paves the way for a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future.
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<i>I’m writing in support of the draft vision and goals for the Thrive Montgomery 2050 plan, with some suggestions. When I first read the original On Wedges and Corridors plan, I was inspired by how ambitious this original vision was, and the many ways it both predicted and shaped Montgomery County’s evolution over the past 50 years. The draft vision and goals will help us do it again, with some adjustments:</i><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i>We need transportation that isn’t just “multimodal,” but commit to creating streets where walking, biking, and public transit - and the comfort and safety of people using those travel modes - have priority. If we can say that every resident lives within a 15-minute walk of a park, why not apply that standard to transit service, or access to daily needs?</i></li>
<li><i>We need to address the deep systemic inequity that exists in Montgomery County. Equal treatment doesn’t mean equal outcomes, particularly for historically oppressed communities. We need to focus on measuring outcomes - and addressing the policies that create inequity. One big example is single-family zoning, which was created to keep neighborhoods white and affluent, while excluding everyone who isn’t either of those things.</i></li>
<li><i>We need to plan for diverse communities and diverse activities. Montgomery County used to be a bedroom community, but today it’s a place where people come to start businesses, to organize, to create, to perform, and to celebrate. We need public and private spaces that support the wide range of activities that make life great, and a planning process that encourages people to contribute to this place, instead of putting up barriers.</i></li>
<li><i>We need to solve our historic housing shortage. Years of underbuilding pushes up home prices, causes displacement, creates traffic jams, and hurts our economy. The future of our county depends on having more homes, more diverse kinds of homes for our diverse society, and more homes that working people can afford to buy or rent.</i></li>
<li><i>We need an inclusive decision-making process. Today, it can be challenging to participate in conversations around planning, in part because meetings are at places and times where many people can’t attend in person. This means the county may only hear from people with lots of time or money - which often means affluent, older, white homeowners.</i></li>
</ul>
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<i>I also want to address the county executive’s recent comments that the <a href="http://www.theseventhstate.com/?p=12611">Planning Board not do “controversial” things</a> during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s likely that a lot of the ideas in Thrive 2050 will be controversial, not to mention some of the things I’ve suggested. I hope the Planning Board will move forward with this plan, while seizing every opportunity to engage the public about them. This is a great time to try new and unorthodox modes of communication, and it’s likely to engage people who haven’t participated in traditional methods. It would be a shame if we put aside these ambitious plans, or talking about them, because a small group of people viewed them as threatening.
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<i>I love this county, and I chose to move back here as an adult despite the high cost of living because it’s a good place to live and because my family and friends are here. I’m planning a future here, and I hope this county will plan for a future that includes me and people like me. I’m confident these suggestions will help us do that.
</i><br />
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As always, you can find the latest local news on the Just Up The Pike <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justupthepike/">Facebook page</a>, and keep up with whatever I'm doing on <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike">Twitter</a>. So long as we're all stuck in the house, I'm excited to get some new posts on here soon.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-45180534298960988442020-01-23T11:34:00.001-05:002020-01-23T11:34:13.785-05:00here's a list of all the bike projects coming to silver spring<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Silver Spring has seen a big expansion of bike lanes in recent years, but it may only be the beginning. This week, transportation officials gave an update on several new projects in downtown Silver Spring that could make it safer to bike and walk in the area.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-TGfWOnIn4-ULHWqCQbjmBS-921rv0_m0wyWs-tj7XAnT4OGilOvH-dgPxR5MDFcKqWYmPkvSP1PB4mBmTZfEU0zDD3Ur-zAPRT_ZHqDIsKlB5UESOTDsZ8CZH4xwQ95iznltA/s1600/Wayne_and_Second_bike_lanes_800_600_90.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-TGfWOnIn4-ULHWqCQbjmBS-921rv0_m0wyWs-tj7XAnT4OGilOvH-dgPxR5MDFcKqWYmPkvSP1PB4mBmTZfEU0zDD3Ur-zAPRT_ZHqDIsKlB5UESOTDsZ8CZH4xwQ95iznltA/s400/Wayne_and_Second_bike_lanes_800_600_90.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silver Spring has a bunch of new bike lanes, including this one on Wayne and Second avenues. (Check out that little red bus lane too.) Image by the author.</td></tr>
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Once home to the “<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/361/americas-stupidest-bike-lane-is-in-silver-spring">Stupidest Bike Lane in America</a>,” Montgomery County <a href="https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/07/27/montgomery-county-used-stupidest-bike-lane-america-now-leading-dc-area-cycling-infrastructure/">has started taking bike infrastructure seriously</a>. Downtown Silver Spring now has over a mile and a half of protected bikeways, which have a physical buffer from motor vehicle traffic. It’s also home to <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/transportation/county-debuts-first-protected-intersection-for-cyclists-in-silver-spring/">the first “protected intersection” in the Mid-Atlantic</a>, at Second Avenue and Spring Street, which slows down drivers while giving bicyclists a dedicated space to turn or cross the street. The county’s efforts to measure how stressful streets are for bicycling <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/awards/stress-map-award/">have won national awards</a>.<br />
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As Channel 9 noted <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/travel/montgomery-county-push-for-road-safety-after-pedestrian-deaths/65-bf49b502-55f3-4759-88a9-eaf0913c8b95">in its report about the meeting</a>, these projects have taken on added urgency in recent months, as drivers have killed several county residents while walking or bicycling. Three people have died walking or bicycling on Montgomery County roads since New Year’s Day, and a driver hit a fourth person Tuesday afternoon.<br />
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<b>Big plans for walking and bicycling in Silver Spring</b><br />
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Tuesday night, a standing room-only crowd filled the cafeteria at East Silver Spring Elementary School for a presentation from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation on several projects designed to make Silver Spring safer for walking and bicycling, including:<br />
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<li><a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/projects/fentonvillage/index.html#fentonst">Redesigning the intersection of Fenton Street and Route 410</a>, also known as Burlington Avenue and Philadelphia Avenue. Once an industrial neighborhood, this intersection is now home to Montgomery College, a growing number of apartment buildings, and a community garden, but retains large, wide “slip lanes” that encourage drivers to speed through the area while turning right. County planners want to remove both slip lanes, replacing them with green space, and create a protected intersection similar to the one at Second and Spring. This project could start construction as early as next summer.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/projects/fentonvillage/index.html#fentonst">Testing ways to slow down traffic on Grove Street</a>, a narrow, residential street next to downtown Silver Spring where drivers speed and there aren’t any sidewalks. Transportation officials will track how many cars travel on the street and how fast they’re going before installing temporary traffic calming devices, <a href="http://montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/Resources/Files/Fentonvillage/Greenway%20Treatments.pdf">like speed humps or bumpouts</a>, which allow the county to change or add things based on community feedback. This could start in the coming months.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/projects/cameronst/index.html">Adding bike lanes along Planning Place</a>, an alley between Fenton Street and the cycletrack on Spring Street, <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/projects/dixonave/index.html">and Dixon Avenue</a>, a short street behind the Silver Spring Metro station. While Planning Place could begin construction this fall, Dixon Avenue is on hold while the Purple Line is built, since it’ll cross that street.</li>
<li>Building a bike parking facility by the Silver Spring Metro station where people can park up their bikes while going to work or catching a train or bus. It’ll be a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/11/13/metro-introduces-free-covered-and-secured-bike-parking/">covered, secure room like the College Park Bike & Ride</a>, located at the College Park Metro station. That could be built either this fall or in the spring of 2021.</li>
</ul>
<b>Fenton Street could get separated bikeways</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The biggest project in the works is a mile-long, two-way separated bikeway along Fenton Street, running north-south through all of downtown Silver Spring between Cameron Street and King Street. Fenton Street is one of Silver Spring’s main streets, home to Montgomery College, dozens if not hundreds of shops and restaurants, the library, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/37949/see-the-beginnings-of-the-purple-line-in-silver-spring">a future Purple Line station</a>, the Silver Spring Civic Building, and a connection to the Metropolitan Branch Trail. It’s a busy street, with a lot of foot traffic, bicyclists, buses, and cars, but it’s also a relatively narrow one. For most of the corridor, there’s only one through lane in each direction.<br />
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Montgomery County started looking at this a few years ago, but put it aside due to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/42017/some-silver-spring-residents-are-against-bike-lanes-that-havent-even-been-proposed-yet">pushback from residents</a> who claimed bike lanes would take away parking spaces and push truck traffic to side streets. Since then, an <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/county-news/thayer-spring-public-parking-garage-now-open/">underground garage with room for over 160 cars</a> opened just off of Fenton Street, and now county planners are looking at ways to build bike lanes and retain on-street parking.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQMN1yNmRescPRGgAj6QJ0EE3GAt16fQ_XWg183f0K_q98EIcnIwrvYKwO-Hpa_NORq08YgOW8CzduqcnFTFaJjq0qTW8jSOgglTxj00Z98r39a_DPO4uAUbbYzqO1ckDgUqLhQ/s1600/AreaMap_618_800_90.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="618" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQMN1yNmRescPRGgAj6QJ0EE3GAt16fQ_XWg183f0K_q98EIcnIwrvYKwO-Hpa_NORq08YgOW8CzduqcnFTFaJjq0qTW8jSOgglTxj00Z98r39a_DPO4uAUbbYzqO1ckDgUqLhQ/s400/AreaMap_618_800_90.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map of where a new bike lane on Fenton Street would go. Image by Montgomery County Department of Transportation.</td></tr>
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Right now, county planners are looking at building a two-way bike lane on the west side of the street, with a curb separating it from cars, trucks, and buses. North of Colesville Road, Fenton Street is wide enough that they can make room for the bike lanes by narrowing the existing traffic and parking lanes. Between Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue, where there’s a short segment with two southbound lanes, bike lanes could replace the curbside lane.<br />
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South of Wayne Avenue, things get complicated. Fenton Street gets a little narrower, but also has a third lane for turning. Planners are looking at six different alternatives for this section: four keep the on-street parking on both sides, two only have on-street parking on one side, and three shift the curbs on one side of the street two feet over to gain space.<br />
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At intersections, existing bumpouts that narrow the street even more could shift to make room for the bike lanes. Instead of a continuous left turn lane, there could be a smaller “turn pocket,” though county planners are also looking at restricting left turns at some locations.<br />
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<strong>There's still a lot to figure out</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />There were some vocal opponents at the meeting, who raised concerns about parking and deliveries to local businesses. But most residents appeared at least open to it, if not supportive. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association <a href="https://waba.org/blog/2019/06/build-a-protected-bike-lane-on-fenton-street/">has a petition with over 500 signatures supporting the Fenton Street bike lanes</a>, 400 of which are from Silver Spring and Takoma Park residents.<strong></strong><br />
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For now, there aren’t a lot of details about this project. The drawings shown were very conceptual; Matt Johnson, a bicycle planner for the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, was explicit that the county is only exploring how a bike lane would work on Fenton Street. County planners will study this through January 2021, he said, before selecting a configuration to pursue further and spending 18 to 24 months to actually design it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizSvQnYB1G_3ki6K6njn9hhYEWiPADZjzTDj6jn5YfMle1zLJIlrxiC7SydX9BwxSQL3uTKTZAH8ghaYr3k_F31oqkc6GErZyyiFqxEowdidwQxddGC-8UmLKaArDiHMVUZumKw/s1600/15611667396_7ea10f17f4_c_799_533_90.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizSvQnYB1G_3ki6K6njn9hhYEWiPADZjzTDj6jn5YfMle1zLJIlrxiC7SydX9BwxSQL3uTKTZAH8ghaYr3k_F31oqkc6GErZyyiFqxEowdidwQxddGC-8UmLKaArDiHMVUZumKw/s400/15611667396_7ea10f17f4_c_799_533_90.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A two-way bike lane on Woodglen Drive in North Bethesda, which is similar to what's proposed for Fenton Street. Image by the author.</td></tr>
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Montgomery County has money in its budget to design and build the bike lanes, but the very earliest we’d see construction start is summer 2022. Peter Gray, a resident and WABA member, asked if there was any way the project could happen sooner.<br />
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“We want to do it right, not quickly,” said Johnson. “We want to build a gold standard facility, and for it to work well.”<br />
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<b>Better walking and biking support Montgomery County's goals</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Montgomery County has several good reasons to invest in making Silver Spring safer to walk and bike. <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/29713/where-do-moco-residents-walk-bike-take-transit-to-work">60% of downtown Silver Spring residents do not drive to work</a>, while East Silver Spring, the neighborhood where Grove Street is located, has some of the county’s highest rates of walking and biking to work.<br />
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These projects also align with the county’s own policies. Transportation is the biggest source of greenhouse gases in our region, and making it easier to walk and bike supports <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/counties-cities-states-step-up-on-climate-as-trump-administration-steps-back/2020/01/09/893f4e1e-3095-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html">the county’s efforts to combat climate change</a>. In a majority-minority community <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/32058/where-do-montgomerys-car-free-residents-live">where one-third of residents don’t own cars</a>, walking and biking infrastructure is key to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/with-unanimous-vote-montgomery-passes-wide-ranging-racial-equity-bill/2019/11/19/7f0a9b0e-0a1d-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html">the county’s emphasis on racial equity</a>, ensuring that everyone regardless of race or income level has access to safe, affordable transportation.<br />
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If you’re interested in learning more, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dte/projects/fentonvillage/index.html#fentonst">has a website for the Fenton Street and Grove Street projects</a>, including the drawings and maps that were presented at the meeting.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-69620444445738024632019-12-31T08:15:00.000-05:002019-12-31T09:41:11.736-05:00ten very silver spring (and montgomery county) things that happened this decade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clockwise from top left: "The Turf" in 2006, Veterans Plaza under construction in 2010, the first Fenton Street Market in the plaza that fall, and the 2019 Silver Spring Jazz Festival. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/49301758441/in/datetaken-public/">Click for a bigger version.</a></td></tr>
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If you’ve seen the <span class="s2">"</span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamedjackson/woman-yelling-at-cat-meme-roundup">Woman Yelling at a Cat</a>"meme, you’d recognize the mural that sat on Ellsworth Drive for all of one day this fall. Normally, the meme is a photo of one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, well, yelling at a cat named Smudge. Instead, the woman, surrounded by raging fires, has a speech bubble reading “I’M FROM D.C.!!” and the cat - now wearing sunglasses and a fur coat - has a speech bubble that just says “Silver Spring.”</div>
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this is the one we’ve been waiting for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/silverspringwalls?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#silverspringwalls</a> <a href="https://t.co/3x3ll4Svnf">pic.twitter.com/3x3ll4Svnf</a></div>
— dan reed, hot chocolate enthusiast ☕️ (@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1195908932742631424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The mural was produced by DC-based artists No Kings Collective as part of <a href="https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/downtown-silver-spring-walls/">Silver Spring Walls</a>, a series of permanent and temporary art installations that went up in big-D Downtown Silver Spring this year, the <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/10/after-15-years-downtown-silver-spring.html">first phase of a larger renovation project in the area</a>.<br />
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But it also says a lot about Silver Spring at the end of the 2010s. It’s not just that Silver Spring had a big turnaround from the 1980s and 1990s, when the area was still in decline. It’s that Silver Spring came into its own as a place, with unique attractions and a distinctive culture.<br />
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People here might still say they're "from DC," but Silver Spring is giving them even more reasons not to. So, what do we have to show for ourselves after another decade? Let's take a look:<br />
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<b>Students took to the streets. </b>Three years ago, students at Blair, Einstein, and Northwood high schools <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2016/11/student-protests-in-montgomery-county.html">left class and marched through Wheaton and Silver Spring</a> in protest of the presidential election, kicking off a week of walkouts across the county. Little did we know that this was just the beginning. Since then, Montgomery County students have <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-student-leaders-to-take-stage-at-march-for-our-lives-in-dc/">gotten national attention for speaking out for gun control</a> and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them">organized to support Montgomery County Public Schools’ boundary study</a>, which itself <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/school-district-to-conduct-countywide-boundary-study/">was the brainchild of Ananya Tadikonda</a>, then the student member of the Board of Education.</div>
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<b>Brewery boom. </b>In 2013, Montgomery County launched a “Nighttime Economy Task Force” to study ways to make the county more attractive to young people and businesses, and an aspiring brewpub owner named Julie Verratti <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/changes-brewing-as-task-force-studies-ways-to-energize-moco-nightlife/2013/08/20/af5ac426-0995-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html">dropped by one of their meetings with a warning</a>: “If the laws don’t change in Montgomery County you’re going to miss the boat,” she said. Six years and <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2015/Local-Craft-Breweries-Popping-Up-as-Regulations-Ease/">one overhaul of the alcohol laws</a> later, Montgomery County’s home to a dozen or so breweries, and Julie owns not one but two locations of Denizens Brewing Company. Denizens put Silver Spring on the beer map, but neighbors Astro Lab and Silver Branch, which opened in 2018, helped make downtown a regional nightlife destination.<br />
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<b>In the majority. </b>Montgomery County kicked off the decade as a <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2011/02/new-census-numbers-show-majority.html">majority-non-white jurisdiction</a> for the first time ever, and <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/01/here-are-seven-ways-montgomery-county.html">our population is getting older, childless, and less upwardly mobile</a>. The county's diversity has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-hunt-for-the-dc-areas-best-cheap-eats-hotbeds-ritchie-center/2015/11/24/61f917fe-8f04-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html">made it a culinary powerhouse</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/how-a-chinese-immigrant-microtargeted-her-way-to-the-maryland-statehouse/2018/11/27/d404349a-e830-11e8-a939-9469f1166f9d_story.html">center of the region's Chinese</a> and <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2015/09/dcs-little-ethiopia-moves-to-silver.html">Ethiopian communities</a>. Meanwhile, it's also tested MoCo's reputation as <a href="https://www.utne.com/community/10mostenlightenedsuburbs">America's Most Enlightened Suburb</a>, from a <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2011/08/myth-of-color-blind-county.html">proposed teen curfew</a> to the <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/04/demands-for-action-from-residents-upset-by-investigation-into-a-police-involved-shooting-death-in-silver-spring/">shooting of an unarmed black man</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/trial-opens-for-montgomery-officer-shown-in-video-ramming-knee-into-suspect/2019/12/09/cf5ac2ac-1aab-11ea-b4c1-fd0d91b60d9e_story.html">reports of police brutality</a> to the ugly fight over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/officials-say-its-a-common-sense-zoning-change-these-homeowners-say-its-a-betrayal/2019/07/22/5eb48724-a295-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html">whether to allow more apartments</a>.<br />
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<b>Speaking of which: </b>Montgomery County hasn't redrawn its school boundaries in thirty years, resulting in segregation by race and class, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/report-montgomery-countys-attempt-to-narrow-student-performance-gap-is-largely-ineffective/2019/12/30/eec8729e-227e-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html">persistent achievement gap</a>, and <a href="http://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/take-a-look-inside-the-new-addition-at-bethesda-chevy-chase-high/">millions of dollars spent on school additions</a> while <a href="https://t.co/QFQpJpUkrJ">nearby schools lose teachers due to falling enrollment</a>. Under former superintendent Josh Starr, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2014/04/montgomery-county-schools-are.html">MCPS denied the problem even existed</a>, but today, the school system is <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking.html">finally taking a look at school boundaries</a>. Some community members, <a href="https://wtop.com/education/2019/11/hoco-passes-controversial-school-boundary-changes/">fearful of a recent boundary effort in Howard County</a>, are organizing in opposition, culminating in a December meeting where <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/this-is-just-people-screaming-tension-boils-over-at-school-boundaries-meeting/">hundreds of parents yelled and screamed</a> so much it drove <a href="https://www.mymcmedia.org/boundary-study-meeting-gets-heated/">presenters to tears</a>.</div>
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“Diversity may not be important to you, but it’s important to your kids that they experience this.” <a href="https://twitter.com/xanushax?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@xanushax</a>, a 2019 MCPS grad, got more boos for saying this <a href="https://t.co/VaPtqjUe74">pic.twitter.com/VaPtqjUe74</a></div>
— dan reed, hot chocolate enthusiast ☕️ (@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1204935182777761793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<b>The Purple Line is happening.</b> It was going to happen, and then it wasn’t, and now it’s actually being built. After <span class="s2"><a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2017/08/as-purple-line-breaks-ground-lets-take.html">decades of twists and turns</a> and a <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/before-purple-line-silver-spring-will.html">dope new mural</a>,</span> what more can I say? The next decade will bring the Purple Line’s opening day, and it’s a shame that Harry Sanders, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2010/03/on-harry-sanders-1946-2010.html">who passed away in 2010</a>, won’t be there to ride it, as we wouldn’t be here without him.<br />
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<b>An ongoing housing shortage.</b> During the Great Recession, new home construction in Montgomery County <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-design/2018/08/real-estate-development-is-infrastructure/">all but stopped in most areas</a> and never really recovered, even as the economy bounced back. Estimates say 200,000 people will move here in the coming years, but a lack of housing options means prices are quickly rising, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2018/01/silver-spring-wheaton-more-affordable.html">pricing middle- and working-class families out of many neighborhoods</a>. It's especially <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/march-april-2019/whats-selling-and-whats-not/">acute in close-in, walkable neighborhoods near jobs and transit</a> - the places that are most in demand. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2018/02/montgomery-county-rejects-affordable.html">neighbors continue to fight affordable housing</a>, and <a href="https://www.mwcog.org/newsroom/2019/05/01/fewest-number-of-persons-experiencing-homelessness-recorded-in-regional-count/">homelessness remains a persistent issue</a>. But a funny thing happened in downtown Silver Spring during the 2010s: thousands of apartments were built, and rents...<a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/did-silver-spring-build-enough-housing.html">went down a little bit</a>. While it's not a total solution, bringing back new homes could make a big difference.</div>
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<b>A new generation of community advocates. </b>Go to a community meeting in Silver Spring or anywhere in East County and you might notice that people look a little…younger. As Millennials grow up and get settled down (and Gen Xers finally wrangle the reins from the Baby Boomers), a new crop of activists are taking over the area’s civic groups and political organizations. While these groups historically pushed for the status quo, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2018/06/your-presence-in-this-room-is-radical.html">today’s activists are shaking things up</a> and getting results: more sidewalks and bike lanes, stuff that people can actually walk to, and <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/transportation/council-restores-partial-funding-for-white-flint-metro-station-improvements/">long-awaited new station entrances</a> at Forest Glen and White Flint.</div>
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finally Montgomery County has a Pride to call its own! almost every queer person I know in the county might be here, and it is very satisfying <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PrideMonth?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PrideMonth</a> <a href="https://t.co/es4TUpXhBG">pic.twitter.com/es4TUpXhBG</a></div>
— dan reed, hot chocolate enthusiast ☕️ (@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1145116119021367297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<b>Montgomery County gets used to it. </b>The county has always had LGBTQ people, but like in many suburban places, they were often in the margins. In the 2010s, queer people made themselves seen and heard, whether it was at <a href="https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/10/06/dcs-gayborhoods-disappearing-feel/">house parties in Silver Spring’s Indian Spring neighborhood</a>, at an <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2016/09/seeking-cheaper-space-and-new-audiences.html">exhibition of queer art and music</a>, our annual <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/visarts/moco-tdor-2019/442894423251428/">Transgender Day of Rememberance</a> events, the new <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2018/01/housing-and-transportation-are-lgbtq.html"><span class="s2">LGBTQ </span>Democratic<span class="s2"> Club</span></a>, or the nascent <a href="https://www.mocopridecenter.org/">MoCo Pride Center</a>. The county elected its first <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/selfies-and-activism-how-a-diverse-crop-of-newcomers-changed-a-county-council/2019/12/15/ee21ac6a-1c8f-11ea-b4c1-fd0d91b60d9e_story.html">openly gay councilmember</a>, and the County Council appointed the county’s <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/72745/its-casey-anderson-and-partap-verma-for-montgomery-county-planning-board">first <span class="s2">openly gay Planning Board member</span></a>. It all culminated in Montgomery County’s first-ever Pride Party, giving the community a place to celebrate without having to go into DC - or for that matter, up to Frederick Pride.<br />
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<b>It's the economy, stupid.</b> For the third year in a row, Montgomery County is expecting a budget shortfall of up to $130 million, and officials say the <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/12/montgomery-county-budget-story/">county's sluggish population growth and stagnant wages are to blame</a>. <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/01/here-are-13-reasons-why-montgomery.html">Many of the office parks and shopping malls</a> that built the county's economy 30 years ago are aging. In the areas that are actually drawing residents and businesses - urban centers like Silver Spring and Bethesda - <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/69029/montgomery-county-says-no-new-homes-in-silver-spring-because-the-schools-ar">the county has halted new development</a> due to school crowding. Meanwhile, county executive seems <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/05/marc-elrich-wants-to-cut-some-of.html">at best indifferent to these communities' needs</a> and at <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/01/why-is-marc-elrich-resistant-to.html">worst hostile to new residents</a>, which doesn't bode well for the future.<br />
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<b>A public building spree.</b> This decade alone, Silver Spring got <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2010/07/crowds-and-skaters-already-filling.html">a new Civic Building and public plaza</a>, a <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/38612/silver-spring-is-a-more-complete-place-thanks-to-its-new-library">new library</a>, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39369/the-silver-spring-transit-center-is-finally-open">a new transit center</a>, and work is beginning on a new recreation and aquatic center. Outside the Beltway, Wheaton also has a <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/wheaton-library-and-recreation-center-opening-on-sunday/">new library and recreation center</a>, as well as a new <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2013/12/town-square-could-wake-up-wheatons.html">county office building and plaza</a> that'll open next year. While all of these projects had some controversy, they've helped build community, get people to work, and create spillover effects for local businesses. Just look at all of the people <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2013/06/the-fillmores-economic-impact-hanson.html">who hang out and spend money in Silver Spring before, during, and after shows</a> at the Fillmore.<br />
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While we don't know what will happen in the 2020s, our community will continue to grow and change. According to the American Community Survey, Silver Spring inside the Beltway grew substantially, from 71,000 in 2010 to an estimated 80,000 in 2017 - at a rate of 12%, it grew faster than MoCo as a whole, and is just behind DC's 14% population growth. This year, Silver Spring got two new residents, or should I say old ones: my partner and I, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/06/we-moved-to-rockville-pike-and-if-youre.html">returning from our one-year vacation to North Bethesda</a>. This time, we're here to stay - and I'm excited to see what happens next.<br />
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Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-28362083999913013762019-10-09T10:08:00.000-04:002019-10-09T10:08:49.160-04:00after 15 years, downtown silver spring is getting a big update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A lot of things happened in the summer and the fall of 2004, when I was starting my senior year of high school. What sticks out most is the night in August I stood with three of my closest friends at the entrance of a new parking garage in downtown Silver Spring, yet to open, daring each other to go in.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/refresh-coming-soon/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="1024" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtCbLG9rzQAVTplDYLNrnlT0fvDsOWMwASDvqa7yWCRG5_Uk56C_84Kr6vHPMAytpSyS3Ig-OILKMv_0PjXpDR7_5Kxjr3ou-ivDnhI_roIHrP9GYgsdGzTFwkQJilKr55A1rMQ/s400/silver+plaa.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The plaza on Ellsworth Drive will be totally rebuilt, including the removal of the popular "splash pad." Image from Foulger-Pratt.</td></tr>
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The concrete was still clean and smooth as we strode up the big ramp, our voices bouncing around seven empty floors as we ascended. At the top of the garage, we walked out onto the sun setting over the then-brand new development called Downtown Silver Spring: a 20-screen movie theatre, a Whole Foods, a hotel, a brightly-colored tile plaza with a fountain.<br />
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It felt especially surreal for the 16-year-old me, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/08/they-used-to-call-it-georgian-towers.html">having lived in little-D downtown Silver Spring</a>, <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/12/south-silver-spring-then-and-now.html">land of boarded-up buildings and empty storefronts</a>, until 5th grade. Now there were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/05/20/new-hope-has-sprung-downtown/dddf38f1-62e8-4735-815c-66aa2077a777/">signs saying “Silver SprUng”</a> (as in, Silver Spring had “sprung”) and even a <a href="https://youtu.be/WrXHGVV65QU">TV commercial</a>.<br />
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At the moment, the only sound came from some whirring generators in a corner by the elevator that would take us back down, and my friend Sean looked over his shoulder as he slid over, unzipped his pants, and took a piss. We had christened this place and made it ours.<br />
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<strong>Fast forward 15 years</strong><br />
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A few weeks ago, at 31, I sat in a crowd of about 50 people in the Silver Spring Civic Building listening to Bryant Foulger of Foulger-Pratt, the developer who built <a href="http://www.downtownsilverspring.com/">Downtown Silver Spring</a>, explain <a href="https://www.sourceofthespring.com/other/downtown-silver-spring-10-million-renovation-new-tenants/">how he was going to renovate the place</a>. Foulger-Pratt and property manager Peterson Companies will bring in new tenants like wine bar <a href="https://wtop.com/business-finance/2019/08/new-wine-cafe-locavino-opens-in-former-adega-silver-spring-location/">Locavino</a> and <a href="https://dc.eater.com/2019/5/24/18638501/nomas-adult-playground-is-expanding-to-silver-spring">bowling alley The Eleanor</a>; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DTSilverSpring/photos/a.375936459419/10157592531529420/?type=3&theater">commissioned murals by DC creative agency No Kings Collective</a>, and will permanently close part of a parking lot and the development’s spine, Ellsworth Drive, to cars.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/refresh-coming-soon/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwgvqBN3BV-lMMSMgABD_peWDHN6G-Z3Jy_IpfbG1Y1ckcm-eQVXzbwio_Lv-6S1zd8NXN237RCtPDC4cSoWktbJfT_FxBxfbY4oafyu-sQSuMYZJNHaQqGupFDO4IsGjmIiyFw/s400/downtown+silver+spring+refresh.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellsworth Drive could get covered in artificial turf. Image from Foulger-Pratt.</td></tr>
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“The nature of retail is changing. It’s much more focused on experience,” said Foulger. “We’re also focused on physical plant. Things are wearing out...so we’re thinking about ways to refresh it.”<br />
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Fifteen years may not seem like a long time. But Foulger noted that when Downtown Silver Spring opened, in phases starting in 2000 (Ellsworth Drive opened in 2004) and concluding in 2013, the project was kind of experimental. Just a few years earlier, most of downtown was nearly scrapped and <a href="https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/13010519/dream-on">replaced with a Mall of America clone</a>. Silver Spring <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/06/21/silver-spring-development-leaves-some-downtrodden/bad84db5-7fe0-4752-a138-55acacb61a03/?utm_term=.5861cac85319">was still struggling</a> after <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/72300/these-1970s-plans-show-the-silver-spring-that-could-have-been">decades of middle-class flight</a>, and some local shopkeepers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2005/06/30/bill-on-house-heights-gets-trimmed/d4317cee-c18e-423a-9805-da8a9a33bef1/?utm_term=.87e345058aff">worried the new development would steal business from them</a>.<br />
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“There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of things we didn’t know would work,” he said. “But as this opened and all of you started coming here, we saw what worked and we saw things we wanted to change.”<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/3520465877/in/photolist-8gtcLK-5huRc6-e9mWcH-6W5oKN-7F64Fj-8T6CZg-7ajSdQ-6naszC-6W5ozf-6W1xnr-bzfWkU-7F64CE-zDACGE-8apMGw-6W1DFV-4hvUUa-6W1mjp-6n6iCk-6W5piy-6nasD1-8gtdk4-8gtdnH-6nashN-DBmjf-6n6iYa-dyb123-6W5qzj-6W1m7T-5RgZEK-6W1mqa-zpoQFa-6W1m4n-skdCpc-2hpMaca-2hpP3De-KJ7Fyf-6n6iRx-2VGZCf-6nasW1-zFUUDF-6W1oat-aLVm7k-5huRcV-6nasP3-6n6iE8-aLVkYk-6nasM5-K3mxR-6n6iGP-2cLF3hf" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOA3hC6kslLX3rKpjyPRLnfGztZpCwK_9xLJWKYkcv1jqQUCZzD7AZPuzgpNn-meDb1QONrpJc6zhrtInDpIPhW9923t-u4IuyfTIz8zMce7eAdOZL08MeVFriXguR-6F5xnbyCA/s400/Sunny+Days+%2526+Starry+Nights.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Silver Spring's retail has changed with the times, like Borders, which closed in 2011.</td></tr>
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When it opened, DTSS (as the kids call it) had the kind of places you’d go to once in a while, for big purchases: sit-down, white-tablecloth restaurants; high-end furniture and home design stores like Storehouse and Marimekko; and a few basic needs that neighbors had asked for, like a hardware store. The development was marketed as “<a href="https://t.co/xh3O3CFhe3?amp=1">A Good Old-Fashioned Sensory Overload</a>,” but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/05/20/new-hope-has-sprung-downtown/dddf38f1-62e8-4735-815c-66aa2077a777/">one resident described it</a> as a cross between Bethesda and Adams Morgan “with more culture.”<br />
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Instead, the place attracted teens and families who weren’t big spenders, but did come to hang out every weekend. The furniture stores were first to go, and Silver Spring may have even <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2011/02/is-ellsworth-drive-keeping-borders-open.html">kept Borders Books & Music on life support</a> before it finally folded. Taking their place were stores that sold cheaper things you’d buy more often, like fast-casual restaurants and “fast fashion” retailers like H&M. Ellsworth Drive <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/11/whats-up-pike-cars-and-people-too.html">closed to cars some weekends</a>, then every weekend, and eventually all the time.<br />
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Over time, DTSS evolved into not just a shopping center, but the heart of a diverse community. Montgomery County <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2010/07/crowds-and-skaters-already-filling.html">opened the Silver Spring Civic Building in 2010</a> and the <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/38612/silver-spring-is-a-more-complete-place-thanks-to-its-new-library">Silver Spring Library in 2015</a> adjacent to the development, providing access to public services and a platform for gatherings, from the <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39188/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria">annual Ethiopian Festival</a> to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/39188/dcs-little-ethiopia-has-moved-to-silver-spring-and-alexandria">protests</a>. Today, the development looks prescient: Silver Spring is now one of <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/64106/nobody-wants-east-countys-big-houses-anymore-heres-how-we-can-fix-that">Montgomery County’s strongest real estate markets</a>, and you can see little bits of DTSS across Maryland and Virginia, and even in DC neighborhoods like Columbia Heights and the Wharf.<br />
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<strong>More changes, and more questions</strong><br />
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Just like me, generations of kids have now grown up with this place, as there’s a lot of free or cheap stuff to do. We used to kill time in Borders and sneak into R-rated movies; today, little kids might run around in the splash pad, or take up skateboarding, which Silver Spring has been a hub for since the 1990s.<br />
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Those last two things may be going away. Foulger’s plans include replacing the splash pad with an “interesting, iconic” art piece and water feature, and the area surrounding it will get large, movable woodblocks which can work as seating or be pushed together to form a stage. Ellsworth Drive will become a lawn for most of its length.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48839859391/in/datetaken-public/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxNKQKz0w4X-cdrfxjPzYWEd_YQ6de4244Ym54PgQI9uP3VLhHpGmDQswlDCnmQ4wSXnhcUryctyZPfYP2cAdPzWVooZHoDoIh0k8XNF3gGsZIvFxquPYil2Ozq8rMNYSbafv1w/s400/Ellsworth+Drive+at+15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 15 years, the trees on Ellsworth Drive have gotten really big! All photos by the author unless noted.</td></tr>
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“This will be ironic if you’ve been here a while, but we’re going to put down artificial turf,” said Foulger, referring to “<a href="https://t.co/CTSY9uCYU7?amp=1">The Turf</a>,” the popular temporary hangout that used to sit where Veterans Plaza is now. Unlike “The Turf,” which was basically empty green space, this turf will have movable chairs and games like cornhole.<br />
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People had a lot to say about this. “Is this going to create a noisy atmosphere? Silver Spring is very noisy,” said one man. “What’s wrong with pavement?” asked a woman. Another woman got up and said, “You have a lot of homeless and mentally ill, and they’re going to sleep on that furniture.”<br />
But the biggest questions were about whether the new turf will disrupt the activities that currently happen on Ellsworth Drive, like the weekly farmers’ market (produce trucks can drive on turf, Foulger said). Parents of young children asked where their kids would play without the splash pad.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kids play in the splash pad in 2009.</td></tr>
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“There are lots of ways to engage kids,” said Foulger. “We engaged them with water, we’ll engage them with something different, and in a couple of years we’ll do something else.”<br />
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Skaters are likely to get pushed out under this plan, just as <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2010/07/skateboarding-banned-in-veterans-plaza.html">they were from Veterans Plaza</a> shortly after it opened, and <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/12/whats-up-pike-think-we-should-bring-rad.html">back in the 1990s from East of Maui</a>, a skate park once located on Ellsworth Drive. People have been skating here for over 20 years, and while people mentioned that <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2008/08/new-ways-to-hang-on-ellsworth-emerge.html">they like watching skateboarders</a>, there wasn’t an answer about where they’ll go.<br />
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<strong>Urban places are always evolving</strong><br />
<strong><br /></strong>
As director of the Silver Spring Regional Services Center—a fancy term for a county position that is unofficially called the “Mayor of Silver Spring”—for over a decade, Reemberto Rodriguez and has seen many of the changes in Downtown Silver Spring firsthand. Even as neighbors fretted over the future of Ellsworth Drive, he was sanguine about the possibilities.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A crowd forms to watch skateboarders on Ellsworth Drive in 2008.</td></tr>
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“No urban space can stay static for a decade,” he told the crowd. “If it does, it is economically dead. It is proven.”<br />
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This meeting, and the 15th anniversary of my friend peeing on a parking garage, has made me reflect on Downtown Silver Spring and what it meant to my life. I spent my late teens goofing off here, and now I work across the street and until recently I lived a few blocks away. I have a lot of memories in this place. I’ve seen this place evolve, and this place has seen me grow into an adult, which is a weird thing to say about something that's basically an outdoor shopping mall. But it shows that the DTSS experiment worked: it means a lot to a lot of people, and naturally people are going to feel protective of it.<br />
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Some of the changes in Downtown Silver Spring are already underway, like a multi-colored new paint job and murals. Bigger changes, like removing the fountain and laying turf on Ellsworth Drive, require approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board. Before the developers submit those plans for review, <a href="https://www.downtownsilverspring.com/refresh-coming-soon/">they've created a website with more info</a> and are holding a community meeting to discuss them on Thursday, October 10 from 7 to 8 pm at the Courtyard Marriott, located at 8506 Fenton Street.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-85789564109702321062019-06-26T08:00:00.000-04:002019-06-26T08:14:37.295-04:00we moved to rockville pike and if you're surprised by that, I am too (13 years of JUTP)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today marks 13 years since I started writing a blog about Silver Spring and East County. And until recently if you'd told me that I would move out of Silver Spring, I wouldn’t have believed you. I grew up there, I moved back there as an adult, I bought a home there, I work there, and I even helped start a neighborhood association there. Now, if you’d told me that my partner and I would move to North Bethesda - well, I definitely wouldn't have believed you.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128132383/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="rockville pike rainbow"><img alt="rockville pike rainbow" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128132383_397a977dc0.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home, for now. All photos by the author.</td></tr>
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So last November, we signed a lease for an apartment off Rockville Pike. It’s been a real learning experience! Let’s break it down:<br />
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<b>We sort of got priced out</b><br />
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At first we decided to move because the one-bedroom condo I bought in 2014 had gotten too small. I bought through Montgomery County’s <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/housing/singlefamily/mpdu/index.html">Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit program</a>, which was the only way I could afford to buy a home in the county as a single person with an entry-level salary and student loans.<br />
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On the one hand, as a homeowner I didn't have to worry about rising rents. On the other hand, the county sets the resale price for MPDUs (it's what you paid for it, plus inflation). That means sellers like me don't walk away with a massive windfall <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2017/08/since-great-recession-east-countys-real.html">the way some of my neighbors had</a>, which is a worthy trade-off to keep the homes affordable in the future, but it makes it hard to buy a market-rate home here.<br />
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With limited money for a down payment, a small budget, and a <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-design/2018/08/real-estate-development-is-infrastructure/">historically low housing inventory</a>, and we had very few options to buy anywhere in Silver Spring or East County, and <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1007965644363567104">what we could find and liked was really competitive</a>. On top of that, my partner works near Georgetown, which was already an hour-long commute by bus, and doesn’t drive for health reasons.<br />
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I help lots of other people buy houses, but my BF and I have been thinking about buying a house for a year, and yesterday we finally found The One. Let me tell you about it—</div>
— dan reed 👋🏾 (@justupthepike) <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1007965644363567104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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We decided to sell anyway and <a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1021410202720096256">rent a new place instead</a>, and to explore other neighborhoods that might be more affordable. We considered apartments further north in Wheaton or further east in Hyattsville, which were more affordable, but would make my partner's commute even longer.<br />
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Then we looked at the west side of the Red Line, where my partner would actually have a shorter commute, and while rents <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/did-silver-spring-build-enough-housing.html">weren’t drastically lower than Silver Spring</a>, we could get considerably more space for the money. (It also helps when you move in November, as landlords have more vacancies and may offer rent specials or lower rates.)</div>
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<b>Garden [apartment] of Eden</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2009/08/they-used-to-call-it-georgian-towers_10.html">I grew up in a big apartment building</a>, and if you haven’t done that, I highly recommend it. There were lots of kids around, being around the building staff teaches you how to interact with and trust adults, and if you’re lucky you get things like a swimming pool that make your friends in houses jealous. So it goes here, in our new home in a 1990s-era garden apartment complex just off Rockville Pike in North Bethesda.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128099201/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="toys in the front hall"><img alt="toys in the front hall" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128099201_d57985bfda.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toys in the front hall of our apartment building.</td></tr>
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(Why am I calling it that? There is such a vast area between downtown Bethesda and downtown Rockville, and enough stuff i<a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/since-you-asked-where-exactly-is-north-bethesda/">n that area to justify giving it a separate name</a> - and one legally recognized by both the US Postal Service and the Census Bureau. That said, my partner literally gives our address as "North Bethesda or Rockville, Maryland," so to each their own.)</div>
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All of the apartments in our complex have two or three bedrooms - and, to reference an ad for this complex from a May 2001 Apartment Shoppers Guide I have in my possession, "dynamic lofts and dens." Right now I’m working in my dynamic den overlooking this massive courtyard with cherry blossom trees, a pool and a playground and a picnic table where these middle-school kids usually plunk down from 3pm until sunset. Just beyond them, the little kids are chalking the sidewalks, and out by the dumpster, the older kids are skateboarding.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128131358/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="deck overlooking pike and rose"><img alt="deck overlooking pike and rose" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128131358_acddb6ffbd.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a photo of Pike + Rose, which is a nice place to go near Rockville Pike.</td></tr>
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These kids go to schools in the <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking.html">vaunted Walter Johnson cluster</a>, where some <a href="https://wamu.org/story/19/04/16/despite-housing-crunch-montgomery-county-expected-to-freeze-new-development/">parents grumble about their presence</a>. We don’t have kids and don’t plan to. But I'm glad they're here and I'm glad we're here, for the suburban summer soundtrack of laughter and birds and lawnmowers, the skyline of Pike + Rose poking through the trees, a little piece of the city out here.</div>
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<b>Rockville Pike is very weird</b></div>
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We picked this apartment because it was across from a grocery store. But to walk there we pass, in order: the Jewish community center, a weed dispensary, my partner’s therapist’s office, a store that sells military tactical clothing, an urgent care clinic below a hairdresser that sounds like a nightclub, and a lice clinic above a pancake house.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128194683/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="cuban corner"><img alt="cuban corner" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128194683_dcc8628e99.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Each plaque in this Cuban restaurant is dedicated to a famous (or not-so-famous) Cuban.</td></tr>
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Jane Jacobs talks about how “<a href="https://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/jane-jacobs-was-right-new-ideas-need-old-buildings.html">new ideas must use old buildings</a>,” or that aging buildings are cheaper to rent and allow niche businesses to flourish. She meant New York in the 1960s, but it’s also here on Rockville Pike, where the chain restaurants and big boxes my family went to growing up are giving into entropy, creating a random, messy, and often beautiful mix of experiences.<br />
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It all feels like a city, with its own culture, albeit one where the pieces are arranged very differently.<br />
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We can walk from the apartment in either direction, north or south, and find these two- and three-story wedding-cake-looking strip malls, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-hunt-for-the-dc-areas-best-cheap-eats-hotbeds-ritchie-center/2015/11/24/61f917fe-8f04-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html?utm_term=.fb8b4fab6a30">competing to mash together the most disparate businesses</a>: fan store, <a href="http://kielbasafactory.com/">Polish grocery</a>, battery store, funeral home. My best friend from high school just got a job here at a woodworking studio below a store that sells “<a href="http://www.designerbinders.com/">designer binders</a>,” and to celebrate we found a Cuban restaurant up by Montgomery College whose dining room walls are <a href="https://www.mymcmedia.org/a-piece-of-cuba-right-here-in-montgomery-county-video/">covered floor to ceiling in little plaques</a> about “famous” Cubans, from Pitbull to each of the owners’ children.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128185807/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="secret garden"><img alt="secret garden" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128185807_e5d626a55e.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A "secret garden," invisible from Rockville Pike.</td></tr>
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When I go for a walk or grab <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/bikeshare/">one of the dockless bikeshare bikes</a>, I find actual people out on the streets here: a boy and his dad walking their dog between the strip mall parking lots; teens on bikes with string lights through the wheels so you can see them; a little kid playing in the "secret garden" beneath a strip mall; skateboarders weaving in and out of traffic; four older guys in Skins jerseys smoking and shooting the breeze outside 7-Eleven.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128134516/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="mason summers stickers by best buy"><img alt="mason summers stickers by best buy" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128134516_4131808eaa.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I see these stickers on Rockville Pike all the time. They are over a decade old.</td></tr>
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My favorite part might be the Mason Summers stickers. I went to architecture school at Maryland with him; his friends named a band after him with the tag line "Friends don't let friends get emo" (he was pretty emo, I will admit) and printed stickers. This was in 2007. I see them everywhere on Rockville Pike, even today, and if you look hard enough you will too.<br />
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<b><a href="https://youtu.be/xUIBnmdJJ50">"I am a visitor here, I am not permanent"</a></b><br />
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My mother is the youngest of thirteen. Fifty years ago this summer, her two oldest sisters emigrated here from Guyana. They first settled in a garden apartment not unlike ours, a few miles north on Rockville Pike, preparing to send for each of their siblings one by one. I often wonder what it was like for my aunties Rena and Rona, two brown women living alone in a new country and in a then-new, lily white suburb. As my relatives arrived here, the family eventually moved to DC, but I still consider Rockville the start of our story in the United States.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/48128198302/in/datetaken-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="crossing the parking lot off old georgetown road"><img alt="crossing the parking lot off old georgetown road" height="300" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48128198302_59060be7ac.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">People! Walking! (<a href="http://www.whiteflint.org/2019/06/03/how-much-are-we-loving-this-new-pedestrian-path/">This is an official path now</a>.)</td></tr>
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I started writing this post in October, after we'd signed the lease. The first several drafts were very angry. Our county is <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/01/here-are-seven-ways-montgomery-county.html">growing and changing</a>, and as a young queer person of color trying to build a life here, I often feel like people are <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/04/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking.html">reluctant to embrace this at best</a> and <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2019/01/why-is-marc-elrich-resistant-to.html">openly hostile to it</a> at worst. I've given the past 13 years of my life to celebrating and improving my hometown, and I don't think I'm entitled saying I should be able to put down roots here.<br />
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But I'll also acknowledge the pleasant surprises I've had living in a new neighborhood. It feels good coming home to our apartment, and that's the least we can hope for. We have seven months on our lease, and I don't know happens after that, but I'm looking forward to whatever may come.<br />
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*SIDE NOTE* I want to <a href="http://www.justupthepike.com/2017/08/thanks-to-everyone-who-came-out-on.html">have another birthday party for the blog</a> this summer! Keep an eye out for an announcement soon.</div>
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Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30306615.post-37906508365916279252019-06-17T10:34:00.000-04:002019-06-17T10:34:00.262-04:00here's what montgomery county planning board candidates think<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Next week is the biggest election in Montgomery County you can’t vote for. County Councilmembers will vote to appoint new members to the Planning Board, which oversees parks, reviews development proposals, and creates long-term transportation plans. Here’s what each of the candidates have to say about the big issues facing the county.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecourtyard/15611667396/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Two Bicyclists on Woodglen Cycletrack"><img alt="Two Bicyclists on Woodglen Cycletrack" height="266" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5614/15611667396_7ea10f17f4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bicyclists on Woodglen Drive in White Flint. Photo by the author.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/72228/you-should-pay-attention-to-montgomery-county-planning-board-this-summer">There are two seats coming up for a vote</a> this month. One is for the chair, who serves full-time and basically sets the agenda for the Planning Board. It looks like the County Council <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/anderson-appears-set-for-third-term-as-planning-board-chair/">will probably reappoint Casey Anderson</a>, a longtime bicycle advocate who’s been chair since 2015 and served a term on the board before that. County Executive Marc Elrich says he’s “<a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/politics/county-executive-not-a-fan-of-planning-board-chairman/">not a fan</a>” of Anderson and can veto the council if they reappoint him, but insists he won’t interfere.<br />
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The other opening is to replace Norman Dreyfuss, a developer from Potomac who’s stepping down due to term limits. The council picked six finalists (out of 24) to succeed him, and interviewed them last Thursday, <a href="https://youtu.be/mIxT8hZpypA">which you can watch online</a>. Those six finalists also filled out <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/maryland/montgomery-county/endorsements">questionnaires from the Montgomery County Sierra Club</a>, and five of them participated in a forum hosted by the LGBTQ Democrats of Montgomery County (<a href="https://twitter.com/justupthepike/status/1135687662482993154">which I livetweeted</a>). The candidates have some pretty big disagreements on how the county should grow, and the Planning Board's role in that.<br />
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<strong>Most candidates prefer transit over more highways</strong><br />
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The biggest transportation fight in Montgomery County right now is Governor Larry Hogan’s <a href="https://495-270-p3.com/">plan to widen the Beltway and 270, adding up to four toll lanes</a>. Most Planning Board candidates say they’d oppose giving up part of Rock Creek Park and several other county parks in the Beltway’s path, <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/transportation/planning-board-urged-not-to-give-up-land-for-beltway-widening/">which could hold up the project</a>.<br />
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We “must exhaust all transit options” before widening highways, said Partap Verma, a lawyer from Silver Spring and past GGWash contributor, at a forum hosted by the county’s LGBTQ Democrats earlier this month. Instead, he supports building the Purple Line and the county’s Bus Rapid Transit network, and worked with his neighbors to <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66791/montgomery-county-may-reinvest-funds-from-an-expensive-highway-project-back">successfully shift funding from a proposed highway</a> to new entrances to the Forest Glen and White Flint Metro stations.<br />
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Brandy Brooks, an activist from Wheaton who’s applying for both chair and board member, told the LGBTQ Democrats that climate change demands that we change how we get around. She told the Sierra Club she supports BRT and improving “non-BRT bus service for all parts of the county,” as well as all-day MARC service. Bill Kirwan, an architect from Silver Spring who served on the <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/9415/brt-proposal-could-get-montgomery-on-the-bus">county's BRT Task Force in 2011</a>, says he’s “skeptical of highway widening projects” and told the Sierra Club he supports the county’s new Bicycle Master Plan.<br />
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Two candidates support building M-83 (aka Midcounty Highway), an unfinished highway between Montgomery Village and Clarksburg: Julian Haffner, a lawyer from Gaithersburg, and Jennifer Russel of North Bethesda, an urban planner who has been involved in local land use issues for decades. “The absence of [M-83] has made commuting intolerable for residents of the Upcounty,” she wrote to the Sierra Club. Russel is the only candidate who endorses Hogan’s plans to widen 270 and 495, though she adds that she supports all of the county’s major transit projects.<br />
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<strong>Candidates support affordable housing, but disagree on how to provide it</strong><br />
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As home prices in Montgomery County continue to rise, all six of the candidates mentioned the importance of affordable housing. Haffner, Russell, and Verma all note that a shortage of housing in the county is pushing up prices. Haffner supports increasing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/70533/montgomery-county-can-densify-housing-with-little-disruption">which the county is currently looking at</a>, while Kirwan wants to see affordable housing “integrated into every development proposal.” At the LGBTQ Democrats forum, Bethesda lawyer Charlie Kauffman put it simply: “I’m from Manhattan. We build big buildings in small footprints. Build more buildings.”<br />
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In his Sierra Club questionnaire, Verma mentions “<a href="https://ggwash.org/view/63344/dc-residents-want-townhouses-missing-middle-but-there-arent-enough">missing middle</a>” housing types, like duplexes and triplexes, which can offer a more affordable alternative to single-family homes. He also notes the need to increase density near transit, which allows the county to set aside more affordable homes through its MPDU (moderately priced dwelling unit) program and lower residents’ transportation costs because they won’t have to drive as much.<br />
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Brooks told the LGBTQ Democrats that the “market will never create the affordable housing we need." She wants to make “deeply affordable housing” in places like Bethesda and White Flint and “protect areas of the county where affordability already exists” like East County, by creating social housing or community land trusts to “take land out of the speculative market to control the cost of development." This has been done with some success <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/10/searching-soul-community/572986/">in places like Durham, North Carolina</a> but isn’t necessarily under the Planning Board’s purview, so it's unclear how this would actually work.<br />
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<strong>Most candidates oppose the county's housing moratorium</strong><br />
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Montgomery County is anticipated to grow by 208,000 residents in the next 20 years, but is <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/68435/heres-where-montgomery-county-is-and-isnt-growing">adding people at a faster rate than it’s adding new homes</a>. We need over 80,000 new homes to accommodate our growing population, but many of the Planning Board’s efforts to provide those homes have met resistance from neighbors.<br />
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Most candidates oppose the county’s <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/69029/montgomery-county-says-no-new-homes-in-silver-spring-because-the-schools-ar">housing moratorium</a>, which effectively bans new homes in areas with overcrowded schools. It currently affects large swaths of Silver Spring, Wheaton, and Bethesda, and <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/changes-to-building-moratorium-laws-facing-council-review">will expand to more areas this summer</a>. Haffner told the LGBTQ Democrats that it’ll drive up home prices, while Charlie Kauffman simply called it “dumb and self-defeating.”<br />
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Verma noted that keeping out new homes (and by extension, new residents) deprives the county of much-needed tax revenue. “If you’re not going to grow and you’re going to restrict development, you’re not going to get the revenue that funds our schools. It’s a difficult cycle to be in,” he told the County Council at his interview.<br />
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Brandy Brooks, who moved here from Massachusetts in 2015, is the lone supporter of the moratorium, saying that we need to make sure schools and roads are in place before allowing new homes. “We can’t continue to ask the community to bear the burdens of school overcrowding when we’re giving away profits to developers who don’t have to stay here and live with those conditions,” she told the LGBTQ Democrats.<br />
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<strong>Who's the biggest social justice champion?</strong><br />
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The County Council voted last year to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/aware-of-disparities-montgomery-county-wants-to-weigh-equity-in-making-policy-decisions/2018/04/24/b2fe518c-47d0-11e8-8b5a-3b1697adcc2a_story.html">consider racial equity in all policy decisions</a> and this year, they’ve held “<a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/03/montgomery-county-to-hold-community-conversations-on-racial-equity/">community conversations</a>” on the issue. Naturally, many of the Planning Board candidates have talked about their commitment to social justice. Kirwan and Haffner have both stressed the need to improve public outreach, while Verma, who would be the first Asian and openly gay Planning Board member, told the LGBTQ Democrats that he wants to increase outreach to queer and trans people, who are often "ostracized and silenced" and don’t participate in their communities.<br />
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Brooks has been the most outspoken, telling the County Council during her interview that the appointment would be “a test” of its commitment to racial equity. She told the Sierra Club that she wants to change the way the Planning Board works, developing plans “crafted by County residents through their direct decision-making,” instead of “simply having ‘input’ on plans put forward by Planning staff.”<br />
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But is that the most equitable process? Just last week, the Planning Board <a href="https://www.thewashcycle.com/2019/06/little-falls-parkway-.html">voted to remove a road diet on Little Falls Parkway</a> in Bethesda built after a driver killed a bicyclist. Planning Department staff warned against this, saying it made the street safer by slowing traffic down, but neighbors complained about cut-through traffic and they prevailed.<br />
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Like County Executive Elrich, Brooks says that the county doesn’t listen to residents, but the loudest voices in most planning conversations are <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/41574/montgomery-county-isnt-really-waging-war-against-suburbia">typically homeowners in mostly-white, mostly-affluent communities</a>. Should the county be more responsive to neighbors <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66673/montgomery-county-rejects-affordable-housing-in-silver-spring-will-build-it-elsewhere">who fight affordable housing</a>, or <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66620/montgomery-wants-to-build-a-better-bus-system-but-anti-brt-activists-are-opposed">don’t want better transit</a>, or would rather ban new homes so <a href="https://wamu.org/story/19/04/16/despite-housing-crunch-montgomery-county-expected-to-freeze-new-development/">renters’ children</a> don't attend their local schools?<br />
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Montgomery County's housing moratorium, or any policy that <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/67709/marc-elrich-not-right-for-montgomery-county-executive">restricts who can move here</a>, empowers those who benefit from the status quo. As the Planning Department has found, we’re <a href="https://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-design/2018/08/real-estate-development-is-infrastructure/">building fewer homes than we have for 20 years</a>. It's hard to look at our <a href="https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/real-estate/home-sales-in-region-increase-for-first-time-since-july-2018/">higher home prices</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2019/01/24/study-montgomery-county-has-grown-older-more-diverse-pricier/?utm_term=.c2af38714de2">stagnant incomes</a>, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/70195/here-are-13-reasons-why-montgomery-county-has-to-make-budget-cuts-next-year">declining tax revenues</a>, and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/71803/montgomery-county-is-finally-talking-about-its-segregated-schools.-but-can-we-fix-them">increasingly segregated schools</a> and not see a connection. And as our county gets more diverse, the burden of these issues falls hardest on <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/66308/queer-dems-must-prioritize-housing-transportation-urban-issues">historically disadvantaged groups</a>: minorities, immigrants, queer people.<br />
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<strong>Here's how you can weigh in</strong><br />
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Several groups have weighed in with endorsements. The Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is backing <a href="https://web.mcccmd.com/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=135">Partap Verma and Jennifer Russel</a>; the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/maryland/montgomery-county/endorsements">Sierra Club</a>, <a href="https://www.smartergrowth.net/resources/testimony/csg-endorses-partap-verma-for-montgomery-county-planning-board/">Coalition for Smarter Growth</a>, and <a href="http://actfortransit.org/archives/letters/2019Jun13LtrPartapVerma.html">Action Committee for Transit</a> have also endorsed Verma, and all four groups support reappointing Casey Anderson as chair. Brandy Brooks has the <a href="https://twitter.com/MoCo_DSA/status/1135537617632673795">endorsement</a> of the Montgomery County committee of the Democratic Socialists of America.<br />
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You can also offer your thoughts to the County Council, which will vote on the new Planning Board members June 25, by emailing them at <a href="mailto:county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov">county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov</a> with your picks.</div>
Dan Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594208011755406956noreply@blogger.com0