METRO MOVES Escalators in Bethesda; developer tapped at Grosvenor A-3
A&E: Adventure Theatre MTC brings E.B. White’s “Stuart Little” to life. B-5
The Gazette BETHESDA | CHEVY CHASE | KENSINGTON
SPORTS: Brothers remain tight despite going to different schools to play quarterback. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
They’re walkin’, and talkin’, for a safer Bethesda
You can do it!
n
Citizens group wants to make town more pedestrian friendly BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Eric Kothari of Kensington encourages some young runners as they near the finish line of the Kensington 8K race Saturday. Organizers said the 21st annual race raised a record $32,000 for three area schools: Kensington Parkwood Elementary School, North Bethesda Middle School and Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.
Chevy Chase: Purple Line data useless n
Without software, town can’t analyze ridership numbers BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Chevy Chase town officials are still unhappy with the data the state has provided about the number of people who are Station in expected to ride the Bethesda will Purple Line. be smaller Town officials than hoped for. had said they wanted to verify the ridern Page A-13 ship estimates for the proposed 16-mile light-rail line between Bethesda and New Carrollton, whose price tag has risen to almost $2.45 billion, according to the Maryland Transit Administration.
In July, the agency gave the town some data and software to analyze the numbers, but said the town would need third-party software, called Cube, to replicate the processes used to determine ridership forecasts. Without the software, the town says the data are useless. The agency “did provide information on how to get the software; however, we feel that should not be required to view information/models that taxpayer money paid to generate,” Todd Hoffman, town manager, wrote in an email. An engineering firm hired by Chevy Chase to review the data reported that it does not have the in-house capability to re-evaluate the data, and hiring another firm to do so would be time-consuming and “exceedingly expensive.” The report is available on the town’s website, townofchevychase.org.
In the report, the firm says the bigger question in assessing ridership projections is whether underlying assumptions are objective or reasonable. In a news release, Mayor Kathy Strom said town officials will submit different questions to the state transit agency, focusing on the assumptions used to estimate ridership and whether they changed over the years while the agency was studying the possibility of building the Purple Line. State transit officials have said that in 2040, 20 years after the Purple Line begins operations, it is expected to see 74,000 boardings per day. Construction on the Purple Line is supposed to begin next year. The state agency recently put out a call for artists to decorate the line’s 21 stations, The Washington Post reported. ewaibel@gazette.net
Fall arrives with harvest of activities Festivals, runs and dances on tap in Bethesda area n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Whether it’s sampling food from around the world or local restaurants, participating in a 5K, Fun Run or an evening of swing dance or visiting a local fire department, the Bethesda area has it all scheduled for this weekend. Topping the list is the 31st
annual Middle Eastern Cultural Festival, which will be held all weekend at Sts. Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, 10620 River Road, Potomac. The festival will feature music, local vendors, church tours, raffles, a Debke troupe performance, a children’s play area and evening entertainment, plus plenty of ethnic food prepared by church members. Activities run from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
1934339
See FALL, Page A-13
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Rene Shihadi of Rockville makes cookies at Sts. Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Potomac for this weekend’s festival.
SPECIAL SECTION
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Obituaries Opinion Sports
More information is at peterpaulpotomac.org. • Those seeking more exercise can grab their lederhosen and running shoes and join the third annual 5K Oktoberfest Run & Fun Run on Saturday, hosted by the German School Washington D.C. and the German Language Courses. Events, including the race start, take place at the school, 8617 Chateau Drive, Potomac. The day begins at 9 a.m. with a 5K run, followed by a fun run
B-13 A-2 B-9 B-5 A-12 A-15 B-1
Volume 3, No. 32, Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
RECYCLE
OUR CHILDREN Talking to teens about your own youthful alcohol and drug use; raising charitable children; teaching babies to talk; determining whether your child needs a tutor
A small but dedicated group of residents walked along Arlington Road in downtown Bethesda on Saturday carrying a sign: Drive Like Your Kids Walk Here. They were walking for safer pedestrian access in their hometown and, by extension, all of Montgomery County. “I live and walk in Bethesda, which is sometimes more exciting than I like it to be,” Ronit Dancis said. “I get tired of more near misses than there should be.” Dancis is vice president for campaigns for the Action Committee for Transit, a county group whose goal is to make transportation — of all kinds — safer and more efficient. Dancis planned Saturday’s walk along with Wendy Leibowitz, mother of Naomi, 9, who attends Bethesda Elementary School on Arlington Road. Although they live just two blocks from the school, Leibowitz walks with Naomi every day be-
cause she has to cross Arlington Road. “We moved to Bethesda to have a walkable community, to walk to school,” Leibowitz said. “On a good day it’s an anxious two-block walk.” That’s because the roads are designed to move traffic, not pedestrians, she said. Pointing to a white “walk” indicator at the intersection of Arlington Road and the elementary school entrance, she showed that the time allotted was not enough to get a walker across the street and that drivers coming out of the school had the same light to contend with. “I can’t in good conscious tell people to walk to Bethesda Elementary School,” she said. “Arlington Road is a straightaway, like a racetrack.” Because roads are so busy around the school — Bethesda Elementary is at the five-way intersection of Arlington Road, Old Georgetown Road, Wilson Lane and St. Elmo Avenue — the county provides school buses for children living as close as two blocks away Leibowitz said. Usually elementary school children need to live at least a
See WALK, Page A-13
Students learn leadership through Lazarus program Teens forgo summer vacation for program at Bethesda-Chevy Chase n
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Since 1977, sophomores and juniors at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School have been invited to spend most of their summer vacations helping others in their own unique ways, from teaching tennis to inner-city kids to helping the elderly capture their memories in writing. They are invited to join the school’s Lazarus Leadership Fellows Program, a tradition in which students meet county leaders, visit nonprofits, and design and execute a 200-hour service project. The program is named in honor of Julius and Dorothy Lazarus, in recognition of their years of service to the children of the Bethesda area and the financial support provided by their foundation, according to program information. Monday night, 16 students celebrated the end of their Laza-
rus experience with a graduation ceremony at Strathmore Mansion in North Bethesda. “Through this program I learned that leadership is about a person that works with others,” said Samuel Loebig, 16, a junior from Kensington. Samuel and Orlando Pinder, 18, a senior from Chevy Chase, together created a video about A Wider Circle. The Silver Spring nonprofit works to help people lift themselves out of poverty by meeting their basic needs. Loebig learned about working together early in his Lazarus year, as he did not know what his project would be until he heard Pinder talk about making the video. “I figured it was very powerful — we could make people feel what [poverty] is,” Loebig said. Then the two had to work with Mark Bergel, founder and director of A Wider Circle, to schedule taping. “The process was a lot of scheduling,” Pinder said. During his time in the Lazarus program, he said, he learned
See LAZARUS, Page A-13