PHONE SCAM Bethesda couple warns of bench warrant scheme. A-3
The Gazette
NEWS: Hero Dogs complete training program with their veteran counterparts. A-6
SPORTS: Walt Whitman to play for second straight girls soccer state championship. B-1
BETHESDA | CHEVY CHASE | KENSINGTON DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Chevy Chase casts wary eye on Bethesda plans
Dreaming big
Town officials leery of overdeveloping downtown n
BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Dominic Krzysztofik, 3, of Gaithersburg watches as the 3-D printer begins to make a model shark at the Feynman School in Bethesda on Friday.
Students work magic with 3-D printer BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Like many preschoolers, the 3- and 4-year-olds in Lizzie Rich’s class at the Feynman School in Bethesda study animals and their environments. But last week the students literally added another dimension to their studies, creating a model of a shark using the school’s new 3-D printer. The students filed into the third- and fourth-grade classroom Friday, where they met with their older schoolmates for a lesson in using the printer. Jamie Albertini, 8, a third-grader from
Laurel, showed them the image of a small shark on the classroom white board and demonstrated how moving a finger could make the shark grow larger and larger and larger. Each preschooler had an opportunity to imitate Jamie’s demonstration, seeming to have great fun making the shark spin, roll over and grow larger or smaller. That was just a warmup. They were really there for the older students to explain how the 3-D printer worked and to make a model of a shark where they could see fins, as part of their study of appendages, said Susan Gold, director of the private school.
Jolene Wu, a third- and fourth-grade teacher, let her students take the lead explaining the project. “We can’t touch [the printer] because it gets really hot,” said Gold’s daugther Madeline, 8, a third-grader from North Potomac. “That’s basically how it prints. It melts the plastic.” The morning lesson was interrupted with missteps and computer glitches, but all the students stayed interested in what was going on, offering ideas for troubleshooting. Changing the filament from clear
See PRINTER, Page A-11
Making room for parks and ensuring that infrastructure improvements keep pace with Bethesda development are key for some who live in Chevy Chase, just east of downtown. The county Planning Department is working on a long-term plan for an area of downtown Bethesda adjacent to the town of Chevy Chase. The town council held a work session Nov. 5 to discuss just what the town wants to see in the plan. One concern that came up repeatedly is whether tall buildings will be close to single-family houses along the town’s border. Vice Mayor Pat Burda said some town officials met with representatives from Bernstein Management Co., which owns the building at 7121 Wisconsin Ave., between Leland Street and Willow Lane. Burda said the company is looking into taking over the county-owned parking lots behind the property and building 35-foot-tall townhomes across from houses on 46th Street in Chevy Chase.
Rebecca D. Walker, an associate at the law firm Miles & Stockbridge representing Chevy Chase, said the town sees the parking lots as opportunities for expanding scarce open space in downtown Bethesda, whereas developers see them as opportunities for building. People who live in Chevy Chase, like those in Bethesda, want to see quality development downtown, Walker said. They also want usable, highquality, accessible public space, she said. Steve Seidel, co-chairman of the town’s Long Range Planning Committee, said town officials also are concerned about whether facilities such as parks, schools and intersections will be able to handle the number of people moving into new residential buildings downtown. “Our big concern is, will the public infrastructure keep pace with the private investment and private development?” Seidel asked. According to the Planning Department’s website, a draft of the revised Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan should be finished sometime early next year. ewaibel@gazette.net
County slowest to La Strada hits road with Italian food give election results n
n
Montgomery board to discuss delays
BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County’s final Election Day results rolled into the state at about 2:25 a.m. on
Nov. 5, and local elections officials are expected to discuss the timing of its reporting at the next board meeting. Montgomery County has 250 Election Day precincts, fewer than only Baltimore city and Prince George’s County,
See RESULTS, Page A-11
Holiday gift bazaars abound in Bethesda ’Tis the season for early shoppers who seek unique
n
BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Halloween decorations are barely cold in their grave, but a slew of holiday markets and
See BAZAARS, Page A-11
BY
PEGGY MCEWAN STAFF WRITER
Deborah Ciardo of Rockville has, in a way, come full circle with her Italian roots. Her grandmother was a immigrant who never learned to speak English. Her father, she said, never shared much of his Italian heritage, yet Ciardo has immersed herself in all things Italian and recently opened La Strada, mobile Italian food. It’s a food truck, and Ciardo said she couldn’t be happier. “It really is a great alternative to a restaurant,” she said. “I don’t want to have a restaurant. The hours are too much.” The shift to embracing her Italian roots came when she was in middle school. “An Italian aunt came to stay,” she said. “She changed my life. She was educated and worldly. She sent me to Italy one summer and I learned to cook, and we went to the best Italian restaurants. I learned
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Deborah Ciardo and kitchen assistant Sovath Sam prep food at Ciardo’s Italian food truck, La Strada, on Thursday afternoon. what good food was.” After college Ciardo left her native Illinois and moved to the D.C. area where she worked on Capitol Hill for Illinois Rep. Melvin Price, now deceased, and ran a catering business with a friend. She also worked for a few area restaurants, taking advantage of the time to learn what she could about cooking and the restaurant business.
After a divorce in 1986, she decided to move to Italy. “I bought a one way ticket and stayed with relatives until I was able to get a job,” she said. After six years she came back to the U.S., fluent in Italian and more excited than ever about Italian cooking. She continued to share her experiences with others by teaching private cooking classes, but it wasn’t enough.
ENTERTAINMENT
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
bazaars are popping up in the Bethesda area to give shoppers a jump on their gift buying. Saturday, the Edgemoor Art and Fine Craft Show opens its door to sell gifts for those with an artistic bent. The show, held at the Edgemoor Club in
Food truck owner has big truck, big plans
B-11 A-2 B-8 B-4 A-13 B-1
AN OOKY GOOD TIME
Kensington Arts Theatre to put on ‘Addams Family’ musical.
B-4
Volume 3, No. 40, Two sections, 36 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette Please
RECYCLE
November 20, 2014 1932800
“I was yearning to get into the food business,” she said. Then a friend suggested a food truck. It was an idea whose time had come for Ciardo. “I rushed everything,” she said.”But there was also waiting times when I obsessed over every detail.” She bought a used Fed Ex delivery truck and had it outfitted at East Coast Custom Coaches in Manassas, Va. I showed them what my menu [was] going to be and they designed [the truck kitchen] around the food I was going to cook,” she said. Ciardo said she loves her mobile kitchen and considers it more efficient than the one in her home. She regularly prepares sandwiches, salads, pastas and desserts for the lunch crowd at different sites in the BethesdaRockville area though some farm markets where she set up shop earlier this fall are now closed so she does have days that are not booked. “I just have to slowly find
See FOOD, Page A-11