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ALL HAIL
SLAYER The Gazette Fillmore welcomes the enduring sound of metal royalty. B-5
BETHESDA | CHEVY CHASE | KENSINGTON
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
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Apex owner wants more for Purple Line station n
If building is not razed, light rail platform would have to fit in existing tunnel BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Artist Barton Rubenstein, with the design of the new $100 bill he helped create, at his studio in Chevy Chase.
A new Franklin:
Chevy Chase sculptor contributes to $100 redesign BY SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
Wallets around the world now can hold the work of Chevy Chase artist Barton Rubenstein, who helped create the design of the new U.S. $100 bill. Rubenstein, a sculptor, has art on display across the country, throughout the D.C. area and at the official residence of the vice president. He was contacted by The National Academies to be on a committee commissioned by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to help redesign American currency. The product of the collaboration can be seen on the $100 bill that was unveiled and put into circulation in October. Although he originally declined the invita-
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Barton Rubenstein worked with scientists to give American currency a fresh look
tion because he thought it would be too timeconsuming, Rubenstein eventually changed his mind. The committee met formally from 2005 to 2007, about four to six times a year, but kept in touch through email. “It was a fascinating process. I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Rubenstein said. The group made recommendations to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which made the final decisions.
Rubenstein started his career in science, studying neuroscience at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. But, he said, he “continued [his] life’s path in the world of art” and began sculpting full time in the early 1990s. “I was the only artist. There were a lot of scientists,” Rubenstein said about the committee. But he felt comfortable interacting with them because of his background. Rubenstein said the first step was to understand problems with the old design, so the group could improve it. The group spoke with the Secret Service and other agencies that knew a lot about counterfeiting. “We were very interested in making sure
See FRANKLIN, Page A-12
Vendors will set up outside for holiday season BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
Loyal customers braved the cold this past weekend to get their fill of authentic French croissants from the Saint Michel Bakery in Rockville. Normally tucked inside the cozy building of the Bethesda
NEWS
READY FOR RENOVATION County planner says Caroline Freeland Park in downtown Bethesda is in need of a makeover.
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Farm Women’s Market, the Rockville baker, along with others that usually sell their goods inside the building, have been forced out into the cold after a car crashed into the side of the market’s building. On Nov. 6, a woman crashed her car into the back of the market’s white building on Wisconsin Avenue, causing structural damage that led the county to condemn the building. No one was injured and the car remains lodged in the building Tuesday. The county will
not tow the car until an engineer has evaluated the damage. Vendors who work inside of the market, which is open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, sold their wares outside this past weekend and will have to continue doing so for the near future, according to the market’s website. “In true ‘Farm Women’ fashion, we turn lemons into lemonade,” the website stated. The accident couldn’t come at a worse time, with the holidays
SPORTS
PAST STRUGGLES JUST THAT Clarksburg football returns to the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
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See APEX, Page A-12
Teacher: MSA test is waste of time, money Hundreds sign her petition, but state officials say exams will go on n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
fast approaching, said Sarah Dwyer, who runs the chocolate shop, Chouquette, that is normally inside. “This is the busiest time of year for us,” said Dwyer, who plans to be at the market this Friday and Saturday in a tent outside. She considers herself one of the lucky ones since her chocolates are already packaged and don’t readily spoil. “My chocolates aren’t going to wilt like a fresh flower would.”
A petition started by a Montgomery County Public Schools teacher calling for the state not to administer the Maryland School Assessment tests this school year has gained hundreds of signatures from around the state. Tiferet Ani, a social studies teacher in the Quince Orchard cluster, said that with the county — and state — implementing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers test and no longer looking to the MSA tests to track student progress, she thinks it is a waste of time and resources to administer the annual test to elementary and middle school students this year. PARCC, which aligns with the Common Core State Standards, will be fully implemented in the school system next school year. As of Friday afternoon, about 400 people had
See MARKET, Page A-12
See PETITION, Page A-12
Farm market to stay open, despite condemned building n
Not enough time and too few incentives, says the owner of the Apex building in downtown Bethesda — the site where state and county planners want to build the “optimal” station for the western terminus of the $2.2 billion Purple Line. A few weeks ago the word from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which owns the building at 7272 Wisconsin Ave., was that the company was willing to work with Montgomery County on finding a mutually beneficial arrangement. But at a meeting on Thursday before the county’s planning board, David Witmer, the company’s senior vice president and CEO, said there was neither enough time to do a proper analysis, nor enough incentives to make it worthwhile. “We’ve monitored the plans for the Purple Line since purchasing the Apex building in 1992,” Witmer said. “You can imagine our surprise when we discovered earlier this year that a proposal had been filed to amend the master plan for our property with the expectation that by the end of the year we would have to make a decision to whether to agree to vacate our building and de-
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