SHE’S GOT A PLAN Silver Spring entrepreneur wins business competition. A-3
The Gazette
A&E: “Colossal,” a play about life after a serious football injury, opens in Olney. B-5
SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE
SPORTS: Paint Branch linebacker does just about everything on the field. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
25 cents
Project would transform heart of Silver Spring
Wing and a prayer
Developers want to turn apartments, office park into mixed-use community
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BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
The Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School blessing of the new academic and scientific wing on Thursday included Cardinal Donald Wuerl (left), the archbishop of Washington, and the Rev. Steve Shafran, Don Bosco Cristo Rey’s president.
Takoma Park school builds on faith BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
D
on Bosco Cristo Rey High School is in a decent Takoma Park neighborhood, though some might say it’s in transition. Many of its students — who come from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties as well as Washington, D.C. — are from low-income families and obtain aid to attend, qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and other programs.
They all work one day a week in the corporate work-study program with a local business, agency or another employer to not only gain experience, but help cover the tuition of the private Catholic college prep school. Don Bosco Cristo Rey has had four graduating classes since opening on Larch Avenue near New Hampshire Avenue in 2007. And all students have been accepted to attend college, officials said. “That’s a phenomenal success rate,” said Susan Wallace, the school’s director
of development. On Thursday, parents, students, corporate supporters and local officials attended a formal blessing of a new multimillion-dollar academic and science wing by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington. They toured the three new brightly lit science labs and five multicolored additional classrooms. The new wing was made possible through the hard work and perseverance of
See SCHOOL, Page A-10
Leisure World resident raised the first U.S. flag on Japanese soil
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BY
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
On a coffee table, Dr. Stephen Cromwell, 89, has carefully laid out his helmet, his first aid bag, a large piece of shrapnel and a photo of him-
livered more than 1,000 babies. “I came to Rockville to be a general practitioner. I did everything,” said Cromwell, who lives in Leisure World in Silver Spring. “If you were sick or injured they would say, ‘Who is your doctor?’ And if you needed to be admitted, I cared for you in the hospital.” Cromwell worked out of a house-turned-doctor’s office
See VET, Page A-10
Silver Spring Maker Faire features 90 inventors BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER/THE GAZETTE
Dr. Stephen Cromwell, 89, was a Navy corpsman on D-Day in Normandy, France.
See PROJECT, Page A-10
Robots, drones and more on tap n
World War II vet recalls it all self in his Navy uniform at 18 years old. They’re his World War II artifacts, items most people would see only in a glass box at a museum. If prompted, Cromwell will tell stories about the horrors of D-Day, the joy of the Japanese surrender and the gold medals he received while at war. But he also will talk about the days after the war and the 45 years he was a physician in Rockville, where, he said, he thinks he de-
A $200 million project would convert two apartment towers and a townhouse-style office park into a mixed-use community with affordable units near the downtown Silver Spring Metro station. Silver Spring-based Lee Development Group and the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County plan to transform the Elizabeth House and Alexander House apartment towers and Fenwick Professional Park into a cohesive development bounded by Fenwick Lane, Second Avenue, Apple Avenue and the Metro rail line. HOC owns and operates the
apartment communities, while Lee Development owns the office park. The community will be attractive to retailers, residents and the surrounding neighborhood, while addressing the need for more affordable housing, Bruce H. Lee, president of Lee Development, said Monday. “It will be great for the neighborhood,” he said. Planners are designing the Elizabeth Square development around the themes of health, wellness and art, offering a more inviting style to the public. Fenwick Professional Park, which dates to the 1950s, will be torn down to make way for a larger, more modern Elizabeth House, which is a 160-unit, 14-story complex for low-income seniors built in the 1960s. The new complex will house 277 units, with about half of the
If you like watching and fiddling with drones, blimps and other flying machines, downtown Silver Spring on Sunday will be just for you. The Silver Spring Maker Faire will feature some 90 booths with such creations made by young and old inventors, craftspeople and artists inside and outside the Silver Spring Civic Building. The free event is an expanded version of last year’s
SILVER SPRING MAKER FAIRE n When: Noon-5 p.m. Sept. 14 n Where: Silver Spring Civic Building, Veterans Plaza at Ellsworth Drive n For information: makerfairesilverspring.com
Mini Maker Faire presented by the Kids International Discovery Museum. Maker faires are held worldwide to promote interest in science, technology, engineering,
See DRONES, Page A-10
Takoma Park residents raise concerns over community kitchen n
City grant for project faces possible delay
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Several residents spoke out Monday against providing funds for a community kitchen being developed at Takoma Park Presbyterian Church on Tulip Avenue.
A committee reviewing how the city spends grant funds recommended that the church receive $10,000 for the kitchen project in fiscal 2015, which begins July 1. Crossroads Community Food Network and the church are among the groups working on the kitchen to offer food preparation space and classes to low-income residents who prepare food for sale at markets and other places.
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During a Takoma Park City Council meeting, some residents living near the church said they were concerned about increased traffic in the neighborhood and that the enterprise would become too large. They said they initially supported the project when they thought it would be a small enterprise to help people. But Jill Feasley, director of Meals on Wheels of Takoma Park and a church member who lives near the church,
said she believed the kitchen would continue to be a small enterprise. “I think the kitchen will help improve economic opportunities,” Feasley said. “The impact on neighbors, including myself, will be limited.” She and other residents said they were open to meeting about how to work out concerns. Mayor Bruce Williams and some council members said it would make sense to delay considering the funds
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for the kitchen until parties meet to discuss the matter and perhaps work out differences. The council is expected to consider the grant funding recommendations on Monday. Other committee recommendations included $23,000 to the Old Takoma Business Association, $19,622 to Crossroads Community Food Network and $19,621 to EduCare Support Ser-
See KITCHEN, Page A-10