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SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | WHEATON | BURTONSVILLE DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Café plans to open in library
Leggett’s budget counted on funding; projects might have to wait n
Owners to retain downtown location where shop has been since 1996
BY
STAFF WRITER
See CAFE, Page A-10
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
KEVIN JAMES SHAY
A longtime downtown Silver Spring café has agreed to open a small retail outlet inside the new Silver Spring Library. Lene Tsegaye, who runs Kefa Café with her sister, Abeba, said they signed a contract with the county on Friday. The space will be more of a kiosk, and details on what exactly the shop will sell and provide are being worked out, she said. “We will still keep our regular café,” Tsegaye said of the Bonifant Street location. “We expect to hire some more employees, at least two people.” Montgomery County Councilman Tom Hucker (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring said he has been a customer of Kefa Café from practically the day it opened in 1996. “I’m a big fan,” Hucker said. “They are much more than your average coffee shop.” Kefa Café works hard to provide a real community environment, such as providing space for local artists to exhibit work and hold events, Tsegaye said. The owners consider every customer to be a part owner, she said. “There is no way we could have [remained in business almost two decades] by ourselves,” Tsegaye said. “We congratulate everyone who comes here and supports us.” In November, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center decided against moving into the new library,
25 cents
Montgomery continues plea for school aid
A hands-on civics lesson
n
BY
NEWS: Gov. Hogan names county GOP chairman to PSC post. A-5
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
(From left) Barrie School ninth-graders Colleen Cooper, Zoe Adam and Tess Needham made a video presentation on Feb. 19 asking for a traffic light at the intersection of Barrie Campus, Popular Run Drive and Layhill Road.
Barrie students shine light on traffic signal
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
In the past few months, students from Barrie School in northern Silver Spring have received, among their regular classroom activities, a handson civics lesson. Last fall, many students at the private school joined an ongoing community campaign for a traffic signal in front of their campus on Layhill Road at Barrie Campus Drive/Poplar Run Drive. On Thursday, officials with the Maryland State Highway Administration and Winchester Homes met with students, campus leaders and others to confirm that the traffic light has been approved and is targeted to be operational this summer. Students said the light is sorely needed, as the number of traffic accidents at the intersection has increased in
recent years. “We have learned a lot about traffic,” said Tess Needham, a Barrie freshman. There have been a number of stakeholders in the process, and the students played an important role in the successful campaign, said Charlie Abelmann, Barrie’s head of school. “This shows them their voices matter,” he said. Winchester is building more than 700 single-family homes and townhouses in the Poplar Run community just across Layhill Road from the school, on the site of the former Indian Springs Country Club. The Bethesda-based homebuilder is responsible for paying for the signal. A preliminary cost estimate for the project is $225,000, said Michael P. Lemon, director of land development for Winchester. The state is targeting a
June completion date, but it could be later, said Anyesha Mookherjee, an assistant district engineer with the SHA. “There could be delays due to weather or other factors,” she said. Usually, after a traffic signal is approved, it takes a year to be planned, designed and constructed, said Mike Ulrich, a traffic engineer with Traffic Concepts who is working on the project for Winchester and formerly worked for the SHA. “This is an impressive timeline,” he said. School officials, parents and groups such as the Poplar Run Homeowners Association have lobbied for the traffic signal for several years. The growth of the Poplar Run subdivision and opening of the Intercounty Connector tollway have contributed to a substantial increase in traffic
See SIGNAL, Page A-10
Montgomery County could face difficult decisions if the state doesn’t help fulfill the school district’s funding request for capital projects, officials said Monday. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett has recommended approving the county school board’s requested $1.74 billion fiscal 2015-20 Capital Improvements Program. Leggett’s recommendation banks on the success of a state bill to direct more school construction money to the county.
The county wants to secure an added stream of state aid within the six-year capital program time frame, said county spokesman Patrick Lacefield. There’s “no alternative” to the continued efforts to get additional revenue, he said. A meeting Monday between school officials and the County Council’s Education Committee was part of an ongoing push for more state funding. County leaders want Maryland legislators to ramp up school construction dollars to support Montgomery projects that would add space amid rising enrollment and repair aging buildings. County Councilman Craig L. Rice emphasized on Monday
See AID, Page A-10
Takoma Park college expands Washington Adventist University hopes to start construction next year n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
While Washington Adventist Hospital makes plans to reduce its presence in Takoma Park, Washington Adventist University, near the medical center, is heading in the opposite direction. The four-year private college, part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s higher education system, hopes to start construction in the late spring
of 2016 on a 50,000-square-foot center for health professions, science and wellness programs. The project, expected to cost about $10 million, will involve renovating and expanding the existing health professions building. Besides the university’s health professions and science classes, there also will be community programs in nutritional cooking, exercise and other wellness activities. “The center will offer exciting and endless possibilities for this university, as we find new ways to enhance the education of our students in the health and science professions, promote
See COLLEGE, Page A-10
Purple Line bid date bumped five months State: Bidders wanted more time n
BY KATHERINE SHAVER THE WASHINGTON POST
Maryland transportation officials have pushed back by five months a major bid deadline for private companies seeking to build and operate the Purple Line, saying the firms requested more time to find cheaper ways to do the $2.45 billion lightrail project linking Bethesda and New Carrollton. The March 12 deadline has been pushed back to Aug. 19, said Erin Henson,
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Transportation. She said state officials notified the four bidders Friday evening. Henson said it was too soon to know whether the change will affect the privatepublic partnership project’s schedule. State transit officials have said they hope to begin construction on the 16-mile line this year and open it in 2020. Montgomery County Councilman Tom Hucker (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring said Monday that the delay raises a “potential concern” with a project that has such strong economic development opportunities in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. It was unclear exactly what is mo-
tivating the holdup, he said. “We don’t want to see any unnecessary delays,” Hucker said. A group of Purple Line proponents, the Action Committee for Transit, said in a statement that it is “deeply disappointed by Friday evening’s announcement of a 5-month delay in awarding the contract for the Purple Line.” The delay could jeopardize private and federal funding for the project, the group said. “Maryland cannot afford to leave 900 million federal dollars on the table. The Purple Line will provide relief to commut-
See BID, Page A-10
A&E B-12 A-2 B-8 A-12 A-11 B-1
DIFFERENT WAY TO SHAKESPEARE Famed Folger Consort brings “Merchant of Venice” to Strathmore.
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Volume 28, No. 6, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette
PHOTO FROM WASHINGTON ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY
Washington Adventist University plans to expand and renovate its health professions building on the Takoma Park campus. This is a rendering of how the new 50,000-square-foot center would look.
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