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DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
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Loyal patrons rally to help eateries damaged by fire Three Silver Spring businesses closed for repairs
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BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
Longtime customers have mobilized to help several of the eating and drinking establishments damaged by a major fire in downtown Silver Spring on Thursday. The early-morning blaze is estimated to have caused up to $1 million in damage to four adjacent businesses. It is believed to have started as a slow-burning electrical fire in the ceiling at
the rear of the Bombay Gaylord Indian restaurant at 8401 Georgia Ave., according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer. “The cause of the fire is listed as undetermined, but is believed to be electrical in nature. Nothing appears suspicious,” Piringer wrote in an email. The second floor above the first-floor Indian restaurant “was framed in for residential living, but was under renovation and not occupied,” Piringer wrote. About 100 firefighters responded to the call for help about 1 a.m., Piringer wrote in the email. A firefighter had a hand injury, but no one else was
hurt. The fire also caused major smoke damage in the Quarry House Tavern in the cellar beneath the Bombay Gaylord restaurant. Tavern employees are credited with safely directing patrons up and out to the sidewalk by former bartender Andrew Nazdin, who has launched an Indiegog crowdsourcing campaign with friends to raise money for the 17 staffers who no longer can work at the closed tavern. The fundraising page is at tinyurl.com/ls3vkuh. The nearby Kefa Café — a gourmet coffee shop on Bonifant Street next to a storage room used by the Bombay Gaylord restaurant — also was heav-
ily damaged by smoke. Firefighters broke through a wall into the café to make sure the fire had not spread, café co-owner Abeba Tsegaye said Monday. Tsegaye said she doesn’t know yet when Kefa Café will reopen. “We’re not sure. Maybe in a week. It’s hard to say,” she said. “Because of the smoke damage, everything will be taken [and cleaned], and a lot of things will have to be thrown out.” The restaurant, tavern and café remained closed Monday, as crews from several fire res-
See FIRE, Page A-11
White Oak studies added to 2016 budget
Pepco tree work is by the book New state regulations require more aggressive management
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BY
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KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
On a cold, clear February morning, arborist Emily Fricke wore a hard hat and walked down Charles Road in Silver Spring, looking up at the trees. A geographic information system-enabled tablet was strapped to her hand. On her back was a pack with utility handouts, a can of blue spray paint •Tree-cutting for marking trees for removal and a GPS anstandards tenna. •Residents At each tree, Fricke battle utility stopped, put a marker n Online on her tablet and considered the tree’s age, species, condition and how close its branches are to Pepco’s power lines. Fricke is one of 17 utility arborists paid to walk Pepco’s lines, plotting the location of trees and determining which should be trimmed, removed or left alone.
See TREE, Page A-11
Money covers purchase of school land seized for nonpayment of taxes BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
The Takoma Park City Council soon will start reviewing the fiscal 2016 budget, but
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Pepco contractors from Asplundh trim and remove trees along Musrove Road in Silver Spring in February.
on Monday dealt with some issues on this year’s budget, unanimously approving several modifications. The changes included increasing general fund expenses by $253,000 to cover the purchase of 2.7 acres of wooded land on the WashingtonMcLaughlin Christian School
See PROPERTY, Page A-11
Volume 28, No. 9, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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Studies for transportation improvements in White Oak are among new recommendations for the Silver Spring area in Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett’s proposed fiscal 2016 budget. Since releasing the capital budget in January, Leggett has reviewed items in more detail and is recommending adjustments, he wrote in a memo to the County Council last week. Leggett budgeted $200,000 for the White Oak studies — $100,000 for fiscal 2015 and $100,000 for fiscal 2016. The studies will review what is needed to improve roads, interchanges, sidewalks and bike-
ways, with cost estimates, and also fund a traffic analysis for planned development in the area. Last year, the council passed a new master plan for White Oak, which officials hope will spur town center-type projects, particularly on a 300-acre site near the U.S. Food and Drug Administration headquarters on New Hampshire Avenue. That area also could include the relocation of Washington Adventist Hospital from Takoma Park. “The results of these studies will facilitate the development of a strategy for funding the necessary improvements,” Leggett wrote. The fiscal 2016 budget includes $4.6 million to start construction of a new 14,000-square-foot Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center in that northern Silver Spring community this summer. The
See BUDGET, Page A-11
County could see more state funding n
Education, human services among cuts that General Assembly has overturned BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
As Maryland’s General Assembly enters the final weeks of session, movement in Annapolis is swinging some funding back in Montgomery County’s favor. Lawmakers are poised to pass a budget that restores about $25.5 million of
what Montgomery County Public Schools was expecting, most of it through the Geographic Cost of Education Index. As proposed, Gov. Larry Hogan’s budget cut the index — a supplemental funding system for counties where education costs are higher — in half. Lawmakers have restored it to full funding. For Montgomery County, that means about $17 million more for education. “We have worked hard on all of this,” said Sen. Nancy J. King, chairwoman of the county’s Senate delegation. “We’ve put back just about everything for education.” Other changes by the General Assembly
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KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified A&E Opinion Sports
Includes money for Good Hope recreation center, libraries, senior housing BY
Takoma Park OKs $253K for property n
PHOTO BY JERRY A. MCCOY/SILVER SPRING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
An electrical failure is suspected of starting Thursday’s fire that gutted the Bombay Gaylord restaurant on the corner of Georgia Avenue and Bonifant Street in Silver Spring. Fire officials closed the restaurant and the Quarry House Tavern beneath it while repairs are made.
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restores about $8.5 million more for county education, said Larry Bowers, the interim superintendent of county schools. If the district gets the $25 million, Bowers said, it could restore some positions that were not allocated to schools for the next academic year. However, there are still areas where the county’s priorities remain uncertain. Led by King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village, county lawmakers sponsored two bills aimed at increasing the amount of money Montgomery County receives for
See FUNDING, Page A-11