SUMMER of THE
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SUPERHEROES
The season assembles with Free Comic Book Day, box office blockbusters and local guy-turnedterminator J. August Richards as the cyborg Deathlok in “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
The Gazette SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | BURTONSVILLE
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
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Wednesday, April 30, 2014
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Residents question bus rapid transit Officials say it’s ‘too early’ to have all the answers n
BY
ALINE BARROS STAFF WRITER
Questions about the proposed Montgomery County bus rapid transit system have come up in community meetings in Silver Spring. Residents have asked about rights of way and station locations. They want to know about the affects on businesses at Woodmoor Shopping center and on nearby residents in the Four Corners area of Silver Spring, close to the proposed routes along U.S. 29 and University Boulevard. But county and state officials
said it’s “too early” in process to have all of the answers. Tom Street, a special assistant to the county executive, said there is going to be two or three years of preliminary and planning study on the BRT to move forward. At a Silver Spring Advisory Board meeting on early April, Street said, “Now, this is the official process,” as opposed to previous discussion about station locations or construction planning that was presented to residents during community meetings. Street said there’s still a long way before construction and a process to be followed to have the most accurate answers. “It is a very complex network. ... We are in the very early
See TRANSIT, Page A-11
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Silver Spring resident Dan Reed is pictured outside the Paul S. Sarbanes Silver Spring Transit Center.
WAITING ON THE
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WEATHER
Concrete work on transit center will start when it’s warm; new report released BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
Every weekday, Dan Reed walks past the chain-length fence that encloses the under-construction Silver Spring Transit Center on his way to and from work. Like many area residents, he wonders
when the $119 million project finally will be done. Officials have set opening dates and delayed them several times after inspectors found structural cracks in the concrete that signified a safety hazard in 2010, when cost estimates were about $95 million. “It’s not only an inconvenience for travelers, but an embarrassment for Silver Spring and the county,” said Reed, an urban planner and designer who lives near downtown Silver Spring. “It sends a message to anyone considering moving to Silver Spring or locating their business here
that this area will be hard to access and that the county isn’t able to finish what it’s started.” Workers are waiting until there are several consecutive days of warmer temperatures to perform concrete overlays on two levels, Patrick Lacefield, a spokesman for Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), said Tuesday. Temperatures dipped into the low 40s early Monday morning. Once the project can be started, it will
RAPHAEL TALISMAN/FOR THE GAZETTE
One of the new illuminated mosaic address plaques at Carroll Avenue Quebec Terrace of Silver Spring, unveiled at the Lighting the Way Home ceremony on Thursday evening.
Arts on the block:
Celebrating youth and lighting their homes
See WEATHER, Page A-11
Two stages added to this year’s Taste the World Event organizers mix ‘music, fun and food’
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BY
ALINE BARROS STAFF WRITER
Restaurant crawlers can sample food from 30 restaurants at the fourth annual Taste the World in Fenton Village in downtown Silver Spring on Saturday. The free event will showcase the diversity of family owned restaurants. Attendees can taste French, Greek, Ethiopian, Italian and American cuisine, among others. The event also will have two entertainment stages where local musicians and art-
ists will perform. Event organizers said the idea is to mix “music, fun and food.” The main stage will be at the Fenton Street Village Parking Lot and the second stage at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Sligo Avenue. According to John Leonard, a volunteer at the event, Fenton Village is a story of the overall economy and the challenges of running small businesses, but also the determination of family-owned businesses to survive in Silver Spring. Leonard said the event is possible because of more than 30 volunteers who give their time. “It is all volunteering power. The vol-
unteers get the banners up [and] get the stage ready. ... They are lifting boxes, and setting up tables. ... Everything has to be put up and everything has to be put out,” Leonard said. The main boundaries for the event are Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue, Georgia Avenue and Sligo Avenue. Attendees will start out by picking up a free “passport” at the main stage at Parking Lot 3 off Fenton Street, between Thayer and Silver Spring avenues. Or they can start at the entertainment stage at the corner of Georgia and Sligo avenues. For $2 to $5, attendees can sample
SPORTS
Takoma Park House & Garden Tour takes place on Sunday.
More advanced high school softball pitchers face increased injury risk.
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NATURAL OR UNNATURAL MOTION?
Automotive Calendar Celebrations Classified Entertainment Opinion School News Sports Please
ALINE BARROS STAFF WRITER
It was an afternoon of colorful balloons and children playing musical instruments and showing their drawings. The celebration on Thurday was for new illuminated mosaic address plaques at the Long Branch Community Center of Carroll Avenue Quebec Terrace in Silver Spring. Children from middle- to
See TASTE, Page A-11
NEWS
‘SPIRIT OF HOLLY AVENUE’
Students help redevelop a low-income, high-crime community
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high-school age got to “brand” the community with colorful patterned mosaics that serve as house numbers for each building in the neighborhood. The project and Lighting the Way Home ceremony came about through Common Ground, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the YMCA Youth and Family Services, Gandhi Brigade, Imagination Stage, and Arts on the Block. Officials said the group of middle- and high-school students are playing a critical role in the redevelopment of their own
See ARTS, Page A-11
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