ONE ACT AND DONE Silver Spring Stage launches annual festival. A-5
The Gazette
A&E: Former Silver Spring resident brings on end of world in “Ninja Apocalypse.” A-11
SPORTS: Springbrook coach who won three straight boys basketball titles retires. B-1
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, August 6, 2014
25 cents
Work starts on transit center flaws
‘Country in the Air’
Unofficial posters placed on fence around Silver Spring site taken down n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
“Foulger-Pratt” and “Pedestrians Ahead” signs remain on the fence surrounding the area where the main remediation work on defects with beams and girders at the Silver Spring Transit Center is expected to start this week. Unauthorized protest signs reading “Move the fence? Let’s use this space” that appeared on the fence recently have been taken down. Workers have been doing preparatory work for remediation fixes the past few months. The posters, about 3 feet high by 6 feet long, were placed along the fence that surrounds the transit center near Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue. Dan Reed, an urban planner and designer who lives near downtown Silver Spring, said he spoke with the unofficial poster hangers for his blog, “Just Up the Pike,” posting photos of the signs on the fence.
See TRANSIT, Page A-7
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Leah McLean and Patrick O’Hanlon, both of Silver Spring, will be a princess and a prince at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair.
County fair kicks off 66th annual run Rides, 4-H exhibits and wild performances to entertain the masses n
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Have you ever wanted to watch a calf being born, see two monster trucks do a simultaneous back flip or witness the crowning of a king and queen? You’ll have Go online for the chance complete fair when the coverage Montgomn www.gazette.net ery County Agricultural Fair returns to Gaithersburg this week. Featuring a “Country in the Air” theme, the fair will begin its 66th annual run at 3 p.m. Friday, giving attendees the opportunity to enjoy hundreds of activities, exhibits and
experiences. The fair, open from 10 a.m. to midnight through Aug. 16, will be held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 16 Chestnut St. in Gaithersburg. Admission is $10 per person; children 11 and younger are admitted free. Those who have their hand stamped at the gate before leaving can re-enter the fair for free on the same day. On-site parking is $10, cash only. More than 200,000 people are expected to visit this year, said Martin Svrcek, the fair’s executive director. A mix of traditional fair staples — like carnival rides and 4-H exhibitors — and exciting new additions will greet families and groups each night. The Winery at Olney will make a splash at the fair scene this year as a first-time vendor, offering wine
See FAIR, Page A-9
Royalty at the fair Silver Spring residents competing to become the next queen and king n
BY
ALINE BARROS STAFF WRITER
There will be a royal competition at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. Leah McLean and Patrick O’Hanlon, representing Silver Spring, will be among the 10 princesses and princes in the 2014 Fair Royal Court. Leah, 15, is a Montgomery Blair High School student. Patrick, 15, is home-schooled. Both students are gold medal recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Award and mem-
bers of Montgomery County’s 4-H program, a youth development organization. According to the fair, to become part of the royal court, a candidate must be 14 to 18 years old and a member of one of the following organizations: Montgomery County 4-H, the Montgomery County Agricultural Organization, or a Montgomery County Agricultural Center volunteer. The remaining eight members of the royal court are from Damascus, Germantown, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Clarksburg, and Olney. The fair coronation is on Sunday after a 5 p.m. parade.
See ROYALTY, Page A-9
Transit union buys former labor college site ATU plans to train workers but not confer degrees at Silver Spring property n
BY
KEVIN JAMES SHAY STAFF WRITER
The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents bus drivers, light rail operators and other transit workers, has purchased the 46-acre campus of the National Labor College in Silver Spring for $31.4 million and plans to move its
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Opinion Sports
NEWS B-11 A-2 B-7 A-11 A-10 B-1
headquarters there from Washington, D.C., officials said on Thursday. ATU will not confer degrees as the labor college did, but will focus on training labor leaders and workers in community organizing and other skills on the campus, said ATU International President Larry Hanley. The union — which was founded in 1892 and has more than 190,000 members across the U.S. and Canada — will spend a few months doing some renovations before moving about 50 employees to the campus, he said.
NO PEER PRESSURE
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County has months to lock in right of way n
Nonprofit still on verge of losing space at Silver Spring library BY
ALINE BARROS STAFF WRITER
“We want to train labor workers from all over,” Hanley said. “Our initial focus will be on our members, but we plan to make the facilities open to other unions and progressive groups.” The AFL-CIO-affiliated college, which dates to the 1970s, closed in April due to financial difficulties. Officials last December reached a tentative agreement to sell the campus to Washington, D.C., real estate development firm Monument Realty. But that was not finalized, as officials said
A dispute between the county and a nonprofit about the right of way needed for the Silver Spring Transit Center will not be resolved until December. The county wants the right of way from Pyramid Atlantic’s property, a nonprofit arts center at Georgia Avenue and Ripley Street in Silver Spring. The nonprofit would lease 15,500 square feet on the new Silver Spring Library’s ground floor. In exchange, the nonprofit would offer free art classes to county residents. That deal, however, hinged on the transfer of a right of way that Pyramid Atlantic owned on its
See SITE, Page A-7
See RIGHT OF WAY, Page A-7
Montgomery Blair High School students help new immigrant classmates learn English.
A-3
KEVIN SHAY/THE GAZETTE
A “pedestrians ahead” sign remains on the fence surrounding the under-construction Silver Spring Transit Center. Some protest signs reading “Move the fence? Let’s use this space” that appeared on the fence recently have been taken down.
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