The Silver Spring Penguin

Clear your CrackBerries and keep the aspirin handy. This week’s schedule could leave you reeling on the floor, begging for mercy.

Monday

11:00 a.m. The county’s planners present an overview of the Purple Line light-rail project. The meeting hits planning board HQ (8787 Georgia Ave) and is open to the public.

2:00 p.m. The county council’s health and human services committee discusses the possibility of slapping nutritional information on menus at restaurant chains. A federal court knocked down a similar law in New York, saying that federal law already had the issue covered.

The same committee also looks into a bill prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. The open meetings go down in Rockville.

7:00 p.m. Silver Spring’s neighborhoods committee discusses, among other things, that wailing freight-train horn. The meeting drops at the Silver Spring Regional Center (8435 Georgia Ave) and is open to the public.

Tuesday

7:00 p.m. The Long Branch advisory committee talks about all things Long Branch at — where else — the Long Branch Community Center (8700 Piney Branch Rd). The monthly meeting is open to the public.
7:00 p.m. Mike Madden, of the state transit administration, talks about possible Purple Line routes through East Silver Spring. Hit it at Oakview Elementary School (400 E Wayne Ave).

7:30 p.m. The county executive’s African American advisory group attempts to identify issues in the black community. The deal goes down at Montgomery College (7600 Takoma Ave) and is open to the public.

7:30 p.m. The Friends of the Library Book Club discusses Orhan Pamuk’s “Snow”. The free chat goes down at the Silver Spring Public Library (8901 Colesville Rd).

Wednesday

7:30 p.m. Silver Spring’s commercial and economic development committee meets at the Silver Spring Regional Center (8435 Georgia Ave). The meeting is open to the public.

Thursday

9:00 a.m. The planning board hears about minor tweaks to the residential project proposed for Georgia and Burlington avenues. The former Dry Cleaning Institute, a Spanish mission-styled brick building, currently occupies the site.

Also during the morning session, developers of the Bonifant Plaza and Falkland North projects request extensions on their project plan reviews. Bonifant Plaza’s developers need time to iron out vehicular-access and amenity-space issues on the Bonifant Street site, just east of Georgia Avenue. At Falkland North, the issue is whether existing buildings on the site should receive protection as historic structures.

After lunch, the planning board holds a closed session with its legal team to hash out a nonbinding agreement on Silver Place. The project would create housing, retail and a new planning board HQ on Georgia Avenue and Spring Street.

3:30 p.m. Silver Spring’s urban district advisory committee hooks up at Discovery Communications (1 Discovery Pl). The meeting is open to the public, so check out the dinosaurs in the lobby.

7:00 p.m. The county’s department of environmental protection hosts two 30-minute workshops — at 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. — on its clean-energy program. Learn how to screw in an energy-efficient light bulb at Whole Foods Market (833 Wayne Ave). The workshops are free, but participants must register at the information desk.