Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.
The Penguin newsroom is officially on sinkhole watch!
This bad boy (right) appeared about a week ago near the southeast corner of Colesville Road and East-West Highway. At the time, it was just a pin-prick hole through the brick sidewalk. Subsequent rains turned it into a gaping crevasse decked with four cones and caution tape.
Who’s responsible for fixing the thing is unclear. Both Colesville and East-West Highway are state roads. The adjacent building is rented by NOAA, a federal agency. The southeast entrance to Silver Spring’s Metro station is a few feet away. And it was the county’s idea to use brick pavers to begin with.
Whatever. The Penguin newsroom staff is keeping its collective eye on this thing, in anticipation that it swallows a Columbia-bound commuter bus one of these days. In the meantime, here’s what’s cooking in Silver Spring:
Monday
7:00 p.m. Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board holds its monthly meeting at the Silver Spring library (8901 Colesville Rd). This event is free and open to the public.
7:30 p.m. The planning board reviews its 2009 highway mobility report, which examined traffic conditions throughout the county. This free event takes place at the planning board’s auditorium (8787 Georgia Ave) and is open to the public.
Tuesday
10:55 a.m. The county council receives a request from MoCo exec Ike Leggett to amend Silver Spring’s urban-renewal plan, which will allow a pedestrian bridge to be constructed between the Wayne Avenue garage and downtown’s new library. This free event takes place at the council’s office building (100 Maryland Ave, Rockville), third floor, and is open to the public.
1:30 p.m. The county council receives public testimony on whether $2.9 million should be spent to expand the county’s speed-camera program. This free event takes place at the council’s office building (100 Maryland Ave, Rockville), third floor, and is open to the public.
7:30 p.m. Mike Madden, project manager with the state transit administration, discusses the results of a recent study into whether the Purple Line mass-transit project can be tunneled beneath downtown Silver Spring. This free event takes place at the Silver Spring Center (8818 Georgia Ave) and is open to the public.
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the meeting to amend the urban renewal plan seems to be scheduled inconveniently. 10:55 pm is already well past my bedtime. Perhaps Ike Leggett and the council hope that no one will show up so late to oppose the proposal.
Editor’s note: Oops! That would be at 10:55 in the AM. Will fix. — JD (Jun 8, 2009)
About that sinkhole, this morning I passed a crew armed with jackhammers. They very politely let me pass before letting the brick dust fly. So hopefully the sinkholes are being fixed. I returned from the Blair shops via the mid-block crosswalk, to avoid interrupting these productive guys.
Editor’s note: Thanks for the update! — JD (Jun 9, 2009)