Georgia Avenue improvements hinge on economy, access

By Jennifer Deseo | Feb 3, 2009

One of downtown Silver Spring’s main drags is feeling the pinch of a crappy economy, and taking lumps for being hard on the body.

Businesses along the east side of Georgia Avenue — at least the stretch south of Wayne Avenue — aren’t jumping at the opportunity to pimp out their store fronts under a county-run program, Rick Nelson, director of the department of housing and community affairs, told county council members last Tuesday. Blame the recession, he said.

“Unfortunately, the economy has entered in to the picture,” Nelson told the council’s economic-development committee. “Facade easements require some contribution from the business, but if they don’t have the dollars, then it’s not going to happen soon.”

A couple of businesses in Fenton Village and South Silver Spring have participated in the program since it got cooking in the early 1990s, with the goal of making the street fronts (and businesses) more inviting to pedestrians. But these days, discussions to get more businesses on board haven’t been productive, Nelson said.

Another issue facing Georgia Avenue improvements are the red-brick pavers that make up the sidewalk. Pavers on the avenue’s east side were supposed to be replaced with new brick last fall, but the county’s commission on people with disabilities argued that brick didn’t work for every body

“Any kind of bumpy surface puts a wear and tear on people’s bodies, a little more so on people with disabilities,” Cindy Buddington, the commission’s chair, told the council committee. “If you have a balance problem, it’s tougher to keep your wheelchair or walker in balance.” 

The county’s housing and community affairs department is reworking the $137,000 project with a consultant. The goal is to engineer a tighter fit for the bricks, and to replace the sand beneath them with concrete, according to a committee memo. However, the commission on people with disabilities would rather have straight-up concrete for a sidewalk.

The consultant’s findings on how to improve the sidewalk drops in the spring.

Photo of Georgia Avenue courtesy of Flickr user Katmere.

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PenguinTV: The Blair Mill Project, part 2

By Jennifer Deseo | Jan 5, 2009

Penguin photog Ron Pace and I thought it would be interesting to get an evening perspective of Blair Mill Road near East-West Highway. This footage was recorded last week.

The best part: My narration accurately identifies Blair Mill Road, which was erroneously tagged as Newell Street in this video’s prequel.

This video is available from The Penguin’s YouTube page.

Photo of Blair Mill Road by J. Deseo/SSP.

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PenguinTV: Where the sidewalk ends

By Jennifer Deseo | Dec 30, 2008

This video was taken on Dec 25, 2008, as I walked along Blair Mill Road in South Silver Spring.

For some reason, I persistently referred to the roadway as Newell Street in my narration. (Too much egg nog the night before.) However, this footage is definitely of Blair Mill Road.

This video is also available from The Penguin’s YouTube page.

Video photography by J. Deseo/SSP. Lead photo of a Boston sidewalk by Flickr user Frankh

Update: The video now rolls from YouTube. — JD (Dec 30, 2008)

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Sidewalk gods giveth, taketh away in South Silver Spring

By Jennifer Deseo | Dec 4, 2008

Just when the northeast side of East-West Highway reopens itself to pedestrians, two more South Silver Spring sidewalks shut down for construction.

At Blair Mill Road near East-West Highway, sidewalks on both sides of the street have been erased from the map. On the west side, cement trucks and rebar sit behind a jersey barrier separating the narrow roadway from a residential construction site. And on the east side, crews are tearing up what used to be a covered pedestrian path to install underground utilities near another residential construction site.

Temporary pedestrian paths have not been set up on either side of Blair Mill Road.

Then, on the east side of Georgia Avenue between King Street and Burlington Avenue, crews have obliterated a sidewalk in front of Montgomery College’s future performing arts center, leaving a squishy path of fine gravel and mud. Next to a driveway leading to the college, a sign (below) points out the obvious: “Sidewalk closed.”

Originally, the sign directed pedestrians to access the sidewalk on Georgia’s west side by crossing Georgia at King. That intersection has no traffic light or crosswalk, and is near the site where one driver struck and killed a jaywalker earlier this year. As of Wednesday morning, the sign’s suggestion had been covered with silver duct tape, and pedestrians navigated the gravel path while negotiating space with heavy machinery.

The sidewalk closures come about one month after a long stretch of East-West Highway had reopened to pedestrians (below). That sidewalk had been closed for almost two years during construction of The Veridian apartment building.

It’s unclear when sidewalk construction on Blair Mill Road or Georgia Avenue will be completed, or if temporary pedestrian paths will be built.

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Transit center stalls ped-safety study

By Jennifer Deseo | Sep 16, 2008

Two of downtown Silver Spring’s big roadways will go through the pedestrian-safety wringer — when construction of the transit center wraps in two years, a transportation official said Monday night.

“The problem we have with Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue is that this whole area is about to go under construction for the Silver Spring Transit Center,” Jeff Dunckel, pedestrian-safety coordinator with the county’s transportation department, told Silver Spring’s transportation, pedestrian safety and neighborhoods (transpedhood) committee.

Construction at the transit-center site on Colesville and Wayne Avenue will reroute cars, buses and people. And that makes it tough to gauge how people and cars normally interact in that area, Dunckel explained.

Both streets were identified in the county’s pedestrian-safety initiative as accident hot spots, along with Piney Branch Road in the Long Branch area, and further up Georgia in Wheaton. Earlier this month, MoCo exec Ike Leggett christened ped-safety studies in Long Branch and Wheaton but didn’t kick it in downtown Silver Spring.

Also missing out on the ped-safety studies are roadways in the central business district’s west end, where the Falkland Chase, Blairs, Lenox Park and Summit Hills apartments rock. (Technically, Summit Hills is outside the central business district, but I’ll holler at ‘em.) However, spots like East-West Highway at 16th Street could get some study love in two or three years, Dunckel said.

Other downtown spots away from the transit-center site — like the stretch of Colesville between Fenton and Spring Streets, and the intersection of Georgia and Spring Street — could be studied early next year. That’s if the ped-safety initiative gets the full $8.5 million backing out of this fiscal year’s budget, Dunckel said.

The county council has already put up $2 million, and $4.8 million could stream from revenues generated every time a red-light or speed camera snaps my picture, Ben Stutz, legislative analyst for council member Valerie Ervin (D-District 5), spelled out. That would leave a $1.7 million gap in the ped-safety initiative’s budget, one that could be whittled down with revised cost predictions, Stutz added.

The initiative’s full budget proposal drops in late October, Dunckel said.

Photo: A temporary pedestrian detour on Colesville Road last summer didn’t exactly work as planned. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

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Stump the Penguin

By Jennifer Deseo | Sep 11, 2008

Dear Penguin

I’ve nearly run over the same guy four different times as he walked down the middle of Georgia Avenue. He may have been drunk, and he was definitely weaving his way along (not across) lanes of traffic.

At the time, I wondered if it would be appropriate to call 911 to alert the police, for the man’s safety and for those of drivers on the road. What do the police recommend? If it was the Beltway, I’d call for sure. But what if the pedestrian was just some jerk jaywalking down Georgia?

Farrah’s Angel

Dear Farrah’s Angel

Thanks for your excellent question. This drunk jaywalker weaving through Georgia Avenue traffic sounds like the long-lost Penguin intern. We sent him on a coffee run last summer and haven’t seen him since. He’s actually developed cult status in The Penguin newsroom, sort of a Sasquatch of Silver Spring.

But is his staggering ass worth the call to 911? Personally, I would call animal control and maybe TMZ, but what do I know? So I bounced your question to Sgt Tom Harmon, who keeps cars and peds in check for the PD’s third district.

His advice: Don’t bother. By the time you reach for your cell phone, and long before squad cars respond to your call, that jaywalker will likely be on his way. Besides, most jaywalkers in downtown Silver Spring manage to do their thang safely and without incident, Harmon said.

But if this chronic jaywalker appears drunk or strung out, then a call to the station house could help, Harmon said. The PD might not rush to the scene, but at least officers (who often are familiar with the neighborhood’s characters) can educate them of the perils of dodging through traffic.

Drive safely, and honk if you spot our intern.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Deseo
Editor, The Silver Spring Penguin

Lead photo courtesy of Flickr user Boolean Split.

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