New ped path bisects South Silver Spring block

By Jennifer Deseo | Dec 23, 2009
Photo: Evan Glass, of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, speaks at the opening of Bottleworks Lane. Courtesy of Jason Gedeik.

Photo: Evan Glass, of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, speaks at the opening of Bottleworks Lane. Courtesy of Jason Gedeik.

County officials and residents last Friday celebrated the opening of a new roadway and pedestrian path connecting two South Silver Spring streets.

“We’ve hit the trifecta,” MoCo council prez-elect Nancy Floreen (D-At large) said of the newly constructed Bottleworks Lane. The one-way, southbound street connecting East-West Highway and Kennett Street “improves pedestrian safety, promotes business and helps to make Silver Spring a generally great place to live.” she said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Other big wigs at the ceremony included MoCo exec Ike Leggett (D), US Rep Chris Van Hollen (D-Md 8), and State Sen Jamie Raskin (D-20). “Southside Evan” Glass, friend of The Penguin and president of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, and Reemberto Rodriguez, director of Silver Spring’s regional center, were also there. (more…)

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South Silver Spring project shrinks its garage

By Jennifer Deseo | Dec 14, 2009
Image: The Galaxy project site (red) and its neighbor, The Aurora condos. Courtesy of MNCPPC.

Image: The Galaxy project site (red) and its neighbor, The Aurora condos. Courtesy of MNCPPC.

UPDATE — A development project planned for Eastern Avenue will offer less parking to future South Silver Spring residents, the county’s planning board decided. What’s unclear is how the decision will affect current South Silver Spring residents.

In a unanimous Dec 3 vote, the planning board agreed to shrink residential parking at the proposed Galaxy development project from a previously approved 257 spaces to 191 spaces, or 66 fewer parking slots. Chalk up the change to “current market conditions,” planning board documents stated.

The two buildings that comprise the project will plant a combined 241 units onto Eastern Avenue at 13th Street, planning department documents read. Do a little math, and that means 50 units must go without the matching personal parking spots.

But developer RST also offered parking at The Galaxy to residents of the adjacent Aurora building, which it rehabbed from vacant office space to 145 condominium units in 2005. (more…)

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South Silver Spring coffee house to close

By Jennifer Deseo | Dec 10, 2009
Courtesy of Flickr user UltimateLibrarian.

Photo: Customers at Mayorga's South Silver Spring coffee house. Courtesy of Flickr user UltimateLibrarian.

The Mayorga Coffee Co. is closing its Georgia Avenue coffee house, according to a press statement on the company’s website.

“Sustainability is such a vital part of everything we do, but the ultimate sustainability is being able to thrive and succeed as a business,” Martin Mayorga, president of the Rockville-based company, announced Wednesday. “Sadly, that is no longer a reality for that location.”

In other words, the store couldn’t turn a profit, said Barry Soorenko, who leases the 6,200 square-foot space along South Silver Spring’s Arts Alley to Mayorga. The coffee company is still obligated to pay $30 per square foot in rent to Soorenko each month, or at least until a new tenant is found, he said.

In the end, it was cheaper for Mayorga to pay rent on a vacant space than it was to keep the coffee house in operation, Soorenko said. (more…)

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Gratuitous Shot

By Jennifer Deseo | Nov 9, 2009
Copyright (c) 2009 by Flickr user Erin_M.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Erin McCann. Republished with permission.

Local photog Erin McCann was running around backstage at Montgomery College’s performing arts center Saturday night when she snapped this photo of young performers waiting for their moment in the spotlight.

“They were being led from a staging area across the hall to another off-stage hall, and then through the door to the stage,” she said of the girls, who were performing a bhangra-based salute to Bollywood. “This was taken right before they went through that door.”

With one click of her camera, McCann captured the apprehension, anxiety and delirium that percolates behind the curtain. She expects to post more backstage pics to her Flickr photostream next week.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Erin McCann. Reprinted with permission.

Updated Nov 9, 2009, to add Erin’s last name to the attribution and copyright. — JD

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Halloween goes to the dogs outside Blair Mill apartment building

By Jennifer Deseo | Nov 2, 2009
Photo: Somebody give these guys a cookie! Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: Somebody give these guys a cookie! Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Saturday’s soggy weather may have kept trick-or-treaters inside, but it didn’t stop one costumed crew from frolicking outdoors.

That afternoon, the prospect of fresh air was enough to draw doggies (and their owners) to a small dog park outside The Blairs apartment complex off East-West Highway. The trio of pugs, one Westie, a dachshund and a larger mixed-breed dog played dumb to the mud and cars cruising an adjacent supermarket parking lot.

Moreover, they didn’t seem to care how they looked. The bouncing appendages of a bee costume didn’t bother the Westie. The fluttering black cape of the dachshund’s vampire suit was no big deal. A black pug named Pumperknickle ignored the flap of his oversized angel’s wings.

All that mattered to them was the open (albeit gated) space, and the chance to chase their own and each other’s tails. Of course, the biscuits offered by one apartment manager didn’t hurt, either.

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images.

Photos by J. Deseo/SSP.

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Dining: Mayorga Coffee Factory

By Jennifer Deseo | Oct 8, 2009
Photo: A little bit of everything from Mayorgas brunch buffet. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

Photo: A little bit of everything from Mayorga's brunch buffet. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.

REVIEW — If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then where does brunch fit into that equation? That bizarro hybrid of morning carbs and midday protein gives the meal some significance, but just how much?

At Mayorga Coffee’s $13 Sunday buffet, brunch ranks in importance somewhere between that second cup of coffee you really didn’t need, and the stale donut you really didn’t want. Yep, it’s that bad. (more…)

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