Silver Spring Jazz Festival

See a Jazz Festival Slideshow here

For families, jazz fest gets them into the swing of things - Gazette

Fifth annual event draws more than 25,000 to downtown Silver Spring for a day of music

by Jeremy Arias | Staff Writer

Yaniv Yassour stared intently at the stage Saturday afternoon as the announcer prepared to unveil the winners of the 2008 Silver Spring Jazz Festival's High School Youth Cutting Contest.

Young musicians from James Hubert Blake, Albert Einstein high schools and the independent Jazz Academy of Silver Spring all waited expectantly in downtown Silver Spring as their band leaders fidgeted behind the announcer onstage.

"And the winner is … the Jazz Academy!"

Yassour, a Silver Spring resident for the last seven years, broke into a delighted smile and joined the spectators in applauding the victors, among them his 14-year-old son, Itai, a trumpet player who performed a solo earlier in the competition.

Yassour, an Israeli by birth, said jazz has played an important role in his family: he is a saxophonist and his daughter plays the piano. His wife, a former flautist, makes sure they all practice.

"It's a good way to get the family together and spend some quality time going to other venues and seeing other performers," he said. While Yassour said he is no professional, music still has a unifying impact on the family. "It's just a hobby; it's fun to play with the kids."

Families, musical or not, were not hard to find. Whether it was the joy of watching a loved one perform, the music, or the opportunity to get out for one of the area's biggest outdoor events, the fifth-annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival drew more than the usual 25,000 according to spokeswoman Susan Hoffmann.

Families danced and played, stretched out on blankets and lawn chairs and met up with friends to browse the food vendors near the front of the venue, all to the smooth, rhythmic backdrop of one of America's most treasured musical styles.

"It went all the way back to the tents," Hoffmann said of the crowd. At first she was afraid that the event's new location would hamper attendance. "There was a significant increase right before Marcus Johnson went on; people tend to come for the last few acts."

Marcy and Dexter Gaines of College Park brought their children, 7-year-old Maya and 2-year-old Devin, to the event. It is the family's first time at the daylong concert that featured headliner The Mingus Big Band of New York.

"We thought it seemed like a fun event to bring the family to," Dexter said as Devin bounced up and down to the music of Washington, D.C., resident Gail Shipp onstage.

"It's just beautiful weather," Marcy added. "We'll probably come back if we see it again."

Hoffmann mentioned the major draws for families included the typically child-friendly atmosphere along with the big headline events for parents and adults.

"People know that their kids will be safe; it'll be a non-alcohol, non-smoking environment, the lyrics won't be offense and it'll just be a good performance of very talented performers," she said. "It's hard to describe the sound of a 14-piece jazz orchestra playing the work of Charley Mingus … it was just sensational, the crowd went wild, and Marcus Johnson was also probably the best I've ever heard him."

David Schneider and Rhona Campbell of Silver Spring have attended the festival for the last three years, this time with daughters Anastasia and 7-month-old Nora. The jazz tunes were a welcome change to the kid's music they've been listening to for so long, Schneider said.

"Both our kids like music so this is a good opportunity to get out of the house, and we're also trying to teach them what some of the instruments sound like," he said, adding that a future in music was not out of the question for the girls. "Maybe they'll advance to banging pots and pans together soon!"

"We go to almost everything that's available for outdoor entertainment in the area," Campbell added, emphasizing the value of getting out and about with the family.

Pedestrian Safety Efforts Move Along in Montgomery - Washington Post

Sunday, September 14, 2008; C02

Montgomery County this month highlighted initiatives that are part of its long- term program to improve pedestrian safety. On the way to one of those announcements, County Executive Isiah Leggett said, he witnessed the aftermath of the county's latest pedestrian injury. So far this year, 13 pedestrians have been killed in Montgomery. Last year, 17 died.

In December 2007, Leggett launched the pedestrian safety initiative and pledged that Montgomery would become a "truly walkable community."

· Theory: The program, which involves $4.8 million in new spending annually, takes seven approaches to achieving that goal. The county will identify "high incidence areas" (zones with the most frequent pedestrian collisions) and give them special attention; assess the county's network of sidewalks and crossings and improve it; generally increase attention to pedestrians and bicyclists in the county's planning process; identify sites that need intersection modifications and traffic calming programs; upgrade pedestrian signals; enhance street lighting; and use both education and enforcement to improve the behavior of pedestrians and drivers.

· Practice: The set of announcements this month advances some of the engineering, education and enforcement strategies.

Besides spotlighting programs on Arcola Avenue and Piney Branch Road, Leggett announced that starting in July, he would fully fund the pedestrian safety initiative with revenue from the county's speed camera enforcement program.

The county also launched an education effort aimed at reducing pedestrian injuries and deaths among immigrants who don't speak English well, one of the groups at highest risk of injury. A safety video called "Walk Safe" will be distributed to English-as-a-second-language teachers at Montgomery College and in public schools as well as to nonprofit groups, churches and employers that provide English language instruction.

· Measures of Success: These are a few things the county says people should see. Once the improvements are made at high-incidence areas, pedestrian collisions should decline by 20 percent and average speeds should decline. There should be at least 10.5 miles of new sidewalks each year. The timing of pedestrian signals should be reviewed and updated at a rate of 250 a year. (Timing is being adjusted to accommodate slower walking speeds.)

Piney Branch Road

· Location: A section of the road between Flower Avenue and the Montgomery-Prince George's line. It's a congested portion of Silver Spring that includes the crowded intersection with University Boulevard.

· Problem: With 22 pedestrian collisions from 2005 through 2007, this area had the highest concentration of such incidents in Montgomery. Piney Branch and University are busy commuter routes. Drivers move fast, and there's lots of turning traffic. There's also plenty of jaywalking.

· Plan: The county designated this section a high-incidence area for pedestrian accidents and will concentrate resources there. Using a strategy similar to what the District is doing with its high-priority safety corridors, the county government will apply engineering, education and enforcement to improve safety. The state government will help, particularly at the University-Piney Branch intersection.

The county and the state will select a team of experts to develop safety measures appropriate for Piney Branch, while county police target both motorists and pedestrians who behave unsafely.

The engineering improvements could include new countdown signals, sidewalk improvements, better lighting, new signs and pavement markings, bump-outs (concrete bulges from the curb) and refuge islands. Some of that would look similar to what the county did on upper Connecticut Avenue and on Arcola Avenue.

Arcola Avenue

· Location: A section of the avenue between Kemp Mill Road and Hoyt Street in the Kemp Mill neighborhood in eastern Montgomery. Schools and religious institutions are nearby in this largely residential community.

· Problem: The avenue has long been a shortcut for drivers trying to avoid the congested intersection of University Boulevard and Georgia Avenue. Traffic is very heavy during peak periods, and most drivers were speeding when they could. The county recorded 101 crashes from 2001 to 2005. In 2006, a 14-year-old boy was killed crossing the road.

· Plan: The county has rebuilt that portion of the avenue, putting it on what engineers call a "road diet." Arcola was narrowed from four lanes to two. Concrete pedestrian refuge islands were installed in the middle of the roadway to slow traffic and reduce crossing distance for pedestrians.

Bump-outs were installed to give pedestrians a shorter crossing distance. Some bus stops were moved to safer positions. Many highly visible signs warn drivers to stop for pedestrians. The county will monitor the effect on safety, speed and congestion. Upper Connecticut Avenue received a similar treatment last year, and other streets could be targeted.

Silver Spring - Redevelopment Plan Endorsed by Board - Washington Post

Tenants in Affordable Units Worried

By Miranda S. Spivack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2008; B03

Jane Bergwin loves her screened-in porch, where she spends hours sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, soaking in a sylvan vista a few blocks from revitalized downtown Silver Spring.

It's Bergwin's second time as a tenant at the Falklands apartments, and the former lobbyist says it is as affordable and friendly as it was in the 1970s. The New Deal-era complex that once housed Roosevelt administration workers today remains a home for working families, singles and students, with easy access to the Silver Spring Metro, shopping, restaurants and theaters.

But revitalization often brings even more change. Last week, after months of study, the Montgomery County Planning Board made a decision that could upend the world of Bergwin and about 300 other residents of the Falklands' northern section.

Despite objections from preservation groups, an architectural historian and a top county planner, the Planning Board endorsed a plan allowing a developer to tear down the northern section and build upscale apartments, a retail center and some affordable units. The County Council will have the final say this fall.

The debate over the Falklands points to a dilemma faced by local governments across the Washington region. As gas prices rise, urban living becomes more attractive to residents and developers

Properties like the Falklands, for years bastions of moderately priced housing, have become more valuable because of their proximity to Metro and growing suburban downtowns. Landowners are presented with a chance to make more money by converting garden apartments into something more upscale, which can further reduce the dwindling supply of affordable housing.

Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson said he had considered for some time the tension among historic preservation, affordable housing and new development. He said the Falklands is "a remarkable project" that embodies "the ideals of the New Deal for high-quality affordable housing for workers."

In the end, he said, the best approach is to allow development, including some affordable units, on the northern parcel and to encourage historic preservation of the southern portion across East-West Highway and next to 16th Street.

At the Falklands, a two-bedroom apartment rents for about $1,450 a month. In Montgomery, the annual median household income is about $99,000. Housing prices have spiked in recent years, and county data show that residents need to earn at least $91,000 to be able to buy in the county.

"This is a case where I would much rather make sure of preserving key parts than risk losing all parts . . . and I think there is that risk," Hanson said. "It provides some real opportunities for more affordable housing next to Metro." Three other Planning Board members agreed. Board member Amy Presley was unable to attend Thursday's meeting because of a death in her family.

Had the board declared the entire complex historically significant, the action could have backfired. Although the designation can limit development, the board had no means to ensure that the Falklands would remain affordable much longer. Montgomery County has no rent control rules and has only a handful of legal tools to stem condominium conversion, which often displaces renters.

The Planning Board recommended that the development retain its historic character in the southern portion, but that does not prevent an eventual condominium conversion.

Until recently, the county's regulatory system did little to expand the stock of affordable housing, instead allowing builders to avoid requirements to construct moderately priced housing along with more expensive units. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) proposed changes in county law to begin to address the loss of affordable housing and hopes to find ways to do more. The County Council will consider the proposals this month.

At the Falklands, if all goes according to plan, the dowdy but serviceable brick buildings that Eleanor Roosevelt helped open in the 1930s will be replaced by about 1,000 apartments in a sleeker high-rise with perhaps 225 affordable units, more than required. That was part of an offer by developer Home Properties to encourage Planning Board approval of a zoning change needed to allow the company to redevelop the site.

Still, some residents say that will change the feel of the place.

"I like the sense of community here, and I don't think you get that in a high-rise," said Josh Folb, a math teacher who lives with his wife and infant son in a Falklands two-bedroom.

Nelson B. Leenhouts, the company's co-chairman, said the proposal to include extra moderately priced units would soften the blow to current tenants. The company is also helping tenants relocate. "We feel a professional sense of responsibility. This is an opportunity to create a trophy project for our company and for Montgomery County," he said.

Home Properties also has offered to rent apartments to Falklands residents at another complex in the White Oak section of Silver Spring.

A housing advocacy group, Action in Montgomery, backed the Falklands redevelopment but encouraged the company to retain affordable units.

Bergwin and other residents said they resented the effort by AIM, which they say has almost no connection to Falklands residents. "Why are they ignoring the people who are already here for people who don't exist yet?" Bergwin asked.

AIM organizer Patty Kaczmarski acknowledged the dilemma.

"We don't like displacing people," she said. "But there was no guarantee the units would remain affordable even if there was no development." With Home Properties' commitment to providing affordable units, she said, the gain eventually could offset the pain.

Neighborhoods Committee - Agenda - September 15, 2008

Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board
Neighborhoods Committee
Co-Chairs Anita Morrison and Alan Bowser
Staff Support: Mel Tull (Silver Spring Regional Services Center)
SSRC: 301-565-7300
www.silverspringneighborhoods.blogspot.com

The Neighborhoods Committee handles matters pertaining to the quality of life in neighborhoods, including, but not limited to, public safety, public health, housing, community redevelopment, education, the Arts, and the natural environment in the Region.

AGENDA

September 15, 2008, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m
Silver Spring Regional Center
8435 Georgia Avenue

7:00 Greeting and Introductions
Summary of July Neighborhoods Committee Meeting
Updates – Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza; Silver Spring Transit Center; Silver Spring Library

7:10 Public Safety Update
Lt. Eric Burnett, Montgomery County Police Department
Northwest Park/Oakview Weed & Seed Program Update
Martha Waddy

7:30 Report of the Montgomery County Code Enforcement Task Force
Tom Street, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer
Office of the Montgomery County Executive

8:15 Pedestrian Safety Initiative
Jeff Dunckel, Pedestrian Safety Coordinator
Montgomery County Department of Transportation
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/home/pdf/ped_init.pdf

8:55 Historic Preservation Update

9:00 Adjourn

Next Meeting: Monday, October 20, 2008

Subscribe to the blog at www.silverspringneighborhoods.blogspot.com

All that and a pork pie hat: Fifth annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival - Gazette

by Chris Slattery | Staff Writer

If you play it, they will come.

That's thing about good jazz. It doesn't need any crazy cornstalk field of dreams to make people decide to put their Saturday business on hold and come out with a beach chair and a blanket and a basket of supper. Good jazz – and that is what has been at the heart of the Silver Spring Jazz Festival since it began in 2003 – is enough to attract crowds that number into the tens of thousands to come to a parking lot behind an office building in a suburban city and listen to the music.

"It's the glue to the community," says Marcus Johnson, the Silver Spring musician-producer-entrepreneur who has been involved with the festival from day one – before day one, actually.

"The idea was to have a jazz festival with national and local artists," he remembers, "and to have it in the streets.

"We had such success the first year," he adds. "20, 25 thousand people coming out to see the event."

The event has many facets, he adds, but at its heart, it celebrates what it means to be a community that appreciates and values the arts.

"The Silver Spring Jazz Festival means more great, affordable – as in free! – music for the community," Johnson says. "We're keeping the vibe going so people can come out and enjoy affordable quality music."

Downtown Silver Spring is no stranger to the occasional traffic jam – but on the afternoon of the Silver Spring Jazz Festival, traffic takes on a whole new look. Colorful floats festooned with streamers bear the county's top teenage jazz musicians in a parade that's part Main Street and part Bourbon Street.

"It's a great way to showcase the talent that's right here in the southern part of the county," says Johnson. "We give back to the community through the kids."

Not that the kids don't get something out of it. Participation in the New Orleans-style Jazz Ensemble Caravan, a New Orleans-style parade of youth jazz ensembles, is strictly by invitation. And only the best can battle in the cutting competition that follows the jazz caravan. This year's junior jazz-off will be between the 2007 champion Albert Einstein High School Jazz Band, directed by Joan Rackey, and the challengers, the James Hubert Blake High School Jazz Band, directed by Brian Damron, and The Jazz Academy of Music, directed by Paul Carr.

Two songs per band — one up-tempo and one slow – and then the panel of jazz professionals and personalities decides the winner, awards the trophy and opens the festival up to the pros.

First up: Gail Shipp, a D.C. native who came back to settle with her family in Silver Spring 11 years ago – and never missed a Silver Spring Jazz Festival.

"I'd gone every year," she says, "and I always saw myself up on the stage.

"I'd see someone like Marcus Johnson perform, and I'd say, ‘Gee, I wanna be up there!"

Shipp grew up singing rhythm and blues, but at heart, she was a jazz singer.

"My parents played jazz when I was a little girl," she explains. "That's all they played: Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls, Louie Prima – all the jazz greats.

"Later, when I went into the studio to sing the engineer would stop me: ‘You're singing it too jazzy!'

"I've been down the R&B road," she adds, "but jazz suits me."

Which is why, after putting her music career on hold to raise her children, she's back to performing on stage.

"It's my time," says Shipp. Her youngest is 11, she's had a day job downtown for 16 years, but this weekend will be her chance to sing and to shine — and to set an example for others.

"This is a great opportunity for young jazz musicians to see what it takes," she says. "And I'm not just there as a spectator. I'm working, I'm watching, I'm learning."

Larger than Life

Every festival has its headliner, and on Saturday night, the Silver Spring Jazz Festival features the Mingus Big Band.

"We've done a Latin theme, Spyro Gyra. This gives us another flavor," says Johnson. "Mingus, as a bass player, was incredible; he made his bass sing.

"One of my favorites of all the jazz standards was ‘Goodbye Porkpie Hat,' he adds. "It was a tribute to Lester Young when he died."

During his career, Charles Mingus composed his share of tributes to the jazz icons he loved. His widow Sue Graham Mingus is in charge of the groundbreaking performer-composer's legacy. She's the artistic director of his band, the author of an extraordinary memoir called "Tonight at Noon: A Love Story" and the keeper of a flame that burns brightly nearly three decades after his death.

"When Charles died, he was known primarily as a virtuoso bass player and band leader," she says, "and a larger-than-life personality on stage – which he was!"

He was less thought of as a composer, she adds, "because he had this outsize personality."

Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk were mild-mannered by comparison. Mingus, born in Watts, Calif., in 1922 and coming up savvy in the pre-Civil rights era, saw no point in reining in his personality for the sake of his art. His antics – and his legendary performances – have faded from memory since his death from ALS in 1979. What remains is his music: "Over 300 compositions of enormous variety," says Sue Graham Mingus. "The music is very personal; it really covers the waterfront.

"It's not just jazz: it's drenched in the blues."

And it's increasingly popular. The original Mingus legacy band, a seven-piece ensemble, formed the year the great musician died. There's an orchestra now, and the 14-musician Mingus Big Band, which will take center stage at the Silver Spring Jazz Festival.

Sue Graham Mingus says the Mingus music is a perfect fit for a festival focused on young performers, local talent and community togetherness.

"This music has enormous energy," she says. "It really demands that individual musicians come in and play themselves, tell who they are. There are lots of open spaces."

The Mingus oeuvre of more than 300 compositions can be challenging, and rewarding, for musicians and listeners alike. The score of his orchestral masterpiece "Epitaph" is 500 pages, and there's a whole sub-genre known as "Simply Mingus" that's recommended for students. But Sue Graham Mingus wants her husband's legacy to include his sense of fun and wonder – and empathy.

"Charles appreciated the idea of risk and surprises," she says.

"That's what we associate with jazz. You take risks, and stumble sometimes, and recover. We thrive on the unpredictability and excitement."

2–3 p.m.
Jazz Caravan

3-3:45 p.m.
High School Youth Cutting Contest and Judging

3:45-4 p.m.
Award of Silver Spring Jazz Festival Trophy

4-5 p.m.
Gail Shipp – vocalist

5:15-6:15 p.m.
Samambaia Quintet – latin jazz

6:30-7:30 p.m.
Yaron Elyashiv – jazz saxophonist

7:45-8:45 p.m.
The Marcus Johnson Project – smooth jazz

9-10:30 p.m.
The Mingus Big Band

The Silver Spring Jazz Festival takes place Saturday,
2 to 10 p.m., in the parking lot behind the Lee Building,8601 Georgia Ave., at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road. Admission is free. Attendees are encouraged to use public transportation and to bring a blanket and/or beach chair.

The concert is located a few blocks from the Silver Spring Metro station. Limited parking is available in the Wayne Ave. Garage, the Town Square Garage and the garages on Bonifant Street, Cameron at Ramsey Avenue, and Cameron at Fenton Street. Call 301-565-7300 or visit www.silverspringdowntown.com.

Seniors to scramble for public housing - Gazette

More than 5,000 expected to vie for fewer than 100 coveted apartments

by Patricia M. Murret | Staff Writer | Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008

Seniors and disabled persons with severely limited incomes have high hopes, but slim shots, at landing a coveted spot in public housing in Montgomery County as housing officials prepare to accept applicants in an every-other-year process.

The Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County owns and operates about 900 units for low-income seniors and disabled persons, mostly in four high-rise apartment buildings: the Waverly House in Bethesda and Arcola Towers, Elizabeth House and Holly Hall Apartments in Silver Spring.

A waiting list opens Sept. 29 for the coveted units, many of which are occupied by longtime residents are not expected to be available anytime soon, said Les Kaplan, HOC's housing resources director.

Officials expect at least 5,000 applications for the 75 units currently available. In 2006, HOC received more than 4,000 applications for a handful of vacancies, and need has only been growing.

The "silver tsunami is rapidly approaching us as all the [baby] boomers start to turn 60," said Dr. Jay Kenney, chief of aging and disability services in the county's Department of Health and Human Services, who cited a "desperate need" for more senior affordable housing. "Eighty-and-older is the fastest growing segment of our population."

HOC's four senior and disabled apartment buildings were built in the 1970s. According to recent statistics compiled by the county's aging and disability services office, the county's senior population grew 86 percent from 49,700 in 1980 to 92,500 in 2000. It is expected to grow an additional 65 percent to 152,648 by 2020.

An affordable housing task force recently commissioned by the county executive recommended adding 80 senior housing units adjacent to the County Government Center in Rockville, but HOC and some county officials said that may not be enough.

"Nobody wants to leave their home," said Nancy Davachi, a Waverly House counselor, describing the "aging in place" syndrome that has long kept vacancies in the independent living centers at a minimum.

"Once they're in, they're in," said Kaplan. Getting in to any public housing is tough, he said. Applicants must prove that they are income-eligible and that they have no criminal background, previous evictions from a similar program or sex offenders in their families. Then they must enter the lottery system, which purges its rolls every two years. Those who get lucky as public housing residents must recertify every two years.

Tamuramotu Ashiru has lived in Bethesda's Waverly House for eight years.

"I enjoy it here, I'm happy here," said Ashiru, 71. According to HOC rules, residents must pay one-third of their incomes toward rent. Ashiru receives $637 monthly in supplemental Social Security income payments awarded to seniors, blind or disabled residents with little or no income; she pays $181 for her one-bedroom apartment.

Step into Waverly House and it's easy to imagine why few would want to leave. The 14-story high-rise on East-West Highway near Wisconsin Avenue is on a bus line that stops just steps from the building and residents walk to the nearby Metro station, churches and Bethesda's shopping district. Davachi helps senior and disabled residents coordinate personal care, nursing, transportation, shopping and other services so that they remain independent as long as possible.

"Let's face it, you get your electricity, the air conditioning, no problem about hot water," said Greg Barton, 76, who is wheelchair-bound and hard of hearing. "I'm on the 14th floor and I've got a view that some people would pay dearly for," he said, citing penthouse views of the Washington D.C. Temple, a Mormon center in Kensington.

He gets it all for $180 per month, which is fortunate, given his $560 monthly income from Social Security.

"I think they need more houses like this one," said Dora R. Gavilan, 81. "I don't have family, anybody…I am alone in this world," she said. Her monthly income is just more than $1,000, she said, thanks to Social Security and a small pension left by her husband.

Her rent at Waverly is $319 and she spends $53 on medicine monthly and $150 doctor bills every two months.

"Nothing is $3 these days…I love this place. I want to die here in [apartment] 904," she laughed.

County to break ground on new civic building

Construction to begin today on $19.5 million facility and Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring

by Jason Tomassini | Staff Writer | Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008

Construction will officially begin today on the Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza project at the corner of Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring.

A ceremony will be held 10:30 a.m. with Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and other county and community officials on hand. To enter the site where the groundbreaking ceremony will be, go down the steps leading from the parking lot behind Whole Foods at 833 Wayne Ave.

Construction on the project is expected to be completed by late fall of 2009. The county is targeting Nov. 11, 2009, Veteran's Day, for the official opening of Veterans Plaza, said Gary Stith, director of the Silver Spring Regional Center.

"It's a momentous occasion because we have been working on the civic building for a long time," Stith said Monday at the monthly Silver Spring Citizens' Advisory Board meeting.

When construction is completed, the 42,000-square-foot civic building will be accompanied by Veterans Plaza, which is nearly an acre of green space to be programmed for outdoor events and will also commemorate the service of veterans from Silver Spring and Montgomery County. The plaza also will include a pavilion and will be converted to an ice rink between November and March.

The entire site for the project is about 1.5 acres.

Estimated cost for the civic building is $19.7 million, including $2.5 million approved by Montgomery County Council in July. Construction on the building is expected to be finished after Veterans Plaza is completed, Stith said.

The civic building is expected to be the center of community activities in Silver Spring and will include meeting rooms, gallery space, the relocated Silver Spring Regional Center, currently at 8435 Georgia Ave., and space for the Round House Theater School.

Stith said the artificial turf field, which previously occupied the plaza site, has been removed and the site is ready for construction. A "farewell party" for the turf was held July 25.

The civic building has been planned since 1998 when the Silver Spring Armory was demolished. Last year's Silver Spring Jazz Festival was held at the artificial turf field and this year's event, 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, will be held in the parking lot behind the Lee Building at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road.

Darian Unger, chairman of the Silver Spring Citizens' Advisory Board, said the civic building project shows a strong county investment in Silver Spring, along with the planned $91 million Paul S. Sarbanes Silver Spring Transit Center, which will break ground Sept. 28, and the new Silver Spring library, which is still in the design stages.

"It's good to get the private stuff and the public stuff united," Unger said Monday. "We need to get some public projects following all the private projects [in downtown Silver Spring]."

Weekend events bring a marriage of jazz and folk - Gazette

Annual concerts in Silver Spring and Takoma Park expected to draw thousands

by Jeremy Arias | Staff Writer | Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008

A weekend of music, food and fun is ahead with the 5th annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival on Saturday and the 31st Takoma Park Folk Festival on Sunday.

The jazz festival, with a new location behind the Lee Building at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road, seeks to bring both entertainment and economic benefits to Silver Spring, while Takoma's folk festival is being billed as a more environmentally conscious celebration this year.

Jazz festival spokeswoman Susan Hoffman expects about 25,000 to attend the event, which will feature local talent like Gail Shipp of Washington, D.C., and Marcus Johnson of Silver Spring. This year's headliner is the Mingus Big Band out of New York.

Downtown businesses are excited by the sales opportunity thousands of visitors will bring.

"It brings in people who might not have been to Silver Spring before," said Jane Redicker, president of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce. "It introduces them to the area and we want them to come back. We look at the jazz festival as both a fabulous arts an entertainment event but also as an economic development stimulus."

The Takoma Park Folk Festival is once again expanding its green footprint. This year, Pepco will distribute several thousand free energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. In previous years, the event has targeted increasing the recycling of vendor cooking oil and waste products, according to festival Chairman Kevin Adler.

"We're just taking advantage of more and more people being aware of these issues and with their help we're able to do more about it," Adler said.

The folk festival will also provide a free shuttle bus service from the Takoma Park Metro station and Montgomery College parking garage.

There will also be a benefit to using public transportation to get to the jazz festival, Hoffman said.

"We are urging people to take the Metro," she said, noting that while there are nearby parking garages, it is not uncommon for festival-goers to experience delays when they're ready to leave. "I've always encouraged people to look around and maybe park a few blocks away … they might have to walk a little bit, but it can take so much longer to get out of a garage."

Board OKs Falkland-Chase development - Gazette

Planners recommend historic protection for two-thirds of land, while allowing for construction for part of apartment community

by Jeremy Arias | Staff Writer | Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008

The Planning Board voted last week to recommend that the County Council designate two-thirds of the Falkland-Chase Apartment complex in downtown Silver Spring as protected historic structures, while the remaining third be made eligible for redevelopment.

The entire complex is currently listed on the Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites, which lists all of the county's structures that are up for protection under the Master Plan for Historic Designation. If the council follows the board's recommendation, then only the southern two parcels of the complex will receive protection, and the north parcel will likely be redeveloped, according to planning spokeswoman Valerie Berton.

Berton mentioned the north parcel's location as a primary factor in the board's decision.

"The planners here recommend that the north parcel be redeveloped because of its proximity to the [Silver Spring] Metro, among other reasons," she said, explaining that development around the Silver Spring station is a county-wide priority.

In its recommendation, the board sought to broker a compromise between preservationists who feel the entire complex should be protected as a historic site and the company that owns the apartments, which has been trying to get permission to demolish and redevelop the north parcel since 2002.

While supporters of the redevelopment bid applauded the board's decision as an acceptable compromise that would bring relief from the lack of affordable housing they said is threatening the area, preservationists were outraged by the recommendation and said, if implemented by the County Council, the board's plan would assure the site's demolition and the loss of a valuable historic site.

David Rotenstein, vice chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission, disagreed with the recommendation, saying it was unprecedented and ambiguous.

"What they've done is essentially create one historical district with two layers," Rotenstein said. "They've created this one sector of that district [the north parcel] that's undefined and unusual; it's historic but not historic."

While the Planning Board's vote only recommends that the County Council adopt the conditions, the board's opinion typically carries a lot of influence.

Home Properties Inc., which owns the 22-acre complex of garden-style apartments on 16th Street and East West Highway, planned to demolish the 182 units in the north parcel to construct multiple buildings between 60 and 143 feet high with an interior public park and retail space, including a grocery store. Nelson Leenhouts, cofounder and cochairman of Home Properties, had previously offered to cede the two southern parcels to historic preservation and redevelop only the north parcel.

Planning Board commissioner Joe Alfandre said the architect of the complex, Louis Justement, who designed the site plans in the 1930s as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and affordable housing initiative, would likely himself agree with a redevelopment strategy.

"All the practitioners of that were not thinking statically, they were thinking eternally," he said. "They themselves were thinking of redevelopment."

Despite the favorable nature of the board's recommendation, Home Properties has not submitted a formal proposal to the board regarding its intended project. Berton indicated that, without the council's vote, such a move would be premature.

Mary Reardon, preservation chairwoman of the Silver Spring Historical Society, decried the board's decision, saying the area's recent problem with increasing rents will only continue, despite the new moderately-priced dwelling units proposed for the new development.

"This one project is not going to stop the affordable housing crisis in Montgomery County, and people are acting like it is," she said. "You need places like Falkland because there are people here who can't afford these new humongous apartments with walk-in closets in the new high-rises."

Reardon and other preservationists also spoke out against what they say is the lack of interest shown by the board and demolition supporters toward the north parcel's residents.

Jane Bergwin first moved into the complex in 1971. She has since returned to the Silver Spring area and has lived in the disputed parcel for the last 18 months. She says she was not told about the possible demolition of her building and finds the board's lack of concern for its residents shocking.

"The people who are talking about affordable housing are not considering the people who are already living here. Where are we supposed to go?" she said. "There are a lot of people that have lived here for seven or 10 years who, if they had to move, they would have to start all over again, and a lot of them can't afford to live [in the expensive high-rises] around here."

Members of the Action in Montgomery group, a multi-denominational church activist group, lauded the recommendation as a step in the right direction that could nearly double the number of affordable housing units made available in the county last year from 150 to 282 in a single action.

"From our perspective, we hate to have anyone displaced," said Patty Kaczmarski, AIM co-chairwoman. "But if we have a chance to increase housing at that rate, then we have to take it."

HPC members and some preservationists are also concerned that the board has apparently granted itself the authority to approve development projects for the north parcel. Typically, historic structures on the locational atlas are under the jurisdiction of the preservation commission, a county advisory, which decides whether to approve or deny on-site projects.

"[The board has] agreed that the entire property is historic, but the solution is not consistent with the HPC's laws," Rotenstein said. "The larger story is the increasing tension between the HPC and the Planning Board."

Groundbreaking Ceremony for Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 10:30 am

Project Construction Site
Corner of Ellsworth Dr. and Fenton St.,
Silver Spring

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett will be joined by County and community officials to break ground for the Veteran’s Plaza/Civic Building project in downtown Silver Spring.

When construction is completed the 1.5 acre site will contain the new 42,000 square-foot Civic Building that will be fronted by the three-quarter acre Veterans Plaza, featuring a brick surface surrounded by grass and trees. It will be the site of a memorial to veterans of all wars and host year-round activities from concerts, markets and festivals and be converted to an ice rink from November through March.

Entry to the groundbreaking site will be down the steps leading from the parking lot behind Whole Foods.