Pre-Holiday Potpourri
Thayer Avenue Bungalows
Another vacant lot rears its ugly head on Thayer Ave. The 1920s bungalows are gone – demolished, it would appear, in the dead of night. It only took a day to take everything down and another to haul it away. I would liked to have scavanged the places for extra floorboards and fixtures, but I understand everything was trashed. What a shame. It all probably stank of urine and feces anyway, considering the transients living there for the past few weeks.
Truthfully, I feel they were really out of place in what is predominantly a commercial district. Yes they were nice. One might even say “historic.” (I recommend listening to Eddie Izzard’s diatribe about Americans and our history – go to the 2:56 mark in the video.) But I think zoning dictates that the density of the property could be increased a little. And once the Safeway gets redone, it’ll add a little much-needed panache to the area.
Speaking of Raping the Community…
Did anyone else notice that Chevy Chase has increased their ATM fees to $3.00 per transaction? What a gyp. I use a non-local financial institution and do all my banking online, and while I get reimbursed for ATM fees because I don’t have a local bank, I think this is still a racket. And since my bank is one of the best in the country, there’s no way I’m switching over to some hack-job, Ben-Franklin-touting rip off. I recommend you go someplace else to withdraw your money. If you can get your hands on a Credit Union, so much the better.
In Other News…
My wife spent quite some time yesterday going around the stores in Silver Spring looking for black pantyhose for a Christmas party last night – all to no avail. Her thought was: “What do all the professional women in Silver Spring do when they need a pantyhose fix? I know it’s got to happen. Where do they go?” She even broke down and went to Shitty Place. Granted, she said she couldn’t bring herself to go in the trashy little teeny bopper stores (where she might have found something as pictured – not that I would have minded), and her excursion into Burlington Coat Factory left her feeling creeped out and in need of a shower, but she was wondering if anyone had any intel on the situation. And she wanted to give a shout out to her peeps at places like Ann Taylor to pick up the slack.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
I hope you get that one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club. After all, it’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.
6 Comments so far
I think it’s time to have the Maryland legislature take up the issue of capping bank atm fees. Let’s look into this and see if Raskin is interested in taking a lead.
You might appreciate this.
Must get the moose mugs. Awesome.
And would be more than happy to get Jamie in on this. Jamie? You out there? How can we smack down these jokers?
I entered the coordinates of Thayer Avenue and Fenton Street on Google Earth and was reminded of how much of the surface area in Fenton Village is comprised of either vacant lots, parking lots, or auto repair shops. I’m not opposed to having auto body shops and the like in the Silver Spring CBD (people have to get their car repaired somewhere, right?) but devoting so much urban land to low-density uses misses the opportunity to bring more smart growth to the area.
I know there are several developments planned for large parcels in Fenton Village, but I wonder whether the weak real estate market has put some of them on hold. Didn’t the Adele (planned for the corner of Fenton and Thayer) get approval like two years ago?
I would love for there to be a way to replace the enormous surface lots and parking garage in the middle of Fenton Village with an underground lot so that this area could be developed. I’m sure the area businesses need some parking other than on-street parking in order to attract customers, but do we need as much as there is now? After all, you can’t simultaneously park your car at the auto mechanic and at the parking lot.
Of course bank fees are a racket – but so are $2 sodas at the 7-11 — you pay for the convenience. Do like the rest of us and transfer some nominal liquid funds to a Chevy Chase account and wherever you are in DC you’ll have access to cash – at no fee.
As to black panythose – last time I checked CVS at the Blairs had a aisle full of nylons from various brands. Even Giant and Safeway have a display of the basics. Otherwise folks go up to Wheaton or to the downtown stores. Am thinking that most everyone of us gals under 40 these days rarely wears hose anyway and those who do (lawyers? bankers?) can readily order them via the Web to exactly our specs and tastes.
DON’T USE CHEVY CHASE BANK THEY ARE TRAITORS!
Did you know that Chevy Chase Bank is actually based in Mclean, Va? That’s right, a bank named after a place in Maryland is actually based in Va!
Their federal charter is in Tysons Corner, they moved it there in 1996 so they could keep raping people in credit card interest rates above 24%! Maryland wouldn’t let them so they went to Virginia.
Now CChase is on a quest to rape you in ATM! And they have the nerve to say they’re in financial trouble and cut hours?
LEAVE NOW!!!