ThayerAvenue.com

The Horse is Dead
Last night, the Montgomery County Planning Board voted unanimously against a draft amendment to the Master Plan for Historic Preservation, thus bringing to a close attempts to declare the First Baptist Church at Wayne & Fenton a historic landmark. The most interesting remarks came from Commissioner Norman Dreyfuss:

I’m persuaded by the fact that the HPC [Historic Preservation Committee] had heard all of this testimony from everybody and had reached a conclusionIt seems like they have more historic preservation expertise than certainly I have.

And from Planning Board Chairwoman Francois Carrier:

I’m inclined to defer to the HPC. …their judgment was that there’s no reason to designate this as a historic property.

So, thanks for wasting time and money, historical people. This was already decided by the HPC, but I’m sure the taxpayers in the community as well as the church really enjoyed forking out for the salaries of people to be there. More here courtesy of the Gazette.

See you next year, Chompy
Discovery won’t be putting up the infamous inflatable shark this year to promote its Shark Week, but he should return next year for the event’s 25th Anniversary. In place of Chompy, Discovery plans to, among other things, show Shark Week features on a giant, inflatable screen on Veterans Plaza. I think they should have a late-night showing of Jaws. Anybody with me?

Go to Fenton Street Market Tomorrow
A survey will be going on this weekend at FSM to gather information about spending habits at the market. It seems the bonehead bureaucrats in Rockville are making it difficult for the FSM organizers to have the plaza next year. The market itself doesn’t really fall into the any of the facilities use models they have, and rather than find a way to perpetuate success, they are leaning toward eliminating that which frightens and confuses them. Idiots.

The weather is supposed to be spectacular this weekend. Get out, spend some money, answer some questions, and help keep this where it needs to be – on Veterans Plaza – next year.

This is a letter indicating that Marci Stickle and George French will assume the official role of nominators from the Silver Spring Historical Society (replacing Jerry McCoy) for “Determination whether to prepare Public Hearing Draft Amendment” concerning the historic designation of First Baptist Church at Wayne & Fenton.

If you can’t read it, don’t worry. You can find links to all the documents on the Planning Board web site for the 23 June 2011 agenda under Item 6. Yeah, you heard that right. Beating a (mostly) dead horse. Among those documents, you’ll find a letter from the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission (315K PDF) outlining their 6-2 ruling against the church being added to the Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites or included in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation. You’ll also find a staff memo from the Historic Preservation Office (2.4MB PDF) of the Montgomery County Planning Department (M-NCPPC) attempting to rebut all the claims from the Historic Preservation Commission.

This is now going beyond simple historic preservation. It’s not a developer looking to just tear something down to make money. Sure, a developer will make some cash in the long run, but this is about letting these people have the church they need when the facilities they have are crumbling around them. But there’s something else here. If the Silver Spring Historical Society (with other preservation organizations supporting them) loses this battle, they’ll become more marginalized than they ever were, almost to the point of irrelevance. I’d be fighting, too, if I were them. But don’t forget that Dr. McIntosh and the rest of the congregation NEED a new church, and this isn’t helping matters.

At any rate, there it is. Thursday, June 23, 2011 – one week from today. Do with it what you will. And please, for the love of all that is good and holy, someone tell these people that unless they’re using an old Smith Corona (or a monospaced font), they can stop double-spacing between sentences on all these documents.

Today was the first day of business for Charm Thai (8408 Georgia Avenue, in the old Mr. Chicken location), and while they weren’t doing a brisk business (seemed like a “soft” opening), they were super responsive for my impromtu take out order. They don’t have their beer/wine license yet, but I was treated to some Thai iced tea while I waited. They deliver (limited area), and if the reaction of the people eating inside was any indication, you’d think the food was the best ever.

We got our standards: Chicken Panang, Pad Thai with tofu, and mango with sticky rice. Everything was very good and I recommend you try it for yourself, but it’s gonna be tough to replace Thai Derm as our go-to Thai joint. One menu note, though: the “Salmon Crispy”, one of the chef’s specials, looked spectacular. That’s next on the list. Let me know what you think.

That’s what the author of the Montgomery Sideways blog would rather have than attend an ESSCA meeting. Dental surgery.

I’ve been out of town for a bit and finally catching up on things, and this lovely post was brought to my attention. William Smith focuses on pedestrian issues in the area and attended the final ESSCA meeting of the season last month that dealt with pedestrian improvements on Sligo Ave. The meat of the discussion wasn’t what interested me, though. It’s statements like this:

I left the meeting happy that the presentation had been well-received, but a little depressed at the sad state of the East Silver Spring Citizens’ Association. Six people voted to return the Executive Board back to their positions for another year – even though many of them weren’t there. The last time I had been to such a meeting was in 2005, when I ran against Bob for President. 78 People voted that night, and I lost by 2-1.

Back then the voting was done poorly, and the animosity I felt from the grey-haired and entrenched members of the audience put me off ESSCA for good. I paid dues and went to a couple of meetings since then, but I have usually found them to be more of an obstruction than a help.

Granted, he does talk about all the good things ESSCA has done over the years in terms of stopping bad development decisions, and I agree with him there, to some extent. But for as much pull as the organization may have with the county, I know for a fact that county leaders understand (and perhaps welcome) its dwindling relevance. So here’s the $64,000 question: What’s next?

It appears as if its relevance is inversely proportional to the median age of the group, as the latter drifts farther and farther from what Silver Spring has become. I’m still enamored of the nomenklatura moniker I gave to them over two years ago, and sadly, it’s becoming more and more applicable. But the quandary remains: Silver Spring is filling up more with young professionals and families with less and less time for community involvement. I’ve all but abandoned the thought of running for ESSCA office because the organization itself seems so marginalized by discussions on various blogs. I felt like I could affect change more by snarking from the fringe, and I’d rather spend time with my family (or having dental surgery) than attend the meetings.

The three-month break is upon us, and ESSCA will pick their sad meetings back up the third Monday of September. Give it some thought. Is civic engagement on this level worth it? Are there other means to reach the ends we seek? Food for thought on the long and potentially hot summer days ahead.

In other news…

I try not to shill for any particular interest other than my own, so don’t take this the wrong way. Ms. Thayer Avenue was driving on the beltway and a rock came up and shattered the driver’s side window at full speed. She said it sounded like a gun shot or something, and glass ended up everywhere. I was out of town, and we were a couple of days away from a camping trip over the long Memorial Day break. Enter Banner Glass (7900 Fenton Street). Not only did they squeeze it in the next day, but they completed the work in a matter of a couple of hours. We may have gotten lucky on the timing so set your expectations accordingly, but when a local business pulls something like that, I gotta give ‘em props.

Thank you, Banner Glass.