Greetings all,

I hope you’ll join consider participating in one of our upcoming discussions or workshops. Details below!

If you are interested in participating in any event, please RSVP to: david@gatewaycdc.com or 301.562.1400

Teaching Values

July 19, Thursday, 1- 2:30 pm

In keeping with the education focus of the current exhibit, these summer Jefferson Cafe (R) sessions engage with a current hot topic in education circles: Beyond the teaching of the three R's (or whatever the subject matter of a course might be), can a case be made for teaching values in the classroom? What would it mean to "teach" values? And which values are we talking about? To get us thinking about this topic, we take off from a reading of two contemporary writers who have interesting perspectives on this subject.

Next Week:

Watercolor Classes with Steve Hanks

Basic Techniques
July 23 and July 26, 7:00 - 9:30pm

Mr. Hanks will teach two classes, Basic Watercolor Techniques and Application of Watercolor Techniques in painting. Participants in the first class will get an introduction to watercolor painting and techniques, while the second class will help participants refine and apply said techniques. The instructor, Stephen T. Hanks, has been a professional artist, commercial illustrator, and art teacher for over 30 years, producing both watercolors and drawings for publication, exhibition, and sale. He has exhibited in many different museums, public exhibitions, and galleries nationwide. Much of his work is on display in his private gallery in Silver Spring. He is currently an art teacher at Gonzaga College High School in DC

The cost for each set of classes is $65 and includes all materials.

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Workshop with Brenda Smoak

Tuesday, July 24^th: 6:30 – 9:30 pm – First Session
Tuesday, August 14^th: 6:30 – 9:30 pm – Second Session

Artist Trading Cards are small unique works of art that measure 2-1/2" by 3-1/2". People make ATCs and then trade with one another instead of selling them. The premise behind trading cards is that you create your card in an environment of creating for art’s sake -- making something for the pure joy of it -- not for monetary gain. In this workshop you will learn how to create several types of ATCs by exploring how to transfer images from magazines and other print media, how to use different types of resists, see unique backgrounds, learn how to embed images and incorporate photos, drawings, fabric, etc. into your ATC. You do not have to be an artist to do this nor do you have to have lots of free time. If you are interested in altered books and objects, collage, and paint techniques then come join us! Session I is learning techniques and Session II is a trading session!

Cost: $25 and $25 Materials fee = $50. Fees for teenagers and students at Montgomery College (with valid school ID) are reduced to $10 + $25 materials fee = $35.

South Silver Spring Merchant’s Association

July 10, 2007

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I want to take just a moment to tell you where we as a group stand on the expansion of parking meter times as proposed by Montgomery County. As you may or may not be aware the County Council approved a measure that would require that parking meters and paid county parking lots and garages be in effect from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. not the current 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. times. These new times would also include Saturdays as well which are now currently free and be in effect county wide. We at the SSSMA feel this is an unwise and unwarranted impediment to commerce. We feel that especially for the now resurgent and redeveloping area of South Silver Spring it is a serious hindrance to the great strides we have made thus far in revitalizing our neighborhood. Beyond our own backyards these same road blocks to progress would adversely affect the areas of Wheaton, Kensington, Montgomery Hills, East Silver Spring and Woodside. As consumers of the products and services provided by the many and diverse vendors around the county we should be seeking ways to promote the comfort and ease of the experience. We ask that you join us in supporting the parking regulations as they stand now. Please join us in testifying at the public hearing before the County Council on July 26, 2007. To register your group, association, business or individual self to testify contact Delphine Harris at the County Council offices at:

(240) 777-7931

Please feel free to contact me directly at southsilverspringma@verizon.net or (301) 980-5570

For more information or to discuss this matter further. Also if you do register to testify please E-mail me so we can coordinate our efforts.

Thank You,
John R. Landis
President
South Silver Spring Merchant’s Association

Dear Neighbors: As a part of Gateway's July 21st S.E.E. Gateway Georgia Avenue Day, Gateway is sponsoring a Scrabble Tournament at the Shepherd Park Library. The tournament, co-sponsored by the Shepherd Park Library Scrabble Club, is open to all ages and includes competitive play under tournament rules, as well as more recreational play.

The S.E.E. Gateway event will bring together the business community, upper Georgia neighbors, and all interested persons for an afternoon of shopping, learning, and fun on the Gateway corridor! In addition to the Scrabble Tournament, neighbors can participate in a community mural project under the leadership of local artist Tom Block, get lifted by the sounds of the D.C. Youth Orchestra, sit in on Quilting and Jewelry making demonstrations, sample a wide variety of fine wines and non alcoholic beverages, and take advantage of merchant discounts on dozens of items. The D.C. Office of Planning will also host a workshop at the Shepherd Park library on Retail Strategies for the Upper Georgia corridor. And of course, it would not be summer without the traditional moonbounce, face painting, and balloons!

All events take place on Saturday, July 21st between the 7300-7800 blocks of Georgia Avenue, and the 7800 block of Eastern Avenue. The day kicks-off with a continental breakfast reception at 10:00 am at the Shepherd Park Library (7420 Georgia Avenue). So whether you are interested in Scrabble, Art, Music, Discounts, or learning the strategies for getting more Retail on upper Georgia Avenue, there is Something Enjoyable for Everyone (S.E.E.) along the emerging Gateway Georgia corridor! Please attend, and S.E.E. for yourself!

Please reply mail to gatewaycdc@aol.com to get an application for the Scrabble Tournament. For additional information about S.E.E. Gateway Georgia Avenue, please contact gatewaycdc@aol.com, jchristi@mris.com, or scsprather@aol.com.

Attendees

Board Members
Evan Glass (Aurora)
Henry Odeniran (Gramax)
David Fogel (Eastern Village)
John Murphy (Silverton)

Residents
Jason Gedeik (Aurora)
Karol Thompson (8045 Newell)
Janet Owens (8045 Newell)
Elisa Kerneklian (Aurora)
Edgar Diaz-Cruz (Aurora)
Stephan Sylvan (Eastern Village)
Elaine Barker (Eastern Village)
Betty Bierer (Mica)
Joan King (Eastern Village)
Jimmy Obomsawin (Aurora)
Natasha Spaid (Silverton)

Block Party Recap

David: A lot of fun, a lot of work, great times. The building process for the block party was about 4 to 5 months, I couldn’t have dreamed for a better group of people to work with.

We thought, how can we redefine South Silver Spring? Now that there are all these people here we thought it would be a great time to do that.

The Block Party was a great way to introduce the broader community to South Silver Spring…a wonderful opportunity to create real tangible bonds between residents, businesses and institutions.

A group of 10 worked on the block party for 5 months representing 4 of the residential communities.

On the day of, we had over 30 Volunteers.

We had 75 participants; vendors, performing artist and sponsors.

Moorenkos and the Silver spring Urban District estimated around 2000 patrons showed up tot the Block Party.

We also created this great survey and the purpose of that was to gauge what the new community desires are as we continue to grow and build out.

Evan: One of the things we tried to do at the association table was start a membership roll.

Like most associations everywhere there is a marginal membership fee…$10 per household.

SSSNA Financials
John: We did very well at the block party event.  (Contact John for financials)

Block Party Feed Back
David: One of the things we talked about internally is that we want to have more food vendors.

Betty Bierer: [The block party was] one of the best kept secrets in Silver Spring…I’ve lived in the area since 1961 and this is the first kind of celebration I’ve heard of in South Silver spring.

Elaine Barker: Suggested that we could have a block party that’s more intimate.
Committees

Safety Committee

Evan: We figured it would be great to form a committee because we all have issues we want to address. We want to create Social, Safety and Redevelopment committees. Relaying what officer Betsy Davis said at the last SSSNA meeting we have to weigh our options with security guards…basically you get what you pay for. Maybe instead of each building having its own Security guard maybe we should combine forces, while certainly more complicated would, I think, be more cost effective,  basically a partnership between all the buildings.

Silver Spring Crime Watch (website) keeps track of all the crime in the area, most of it is happening in the predominantly residential areas outside the CBD.

The Motels (Days Inn and Travel Lodge) are considered the worst elements in the South Silver Spring neighborhood.

Stephan Sylvan: Had concerns about The Motels (Days Inn and Travel Lodge and named a recent incident there that grabbed his attention.

(Stephan is interested in joining the Safety committee.)

Karol Thompson: Concerns over the effectiveness of security guards, said that anybody could walk into the building and avoid them if they knew the times that security guards are in active duty.
Redevelopment Committee

Evan: SSSNA receives the blue prints and we would like to weigh in on the designs. Henry will head the redevelopment committee and help advise, as to what we want in our neighborhood. If you walk right out here there are three buildings going up, some of them have retail elements, others don’t. What do we want these retail elements to be?

Henry will help organize the committee. Letters will be written on all of our behalf through the new redevelopment committee.

If you’re interested in what projects are going on around us, whether you want more residential, whether you want more retail. Those issues will be channeled through this committee.

Henry: If you look at the two projects across the street from Acorn Park, you have 1200 Blair Mill, which is going to be a 100% condo project of about 8 stories and a maximum of 90’feet with 96 units, about three stories taller than 8045 Newell Street.

Then across the street from that, you have 1200 East west highway where the mechanic and detail shops once stood, the site is cleared right now. It is going to have over 10,000 square feet of retail and will be 142’feet. We don’t know what kind of retail will be in there.

The purpose of the survey is to influence what kind of retail we can get, developers want to put in dry cleaners and typical shops we usually see. But we can get clothing stores or electronic shops, or whatever we feel should be in there. We don’t even have 100 surveys right now so that’s why it’s important for everyone to fill it out.

Home Properties is developing 1200 East West and JBG is developing the Silver Spring Gateway. We can use the survey to influence their decision.

Evan: We now have the survey online. Jimmy helped create the survey

Jimmy: I helped convert the physical survey into electronic form. You can fill it out on line or fill it out in paper from. Jimmy said, printing it out online would produce a large quantity of paper than the physical document, so it’s better to just fill it out online or on paper. We need to put a paragraph telling people what the survey is about.

Social Committee

Evan: The last committee is the Social committee, basically we all had a great time at the block party, we have Jessup Blair Park over there but no one goes there, we can use some of the association money to have a picnic there.

We have a bunch of restaurants and we can do a roving happy hour, talk to an owner and talk about having a South Silver Spring social event and maybe giving association members a discount.

NEXT MEETING: Discuss meetings times, get committees initiated.

Below is a message from Jackie of Jackie's Restaurant. If you'd like to write a letter to the Council and other County officials, an outline for one is posted below along with appropriate contact information.

If you'd like to sign a petition, you can do so at Gateway's Heliport Gallery ; Alchemy or Jackies.

STOP THE INITIATIVE TO EXTEND METERED PARKING HOURS

June 28, 2007Dear South Silver Springers:
The County Council has passed an initiative to extend metered parking effective July 1 in Silver Spring. At that time, parking meter hours will begin as early as 7:00 am and end as late as 10:00 pm, and extend to Saturday, depending on the site and type of parking. Please consider how this measure will harm independent small businesses in our area and join me in opposing it. A list of email addresses for County Councilmembers, the County Executive and others are presented below. Please insert their names in the email below and forward it to them with your signature. Time is of the essence; please act now!

Thank you.
Dear Councilman ^ OR OTHER TITLE :
I strongly oppose the initiative to extend metered parking hours which is due to go into effect on July 1 in Silver Spring for the following reasons, and ask your help in immediately rescinding it:

• It is patently unfair; it hurts the independent business owner while helping the national and regional chain stores. Ellsworth businesses and those close to it will benefit at the expense of others just blocks away. The Wayne Avenue and Ellsworth garages are exempt from this new law and will remain free on evenings and weekends. This will drive patrons to Ellsworth to avoid feeding meters elsewhere. To what extent will the County continue to subsidize large developers on the backs of residents and small businesses?
• It will retard desired growth during what is already a slowing market; it is a disincentive to attracting new businesses, especially independent restaurants and retail stores which rely on street parking.
• It makes Silver Spring less competitive with neighboring DC. This is especially true for restaurants, which in Silver Spring are already at a competitive disadvantage with DC because of the County surcharge on alcohol. Having to pay for evening parking will be one more reason diners will travel over the DC line or force Silver Spring restaurants to incur the added expense of valet parking. This competitive disadvantage also extends to other merchants and retail stores.
• Silver Spring still needs help. This law assumes Silver Spring has already "made it". This is far from true. Many businesses, especially independent restaurants, merchants, and retail stores away from the town center, are struggling and still need the County's support. Free evening parking is a common advantage these businesses are afforded in most regions and we need it to survive.

The success of Silver Spring's urban revival is far from guaranteed. It is in its nascent stages and must be nurtured until it is stable. Our independent businesses--both those who have been here for years and those of us who have taken the risk to locate her--need support. The last chapter is yet to be written: will Silver Spring be the model of success or the experiment that failed?

Your urgent attention is necessary to prevent this initiative from going into effect.

Thank you,

^ YOUR NAME ^

PLEASE SEND TO:

Phil Andrews
240-777-7906
councilmember.andrews@montgomerycountymd.gov

Roger Berliner
240-777-7828
councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov

Marc Elrich
240-777-7966
councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov

Valerie Ervin
240-777-7960
councilmember.ervin@montgomerycountymd.gov

Nancy Floreen
240-777-7959
councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov

Mike Knapp, V.P
240-777-7955
councilmember.knapp@montgomerycountymd.gov

George Leventhal
240-777-7811
councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov

Marilyn J. Praisner, Pres.
240-777-7968
councilmember.praisner@montgomerycountymd.gov

Duchy Trachtenberg
240-777-7964
councilmember.trachtenberg@montgomerycountymd.gov

Gary Stith
Gary.Stith@montgomerycountymd.gov

Mel Tul
Mel.Tull@montgomerycountymd.gov

Ike Leggett
ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov

Pradeep Ganguly (Dept of Economic Development)
pradeep.ganguly@montgomerycountymd.gov

Jane Redicker
jredicker@gsscc.org