Veterans Park fountain activated in Bethesda

One of the annual signs that summer is approaching is the activation of the fountain at Veterans Park in downtown Bethesda. The fountain is a memorial for service members from Bethesda and Chevy Chase who were killed in action in the major armed conflicts from World War I up through the first and second Iraq wars. It is also a restful spot, with the water feature canceling out the urban noise around it. Downtown Bethesda seems to lose more and more fountains and water features every year, either to demolition or merely neglect and deactivation, such as the Bethesda Metro Center fountains that have been idle in recent years. Veterans Park is located at the intersection of Woodmont and Norfolk Avenues.

Bethesda Pool opening this weekend

The public Bethesda Pool at 6300 Hillandale Road in Bethesda will open for the Summer 2025 season this weekend, May 24, at 12:00 PM. Initial operating hours of the pool from May 24 through June 13 will be 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM on weekends, and 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, 3:00 - 6:00 PM on Memorial Day. From June 14 through August 15, the pool will be open 1:00 PM - 8:00 PM on weekdays, and 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM on weekends. 

Daily admission is $5 for Montgomery County residents under age 18, $7 for adults, and $6 for seniors 55 and older. A driver’s license or other proof of residency is required at the admission counter. General admission for non-residents is $20. Summer pool passes are available if you want to skip the line at the pool.

Springfield Park under construction at Westbard Square in Bethesda (Photos)

Springfield Park is rapidly being constructed at the new Westbard Square development in Bethesda. The park is largely shaping up as a playground, though, with a variety of equipment aimed at younger children. It is located essentially where a parking lot once sat in front of the Kenwood Place condominiums, between Westbard Circle and the fence behind homes on Ridgefield Road. There was previously a bank ATM structure on this lot, and Westbard Citgo made use of many of the parking spaces over the decades. The houses on the other side of the fence were built on land that the 1982 Westbard sector plan had designated for a park.

Caroline Freeland Urban Park to reopen next month in Bethesda

Caroline Freeland Urban Park at 7200 Arlington Road in downtown Bethesda is now scheduled to reopen to the public next month. A reopening event will be held in the park on Saturday, November 9, 2024, from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. There will be pumpkin decorating, refreshments, and a barre3 workout class. All are free, but to participate in the barre3 class, sign up online in advance. 

The park has been closed since July 2023 for an extensive renovation, which includes a new central lawn and a large seating terrace, more-acccessible pathways, a larger playground, bench swings, bicycle parking, improved lighting and a new entry plaza and streetscape along Arlington Road. Should weather or other unforeseen events disrupt plans for November 9, a rain date has been scheduled for November 10, again from 2:00 to 3:00 PM.

Plaza-level park reopens to public at The Metropolitan in Bethesda

The plaza-level park at The Metropolitan apartment complex at 7620 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda has reopened to the public. A major renovation of the whole property, which also includes the Montgomery County Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, has taken place over the past two years. Changes on the plaza include a new irrigation system, soil treatment, new plantings, and the installation of turf and grass. A separate public area between Geste Beer & Wine and Chipotle has also reopened.

Bethesda Market Park development meeting focuses on park design

Developer EYA and Montgomery Parks held a community meeting last night on the planned Bethesda Market Park development, which will include a mixed-use residential building on the current retail site to the right of the Farm Women's Market on Wisconsin Avenue, an addition to the historic Farm Women's Market building and new "public realm" around it, an underground parking garage, a redesign of part of the existing Elm Street Park (into "Elm Street Park North"), a woonerf "shared street," and a conversion of Public Parking Lots 10 and 24 into new parks. Much of the focus of the presentation was on the design and amenities of the new parks.

654 residents answered a survey on which amenities or features they would like to see in the new parks. The top requests were:

•Stage/ Shade Structure •Open, Flexible Lawn Area •Terraced Seating •Planted Areas/ Canopy Trees •Interactive Water Feature •Loop Walking Paths • Variety of Seating Options Including Adult Swings •Dog Park •Placemaking/ Playful Climbable Art •All-Weather Game Tables

The parks will adhere to the principles of biophilic design, which "weaves patterns and forms of nature in the built environment to strengthen the human-nature connection." An interactive water feature will be included near the stage. Some elements will take on a colorful appearance after sunset via night lighting.

Next steps in the project include Montgomery County reaching a final development agreement with EYA. The Town of Chevy Chase will make a decision about potential additional funding for the park projects. Park designs and amenities may be update based upon feedback from last night's meeting. EYA will begin the process of obtaining financing for the development. And the Preliminary and Site Plans will be submitted to the Montgomery County Planning Board for approval.

Residents to hold silent protest vigil on Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda on November 16

Residents from 18 communities around Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda and Chevy Chase will participate in a silent vigil on the closed lanes of the road the morning and evening of Thursday, November 16, 2023 from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM and from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. The vigil is being held to protest Montgomery Parks' plan to permanently reduce the parkway to one lane in each direction. There is currently a temporary road diet in place between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue, which would become permanent under the park department's plan. The Neighborhood Coalition, which represents more than 20,000 residents surrounding the parkway, is asking Montgomery County to restore the road to four lanes between Hillandale Road and Dorset Avenue with the existing 17' grass median.

The proposed permanent 2-lane road diet was opposed by 71% of speakers who testified at a Montgomery County Planning Board hearing on March 30, 2023. Over 5000 residents signed a petition opposing the road diet.

Despite the overwhelming community opposition, the Board voted to approve the plan, a vote that was illegal because the commissioners did not receive the required approval of the National Capital Planning Commission. Any changes to the parkway's use, design or configuration must be approved by the NCPC, under the Capper-Cramton Act of 1930. Such approval also requires the NCPC to hold a public hearing, at which residents would be allowed to testify for or against whatever is proposed. 

In July, it came to light that Montgomery Parks was seeking to win an award from a non-profit organization for the road diet, and had submitted an application riddled with false statements. A decision in a lawsuit filed by residents over the road diet is also pending.

After public outcry over the steamroller tactics by Montgomery Parks and the Planning Board - the latter's staff recommended approval of the road diet without reviewing the testimony and exhibits submitted by residents less than 24 hours earlier - the Montgomery County Council pretended to block the plan, but did not require Parks to remove the temporary road diet. Now a Council committee is slated to vote on two different versions of the road diet plan November 27. 

Montgomery Parks seeks input on future of Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda

Montgomery Parks is seeking public input on potential alterations and renovations to the portion of the Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda Avenue and the Washington, D.C. line. Two meetings will be held for this purpose. One will be in-person, on Thursday, November 2, 2023 from 7:00 - 8:30 PM in the All-Purpose Room at Somerset Elementary School at 5811 Warwick Place in the Town of Somerset. The second meeting will be a virtual Zoom meeting on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 from 12:00 - 1:30 PM. The content of both meetings will be identical. Registration is optional, but you can register online for either meeting if you want to ensure that you receive email updates about the project over the coming years (you'll have to utilize that web page if you want to join the Zoom meeting).

What sort of changes or updates are under consideration for what Montgomery Parks is calling "Capital Crescent Trail 2.0?" First on the list is the potential widening of the trail, which has been discussed for many years, as pedestrians using the trail have been struck or nearly struck by cyclists on the narrow route. New signage, access points, improved connectivity and new amenities round out the list the department has provided. But improvements and changes could include ones that residents like you propose that planners haven't thought of, if you provide your thoughts at one of these meetings.

Caroline Freeland Park renovations update (Photos)

Caroline Freeland Park at 7200 Arlington Road in downtown Bethesda has been closed since July for a renovation project. The project planning dates back an entire decade, but only moved forward this summer. What we're looking at here is mainly the end of the park near the Connie Morella Library. The current work appears to still be in the "demolition" phase. Caroline Freeland Park is anticipated to reopen to the public in the fall of 2024.

Caroline Freeland Urban Park to close for last 6 months of 2023

The weather is getting to be just right for spending quality time outdoors in local parks...and that's exactly the time Montgomery Parks has picked to shut down Caroline Freeland Urban Park at 7200 Arlington Road in Bethesda for the rest of the year. It will close in early June, the parks department announced yesterday. A long-planned renovation will add a new central lawn and a large seating terrace, more-acccessible pathways, a larger playground, bench swings, bicycle parking, improved lighting and a new entry plaza and streetscape along Arlington Road. The Hampden Lane approach will be renovated into a more pedestrian-oriented plaza that will preserve emergency vehicle access through the park.

Kenwood sues M-NCPPC over Little Falls Parkway road diet

Kenwood, the Chevy Chase neighborhood that directly abuts Little Falls Parkway, has filed a lawsuit against the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to block Montgomery Parks' plan to reduce the road to one lane in each direction. The lawsuit, filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court by the Kenwood Citizens Association, calls shrinkage of the road's capacity - at the same time M-NCPPC has approved massive growth on either end of the parkway in downtown Bethesda and Westbard - "arbitrary and detrimental." It specifically cites M-NCPPC's failure to receive approval for the reduction of the parkway's size from the National Capital Planning Commission.

The NCPC has held federal authority over the Little Falls Parkway right-of-way for almost a century, since it was one of several Maryland stream valleys identified by the federal government as future parks or highway facilities. Having received federal funds to cover the purchase of the land for Little Falls Stream Valley Park under the Capper-Cramton Act of 1930, M-NCPPC must receive permission from the NCPC to sell, redevelop or change the use of that land or parkway.

M-NCPPC in 2011 had to seek approval from the NCPC to sell part of Little Falls Stream Valley Park to a private developer building townhomes. The NCPC approved that sale.

The Kenwood Citizens Association suit is asking the court to affirm that Montgomery Parks violated federal law by closing half of the parkway without approval from the NCPC, and to immediately order the road diet removed, and the parkway fully reopened to traffic.

KCA says it's shocking that the Montgomery County Planning Board, the land-use authority arm of M-NCPPC for Montgomery County that oversees Montgomery Parks, would flout federal rules so soon after recent Board scandals ended in the forced resignation of all its commissioners. "The Parks Department acts under the authority of the Montgomery County Planning Board. Given recent County scandals, we are surprised that even under new leadership the Parks Department is willing to play fast and loose with such an important issue directly affecting safety in these communities,” KCA President Pete Rizik said yesterday. 

This is not the first time Kenwood has objected to County attempts to reduce vehicular capacity of the parkway through road diets. The community was initially successful in overturning the first effort by the Planning Board to deploy a road diet at the Capital Crescent Trail crossing of the parkway. But the Board immediately reversed its decision under heavy pressure from the Montgomery County Council. 

After the initial public process on the trail crossing question, Montgomery Parks has never followed the required public engagement protocols for any of the further changes, speed limit reductions, and escalating road diets on the parkway. Montgomery Parks also illegally used money from a trail maintenance fund for changes to the parkway, rather than go through the required capital budget process at the County Council.

Kenwood and other adjacent communities have suffered from cut-through traffic as Montgomery Parks has implemented a barrage of road diets, speed bumps, bollards, overwhelming signage, barricades and other obstacles on the parkway. County officials have continued to ignore those safety concerns for residential streets, while continuing to shrink the capacity of very parkway that was designed to keep that through-traffic out of those residential neighborhoods. The result has been increased speeds and cut-through traffic on residential streets, putting children and pedestrians in general at greater risk.

"We have asked the Parks Department to follow federal law and undergo NCPC review," KCA attorney Michele Rosenfeld said Thursday. "Having been ignored we have no choice but to seek judicial intervention."

Little Falls Parkway is about to become a very dangerous road in Bethesda

Little Falls Parkway will become a much more dangerous road to travel by the end of this month. The Montgomery Parks department's ongoing changes to the busy public road continue without any public process or input, or legal funding mechanism. Without even providing data results to the public regarding Phase 1, the department has announced it is moving to "Phase 2" of its "pilot project" to reduce the road's capacity by 50%, even as Montgomery County has approved thousands of new housing units in communities on both ends of the parkway.

Beginning Monday, October 17, 2022, the department plans to shift all traffic to one side of the parkway between Dorset Avenue and Arlington Road. That section has been operating for several months as one lane in each direction, through a crude "road diet" created by installing bollards. That diet ironically made the road more dangerous, by creating visual chaos that blocks the view of cyclists and pedestrians crossing the parkway. 

Little Falls Parkway is about to get even more dangerous in "Phase 2." The road will not only have but one lane operating in each direction, but both lanes will be crammed onto the northbound side of the parkway. There will be no median or barrier. This will place drivers in position for a head-on crash. It will also completely shut down the entire parkway if there is a crash or vehicle breakdown. These are two reasons why 2-lane roads are rarely built these days. 

Since the parkway is the sole major vehicular connection between downtown Bethesda and River Road, the dangerous new configuration poses a major threat to safety. Drunk drivers coming from downtown Bethesda at night will now be coming head-on into your lane, thanks to this crazy plan. Of course, placing speed bumps on the lower stretch of the parkway this summer showed that crazy is the County's M.O.

The southbound lanes of the parkway will be closed between Arlington and Dorset. Next spring, the Parks department says it will set up space for "walking and biking" on those lanes, even though there was virtually no one using the road for those purposes when it was entirely closed on weekends during the height of the pandemic. Of course, the pandemic was merely an excuse to implement the department and Montgomery County Council's semi-secret goal of closing the road entirely in the future. The Council even ordered the Planning Board to reverse its initial decision to end the road diet, despite many documented complaints of cut-through traffic in adjacent neighborhoods.

Spring will also bring "games, events, and tables with seating" to the shuttered southbound lanes of the parkway, the construction of which was funded by taxpayers decades ago for automobile use. The Parks department has not announced whether it plans to issue refund checks to County residents for seizing half of their roadway.

The Parks website states that traffic data that "provided the basis for moving to Phase 2...will be shared with the community on the project webpage." That data is nowhere to be found on the project page as of this writing - yet we are moving to Phase 2! No County official with oversight responsibility has objected to this lack of transparency and accountability.

  

Who benefits from this parkway plan? The public never asked for it. It's merely for ideological, political and profit purposes. We'll see the latter come into play when the Washington Episcopal School is someday redeveloped - likely after the Purple Line is extended to Westbard. 

"Games and events" in the southbound lanes will then be replaced either with buildings, or the setback zone for the new buildings, increasing the amount of buildable space for the developer - a developer who may be secretly pulling the strings for this parkway shrinkage right now. When the whole parkway is eventually closed, it may all become buildable space, since the County set the precedent of selling a piece of Little Falls Stream Valley Park to a private developer in 2011.

The cacophony of signs and bollards added to the parkway violates best practices of traffic engineering, which put limits on the number of signs and visual distractions that can be placed along a roadway. That's not surprising, as the changes are being driven by a handful of radical, "War on Cars" transportation deniers within the County Council, Planning Board and Parks department, not traffic engineers. Your elected officials don't care about you. They're implementing their agenda, not yours.

We, the public, are being put at risk, so that radicals and developers can use an expensive piece of taxpayer-funded infrastructure as their toddler tantrum sandbox. Forget the traffic engineers. Where are the adults in the room? 

Office work, transit use aren't recovering in Montgomery County, new data show

New Google Mobility data for Montgomery County show that transit use has only picked up by 1% since spring 2022, and that fewer workers are toiling in on-site offices than were this past spring. The data use a five-week period just before the pandemic hit the United States, January 3 - February 6, 2020, as the baseline. In reports I've posted over the last two years, numbers for office and transit use have been poor, as expected. But we've also seen some surprising shifts in behavior, which continue in the latest period examined here, from June 23 - August 4, 2022.

For starters, with the overwhelming message from governments and the media being to drop precautions and go back to business as usual, it's intriguing that there's been no significant increase in transit use in Montgomery County since President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. And would you have expected that the number of residents going into an office in Montgomery would actually decline by 12 percentage points since then, as well? Time spent in offices of employment in spring 2022 was 30% less than the pre-pandemic period; this summer it was 42% less than early 2020. The return of vacation travel may have been a factor - but not entirely, as summer 2021 office use was only 2 percentage points higher at 44% below the pre-pandemic period.

Use of public parks in Montgomery County has bounced back since spring. This summer, residents were 19% more likely to be in a park than they were during the pre-pandemic period of 2020. Shopping in stores and supermarkets has picked up since spring, too. The percentage of people going into retail stores compared to this past spring has doubled, but still remains 16% below pre-pandemic shopping levels. Residents' patronage of grocery stores is up 5% from spring 2022, but is 1% less than the pre-pandemic period. 

Montgomery County residents this summer are spending 10% more time at home than they did in the January-February 2020 period, the new data show. The data collected by Google is limited to those users who have opted in to allowing the tech giant to track their phone's location. It measures both the frequency of visits, and the amount of time those users stay in the places categorized in the results, such as grocery stores, transit stations and parks.

Bethesda's Caroline Freeland Park damaged by arson (Photos)

The playground at Caroline Freeland Urban Park at 7200 Arlington Road in Bethesda is temporarily closed after an arson incident. Wednesday night around 10:30 PM, firefighters extinguished a small fire at the playground. Lt. Tracy D. Lieberman, Public Information Officer for the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, said investigators believe a trash can was intentionally set on fire. 

The surface of the playground was damaged by the fire. Lieberman said the surface been repaired, but that the playground will have to remain closed while it cures. It is expected to reopen sometime next week. If you have any information about this arson incident, you are asked to call the Park Police at 301-949-8010.