New Mural Showcasing Wheaton’s Diversity Will Debut in July
A vivid mural featuring multicultural dancers will be displayed outside the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s headquarters on Reedie Drive in Wheaton. It is expected to debut in July.
The winning mural was selected by an online community vote in March in which 11,703 votes were cast for three different mural designs, according to the Montgomery County Planning Department. The winning design garnered more than 60% of the votes and was designed by Nicole Bourgea of Kensington.
There were 28 submissions, which were narrowed to the three that were voted on.
Escape artists
Inspired by the scenic beauty in Montgomery County’s 93,000-acre agricultural reserve, the members of the Countryside Artisans include painters, potters, a blown-glass maker, a stone sculptor, and a farmer who grows tea By Amy Halpern |
Artist Tina Thieme Brown at Morningstar Studio. Photo by Breann Fields
Every spring, when Claire Howard’s cherry trees start to blossom, they form a flowering pink canopy that drapes across the private road leading to her home and art studio. Just beyond the 70 trees are wide green pastures, rolling hills and a seemingly endless sky. She even has a wishing well. If not for a hand-painted wooden sign in the grass that warns, “Smile, you’re being recorded,” you might think you’ve wandered into a fairy tale.
County Seeks to Eliminate Street Names Honoring Confederates, Slaveowners
In an attempt to rid Montgomery County of street names tied to the Confederacy and slavery, employees of the Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), currently are researching area street and park names.
In Potomac, Jubal Early Court, J.E.B. Stuart Road and J.E.B Stuart Court will be renamed under the Streets and Parks Facilities Renaming Project, which is a joint effort with the Planning Board, Montgomery Planning and the Montgomery County Parks Department.
These street names are in “a subdivision that was created many decades after the Civil War that appear to intentionally use Jeb Stuart’s name in order to valorize and honor the Confederate cause,” said Casey Anderson, chair of the planning board. New names have not yet been chosen.
Retail, residential, hotel considered for former site By Dan Schere |
January 28, 2021
Parkway Custom Drycleaning recently moved from its old location on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase to North Bethesda.
Photo courtesy of Jon Simon
Parkway Custom Drycleaning has moved from Chevy Chase where it had been for 50 years to North Bethesda.
The dry cleaning business, which started in 1926, moved Dec. 1 from 8402 Connecticut Ave. to its current location on Randolph Road, near its intersection with Parklawn Drive, owner Jon Simon told Bethesda Beat last week.
The Chevy Chase site that Parkway Custom left might be turned into retail space with residential units or a hotel, according to a representative for the owners.
Spurred on by two recent cases of unlawful tree cutting on private property in Potomac, the West Montgomery County Citizens Association invited representatives from Montgomery County Planning Department to speak at its December meeting.
Stephen Peck, Senior Planner and Forest Conservation Inspector, and Kristin Taddei, Forest Conservation Planner Coordinator, joined the meeting via Zoom to share, “a fact-filled discussion of trees and forests – how to protect what we have and how to increase them,” as the meeting was billed in the WMCCA December newsletter.
Following the meeting, WMCCA President Ken Bawer gave two examples of recent incidents of tree cutting leading to investigation and, in one case, a $1,000 fine.