Happy Halloween!

Have a great day folks, dress up, have fun...go to a party and get plastered.

BUT PLEASE, exercise caution on your way home. Grab a cab, watch out for kids and generally be safe. Your boss expects you at the office bright and early tomorrow.

BOO!

Circus

$1.44 against the Euro.

Numbers on unemployment expected to hold steady.

Credit un-uncrunch.

GM tries to boost hybrid car sales (in China).

80000 new jobs in October (I will wait for the polls)?

What do all these headlines mean?

Not a darn thing until we hear what the FED has to say about rates tomorrow.

Bah humbug.

Slot and effect...

What do YOU think?

The Examiner - D.C. Edition WEB PDF

The Washington Post - Online Edition






Note:The articles referenced are the opinions of the writers, editors and copywriters of the above referenced media outlets.

Note: This post is NOT a subsitute for tomorrow's discussion.

SUB-urban renewal...at its finest.

An ongoing proposal just got hotter. A close-in Bethesda neighborhood with an aging populus must decide between dying in their homes or watching their homes being bulldozed...at least they can watch their nest egg grow!

Washington Post Article

Friday Discussion: Peaceful Protest?

You know what I am talking about...if not, turn on the news.

Discuss.

Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County

The mission of the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County: to enhance the lives of Montgomery County Maryland residents and animals through programs directed at education, adoption, animal shelter, and low cost spay/neuter.

"The AWLMC is committed to ending the euthanasia of adoptable animals in Montgomery County Maryland. With this in mind, we are partnering with the county shelter to help save the most at-risk animals. Currently, we are only working with cats. We hope to be able to add a dog program soon.

In order to save as many cats as possible, we have opened a no-kill shelter in Gaithersburg. We need your help in the form of direct financial donations and by volunteering your time. Our organization is strong and full of highly dedicated volunteers of all ages, backgrounds, professions and abilities. We are working together to save the lives of cats and kittens, to find them loving, forever homes and to have them spay/neutered. "

The AWL provides a wonderful service for the residents and animals of Montgomery County. Check out their website http://www.awlmc.org/. If you have room in your home to help an animal in need, want to volunteer or would like to donate they could certainly use your help.

Salt. Pepper. Wolfgang Puck.

My recommendation would be to stop by this tasty spot and sample the wares.

The Newseum/Wolfgang Puck/Scott Drewno three-level dining attempt may pay off!

New Feature: Friday Discussion

In an attempt to rile up the community and offer lively discussion...I will be offering a topic every Friday (and taking suggestions for new topics). I am sure it could take months for this to sky-rocket. In the meantime, it will be lively discussions between the blog contributors (should be fun!).

Today's topic:

Winchester Homes will build at least 730 homes in the newly-named Poplar Run subdivision of Silver Spring (for those who know the area, this is the former site of the Indian Spring Country Club). Residents are outraged...the MCPS school board needs to decide if/when they will build a school. MCPS has two years from yesterday to build the school or Winchester Homes can build as many as 773 units of which 390 can be townhome style.

Discuss.

Taking a hike...

may not be such a terrible idea.

For all those concerned; Metro is offering to eliminate paper transfer slips for bus riders, and let us take into account that WMATA is also prepared to offer free SmarTrip cards, on a first-come first-served basis to those for whom purchasing a card would provide a financial hardship. This is a very nice gesture considering that in a few hours WMATA is scheduled to make a decision on what would be the largest rate hike for Metro...ever; in an effort to head off operating costs and help revitalize the budget for Metro's failing infrastrucure.

"If the issue really is that there is a disproportionate impact on the poor, then we could propose some number of cards to be given to the social service agencies . . . and people could go through the social service agency and request a free card," Metro General Manager John B. Catoe, Jr. to The Washington Post stated.

Four fare proposals have been offered, of which the most likely to pass will be a fare hike of 20 to 40 cents for riders and parking increasing by 50 cents. Bus fares would remain the same.

There is much opposition to the fare and parking increases while Metro representatives lay out plans to help bridge the Metro budget gap. Maryland and Virginia suburban board representatives are adamant that a compromise must be reached.

Chris Zimmerman, Arlington’s Metro board representative, said he expects a couple weeks of back-and-forth negotiation before a deal is struck. With three votes inside the Beltway and three outside, “there’s going to have to be a compromise,” Zimmerman said.

So while they are all bridging the gap and Metro stations continue to to deteriorate, we will wait...with bated breath.


This post referenced information from the following sources:

The Washington Post - Online Edition and The Examiner - Washington D.C. Edition.

Give credit where credit is due.

First Annual King Farm Fall Festival

October 14, 2007

An afternoon full of activities and events expected to bring thousands of neighbors.

The King Farm Citizens Assembly is presenting the community's first annual Fall Festival! The fun will take place at the Saddle Ridge Community Center lawn area and the surrounding areas of Saddle Ridge Circle on Sunday, October 14, 2007 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm (weather permitting).

The Fall Festival will feature live music from the popular band "On The Edge", who will be performing in front of The Saddle Ridge Community Center. The rear parking lot will host a variety of free children's activities including face painting, clowns, a moon bounce, rock climbing wall and spin art. In addition, a horse drawn hayride will provide free hayrides around Saddle Ridge Circle.

Children will also be able to take a turn picking a pumpkin in the King Farm pumpkin patch and making a scarecrow.

Several local vendors will selling a variety of delicious dishes and desserts for everyone to enjoy.
A special part of the Fall Festival will be the Merchants Expo. More that 40 vendors will be providing information about their businesses, selling their specialties and hosting raffles and prizes at their booths.

Access to the Saddle Ridge Lane and the Saddle Ridge Circle will be restricted as police barricades will be closing off the festival area. The festival will be offering a free shuttle bus to and from the festival area and the Safeway parking lot. The shuttle bus service will be running from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

National Park Seminary

The National Park Seminary is a historic district in the Forest Glen area of Silver Spring, MD, which includes a wooded glen and two dozen Victorian era buildings, including a magnificent 3-story ballroom, a windmill, castle and a Japanese pagoda.

The first building, "Ye Forest Inne," was constructed in 1887. Early suburban developers acquired the land above Rock Creek, laid out lots, and built the hotel to attract prospective homeowners. By 1894, the hotel failed and the inn was converted to a women’s post-secondary school. For nearly 50 years, the National Park Seminary and College was one of the most prestigious women’s schools in the country. As enrollment grew, so did the campus, and the new buildings, built in various international styles, reflected the educational philosophy of founders and the values of a nation just emerging on the international scene. The school weathered the Great Depression and, just as it was beginning to thrive again, it was taken over by the U.S. Army in 1942, when it served as a rehabilitation center for wounded veterans returning from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Many suburban resort hotels were built in the late 1800’s. Many of them were converted to schools. And many of them were, in turn, taken over by the armed forces during the war. But very few of these original resort hotels are left, and none that have witnessed all three incarnations! Clearly this site has profound architectural and historical importance. It is also a place of pure magic – a commodity very hard to come by today.

Over the years, the property was grossly neglected with some buildings close to ruin. Vandalsim became a problem and organizations began to fight for the historic preservation of the property.

National Park Seminary is now being redeveloped as a neighborhood of historic condominium and single-family homes (http://nationalparkseminary.com/) . Additionally, a seamless blend of newly constructed townhomes and courtyard homes are being added to this magnificent place also known as Forest Glen. A breathtaking mix of historic and new construction, the homes at NPS are arguably the best kept secret in the Washington D.C. area.

• Convenient Location – Inside 495 Beltway, One Mile from Forest Glen Metro,

Three Miles from Downtown Silver Spring

• Access to Rock Creek Park

• High Quality Designer Finishes

• Historic Walking Trails through Surrounding 12-acre Wooded Glen

• Historic Provenance – Homes Feature Existing Historic Elements, Grounds Feature Historic Statuary

• Every Floor Plan is Unique

• Close Proximity to Bethesda and Silver Spring for Dining and Shopping

• Fitness Room and Resident Lounge

• Historic Ballroom for Community Use

Now, it finally appears like this property is being brought back to life while maintaining and revitalizing it's rich history.

This post referenced information from the following web sites: http://nationalparkseminary.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Park_Seminary, http://www.operant.com/Seminary/main_page.html,