BARRY'S MAGIC SHOP was a longtime fixture in Wheaton. When Montgomery County pushed forward on plans to spruce up and redevelop Wheaton's commercial district, the magic emporium, one of the only such shops in the area, was scheduled to be demolished — a move that sparked a public outcry.
As The Post's Lori Aratani reports today, the magic shop has reappeared on Nicholson Lane near the White Flint Mall. The move was made possible with $260,000 in financial assistance from the county.
And the shop's co-owner says Barry's is thriving in its larger location, which has a 40-seat performance space in addition to its retail spread. Susan Kang tells The Post: "I have to pinch myself. We're so lucky."
» "No Disappearing Act Here" [WaPo]
File photo of Barry's Magic Shop co-owners Susan Kang and Barry Taylor by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post
Transit Is Central to New MoCo Planning Guidelines
Map It:
Bethesda Grosvenor
Rockville Twinbrook
Silver Spring Wheaton
White Flint
EXPECT MONTGOMERY COUNTY'S transit corridors to get a lot more crowded in the coming years: The county council last week approved new planning rules to encourage development in places already served by public transportation.
That means Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton and Metrorail stations in the Rockville Pike corridor will likely see more dense development as the decades wear on.
Reports The Post's Miranda S. Spivack:
In the next 20 years, Montgomery faces several challenges as it tries to absorb the expected arrival of thousands of new residents and jobs already approved and plans for the proposed expansion of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. And the open land available for development is almost used up.Taxes on new construction in the county will increase from 70 percent to 125 percent, depending on the location and type of development.
» "New Montgomery Growth Policy Formalizes Focus on Public Transit" [WaPo]
AFTER A DEER APPEARED in the Red Line tunnels and on the platform at the Wheaton station on Sunday, causing big delays, one big question remains: How exactly did it make its way into a section of tunnel that boasts Metrorail's deepest station (Forest Glen) and the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere (Wheaton)?
As The Post's Lena H. Sun noted in Monday's Roads and Rails discussion on washingtonpost.com, there is still some mystery surrounding the deer, which Metro Transit Police officers had to shoot before service could get back to normal:
Metro officials aren't sure how the animal got there, but suspect it might have entered the system at one of the above-ground stations and then made its way to the Wheaton station.This isn't the first time Metro has had intrusions from deer. Pictured here is a camera image of a deer bounding down the platform at the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station on the Blue Line sometime in late 2003.
Continue Reading "Metro Is Still Baffled by Sunday's Deer Incident" »
THE MIDDLE OF FALL IS mating season for local deer, and there's no telling what kinds of shenanigans might ensue. In years past, we've seen deer on rampages through Georgetown clothing shops and suburban grocery stores
On Sunday at around 8:45 a.m., Metrorail passengers waiting on platforms heard about major delays on the Red Line associated with a wounded deer on the tracks near the Wheaton station. Trains had to single track through the area, home to the deepest stations in the system.
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told The Post's Delphine Schrank that the deer even jumped onto the Wheaton station platform before it was eventually shot by Metro Transit Police.
In unrelated animal transit news, on Oct. 16, animal control officers had to remove an opossum from a Metrobus on Wisconsin Avenue between Tenleytown and Friendship Heights.
» "Police Shoot Deer on Red Line Tracks at Wheaton Station" [WaPo]
EARLIER:
» "Deer Horns In on Shoppers in Tony Georgetown Stores" [WaPo]
» "Marsupial Mass Transit" [WaPo]
Montgomery Officials Likely to Scrap Parking Plan
Map It: Bethesda Silver Spring Wheaton White Flint
IF THERE'S ANY TOPIC that stirs the passions of Montgomery County residents, it's parking. And their voices are being heard: After a deluge of complaints, county officials are now backing off a plan, initially OK'd in May, that would have hiked parking fees and extended metering hours.
The plan, which was to go into effect July 1, was part of an effort to make parking regulations uniform across the county — a move that was expected to generate nearly $700,000 in new revenue. However, as The Post's Miranda S. Spivack reports, business owners worried that raising parking prices in up-and-coming Silver Spring and Wheaton to the levels seen in already prosperous retail districts like Bethesda and White Flint could stem emerging areas' economic growth.
"We are in the infancy of this revitalization," Jackie Greenbaum, owner of Jackie's Restaurant in south Silver Spring, told Spivack. "Silver Spring is not Bethesda. We don't have the affluence yet or the rock-solid business community. It would not take much in our view to knock it back five years."
County Executive Isiah Leggett, who delayed implementation of the new parking plan, is urging members of the county council to scrap the idea when they meet later in the month.
»"Montgomery Parking-Fee Increase Unlikely" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "Montgomery Co. Adds New Bethesda Parking Rules" [Free Ride/Express]
Photo by Preston Keres/The Washington Post
THIS WEEK HAS NOT gotten off to a good start for local transit agencies. A Metrobus and a Montgomery County RideOn bus collided on Viers Mill Road near Wheaton this morning. Initial reports indicate that the RideOn bus ran into the Metrobus as it was stopped while unloading and picking up passengers. Although none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, 40 people have sent to the hospital.
» "Buses Crash in D.C. Suburb, Dozens Hurt" [WaPo]
OH, MAMA QUAN'S TIKI HUT, we hardly knew ye — mostly because you opened this spring and closed this fall. And that may be for the best. You and your precious air rights will probably be replaced with condos — that's what seems to be the thing to do in Clarendon these days. In yesterday's edition of The Post, Kim Hart examined the state of the urban village, a mixing of residential and commercial space that still carries a high level of mass appeal. But the question is also whether the growing popularity of places like Clarendon, which is looking more and more like Bethesda with countless new restaurants and bars opening there, is beginning to evolve like Dupont Circle — an area that's lost many of its smaller businesses to franchises and chains that can better adapt to the changing real estate market.
With that we have a real estate development quiz. Using Clarendon's development calculus, on to the first question:
1.) If Clarendon is a mix of Bethesda and Dupont Circle, which emerging development relationship makes the most sense?
a.) Virginia Square is mix of Federal Center SW and Congress Heights.2.) Which area near a Metrorail stop won't be seeing new large-scale mixed-use development for at least a year because of a city council decision last night?
b.) Wheaton is a mix of Clarendon and Rockville
c.) Petworth is a mix of Eastern Market and Dupont Circle.
d.) Branch Avenue is mix of Vienna-Fairfax and Largo Town Center.
a.) Largo Town Center3.) Barracks Row's "Main Street," 8th Street SE, has seen a dramatic overhaul in recent years. What Northeast neighborhood might real estate hawkers term the next Barracks Row?
b.) Rockville
c.) Wheaton
d.) Dunn Loring-Merrifield
a.) Brookland
b.) Eastland Gardens
c.) Trinidad
d.) Ivy City
Answers, and explanations after the jump.
Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post
ANGERING ROMANCE NOVEL READERS is never a good idea, but that's exactly what the Greater Washington Initiative has done with a new ad campaign meant to promote Washington's intellectual capital. You've probably seen them on Metrorail. Photos of two men side by side, one reading Plato's "The Republic" and the other reading some sort of trashy romance novel called "Abandon." The ads have led to reaction like this from a person who e-mailed the blog Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels:
Romance readers are uneducated and less desirable employees, apparently. And having a degree or an advanced degree obviously makes people smarter, too, in their minds. Forget the fact that I’ve known some people with advanced degrees who are dumber than a bag of rocks and utterly unproductive human beings.And why Plato? In all our time riding transit in D.C., we have never seen anyone read "The Republic." (Although it might help many people in this city to understand the roots of good government.) We did, however, during the summer of 2003, see a young Congressional staffer (wearing a GOP elephant lapel pin and everything) waiting for a train at the Capitol South station and reading "The Prince" by Nicolo Machiavelli. Scary stuff.
» "Passion Deep in the Heart of the Metro: Romance Novel Fans React to Slight" [WaPo]
» "Get a Load of This Crap" [Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels]
» WHEATON: If looks like Wheaton's beloved little magic shop, Barry's, is closer to disappearing. But is its forced vanishing act really necessary five years before construction is supposed to start on the pedestrian walkway that will replace it? If so, that's not good news for owner Barry Taylor and his wife Susan Kang, seen at left. [County Connections/WaPo]
Photos By Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post
» GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY: Nothing has really broken the deadlock between Gallaudet University officials and students who are occupying the campus' major academic building. In an interview with The Post's Susan Kinzie, the school's incoming president, Jane Fernandes, said that she never thought the conflict would be this intense. Others are taking note, too. Leaders with the National Association of the Deaf wrote in a recent letter that "[t]his is, by any definition, a crisis." [WaPo]
» DUPONT CIRCLE: Coming up on Sunday is the 2006 Dupont Circle House Tour, which will allow the public to get a look inside some of the neighborhood's significant residential landmarks. The $25 tour (if you purchase tickets in advance) includes a Victorian tea at the Patterson House, the last remaining residence on the circle itself — now home to the Washington Club. Fun historic note: The Patterson House served as a temporary White House for President Calvin Coolidge when the executive residence's attic was being renovated into livable space in 1927. More information on the tour here. [Dupont Circle Citizens Association]
SOMEDAY, you'll be able to take Metrorail between Dulles and Reagan National airports. And then who knows, maybe you can ride Metrorail to BWI. As Maryland politicians talk about the so-called Purple Line — a light-rail route that'd link the Bethesda, Silver Spring and New Carrollton stations, a proposal to extend the Green Line to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has been gaining momentum and has been called a more critical transportation priority because of the tens of thousands of Defense Department-related jobs — and residents — set to move to Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County.
So just as we're getting used to hearing about new stations on the proposed Silver Line to Dulles like Tysons Central 7, Tysons Central 123, Tysons East and Tysons West (aren't they all beautiful names?), might we start hearing about new proposed Green Line stations like NSA-Fort Meade, Dorsey and someplace called Konterra Town Center? Via Montgomery County blogger Just Up the Pike, we're pointed to a new Metrorail map, as envisioned by Maryland state Sen. John Giannetti, including the proposed Green Line extension.
In the near term, we probably won't hear much more about the plan than what's already been said. With the November elections placing the Purple Line — which runs through voter-rich territory — at the forefront of the state's transportation debate, Purple trumps Green. And don't forget that Maryland still has to figure out how to pay its part of the $1.5 billion Metro funding pact legislation sponsored by Virginia Rep. Tom Davis. Although D.C.'s tackled it and Virginia has made a few so-far failed attempts to address it, there's been barely a peep out of Annapolis on the issue.
» "Plan for Metro to BWI Gaining Momentum" [WaPo]
» Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project
» "The Green Line and Developer Green" [Just Up the Pike]
» Green Line Extension [via Photobucket]
» "Bill Offering Metro $1.5 Billion Insists On More Oversight, Dedicated Funding" [WaPo]
» McLEAN: It's not everyday that your social studies teacher gets elected to the Kenyan Parliament. [WaPo]
» WARDS 7 & 8: The District decided to ramp up its parking enforcement in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, in some cases "nailing 30 to 40" cars a day by booting them, the City Paper's Ryan Grim reports. But residents are fighting back by removing boots on their own — a situation that's resulted in the disappearance of about $15,000 worth of enforcement equipment. [City Paper]
» WHEATON: If you're accustomed to walking to or from the Wheaton Metrorail station or using its Kiss and Ride lot, expect construction starting Monday to cause some changes at the station property. A condo/retail development will be constructed at the site. [WMATA]
» MOUNT PLEASANT: On Sunday, Mount Pleasant Street will be closed to traffic for Fiesta D.C. 2006, where the Latino Festival of Washington will be celebrating its 36th anniversary. Expect a parade of nations, dancers, food, storytellers and various presentations in the heart of Mount Pleasant from noon to 7 p.m. [Fiesta D.C. 2006]
ON THE NORTHERN END of the greater Gallery Place-Chinatown-Penn Quarter area downtown, the number seven will be making its presence known. PS 7's, at 777 I St. NW, opens today, a move that will reintroduce its chef/owner, Peter Smith, to the Washington restaurant scene. Most recently the executive chef at the venerable Vidalia, Smith now has a kitchen and 130-seat restaurant to call his own. 
And while "contemporary modern American cuisine" is a hard category to pin a precise definition to, at PS 7's, the number 7 is easy to find.
Smith's menu is divided into seven sections, each at a different price point ($10, $12.50, $15, $22 and $23), which allows diners the flexibility to pick and choose when ordering. Smith also seems to have affection for trios. For instance, there is Octopus Three Ways: glazed with red Thai curry glaze, ceviche with uzu and red chile granite plus torchon with cilantro cucumber salad. Another trio: popcorn-crusted halibut. There's a prix fixe daily tasting menu designed with four, five, six or, of course, seven courses.
Last but not least, the seventh section of the menu is focused on desserts. The pastry chef is Naomi Gallego, a veteran of Equinox and Vidalia.
Photo by Caroline Nosal
» PS 7’s, 777 I St. NW; 202-724-8500. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
ON THE VERGE: For those who have been eagerly anticipating the opening of Matchbox's 8,000-square-foot expansion, it's complete — but not yet quite ready for the public. The owners still have a few bureaucratic loose ends left to tie up with the District. Earlier this week, the blogger got a sneak peek at the new space, which includes a patio area with D.C.'s first outdoor fire pit, a glass-topped dining area and an expanded upstairs space. The original restaurant, known for its wood-fired pizza and mini-burgers, was just 15 feet wide with seats for 75 people. Now, the restaurant has double the area. When the new space does open, expect a little more breathing room.
» Matchbox, 713 H St. NW; 202-289-4441. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
GET YOUR GOAT: During Wednesday's Ask Tom online chat with The Post's food critic Tom Sietsema, the following question was asked:
Since sampling some goat curry at the Adams Morgan Day festival, I've been trying to find it on some local menus. Could you steer me toward some restaurants that do good things with goat?A good question. The trouble is that, well, goat is an acquired taste and usually doesn't jump out at you on menus. Tom's two top goat picks? Islander Caribbean (for goat roti) and El Chalan (for goat stew).
» Islander Caribbean Restaurant, 1201 U St. NW; 202-234-4955 (U St.-Cardozo)
» El Chalan, 1924 I St. NW, 202-293-2765 (Farragut West)
NEW GOURMET MARKET: Ellen and Todd Gray of Equinox plan to open a second location of their Market Salamandar gourmet grocer next to Equinox on Connecticut Avenue, between Farragut Square and Lafayette Square. The original Market Salamandar is in Middleburg, Va. [Metrocurean]
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: Jackpot! This blogger likes scotch and free Wi-Fi, and now there's a place to get both. Wheaton is a long way up the Red Line for us, but maybe one of these days, we'll make it up to the Royal Mile Pub, as profiled here. [D.C. Foodies]
Addison Road