
What are you thankful for this year? I've been trying to give this a lot of thought, assuming I'd have a killer post to write about it. Despite all of the [...]


- It won't be finished for nearly two years, but check out these images of the new White Oak Community Recreation Center anyway. At 33,000 square feet, it'll be the largest such facility in the county. In addition to the standard fare (gym, game [...]
The death of a 63-year-old pedestrian in the circle at 16th and Colesville on Wednesday is a reminder of how dangerous the streets of Downtown Silver Spring are for pedestrians. Sligo at Silver Spring, [...]
- Of course, tomorrow is the annual Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade in Downtown Silver Spring. (Hoping the mounted horses don't pee everywhere this time.) The parade kicks off at Georgia and Sligo at 9:30am' [...]
Once the dragonfly fell to earth, it didn't have a chance. There was a sale at DSW Shoe Warehouse and the high heels were the first to go, clomping loudly and' [...]
I know Sligo at Silver Spring, Singular likes his mid-century modernism, so this is for you. The Sears in White Oak (once the "largest Sears in America" according to [...]
- What's wrong with the scene in this [blurry] photo, taken last Saturday night on Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring? That's right: there are cars. Is not closing Ellsworth on [...] 
part FIVE of a series about new development proposals in Calverton and Hyattsville by Percontee.
One little-known fact about Chick-Fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy (or, as he wrote it, 'S. Truett Cathy) is that he is an apostrophe fanatic, much to the chagrin of his friends, family and English teachers. The fast-food [...]
One month after the ice rink outside the new Silver Spring Civic Building was formed, we're seeing even more signs of progress. The supports for the super-modern, glowing canopy that'll go [...]
- Over in College Park, the University of Maryland's cut their ties with development firm Foulger Pratt/Argo to which was going to build East Campus, a mixed-use development on Route 1 "twice the size of . . . downtown Silver Spring," which FP/Argo [...]
Congratulations on getting your very own music hall, East County! Hopefully the wait (which continues, after all, the thing hasn't even been built yet) is well worth it. Anyway:
If you haven't heard already . . .
JUTP reader and Wheaton resident Melanie alerted us to a sign advertising a new theatre opening at the former Cinema 'n' Drafthouse in Westfield Shoppingtown Westfield Wheaton Wheaton Plaza, which closed [...]
- Happy Veterans' Day, East County. Today's a day to commemorate the sacrifices of those who serve our country. This year, we also note the execution of John Allen Muhammad - better known as the mastermind behind the Beltway sniper attacks seven years ago [...]
Supporters of a pedestrian bridge between the Silver Spring Library and the Wayne Avenue Garage are holding out hope that it'll still get built.

Come by tomorrow for an update on the new Silver Spring Library. In the meantime, if you missed it last week, check out these photos of the shuttered City Place [...]
- Join Jerry McCoy of the Silver Spring Historical Society for their monthly tour of historic Georgia Avenue. The two-hour tour begins at 10am in front of the B&O Railroad station, [...]
The last time I visited the AMC City Place 10 was in 1999, on a sixth-grade field trip to see Baby Geniuses (educational, right?). For members of White [...]
part ONE of a series about new development proposals in Calverton and Hyattsville by Percontee.
The first thing you do when you buy a house is see if it will fit on your boat. (This is if you have made the correct choice to buy a [...]
1) Unofficial "mayor of Silver Spring" Susan Hoffmann (above) lost her bid for re-election as official Mayor of Rockville to seventy-four-year-old Phyllis Marcuccio by just four hundred votes. Hoffmann won her first term in the 2007 Rockville mayoral race, which Just Up The [...]
- The Department of Parks is holding a community meeting to discuss a temporary skate spot that'll be built in Woodside Park this winter. That meeting's at 7pm tonight at the Park [...]
From the Post:"A 25-year-old man was shot Monday evening in downtown Silver Spring, Montgomery County police said.

- Just twelve people showed up at a public hearing for the InterCounty Connector tolling plan in Calverton Wednesday night. But Prince George's lawmakers say the charges to use the 16-mile highway - up' [...]
The roundabout at Old Columbia Pike and Perrywood Drive in Burtonsville, outside Banneker Middle School, was completed about four years ago, but the hand-made street sign remains. I'm not sure who put it up -' [...] 

Rain cancelled many planned activities at the Silver Spring Library's annual BookFest last Saturday, but about sixty residents showed up anyway to catch a first glimpse of the new library, to [...]
- The animal welfare website PetFinder.com hosts its third-annual Discovery Adoptable Pet Event tomorrrow. It's your chance to see "cute, adoptable pets, including dogs and (for the first time) cats" (emphasis theirs) [...]
If you haven't already, check out this week's posts about pocket parks and skater kids and the future of Burtonsville (which got picked up by Greater Greater, don't you know). Anyway, [...]
Skater kids, shown here in front of the Discovery Building, are the sole users of many Downtown spaces but are often chased out of them by security. Check out this photoset of pocket parks.
Not quite zombies, but close.
"Is Burtonsville settling?" asks Eric Luedtke, East County Citizens Advisory Board member. He was discussing the controversial ezStorage project that I can't say much about (it's [...]
- Post food critic Tom Sietsema's 2009 Fall Dining Guide, includes three local restaurants: Ruan Thai in Wheaton; Cuba de Ayer in Burtonsville; and Kabob n Karahi in Cloverly (the review incorrectly' [...]
- From the listservs: Samuel Myers, better known as Bonifant Street dry-cleaner Jim Dandy, will receive the 2009 Neal Potter Path of Achievement Award this year. Named for the former County [...]
On Tuesday, WMATA held a public hearing to discuss changes to the Metrobus Q2 line between Silver Spring and Shady Grove. Kathy Jentz, East Silver Spring resident [...] 

- Work on 8407, chef Pedro Matamoros' new restaurant at 8407 Ramsey Avenue, formerly the Jamaican restaurant Yellow House (and before that, a tiki bar) is well underway. That is, at' [...]

- Work on 8407, chef Pedro Matamoros' new restaurant at 8407 Ramsey Avenue, formerly the Jamaican restaurant Yellow House (and before that, a tiki bar) is well underway. That is, at' [...]

At fourteen stories, a planned mixed-use complex based on D.C.'s CityVista would dwarf anything else in Downtown Wheaton. But is that necessarily a bad thing?
After years of civic wrangling, several close calls, and thirty-five thousand square feet of plastic grass, Silver Spring finally gets its ice-skating rink. Work commenced [...]
- Those who take the Metrobus Q2 (Shady Grove-Silver Spring), the most-used route in Montgomery County, can learn and comment on plans to improve the line at a public [...] 
"No Americans come" to eat in Wheaton, say owners of Latino restaurants in the CBD. Staff with language barriers and a preference for traditional dining habits (according [...]
You might get tripped up, but there's still a road ahead, East County. Here's a look at what's happening this weekend:
This is a new sculpture in the plaza outside of the Argent, a brand-new condo at 410 and Blair Mill Road. It's pretty cool to think that nothing in this picture - save [...]
Years in the making, a new pedestrian walkway connecting Georgia Avenue to Triangle Lane in downtown Wheaton looks like it could open any day now. It goes through [...] 
Do some stores, like trendy American Apparel, have more right to be in Downtown Silver Spring than others?
Don't have much to say about this photo (other than that you can find this scene at the intersection of East-West Highway and Blair Mill Road right around 7pm).
- Neighbors of Evans Parkway Park in Wheaton complain that it's become a haven for sex and drugs, say the Gazette. One anonymous resident quoted in the story claims seeing black and Hispanic kids fighting in the park [...]
Still no power at JUTP headquarters today, so here's another post courtesy of the White Oak Library.
Posting's a little light today, as my house, uh, "lost power."
My favorite aunt lives in Columbia Heights. She is retired, if retirement means collecting antiques to sell and working at a bank just to meet people. She and my uncle, who is officially retired, circumnavigate the District [...]
- Master photographer/friend of JUTP Chip Py snapped this photo of filmmaker Michael Moore as he premiered his new film Capitalism: A Love Story at the AFI Silver Theatre Monday night. Free tickets for the show handed out that afternoon were gone in seventeen [...]
Our subdivision is adjacent to Arden Courts, a retirement home specializing in, well, dementia care. It seemed harmless at first. And Arden Courts was generally a quiet neighbor until we heard [...]
If you're planning to spend this Saturday at the Fenton Street Market and South Silver Spring Block Party, you've probably given some thought to how you'll get between the two events, separated by a few blocks that can make [...]
Burtonsville Day is the one time a year Burtonsville looks like the "small town" it purports to be the rest of the time. For all the people who come out each year for the parade up Old Columbia Pike and festival at the [...] 
Better get ready for ZONING WEEK!, starting this Monday at the Fortress of Planning. Writer for Greater Greater Washington and The New Gay/Former sort-of classmate/friend of JUTP [...] 
They also offer tailoring by the yard, tuxedo rental by the square foot, and a free oil change with every gallon of detergent you buy. How's that for one-stop shopping?

There was this big red jungle gym at Woodside Park shaped like a boat, and I spent many a summer evening climbing all over it. I loved that thing, as I did the train, the bouncy [...]

Have you ever walked down the street and said "I went to college with the kid on that sticker!" That seems to happen too often for me. [...]
- If you've got plans this Saturday, skip them and go to the 19th Annual Burtonsville Day Celebration. There's a full day of events, with a charity walk through the Greencastle Lakes neighborhood at 8am,' [...]
In the weeks after fourteen-year-old Tai Lam was gunned down on a Ride-On bus after a night in Downtown Silver Spring last fall, those who knew and loved him created a makeshift memorial around a lamppost on Ellsworth [...]
Happy Rosh Hashanah and L'Shana Tova to you, East County! JUTP knows that the Jewish new year doesn't officially begin until sundown, but this blog doesn't post after happy hour, so hope this will suffice. Here's a look at the goings-on this weekend:
On Tuesday, I gave a tour of Downtown Silver Spring to June Williamson, associate professor at the City College of New York and co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia, a book about recent attempts to redevelop older suburban places. Though it briefly mentioned the July [...]