Wheaton Costco is Good for the Mall So Far!

Wheaton Costco, April 10, 2013. Credit Esther French.

I saw this encouraging article shared on Just Up The Pike's Facebook page: "Wheaton Costco adds life to shopping mall: Nearby businesses see added traffic, sales."

I can confirm this by personal experience. This past Sunday I went to see the new Costco and was shocked by the number of people in the store and by the number walking around inside the mall near the store's entrance! There were too many people for the space so everyone had to walk slowly and inch around the giant shopping carts strewn about.  The general mood was festive and energized.

The article states that "Customer traffic at the mall has generally increased following Costco’s arrival, said Ken Buckner, the mall’s marketing director, though he said he could not divulge the exact numbers" and 12 new leases were signed at the mall after the Costco lease was finalized.

Inside the Costco, I was pleasantly surprised by the skylights that appear in the ceiling.  They let in lots of sunlight on the sunny day I was there, making the inside of the store seem airy and bright.  The skylights are spaced evenly in between the normal electric lights on the ceiling.  This photo gives a hint of the natural light inside.

I was also intrigued by the extensive Kosher selections available.  Large signs indicated sections of Kosher foods -- I noticed them in the bakery, cheese, and frozen section, although there could also be more.  In looking into this I found this piece on the Wheaton Patch with background about how this came to be -- the story involves a Kemp Mill resident's years-long effort.

Pedestrian Stings Planned for Wheaton!

I saw today on Wheaton Patch (Plainclothes Police to Conduct 'Pedestrian Sting' Series) that the Montgomery County police will be doing stings soon to improve safety!

This was mentioned on this blog last month by Ken Silverman from Nancy Navarro's office and I'm delighted to read that it will be happening soon.

In other news, the Wheaton Redevelopment website where Montgomery County is asking the public "What are your ideas and priorities for a redeveloped Wheaton?" is going strong with 23 more days left. It has had 232 views and has 6 suggestions open for "liking" and comments!  Go there and add your ideas!!  It is easy!

5/10/13 UPDATE: Great Greater Washington reports today that the ticketing operation is going well. They report: "The police ticketed 72 violators in 2½ hours—one every two minutes—at a single crosswalk on Veirs Mill Road..." Officers found that "When you get out of the squad car and join the thousands who cross Veirs Mill every day (it's among the county's busiest bus corridors), you suddenly learn that "it's kind of scary."

I completely agree with the piece's (Pedestrian "sting" finds frequent driver lawlessness) recommendation that officers regularly and routinely walk on streets all over Montgomery County to prevent this sort of driver abuse of police inattention.

Ideas for Wheaton Redevelopment Sought by County

Today there's a post by the Montgomery County Government on Facebook saying:

What are your ideas and priorities for a redeveloped Wheaton? Share them on engage Montgomery. http://engage.montgomerycountymd.gov/wheaton-redevelopment

It looks like MoCo has taken a page from the Metro playbook (with their very similar Momentum suggestion website) and has decided to broadly ask the public for suggestions. Good idea! 

The page says we should use it to "Suggest, share and second ideas to help make Montgomery County, Maryland an even better place to live, work, and do business. Your posts will be reviewed to help shape decision making across the County."  Add your suggestions here and link them from the comments so we can support them!

Let's make some suggestions about making Wheaton more pleasantly walkable, bike friendly, and dense! I'd like it to be like Dupont Circle (also a lot of traffic going through it, but a great place to walk around/dine/shop/hang out anyways!

Maybe my first suggestion will be a plaza with a fountain in the middle of it and plenty of seating on the site of the current Veterans Urban Park.  Its uninviting lifelessness grates on me every time I pass.

Screenshot of Engage Montgomery Wheaton site 5/1/13

Solution to Pedestrian Problems

Today Atlantic Cities has a piece called "Police Stings for Drivers Who Don't Yield in Crosswalks: Does it Really Work?"  They cite scientific research and conclude that yes, it does work.

Recently in Fort Lee, New Jersey, a place many commuters speed through while driving to New York, a police sting operation was set up to ticket people who didn't yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.  This approach could certainly help solve the problem we experienced this winter in the areas around Wheaton of traffic hitting people who are walking across streets.

Can we have a traffic crosswalk behavior sting in Wheaton, please?

Wheaton Regional Park Train Now Open

The Wheaton Train is up and running for the summer of 2013!  It is open on weekends in April and then every day of the week from May 1-August 26.  See the Montgomery County Parks Carousel and Miniature Train website for times, directions, and the complete schedule.  Tickets are only $1.75 each so these are rides everyone can enjoy.  It is a multi-car small train that can accommodate adults and children and runs on a pleasant trail of tracks through the forest and meadow, past Pine Lake, joggers, and hiking trails.  Come ride the train and enjoy the park!

The parking lot is off of Shorefield Road and is also shared by the Wheaton Carousel, a big adventure playground, and several picnic shelters. Brookside Gardens is also easy walking distance through the park.

To get there from metro, get off of the Red Line at Wheaton and go north on Georgia Ave then turn right onto Shorefield.  Remember bikes are allowed on metro on the weekends and we have a spring break from track work until April 14!  Says the Metro CEO: "The spring break will give people an opportunity to experience the type of system we are working toward."  I am really enjoying the efficient and fast weekend metro.

Wheaton Regional Park Train Station, March 26, 2013

Construction Update: Old First Baptist Church of Wheaton Site on Georgia Avenue

From the far southwestern side of the Wheaton Mall parking lot

As reported here, Wheaton church to be turned into luxury condos in June 2012, the construction project on Georgia Avenue just south of LA Fitness and the intersection with Viers Mill Road is going to be the "Solaire-Wheaton," a 232-unit luxury condo building.

From outside Montgomery Royal Theaters

The project (that's the official website with photo) is scheduled for completion in March 2014 and will be 6 stories including a 2 level parking garage on the bottom (hopefully underground).  The new building is expected to have a swimming pool, landscaped courtyard, fitness center, and is hoping for LEED Certification. According to the Washington Post, "about 60 percent of the units will be one-bedroom apartments, 30 percent will be two-bedrooms and 10 percent will be studios."

The only problem I predict with this site is that it is difficult to get to by walking or biking.  I had to try three vantage points before getting a decent view of the construction (all of these photos are from March 9, 2013).  That area is hilly and has too much traffic driving through it on Georgia Avenue and Veirs Mill Road.

Maybe the people who live in this new large luxury building will do something to help calm the traffic at that intersection -- if they walk!  Otherwise they could make it worse by driving.  I hope this new development also helps combat the idea that Wheaton has a lot of low-income apartments.

From the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Veirs Mill Road

This location is the former site of the First Baptist Church of Wheaton, which has renamed itself Streams of Hope Church and relocated to Olney, MD. Their new location is farther north on Georgia Avenue, just north of the Intercounty Connector Highway.

I hope they are happy with their decision to cash out.  The new building bodes well for our neighborhood and we still have a lot of churches nearby.

Bike Commute for Effortless Exercise

Daffodils in Brookside Gardens, March 30, 2013

An inspiring article today is a good follow-up to my blog posts (recently and earlier) about how to bicycle:

"Studies show that bike commuting is one of the best ways to stay healthy."

It is such a good thing to do because it gets us active and exercising without us having to devote any of our leisure hours specifically to it.  Most of us have to commute anyway, so doing it on a bike gives us passive exercise!  It is a perfect situation.

And with the weather warming up it is a perfect time to get on a bicycle!  I expect those racks at the metro station to be filling up soon (haven't seen it yet, ever).  Rest assured that if they are full you can chain the bike up to any signpost or parking meter without an issue.