Silverblog

The following entry was submitted by Maria Markham. She raises an important issue about the changing face of our community: who can afford to live here? Who is getting priced out? What do you think? — Eric Bond, editor

by Maria Markham

As housing prices skyrocket in the greater Silver Spring area, more and more families are finding it hard to pay the rent. And with more than 59 percent of Silver Spring residents renting according to the 2005 American Community Survey, the County Council needs to take immediate action to preserve affordable rental housing.

Since the late 1990s, Silver Spring has been losing affordable rental units, consistent with a national trend of rapidly disappearing rentals at the low end of the market. The situation is further compounded by rent increases. Between 2001 and 2005, rents increased by over $3,750 annually. The 2005 American Community Survey also shows that renters spend a disproportionate amount of their income on housing with 45 percent paying 30 percent or more of their income for housing. And we know that the situation is even worse for low-income households who can spend more than 50 percent of their earnings on housing.

Working families are not the only ones adversely affected by rising rental costs in Silver Spring. A disproportionate number of immigrants, retired and elderly people and people-of-color are also finding it increasingly difficult to afford their current rents. Residents who work in or near Silver Spring are being forced to find affordable housing elsewhere, leaving them no option other than a long commute. These community members fill critical positions as workers in our local economy and in our community churches and civic groups.

As they get pushed out, many new luxury apartments are springing up.

What’s happening in Silver Spring reflects a national trend. “Rents for newly constructed apartments far exceed rents for existing units,” a recent study by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies shows. The study also explains that most newly built rental apartments are priced far above what the majority of renters can afford. Thence, new renters are often younger, single and affluent.

These factors are driving a troubling change in Silver Spring’s demographics. And the County Council’s Task Force on Affordable Housing should consider the impact of this transformation on our community.

We don’t want to have growth and development off the backs off our working families and longtime residents. The Task Force should explore the inherent tension between planned economic development and growth and the social good in Silver Spring and come up with solutions that work for all community members.

This is not an either/or situation, especially with the economic growth Silver Spring is experiencing these days. Other communities have worked with developers to preserve affordable housing while also meeting developer concerns. And we, too, can find creative solutions to developer and community issues that balance the revitalization of our neighborhoods while preserving affordability. Our tax dollars need to be working for the social good in Silver Spring, not subsidizing private developers’ profits.

The bottom line is that working families should have a decent place to live at affordable prices. After all many of them have been here for generations and to uproot them is to displace an important part of our community’s history.

Posted by blogpop at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The following is a press release from the Montgomery County Planning Board, dated July 12, 2007. —ed.

Resolving an important issue about a parkland easement on the site of the Silver Spring Transit Center—a proposed hub for Metro trains, buses, taxis and bicycles in the community’s downtown—the Montgomery County Planning Board today worked out an agreement with two public works agencies that allows the project to proceed.

The Board, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, owns an easement on a public plaza that they needed to abandon to allow construction of the transit center, slated for Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue at the site of the existing Silver Spring Metro station. Yesterday, the Board agreed to let the county Department of Public Works and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority replace that plaza in exchange for two new parks.

The agreement, encapsulated in a Memorandum of Understanding, was several weeks in coming. The Board agreed to exchange its 35,000-square-foot Metro Urban Park for an 11,633-square-foot park at the transit plaza entrance and an 11,590-square-foot park just off site. Board members indicated they were willing to accept less parkland in exchange for higher-quality design and materials in the parks as well as to advance the project and its expected benefits for Silver Spring-area residents and commuters.

In the agreement, the Board made it clear that it expects the county and WMATA to build all of what it deems “essential elements” for the transit center, such as glass canopies over the escalators and pedestrian areas, large shade trees, and attractive sidewalk pavers and light fixtures that are consistent with the surrounding downtown. If budget shortfalls preclude the public works agencies from building those elements, commissioners indicated they wanted the Board and the agencies to work together to secure additional funding from the federal or state governments and/or the Montgomery County Council.

“I’m very hopeful that County Executive Leggett will make it clear that these are important items that deserve funding and that the project proceeds as it has been presented to the public,” said Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson. “We’re trying to get what it seems everyone wants.”

The Board considered the transit center in early June in a second mandatory referral hearing. The mandatory referral process requires the Planning Board and its professional planning staff to review and make recommendations about such issues as safety, design and architectural treatments for public projects.

Today’s agreement allows the project to move forward. County officials will seek construction bids for the transit center later this summer.

Posted by blogpop at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)

Recently, news outlets, including the Voice, have publicized a controversy over a proposed change in parking, that would extend hours that meters are in effect. The county would make more money, and theoretically, there would be more parking turn-over. Merchants in South Silver Spring however, noted that the new parking rules would apply to them, but not to the park garages around Ellsworth Drive. It was as if the county was giving customers one more reason to shop in the central business district instead of spunky South Silver Spring and other small business areas outside the center.

Here's a link to the July 07 Voice article on this issue: www.silverspringvoice.com/archives/copy/2007/07/parkingmeters.html

And after the jump (below) is a letter sent out by John Landis, co-owner of Crisfield and President of the South Silver Spring Merchant Association. In it, Landis outlines the issue from the point of view of small businesses. He also gives information on how to get involved:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

For more information or to discuss this matter further. Also if you do register to testify please E-mail me so we can coordinate our efforts.

Thank You,
John R. Landis
President, South Silver Spring Merchant’s Association

[editor's note: John Landis is also a correspondent for the Silver Spring Voice, but he is not writing in that capacity here]

Posted by blogpop at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To kick off this new Silver Spring blog, I thought that recent tension over public property in Silver Spring would be fitting.

By now, most Silver Spring residents are surely aware of the controversy that was raised when amateur photographer Chip Py was stopped from taking photographs on Ellsworth Drive. This drew further attention to the fact that the once public thoroughfare is now essentially private, as is all of the "public" space around it (fountain, stairs, tables, etc.). PFA Silver Spring LLC, the company that owns this town center relented regarding photography, but the question is now public: Who owns Silver Spring?

What do you think?

—ed.

The July 2007 Voice is running an article on this topic (Click here to read: www.silverspringvoice.com/archives/copy/2007/07/Who_owns_SS.html).

Further food for thought—this video shot by Silver Spring resident Richard Jaeggi at a July 4 protest: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyJUuUX-De0

Posted by blogpop at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)