Comments on Silver Spring, Singular: Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs

@Patrick Thornton I disagree about making it hard...

2010-08-26T05:45:39.664-05:00

@Patrick Thornton

I disagree about making it harder to drive solving the problem of aggressive drivers. This will only exacerbate the matter. It should be easy for everyone: pedestrians AND drivers.

I live in downtown Silver Spring, and as both a pedestrian and a driver I think there are problems on both sides. First, there are only a few problem intersections where things really collide. Colesville/2nd/Wayne is one of them. Cars do go too fast thru this intersection, but pedestrians often jaywalk, creating dangerous situations and unhappy motorists. Second, the "no turn on red" signs should also have "when pedestrians are present" underneath like the ones in Arlington do. There are a lot of intersections that have lower pedestrian volumes where this is approprite (e.g., Spring and Colesville).

Finally, Silver Spring is not Arlington; we do not have an interstate highway paralleling the main through streets like I-66 does for Wilson and Washington Blvds. (I lived in Arlington for almost 5 years). Keep in mind that a lot of motorists are trying to get in and out of DC and have US Route 29 (Colesville Rd.), Georgia Avenue, and 16th St. as their best or only options.

I really wanted to love Upscale, but the very firs...

2010-07-27T09:14:52.637-05:00

I really wanted to love Upscale, but the very first prescription I took there was mis-filled. The pharmacist realized his mistake and ran out to the parking lot to catch me, but I could easily have given my daughter a double dose of a powerful antibiotic if he hadn't happened to notice that he'd mixed it wrong.
Perhaps it was an honest mistake, and maybe even an isolated one, but I really couldn't in good conscience take another prescription there. I was disappointed, too, because I was hoping for a good nearby alternative to the hell that is CVS.

Remember that Borders built its empire by plowing ...

2010-07-27T08:34:41.786-05:00

Remember that Borders built its empire by plowing under local bookstores, with their efficiencies of scale and lower prices. If Borders get plowed under by the kindle and ipad, it wouldn't be the saddest story ever. Maybe in a post-Borders world, people who prefer books over ipads will have local bookstores again!

re- Borders My writers group met with a Border's ...

2010-07-26T12:23:29.036-05:00

re- Borders

My writers group met with a Border's buyer back in January and she said there were no plans to close the SS location.

That said, Borders is doing really badly - much worse than the other big bookstores (although they're all hurting) - so that could change. But only if the whole company goes down, I think.

"cracker bitch." I'd ask the officer to arrest th...

2010-07-26T09:12:00.487-05:00

"cracker bitch."

I'd ask the officer to arrest the person since it sounds like it was racially motivated attempted assault, could fit into the hate crime laws. Works both ways remember...

I'm pretty sure that the officer was wrong. That ...

2010-07-25T23:16:37.166-05:00

I'm pretty sure that the officer was wrong. That seems to me to be a clear case of assault -- which includes not just unwanted intentional touching, but also placing someone in fear of being touched in an unwanted manner.

Glad to see the uptick in police presence in DTSS....

2010-07-25T22:25:44.367-05:00

Glad to see the uptick in police presence in DTSS. Not an hour after telling a friend about the Baja Fresh incident, she and I were verbally assaulted by a guy while crossing 16th & East-West. He even threw a fake punch at her after throwing a few colorful racial slurs. A guy behind us fared no better. Of course, since the attacker left and headed down East-West toward the metro before we could call the cops, they took 15 minutes to arrive on the scene (and this was after twice missing us in spite of a very explicit description of where we were standing and what we were wearing).

I was surprised to learn, however, that in spite of what happened, technically no crime was committed, at least not according to the officer (who informed us that, at best, it could potentially be considered disorderly conduct which, since it was not directly observed by the officer, could not yield any sort of arrest or citation).

It's sticky: DTSS is an urban environment and things are bound to happen here. And yet, I don't think its a lot to ask to be able to walk around without having members of your party referred to as "cracker bitch."

Anonymous, Maybe that was one of the problems, in...

2010-07-25T16:19:20.384-05:00

Anonymous,

Maybe that was one of the problems, inconsistency.

Just got back from buying a book at Borders and th...

2010-07-25T14:16:56.880-05:00

Just got back from buying a book at Borders and the receipt says "Silver Springs, MD" - how can I care about whether a company goes under if they don't care to change a typo after how many years?

I don't think the closing of Upscale Pharmacy is a...

2010-07-25T09:58:47.692-05:00

I don't think the closing of Upscale Pharmacy is any kind of economic indicator, or a comment on local businesses vs national chains. They just did a really really bad job.

@Terry, I afraid I disagree about the good service...

2010-07-25T09:52:26.624-05:00

@Terry, I afraid I disagree about the good service at Upscale Pharmacy. I used them for the past year, and getting refills was usually a big pain. Sometimes they were really nice, but usually the girl behind the counter would just tell the person on the other end of her pink cell phone to hold on, then she tried to get rid of me as fast as possible. Seriously, once I asked for a refill and the cashier said "well the pharmacist isn't here." And nothing else! So I asked could I leave this with you and pick it up later? And she rolled her eyes and looked agitated like she couldn't believe I asked that.

Yeah, I saw the pregnancy tests locked up at CVS a...

2010-07-24T08:19:16.449-05:00

Yeah, I saw the pregnancy tests locked up at CVS and didn't want to get that "teenage girl in a predicament" feeling (even though its not the case). So I went next door to Giant, where they are not locked up.

I think stores pretty much lock up the things that...

2010-07-23T20:35:37.912-05:00

I think stores pretty much lock up the things that they know are being shoplifted. When my wife and I were trying to conceive a few years back, I was dispatched to the CVS at the Blairs for a home pregnancy test. Once there, I was shocked to find that they were locked up. I felt a bit like an awkward teenager asking someone to unlock it. When I asked why they were in a cabinet, the manager told me that they were one of the most shoplifted items at any store. She indicated that it was mostly teenage girls (short on cash and/or trying to hide their potential predicament from as many people as possible) who lifted them. She told me the condoms are sometimes locked up for the same reason.

The line's always long because they never have eno...

2010-07-23T16:04:20.803-05:00

The line's always long because they never have enough cashiers. It's remarkable how much they try and force people to shop on Amazon.

Also, I can't see why they would close this partic...

2010-07-23T15:32:56.321-05:00

Also, I can't see why they would close this particular location, it's always packed whenever I'm in there. Not just by browsers either, the line is always fairly long.

I heard about that a long time ago, yet it's still...

2010-07-23T15:32:31.363-05:00

I heard about that a long time ago, yet it's still there. I'll believe it when it happens.

Has anyone confirmed the Borders closure? That's ...

2010-07-23T15:31:18.348-05:00

Has anyone confirmed the Borders closure? That's a large store to lose.

Borders is closing? Crap! Not that it's the grea...

2010-07-23T15:11:54.122-05:00

Borders is closing? Crap! Not that it's the greatest store, but aside from Whole Foods, it's a place for greetings cards, but moreover, it's a book store, and I hate to see book stores close.

Don't know about the shoplifting thing, but it wouldn't surprise me. We live in an area where CVS keeps razor blades locked up as if they were fine jewelry.

Thank goodness for Silver Spring Books, though I wonder how long it can stay afloat. Maybe Pelecanos will buy it up and keep it going. There's nothing like wandering aimlessly through a book store.

Lastly, please, what gods there might be, do not replace the Borders with another Peruvian chicken joint or hair salon.

I'm pretty confident Borders doesn't make judgemen...

2010-07-23T13:44:03.875-05:00

I'm pretty confident Borders doesn't make judgements based on stereotypes but rather hard data. It's not exactly rocket science to track how much shoplifting is going on. You buy 10 units of something, five of them sell and you only have 2 left. It's not hard to figure out what is going on.

I have no idea if the shoplifting rates are higher in DTSS than other Borders, but to suggest that Borders is locking up videos because they are racist is extremely ignorant.

@ Tired of Sterotypes, It couldn't at all be pos...

2010-07-23T13:43:10.711-05:00

@ Tired of Sterotypes,
It couldn't at all be possible that maybe they've discovered that that particular store has actually been hit quite a bit by shoplifting, could it? No, any efforts to stop crime must be racist.

How do you know people aren't shoplifting? There's...

2010-07-23T13:41:51.193-05:00

How do you know people aren't shoplifting? There's a reason a lot more things are locked up at CVS stores in certain neighborhoods - people do steal that stuff. A lot.

SS Borders closing? Good riddance. They now lock...

2010-07-23T13:39:56.199-05:00

SS Borders closing? Good riddance. They now lock up their videos, alledging that the neighborhood is particularly prone to shoplifting. They admitted they don't do this at White Flint and most other places. Another business wanting our money but also freaking out because they think diversity=crime. The county should run them out and give the space to a neighborhood-owned store that won't be so quick to judge on the basis of stereotypes.

The easier you make it for people to drive, the mo...

2010-07-23T13:24:24.200-05:00

The easier you make it for people to drive, the more people who will drive. If you want to solve the problem of aggressive drivers, just make it harder for them to drive (and especially make it hard for them to be aggressive).

There is a ton of public transportation around Silver Spring. It's a bit shocking how much traffic there is and how unruly it is. I work in Arlington (Court House), and it has more people and more businesses but a much better traffic situation. If Wilson Blvd has a manageable traffic situation and respectful drivers, there is no reason that the intersection of Fenton and Wayne should be as it is.

@Robert, I've never heard that argument before, a...

2010-07-23T13:02:38.589-05:00

@Robert,

I've never heard that argument before, and you'll find in most urban areas they have no right on red signs because drivers abuse them. Instead of turning only when there is no oncoming car or pedestrians around, as they law states, drivers instead try to force the issue constantly.

Jaywalking is encouraged and Downtown Silver Sprin...

2010-07-23T12:51:30.833-05:00

Jaywalking is encouraged and Downtown Silver Spring is less walkable than it should be because we have too many NO RIGHT TURN ON RED signs. In many cases if cars could turn right on red, the turning cars would be out of the way by the time the light turned green and the walk sign comes on. Then we wouldn't have the conflict between right turning cars and pedestrians trying to cross the street at the same time.