In response to the U.S. Capitol attacks and the Inauguration Committee’s Nationwide COVID-19 Memorial, Scott Vicary organized a neighborhood display of luminaries (brown paper bags with LED tea light candles inside). He envisioned them as a symbol of community solidarity in honoring lives lost, a lighted path to a better era, and a step toward healing.
Well over 50 households participated, including all those along Glenridge Rd. and Rookwood Rd. As neighbors lit their luminaries, 400 lights were lit along the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to represent the 400,000 lives lost in the U.S., a grim number reached that day.
The Black Lives Matter Vigil continues every Friday, rain or shine. North Woodside and Woodside neighbors stood there on Christmas Day 2020 and New Year’s Day 2021 (during a cold downpour). And nearly 30 people, a vigil record, showed up on the Friday after the attack on the U.S. Capitol and racist vandalism marked cars in Woodside. The following week the most enthusiastic honker was a woman who works in the White House, just down the road.
For those who attend weekly, the event has provided a meaningful way to meet neighbors and match masked faces with names from the listserv. All are welcome!
Update (October 2021): The Black Lives Matter Vigil has concluded and may resume at a later date. For more information, contact the organizer.
Singing following the lighting of North Woodside’s Community Tree on December 13, 2020
This year’s Tree Lighting program, organized by Holiday Committee Co-Chair Julie Lees, opened with an alto sax version of Let It Snow, followed by a small group of physically distanced singers blending their voices together for Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace).
After a few words of welcome by NWCA President David Cox, the Community Tree was lit and O Christmas Tree sung. Then it was time for a certain white-bearded man’s arrival to the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Neighborhood children came, by appointment, to greet Santa and pick up treats. The event was streamed live and can be viewed below.
Thanks to Snider’s for once again donating a box of oranges for Santa’s treat table.
The Maryland Department of Transportation has announced that it will fully fund the design phase of the Georgia Avenue improvement project.
Despite widespread support of the surrounding neighborhoods, the design and engineering plans for the Georgia Ave improvement project have been stuck at about 50% for almost two years. But due to the determined efforts of NWCA, Friends of Forest Glen and Montgomery Hills, other neighborhood associations, and our elected representatives in Annapolis (especially Delegates Jared Solomon and Lorig Charkoudian), MDOT Secretary Greg Slater agreed to include $1.6 million in the transportation budget to complete design of the project.
The funding could not have come at a better time. It is widely expected that the new Biden Administration will be looking to fund state and local infrastructure projects with an emphasis on projects that improve biking, walking, and transit access. The Georgia Avenue project does all of that.
The intersection road changes came to conclusion in record time due to reduced traffic during the last 10 months. A few items remain:
Montgomery County put in wrongly named street signs. On a walk through the intersection, neighborhood representatives and the county agreed on the correct signage, which should be installed in the next few months. Thanks to Gus Bauman for his help on getting the county to focus on this mistake.
The Linden Civic Association and the NWCA worked together to obtain a sidewalk behind Sniders on the south side of Seminary Place. That sidewalk should also be installed in the next few months.
NWCA is following up on county plans for maintaining the new plants and trees placed around the intersection. Phyllida Paterson of our Tree Committee will be working on this.
Montgomery County arborists are partnering with local nonprofit Casey Trees to offer us expedited planting of free street trees in spring 2021. New street trees are planted in the right-of-way at least 25 feet from existing street trees and 10 feet from driveways. If Pepco distribution lines stretch overhead, trees must be “minor,” or small; otherwise they must be “major,” or shade trees.
Homeowners eligible for new trees may choose a first and second choice of species from a fairly broad list, which includes native species and a range of heights within the tree categories.
Since last year, COVID-related budget constraints have limited the tree-planting budget. Usually the county hires contractors to plant our trees. However in 2020, county arborists began partnering with nonprofit Casey Trees, which planted 15 saplings in our neighborhood (four others are pending) at low cost to the government. This arrangement continues in spring 2021. Casey Trees has provided excellent service to NWCA residents who received their trees, and consistently works hard to increase tree canopy throughout the DC area. Please keep Casey Trees in mind if you are donating to environmental causes this year.
If you think you are eligible for one or more new street trees and want to participate in our group request, contact the Tree Committee as soon as possible. Quantities may be limited. If you have a dead or dying street tree, please call 311 to request removal, which will open space for a replacement in the future.
Two North Woodside residents light their lantern candles before the commencement of the 3rd Annual Talbot Avenue Bridge Lantern Walk on November 14, 2020.
As darkness fell, North Woodside, Lyttonsville, and Rosemary Hills neighbors walked—carrying lanterns, ringing bells, and listening to a recording of This Little Light of Mine—along the mile route from one side of the Talbot Avenue Bridge construction site in North Woodside to the other in Lyttonsville, neighborhoods once divided by racial segregation. Lifelong Lyttonsville resident Charlotte Coffield came out and waved as the procession passed by, and David Cox, NWCA President, and Pat Tyson (Lyttonsvillle) joined those who shared eloquent remarks at the end.
On December 10, 2020, Merrie Blocker, NWCA Vice President, led a traditional lighting for the first night of Hanukkah at the new outdoor menorah on the island where Glen Ross and Luzerne meet. Afterwards, neighbors came, by appointment, to pick up latkes (potato pancakes) and Hanukkah gelt (chocolate coins). The event was streamed live and can be viewed below.
The new Talbot Avenue Bridge in September 2020, before construction halted.
Seminary Road Intersection
The bulk of the road construction work on this project will be completed in early November. Sometime within the next six months, trees and plants will be planted.
The portion of Seminary Road between Seminary Road and Seminary Place, which is now physically a continuation of 2nd Avenue, will be officially renamed 2nd Avenue.
The new traffic lights will be operational in early November and the county will then recalibrate the timing. Also, at that time the new streetlights will begin to work.
Talbot Avenue Bridge
As of Oct. 16, 2020, all construction stopped on the bridge. Due to the inconvenience and the eyesore of the partially built structure, Lyttonsville and Rosemary Hills neighborhood associations sent a letter to Gov. Hogan and other public officials requesting that Talbot Avenue Bridge construction be prioritized in Purple Line activities. After consultation with the members of the Traffic and Safety Committee, the NWCA Board sent a letter of support that also stated the following:
“As we foresee a greatly increased volume of traffic once the Talbot Bridge is opened, the North Woodside Association also wants to take this opportunity to remind Montgomery County, specifically the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, of its commitment, made to us last January and February in a public meeting and follow up emails, that once the Bridge is reopened the County will work with all three of our neighborhoods to mitigate any traffic disruptions.”
We believe that with the support of Lyttonsville and Rosemary Hills, we will obtain the traffic mitigations we’ll request in the future.
The approval of almost all types of mitigation requests is based on traffic-volume studies. So it would be wise to wait for the bridge to be open a few months and for the pandemic to have passed before requesting such a study.
2nd Avenue
Residents on 2nd Avenue have concerns about traffic speed and volume, particularly regarding pedestrian safety. The Traffic and Safety Committee will follow up with the county to request a review of all options for better traffic control and pedestrian protection.
— by Merrie Blocker and Julie Lees, Co-chairs, Traffic and Safety Committee
The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately hurting low-income and Black and brown families, whose adults are overrepresented among essential workers. Their children, especially the younger ones, are falling further behind academically.The new Educational Equity and Enrichment Hubs provide a safe opportunity for in-person support for MCPS K-5 students, based on financial need. Learn more here: www.equityhubs.org.
Welcome to North Woodside 