Stratton park closed for upgrades

 Stratton Park, in Bethesda, MD is closed for upgrades.  The park is being made ADA compliant.  The changes include a pave path to the baseball field, replacing the path to the playground, and a paved path that goes by the tennis courts and basketball courts, then continues on to Democracy Blvd.  They are also replacing the grill with two grills, one of which is ADA complaint.  I previously covered the planned upgrades.

The whole park is currently closed and the pavilion, playground, basketball courts, and tennis courts have a fence around them. The park will remain closed until winter (no word on if it is the beginning or end of winter).

 The equipment and piles of gravel are stored in the parking lot.

 The path up to the pavilion and tennis courts is being re-done.

 The new grills will be located in this area.

 The playground area is fenced off.

This is where the new path that goes by the tennis courts and out to Democracy Boulevard will be.

Go Visit: Tubing at Harper's Ferry

 A great summer adventure is to go tubing on the Potomac River near Harper's Ferry.  It is only an hour's drive from Bethesda and it is a fine way to spend a hot summer day.  There are many outfitters that will rent you a tube ($20 to $30), drive you to the river, then pick you up again when you are done.  I went with Harpers Ferry Adventure Center and was pleased with how they run the operation, but I am sure that there are many other good outfitters.

The strength of the rapids depends a lot on how much rain there has been.  The rapids are class I to class III, which is not too strong.  The above picture is representative of the type of rapids there are above the railroad bridge.  Below it are some stronger ones.

It will be hot, and you will be out in the sun the whole time so bring plenty of sunscreen and water.  You can bring food and pull up on a rock to eat it (make sure it stays dry and pack your trash out when you're done), Also, shoes that you don't mind getting wet are a must.  Children should be over 12, I'd suggest one child per adult if they are 12 or 13.

Space ships abound

 I got a box from Amazon today and on the inside flap it said:

SPACE SHIP
Assembly Instructions:

1. Place box on floor
2. Carefully place space traveller in box
3. Blast-off noises

I love it, but my astronaut conscript was not amused.

The Cicadas are Back!

Last night I was walking around Bethesda and noticed a significant number of cicada nymphs emerging from the ground and climbing up trees.

 After a while, they started their final molt.  It takes well over an hour from when the first slit appears in the back of their exoskeleton until they are fully emerged.

While emerging, they are white and pale yellow.  After they have emerged and rested, their skin will darken.

As they emerge, their wings start to expand.

This morning, the ones I had seen last night had finished molting and crawled off.  However, there were still some that had come out during the night.  I found one that was fully out but hadn't finished hardening and darkening.

Once they have molted, they abandon their exoskeletons, which are left clinging to trees.

It is too soon for these to be the big batch of 17 year cicadas, they (Brood X) last came out in 2004 and won't return until 2021.  These do look like periodicals (not annual cicadas which are larger).  Looking at the chart on wikipedia, it is most likely that these are Brood VI of the 17 year cicadas.  They aren't listed as being in Maryland so I can't be certain.

Parhelion over Montgomery County

Around 5:30, as I was driving on the outer loop of I-495, I saw what looked like a smaller second sun to the right of the Mormon temple.  A bit of research later (and some help from friends) and I see the effort is called a parhelion, or "Sun Dog".  Most of the pictures you see of this effect are better defined than this one.  You can't see it in the picture, but in reality the bright spot had a rainbow shimmer to it.

Stratton Park basketball and Tennis court refurbishment started

 They have started the refurbishment of the tennis courts and basketball courts at Stratton Park in Bethesda.  This is independent of the ADA upgrades I have written about before, but not a coincidence that they are trying to do both around the same time.

 The basketball courts already have a fresh covering of blacktop.  The posts for the hoops are there, but are not complete.

 All the cracks in the tennis courts have been filled in with tar.  I guess that means that they aren't going to remove the existing blacktop, but only put a new layer over it.

The fence is down, but the poles remain.  The supports for the nets have been cut down as well.

 The equipment is on the courts, waiting to be used.

Council set to vote on SSP and remove school facility payment

On Tuesday, November 15th, the Montgomery County Council will vote on adopting the subdivision staging policy (SSP).  They have removed the School Facilities Payment section of the SSP, this will hurt the county's ability to fund expansion of our overcrowded school system.

The school facility payment has long been a part of the subdivision staging policy.  It is triggered if a school cluster is between 105% and 120% of capacity and required an additional payment be made by developers that goes towards increasing school capacity.

Last year (2015) these payments totalled almost 2 million dollars, and in 2014 they were over 2 million dollars.

Earlier this year the county council increases taxes paid by it's citizens in order to increase funding public schools, now, they are reducing taxes on developers by millions of dollars.  Taxes that were dedicated to schools.

It is because of things like this that term limits were overwhelmingly approved last week.  Keep this in mind next election when the non-term-limited council members run for re-election, and if any of the current council members run for county executive.

There is a petition asking that they postpone the vote scheduled for November 15th and address the the MCPS crisis more fully. It covers this issue as well as other school related issues.

The County Council's agenda for tomorrow is  here, the vote is scheduled for 10am. The analyst packet is here, it identifies all the changes (additions are underlined, deletions are in square brackets). The portion on the school facility
 payment starts on page 17, then there is some more on the bottom of page 18 and top of page 19.

Signs covered in Vines

I bet you can't guess what sign this is for.  It is almost totally covered in vines.  Imagine trying to read it while driving.

Here's the same sign with a bit of road for context, does that help you figure it out?  Notice how the vines are covering the whole area, not just the sign.

Here is another sign nearby the first.  This one is a bit easier since you can read the word Lane, but which lane is it?

Need a hint?  The vines covering the signs are porcelain berry, an invasive  deciduous, woody, perennial climbing vine with flowers and tendrils that is often confused with plants from the grape species.  It has taken over this section of River Road in Bethesda, MD.

This sign isn't covered in vines, but it is a well-weathered Ride-On bus stop sign just around the corner on Wilson Lane, MD-188. (Does that give away the answer to what the above signs say?)

Recomendations for WJ cluster schools

The superintendent of Montgomery County public schools (Dr. Jack Smith) has released his recommendation for how to address the continuing overcrowding at Walter Johnson cluster schools. He took into account sort and long term enrolment projections and the report of the Walter Johnson Cluster Roundtable Discussion Group to come up with his recommendations.  Here is a summary of the recommendations from the above linked PDF file.

• For Ashburton Elementary School, reduce the approved addition project scheduled for completion in August 2019 from 881 seats to 770 seats, relocate the four special education Preschool Education Program (PEP) classes to Bradley Hills and Luxmanor elementary schools beginning in the 2017–2018 school year, and construct a modular classroom addition to open in August 2019 that can be relocated in the future after a new school opens.
• Monitor the enrollment at Farmland Elementary School and consider the reassignment of students to Luxmanor Elementary School beginning in the 2020–2021 school year after completion of the revitalization/expansion project.
• Utilize space in the annex facility adjacent to Garrett Park Elementary School to address the capacity deficit at the school.
• Monitor enrollment in the cluster elementary schools and open a new school in the long term when the capacity deficit may support the need for the new school.
• Continue with the plans for the addition at North Bethesda Middle School scheduled to open in August 2018 with a capacity for 1,229 students and a master-planned addition for up to 1,500 students.
• Continue with the plans to revitalize/expand Tilden Middle School (and collocation with Rock Terrace School) with a capacity for 1,200 students and a master-planned addition for up to 1,500 students.
• Convene a roundtable discussion group to include representatives from the Downcounty Consortium high schools a nd Walter Johnson High School to study the following:
• Reopen the former Woodward High School to address the space deficits at Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein, Walter Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Northwood high schools; and in addition
• Explore the possibility and develop a potential model approach to address space deficits at these high schools as well as others countywide, by offering alternative programmatic, career technology education, or other voluntary educational options for high school students through use of non-traditional facilities, including commercial space.
• Planning and construction funds will be included for the high school solution as part of the Superintendent’s Recommended FY 2019–2024 Capital Improvements Program in October 2017.

Note that these are just recommendations to the Board of Education, they may not be acted on, or may be only partially acted on.

WMAL transmitter building demolished

 The transmitter building that has long stood at the WMAL field on Greentree road has been demolished.  Some months ago the transmitter equipment was moved to a temporary building on the same lot.

 The plan is for the radio towers to be removed and over 300 houses and townhouses put on this 75 acre lot.

 The building was listed on Maryland's inventory of historic properties, but that didn't afford it any special protection against demolition.