Ritz Camera Reopens On Arlington Road
The Ritz Camera & Image store on Bethesda Row has completed its move to 6917 Arlington Rd. and is offering some Mother’s Day specials to help open up its new space.
The store moved out of 7263 Woodmont Ave. earlier this year. A Max Brenner Chocolate shop will take its place with an expected mid-June opening.
On May 9, 10 and 11, moms will receive a flower with a coupon for a free 8×10 enlargement of any photo. The store is also holding a Mother’s Day raffle for two Polaroid digital cameras. Customers who bring their child’s artwork can have it scanned and printed into a leather-bound album for a reduced price.
The store includes an expanded inventory and sales on cameras, SD cards and tripods. Eric Moseson, executive vice president of Ritz, said the new space is larger and the store will offer photography classes.
Last year, New Jersey-based C&A Marketing bought Ritz Camera after it failed to emerge from its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in four years. C&A Marketing decided to keep its Bethesda store after a going-out-of-business sale, just in a new location about half-a-mile away.
Bethesda Elementary Parents Start Pedestrian Safety Petition
Parents of students at Bethesda Elementary School today started an online petition for pedestrian improvements in the area around the school, after a February incident in which a three-month old child in a stroller was hit and dragged from a crosswalk on Arlington Road.
Wendy Leibowitz said the parents started the petition because of that incident and a number of others along Arlington Road. The child in the stroller collision on Feb. 27 was not hurt after a car turning on to Arlington from Edgemoor Lane failed to yield.
It was one of three reported pedestrian-car collisions in Bethesda since February.
“As you know, there have been a series of accidents and near-accidents in downtown Bethesda along Arlington Road and some of us are concerned that the pedestrian crossings and speed limits are poorly marked,” Leibowitz said. “There are no speed cameras or enforcement of traffic rules and people drive very aggressively near Bethesda Elementary School.”
The petition has 27 supporters so far and asks the Montgomery County Council, Police Department and Department of Transportation for more “No Turn On Red” restrictions, more visible crosswalk markings, speed cameras on Arlington Road and police patrols when children are going to and leaving school.
Read the full petition after the jump.
UPDATED: Red Flag Day Means Brush Fire Conditions
UPDATE 2:50 p.m. MCFRS crews are on the scene of a brush fire in the wooded residential area of the intersection of Burning Tree Road and Beech Tree Road. Crews reportedly have the roughly quarter-acre fire under control.
ORIGINAL With weather conditions ideal for the rapid spread of brush fires, the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is advising residents not to throw cigarettes on the ground and to be careful with any flammable materials.
A fire in a small section of mulch in the Giant grocery store parking lot on Arlington Road was easily extinguished before reaching any trees just after 11 a.m. And MCFRS will be on alert for similar incidents because of dry, windy conditions.
From the National Weather Service:
…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR EASTERN WEST VIRGINIA…NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MARYLAND… NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND WASHINGTON DC…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING FOR THE POTENTIAL OF RAPID WILDFIRE GROWTH…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING. THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* RELATIVE HUMIDITY…20 TO 25 PERCENT.
* WINDS…NORTHWEST 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.
* FUEL MOISTURE…5 TO 8 PERCENT.
* IMPACTS…THE COMBINATION OF GUSTY WINDS AND DRY FUELS WILL PROMOTE RAPID SPREAD OF ANY UNCONTROLLED FIRES. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A FIRE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS MAY OCCUR. LISTEN FOR LATER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE RED FLAG WARNINGS.
A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW…OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AND DRY FUELS WILL CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.
Arlington Road Post Office Demolished
The old U.S. Post Office building at 7001 Arlington Rd. is no more after crews tore down the brick building in the last few days to make way for a five-story, 140-unit apartment with ground floor retail.
The Post Office closed last year as Philadelphia-based developer Keating fenced off the site and prepared it for demolition and construction.
The new apartment will include a parking garage with 211 spaces, which will accommodate 44 fewer peak-hour trips during weekday mornings and 19 fewer peak-hour trips during the evening rush hour than the Post Office generated, according to County Planning Staff.
Also in the plans: A new traffic signal that would go at the intersection of Arlington Road and the north entrance to the Bradley Boulevard shopping center.
Another Bradley Shopping Center Favorite Is Closing
Kae Robin & Company (6910 Arlington Rd.) is closing as owner Jo Ann Horn prepares to retire, an employee confirmed today.
The gift shop and stationery store has been opened in Bradley Shopping Center since 1959. In December, longtime crafts store Bruce Variety announced it was closing just a few doors down from Kae Robin. Owners said the rent in the shopping center had got too high and many bemoaned the loss of the independently owned small business in a changing Bethesda area.
A representative from the Shopping Center did not respond to multiple requests for comment at the time and it is unclear if Kae Robin is facing a similar situation.
We left a phone message with Horn this morning.
Comptroller Honors Bethesda Strosniders For 60 Years Of Business
Just in time for yesterday’s rush on snow shovels, salt and other winter supplies, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot stopped in at the Strosniders Hardware Store (6930 Arlington Rd.) in Bradley Shopping Center to honor store employees for 60 years of business.
Franchot, who stopped at a press event earlier in the day at Hoover Middle School in Potomac, presented Strosniders store manager Jim Beckett and general manager Bill Hart with a Certificate of Recognition for the store’s 60th anniversary:
Early today Strosniders Hardware was presented a Certificate of Recognition from the Comptroller of Maryland, Peter Franchot, for 60 years of exceptional customer service to our patrons. We could not have done it without your support! Thank you for shopping with us and we look forward to serving all of our patrons for years to come!
Image from Strosniders Hardware via Facebook
UPDATED: Gas Leak Shuts Down Arlington Road Near Downtown Bethesda
(UPDATE: 3:10 p.m.) The Gazette reports the gas leak has been sealed and Arlington Road has been reopened.
(ORIGINAL STORY: 12:10 p.m.) A punctured gas line in front of the old Bethesda Post Office on Arlington Road had closed the busy street in both directions and forced Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services to evacuate all businesses in the area.
A construction worker doing advance work before the planned teardown of the Post Office reportedly punctured a two-inch gas line in front of the property at 7001 Arlington Road.
Arlington Road is closed from Bethesda Avenue to Bradley Boulevard and MCFRS personnel have also closed westbound Bethesda Avenue at Arlington Road.
A Washington Gas crew arrived at the scene around 12:30 p.m. Avoid the area, as repair work is expected to take at least the next few hours.
Polls Open, Bethesda Voters Report Manageable Waits
Polls opened today at 7 a.m. in 32 Bethesda and Chevy Chase voting precincts, many with lines extending onto sidewalks or parking lots outside.
Those who had just finished voting at the Bethesda Library and Bethesda Elementary School on Arlington Road reported wait times ranging from 30 minutes to a little more than an hour, which they said was an agreeable amount considering the length on the ballot.
Almost 78,000 people cast ballots in early voting, about 12.6 percent of Montgomery County’s voting population, according to The Gazette. Polls close at 8 p.m. The list of ballot box locations and links to where you can find your precinct is here.
Planning Board To Review Plan For Arlington Road Post Office Site
The Montgomery County Planning Board today will assess plans for a five-story, 140-apartment mixed-use development at the old Arlington Road Post Office site.
In its recommendations for the project’s Preliminary and Site Plans to be reviewed this morning, planning staff discusses a required new traffic signal and walkway to the Capital Crescent Trail that borders the property to the east side.
Both those elements were required by the County Council when it approved zoning changes for Philadelphia-based Keating Development in January.
An attorney for the developer expressed some resistance to the idea of a pedestrian or bike access point to the Trail because of maintenance and liability issues.
But in the Preliminary and Site Plans, Keating has provided for a walkway from the building to the Trail and a 60-inch high metal picket fence that will allow residents to see the Trail and Trail-goers to see the apartment.
Also part of the staff recommendations is more information on a new traffic signal that would go at the intersection of Arlington Road, the south entrance to the development and the north entrance to the Bradley Boulevard shopping center.
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has approved the signalization concept for the intersection, which will now include 7,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor of the Keating development.
The signal must be up and operational before the new apartments or retail stores can open.
Planning staff says the development will actually represent a stark decrease in traffic compared to the Post Office that occupied the site until it closed for consolidation purposes in May.
Developers want to provide a parking garage with 211 spaces, which will accommodate 44 fewer peak-hour trips during weekday mornings and 19 fewer peak-hour trips during the evening rush hour than the Post Office generated.
Image via Montgomery County Planning Department
Bethesda Farmers Market Celebrates Halloween
Halloween is less than a week away and the Bethesda Central Farm Market hopes market-goers aren’t the only ones bringing costumes.
This coming Sunday, the market is scheduled to hold a Dog Costume contest at 11 a.m., in addition to a more traditional Costume Parade, trick-or-treating at vendor stands, pumpkin painting and make-your-own apple cider from an antique cider press.
The Bethesda Central Farm Market happens every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of Bethesda Elementary School (7600 Arlington Rd.)
The 4th Annual Halloween Extravaganza will begin at 10 a.m this Sunday, Oct. 28.
For more info, visit the event page.
Photo via Central Farm Markets.
