News

Come and dally in our new Arts Alley

Story and Photos by Ethan Goffman

On the avenue, you may be havin’ you a solid ball, but it ain’t no ball at all, compared to the kicks when you dally in Charleston Alley.

–Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

There is "a certain stigma when somebody calls something an alley," explains David Chikvashvili, chief of revitalization in the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Instead, he believes, we need a "more usable, human definition that turns the whole notion of the alley upside-down."

Chikvashvili is speaking of the South Silver Spring Pedestrian Linkages project, which is intended to break down stereo-types, not just of alleys but of a long neglected neighborhood. Of the new arts alley, he proclaims, "This is going to be not a back alley or a dark alley, but the place where people want to be. What we tried to do is elevate the whole notion of ‘alley’ to an inspiring level."

The Pedestrian Linkages project was conceived as an answer to both physical and psychological blocks to the revival of south Silver Spring. Change has begun with the appearance of such businesses as the Mayorga Coffee House and the Izora Restaurant and Nite Club. Yet the presence of blocks up to 1,000 feet long presents an enormous physical obstacle to both residential and commercial success.

Chikvashvili explains that, "if it takes you five minutes to walk, that’s not a block, that’s a super-block."

Chikvashvili recalls how, in Spring of 2003, with eight residential projects planned for south Silver Spring, Elizabeth Davison, Montgomery County’s Director of Housing and Community Affairs, challenged her staff to make sure that the area would be ready for the new residents.

So was born the Pedestrian Linkages project, which will re-create, and often widen, hostile old alleys, turning them into attractive areas for strolling and browsing, and functional paths for residents intent on getting from point A to point B by a relatively direct means.

The area’s major parking garage, located on Kennett Street, will no longer be cut off from major streets and businesses. If plans go as intended, the area will metamorphose from a few profoundly separate sections to an organic whole easily traversed by foot traffic.

"The ideal model," explains Chikvashvili, "will break down these old industrial block sizes into residential communities."

The redevelopment will take place in three phases, of which the first is currently in progress in the triangle intersected by Georgia Avenue, East-West Highway, and Blair Mill Road. Barry Soorenko, who owns Photogroup, the photography studio in this triangle, is a major instigator of this public-private development partnership. Chikvashvili describes him as, "absolutely key, the source of all future programs."

The flagship alley, to be christened "Arts Alley@Blair Mill," runs adjacent to the Photogroup studio and behind Mayorga. It is currently in the first stages of reconstruction.

The pavement of Arts Alley@Blair Mill is to be stained an attractive pattern of solid blue and red block colors that resemble nothing so much as a Mondrian painting. In fact, it has been designed by local artist Judy Sutton Moore to virtually be an enormous Mondrian painting.

Commissioned to create a design, Moore "went to look at the alley and saw lots of geometric shapes and thought that the best way to deal with it would be the Mondrian effect," explains Susan Hoffmann of the Silver Spring Regional Center.

Intended as an art center, the alley will include sculpture and, behind shop windows, paintings and drawings from local artists. Because much of the display will be on a rotating basis, young artists will get a chance to have their work exposed to a broad public.

New themes will be presented as the alleys develop. Every alley is going to have its own identity," explains Chikvashvili, "so no alley will be repeated."

For each, explains Hoffmann, "the actual space will dictate what comes out of it."

Every alley, however, will include such enhancements as canopies, decora-tive lighting, and window boxes. Cleanliness will be enforced, and most of the alleys will be completely free of cars. The adjacent businesses will also be carefully selected to enhance the individual alley’s atmosphere.

Once Phase I, the arts alley, is complete, Phase II will begin, including two alleys between East-West Highway and Kenneth Street, one behind the Discovery building and the other adjoining the Grammax building.

Phase III, in the Kenneth-Newell-Eastern Avenue-13th Street block, will enhance accessibility to the area’s main parking garage. Further development of south Silver Spring is intended to take place in later phases, as yet to be numbered.

The arts alley should be completed in 12 to 16 months. When will phase II begin? "It is a money issue," explains Hoffmann. "When there’s money to do the next alley, we will."

Meanwhile, having helped initiate the process, Chikvashvili is leaving further development of Arts Alley@Blair Mill to the local community, to the Silver Spring Regional Center, to Barry Soorenko and other business owners, to consumers, pedestrians, area residents, and to the artists whose work will be featured. "For all practical purposes," he says, "it will be their baby. I’m going to help deliver the baby and hand it over to them."