Downtown Silver Spring is out of control with shootings, car racing, shoplifting and other crimes.
That is the perception, agreed County Executive Marc Elrich. But it is not reality, he and the Montgomery County Police stressed.
“The perception of crime in Silver Spring is still there. It’s still real,” Elrich说 during his weekly news briefing Thursday. “There’s still more crime than anyone of us would like,，但并不像一些人认为的那么激烈, 他说.
There’s been lots of talk and news reports about both Starbucks and Loyalty bookstore having moved off Ellsworth Drive. But people don’t mention both stores stayed in the downtown area, 每个人都搬到几个街区外, Elrich说.
Some residents point to stores leaving the area as evidence that crime is hurting businesses, but County Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno disputed that. 是的, 星巴克撤出了埃尔斯沃斯大道, but it is opening a much larger store in the nearby Blairs Shopping Center by the Silver Spring Transit Center.
星巴克的租约即将到期,他说, adding management there “has not indicated to us” that it was moving due to crime despite a report in the news from “a low-level employee” that was the reason, Madaleno说.
忠诚的书tore moved off Ellsworth Drive in February, but it opened nearby at Georgia and Gist avenues in a joint venture with the coffee shop Bump N’ Grind.
说到银泉镇的犯罪, 一位官员指出, it is important to remember that there are nine zip code addresses in Silver Spring, and the crime that makes the news happens all over the area.
According to 大卫·麦克贝恩指挥官 from the 3rd District, 包括银泉市中心吗, police receive the most calls for Downtown Silver Spring than anywhere else in the county. In 2023, there was an average of 117 request for service calls each day.
2024年的头两个月, 电话的数量增加了, 从7跳起,2023年是600,2024年是7860, 麦克贝恩说 during a meeting with Safe Silver Spring on Feb. 28.
Aggravated assaults are increasing while auto thefts are dropping, 他说. 盗窃, 商住两用, decreased 24% during the first two months of this year as compared to the same time period last year. “There’s been an uptick in theft from autos” of about 27%, 他说.
There have been no homicides so far this year in the downtown area while there were two in 2023, 麦克贝恩说.
And as for the large crowd gatherings that include car races, police say they have stopped many more before they even began.
据麦克贝恩说, the police department really beefed up its coverage of the downtown area, despite the police force lack of success in hiring enough officers.
High visibility traffic units have begun patrolling the area, 尤其是从华盛顿出发的乔治亚大道沿线, D.C. 到16街和科尔斯维尔路.
SWAT officers are assisting at the Silver Spring Metro station and at the intersections of Wayne and Colesville, 科尔斯维尔和乔治亚州, 埃尔斯沃斯，芬顿，乔治亚和斯莱戈, 据麦克贝恩说.
也, a drone as a first responder program answers 911 calls, 经常比警察先到现场.
与此同时, county council members are discussing a proposal that would restrict late night hours at some establishments, 包括水烟休息室. 许多服务电话是在2点到2点之间打来的.m. 和7a.m. 在这些地区，上校说. 大卫•里德.
据麦克贝恩说, the extra surveillance and traffic stops enabled the police to seize 30 ghost guns from people in the Downtown Silver Spring area and a total of almost 300 guns.
“So, we’ve done a lot of work to try to get that image of Silver Spring changed,” Elrich说.
与此同时，许多新店即将开业.
Gold’s Gym is expected to open soon at the former site of Washington 体育 Club on Ellsworth Drive. Chido’s, a Tex Mex grill, is planning to open this summer where the Eleanor was on Ellsworth Drive. 漫游公鸡 is preparing to open at the former Flip’d by IHOP site.
澳拜客 is about to fill the space on Colesville where Not Your Average Joe’s had been. Java Nation最近在韦恩大道开张了.
除了餐厅, the Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center opened on Apple Avenue, a grocery store is planned as is a large residential-commercial business complex.
A residential tower atop the 埃尔斯沃思的地方 Mall is before the Montgomery County Planning Board. 计划包括多达450个住宅单元和400个,000 square feet of commercial space with a lobby entrance facing Colesville Road.
计划中还包括春天的Atwell, which is a redevelopment of the former Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission on 8787 Georgia Avenue.
根据房地产公司Bozzuto的说法, the mixed-use project is expected to include two 7-story residential buildings with ground floor retail. 除了375套公寓, Mom’s Organic Market will be located there and will anchor the Georgia Avenue and Spring Street corner.
Tommy Tucker摄影
