They blamed the Gaithersburg teen for the death of their clique’s leader,

MS-13 members threatened to cut off teen’s fingers and burn her, prosecutors say. Then she was killed.

One MS-13 member clicked a cigar cutter open and closed with a metallic ring, while another told the 15-year-old they would cut her fingers off, the prosecutor said. Another gang member asked where the gasoline was so they could burn the girl up.

Ten members and associates of MS-13 lured Damaris A. Reyes Rivas to a Springfield park in January because they wanted revenge. They blamed the Gaithersburg teen for the death of their clique’s leader, Christian Sosa Rivas, whose body had been dumped in the Potomac about a week earlier.

Venus Romero Iraheta, 17, who was Sosa Rivas’s girlfriend, told Damaris her fate would be the same.

“Venus told her she was going to die that day as Christian did — in the cold,” Fairfax County Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Katherine Stott said in a Fairfax County courtroom Tuesday...

...Damaris’s killers were remorseless, capturing her final minutes in gruesome cellphone videos...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/ms-13-associates-plead-guilty-in-connection-with-brutal-revenge-killing-of-gaithersburg-teen/2017/10/17/05d0c652-b284-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.6cefaa33b2e1


‘A hole in our hearts’: A 15-year-old girl lost to MS-13 is laid to rest

...There was no mention of MS-13 on Thursday, but fear of the gang, known in El Salvador as Mara Salvatrucha, was everywhere. At least six Gaithersburg police cars were positioned around the St. Rose of Lima church. Plainclothes police attended the funeral — their guns bulging beneath suit jackets — and uniformed officers watched over the burial from a distance.

Perhaps because of the fear of violence, the pews were mostly empty. About 50 people attended, primarily family members plus a few of Damaris’s friends and teachers from Watkins Mill High School...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-hole-in-our-hearts-a-15-year-old-girl-lost-to-ms-13-is-laid-to-rest/2017/03/23/1aae66b4-0ff6-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html?utm_term=.029963aec874

32 Acre Future School Site in Gaithersburg

...The community has also set aside land for Montgomery County Public Schools to use in the future for a new high school, but a MCPS official said there are currently no plans to build on the 32-acre property any time soon...

http://gaithersburg.patch.com/articles/crown-construction-to-open-thursday-with-city-county-officials

Density, the CCT and Overcrowded Schools -- This is planning?

All,
This latest report on the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) and the amazing density planned for Gaithersburg is here, from our friend Donna Baron, the Coordinator for The Gaithersburg-North Potomac-Rockville Coalition.  The density is unsustainable and will create even more overcrowding to our already stressed schools.  Thanks Donna!
---
Hi Everyone,

If you were able to attend the meeting about the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) last night you probably noticed three things:

The simulations of the CCT alignments looked oddly benign.
The residents of King Farm were there in full force.
There were three possible alignments that would avoid Belward Farm.

The simulations of the CCT alignments did not include wider roads or highway interchanges because the CCT does not require them. However, the staging requirements for the Gaithersburg West (Great Seneca Science Corridor) master plan predicate massive amounts of density on the construction of the CCT even though the County execs are fully aware that it will carry only a fraction of the additional people.

Implementation of the master plan will result in up to 50,000 additional people in the Shady Grove/Belward Farm area but the CCT will carry only 12% to 15% of them. The remaining 40,000 people will require six- and eight-lane highways with twelve- to sixteen-lane highway interchanges along Great Seneca. The County and the developers intentionally set it up this way. They are banking on support for transit to allow them to overdevelop our area.

The CCT simulations did not mention the horns or whistles that will blow at each intersection along the CCT route.

Also missing from the CCT simulations were the tracks and railroad gates that will be built across the entrances to the neighborhoods along the alignment including Washingtonian Woods, Mission Hills, Lakelands and Kentlands as well as Crown Farm and the Rio.

King Farm will have the whole package running through the middle of their community, within 20 feet of some of the condos...tracks, railroad gates, blocked streets and horns or whistles.

The over-flow crowd included 50 to 100 residents from King Farm who oppose the CCT alignment through their community. The residents gave very cogent and convincing testimony and they presented the state with a petition with 1000 names from residents requesting a change in the alignment avoiding their walkable community.

One resident said she has visited many cities with bus rapid transit or light rail but the transits did not run through or adjacent to suburban residential neighborhoods. They operated in urban, commercial or industrial areas which would mitigate some of the above issues.

Some of the CCT alignment charts showed three possible alignments that would avoid crossing Belward Farm and the Washingtonian Woods/Mission Hills intersection. That was a positive note.

There were two residents who testified in favor of the CCT but I’m wondering if they have thought about the trip down Great Seneca as the CCT is built, then the road is widened to six-lanes and then the twelve-lane, two-level interchange is built at Muddy Branch and the sixteen-lane three-level interchange is built at Sam Eig. Are they lost in the fantasy of hopping on the rail to go to their every destination or are they dealing with the reality of the impending debacle?

The CCT should not be funded until a comprehensive, accurate traffic analysis is completed and Montgomery County develops a rational approach to additional development that will protect existing neighborhoods and historic properties.

There is still time to write to the state officials to express your opinions.

Contact info:

Governor Martin O’Malley - http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/
Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley - secretary@mdot.state.md.us
Rick Kiegel, mail to: rkiegel@mtamaryland.com

Please forward this to your friends and neighbors. It seems that there are still many residents who are unaware of the implications of the master plan and the CCT. Testimony regarding the CCT can be found on the website, http://www.scale-it-back.com/.

Thanks and best regards,

Donna Baron
Coordinator
The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition

Trailer City - Coming Soon!

THE COUNTY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING ON THE
GAITHERSBURG WEST MASTER PLAN IS SCHEDULED FOR

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 at 7:00 PM
(RATHER THAN THE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED TIME OF 7:30 PM)

at 100 MARYLAND AVENUE, ROCKVILLE, MD
Please mark your calendars

The Master Plan, as proposed, would bring high-density, high-rise commercial development to our area along with six- and eight-lane highways and 10- to 12-lane multilevel highway interchanges to accommodate approximately 50,000 additional workers and residents.

We must attend the Public Hearing to show our Council members we are united in our opposition to the scale of the proposed plan. This is the most important meeting of the entire master plan process. The Council can approve the master plan or they can have it revised or re-written.
For additional information on the Gaithersburg West Master Plan, email addresses of our County Council members, or for directions and parking information for the Public Hearing, please see www.scale-it-back.com.

Thank you,
Donna Baron
Coordinator
The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition

Wootton Cluster - Trailer City?

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD is pleased to welcome Donna Baron of The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition as our guest writer today. MCPS had 516 classroom trailers in use for the 2008-09 school year with more on the way. Ms. Baron writes about another part of Montgomery County that will see more housing soon, without advance planning or funding for new schools to accommodate the incoming children. That means that more MCPS children will end up spending their school years outside in classroom trailers instead of in buildings. Classroom trailers mean walking to the main building to change classes or use the restroom (in inclement weather without coats), less security, mold and mildew issues, and safety issues.

*****

The Gaithersburg West Master Plan: How it will affect us

The Public Hearing with the County Council for the Gaithersburg West Master Plan is September 15th yet many people are still unaware of this master plan and how it will affect the entire county, particularly the residents west of I-270.

The Planning Board has proposed 20-million square feet of commercial space and 5,700 multifamily housing units in buildings up to 150 feet high in the area around Shady Grove Hospital and on Belward Farm which will be called the “Science City”. A website has been set up to disseminate information to the residents and to monitor the master plan. Please see the website, http://www.scale-it-back.com/ for a map of the “Science City”.

The county is using the 45-year old plans for the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) which will likely be a rapid-bus as justification for calling the “Science City” a “transit oriented development” which will allow them to rezone the area for much higher density, high-rise buildings and housing. This would add 50,000 people to our area as workers or residents.

However, the CCT will only carry about 15% of the additional 50,000 people so that leaves 85% or 43,000 people in their cars. In order to accommodate 43,000 extra cars, the county has proposed to widen some of the roads to six and eight lanes and to build five multilevel 10- and 12-lane highway interchanges in and around the Science City. For instance, a 12-lane highway interchange might be built at the corner of Muddy Branch Road and Great Seneca even though it will be in the middle of four residential neighborhoods and would result in the loss of homes and the reconfiguration of at least two of the neighborhoods. Also, there has been no accommodation for the people who live in the many subdivisions in the area with limited entrances onto secondary roads which will be jammed with traffic.

Another issue is the children from the 5,700 proposed housing units. Since the housing is not included in the staging requirements for the master plan, if the plan is approved, the housing could be build independently of the commercial development once the Public Service Training Academy (the fire tower area) is moved to Montgomery Village. Therefore, there is no assurance that any of the people in the housing will work in the Science City. At this point most of the children would attend the schools in the Wootton Cluster and many of the families may move to the Science City to enable their children to go the Wootton Cluster schools. However, Wootton is already over-crowded and the students have had classes in trailers for years. There is space for a high school on Crown Farm if that is developed and MCPS has said they would build an elementary school “if needed” but no firm commitments have been given.

If the master plan is approved by the County Council, Johns Hopkins Real Estate hopes to start building their high-rise commercial complex on Belward Farm for 15,000 people within three years. The county is pushing hard to get the Corridor Cities Transitway so they can proceed with the higher population density and high-rise buildings despite the potential problems. The construction in the Science City and on the roads would go on for at least the next twenty years.

The Public Hearing with the County Council is crucial because the Council can approve the master plan or they can revise it or re-write it. It is imperative that we all attend the Hearing in order to convey our opposition to the scale of the development proposed by this master plan. We have said throughout the process, we are supportive of biomedical development in the area but it must be in scale with our suburban community. For additional information on the Hearing and the email addresses for the Council members, please see the website.

You will also find additional information, maps, and photos and a “contact us” page to sign up for updates on the master plan process on the website. http://www.scale-it-back.com/

Thanks and best regards,

Donna Baron

The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition

Update: County Council Hearing September 15, 2009 at 7 PM

BOE Says Goodbye to Boutique at . . .

Wootton and Gaithersburg High Schools.

Recall the April 14 Board of Education meeting where Dr. Weast said he was getting rid of "boutique" programs at MCPS, and then the next meeting where he said it was only language programs?

Dr. Weast thinks we aren't paying attention.

In today's Gazette, its time to bid bye-bye to another boutique program - the College Institute at Wootton, Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley and Kennedy High School.

In next year's budget, Dr. Weast proposes to cut the funding for the MCPS coordinators who run the programs at the school.

Who is he fooling? Without staff to manage the programs, can we honestly believe that these programs will survive in more than name only?

Advice to College Institute parents - while the program may hobble along for a while, you only need to look to what is happening at Blair HS's Math, Science, and Computer Science Magnet. This program too has been suffering a slow death by cutting staff members.

And advice to the rest of the county? Its not just the magnet programs, or foreign language programs that are in jeopardy. Anything that meets the needs of less than the entire school population is obviously what Dr. Weast means when he says he is cutting boutique programs.