Blog from the 'burbs

First of all, I'm so glad to have had the chance finally to see The West End do their thing live. What a fun show! I still can't imagine what Brad Rourke has for breakfast but whatever it is we should all be eating a big bowl of it. And Mike Shawn is a joy to listen to on keyboards (and singing), Monique is probably the sexiest drummer in the universe, and new guy Matthew Taylor sounded great on bass. (Ok, I'm no music commentator -- I just know those guys put on a show that was really fun to listen to and be part of. And I enjoyed meeting Mike's mom and CindyCG and seeing familiar faces from all over Rockville.)

I took some video and was planning to put up a couple clips at YouTube as I did previously for The Digits and Nelly's Echo. After waiting for two hours for one of the files to upload though, I googled around to see if there was a way to upload a flv instead (since that's what youtube converts it to anyway and it's much smaller), and found a mention of Blip TV, which not only allows flv uploads, but shows them with the compression you set, and at a larger size than YouTube. As a test, I uploaded 24 compressed at 300kbps/128k at 320x240 (as I would do for YouTube) to Blip TV. What a difference! It uploaded in about 10 minutes and displays at a huge 624 x 470. Kind of a strange size, but I thought I'd go all out and try my favorite of the evening, Summertime, compressed at 400/128 and full size and it looks great! Here's one more for West End junkies: No Depression.

[Update, Apr 14: FLVs can be uploaded to YouTube as well. It's a speedy upload, but I think the file gets recompressed -- the quality at YouTube doesn't look as good as locally (testing in Flash, which I used to make the flv). Here is Summertime at YouTube.]

Next X on your calendar: May 25, when The West End performs at Hometown Holidays. I'm looking forward to it already.

Rockville leads the way with affordable workforce housing once more with a new project in the works: Beall's Grant II (PDF link). Undertaken by Montgomery Housing Partnership, this project will provide 109 units of mixed income rental housing in downtown Rockville, from studios to three-bedroom apartments, with a parking garage, on the site where the current Beall's Grant apartments are, and extending out to Beall Avenue. It appears to be an ideal location: within walking distance of the metro, Giant, SuperFresh (when it opens), the post office, and all the other stores and businesses in downtown Rockville. Involving the renovation of an existing building and incorporating a wealth of green features, I imagine this is just the sort of affordable housing project Ike Leggett wants to promote throughout the county.

Montgomery Housing Partnership lists numerous green features (Word doc) they plan to incorporate into the buildings, from low-VOC paint and water-conserving and EnergyStar appliances, to use of native plants in the landscaping and recycled construction materials. As WECA President Patricia Woodward notes in a letter providing West End Civic Association's endorsement of Beall's Grant II, Montgomery Housing Partnership is a known and trusted partner in Rockville:

"Beall's Grant was bought and renovated by Montgomery Housing Partnership over ten years ago. In that time, they have been good neighbors who create no problems or disruptions from our special part of the city we love. Montgomery Housing Partnership has been a responsible partner, whose staff is committed to being responsive to any concerns we have ever raised. Questions regarding school numbers, parking spaces, and environmental impact have all been answered in a timely and thorough manner.

In addition to WECA, Mayor Susan Hoffman and the Rockville City Council have given their endorsement to the project, and it now awaits Department of Housing & Community Development approval of tax credits for funding. TCAT (the Town Center Action Team, responsible for envisioning and guiding our new downtown into existence) invited Rob Goldman of Montgomery Housing Partnership to present the project at City Hall last Tuesday to any interested Rockville residents, and appears ready to lend their endorsement also, pending some questions about parking issues and the height, setback and appearance of the facade facing Beall Avenue. Thank you to Bridget Newton and other members of TCAT for making this information available city-wide, and to Cheryl Kagan for forwarding me the documents linked to above. Beall's Grant II sounds like another great example of Rockville leading the way with both workforce housing and green building development.