Save the Silver Spring plaza fountain. Ensure Ellsworth Drive is not next step to gentrifying Downtown Silver Spring.

That fountain needs to stay!!!!!

The fountain in downtown Silver Spring is one of the best parts of the attraction of that area. So lovely, so open to community, and a nice balance to the many "big-box" stores and restaurants that fill the space. Please DO NOT destroy the fountain!

This is an important gathering place for everyone, especially the families of Silver Spring. It should stay a center piece of activity.

One of the few really nice artistic and community aspects of downtown Silver Spring. Please do not destroy this with astro turf. We are people not dogs.

The mosaic fountain as an attraction for the rich diversity of Silver Spring should not be eliminated.

I don't use it that often but I see even the little children having fun and it is pleasing. Why stop a good thing.

The fountain adds to the utility and ambiance of the environment. It is a community space for all demographics.

No to astro turf! They ripped up Rockville town center big rocks and mulch and put in astro turf. We stopped going. It's hot and gross.

Synthetic turf is a terrible idea. Save the fountain!

The fountain is a beautiful and joyous place. Please do not tear it and the mosaics out. they give life to Ellsworth Plaza. Astroturfing the plaza is a bad idea. Astroturf will quickly wear out, will be hard to clean, will transform a mixed use space into a single use space and will be incredibly ugly. I know that Veterans Plaza was a fun gathering place when it was temporarily covered in astroturf, but that was while construction took place. My family has enjoyed visiting Ellsworth Plaza for the past 15 years because it is such an inviting space. Please do not ruin it.

I am a white female over 60. My husband and I relish and celebrate the vibrant community space that encompasses this area of silver spring! Any single one of the changes listed would do irreparable harm to the features that make this area so important to the community. All three changes are uncalled for and short sided. We spend every weekend enjoying children playing in the fountain, watching the skate boarders and listening to the spontaneous performances. I frequently send quick videos to friends showing what’s going on and encourage them to join us. We love it. There is no place more welcoming, interesting, entertaining and pleasurable to spend an evening. We moved here to live WITH a multi cultural And mixed income Community. Don’t change what makes that possible. I will be forwarding this petition.

Keep the fountain

The fountain is such a community resource. It costs nothing, is open to all. It is anti-racist. If you go there and see it in action, you know why it must stay.

This is lovely and popular space. There is no good reason to make such modifications. They would DEGRADE the space and be of negative “benefit” to the community. The only conceivable motive is greed.

Silver Spring needs these recreational facilities in its downtown

While I support the idea of making one section of Ellsworth Drive a pedestrian space, taking the fountain down goes against the concept of a park/pedestrian space.

The mosaic is beautiful and ripping it out would be a terrible move. Cycling and other wheeled outdoor activities (skating, etc.) are great means of exercise, and removing options to do them is also a step in the wrong direction. There are better ways to update an area.

The fountain area is such a wonderful place for meeting and mixing, for all ages and all races. We need more places like this in the county, not fewer.

PLEASE do not destroy the fountain! It is beautiful and a great source of fun for kids in the area, plus gives a warm community feeling to the plaza. I always enjoy walking through and seeing kids and families having fun there. It is free summertime entertainment for families, which is always in short supply, and makes people of all economic levels feel more welcome. A water feature not only cleans the air, it soothes and relaxes people who hear it, which is so badly needed now. Also it is the locale of a great holiday tree in December which raises awareness of local agencies in need of help. It would be a terrible loss to Silver Spring to take out this lovely fountain and the walking mall which surrounds it.

Please create a space that invites people to relax and to play! Not something just pretty to look at. I remember the old synthetic-turf. It was disgusting! Full of all kinds of crap including food scraps, cigarette butts and the smell of urine (probably dog..). A nd it would get extremely hot. I wouldn't take my kids there but when they got older they would meet there when cool because it was open space NOT because of the disgusting plastic carpet. Make Ellsworth inviting AND HEALTHY for the whole community.