Community Hero Award for May 2004
Community Hero: Ira Shesser
By John A. Warnock, I. Dean Ahmad, and Charles Wolff
Many years ago, Ira Shesser headed the fight to defeat the Pan-American Health Organization's claim to be exempt from county zoning laws and their attempt to build their new facility in a residential area. This represented a major victory for an MCCF position of fairness in the application of zoning laws.
For over 20 years, Ira Shesser, past president of the Coquelin Run Citizen's Association (CRCA) has been a major force in promoting the preservation and enhancement of the trails, parks and green spaces in the county. Most recently, he has been instrumental in the preservation and development of the Georgetown Branch of the Capital Crescent Trail. Thanks to his work, the trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring has been transformed, in the last decade, from a mere abandoned right-of-way to a proper hiker-biker trail. As a result of Ira's efforts, the County first agreed to open the tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue, thus linking the fully developed Georgetown-to-Bethesda trail with the segment that goes from Bethesda to Chevy Chase. Following that, he played a key roll in getting approval to surface the new section of the trail, and then to restore the trestle over Rock Creek so as to open the way to and from Silver Spring. When the County agreed to that proposal, Ira led a campaign to assure that observation bays were included on the trestle so as to permit Trail users to admire the spectacular views provided out over Rock Creek. (It is a bit like a ride in a hot air balloon but without the moments of terror.) When it turned out that these bays would be possible only if civic organizations contributed the extra money for the construction, Ira insured their inclusion by personally guaranteeing to make up any difference between what his organization could raise in contributions out of his own pocket. This resulted in the provision of the bays at a significant cost to him personally, supplementing funds raised by GBCCC, the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.
As a result of his efforts, the Georgetown Branch Trail is now through to Silver Spring with informal connections to the Rock Creek Trail, one on each side of the trestle, extending the benefits of this resource to the east of Rock Creek Park, so that it is a recreational magnet for the entire County. It was designated as a "Cool Site" in 2003 by Washingtonian magazine and was the subject of a November 2003 report on CBS's "Sunday Morning." By literally "building bridges" between the two sides of our county, Ira serves as an example to all of us.
This Page Last Edited: May 7, 2004 .