Homeland security at Metro's Glenmont KFC!

By Sonny Goldreich

Metro installed a set of concrete traffic barriers to protect the abandoned KFC it owns next to the Glenmont subway station.

You read that right.

The crumbling, boarded-over former fast food joint now sits behind eight round two-foot-tall concrete planters that bar vehicle access to the entrance and exit.

It’s like we have our own little national monument to squalor right here in Silver Spring.

This is the first concrete response (get it?) from the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority—Metro’s operator—since an article I wrote last month shamed its neglect of the KFC, which has stood as one of the area's worst eyesores since a Ride-On bus smashed through the front window in 2011.

Metro announced that it plans to tear down and seek a private partner to redevelop the site, which occupies what should be prime real estate right next to the last stop on the eastern leg of the Red Line. Actually, Metro didn't so much as announce the news as send it in an email message to an aide to County Council Councilmember Nancy Navarro, D-District 4.

There’s no sign yet of a permit application to demolish the ruin. But at least the traffic barriers should discourage folks from using the KFC as a dump.

And, more good news, Metro hauled away the toilets and other junk that were piled up behind the building.

So, anyway.