Posted on 07/14/2008 6:44:11 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
On its Web site, the Alliance for Smart Transportation bills itself as a "coalition of concerned citizens advocating for smart transportation solutions for Montgomery and Prince George's Counties." But read on. The new group criticizes Maryland's plan to build a 16-mile Purple Line transit link between Bethesda and New Carrollton but offers no ideas for how to relieve traffic...Nor does the site identify the "concerned citizens."
The site's...founder is a board member at Columbia Country Club in Montgomery, whose 100-year-old golf course would be bisected by the transit line.
Purple Line supporters say the Chevy Chase club is merely disguising itself as a grass-roots movement....
Geoffrey Gonella, a member of the country club's board of governors, said the club has done nothing to hide its opposition to a Purple Line and is just raising "serious questions" about its potential costs as well as its impact on traffic congestion...
"The club is not anti-Purple Line or anti-transit," Gonella said. "The club, along with a lot of other organizations and residents, has questions..."
Opponents say it would destroy the wooded hiker-biker path and disrupt neighborhoods in Chevy Chase, East Bethesda and Silver Spring. They say the proposed route also wouldn't serve the new naval hospital in Bethesda, which will add 2,500 workers...
What Ross and other Purple Line advocates say they find troubling is that the alliance has not been upfront about its membership.
"They make it seem like some community organization fighting the project when in fact they're a private country club," said Michael D. Madden, MTA's project manager on the Purple Line.
Gonella said country club members, including many who live in the area, have "valid questions to raise" about the Purple Line...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Just FYI: Link is to a Washington Post article, not Washington Times.
Yes, I know that the BYLINE is screwed up. My drop-down-remember-thingy betrayed me. If I knew how, I would ask the admin moderator to fix it. The LINK I provided does go to this story in the Washington Post.
Finally, something of some historical significance in the DC area worth saving.
Ah, those NIMBY’s. Gotta love ‘em.
Auto-complete has done far worse things than that to me (like sending a very personal email the wrong person).
Best to just disable it if you can.
And I do. If it wasn’t for “those NIMBYs”, transportation planners, often without longterm ties to the local community, would tear up private property however they please. The problem is that they don’t face enough opposition.
Most importantly, will the members be able to play through when trains are not running?
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
I sure wouldn’t want my town connected to New Carrollton!
I hear you!
bttt
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