Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D - 8th District) made his first public statement on the Bethesda Post Office fiasco yesterday, and it was remarkably similar to what I said three months ago.
He said we need a different location.
Duh!
It's clear that Mr. Van Hollen and the Montgomery County Council either lack familiarity with downtown Bethesda, or were not engaged in the process of selecting a new post office site for their most affluent constituents. Many of whom are senior citizens.
Both cases are likely true, especially given the number of carpetbaggers on the council.
What is a bigger issue for a politician than the location of a post office? This would be one of those hot button situations like the placement of a school or substation.
These are the kind of bread and butter issues that, when handled with great attention, diplomacy and a small amount of common sense, earn respect for politicians like Howard Denis or Barbara Mikulski even among their partisan opponents. And - judging by the Denis/Mikulski records - keep them in office.
Managing a post office move is just the sort of close-to-home matter we elect politicians to deal with. To represent our interests. And to prevent from becoming a fiasco, which this has.
At least Van Hollen is speaking out now. Not a single member of the county council has spoken about the post office issue as of this morning.
Where have these politicians been? What have they been doing?
But despite Van Hollen's political power and large staff, all he can say is... what Robert Dyer said.
Three months ago.
The fact is, there simply is no space for parking at this site. Any agreement now reached under political pressure will not provide adequate spaces for the customer base of an entire town.
We should be glad one politician has belatedly gotten religion on the post office issue.
"We need a new post office."
We need new leadership.
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