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| Westbard sector plan getting rammed through like this truck |
“Council staff concludes that there are sufficient opportunities for adding school capacity in the Whitman and B-CC Clusters to accommodate the public school students generated by the housing proposed by the Planning Board in the Westbard Sector Plan-and in the Bethesda CBD and Lyttonsville Sector Plans-even assuming the unlikely occurrence that all the proposed housing would actually materialize. This does not mean that the Council must approve as much density as the Plan proposes; it only means that school capacity is not a reason to approve less.”
To resident complaints that planners and MCPS never got specific enough about how they will address the higher rate of students generated by multifamily housing in the Whitman cluster, Council staff retorts:
"The draft text prepared for the Westbard Sector Plan is as specific as it should be."
Come on. That is completely sweeping under the rug the Whitman PTA's clear request in their letter:
"In conclusion, we ask that the County Council not adopt a sector plan that doesn't include a detailed, geographically specific analysis of the impact of the plan on schools and specific potential solutions to mitigate that impact."
Analysis of transportation capacity is equally in the realm of fantasy:
“Council staff concludes that there can be adequate transportation capacity to accommodate the land use types and densities proposed by the Planning Board in the Westbard Sector Plan.”
How about this baloney:
"Most of the rush hour traffic on River Road is through traffic, so most of those who are negatively affected by congestion on the road are not those who are residing, working, shopping, or otherwise visiting Westbard."
So you are just imagining you're stuck in traffic trying to get to the Beltway or downtown Bethesda, according to Council staff. They're even floating the idea of dropping a potential third through lane on River Road at Little Falls Parkway that's already in the master plan.
The fix is in. The game's afoot.
P.S.: The report does endorse the idea of closing Westbard Avenue at River Road, making it Westbard Court between River and Ridgefield, as has been suggested by several residents of that block.
32 comments:
Snow plow truck!
Thank you, Hans Riemer!
Sadly, not surprised.
"Most of the rush hour traffic on River Road is through traffic, so most of those who are negatively affected by congestion on the road are not those who are residing, working, shopping, or otherwise visiting Westbard."
You realize that everything you quoted the staff as saying is true, especially the statement above. The vast majority of people using River Rd during rush hour are commuters from the Beltway and Potomac. So obviously they are the ones most affected by rush hour traffic.
It's amazing that when people don't like something they'll make up all sort of nonsense and cover their ears and scream when facts and reason enter the conversation.
Examples:
"I like malls and don't want them to go away, so anyone who claims the contrary is an f*#$ng liar!"
"I was soundly beaten in an election so now every single negative occurrence is to be blamed on my opponent no matter how preposterous, and any person critical about anything I write is his lackey"
Arguing that the equation "1+1=2" is "baloney" and "fantasy" is only fooling yourself.
How do you feel about Trump's performance Dyer and him getting the nod from your man Christie? The Hogan endorsement must be coming.
12:20 PM
Well run malls are doing well. Dyer had quotes from Westfield backing that up. Best year ever for Montgomery Mall.
Robert Dyer also reported that White Flint Mall establishments were profitable. Lerner decided to close the mall anyway. Again, Dyer had the data backing that up.
How does bringing thousands of cars into Westbard help the traffic situation?
Yeah and I'm sure there were Borders stores doing very well before they went bankrupt.
Just start a free shuttle to the Metro and increase the frequency on the T2.
When I read the closed-captioning that said "[unitelligible yelling]" during last night's debate, I immediately thought of Dyer.
Dive bars are dying. Everywhere.
http://time.com/money/4228993/dive-bars-closing-urban-development/
Hans Riemer's fault!
I concur.
Highest sales ever. Does that equal best year ever in terms of profitability? Westfield doesn't seem to care to share that.
2:55: Actually, I thought of George Leventhal shouting at a female County employee in 2014. "WHAT YEAR IS IT?! WHAT YEAR IS IT?"
12:20: The statement is clearly arguing that the current residents of the Westbard area will not be impacted by the increased congestion. Total BS. It's already jammed for residents trying to get to and from the neighborhood during both rush hours.
You sound like a raving lunatic with the rest of your comment. Pointing out that most malls aren't dying because people don't like malls is just a fact. It's proven by the success of those with responsible owners. It's proven by Lerner pulling the plug intentionally on a mall they themselves described as "fully leased." It's proven by land use and taxation policies that make mixed-use more attractive to developers than malls. These are all facts.
As far as Hans Riemer, every single criticism is fact-based. Every initiative he has launched, he's done it loudly through his allies in the local media. So he owns the issues. Then he has imploded on every single one of them: Cybersecurity (turns out County is running on Windows 2000 4 years after Hans Riemer took office), sidewalk snow removal (the law definitively failed the last two winters), nighttime economy (9 bars closed in Bethesda, other nighttime businesses reduced or eliminated late night hours), food trucks (96% went out of business, or stopped coming to MoCo; none found on streets at lunchtime in downtown Bethesda anymore), and liquor (he ended up endorsing the County monopoly, and his own party ripped up his lame half-measure special orders bill in Annapolis).
The guy has no stature with the liberal Washington Post, which withdrew its endorsement of him in 2014, and based on events this week and his perennial last place ballot results, clearly not even with the local Democratic establishment.
2:40: Do you have any ridership data to back that up? Is a bus "rapid transit"? Do you realize what you're advocating does not meet the standard guidelines for "smart growth"? Are you abandoning smart growth for a new sprawl model?
Agreed.
Don't malls bring a ton of vehicle traffic? The mall isn't buy mass transit is it? There's a bus station. They could add that to west bard.
2:40 has just about the same data to back up his opinion as you always do. Facts. :)
Do you have data to back up your statements?
5:59: Yeah, actually I do. The poll taken of the 19 civic associations indicated that 91% of residents drive to work each morning. Now what data do you have to show that wealthy people over a mile from Metro will suddenly "get out of their cars"?
Dyer seems to think that "smart growth" prohibits building anything over two stories high that is not adjacent to a Metro station.
Men, especially coveted Millennial men, are killing malls;
http://www.businessinsider.com/men-shop-online-more-frequently-than-women-2016-2
Does Dyer drive to work?
What makes one set of data more believable than the other?
And polls aren't exactly known for being highly accurate.
7:46: Simple - you haven't given any data for your argument, so I win.
You mean the montgomery county report??
Besides I wasn't on either side, merely asking. And your answer just put me strongly displeased with your demeanor and understanding of why everyone dislikes you so much. It was a simple question and you jumped on it like a defensive child. Wow.
"You haven't given any data for your statement"
My Irony Meter just went off the scale again.
5:59: Everyone dislikes me so much? What evidence do you have of that? One raving lunatic troll who's too much of a girly man to put his name on his comments?
6:08: I gave you the data for transit ridership in the Westbard area. Where's your data that proves a shuttle or enhanced service on the two existing bus routes would take any sizable amount of cars off the road?
What about the county data that only a small percentage of apartment households have children attending school?
Adam,
I think the BCC HS directory would have to trump whatever fuzzy math the County is serving up.
Was the county data confirmed by any independent agency or other? How about the directory data?
Is the directory the only evidence of the county's fuzzy math?
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