Attendees are being asked to bring signs, their friends, children and neighbors. Warm coats and umbrellas might be useful on Saturday, when snow and low temperatures are expected.
You might also want to attend if you are "next on the list" for urbanization, in Chevy Chase, Lyttonsville or Aspen Hill, for example. If the line isn't drawn here, there's no end to what the Montgomery County political cartel can do with full control of the Planning Board and County Council.
Time is running out, as the Council is ramming the plan through, with a vote anticipated as early as Tuesday.
30 comments:
Honestly, if they cherish their "beautiful" neighborhood so much the Council should just abandon the plan. They clearly don't deserve the investment. Equity One should sell the decrepit shopping center, and invest the proceeds elsewhere.
I do feel bad though for the residents who actually would like to see some their neighborhood transformed from the industrial/strip/fast-food wasteland it is now, and get some of the quality living options, retail, and restaurants that other parts of the county are getting.
Wouldn't it be better to protest in front of the county council meeting or planning board meeting? I find it unlikely that council members will just happen to be shopping at Giant at 4pm on a Friday.
6:38 - You must work for the developer. Insulting current residents is their current M.O.
7:03 - As long as the press is there....
6:38
Please reread your poor grammar before you post your rubbish.
Actually, maintaining the status quo sounds pretty good right now after all the real details and surprises of the New Westbard have been revealed.
Just add an Applebee's, an Outback, and a Denny' s and we'll be fine for another 40 years !!! Our taxes are high enough !!!
8:12 AM - I just read 6:38 AM - I didn't see any "poor grammar", other than a possible missing comma in the first sentence.
The folks who are saying "our taxes are high enough" seem to be implying that their property values will increase when Westbard is re-done.
I can't wait until one of the smaller subdivisions in Westbard sells out en masse to a developer, like the neighborhood near the Courthouse Metro station did three decades ago, and like the Saks neighborhood has been trying to do.
I want an Olive Garden and their early bird specials. That's all I need for my last five years.
"Just add an Applebee's, an Outback, and a Denny's"
And Progressive Bethesdian clutches her pearls and retreats to her fainting couch...
@ 8:26
It's okay. 8:12 AM is merely trying to deflect from the blatant truth regarding the state of their cherished neighborhood.
"Applebee's, an Outback, and a Denny' s"
Wow. See what I mean...
The clock is ticking for the depressing Westbard Whole Foods. It's only a matter of time before they arrange to lease the ground-floor of one of the many downtown Bethesda development projects.
Then it's just the 60-year old Giant with its back to the street.
@ 9:45 AM - maybe that's what the never-ending delay in opening the Harris Teeter in 8300 Wisconsin Avenue is all about.
I've been a resident for more than 50 years. It's time for a complete renovation. I support the new plan!
10:00: Nobody opposes renovation of the shopping center. But you don't need 3550+ new residents to do that!
In my dreams, there would be a counter protest by a man in a Purple Line costume.
@Dyer: You're parsing words too closely. I'm against the protest. I support the new plan.
The developers, politicians and their people are out en masse. Lying, bait-and-switch, taking arguments to a personal insult level. Can they get more brazen?
@11:00am (Dyer's relative)
Are all NIMBYs as obtuse as you? I seriously doubt developers frequent Mr. Dyer's website.
WBA can relax then, things are going his way so far...
12:36PM is proving 11:00AM's post lol
WBA begging for his taxes to get jacked along with his car and his property values to tank
Disregard any comments here that start from the premise that residents want to preserve the worn-out shopping center. It's a simple disinformation tactic, to draw attention away from the real issue: over-densification everywhere else in the sector.
1. No one opposes redeveloping the shopping center.
2. The first issue is the number of residential units that will be built.
3. The second issue is the blatant disregard of the views of a majority of residents by the Planning Department and the Planning Board.
4. I find Councilmembet Berliner's compromise plan (1,213 new residential units) acceptable, but would be even happier with only 580 new residential units,
5. I will join the protest because I believe that residents' concerns should be examined more fully, and because I believe that the County's planning process is broken.
Exactly right! The issue is too much height and density.
No one is objecting to the redevelopment of the shopping center.
The issue is the number of new residential units. There are 3 recommendations to date:
Current zoning (580 new units)
Berliner plan (1,213 new units)
Planning Board-approved plan (~2900 new units)
To assert that this is about the shopping center is plain wrong.
Not if media attends. But protesting outside the Council building works, too.
@6:38
Sorry, but industrial does not equal "wasteland"". Actually, you must be the lone person who has never needed a plumber, contractor, or car repair, or even a printing job done....or perhaps your dog groomed or kenneled.
It is idiots like you who think they can live in houses that have no kitchens, utility rooms or bathrooms.
Shortsighted, simple and wrong.
Why would I need to go to an industrial wasteland to have a printing job done or have a dog groomed? Plenty of print shops and dog grooming salons in downtown Bethesda.
6:38/7:24: By your definition, any place where you don't have to pay a dollar parking and walk two blocks to buy a $10 cheeseburger, buy fish food, or pick up your dry cleaning is "an industrial wasteland." I think there's more green space on the McDonald's property on River Road than in entire blocks of downtown Bethesda.
I don't have to drive, pay for parking, or go to an industrial wasteland to buy a cheeseburger, buy fish food (if I had one), or pick up dry cleaning. And I pass plenty of green space as I walk to and from those locations.
And I hope Westbard residents will be able to do the same some day soon.
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