Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Westbard sector plan may be a pyrrhic victory for MoCo political cartel

MoCo Planning Board
Chair Casey Anderson (L) and
Westbard developer EYA shake
hands minutes after plan passes
Minutes after the Montgomery County Council - which receives about 80% of its campaign contributions from developers - approved the Westbard sector plan yesterday, representatives of Westbard development partner EYA crossed the hearing room and shook hands with Planning Board chair Casey Anderson. Informed that the celebration was being photographed by this reporter, Anderson's highly-professional response as a high-ranking County official was to ridicule my baseball cap.

Anderson should have headed for the exits early, to avoid yet another gaffe that simply reinforces the growing realization that planning in Montgomery County is being controlled by councilmembers who approve plans and projects that benefit developers who write them checks - and a Planning Board now becoming equally cozy with development interests.

A "mission accomplished" handshake was the last optic Anderson needed, after it was revealed just last week that he had met privately with EYA partner Equity One during the sector plan process. Such meetings should have been disclosed under ex parte communications rules. They were not.

There was much for developers to celebrate yesterday. But the battle won may be a pyrrhic victory for developers countywide, and their friends on the Council and Planning Board.

The arrogance of the Council emanates from the dais, and can be felt several rows into the audience. Highly-paid councilmembers, and their even more highly-paid staff, repeatedly laughed about their reluctance to ever deal with the Westbard sector plan in their careers again. It's not funny, guys.

Giddiness only added to the palpable smugness at the front of the room. Alas, even as our elected officials smirked and pontificated their way through the afternoon, the political ground was shifting beneath the Montgomery County political cartel.

Even as the Council defeated their own constituents who pay their six-figure salaries yesterday, other communities across the County announced they were joining the Save Westbard resident group to battle the corrupt planning process going forward.

They include Rosemary Hills, Lyttonsville, the Luxmanor Citizens Association, and Keep Damascus Rural. All are in some stage of a sector plan or controversial development project. In Damascus, residents have sued to stop an urban-style, low-income apartment building approved by Anderson & Company for the small rural town that has only one, weekday-only, bus line. Lyttonsville is currently in a sector plan process that threatens many small businesses and needed services currently located there.

In a letter to the Council, the groups stated that, "we, the undersigned communities, are united in our opposition to the Montgomery County planning process, and we invite other communities to join us in opposition."

"Communities across Montgomery County are equally dismayed by a County-wide planning process that favors developers over communities, and that consistently results in outcomes that communities do not want.  The County Council and Board, in apparent partnership with major developers, are now engaged in a full-fledged effort to urbanize rural, sub-urban, and local communities through overbuilding and commercialization of public space, at great profit to developers, but to the detriment of our public schools, the environment, traffic congestion, community diversity, and social services. This will not stop until we unite."

As yesterday's vote and media coverage proved, it will take a Herculean effort.

The local media is also in the back pocket of the same developers. I witnessed at least four Westbard residents being interviewed by Chris Gordon of Channel 4. Only one of them made the final report, which was dominated by Councilmembers congratulating themselves on what a great plan it was, and a patron of the Westwood Shopping Center who was clearly responding to the typical misleading question of "wouldn't you like a new shopping center?" Great, everybody does, but how about the big buildings across the street that are coming with it? Hello? Hello?

I thought there was trouble when the promo for the NBC4 piece used Equity One renderings. But then it got worse - the voiceover proceeded to say, "Coming up next, find out why residents say new shops and restaurants will destroy their neighborhood."

That is a well-established talking point of the development interests at Westbard - that citizens who oppose the plan oppose updating the shopping center.

Developers and the Council also have developer-funded choruses who hang out at the Greater Greater Washington blog, and who were mobilized to comment in droves on a Washington Post article about the Westbard controversy. GGW's founder, David Alpert, was asked what the sources of funding are for his expensive-to-operate, pro-developer website. Alpert pointedly declined to answer that question from a Post reporter. But he and his site are relentlessly promoted by the Post.

In fact, GGW posted a rosy endorsement of the Equity One plan and expected Council approval on Monday. It was written by a former staff member of George Leventhal, who failed to disclose that connection in his piece.

One reporter was doing his homework. Bill Turque of the Washington Post fact-checked Councilmember Hans Riemer's outright lie, Riemer's claim that Westbard is "just a mile from two Metros." As Turque noted, the Equity One site is 2.2 miles from the Friendship Heights station, and a whopping 3.3 miles from the Bethesda station. Whoops! Even a prepared text laboriously read aloud couldn't help Riemer keep the facts straight, as he delivered a rambling monologue that covered presidential politics, Maoist ideology, and "social justice." Did somebody write it for him?

Why flat out lie to your constituents like they're preschoolers who can't figure it out? It's that arrogance again. That supreme overconfidence that comes from a one-party system that doesn't even let large factions of that one party get into office. This sense of invincibility may now be misplaced given the increasing number of their constituents who, through the cartel's breakneck speed to update zoning all over the County, have had a chance to witness how the sausage is made. And how corrupt the sausage makers are.

This battle over approval of the Westbard plan has ended. But something new has started as a result. A citizen uprising that is growing in scope and volume. The 2018 election could be reminiscent of the last citizen revolt against development in 1990. Count on this website to continue to bring you "the rest of the story" on development in Montgomery County. We're all in this together.

103 comments:

Anonymous said...

Turque's distances from Westbard to the two Metro stations are way off.

It's one mile, as the crow flies, from Westbard to the Giant to the Bethesda Metro station. I don't know what weird, convoluted route he took to get "3.3 miles".

Anonymous said...

5:46 here. S/B "one and a half miles..."

Anonymous said...

100% Democratic Progressive Council = 100% unanimous approval for WSP.
Did anyone really expect a different outcome? Corruption and greed lesson 101.

Anonymous said...

The Casey Anderson photo is amazing. Of coure they celebrated, as they should have.

Anonymous said...

"[O]ther communities across the County announced they were joining the Save Westbard resident group to battle the corrupt planning process going forward. They include Rosemary Hills, Lyttonsville, the Luxmanor Citizens Association, and Keep Damascus Rural."

"Luxmanor Citizens Association" seems to be the only official community association. Who is actually representing "Rosemary Hills and Lyttonsville"?

Anonymous said...

"other communities across the County announced they were joining the Save Westbard resident group to battle the corrupt planning process going forward.

They include Rosemary Hills, Lyttonsville, the Luxmanor Citizens Association, and Keep Damascus Rural."

Lol what is that like 3% of the county population? And if you take out all of the non-NIMBYs it's probably like 0.5%. Yeah I'm sure the council will feel it at election time lol. The fact that the council members and executive have been elected over and over again is a validation of their priorities.

Maryland is a small, densely populated, urbanized state and if we're running out of room to grow. So unless, you want to build on farmland all the way up to the PA border or on the Eastern Shore, we need to concentrate development in already built up areas.

Nobody is forcing these people to stay in Montgomery County. If people want "suburbs" they can move to Frederick County, if they want rural, they can move to Carroll County.

Anonymous said...

I hope Hans walks from the Bethesda and Friendship Heights metro to Westbard.

Anonymous said...

Just from the post title name ha this isn't news this is op Ed to the extreme.

Fact Checker said...

Dyer is probably the most self-contradictory person I've ever known:

- Calls himself a Republican, but accuses Hans Riemer of not being "progressive" enough, and argues for heavier regulation on the private sector/developers

- Is anti-smart growth, but says that we should only build anything above 3 stories at Metro stations

- Talks about protecting communities, but wants to bulldoze and destroy the "tranquil character" of Potomac by building an Outer Beltway

- Has nothing but nasty things to say about developers, but goes from project to project talking about how nice the buildings are after they're built and 101% supports Gov. Hogan--a developer who only supports the Purple Line because of the development that it will bring

- Claims that shorter hours at CVS and Barnes & Noble are a "failure" of Hans Riemer's nightime economy initiatives (I kid you not, he actually said this. Search this blog) along with other random closures that were gonna happen anyway. Yet, when a string of *actual* nightspots (as in not pharmacies and bookstores) open up, he doesn't utter a word about the initiative.

- Says he supports affordable housing, but lashed out violently against the affordable housing proposed for Westbard, and with thinly veiled prejudice

- Calls the economy "moribund" (arguably the most ludicrous claim repeated on this blog), yet is opposed to growth

- Talks about office vacancy in Montgomery, but ignores even higher vacancy in VA, including a brand new building in Rosslyn that's embarrassingly been empty since it delivered 3 years ago

- Whines about "trolls" but behaves like one to readers that don't agree with him

Anonymous said...

Dyer- your not in a good position to be criticizing Riemer with all of the one-sided false BS present in this post.

Anonymous said...

5:58 AM

Nobody is forcing you to live here

Anonymous said...

Truer words have yet to be spoken @650 AM

Welcome to capitalism, Dyer. Get in or get out.

Anonymous said...

I concur. And that's just the tip of the iceberg on why readers and voters alike take issue with Robert Dyer.

Anonymous said...

Dyer- wearing a baseball cap? Was your mom washing your tux?

Anonymous said...

We are still talking about Westbard? Old news. Move on.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for Hogan to get behind his new party leader Trump.

Robert Dyer said...

6:56: Can you point out what's false? I thought Jimmy Kimmel and George Clooney said reporters don't need to provide "false balance" when one side is definitively wrong.

There's nothing false in this article, but I'm giving your comment 4 Pinocchios.

Robert Dyer said...

5:54: I'm now calmly waiting for the pastor at Westmoreland Circle to condemn your "mean and nasty" comment. Any minute now, folks.

Robert Dyer said...

6:04: Oh yeah, it was an end zone touchdown celebration. I think they're being fined by Roger Goodell.

Anonymous said...

The anti-Dyer trolls are out in force.
And as for "fact checker" - you are too obvious to anxious
Just take statements out of context by twisting single words and short phrases & devolve into ad hominem arguments. Simpleton.

Dyer- your work has been much appreciated from many in this county.
"If you have no critics you'll likely have no success." -- Malcolm X

Anonymous said...

The balding man wearing the golf style shirt looks like he just won the lottery! Campaign donations and other freebies for all he mumbles as he heads to Congressional CC, too much traffic around Rockville he says and these parking garages suck!

Anonymous said...

@ Dyer- I would start with the stat used in your first sentence birdbrain

Anonymous said...

Casey Anderson looks smarmy. He acts pretty ballsy for one with so many skeletons.

Anonymous said...

"Dyer, your work is appreciated from the other room in Mom's basement."

Anonymous said...

WEST WHAT? WEST BARD!
WEST WHAT? WEST BARD!
WEST WHAT? WEST BARD!

Take that birdbrain!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Communism at its finest. What is next? Where does the line stop? This madness must end before Hans and Co. start limiting our water, power supply, etc. I sense the USSR part 2 coming on.

Stand Up Bethesda! We must stop the madness now!!!

Anonymous said...

@8:40 how much did Dyer pay you to write that propaganda?

WEST WHAT? WEST BARD!
WEST WHAT? WEST BARD!
WEST WHAT? WEST BARD!

Anonymous said...

@Dyer - what baseball cap were you wearing that he made fun of? was it your "FEEL THE BERN" trucker hat?

Anonymous said...

@8:45 No he was wearing his Pee Wee Herman hat he bought in Loserville.

Anonymous said...

It was probably an Ourisman Honda hat...

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing a Nationals hat. Maryland politicians hate them.

Anonymous said...

The mean, nasty Democrats are out in force today. Keep reminding voters of the true nature of a party that hates everyone except those with cash.

Anonymous said...

Casey Anderson shows up at all Council meetings? Unable to watch the live stream on his IPhone?

He was there so he could go out to dinner with EYA?

Anonymous said...

@9:12- what does that even mean? Bozo.....

Anonymous said...

I for one am looking forward to the YouTube food reviews the people of West Bard will be posting online. With their pizzazz and flair for innovative new products, it will be much better than watching some birdbrian deep throat a Twinkie...

Anonymous said...

7:19am
"The anti-Dyer trolls are out in force.
And as for "fact checker" - you are too obvious to anxious
Just take statements out of context by twisting single words and short phrases & devolve into ad hominem arguments. Simpleton.

Dyer- your work has been much appreciated from many in this county.
"If you have no critics you'll likely have no success." -- Malcolm X "


Yes, and its always amusing how a handful of gullible ignoramuses just eat up Dyer's words no matter how absurd and unsubstantiated they may be. It's disappointing really, the prevalence of stupidity in this world.

(Or maybe its just Dyer himself commenting anonymously to feign support for his nutty conjectures.)

Anonymous said...

9:33, I am 7:19. And good afternoon to you too.
You want to take me on because I speak truth??
Why do my observations bother you?

What I am is a resident of Montgomery County that cares about where I live, and appreciates that others do too. I'm a decent person who doesn't rely on vulgarity to make a point or state an observation. I make an effort to keep it as real as I possibly can. Like I've said before, I'm not a mean person. Just serious and ain't with the BS

Anonymous said...

Robert Dyer has done an excellent job of telling the story.

The Photo says it all... Mission Accomplished.

The community surrounding Westbard has been sold a pile of crap from the beginning. From the first community meetings and the dream scenarios of "downtown Annapolis" to the drainage ditch that will be magically transformed into a beautiful, beautiful stream. The only stream that the community is going to see is cash flowing out of their pockets and into the hands of developers and their local government.

The "fix is in" and those who live there have seen this coming all along. If you look around the country and see the "vibrant" little hell holes that developers are shoving down communities throats, it's not all that pretty. These "hives" have been thoroughly researched to pleasantly pick your pocket from the first time you swiped your "savings" card or "liked" your favorite recipe. There will be nothing unique about any of this and decades from now people will cringe at the very concept of this faddish so-called-living.

Sooner than you can imagine, the enriched developers and elected representatives will be sunning in Tahiti while the community gets to live in the aftermath. Enjoy your crowded schools. higher crime, congested traffic, mole parking, and a $8.95 flavored coffee that every market analyst knew that you couldn't resist.

Anonymous said...

10:17 must have been bullied in elementary school

Anonymous said...

@10:27 - aka Dyer and his prom tux

Anonymous said...

Wow. I generally LOVE reading Dyer's moronic rants (someone tried to shake Anderson's hand...and he shook it?! WHAAA?!!! And he made a joke about your dumbass pro-Trump hat after you pretended to be a reporter and insinuated he was doing something wrong??? WHAAAAA?!!!) but this post is just bonkers loony bin stuff. Can you please go back to reporting about retail openings, etc.? You don't help the causes you support; you make them come across as nutty as you.

Anonymous said...

@10:27 well that would have been in MCPS where bullying is taught
Democrats teach their children to bully and take cash from anyone that will offer then cash in exchange for selling out on constiuents.

Anonymous said...

@10:37

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA was Casey Anderson doing there at ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL?

Doesn't he have a full time job that keeps him busy? No? Then he should be fired and his salary can be used for something else.

CASEY ANDERSON IS THE BIGGEST JOKE AROUND.

Anonymous said...

How many Montgomery County Democrats are going to be voting for their hero Trump? 80%?

Anonymous said...

Dyer- with out your idiotic positioning on Westbard- Save Westbard would have had a much better chance. Your outlandish and rambling posts here create a comical image of the anti-development group. Thanks for ruining Bethesda birdbrain.

Anonymous said...

10:43 AM I thought the gentleman with the Monopoly board was the one we're all supposed to be mocking? Am I off message already?

Anonymous said...

Casey Anderson's fan is here!

Anonymous said...

Isn't Anderson already planning to leave when his current term is up?

Anonymous said...

10:47 AM - "How many Montgomery County Democrats are going to be voting for their hero Trump? 80%?"

You sound confused. Correction, you sound completely incoherent. Geritol and DMX is a bad combination.

Anonymous said...

Is it true that when Dyer goes on his wanderings in the wee hours, under his trench coat he wears his tux jacket, shirt and tie, but nothing else below?

Anonymous said...

Casey Anderson's "term" was already extended by the legislature.

Anonymous said...

11:56 Raskin

Anonymous said...

Robert will change his tune when the new development opens featuring a Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King and a special new Hungry Man concept store.

Anonymous said...

lol 1:56.

Anonymous said...

Democrats got their man. Watch the votes for Trump from Montgomery County.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha 1:56

Dyer Town Center

Anonymous said...

Every news site has it's share of nasty/dumb comments on articles. Dyer's site is no different apparently :)

Anonymous said...

From listening to the MOCO session it sounded like Landy Lane (complete with another traffic light that's brainpower) will be a major cut through road from Westbard to Little Falls Pkwy. The little children will love the honking horns, the 1-finger salutes, the accidents, and swearing from angry Mercedes driving motorists Bethesda style. The perfect learning environment. Now that's what I call Planning!

Anonymous said...

"I thought there was trouble when the promo for the NBC4 piece used Equity One renderings."

What an idiotic comment. They're the ones who are building the project. From what other source would you get the "renderings"? Dunce.

Anonymous said...

@ 3:11 PM - Wow, it sounds like Westbard drivers are real assholes.

Poppy said...

@3:39

I told you Mercedes drivers are vulgar. You'll never see a Tesla driver from Somerset driving in such a manner

Anonymous said...

What's the deal with Reimer? He said one mile from two Metro stations. As the Post and Google Maps point out, that's false. What I wonder is whether he actually believed that to be true or whether he felt like he needed to exaggerate to sell his vote. Gaffes like that are one reason it's hard to trust the Council with pretty much anything.

Anonymous said...

Teslas drive their owners from Somerset, who sit back and clutch their pearls on seeing all the déclassé and Philistine behavior on the roads outside their enlightened enclave.

Anonymous said...

@ 6:42 PM, while it's true that Riemer understated those distances slightly, Bill Turque of The Washington Post massively overstated them. The distances from Westbard to Friendship Heights and Bethesda are both much closer to Riemer's claim "one mile" than to Turque's claim of "2.2 miles" and "3.3 miles" respectively.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Reamer needs another air conditioned bus tour of Westbard to find that second Metro station he hallucinated.
Are there random drug tests of Council members? Serious question.

Anonymous said...

It's 1.1 miles from the intersection of River Road and the CCT (the center of Westbard) to the intersection of Wisconsin and Western (FH Metro). It's 1.6 miles to Wisconsin & E-W (Bethesda Metro).

Anonymous said...

Bethesda Metro station is a "hallucination"? Really?

Anonymous said...

@ 8:51 - And even closer to the future Elm Street entrance of the Bethesda Metro station.

One big problem with Westbard as it is now, is that the street grid is poor to nonexistent, meaning that short distances "as the crow flies" become much longer on the disconnected, winding roads.

Robert Dyer said...

8:56: So we may need a new freeway to connect Westbard to downtown Bethesda or Friendship Heights? Finally, an idea I can get behind!

Robert Dyer said...

8:51: Your distances aren"t quite accurate, particularly your distance to Bethesda Metro. Running the mile in gym class would have been so much easier if you had been my gym teacher.

Having said that, even using your figures, neither falls within the consensus definition of smart growth and TOD: 1/4 to 1/2 mile from Metro.

Would love if Hans Riemer would share with us the location of this secret second Metro station that is within a mile of Westbard. Who knew?

Anonymous said...

Boob Derp @ 9:56 PM - No, just a more direct connection from the big curve on Willard Avenue to River Road in the vicinity of Little Falls Parkway, and from that point to Westbard Avenue at the rear of the Giant. That would shave off a half-mile of the current distance from the Giant to the Metro station.

Anonymous said...

Your 1.5 miles for Friendship Heights is correct. According to Google maps, the distance to Bethesda Metro depends on the route taken and the exact starting point, and the distance is from ~2 (Arlington Road) to 3+ miles (Goldsboro Road).

Anonymous said...

2,000 MORE CARS!

2,000 MORE CARS!

Anonymous said...

There is no quick way to the Friendship metrorail. You take your life in your hands on foot and definitely on bike. River Road is a perpetual construction zone. Good luck future Westbarders, you'll need it!

Anonymous said...

Dyer does not seem to realize that if you are not driving (i.e., walking or biking), you can use take the Capital Crescent Trail to go from Westbard to the Bethesda Metro Station.

Anonymous said...

@ 7:11 AM - River Road is a relatively short part of the route between Westbard and Friendship Heights. The sidewalks along Willard Avenue are just fine.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't sound like proximity to Metro is really going to be issue for the new Westbard development. Half of the residential will be upscale and those people will drive their Audi SUV's into DC to get to work. The other half will be subsidized low income housing, and people living there generally don't work at all, so they don't have any reason to commute into downtown DC. I don't think any of the new Westbard residents will have use for a subway system.

Anonymous said...

Man people are afraid of walking on River Road?

Anonymous said...

10:12 AM There's going to be an equity one subsidized free shuttle to Metro, right?

Anonymous said...

Unfortunate for all but the development community. Anderson is not an honest broker.

Anonymous said...

You obviously don't know much about affordable housing. Most of the affordable units will be rented by working families with incomes of $30,000- $60,000 (higher for large families).

Anonymous said...

Still at least a couple of miles from Westbard, and crossing River Road is no picnic. Easier for bikers, of course. For walkers, it's a 30-40 minute walk.

Anonymous said...

West of Ridgefield Road, where speeds are 40+ and there are no sidewalks and poor nighttime visibility, walking along or across River Road can be hazardous. A 95 year old pedestrian was killed crossing River Road, just north of Westbard II, in the fall.

Anonymous said...

Supposedly, yes.

Anonymous said...

You are measuring from the wrong point. The new housing will be across River Road to the north along Westbard Avenue. Add .25-.5 miles. And route matters. It is about 2 miles via Arlingtom Road and 3 miles via Goldsboro Road.

Anonymous said...

Oops-- that should be across River Road to the south.

Anonymous said...

No, it's Casey Anderson, for so obviously selling out the community. Smart, but lacking principles.

Robert Dyer said...

11:31: Nope - the County Council deleted that as a requirement, as well as the language requiring a transit center. There is aspirational language regarding a shuttle, but nothing that requires developers to fund or operate one to get project approval. And you get a density bonus for shuttles, which cancels out whatever minimal traffic relief they would provide.

Anonymous said...

River Road west of Ridgefield sounds like a suburban utopia.

Anonymous said...

Even on the Capital Crescent Trail, it's about 2 miles from the Westbard Giant to the Bethesda Metro station.

Anonymous said...

@ 3:54 PM - Your route appears to be based on the existing roadways - going north through the parking lot of the shopping center, then going east on the main driveway, then north on Westbard, then east on Ridgefield Road, then southeast on River Road to the CCT.

The distance for that segment is 0.5 miles. The as-the-crow-flies distance between the two points is 0.23 miles. As the area is redeveloped, there will be more direct pedestrian pathways through it.

Also, when the Elm Street entrance to the Bethesda Metro station opens, that will knock off another 0.17 miles.

Anonymous said...

@5:53pm: As the crow flies from the back side of the giant to new entrance for the Bethesda station is still more than a mile. For commuters, Westbard is really not walkable unless the weather is good.

Westbard is unquestionably closer to the Bethesda and Friendship Heights station than upcounty developments are. I'm just not sure why Reimer flubbed the distance. These kinds of misstatements really undermine confidence in the Council. This isn't a nit or a small point. He based his vote in large part on location, judging from his written statement, and then he got the location wrong.

Anonymous said...

Let's get real folks. No one is going to walk 30-40 minutes or more to walk to a Metro station from Westbard. They don't now.

If it was walkable to Metro, you bet every real estate agent would say Kenwood Place condos and all the houses around it are walking distance to Metro. Even those agents with the worst sales puffery have never gone that far.

Reamer shows up in the Westbard area for the first time, never leaves his chartered bus and now he's telling residents on Westbard Ave. can walk to two Metro stations? Reamer is either lying or on drugs. How does Reamer get to the Council building anyway? Ride-On bus?

Anonymous said...

Yes, Riemer flubbed the distances. Yet Turque, whom one would expect to be much more careful, flubbed the distances even worse.

Anonymous said...

The only way Turque could have obtained "3.3 miles to Bethesda station" would have been by driving southeast along River Road, to Willard Avenue, then up Wisconsin Avenue, a ridiculously indirect route.

Anonymous said...

@7:41 p.m.: I expect Riemer to be more careful. He's making decisions that will affect a lot of people for a long time. Turque works for a website. We should expect council members to be more careful than people who work for websites. Clearly, not everyone who works for a website is qualified to be on the council.

Anonymous said...

3:30 would be believable without denigrating into insults, no matter how veiled.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but you have to get to Willard Avenue first. River Road is just a lousy place to walk.

Anonymous said...

@ 2.59: the neighborhoods off River are fantastic. River west of Ridgefield is great for cars, but not pedestrians. That's how suburbs work-- the car is king.

Anonymous said...

Riemer did himself no favors throughout this process. Poor understanding and poor judgment.

Anonymous said...

3.30 is correct. Riemer has little understanding of the Westbard area and even worse judgment. He came across badly in these proceedings.

Anonymous said...

"He came across badly in these proceedings."

According to you.

Anonymous said...

According to many. Rambling, pompous, kinda bizarre actually.