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| Early morning tweet calling for extension of Purple Line through Westbard, Sumner comes less than 24 hours after groundbreaking for main Purple Line projeet |
The long-term plan has been to connect downtown Bethesda with Tysons. There will be stations at River Road (where the County is attempting to acquire industrial land for a "park," on the site of the future Purple Line station, and possible rail yard and electrical transformer) and Sangamore Road.
Future sites of transit-oriented development are planned for the Shops at Sumner Place, and commercial properties along MacArthur Boulevard between Sangamore Road and the D.C. line, creating overlay sprawl similar to that approved in the Westbard sector plan. Advocates are split as to how they will get the trains over the river to Tysons from Sumner.
"Time to start lobbying to extend the Purple Line!" wrote Bill Smith on the developer-backed Greater Greater Washington website last night. Of course, given the topography of the former Georgetown Branch railbed, and its narrow width compared to the width of the two-track+trail Purple Line, the environmental devastation would be beyond imagination. But, "Shhhhh.....! There are no plans to extend the Purple Line to Westbard!"
54 comments:
So let me get this straight:
Brand new bridge carrying thousands of cars from MoCo to NoVa through previously undeveloped farmland = GOOD!
Extension of transit line through developed property connecting MoCo to NoVa = BAD! OMG THE ENVIRONMENT! MOCO CARTEL!!
Do I have that right?
Completely silent about the entire recent Purple Line developments, which was a huge accomplishment by private and public groups, including, yes, the Montgomery County Council, but reporting some about speculative thing... par the course for Robert Dyer.
If it wasn't for this article, people who depend on Dyer for news on Montgomery County would've thought the Purple remained in legal limbo. That's literally the last article he wrote about it:
http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2017/05/judge-not-intimidated-by-trump-style.html
7:05: Get this straight: New highway bridge that will move more commuters daily for less money than per Purple Line passenger. New highway bridge that will cost the taxpayer close to nothing if built as a private toll facility, compared to financial albatross of the Purple Line that will eat away MARC and other funding for decades. New highway bridge that allows virtually NO NEW development, while Purple Line and extension will bring thousands of new cars to commuter routes and overpopulate already fully-built-out communities.
So yes, you have that right.
7:08: Purple Line is still in court. I think they knocked an outhouse down yesterday or something, but they don't dare to actually start the project because they have court rulings pending, and zero funds in hand.
Now, if you want a feel-good fake news report about how handsome George Leventhal and Hans Riemer were at the groundbreaking, you've got other media options, old sport.
Two-seat ride to Dulles for two of MoCo's four Fortune 500 HQ's, with many more to come. Awesome news!
The DMA facility would make a great site for one of those.
I challenge you to write an unbiased article about the County Council.
What do you say? Think you can do it? I don't you're capable of it, so why don't you show me up? Prove me wrong?
You can even pick the topic.
No bias. No name-calling. Just facts, without biting descriptors.
"Old sport"
Jay Gatsby was a creepy stalker who got murdered by his ex's husband.
"the environmental devastation would be beyond imagination."
As opposed to a 10-lane highway? Check out what the southern end of the Beltway did to Cameron Run sometime, Dyer.
"the environmental devastation would be beyond imagination."
WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE SHRIMP?!??!!?!1
So you want to build a toll bridge now? I am so confused with your views on transportation. You are as fickle with transportation as Hans is fickle with open data laws.
Nice ribbon cutting, but THIS is the big story: the push now to extend this to Tysons through Westbard
Wonder if the purple line will eventually go to Fredericksburg?
You selectively chose your news to report to fit your biased "reporting." You chose to report in such a arrogant tone about Leon's court ruling, but nothing about the higher court backlash, and nothing about the Department of Transportation funding approval.
http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2017/05/judge-not-intimidated-by-trump-style.html
Everybody, I encourage you to read Dyer's own incredibly arrogant words. Then yesterday's funding approval and opening is a sentence in today's article...
7:48: Since when is a straight news report about the secret plan to extend the Purple Line "arrogant?" Yesterday's event was a political stageshow. We need real journalists who can separate the propaganda from the news. If you thought Mike Dukakis looked presidential in the tank, you probably want a different news source.
7:52: No, an investigative report on a secret underground fuel spill in Bethesda, and illegal use of funds by Montgomery County government, those are a "big deal." A Kabuki theater Purple Line event is not, unless you are politically invested in the Purple Line.
Anyone want to bet that Dyer actually knows what Kabuki theater is, let alone that he's ever watched it?
No reply to 7:25?
We'll need some chicken sounds to go with the sheep and goat sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhEQ1E8XPp4
Great reporting by Dyer. Will be interesting to see how they get the Metro from Bethesda to Westbard. Good luck with that. Kenwood and Sumner will go nuts.
This is great! It would really solve your concerns about quantity of development in Westbard without mass transit. Glad to hear they are trying to bring mass transit to Westbard to address your concerns.
8:05: Don't worry, I've got your chicken sounds right here:
https://youtu.be/KqSuj_sZvDw
Kenwood & Sumner residents will have to sacrifice for the greater good.
I hope they do this! I have so many neighbors who need this in Westbard. This is great news. Thank you.
8:16: At what cost to the environment and quality of life? This wouldn't be in place for many, many years, too late for the Equity One and Capital Properties impacts on roads. And transit does zero for school overcrowding.
Still no reply to 7:25? I guess true journalism is beyond your capabilities.
Looks like Bethesda Beat is the first Bethesda news site to report on Saul Centers' exciting project at Twinbrook!
@ 8:19 am: Soon to be renamed North North Bethesda!
8:19: Twinbrook is not Bethesda, Einstein. But I broke that story on RockvilleNights.com a full week ago. I guess you like reheated news.
http://www.rockvillenights.com/2017/08/saul-centers-moving-forward-with-10.html
"the secret plan to extend the Purple Line"
It's a proposal, and it's very public. There's nothing "secret" and there's no "plan." Sheesh, the hysterics around here...
Kenwood residents will get used to the train traveling through their backyards.
"But I broke that story on RockvilleNights.com a full week ago."
No, you reheated it a full 20 DAYS after Bethesda Magazine broke the story!
That would be great to have Purple Line to Tysons. Right now, from Bethesda to Tysons on Metro is ONE HOUR (20 mins on red line, 32 minutes on silver line, 5 minute transfer time). What would it be with the purple line? 20 minutes?
I'm not sure why the opposition to the Purple Line. I personally support both -- let's add another bridge crossing to serve up-county residents and businesses, and let's extend the purple line to serve down-county residents and businesses.
Even better if they can run a metro line along the bridge crossing, connecting the Dulles station on the Silver Line and Shady Grove station on the Red Line.
I'm getting goosebumps just thinking if they had all three options implemented. That would be great!
yippee! great news! Make it happen, Hans! Mass transit > millions of people in cars.
8:42: Total lie. My report was first, a full week before theirs.
8:33: Nope. All County officials have denied it publicly throughout the Westbard sector plan process.
8:19: I do it all the time. You call the facts "name-calling," much like Nancy Floreen calls factual accounts of Council wrongdoing "attacks."
Kenwood is already pretty loud as it is due to fast cars and ambulances. The train won't be that bad. Residents in Grosvenor deal with it well and benefit o'plenty from the rail.
As to school crowding, well, this wasn't intended to resolve school crowding lol. It's a transit solution. More schools may need to be built or expanded. I wonder if you ever think about what is happening in Fairfax County, your darling business center, with all the high rises there. You're not very smart Robert. You just like to complain and whine to get attention hoping you'll finally get a vote from someone with a pulse.
Kenwood residents will come around. The Purple Line trains are quiet compared to a freight train.
One big issue with a rail line connecting Bethesda to Tysons is where can you cross the river? Cars cross Chain Bridge but have a steep incline to climb once on the Virginia side. The Purple Line, using the CCT, could go to Georgetown but I don't see how it could easily get to Tysons.
The fact that pro-business Republican Gov. Hogan, the most popular governor in the country, is opposed to a new bridge and supports the Purple Line shows how absurd the former is and how critical the latter is.
under direct orders from their developer masters
"underr direct orders from their developer masters"
And Dyer wants us to take this "news" site seriously? In the same way we should take the National Enquirer seriously?
Dyer is correct that County officials repeatedly denied any plans to extend the Purple Line to Westbard throughout the Westbatd sector planning process.
Let's see what the Council, including 2018 candidates, think about this proposal.
As for those who say that transit is not a schools issue: the new development associated with transit is a schools issue. The Council, the Planning Department and the Planning Board need to address this directly.
8:19 - Deflection. That's a fail.
"I challenge you to write an unbiased article about the County Council.
What do you say? Think you can do it? I don't think you're capable of it, so why don't you show me up? Prove me wrong?
You can even pick the topic.
No bias. No name-calling. Just facts, without biting descriptors."
Your move.
That should say
"8:19 here - Deflection. That's a fail."
I wonder how much Ourisman will charge the county when it sells the trail right of way back to the county for the purple line extension.
So does Dyer want the purple line to go to Westbard or not? I don't understand you Westbard people, you bitch about being away from the metro and traffic congestion, but when a solution is presented, you then bitch it may cause the area to begin to undergo development. You can't have both worlds.
He wants to be able to harp on how great the development is in some Podunk town in Virginia. Meanwhile, there's news that an additional 390,000 square feet of office space being built in the old police station space, and of course he's totally silent about it...
I doubt the existing suburban neighborhoods around Westbard ave or in Kenwood want this rail extension.
The majority of those folks like their SUVs and luxury cars.
12:10 - I live in Westbard for the reason that it's not on top of a transit line. I like it quiet and peaceful with room to walk and see the sky. Nobody's complaining here. Where in the world did you come up with that?
I get that, but wasn't one of the main reasons against Westbard density because there was a lack of public transportation?
There is no viable route from Westbard to Tysons - the Purple Line SHOULD have been built on the Outer Line alignment proposed by Doug Duncan - a terminus at Montgomery Mall would be easy to link to Tysons.
Has anyone else noticed that the nearest interstate highway link to Bethesda is more than two miles away? Gridlock is imminent on Wisconsin Avenue and Old Georgetown rd once Marriott employees begin commuting to an from central Bethesda
And 1:05 and 1:35 proved 12:10's point.
8:25, because it contradicts articles like this, I assume:
http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2017/08/fredericksburg-office-market-is-hot.html
1:13 - The proposed level of development would bring way too many cars to the area, but people who think that the Purple Line would in any way offset that are mistaken. The Metro does not necessarily go where people want to go. People will still drive to schools, doctors' offices, etc.
6:06 AM believes that you need to drive to your doctor's office to read Bethesda Magazine.
Anyway, "people will still drive to doctors' offices" is a red herring since most people only make a couple of trips to doctors' offices in a typical year.
6:06 doesn't mention BetMag at all. That's all your doing 6:46, adding a bit of kindling to this fire you want to start
.
Couple trips in a typical year? That tells us you are male, and either have no kids, let the spouse deal with the kids, or forget what it was like raising kids, and never went to the prenatal appointments. Don't forget fillers (lasts 8-20 months and botox (lasts 3-4 months) need maintenance too.
Parents with young children have more trips for medical appointments, but they are usually outside of rush hour and the number doesn't come close to a daily commute, which is approximately 240 trips a year.
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