Plaintiffs in the
legal battle over the 2016 Westbard sector plan have decided to appeal a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge's
decision against them last week. Despite the County Planning Board's failure to measure the greenhouse gas and carbon emission impacts of the plan, Judge Richard Jordan claimed that somehow the commissioners were magically above the law, and did not actually have to.
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Out of the three claims dismissed by Jordan, that interpretation appears to be the weakest point in his ruling, one factor among several that encouraged plaintiffs to seek another opinion. Many community members also share that view. “The law’s mandate is clear,” former President of the Sumner Citizens Association Sid Clemans said. “The Board must evaluate the plan’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions, and consider ways to limit emissions and reduce vehicle miles traveled. It’s not a discretionary analysis,” Clemans said.
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"...we couldn't claim the
greenhouse gas and carbon-spewing
Westbard sector plan will improve
the environment!" #Oops |
In fact, the other recent sector plans passed by the Council - including the Bethesda Downtown Plan, White Flint 2 Plan, and Grosvenor-Strathmore Plan - all included the mandated greenhouse gas and carbon assessment. By virtue of being located at Metro stops, the environmental impact of those plans could be made to appear lower, with the assumption that transit use would be heavier. Not so at Westbard, which is a whopping 2.2 and 3.3 miles from the two closest Metro stations. With the Westbard sector plan therefore fueling a thousands-fold increase in auto emissions, it's no wonder the
developer-friendly Planning Board would not want the greenhouse gas and carbon impact numbers to become public.
46 comments:
Why doesn't your election website provide the ability to make a donation?
6:17: That hasn't been set up yet, but if you contact me by email, I can accept contributions by check.
Isn’t it curious how climate change-denying Robert Dyer is suddenly so concerned about greenhouse gas emissions? It’s almost as though the objections and obstruction this peoject faces really isn’t about the environmental review at all.
"Not so at Westbard, which is a whopping 2.2 and 3.3 miles from the two closest Metro stations"
This is not only false, but ridiculously so. From the shopping center to the Bethesda Metro station is 2.3 miles, via Little Falls Parkway and Arlington Road. And that's assuming that the poorly connected street grid is not improved, which could shorten the distance by up to 0.5 mile. What weird, convoluted route did you take, Dyer?
And the distance from the shopping center is 1.5 miles, not "2.2 miles".
Second para should be "...from the shopping center to the Friendship Heights metro station".
7:52: Those numbers were cited by Bill Turque in The Washington Post. We're supposed to believe alternative numbers posted by an anonymous troll over the Post? LOL
6:51: How are things this morning at Regency Centers headquarters? Did you get the boss coffee yet?
Sorry, Dyer, but here is what Turque actually wrote:
"But 'Save Westbard,' the group of community opponents, say the plan still imposes a new urbanist vision on what they regard as a suburban area — even though it’s just one mile from the District line and less than two miles from Friendship Heights and downtown Bethesda."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/battle-over-future-of-westbard-shows-little-sign-of-abating/2016/04/13/fdea7eee-019d-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html
Why do you habitually lie about things that are so easy to verify?
@ 7:52/3 here again. I forgot to mention that the Tenleytown station is 2.0 miles exactly from the shopping center, which is even closer than Dyer's claimed distances to the Bethesda and Friendship Heights stations.
All distances verified on Google Maps.
Dyer seems to have a problem with basic concepts such as distance. Note his repeated claims here previously that Westbard Avenue is "two blocks long" from beginning to end.
http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2016/03/elrich-westbard-plan-is-naked-real.html
Noticing your complete about-face on climate change and then suspecting you might have ulterior motives isn't limited to those you claim work for Regency.
Any regular reader would notice it, and some would wonder.
It's odd that your article starts with a photo of a gas station. Are you trying to imply that the loss of the two Citgo stations as part of the planned development will somehow increase carbon emissions?
Assessing the carbon footprint and impact on air quality should be the first test of any major plan. I'm shocked it was overlooked.
Sheepshill says BAAAAAAAA
Good luck overturning the judges decision. It’s a total waste of time and money. Just wait until these stupid NIMBY’s find out it will cost $250K to appeal the decision to the MD Court of Special Appeals, should they decide to hear the case.
Save Macedonia Baptist Church's historic cemetery from the corporate and Council body snatchers.
I saw this in The Atlantic today:
"Bureaucracies offer a solution to the challenge of scale; they create rules and procedures, and the corps of professionals who populate bureaucracies abide by them, allowing business to be performed in a predictable fashion, even between actors with no personal relationship. And they bring with them their own set of costs and benefits, requiring the surrender of a degree of autonomy and flexibility in exchange for stability and scale, and putting systems ahead of individual initiative."
Robert, do you have any experience working in such an environment? You will face this if you are elected, as one of nine Councilmembers representing a population of 1,000,000 residents and a government with approximately 8,000 employees.
8:53: That was an earlier article before Turque, who was new to the area, had verified the distance. I am correctly citing Turque's later May 2016 report, in which he fact-checked Hans Riemer - who (like you) falsely claimed Westbard was "a mile from two Metros." Facts.
Now, why does Hans Riemer habitually lie about having been Obama's youth director in November 2008, when he had actually been terminated in April 2008, before Obama had even clinched the Democratic nomination?
9:03: Do you realize that transit-oriented development is only within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of a rapid transit station, according to the widely accepted worldwide standards of 'smart growth?'
So even if your fanciful 2 miles to Tenleytown Metro were correct, it in no way qualifies Westbard as a TOD area.
It is YOU. who is struggling with "basic concepts," old sport.
9:14: Noting that the temperature patterns in the DC area don't match the temperature trends being cited globally is a totally different issue from climate change, which is obvious and real.
Any regular reader has noticed you troll under different false aliases, always pro-developer and anti Robert Dyer, and "some would wonder" about your "ulterior motives."
9:32: We're actually only losing one, and the sector plan's carbon emission growth is generated by the 1000s of additional cars it will bring to the Westbard area.
@4:16 -- Where does Mr. Reimer claim to have worked for Mr. Obama in November, 2008? And where are you getting your information that he was "terminated"?
@4:27: You stated that the summer of 2016 was "the coldest summer in my lifetime." This was true neither for the DC area nor the globe. So what did you mean?
"climate change, which is obvious and real."
First time you've ever said that.
Robert Dyer - November 29, 2009
"GLOBAL WARMING
HOAX ONE STEP
CLOSER TO BEING
REVEALED"
"You've been hearing about unethical behavior by scientists, academics, and lawmakers in recent days, in their powerful efforts to pull off the greatest hoax of our time: global warming "caused by human activity."
"But consider some additional facts (not fiction): last month was the 3rd coldest October in world history since temperatures have been recorded. We're told the Earth is running out of water; last month we set the record for the most rainfall in Earth's history. Finally, do you remember Al Gore and so many others telling us that Katrina was just the beginning? That "global warming" was creating a new age of "killer storms" that would ravage the United States in incredible numbers each hurricane season?
"No legitimate hurricane made landfall in the U.S. this year. And the past several years have witnessed the fewest hurricanes in recent history.
"The debate is NOT over. But it has to be a fact-based debate, not a theory-based debate.
"Have a great Thanksgiving weekend, and... bundle up, it's cold out there."
5:27: Nowhere in that quote do I dispute climate change. I'm talking about the same issues of temperature and the true fact that the US has experienced a below-average number of hurricanes since the false prediction was made that we would be struck by greater numbers of "killer hurricanes."
Science is a fact-based field, as I correctly argued. You prefer theory and speculation.
4:45: It absolutely was true. And we've had another winter of below-average temperatures again this year. Temperatures continue to be below-average all of this month. These facts are not in dispute.
4:53: Far from the first time, Mr. BS Artist. This is how weak the County's case is at Westbard, that you've had to spend all day posting false and off-topic comments. Just wait til the FBI investigates the Planning Board and County Council, and even your sad role in Astroturfing for them online will be exposed. I can't wait for perp walks at 100 Maryland Avenue and 8787 Georgia Avenue. Keep their coats!
4:41: My source is the Obama campaign. Riemer's claim was made verbally and written repeatedly in 2010, and he's still deceptively touting it on his website today, as you helpfully demonstrated.
1:28: Yes, I do. I've served as an elected official in the Republican party, where I was successful in making budget reforms that went against the status quo of how things had been done for years in the local party. I've also worked with County Council members as far back as Blair Ewing and Howard Denis to get things done. I'm one of the few candidates who has experience working under Robert's Rules of Order on an actual elected body. I do think we need to change some of the current Council professional staff, who are mysteriously always in sync with the developers over the People. "Get 'em out!"
Looks like only 4 Facebook users are following this article. LOL
Dyer @ 6:29 PM - You don't have the slightest idea of what the word "theory" actually means.
"Nowhere in that quote do I dispute climate change."
Ah, so you're going to use the "but the climate changes all the time" dodge.
How about this - do you dispute the existence of anthropogenic global warming?
Saith Dyer: "And we've had another winter of below-average temperatures again this year. Temperatures continue to be below-average all of this month."
Once again, you are wrong.
December 2017 - coldest December in the DMV since...2010. 2017 as a whole was the 2nd warmest year on record.
January 2018 - Approximately average. "January had a low temperature of 8 degrees and a high temperature of 68 degrees. At no point since 1942 have January temperatures been so volatile in Washington."
February 2018 - Third warmest on record. Earliest 80+ temperature ever recorded in a given year.
March 2018 - Below-average for the first half. But the month of March is not considered winter, in meteorological terms. Meteorological winter lasts from December 1 through February 28/29. Meteorological spring starts on March 1 and lasts until May 31.
8:00: Frigid January was "approximately average?" Are you sure you aren't writing this from the Regency Centers HQ in Florida? Three months of below average temperature are not a trend, but one month's temperature is?
Did you get your meteorology degree from a cereal box?
This plan passed unanimously by the council is a classic example of poor planning. The roads and schools are nowhere near adequate so far as capacity is considered.
Robindeliversforyou.com
"Three months of below average temperature"
How did you infer this from what @ 8:00 PM wrote? The only month of the three that was even slightly below average was December 2017. Your reading comprehension sucks and you have the worst confirmation bias I have ever seen, Dyer.
"Frigid January was 'approximately average?'"
Yes, it was. There were cold days, and there were warm days. Do you understand how mean monthly temperature is calculated?
2:34 PM Let Robin deliver for you
Robin, I would like a large pepperoni with pineapple and jalapenos, please.
Dyer @ 6:39: Wrong. Mr. Reimer states that he helped elect Mr. Obama in 2008. There are no claims that he was employed by the campaign through November. You are (incorrectly) making that inference on your own.
5:40: Wrong - he did not help elect Obama. He was terminated while the campaign was still struggling against Hillary in April.
2:46: The total number of below average temperature days in January far exceeded the average days. You are factually incorrect. My comprehension is fine. You can't claim one month is a trend and three months are not.
"The total number of below average temperature days in January far exceeded the average days."
You forgot to account for above-average temperature days in January. You're utterly incapable of statistical analysis.
Three months that are respectively slightly below average (December 2017), average (January 2018), and way above average (February 2018) are not "three months of below average temperatures".
Why do you keep spinning fake versions of every aspect of reality, whether it be Hans Riemer's electoral successes or local weather records, and then desperately clinging to them no matter how many times you are shown to be wrong? What pathological need drives this?
Here are the daily temperatures recorded in Washington DC during the month of January 2018:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DU-LO_RUQAAGFQJ.jpg:large
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/files/2018/02/DCA-jan-2018-calendar.png&w=480
While the period of January 1-10 was significantly below the average temperatures for the month of January, and there were other periods that were also below average, there were also several periods in which temperatures were significantly above average. Thus the average for January 2018 ended up being right at the historical average for the month of January.
You deleted my response to your 4:27 false claim about me.
Here's the comment that was so horrid that it had to be deleted.
"You just can't accept that I'm exactly who I say I am. You habitually infer that I'm something or someone I'm not. Why do you do that?
That doesn't say much for your judgement.
This week's upcoming storm is a direct result of the warming of the Arctic.
4:45 AM"
6:53: Your have provided no evidence that Mr Reimer was “terminated.” Is that because you’re making it up? That’s slanderous you know.
6:32: We know he was out in April, according to a source within the 2008 Obama campaign (and no thanks to the Washington Post, which has yet to report on Riemer's lies and exaggerations about his resume. Then just use common sense - if you had a plum job in the Obama campaign, would you quit voluntarily to become unemployed for two years, until you could use Wall Street and K Street out-of-state money to get elected to the County Council?
Another clue - Riemer was not hired by the Obama administration. Sounds more like someone who was fired. Would you pass up an Obama administration job to be unemployed for two years? No, you wouldn't.
8:06: You're the spin master = the three months of below average temperatures are December, January and March. You claimed that the pattern of February somehow represents a warming trend, when it is completely negated by the three months around it. Science is not subjective (or, at least, real science isn't).
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