Thursday, September 19, 2019

A month later, Montgomery County-owned garage elevators still don't work

How many Montgomery County Councilmembers does it take to change a light bulb? We know that all nine together can't get the elevators working in the Metropolitan Public Parking Garage 49 in downtown Bethesda - even with an additional month to work on it. I first reported this service outage on August 21, and the elevators had already been down for a long time at that point. Garage patrons are still being directed to the Old Georgetown elevators a month later.
No action has been taken. The County is not providing a level of basic services appropriate to the record-high tax rates residents are paying. This is also a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as garage users with disabilities are forced to walk to the other side of the building in order to exit the garage. We really do need to drop the At-Large Council seats and create more district seats, as this again proves the Council doesn't bother to come to Bethesda. Heckuva job, Brownie!




30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always use the steps after parking here. More people should as well

Robert Dyer said...

8:07: Thank God you are able to; so can I - now what about folks who aren't able-bodied, and senior citizens?

Anonymous said...

Remember when Montgomery County government and services were the gold standard in the region?
It wasn't that long ago but feels like it.

Anonymous said...

Did you even *try* to find out why? Investigate what's the holdup? An "honorable" Mayor would find out.

Anonymous said...

Huh? How can you pretend to claim "no action is being taken?" For all you know the elevator is being worked on or the vendor is waiting for a part. Why not actually, you know, ask MCDOT Parking Management to find out the status of the repair? God forbid this blog contain some actual, useful information.

Anonymous said...

The lot on Cordell/St. Elmo , elevator was out (is it still?) at least half a year. The Winston Churchill HS electronic sign has been broken over a year, no fix. The county is too busy spending on attorneys for illegals to stay here, to hell with serving the tax payers.

Anonymous said...

8:48 AM We know at least once action was taken: county employees removed the comment left by a frustrated resident

Anonymous said...

10:38 AM Wow, you're wrong about that. No one has covered news around Bethesda over the past month like Dyer. And the surrounding towns on his network of sites.

Have good day sir.

Anonymous said...

10:58 AM You again twisting yourself into that pretzel. What do you get from Dyer for pimp yourself out like this?

Anonymous said...

11:59 AM You do your dirty work for free food.
I'm simply correcting the record. Dyer is serving the news deserts of the county.

Anonymous said...

isnt this marc elrich's responsibility?

Anonymous said...

12:42 PM No one had the complete report Robert Dyer had- before and after photos, video and write up as only a life long resident could write.

Sam Eig is making quite a name for itself in its coverage of Gaithersburg and the surrounding towns.

Anonymous said...

1:13 PM how is this relevant?

And how did the "Golden Bull" get pulled into commenting on an elevator story? Go to Sam Eig if you want to comment about that.

Anonymous said...

Never understand why folks don't just buy an ad here if they're trying to generate traffic to their little blogs.

Anonymous said...

1:42 PM Combined, Dyer's network of MoCo sites have more traffic than any local blog.

And please don't give me Facebook followers, we both know those can be bought and sold, as Bethesda Magazine has done.

Woodmont said...

Dyer's Alexa ranking for just this Bethesda site is much, much higher (and is trending up) than the blogs "anonymous" continues to promote here - store report and mocoshow. They are less popular and trending *down*, hence the pleas to refer friends.

That's just one of Dyer's sites. Sam Eig is doing a wonderful job covering Gaithersburg. As a downtown Bethesda resident, I'm jealous of the Kentland's new theater! Check out Dyer's coverage.

Stop promoting these unpopular blogs that no one reads or care about. They're not popular but at least they're both getting free food, even if it is laden with sodium and sugars. Even with a free gym membership, all that free unhealthy food can't be good.

Anonymous said...

"Ok, your favorite blogs are much, much less popular than just one of Dyer's sites. And they are trending down while Dyer is trending up. According to Amazon's Alexa analytics."

Why not just post some actual numbers?

Woodmont said...

2:35 PM I can't post screenshots here. You can go to the site and look at the same numbers.
The other two sites rank much, much lower in popularity according to Alexa and are trending down.

Dyer's one site (this one) is much, much popular and has been trending up past 90 days. And he has several other sites on his Network. Sam Eig is taking off.

Any questions?



Woodmont said...

2:39 PM If you're a blogger at *any* of the local sites, you're in no position to talk about anyone's appearance. I've seen these people. Just sayin.

Now there I go. I said I was going to go high when you go low.

I'll stick to the Alexa stats.

Woodmont said...

I'm not Dyer, but the Alexa stats speak for themselves
Check yourself. Those blogs don't rank anywhere near this one Bethesda site.

If you don't want other sites to be spoken about, stop linking to them here. It's really simple. This blog is about Bethesda, not your sites. Got it?

Robert Dyer said...

If I have a comment to make, my name and picture appear next to it, unlike the cowardly anonymous troll.

Anonymous said...

Seems like the county should leave a sign with an estimated fix date. If it's a complete overhaul, it could be awhile.

Even WMATA has estimated time frames for escalators/elevator repairs on their site.

Anonymous said...

NOT an ADA violation. An elevator is required. There is no ADA requirement to provide more than one or that dictates location.

ADA is very Googleable, reporter boy. You should try it before making assertations.

Anonymous said...

Saith Dyer: "Thank God you are able to; so can I - now what about folks who aren't able-bodied, and senior citizens?"

"The term 'able-bodied' is used to describe someone who does not identify as having a disability. Some members of the disability community oppose its use because it implies that all people with disabilities lack “able bodies” or the ability to use their bodies well. They may prefer “non-disabled” or “enabled” as being more accurate."

Also, avoid the term "senior citizen", as it sounds patronizing these days.

Anonymous said...

"Disabled" would have been much better than "aren't able-bodied".

Robert Dyer said...

7:48: Yeah, seriously, let's get triggered by semantics while the disabled are unable to easily access a government facility.

7:39: You prefer "old person?" That doesn't sound better to me.

7:07: Wrong! From the ADA:

"Accessible parking spaces must be located on the shortest accessible route to an accessible entrance, relative to other spaces in the same parking facility."

- Old Georgetown is not the shortest accessible route to this entrance.

"Each direct connection to a facility must include an accessible entrance."

- This direct connection currently lacks an accessible entrance.

"Accessible routes must connect directly to access aisles."

Robert Dyer said...

Those are just 3 of the current ADA violations by Montgomery County in that garage.

Anonymous said...

Are all the commenters praising you cowardly too for not making their name and picture appear?

Anonymous said...

The Washington Post and Bethesda Beat reported on this four days ago.

And they actually reported on what this bill would do: ban the sale of vaping products within a half mile of a middle school or high school.

Anonymous said...

It is now March 9, 2020, and that elevator has been out of service since at least July 2019. Calls to the county parking management's office provide nothing more than a we are "working on it."

Elevators require maintenance and repair. 9 months though?