Bethesda Trolley Trail graffiti targeting Jews is condemned by Montgomery County officials

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich

Graffiti threatening Jewish people and promoting Nazism appeared on a fence along the Bethesda Trolley Trail in North Bethesda Monday morning. Additional graffiti was found on a wall at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Tuckerman Lane. By late afternoon, the graffiti had been removed, but the upset caused by the incident strongly remained. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) and the Montgomery County Council issued separate statements condemning the graffiti, which mirrored a similar antisemitic message scrawled along the trail earlier this year.

The graffiti used stick figure images to threaten Jews, alongside the message, "No mercy for Jews." To the right was painted a swastika, and code numbers often used by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. The messages come just weeks after the Council passed a resolution against antisemitism.

"It deeply saddened me to see this," Elrich said in a statement. "Antisemitism, hate, and attempts at intimidation, in any form, should not exist nor be tolerated anywhere, especially in a community like Montgomery County. I have had to personally deal with antisemitism throughout my entire life, and I have always hoped that there would be a day in my lifetime when it would no longer be a part of our society. Sadly, from pop culture icons to right wing hate groups, we are witnessing a rise in antisemitism throughout this nation. I never imagined we would be at this place in the 21st century."

“The Council stands in strong solidarity with our Jewish community and condemns all acts of hate and religious bigotry," a statement from the County Council read. "There is no tolerance in Montgomery County for these hateful actions and abhorrent, violent imagery attacking the Jewish community."

Both Elrich and the Council urged the public to provide any tips or information they might have to Montgomery County police. The non-emergency number to contact the police is 301-279-8000. 

Bethesda Trolley Trail, basketball & tennis courts to temporarily close inside Battery Lane Park

Another trail disruption in downtown Bethesda will send pedestrians and cyclists out of their way for most of the next year. This time, it's the Bethesda Trolley Trail. The section of the trail inside Battery Lane Park will be closed potentially until next summer, because it will be used as a staging area for park renovations. Montgomery Parks says the closure is also necessary for safety reasons. The existing basketball and tennis courts in the park will be closed for the same reasons during the renovations.

Advertisement

CLICK HERE to take back control
of growth, planning and infrastructure
in Montgomery County.
VOTE Tuesday, November 6!

A detour to reach the next segment on either side of the closure has been designated (see above map). Renovations to the popular park will include will include a new playground area, trail widening, fitness equipment, site furnishings, and shade tree plantings. Watch for wayfinding signage when work is underway.

Public hearing set for abandonment of Grant St. right-of-way in Bethesda (Photos)

A homeowner on Roosevelt Street in Bethesda is asking Montgomery County to abandon a part of a right-of-way the County owns alongside his property. An unbuilt portion of Grant Street between Roosevelt and Moorland Lane, the right-of-way currently has a bike path running through it. It is identified on some biking maps as part of a connecting bicycle route between downtown Bethesda and the Bethesda Trolley Trail.

The homeowner currently has a driveway on 18' of the 50' right-of-way, and that is the part he is asking the County to relinquish. Abandonment would have no impact on the current trail, which would remain in place.

A public hearing has been scheduled for a representative of County Executive Ike Leggett to consider the application. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 7:30 PM in the Lobby Auditorium of the Executive Office Building, at 101 Monroe Street in Rockville.

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY TO BE DEMOLISHED FOR RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION AT OLD GEORGETOWN AND ALTA VISTA ROADS IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Say goodbye to the American College of Cardiology on Old Georgetown Road. The college's entire campus will be obliterated soon, if the Montgomery County Planning Board approves the Bethesda Mews development plan on April 11.

Bethesda Mews will be a residential subdivision of 29 single-family homes, 3 townhouse lots, and 2 duplexes. The duplexes are to look like single-family homes to skirt the Master Plan recommendation for SFHs along this part of Old Georgetown Road.

If you examine this duplex sketch below - I'm not fooled, are you?

A lot of green space is going to be lost with this plan, but at least it's not an urban "town center."

Camberley Avenue will be extended through the neighborhood to Alta Vista Road. It's going to be a nice place to live for the new residents, with the Bethesda Trolley Trail running right alongside. On the other hand, existing residents along Camberley will now have cut-through traffic to deal with.

One final note on this site: Bethesda Mews will be on, or in close proximity to, the former location of Bethesda Park. Bethesda Park was an 1890s amusement park on the trolley line at Alta Vista.  The amusement park burnt down in 1897.  It's a fascinating piece of Bethesda history for which, sadly, there is little-to-no memorabilia or detailed documentation.

BATTERY LANE RESIDENTS OPPOSE PLAN TO INSTALL PARKING METERS

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has proposed installing parking meters on Battery Lane, between Old Georgetown Road and Woodmont Avenue.  Some residents are organizing to oppose the plan, and have posted a petition online to stop it. 

Lauren Lefkowitz, who started the petition, says the recent repaving of Battery left only about 20 street parking spaces.  These are relied upon heavily by visitors and servicepeople like plumbers or electricians.  Private lots, not surprisingly, utilize permit parking at the various residential buildings.

Friends and Residents of Battery Lane emphasizes the quiet, residential nature of Battery Lane.

As always, these are complicated issues.  Obviously, the County Executive, and if they approve it, the County Council, want revenue.  Once again this year, the county budget is scheduled to grow, rather than shrink, despite an ongoing structural deficit.  Politicians who won't make tough cuts or restructure government have received little criticism in the local press.  Is anyone surprised that they have gained a false sense of invincibility?

So, there's no question, they are scrounging through the sofa cushions and knocking off the citizens' bank accounts for every last dime, to fund a budget bigger than last year's.

At the same time, parking will be getting even worse on Battery in the next few years.  Two major developments are moving through the planning process now.

What officials don't want is the same thing they didn't want when other parts of downtown Bethesda redeveloped:  free parking.

Back in the 90s, if I recall correctly - and please correct me if I'm wrong - where there wasn't "free" parking outright, you didn't have to feed the meter after a certain hour.  As politicians sought more money to play with, they turned to parking meters in Bethesda.

This led to the Pajama Parkers:  exhausted residents running outside at various hours to put more money into the parking meter.  In some cases, older buildings didn't have enough spaces; in others, street parking was cheaper than leasing or buying a space.

I'm foggy on the details, but clearly remember the uproar and the Pajama  Parkers.

Guess what?  Government won.

Fast forward to today.

I think it may be premature to install meters on Battery, until we know exactly what type of businesses, restaurants, bars, etc. will be on the ground floor of these developments.  It might make more sense to go to a permit system, by which residents could give guests a permit to park.

Plus, the demand for parking will be less the further west on Battery you are.  Surely, the grocery store in the Woodmont/Battery development on the old Ramada Inn site will offer its own free parking.  I'd also expect at least 2 of these new, private garages to be open to the public.

Unfortunately, if the new developments contain popular businesses that attract many patrons, meters on Battery would be almost unavoidable, if there is not free parking available within the new buildings.  There would be spillover, and those cars would be hogging the spaces that visitors of residents on Battery Lane need.

I think the best approach would be to not make county revenue the top priority in this situation.  The real priority is, how do we preserve or create parking spaces for visitors of Battery residents?  How do we avoid charging someone who simply wants to park his or her car, and jog or cycle along the Bethesda Trolley Trail?  And how do we balance the current parking problem with the pressures of the future development?

I'm not very optimistic.  Every time I'm hit up for paid parking in the rural exurbs (I'm talking about you, downtown Frederick), or at a hospital parking lot nowhere near a Metro station, or anything else people would want to snag a space for, I feel ripped off.

We're moving towards a future where every inch the car moves, and every parking space the car fills - including in front of suburban homes! - will incur a charge.  I predict that - as we move towards more play money budgets of $6, 7, 8, 9 billion - the council will float the concept of paid permit parking in single-family residential neighborhoods countywide.  Write that down.  Each additional car will be an extra charge.  Scary, right?

So even if you don't live in downtown Bethesda, pay attention to parking issues like those on Battery.  Today's urban parking penalties are tomorrow's suburban parking payday for big-spending politicians.

MDOT AWARDS

FUNDING FOR

BETHESDA

BIKE ROUTE

BETWEEN

MONTGOMERY MALL

AND

BETHESDA METRO

STATIONS

"BRAC" Bike Path's Route is

Not Specified

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced a grant today of $21,000 for a 5.2 mile, signed bicycle route, connecting Westfield Montgomery Mall with the Bethesda and Medical Center Metro stations.

The FY2012 Maryland Department of Transportation award is one of the first such grants given under the state's new Maryland Bikeways program.

No route map or details have been provided. A large, statewide map showing all bikeways is available, but not a zoomed-in map for the Bethesda route. While it makes perfect sense for the Bethesda Trolley Trail to be part of the route, that path was not mentioned in the announcement.

The announcement did differenciate street routes from bike paths; the Bethesda route did not say "on-road route" as similar projects in Howard and Prince Georges County did. So that means the Bethesda route will not be entirely on the street.

Considering the size of the award, that would only cover the cost of metal signs, paint, labor and - maybe - a bit of paving here or there. So we are certainly not talking about a new bike trail here.

Much like a Fort Meade area award, this bike route has partly been planned as another small-scale BRAC traffic solution. But put major emphasis on "small," as this will have a negligible impact on Bethesda traffic.

What this would do is allow NIH or Walter Reed employees to live in housing around Montgomery Mall, and bike to work.

More significantly, it further enhances Westfield's major efforts - in partnership with Montgomery County - to make the mall even more accessible via alternate forms of transportation. (As reported here, a new mall Transit Center is in the works).

That fits with Gov. O'Malley's stated goal of making "bicycling a true transportation alternative and to encourage more Marylanders to get out and ride."