BETHESDA POST OFFICE PARKING "SOLUTION" NO SOLUTION AT ALL

12 QUESTIONS

LOCAL MEDIA

MUST ASK

VAN HOLLEN, ET AL

Was I right again, or not?  On August 9, ABC7 reported that Congressman Chris Van Hollen would announce a solution to the Bethesda Post Office parking fiasco "next week."

A long 3 weeks later, we finally got a "solution" yesterday.  And as I warned you, it truly is no solution at all.

I have to think that real people who live in Bethesda, and have to mail things, are going to go ballistic when they hear this.

What is the "solution" Van Hollen and the USPS came up with?

Park in the Adagio garage off Bradley Boulevard.

"He's joking, right?"

Park in the Adagio garage?!

That was free advice the BCC Services Center had offered to try to help residents in the short term.  But it was never considered a "solution."

The only new twist is that your parking will be validated.  But that does nothing to solve the issue of the distance between the customer's car, and the 6900 Wisconsin Avenue Post Office.  This is not a handicapped space a few steps from the entrance.  Not to mention that the Adagio garage can get cramped at certain times of the day.  And holiday crowds.  And no drive-up drop boxes.  And anti-car politicians encouraging people to drive to an out-of-the-way post office.

But if Van Hollen and the media say something, that makes it so, right?

"Parking solution for Bethesda USPS customers" - Gazette headline

"This solution..." - Kelvin Williams, USPS

"I look forward to hearing from constituents as we continue to work on this issue" - Chris Van Hollen

Well, to borrow a line from the new Post Office's neighbor Verizon,

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Van Hollen didn't even take action on the post office issue until June 19.  I had already exposed the fact that 6900 Wisconsin Avenue could never work, all the way back on April 4!!

Where was Van Hollen between April 4 and June 19?  And he's not the only one to blame.  Montgomery County councilmembers George Leventhal, Nancy Floreen, Marc Elrich, Hans Reimer and Roger Berliner all represent Bethesda.

Why were none of them involved in the closure and consolidation of 2 post offices, in an area with a large senior population?  And in a county where 1 out of every 10 citizens is disabled?

It was the most bread and butter constituent issue a politician could ever deal with.

We know that USPS was rushed and pressured to get out of the Metro Center and Arlington Road post offices, and that private developers were eager to get started on projects there.

It's long past due for the media to ask Van Hollen, Leventhal, Floreen, Elrich, Riemer and Berliner the following questions:

1.  When were you first informed USPS was closing every post office in downtown Bethesda?

2.  Describe specifically your involvement in the search process for a new post office.

3.  When did you know 6900 Wisconsin Avenue was under consideration?

4.  Were you familiar with 6900 Wisconsin, and the parking issues there?

5.  Did you personally tour the 6900 site, knowing that this would be the only post office for your downtown Bethesda constituents?

6.  If so, did you register a complaint?  Produce a copy of that communication.

7.  If not, why weren't you involved in a search process with such great impact on your constituents?

8.  On what date did you become aware 6900 had no parking?

9.  Itemize the specific actions you took to prevent USPS from finalizing this site.

10.  Did you formally or informally "sign off" on the final selection of 6900?  If not, why weren't you involved?

11.  Have you received campaign contributions from developers of either former post office site, or any entity related to those developers?

12.  Detail any verbal, telephonic, written and/or electronic dialogue you and your staff have had with those developers in the last 12 months.

This is just Journalism 101, folks.  These are the questions that a journalist who questions everything would have asked by now.

So start asking them!

Bethesda doesn't need fake solutions.  We need a post office.  Now.

NO WAY TO SPIN BETHESDA POST OFFICE DEBACLE

ABC7 has finally discovered - with a little help from panicked Montgomery County politicians - that the new Bethesda post office at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue has no parking... ...oh, just 4 months after I first wrote about it here on this blog.

Unfortunately, the channel was being used by the county officials who are actually to blame for the whole fiasco.

After waiting for over 2 months, the county establishment is now bringing all of its insider power to bear on anyone and everyone who could potentially provide parking for postal customers.  It's being made abundantly clear to those entities that it is in their best interest to comply.  Now.

Publicly, however, the media appears willing to present a different narrative:  that all of this was a complete surprise, and that Chris Van Hollen (and possibly other yet-to-speak-publicly officials) is going to come to the heroic rescue of the citizens of Bethesda.

Ha.

Enough with the baloney.

There's no way you can put a positive spin on an overpaid Congressman and county council not being involved in the process of closing every post office in town, and selecting a new site.  That is the most basic, bread-and-butter constituent service issue a politician could ever confront.  And they just weren't engaged.  What were they doing instead?

Now Channel 7 is saying, "sources tell ABC7" that a solution will be announced next week.  Well, of course it is.  But it will literally be too little, and too late.

Hence the spin machines are working overtime.

But there are only heroes in white hats in the imaginations of the politicians of Montgomery County.  We need a new post office, with drive-up drop boxes, ample parking and in walking distance of downtown residents.  Period.  And, we need a full investigation - media and otherwise - of what Van Hollen and the council knew about the post office decision process, and when they knew it.

Now that's a story for ABC7!

NEWS EXPRESS TO REOPEN IN BETHESDA - WITH A POST OFFICE?

A favorite Bethesda convenience store will soon be back in business.

News Express, formerly at 7700 Old Georgetown Road, is reopening in the Triangle Towers building on Cordell Avenue.

The new store will offer a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, convenience store food and beverages, and - if it successfully obtains a liquor license - beer and wine.

The $64000 question about News Express is, will it retain the official USPS Post Office the old location had?

That post office didn't attract so much attention when Bethesda had two convenient, downtown postal facilities.  But now that authorities foolishly allowed a rush closure of both, a new post office on Cordell Avenue could be a highly-lucrative prospect for the store's owner.  While this location would not fill the vacuum for automobile-dependent customers, nor for those relying upon drive-up mail drops, it would provide a walking-distance post office for downtown residents.

Let's hope there's a post office in there.  You'd think the USPS would be pretty keen on helping to make it happen, as it would get them off the hook for a "walkable" downtown location.   (It would also be accessible via the Bethesda Circulator).  So - hint, hint USPS and Chris Van Hollen - make it happen.

At the least, even if there isn't a post office inside, Triangle Towers residents will still be thrilled to have this convenient convenience store, beer and wine outlet, and newsstand all in one.  And only an elevator ride away!

VAN HOLLEN VS. USPS RE: BETHESDA POST OFFICE IS A FARCE FOR THE AGES

Congressman Chris Van Hollen released an "I really, really mean it this time" letter yesterday, grandstanding over the 6900 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda Post Office fiasco.

Van Hollen certainly knows how to provide a good chuckle to start the day.

By day's end, the USPS had once again asserted its primacy over our stumbling congressman, who was left wildly but ineffectually swinging at the Postal Service, which held him off at arms length.

Van Hollen is no dummy - keep in mind, he actually beat a Kennedy in Montgomery County (in Sargent Shriver's backyard, no less!) to get his seat.

But his two letters - written long after the new Post Office had already opened, and even longer after I had exposed the folly of the new location this past Spring - are an entirely farcical exercise.

Beyond the fact that USPS continues to ignore him, the larger question remains unasked by local media:

Did Van Hollen and the Montgomery County Council

a) Pay no attention to a matter as significant as the closure of two Post Offices in an area with many senior citizens, and have no familiarity with the town of Bethesda they represent, to the extent that they had no idea there was no parking at the selected site?

OR

b) participate in the relocation process, and give their approval to the move, despite the reality that there was no parking?

Either answer is embarrassing for these elected officials.

The county and national Democratic Party is letting Van Hollen twist in the wind for a while on this, partly as punishment for his failure to stop the Tea Party victories of 2010.

Pretty soon they'll step in to save him, though, and it won't be of much help to Bethesda.

That establishment is now floating the idea of reopening the historic Post Office near the Bethesda Metro station.  That would take care of the "walkability" issue for many downtown residents.

However, the 7400 Wisconsin Avenue site would do absolutely nothing to solve the problems for those who need to drive, are disabled, or are senior citizens who cannot walk safely and require vehicle access.  It is the loss of the former Arlington Road facility, with its ample parking and drive-up mailboxes, that is most devastating to the Bethesda community.

The fact is, this was a rush job allowed by local politicians to open the two sites for development as quickly as possible.  USPS has acknowledged it acted under great pressure.

Van Hollen is right; we need a new downtown Post Office.  The problem is, I wrote about that need last Spring, it was even linked to by Bethesda Patch, and yet Van Hollen had not a word to say about it at that time.

Then it opened, his constituents went nuts when they found out there was no parking, and all of a sudden Van Hollen is blustering and grandstanding.

Instead of answers to tough questions, we the taxpayers are being treated to a farcical fiasco.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN ON NEW BETHESDA POST OFFICE: "WHAT ROBERT DYER SAID."

Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D - 8th District) made his first public statement on the Bethesda Post Office fiasco yesterday, and it was remarkably similar to what I said three months ago.

He said we need a different location.

Duh!

It's clear that Mr. Van Hollen and the Montgomery County Council either lack familiarity with downtown Bethesda, or were not engaged in the process of selecting a new post office site for their most affluent constituents.  Many of whom are senior citizens.

Both cases are likely true, especially given the number of carpetbaggers on the council.

What is a bigger issue for a politician than the location of a post office?  This would be one of those hot button situations like the placement of a school or substation.

These are the kind of bread and butter issues that, when handled with great attention, diplomacy and a small amount of common sense, earn respect for politicians like Howard Denis or Barbara Mikulski even among their partisan opponents.  And - judging by the Denis/Mikulski records - keep them in office.

Managing a post office move is just the sort of close-to-home matter we elect politicians to deal with.  To represent our interests.  And to prevent from becoming a fiasco, which this has.

At least Van Hollen is speaking out now.  Not a single member of the county council has spoken about the post office issue as of this morning.

Where have these politicians been?  What have they been doing?

But despite Van Hollen's political power and large staff, all he can say is... what Robert Dyer said.

Three months ago.

The fact is, there simply is no space for parking at this site.  Any agreement now reached under political pressure will not provide adequate spaces for the customer base of an entire town.

We should be glad one politician has belatedly gotten religion on the post office issue.

"We need a new post office."

We need new leadership.

PAUL BLART: MAIL COP

WACKY NEW BETHESDA POST OFFICE

STILL HAS NO PARKING, BUT A COP

TO LET YOU KNOW

Patrons of Bethesda's new "post office" quickly learned that federal, state, local and postal officials had approved a site that had no parking for postal customers.

Beleagured citizens were victims of predatory towing, when attempting to park in the lot next to the building at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue.  The lot seems like the logical place to park.  In reality, it is only for customers of the mattress store and Verizon Wireless.

A month has gone by, and politicians have yet to provide a single parking space.

But a "mail cop" is now on duty at the mattress/Verizon lot to tell you to "get off their lawn" if you try to drop off that birthday card for grandma.

It's not Verizon's fault, or the mattress folks' by any means.  That's their lot, for their customers, they pay for it, and have a right to keep others out.

It's not their fault that the USPS chose an inaccessible location for an "urban" post office.

The real shock is that USPS was able to get away with it.

I believe I was the first person to point out the problems with the site, long before it opened.  That was before it was even known that the too-tiny lot was going to be off-limits.

Being a lifelong resident, such a site proposal immediately sounded crazy to me.

But local politicians apparently lack my familiarity with downtown Bethesda.  They had not word one to say about it.

Local media bought into the USPS PR, even parroting the talking points that "parking will be available" and that the site was "walking distance from Metro."  Just check a map!

As of today, not a single member of the Montgomery County Council has publicly commented on the postal fiasco.  A post office with no parking.  How do you ignore something like that?  Too many steak dinners with developer lobbyists (the Post Office swap was rushed to create project opportunities for two developers on the old postal sites)?  Too busy approving sales of public parking lots to developers?

And what of Chris Van Hollen?  Yet to be quoted, his office claimed to be working on the issue belatedly weeks ago.

No results so far.  Just Paul Blart, Mail Cop out there.  Van Hollen is often touted by just about everyone for his political skills, genius intellect and command of the issues.  But he didn't find anything wrong with 6900 as a postal site when it was announced.  And I'm assuming closure of your constituents' post offices would be kind of on your Congressional radar.

What can anyone do?  The parking just isn't there to begin with.  Smart politicians would have put the brakes on 6900 immediately.

Fortunately for them, they're not taking any criticism from the local media for a blatantly obvious disaster that is - absolutely - partly their fault.

And that's going to keep the untenable postal parking situation going for quite a while.  No heat? No fallout?  No parking.

Ain't it cool?

Do I have any advice for would-be postal patrons trying to park, who find the advice of parking in a garage 2 blocks away to be not exactly helpful?

Uh, maybe wear pajamas, hold up your phone, and ask, "Can you hear me now?" when the mail cop "pulls you over," and convince him you're going to buy a mattress and a new data plan?

Conversely, is it time to join the "throw the bums out" movement that was in every newspaper yesterday?  Meaning, vote everybody on the council off in 2014.  And even if they are just 9 new Democrats, wouldn't that be an improvement over the current situation of failure, taxoholic spending and ignorance of basic issues, like where senior citizens can mail a letter?  You know, the folks who pay the councilmembers' massive CEO-style salaries?

In one of the wealthiest, most-educated areas in the world, we have a post office with no parking, and no one is talking about it.  Much less doing anything.

Except Paul Blart.

"Segway Parking Only."