Just 10 months after shipping its historic Glen Echo PCC streetcar off to a scrapyard without public notice, the National Park Service is at it again.
Without wide public notification, NPS has already created a proposal to turn a portion of the streetcar's still-existing right-of-way into a bike trail.
In fact, they've even completed the environmental assessment at taxpayer expense, before said taxpayers even knew the proposal existed.
It's outrageous.
I thought NPS had no money. It has been scrapping streetcars and canal boats, and according to the Washington Post, can't even clean the restrooms in its public parks.
So how did they afford to pay for an environmental assessment?
Much as local NIMBYs played a major role in shutting down Glen Echo Amusement Park - and then made sure its amusement rides were never restored, but, rather, demolished - this proposal sounds awfully familiar.
With Washington DC's streetcar revival flourishing, and massive employment growth occurring along the MacArthur Boulevard corridor, the time has never been more right to study restoration of streetcar service to the old Georgetown-Glen Echo-Cabin John right-of-way.
So, wouldn't this be just the right time for NPS to assume its familiar role as NIMBY Protection Service at Glen Echo.
"We're not going to have an amusement park start up in this neighborhood again! And we're not going to have streetcars running through here, either!"
Says who? Says who?
I continue to say we ought to have both. Every single American is paying to maintain Glen Echo Park, but instead of providing joy and entertainment to the masses as it once did, it is essentially a social club for the narrow audience its programming is targeted towards.
Likewise, streetcar service would have environmental and congestion-relieving benefits for large areas on both sides of the Potomac. Why would we provide a benefit to a few with this trail, at the expense of the many? Doesn't our anti-car, anti-highway county council say we need more transit? Just not in this case?
Something's not right about this. So, as Barney Fife used to say, we've got to nip this in the bud right now.
With no advance notice, I could not attend last night's hush-hush NPS public meeting.
But comment I have, anyway! They always assume the average citizen won't take the time to comment. I say, let's prove them wrong!
Here's the text of my comments (NPS is accepting online comments through February 8):
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I strongly object to the proposed bike trail along part of the historic Glen Echo streetcar right-of-way (ROW).
The most fundamental problem with this proposal is the unnecessary relocation of bike facilities onto the streetcar ROW. Rail rights-of-way are virtually impossible to obtain in Montgomery County today, both fiscally and practically.
Bike paths and lanes - as demonstrated in the county and in the District - are relatively easy to obtain and locate where space exists. In contrast, there is no alternative route in this corridor for a streetcar. Therefore, the streetcar ROW must be accommodated in this case.
This is critically important to any future reinstatement of streetcar operation between Georgetown and Glen Echo (and beyond).
A large residential population in the Palisades and on the county side, the coming expansion of the Sangamore Road intelligence campus, and the rapidly-growing Sibley Hospital campus call for serious consideration of returning streetcars to the still-existing Georgetown-Glen Echo-Cabin John ROW.
Therefore, I am perplexed not only as to why NPS would propose blocking the ROW at this juncture, but why the county council and Planning Board are not strenuously objecting to the plan, as well.
I am also concerned with the arbitrary nature of this sudden proposal. I've known of the need to improve bicycle safety along the MacArthur corridor for years. But I've never heard seizing part of the streetcar facility as a proposed solution before yesterday, January 24. It was then that I read online that a meeting was being held that evening, which I could not attend on such short notice.
Why was there no published announcement in widely-circulated newspapers, or advance notice via the press? Such poor outreach suggests public input is not welcome.
How did we already get an environmental assessment with no public input as to whether or not the larger, taxpaying public wants this project, or not?
The impression such a closed process presents - accurate or not - is that, once again, a few well-connected citizens are attempting to prevent future streetcar service along part or all of the ROW. Or that a few cyclists are attempting to appropriate a public resource that holds potential environmental and infrastructure benefits to all, at the expense of the rest of us.
I don't even understand where NPS obtained funds for an environmental assessment when its financial distress is well-known, and it claimed it could not afford to repaint the PCC streetcar last March, and gave it away for scrap.
Given the latter episode, the optics of NPS giving away more of the streetcar legacy - and future potential - are terrible PR-wise and communitywise.
I know that rails-to-trails is a classic NIMBY tactic to stop commuter rail service. As we see in the Purple Line debate today, once a trail goes in, it is extremely unpopular to have it replaced with rail in the future. With the coming growth in this corridor, blocking the streetcar ROW would be highly irresponsible.
Another solution can be found for bicycles in that area. But you are not going to find another streetcar right-of-way.
For that reason, I strongly urge you to scrap plans to utilize any portion of the streetcar right-of-way and creek trestle for bicycling or other vehicular or recreational use.
Limited resources at this time would be better spent cooperating with the DC DOT on a potential extension of DC Streetcar service into Maryland, via the former Glen Echo right-of-way.
Respectfully,
Robert Dyer
Bethesda, MD
