A new Leland St. perk at taxpayer expense: deceptive Do Not Enter signs

Montgomery County government continues, for dark and mysterious reasons, to bend over backwards to please its wealthy patron(s) on Leland Street in Bethesda. Take these two new signs with false messages, for example. When making the right turn from Woodmont Avenue onto Leland, a driver is now confronted with two signs stating, "Do Not Enter." In much smaller type, the hours during which turns are prohibited are detailed, but that information is overshadowed by the universally-familiar "Do Not Enter" symbol and words. This is a violation of signage best practices, and could potentially cause an accident.

I watched several drivers making the turn slam on their brakes upon seeing the Do Not Enter signs. Even I instinctively braked for a second the first time I encountered them. The signs give you the impression that you are going the wrong way, sure to create confusion. In truth, you are going the right way, on a public street whose residents and the County would like to make private - at taxpayer expense. It appears that the County is trying to yet again unofficially close the street by fooling a percentage of drivers into thinking they are going into a one-way street.

The resulting confusion could cause accidents. In fact, the first car I observed encountering the signs immediately braked, and ultimately backed up and turned back onto Woodmont - even though he was making the turn during the legal hours! This is an abuse of the system and taxpayer money for political and patronage reasons. It is not a Do Not Enter at all; it is a restricted turn, and a Do Not Enter symbol should not be used for another purpose.

According to the United States Sign Council Best Practices Manual, a sign of this type requires 4-5 seconds of reaction time on a driver's part. During that time, he or she might be distracted from a pedestrian trying to cross here, for example.

Once again, the rules are being bent by the County, in order to honor an apparently-secret agreement between County politicians and one or more residents of Leland Street. The scandal began when it was exposed that the County had closed the street without the required public notice and public meeting. Caught in a firestorm of backlash from taxpaying drivers, road-closure advocates on the County Council Roger Berliner and Hans Riemer quickly backpedaled, portraying themselves as unwitting tools in the closure.

After the street was reopened to traffic, an electronic sign and personal police trap were dispatched rapidly and at taxpayer expense. Other streets and neighborhoods in the County have sought many of these same solutions, but have had to wait weeks, months or years for action.

Another sign Leland St. is just a little bit more important than the rest of us (Photos)

Montgomery County elected officials continue to go overboard to satisfy their wealthy patron(s) on Leland Street, after the County's scheme to illegally close the road to traffic at Woodmont Avenue was exposed, and the road reopened. A few days ago, an electronic sign was summoned to duplicate what the existing sign at the corner already says about turn restrictions. Yesterday around 4:30 PM, a police trap was set up to catch drivers violating that 4:00-7:00 PM turn restriction.

Police cruiser awaits
Leland St. violators
around the bend

Police enforcement of laws around Bethesda is unquestionably a positive thing. No one would dispute that those breaking the law should expect to evade the penalties if caught; they are clearly in the wrong.

The larger point here is the remarkable speed at which whoever on Leland Street is driving this effort can summon taxpayer resources, compared to the rest of us. And the way the County is tripping over themselves to reiterate to Leland Street that "You are special" after the embarrassing scandal over the illegal street closure. "Look, we are doing something!" Where is that pressure to look busy coming from?

Having attended countless community meetings across the County over the years, I know how difficult it usually is to get the County to put out an electronic sign, or get a police unit to enforce whatever rule is being broken. Officers who speak at those meetings will emphasize patience, and the fact that the County has limited resources. There are only so many officers on patrol at one time, and only so many signs and trailers.

Yet here, Leland Street has obtained both within mere days, something you would usually see only after someone was killed in a traffic incident. I've heard from many readers across Bethesda about dangerous spots for pedestrians, who have asked County officials for help and action. New solution: Move to Leland Street. If you can afford it.

Digital grandstanding after illegal Leland St. closure was busted in Bethesda (Video+Photos)

The illegal Leland Street closure at Woodmont Avenue has been reversed after it was exposed over a month ago. But with the parties involved having been caught red-handed, apparently there are both bitter feelings, and a need for those Montgomery County officials to still deliver something, anything for their patron(s) on Leland Street.

Thus the taxpayer-funded duplication of the existing turn restrictions sign at the corner of Woodmont and Leland that has just appeared. This is apparently supposed to serve as a digital reprimand to drivers who had complained, and also an attempt to show that "something is being done special for Leland Street." Ultimately, it is simply grandstanding. Full of light and fury. Signifying nothing.

The uproar over the closure led anti-car County Councilmembers Hans Riemer and Roger Berliner, who are on the record supporting and voting for such closures in the past, to quickly try to distance themselves from this one with the 2018 election season underway.

Illegal Leland Street closure reopened (Photos)

Notoriously anti-car

Berliner, Riemer found

new election-year love

for open roads as drivers

raged against blockade

The illegal closure of Leland Street to traffic from Woodmont Avenue has been reopened by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, which did not go through the required public process to block access to the street. After mass public outcry, the County Council was caught with their pants down on this, and quickly sought to distance themselves from the decision on social media.

In reality, Councilmembers Hans Riemer and Roger Berliner are on the record favoring such street closures up until this point. Riemer and Berliner wholeheartedly voted for a full closure of the end of Westbard Avenue at River Road in the Westbard sector plan - an even more restrictive closure than the Leland blockade. Neither expressed the views they are claiming to have now, in the face of a public firestorm, and both are on the record as solidly anti-car and anti-highway.

Another strange bedfellow to enter the scene was Greater Greater Washington, one of the leading organizations waging a War on Cars in the D.C. Metro area. Closely allied with Riemer and Berliner and supported by development interests, GGW is a regular agitator for creating more difficult driving conditions to discourage automobile use. Now they are opposed to a street closure? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, folks.

Scars left behind by the bollards

Speaking of rotten, what has to be gotten to the bottom of is, how did this secret illegal closure come about? Nobody just "forgot" to use the legal public process. Whatever the cause, this must be investigated by the County Inspector General, as the closure was an illegal use of public funds. When caught robbing a bank, one does not simply hand the moneybags to the police and go about his business; there is a penalty.

Berliner and Riemer's fellow carpetbagger David Alpert wrote in GGW that, "at some times in the past and in some places, the streets are/were much less busy." In reality, Leland Street used to be far busier than it is today. It used to be a major shortcut to reach downtown Bethesda from Little Falls Parkway. That ability to turn left onto Woodmont no longer exists today.

Alpert went on to add: "Forbidding driving one (sic) one connecting road to satisfy some residents while making traffic worse for everyone else is not the best approach, here or anywhere else in the region."

Can I quote him on that? I just did. I'm looking forward to this new David Alpert supporting making driving in Montgomery County a faster and more convenient experience in the future.

Yet Montgomery County closes or restricts access to countless streets on a regular basis (they just usually go through the legal public process, unlike this case). If Berliner and Riemer are being honest and have had a conversion on street closures, does this mean we can expect all of the closed roads that add to the congestion on main arteries countywide to reopen soon? If not, we'll know this was just a publicity stunt by two politicians running for office next year.

Bethesda street closed to traffic without public notice (Photos)

Leland Street was suddenly closed to traffic turning from Woodmont Avenue yesterday, without any advance public notice or input on the change. No public meeting was held, and no sign warning of a change in traffic patterns was posted at the intersection.

The Sacks neighborhood has had to deal with cut-through traffic for many years. Traffic-calming islands were installed, and turn restrictions have been in place for quite a while now.

After the disastrous "road diet" project that involved illegal use of funds on Little Falls Parkway, and now this, I'm wondering if a donor to the Montgomery County Council happens to be in the traffic bollards manufacturing business.

BETHESDA ROW

DEVELOPMENT TO

IMPACT RESIDENTS

OF THE SEASONS,

SACKS SUBDIVISION

Parkmageddon is upon us at Bethesda Row, now that Public Parking Lots 31 and 31A have closed for demolition. But the two luxury residential buildings to rise in their places will most directly impact current residents of The Seasons apartments (pictured above) which border Lot 31A, and homeowners on Leland Street in the neighborhood known as Sacks, which is directly behind Lot 31 (top photo).

Sacks is named after the original landowner, George P. Sacks - now there's some Bethesda history for you!

Both communities have enjoyed fantabulous views of Bethesda Row and downtown Bethesda. But that will be lost for the apartments and homes directly aside the new buildings.

As one can imagine (and is quite obvious from the above photos) there is also going to be quite a bit of noise from the construction site over the next 2+ years. The unique quality of Sacks will be all but lost; up until now, a person walking through the neighborhood could fool themselves they were on a leafy, suburban street miles from the city. At the same time, residents could take a 1 minute walk to all of the downtown excitement at Bethesda Row. Now Sacks will be the literal manifestation of the Roger Lewis cartoon, which showed condo towers looming over a family's backyard barbecue.

Let's not forget that a developer tried to buy the whole Sacks neighborhood just 7 years ago, and extend Bethesda Row to Bradley Boulevard. That case became enshrined in history, as not only an example of the real estate madness of that era, but a warning to all that developers and the politicians they elect know no bounds. And that they will bulldoze suburbia in Montgomery County, if and when they can "change behavior and attitudes" regarding home ownership, backyards, trees, and white picket fences. I think urban living is great, and clearly, more and more people agree every day in the DC area. But so are suburban and rural living, and how boring would it be if Montgomery County lost that variety? Not to mention the environmental damage.

It's also hard to believe that, just a decade ago, residents behind the Giant/Trak Auto (I can hear some of you asking, "What's that?!")/Baskin Robbins shopping center were up in arms about a two-story grocery store and the relatively-short Upstairs at Bethesda Row project. While ridiculously low-density, short, boutique condo buildings near the Bethesda Metro station unbelievably - and foolishly - receive continuous approval from the county council and Planning board, the old "step-down" concerns where urban meets suburban seem to have been tossed out the window.

The fact is, in downtown Bethesda since the late 80s, the only constant has been change, as they say. For some residents near Bethesda Row, change is about to hit home.