Senior citizen suspect arrested in Town of Somerset home invasion

Montgomery County police have arrested a senior citizen in connection with last Thursday night's break-in at a home in the Town of Somerset. Walter Lee Wright, 67, of no fixed address, has been charged with first-degree burglary and "related charges." Wright is currently being without bond at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit. Police have not publicly released Wright's mugshot.

A female resident of the home, located in the 4500 block of Dorset Avenue, called 911 from her bathroom as Wright allegedly prowled through the house. Grabbing property of unspecified description or value, Wright then exited the home as police arrived at the scene. Seeing the police cruisers pulling up, Wright allegedly began running. Officers caught up with him at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Deal Place, and took him into custody.

Home broken into in Town of Somerset

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a burglary at a home in the Town of Somerset this past Thursday evening, February 1, 2024. The burglary was reported in the 4500 block of Dorset Avenue at 10:35 PM. Officers arriving at the scene found evidence of forced entry at the home. It was determined that property was stolen from inside the house.

Home broken into in Town of Somerset

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a break-in at a home in the Town of Somerset Monday night, December 18, 2023. The burglary was reported at a house in the 4700 block of Dorset Avenue at 9:26 PM Monday. Officers responding to the scene found evidence of forced entry at the home.

Residents to hold silent protest vigil on Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda on November 16

Residents from 18 communities around Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda and Chevy Chase will participate in a silent vigil on the closed lanes of the road the morning and evening of Thursday, November 16, 2023 from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM and from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. The vigil is being held to protest Montgomery Parks' plan to permanently reduce the parkway to one lane in each direction. There is currently a temporary road diet in place between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue, which would become permanent under the park department's plan. The Neighborhood Coalition, which represents more than 20,000 residents surrounding the parkway, is asking Montgomery County to restore the road to four lanes between Hillandale Road and Dorset Avenue with the existing 17' grass median.

The proposed permanent 2-lane road diet was opposed by 71% of speakers who testified at a Montgomery County Planning Board hearing on March 30, 2023. Over 5000 residents signed a petition opposing the road diet.

Despite the overwhelming community opposition, the Board voted to approve the plan, a vote that was illegal because the commissioners did not receive the required approval of the National Capital Planning Commission. Any changes to the parkway's use, design or configuration must be approved by the NCPC, under the Capper-Cramton Act of 1930. Such approval also requires the NCPC to hold a public hearing, at which residents would be allowed to testify for or against whatever is proposed. 

In July, it came to light that Montgomery Parks was seeking to win an award from a non-profit organization for the road diet, and had submitted an application riddled with false statements. A decision in a lawsuit filed by residents over the road diet is also pending.

After public outcry over the steamroller tactics by Montgomery Parks and the Planning Board - the latter's staff recommended approval of the road diet without reviewing the testimony and exhibits submitted by residents less than 24 hours earlier - the Montgomery County Council pretended to block the plan, but did not require Parks to remove the temporary road diet. Now a Council committee is slated to vote on two different versions of the road diet plan November 27. 

Is Montgomery Parks' desperate quest for an award driving its illegal Little Falls Parkway actions in Bethesda?

The latest twist in the Little Falls Parkway road diet scandal in Bethesda is the Montgomery Parks department's apparent desperation to win an award from the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA). You may recall that the last major turn in the controversy was an FY-2024 budget resolution introduced by Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) that forbid Montgomery Parks from constructing any permanent linear park using the two closed lanes of the parkway blocked off by the road diet. It was passed by the Council, but critically, the resolution's language did not require Montgomery Parks to remove the temporary road diet currently in place. As I correctly predicted at the time, Montgomery Parks has indeed left the road diet in place, and has no intention of removing it.

Montgomery Parks indicated it was rabidly motivated to bring back a revised linear park plan for approval from the Council at that May meeting. Among the speculation as to what is driving Montgomery Parks' fervor for a project overwhelmingly opposed by the surrounding community - ideology? helping a developer with future plans to redevelop the Washington Episcopal School and Bethesda Pool sites? securing a right-of-way for the future extension of the Purple Line to Westbard? - we can now add one more. The Little Falls Parkway Neighborhood Coalition has just sent a letter to Friedson alerting him to Montgomery Parks' desperate award quest, and its alleged falsification of its application materials for the award.

According to the coalition's letter to Friedson, Montgomery Parks and the Maryland National-Capital Planning Commission applied for the AAPRA award on March 3, 2023. This application was filed several weeks before a public hearing on the proposal to make the road diet permanent, and use the closed half of the parkway as a linear park. At this time, Montgomery Parks was attempting to win an award for a project it (supposedly) had no idea would even be approved by the public and Planning Board. The coalition questions whether the parallel quest for the award occurring through the March 30 public hearing and April 27 Planning Board vote to approve the permanent road diet/linear park proposal means the public process was actually just "a sham."

You'll recall that Planning Board staff quickly recommended approval of the road diet/park less than 24 hours after the March 30 public hearing, meaning that it made its recommendation without reviewing all of the submitted written and audiovisual materials from the evening before.

"In hindsight, the lack of transparency surrounding the Planning Board process now makes sense," the coalition writes in its letter to Friedson. "Everything was seemingly fixed to promote Parks view and to give Parks a chance for an award."

Montgomery Parks wasn't just lying to the public about the road diet plan, it turns out. It was also lying to the AAPRA in its application for the award. Not only was it seeking an award for a project that had not been approved and did not yet exist, but it was lying to either the public and/or the AAPRA about the number of visitors to the linear park that did not yet exist.

In its application for the award, Montgomery Parks wrote that because of its road diet and programming of "recreational opportunities" in the closed lanes, "50,146 walkers/bikers visited Little Falls Parkway in 2022." The coalition notes that when it filed a public information request regarding the number of pedestrians and cyclists who utilized the closed lanes, Montgomery Parks told them it did not have that statistic. Yet on March 3, it magically did have that number to include in its AAPRA award application. "Is this data authentic or was it illegally withheld from Montgomery County residents? It is either one or the other," the coalition writes in the letter to Friedson.

More lies? Montgomery Parks told the AAPRA that the Kenwood and Town of Somerset neighborhoods that surround the parkway segment in question have "a lot of multi-family housing." Not quite. The area is overwhelmingly dominated by single-family homes. 

Even after the approval of the Friedson resolution to block the construction of the linear park until a future approval by the Council, Montgomery Parks submitted more material to the AAPRA on May 25, 2024, and did not disclose that its linear park had been temporarily blocked 17 days earlier.

The coalition says it has notified the AAPRA of Montgomery Parks' falsifications on its award application materials. Montgomery Parks is currently a National Gold Medal Finalist for the award, the coalition has learned. "Montgomery Parks is not interested in winning the hearts and minds of the residents of Montgomery County, but only an award from an organization based in Washington state," the coalition writes. 

"The reason we are contacting you and the other Councilmembers now is to emphasize that Parks is acting contrary to Council oversight. The timeline here shows that Parks was determined to push through its reconfiguration of Little Falls Parkway even if it was unsafe so that it could be eligible to win a national award in 2023. Parks submitted its application with the above description of Little Falls Parkway to AAPRA on March 3. At the time, this issue had not even come before the Planning Board. Yet, Parks was confident enough to include the Little Falls Parkway project in its application. We are left with the uncomfortable thought that the process before the Planning Board was a sham. In hindsight, the lack of transparency surrounding the Planning Board process now makes sense. Everything was seemingly fixed to promote Parks view and to give Parks a chance for an award. 

"We are concerned that Parks will continue to pursue its Little Falls Parkway reconfiguration to justify an award even if it comes at the expense of public safety. At this point, with the motivations of Parks in question, the safest option would be for Little Falls Parkway to go back to the configuration that existed immediately prior to this vanity project. 

"The configuration for Little Falls Parkway we are suggesting is as follows: Two lanes of traffic with a median at least 15 feet wide between Hillandale and Arlington Roads and four lanes of traffic with the existing wide median between Hillandale Road and Dorset Avenue. 

"Of course, Parks can always propose an alternative, but this new revelation has shredded any legitimacy attached to the Planning Board’s approval of the current configuration of Little Falls Parkway. Until then, the configuration of Little Falls Parkway should not be left in limbo. We ask that the Council continue to exercise proper oversight of Parks and the Planning Board and require them to restore Little Falls Parkway to our suggested configuration, which was in place without any problems before Parks caught gold medal-fever.

"Finally, we wanted to update you on our efforts to partner with other stakeholders on Little Falls Parkway. After the Council vote, there were individual efforts to reach out to Parks to find common ground, but Parks declined our offers without explanation. We can only conclude that Parks would like to continue to force citizens to live with the current configuration of Little Falls Parkway for as long as possible so that the public becomes demoralized and loses interest."

To summarize, we now have yet another lawbreaking or unethical action in the trail of illegalities that have led to the Little Falls Parkway road diet. The road diet was implemented without any public process in 2017. It was constructed with money illegally taken from a trail maintenance fund. No appropriation of funds for a road diet was ever made by the County Council. And the road diet was implemented without the required approval of the National Capital Planning Commission, as mandated under federal law.

Elrich asks Montgomery County Council to defund controversial Little Falls Parkway road diet

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has asked the Montgomery County Council to take away funding from the Montgomery Parks department, that the department intends to use to construct a controversial road diet on Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda. In a Sunday memo to Council President Evan Glass, and to members of the Council's Planning Housing and Parks committee, Elrich asked them to remove all funding in the Vision Zero and Life Cycle Asset Replacement funds that Parks has earmarked for the road diet. Elrich's directive followed the unprecedented approval of the road diet by the Montgomery County Planning Board last Thursday, over the objections of a majority of the community, Elrich, and the councilmember who represents the area, Andrew Friedson. In turn, Elrich is now employing the rarely-used power of the purse to overrule the Planning Board.

The success of Elrich's strategy to block the road diet will depend upon the willingness of a majority of councilmembers to support his request. Whether or not Elrich prevails, the move provides a powerful illustration of the message I've tried to drive home here for years: If you want to change the Planning Board, and restore the public's role in the planning process, you must elect Council members who will support the growth and zoning policies you want to be implemented. The Council appoints the Planning Board chair and commissioners, with the approval of the Executive.

But the Council's power to control planning decisions doesn't stop with the appointments. The Council also controls the funding for planning: it controls the purse for the Montgomery County Planning Department, the Planning Board, and Montgomery Parks. 

Friedson has not yet publicly indicated that he is inclined to cut the capital budget funds Elrich has requested. But, again, here is a great illustration of what I've been arguing for. Friedson could call the Planning Board before the PHP Committee and say, "You just ignored my letter to you, and the overwhelming opposition of my constituents to the road diet project. Now I'm cutting your funds. How do you like that? Want to keep ruling against the public? I'll keep cutting your budget."

If Friedson is smart, he will support Elrich's defunding request. But the larger point here is that if you elect an executive like Elrich, and then a majority on the Council who support responsible growth policies, you the voter can truly take back the reins of planning, zoning and growth. "You want to pass something like Thrive 2050? Well, how about I completely defund your department next year?"

Just as some on the Council who did not vote for Planning Board Commissioner James Hedrick supported him on the "revote" to rebuke Elrich for his veto of Hedrick, so should the Council now want to defund the road diet to rebuke the Planning Board and Montgomery Parks for their illegal use of funds. The Council never allocated funds for a road diet on Little Falls Parkway. Montgomery Parks has been illegally taking, and intends to continue taking, money that the Council allocated for other specific purposes, and use it for the road diet.

The illegal use of funds caps off the illegal nature of the road diet crusade from the beginning. Not only has Montgomery Parks never requested nor received a capital budget allocation for a Little Falls Parkway road diet, but it has never received the required official approval from the National Capital Planning Commission for its 2017 temporary road diet. Much less the permanent one. Any change in use of the parkway and associated parkland must be approved by the NCPC, under the federal Capper-Cramton Act of 1930.

Will Marc Elrich prevail? It's unclear, but the Council's response will show Bethesda and Chevy Chase residents which side they stand on. Elrich has made it clear he stands with the residents, 71% of whom opposed the road diet in recent testimony before the Planning Board. This is why Elrich continues to be elected, even when opponents spend tens of millions of dollars against him. He is one of the few elected officials who will stand up to the idea that an increasingly-tiny group of people, who represent developers and other special interests, are now going rule by fiat over the rest of us in the style of an authoritarian regime.

Residents start petition to "make Little Falls Parkway safe again"

Bethesda and Chevy Chase residents have started a petition calling on the Montgomery County Planning Board to "make Little Falls Parkway safe again." The petition effort, and a video that shows a number of near-accidents caused by the dangerous new, 2-lane configuration of the parkway, are the latest expressions of dissatisfaction with the controversial "road diet." That road diet was established without the required public process, without the required allocation of funds by the Montgomery County Council, and without the approval of the National Capital Planning Commission, which holds ultimate authority over any changes to the parkway. A lack of NCPC endorsement is the primary basis of a lawsuit filed against the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission by the Kenwood Citizens Association last month.

The public, including the residents of the communities surrounding the parkway, will only get their first opportunity to formally weigh in on the road diet at the upcoming Planning Board meeting on March 30, 2023. Petition organizers will submit the signatures to the Board at that meeting. Little Falls Parkway Neighborhood Coalition is the organization behind the petition.

Accident shuts down Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase by Somerset

 

An accident on Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase in front of the Town of Somerset has shut down the road in both directions at this hour. The closure is between Oliver Street and Cumberland Avenue, according to police scanner communications. An officer said they are waiting for a tow truck to arrive, so they can clear and reopen lanes in both directions.

Alarming E.coli count found in Willett Branch stream in Bethesda

Advocates for the Little Falls watershed have been taking water samples from the Willett Branch and Little Falls Branch of the stream in Bethesda for several months, finding that a number of locations had E.coli bacteria counts that exceed the standards for safe water play for humans and animals. The Little Falls Watershed Alliance then sought a more refined testing procedure, to find out what the problem was. Results of those new tests show the contamination is even worse than originally believed.

The newest tests, conducted by the Potomac Riverkeepers Network (PRKN) Rapid Response team, show alarmingly high counts of E.coli at each location where samples were taken. Maryland standards for safe water play allow E. coli levels of 0 to 410 MPN/100ml. A Willett Branch sample taken 300 feet upstream from the Bethesda Pool shows an E.coli level of 12,667.5 MPN/100ml. 

Because a sample taken from a small inlet entering the Bethesda Pool-area stream channel shows "only" 977.5 MPN, and the E.coli counts drop to "only" 8,664.0 and 4,352.0 (south of the pool and by Morgan Drive, respectively), watershed advocates believe there is either a rupture of a sewer line near the Purple Line construction site, or an illegal sewer hookup discharging from a building in that area. The stream was once above-ground there, but was placed underground as Bethesda urbanized.

LFWA and PRKN have reported the situation to Montgomery County and WSSC officials. It will now be up to them to investigate and determine the source of the E.coli. In the meantime, think twice before allowing children or pets to enter the stream.

Top photo: Robert Dyer / Chart & map courtesy Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Somerset Mayor inducted into Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame

Town of Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin was inducted into the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame yesterday. The seven-term mayor has served on the District of Columbia's Human Rights Commission, the Women's Campaign Fund Board of Directors, the national LGBTQ Task Force Board of Directors, the Maryland Municipal League Board of Directors, the Maryland Mayors Association, and the MML's Montgomery County chapter.

Slavin was the first openly LGBTQ elected official to serve in Somerset, and as Vice-Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. He is currently a member of the Maryland Black Mayors Association, the Montgomery County NAACP, and the National Council of Negro Women.

In recent years, Slavin made news when he resigned from his lifelong membership at the Woodmont Country Club, after some members of the club suggested they would not welcome President Barack Obama as a member because they opposed his policies on Israel. Slavin was also one of very, very few local elected officials to publicly support advocates for the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda.

Six people in total were inducted into the Hall yesterday. The others were former Montgomery County Councilmember Bruce Adams, first woman president of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Association Marcine Goodloe, Montgomery County Chief of Police Marcus Jones, biomedical scientist and nationally-prominent Asian-American activist Dr. Michael Lin, and former Montgomery County Chief of Police Darryl McSwain, who now leads the Maryland National Capital Park Police Montgomery County Division.

Car stolen from Somerset

A second vehicle has been stolen in the Chevy Chase area this week, this time in the Town of Somerset. The vehicle was taken from a driveway of a home in the 5500 block of Greystone Street, and was reported stolen around 5:35 AM yesterday morning.

Traffic issues return as Pepco project resumes on Little Falls Parkway

Lane closures on Little Falls Parkway are backing up traffic during busy commuting times again. It's not the Montgomery County cartel puppets on the Planning Board and County Council mandating the closures this time, however. It's that major Pepco project starting up again, as drivers discovered last week. To note the obvious, these photos were not taken during a weekday rush hour, but do show the lane closure between Dorset Avenue and Hillandale Road.

Wisps of liquid nitrogen used by the utility for this project are once again wafting from the shoulder. A major underground line is being replaced, which runs to the Harrison substation in Northwest Washington. There is also a traffic impact on River Road where it meets the parkway, and a detour for Greystone Street. Pepco has a permit from the Maryland State Highway Administration for this project. This project was supposed to have concluded by this past summer, so it's not immediately clear why this is happening again this fall.

Little Falls Parkway road diet to end after Planning Board vote

Shockingly, the Montgomery County Planning Board made the second-best right decision on the future of the Capital Crescent Trail crossing at Little Falls Parkway yesterday. Voting 4-1, with Chair Casey Anderson dissenting, commissioners sided with nearby residents in recommending restoring two lanes in each direction on the parkway, and moving the trail crossing to the traffic light at Arlington Road and Little Falls Parkway. This was a modified version of Alternative B. Commissioners also recommended the best option, a trail bridge over the parkway, as the long-term goal, and instructed staff to come up with information and cost estimates.

"For me, the safest option will be option B," Commissioner Natali Fani-Gonzalez said, "move the Capital Crescent Trail to Arlington Road. The safest option...for me has to be a traffic light."

It appears that, in addition to the strong lobbying efforts by the surrounding community to end the road diet, the lack of supporting data did-in the proposal by staff to shrink Little Falls Parkway to two lanes. Kudos to Commissioner Tina Patterson, who chastised planning staff for misrepresenting data regarding accidents and fatalities at the trail crossing. "I'm extremely disappointed to hear that we presented a fatality without really giving the specifics," Patterson said just before the Board voted. "If we're going to talk about something that's impacting the community, we have to give the full details. If I had moved forward without knowing this after the fact, I would have been embarrassed. so it's again as a matter of oversight, let's just be transparent in presenting our reports when we have data.

"Sometimes we need to listen to the community," Patterson added. And this was a rare recent vote in which the Board actually did. Their choice was not even one listed in the staff report; all staff options had a permanent road diet of two lanes.

The decision is a good one for the community. Now we may again actually be able to see cyclists and pedestrians, without the clear view being blocked by a maze of ugly poles sticking up all over the road. Cyclists and pedestrians will not be able to blow through the crossing stop signs, but will cross in an orderly fashion at the light at Arlington. There will be less cut-through traffic speeding past houses in Kenwood and along Hillandale Road.

The bridge is still the best solution, and it is good to hear it is on the table still. Cost estimates and design complexity for that option were severely overblown in the staff report; a new bridge design and cost estimate should be developed with the assistance of executive branch employees who can provide cost-cutting oversight.

Most importantly, if a barrier is erected in the median, and the crossing removed, the random interaction and guessing games will be gone. If the light is correctly timed, and adjusted as needed going forward, additional delays should be minimal at the Arlington-Little Falls intersection. This will allow the full capacity of Little Falls Parkway to be restored, just as the same Board has recently approved over 10,000 new cars to be added to that area via the Westbard and Bethesda Downtown sector plans.

Little Falls Parkway Pepco project takes residents, MoCo officials by surprise

A major Pepco project has gotten underway on Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda, without any public announcement. Drivers began to see heavy equipment and ominous liquid nitrogen tanks along the road, which has been reduced to one lane on the northbound side north of Dorset Avenue to near Hillandale Road. Work has been going on around the clock since late last week, leaving people to wonder what is going on, as clouds of unidentified vapors rose over the work site.

Now I have the story. According to the project's manager at Pepco, who was very helpful in providing information about the project, the utility is remodeling its substation at 5210 Wisconsin Avenue N.W. in Friendship Heights. As part of that, they are upgrading a segment of underground transmission line that leads into the substation from the parkway on one end, and from the 3600 block of Van Ness Street N.W. on the other end. To replace the segment, they must access the feeder lines at both locations.

The liquid nitrogen is being used to freeze fluid in the Pepco "pipes" so that they can be opened. This is not a one-nighter project. Work on the first feeder will continue until Christmas of this year. The second feeder project will run from March 2019 to the first week in June 2019.

Apparently, Pepco was not required to hold public meetings on the project. They do have a permit to perform the work, and according to Pepco, they have alerted the Maryland State Highway Administration and Montgomery County Department of Transportation. 

However, there was no reference to the project in either of the two September email update newsletters MCDOT put out. Montgomery Parks officials said that, while they were aware of the project plans, they did not get a heads-up from Pepco, and said they would be sending staff out to the site after being contacted for this report. Pepco apparently did not hold a standard pre-project meeting with Montgomery Parks before starting the work, either.

Pepco's Harrison Street substation, which is
connected to Little Falls Parkway by underground
power lines. Who knew?

Work on the project ceased for the day Wednesday due to weather conditions, but as you can see in these photos, the lane closure remained in effect. According to the real estate website Curbed DC, Pepco's Harrison Street Substation at 5210 Wisconsin N.W. was designated a historic landmark by the District last year. Built in 1940, it has an Art Moderne design to blend in with other commercial buildings that surround it.

Water main break at Dorset Ave. and Little Falls Parkway (Photos)

A water main break at the intersection of Dorset Avenue and Little Falls Parkway at the entrance to the Town of Somerset required a temporary closure of Dorset there tonight. Utility workers responded as standing water flowed across the parkway toward Kenwood earlier this evening. There were reports of brown tap water in the area earlier today.

Car stolen in Kenwood, Somerset hit hard by vehicle burglaries + more - Bethesda crime update

At least 4 vehicles were broken into in the Town of Somerset on Wednesday, apparently in the early hours of the morning. A burglary was reported nearby around the same time, and a car was stolen altogether a couple of blocks away in Kenwood.

If you saw any suspicious characters or vehicles in the neighborhood the night before or that morning, contact the Montgomery County Police non-emergency number at 301-279-8000.

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on June 22, according to crime data:

Theft from vehicle. Bethesda Metro Center.

Theft. 4800 block Bethesda Avenue.

Vehicle burglary. 4900 block Cumberland Avenue (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 4800 block Cumberland Avenue (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 4800 block Cumberland Avenue (Somerset).

Burglary. 5800 block Warwick Place (Somerset) at 7:29 AM.

Stolen car. 5200 block Dorset Avenue (Kenwood) at 6:08 AM.

Vehicle burglary. 5600 block Warwick Place (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 5500 block Greystone Street (Somerset).

Theft from vehicle. 5600 block Marengo Road (Springfield).

Drug arrest. Wilson Lane at River Road.

Vehicle burglary. 5200 block Pooks Hill Road.

Assault. 8500 block Connecticut Avenue.

Town of Somerset gives thumbs down to through lane on River Rd. at Little Falls Pkwy.

Putting aside the outrageously inaccurate traffic and intersection data in the Westbard sector plan draft, one project brought up by Montgomery County Council staff that wasn't even in the plan surprised residents who live near the affected intersection. That intersection, River Road at Little Falls Parkway, is one of the worst among several failing junctions along the heavily-traveled commuter route.

The draft Westbard plan contains not a single project to increase vehicle capacity on River Road, despite proposing to add 5000 more vehicles to it. But Council Deputy Adminstrator Glenn Orlin has proposed building a project that was called for in the Friendship Heights sector plan. It would create a third through lane westbound on River Road between Greystone Street and Butler Road. The problem is, it would end and dump traffic back into the remaining two lanes.

The Town of Somerset has now raised objections to the project, which has not yet been endorsed by the County Council PHED committee. Writing on behalf of Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Z. Slavin, Town Councilmember Marnie Shaul told the Council that the third lane would create safety issues. Most notably, many Somerset residents need to use Greystone to reach River Road. Parents driving their kids to Westland in the morning often use Little Falls Parkway, which requires crossing the two westbound lanes of River to reach the left turn lane at the parkway. A third lane would make this more difficult, Shaul wrote.

Even a right turn lane being added would make it nearly impossible for Somerset residents to get in and out of their neighborhood during the evening rush, Shaul argued. Among other concerns of the town, are the impact of widening River on homes, and reduction of the new bike facilities proposed under the plan that would be required to add the lane.

This issue is like many brought up after the public process was finished: the plan to turn the Little Falls Library into an apartment building, the plan to dump massive amounts of countywide-serving low-income housing into a two block area at Westbard, etc. As Shaul wrote, "The Town of Somerset was surprised by this proposal, which had not been discussed during the Westbard planning process." Sounds familiar!

While a third lane all the way down River Road from Ridgefield Road into the District at Wisconsin Avenue would have real benefit, this short stub being proposed is likely to cause more backups than it helps. You might as well have the full bike facilities along River in that case. My suspicion is that the project was put into the Friendship Heights plan to provide some more phantom capacity for development up there. In practice, the road will be just as jammed with it as without.

The PHED committee will take up this, and many other issues, on Monday.

Somerset hit by wave of vehicle burglaries, assault on Friendship Blvd. + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on September 13, according to crime data:

Burglary. 5700 block Surrey Street (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 5500 block Greystone Street (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 5500 block Greystone Street (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 5500 block Uppingham Street (Somerset).

Liquor arrest. 3600 block Chevy Chase Lake Drive.

Theft. 5000 block Dalton Road (Brookdale).

Theft. Westfield Montgomery Mall.

Assault. 5500 block Friendship Boulevard at 1:55 PM.

Disorderly conduct. 4400 block S. Park Avenue at 10:39 AM.

Burglaries in Somerset, on Whittier Blvd.; assault on Charnwood Dr. + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on June 13, according to crime data:

Disorderly conduct. Fairmont Avenue at Woodmont Avenue.

Disorderly conduct. Woodmont Avenue at St. Elmo Avenue.

Theft. 4400 block East-West Highway.

Burglary. 4700 block Dorset Avenue (Somerset).

Disorderly conduct. Rockville Pike at Elmhirst Drive.

Burglary. 7100 block Whittier Boulevard.

Vehicle burglary. 11400 block Rockville Pike (Pike District).

Theft. Woodglen Drive at Executive Boulevard (Pike District).

Assault. 6200 block Charnwood Drive.

Theft. Nordstrom at Westfield Montgomery Mall.

BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on May 21, according to crime data:

Drug arrest. Wisconsin Avenue at Commerce Lane.

Theft. CVS Pharmacy, 7809 Wisconsin Avenue.

Theft. 7600 block Arlington Road.

Theft. 8100 block Woodmont Avenue.

Theft. 6700 block Wisconsin Avenue.

Burglary. 4900 block Dorset Avenue (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 5800 block Kingswood Road.

Vehicle burglary. 10500 block Weymouth Street.

Theft. 11400 block Rockville Pike (White Flint).

Drug arrest. I-270 spur.

Drug arrest. 11600 block Nebel Street (White Flint).

Drug arrest. Pre-Release Center (White Flint).

Vehicle burglary. 7100 block Democracy Boulevard.

Theft. Westfield Montgomery Mall.

Theft. 7100 block Westlake Terrace.

Vehicle burglary. 10200 block Westlake Drive.