7001 ARLINGTON ROAD LUXURY APARTMENTS BETHESDA CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

Construction continues slowly but surely on the former site of the Bethesda Post Office, at 7001 Arlington Road. Formerly known as Dwell Bethesda, the luxury apartment building is, for now, known simply as 7001 Arlington Road. Questions regarding local elected officials' involvement (or lack thereof) in the selection of the new post office, at 6900 Wisconsin Avenue, remain unanswered.

Just last week, I was informed of a disabled post office patron who required the assistance of a Good Samaritan to successfully mail letters, due to the lack of handicapped parking at 6900. Handicapped parking in a nearby garage is simply no substitute for truly functional spaces near the front door of the post office. Some two decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act, all citizens have a right to expect equal access to public facilities. 

The United States Postal Service has yet to publicly announce a location for a second Bethesda post office it plans to open. But let's go ahead and check out the progress of construction crews at the much-missed former post office site:

MOCO GOVERNMENT STILL CAN'T "RESPECT THE SPACE" IN BETHESDA GARAGE (PHOTOS)

Last November I posted photos of construction junk dumped in a handicapped parking space in the Cordell-St. Elmo public parking garage.  It had been placed there by county-employed workers renovating the garage.

The embarrassing part was that county elected officials had just hectored and lectured taxpayers about not parking in handicapped spaces unless you have a permit to do so.  Their expensive media campaign, called "Respect the Space," just happened to give those politicians more publicity than the issue itself.

The question at the time was, should the county have to live under the same laws it imposes upon its citizens? (And, by the way, as an advocate for the disabled for over a decade, I am in no way suggesting citizens should be able to improperly use handicapped spaces!).

Fast forward to last evening in downtown Bethesda, where the junk is still in the handicapped space.  What's changed? Someone has simply ripped the disabled parking sign off the wall, and replaced it with a regular parking sign. Compare the photos below with those in my original post to verify for yourself.

Now, let's say you as a citizen were parked in an unauthorized spot. If caught, would you be allowed to simply rip a sign off and escape penalty?

A novel solution, but shouldn't government therefore live under its own laws?