The snowdrift pictured here at Westbard and Ridgefield Road last night has been slowly melting away over the last month, but continues to fully block passage in one direction. It also fails to provide ADA-width passage heading up and down Ridgefield. This is at the vacant Manor Care nursing home site, owned by Equity One.
Additional blockades remain on the other side of Westbard between Ridgefield and the first entrance to the Westwood Shopping Center, and - unbelievably - alongside Montgomery County Public Schools property at Westland Middle School on Westbard. These not only block pedestrians, but also block access to several Ride On bus stops. Again, we're talking about 30 days later here as of today, folks.
As you may recall, these are the same blocked sidewalks the Montgomery County Council rode past on a bus on February 5, and did absolutely nothing to address. No phone calls, no public comment, no nothing. Not even from Hans Riemer, the author of the sidewalk shoveling law that cost taxpayers $6,458,000.
Imagine, public servants (although they seem to think that means we serve them) intentionally ignoring dangerous blocked sidewalks that put their constituents - including children, seniors and the disabled - at risk. All the while claiming they are taking mucho acción on pedestrian safety. It's beyond the pale. Yet, you've witnessed it here, thanks to my ongoing coverage of this scandal.
Is this what Councilmember George Leventhal means by "Government that works"? Not surprisingly, no current member of the Council lives in Bethesda.
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| "It's outrageous" |
70 comments:
Did you ever call 311?
How many times has Dyer walked or driven by those piles, and done absolutely nothing? They're small enough now that even a 98-pound weakling could shovel them.
Also, I see he is once again repeating his bullshit claim that the cost of the sidewalk program is "$6 million".
So why didn't you shovel it?
Jeez, this blog has become nothing more than a place for you to rant and complain about how you were too much of a loser to get elected.
Why should a resident do Equity One's work?
You can do your civic duty and report Equity One for not clearing the snow off their sidewalks.
If Dyer witnesses a murder in progress, would he call 911, or would he blog about it several days later and blame Hans Riemer?
Robert, I'd hardly call this a scandal, this was the type of storm that happens once every 5/10 years. You're starting to look like the boy who cries wolf so much than when you have an actual scandal to report nobody will believe you because of your constant over-reaching anger at Hans Riemer.
If you want to get more respect from people you need to stop this flying off the rail rants, say it with me "stay.on.the.rails"
Listen up, you commenters without a clue: I have to walk these sidewalks every day to get to my apartment, and there's nothing quite so thrilling as wondering if I'll get killed walking in the street on Westbard Avenue because the walks are blocked. It DOES make a difference for lots of people and I, for one, appreciate Dyer's continued "rants". Hope it gets attention from the dysfunctional County.
Then 8:34 is also a dope for not reporting the snow mound to 311. How stupid to whine about something that's in your power to correct.
@8:34am I think they sell snow shovels at the hardware store...stop whining and go shovel if it pisses you off so much, have you called 311 yet? Birdbrain!
I think the commenters get and agree the sidewalks are an issue. It's just Dyer's "rants" as well intentioned as they may be are misdirected and misinformed. It's the property owner who is responsible for clearing their sidewalks. The county is supposed to enforce it, yes, but the property owner is the one breaking the law by not clearing their sidewalk.
And that $6m "failure" Dyer keeps talking about is the entire snow operations budget. Supposedly there is $100k in there for enforcement and education of the sidewalk clearing law. If there's still snow it's the landowners fault and then some degree of failure on the county's education and enforcement part.
It looks like Dyer just deleted a post where someone explained how to actually report the snow in question....are you serious?!?!
8:42: Was it "in the power" of the Councilmembers to correct when they rode right past it on February 5?
MORE Than $6 million.
@ 8:34 AM - Those Westbard drivers sound scary. I'm glad I don't live there.
7:38: Riemer has failed at each initiative he touted, and *I'm* the loser? Right.
For someone who has recently compared themselves to some of the most famous newspaper reporters of all time it's curious you quote wildly inaccurate statistics. The $6 million plus you constantly reference is the total snow removal budget. I believe that includes the money to plow the streets...where people drive. If the Council Members were able to ride a bus around the County that soon after the snow fell, then I suspect the big picture snow removal plan is working. Birdbrain!
I posted a Montgomery County link and info on the sidewalk clearing rules and reporting procedures and it gets deleted immediately? It's useful government information directly relevant to your complaint. That link was pertinent to the point of your post and you delete it? For what reason?
@9:08 technically you're the loser since you lost to him twice in the local elections
So your admonishing the council members for not reporting it to 311 and then you do the same by not reporting it to 311.
Looks like four different people commented at 9:08 AM. The commenting order here gets confusing because the mobile version of Dyer's site has threaded comments, whereas the web version does not. Why can't Dyer fix that, along with his time stamp, which is three hours slow?
So several feet of sidewalks that are not cleared, out of thousands of miles of sidewalks that have been cleared, means that MoCo's entire snow removal operations are a 100% failure? That's Dyer's "logic" for you.
I'm looking again at that tiny pile shown in the three pictures. How does it force one to walk in the street? Just a few steps on the grass and you're past it.
Why did Dyer erase the Montgomery County link?
People love to tell you what THEY would do if they were YOU…. lol
probably whilst they sit on their sofa and achieve nothing
I call 311 all the time. Nice folks. Very responsive.
You mean like the way Dyer blogs from Mom's Basement about what he would do if he had Hans Riemer's job?
9:43 - no, just you and your addiction to Dyer
@9:43 Don't you realize Robert Dyer is as important a journalist as both Woodward and Bernstein? I believe that was clearly discussed in an early posting by Robert himself. The only difference is they weren't consistently being sabotaged by Hans Riemers henchmen. Perhaps if it weren't for "the man" consistently keeping Dyer down he would be just as famous and not live in his mom's basement listening to death metal records all day.
"Why can't Dyer fix that, along with his time stamp, which is three hours slow?"
He can easily fix it. He just chooses not to so that to the casual observer it appears his stories come out before other sources.
Try a little self-awareness for once, 9:49 AM.
"I think the commenters get and agree the sidewalks are an issue. It's just Dyer's "rants" as well intentioned as they may be are misdirected and misinformed."
Nailed it. Everyone hates irresponsible property owners, but everyone hates Dyer even more. Dyer could write a rant against ISIS and he'd still come across as an unlikeable villain who tries desperately to twist facts and overcompensate for being crushed anytime he runs for office.
The People's Republic of MoCo demand that its servants clear their side walks of snow and ice. The High Masters (elected officials) have spoken.
Do you realize that this is the law in most jurisdictions in the United States?
Riemer continues a second term with no major accomplishments and is low energy.
Berliner is twice his age and has much more vigor and energy than Hans.
Are you actually having a conversation with anyone, or are you just posting at random now?
As a journalist, Dyer is reporting on this new law. It appears to have failed.
There are other sidewalks next to county properties that were never cleared (such as on Willow next to a county parking lot off Wisconsin).
So, big developers and the County itself are exempt from the law?
As a journalist, Dyer deleted useful information pertaining to said law. So is his interest really in making things better?
A lot of people enjoy Robert's reporting here. It's literally the only unbiased news source in the county. By fulfilling the traditional watchdog role, Robert is going to take heat from MoCo officials and employees who post here. Goes with the territory.
Unbiased? Dyer's unwavering assertion of his opinion and rejection of any other opinions or actual logic is by definition bias.
Bethesda loves Robert's unbiased reporting. That keeps folks coming back. All opinions seem to be welcome, as long as they're respectful. Refreshing change from blogs that have resident commentators/trolls to keep folks in line (Hi Steve).
Dyer doesn't welcome anyone's opinion that differs from his own.
Why do the Dyer supporters think commenters with opposing opinions are from BM? Just wild conjecture?
Ha....the stories have good non-biased info in them until you read a few paragraphs and Dyer starts going nuts about Hans Riemer or his "competitors" . I'd say he has a very strong bias against Hans Riemer.
@ 12:57 PM, 1:39 PM, 4:36 PM, 6:07 PM, 7:37 PM:
Now the Shill is just tandomly typing every 90 minutes, and not even bothering to make a pretense of having a conversation. I guess he has a quota to fill.
"Riemer continues a second term with no major accomplishments and is low energy.
Berliner is twice his age and has much more vigor and energy than Hans."
It couldn't be more obvious that this "Anonymous" is just Dyer.
You honestly believe Robert Dyer is not biased against Hand Riemer?
Nailed it.
Dude, take a damn shovel and clear a path if you feel it's such an immediate danger to the community.
Dyer definitely does not get the Golden Shovel award. All he does is complain and then doesn't do anything about it. When others offer info and solutions (such as the county contact info and rules) he deletes it or makes fun of them. So yeah.
...though not necessarily Robert.
Is Equity One management ever on site? They should have dealt with this long ago.
Regardless, it's a safe bet Equity One folks read Dyer's reporting, so they certainly know they had snow blocking their sidewalks. Are they refusing to do so as a way to troll Dyer?
Dyer is not a "watchdog". He's an insane Chihuahua.
They go one step further. They bring in new piles of snow to those locations as the older piles melt.
Do we know that it's a safe bet Equity One reads Dyer's reporting? Speaking of his reporting, next step as a journalist would probably be to reach out to Equity One. Yeah?
Ooh good point, 7:46!
Reminds me of WTOP - continuing to report electric outages until all power is restored.
Every developer pursuing a project this size retains PR firms to control the message and get their client's spin out.
It's a safe bet that they monitor local media coverage of their project.
PR firms will also try to disrupt negative coverage and paint the opposition as "small, but vocal". Of course, hard to do in the case of Westbard where residents are uniformly against the proposal.
There is a zero percent chance Equity One knows who Dyer is or has ever been to this website. Heck, I'm only here to read people dismantle Dyer in the comments section.
What other sidewalks has Dyer covered, besides this one?
It's standard practice when trying to move a development like this forward.
If they're not reading Dyer or trying to influence him, then Equity One needs to fire their PR firm.
9:23am must not follow development much!
Why would Equity One court Dyer? He couldn't be less influential; there are like 12 of us here talking and 11 of us can't stand Dyer. Dyer supporting something likely wouldn't be beneficial considering how many people dislike him.
If Equity One actually read Dyer, they would have shaped that mound of snow into the shape of a hand with its middle finger extended.
11:02AM I doubt Dyer would be publishing daily if he had 12 visitors :)
Most people in downtown Bethesda read Dyer at this point.
I guarantee Equity One AND it's PR firm read everything Westbard related that Dyer publishes.
And I guarantee that they don't. Boy, that was easy.
Dyer and his shill are so delusional and self-absorbed it's laughable, Hans Riemer, Equity One, his "competition"; none of them care enough to troll him. I suspect it's just people bored at work and who enjoy getting a rise out of him.
Proud member of "Eleven Bored People At Work (EBPAW)". :)
Is "EBPAW" what Mr.Reamer's and Leventhal's staff call themselves these days?
It's all some people need to consider "facts" nowadays it appears.
That and a disbelief of published data without any other counter sources.
Thus concludes the daily EBPAW meeting. Let's reconvene on the next article.
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