Bethesda public parking garage washdowns to begin April 10

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation's Division of Parking Management will begin its annual spring cleaning of County-owned parking garages in downtown Bethesda on April 10, 2023. Work will be performed on nights or weekends. In addition to a washdown of the interior parking decks, garages will be degreased, and steel beams will be cleaned. One garage that is already scheduled on the calendar is the Capital Crescent Garage 31 at 7171 Woodmont Avenue, which will be cleaned from May 2 to May 5.

MCDOT cleaning Capital Crescent Garage in Bethesda this weekend

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation Division of Parking Management is conducting its seasonal cleaning of the public parking garages in downtown Bethesda. This weekend, washdown and degreasing operations are being performed at the Capital Crescent Garage 31 near Bethesda Row. The garage remains open, but be alert for wet surfaces while walking or driving in the garage today and Sunday.

Anthony Brennan III arrested, alleged cyclist in Bethesda trail assault over Black Lives Matter flyers

Anthony Brennan III, 60, of Kensington was arrested by Maryland National Capital Park Police tonight, in the Bethesda trail assault of three people posting Black Lives Matter flyers near the Dalecarlia Tunnel on June 1 around 12:45 PM. Brennan is accused of being the angry cyclist who assaulted one male and two female "young adults," as the Park Police described them - though the video showed the two females were clearly minor children, which is what added fuel to the outrage over the case. 

In a press release, the Park Police said Brennan turned himself in, but only after the police had executed a search warrant at his home and communicated with his attorney. The search for a suspect took a remarkably long time in the Twitter age. Suspects in photos are typically identified, shamed and fired from their jobs within hours at the hands of Twitter "police" these days. That Brennan eluded scrutiny for four days is intriguing.

The long investigation ended up causing major trouble for several people who were falsely accused by armchair detectives on Twitter. A Bethesda man and a retired Montgomery County police officer were among those doxxed and denounced online, while a college professor found her address being posted on social media. None of the three had anything to do with the Capital Crescent Trail incident whatsoever. The delay in identifying a suspect into late Friday night led some to speculate on social media that the alleged assailant might be a police officer, or someone with some pull or power in Montgomery County or the region. 

Brennan has been charged with three counts of second-degree assault.

Bethesda Ave. entrance to Capital Crescent Garage is closed for repairs

Montgomery County has finally explained why the Bethesda Avenue entrance to the Capital Crescent Garage is closed. A County Department of Transportation contractor is replacing the non-bolted trench drains at the entrance, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center Director Ken Hartman said Friday. Expect the entrance to remain closed until June 5.

Drivers can currently only access the Woodmont Avenue entrance. Hartman said that entrance will close for the same repairs once the Bethesda Avenue project is completed.

Bethesda Ave. entrance to Capital Crescent Garage closed

One of the two entrances to the Capital Crescent Public Parking Garage 31 in Bethesda was closed yesterday. The Bethesda Avenue entrance was barricaded off. There was no sign indicating the reason for the closure, and there are no announcements about this garage on the Montgomery County Department of Transportation Division of Parking Management's news bulletin page.

Brutal new speed bumps make parking even more of pain in Bethesda (Photos)

The Montgomery County Council just raised your taxes to the highest level in County history, absurdly pleading poverty in justifying raiding your wallet or purse and bank account. But here's what they can afford to spend on: making parking in downtown Bethesda even more of a pain than it is already - literally.

New speed bumps installed on every level in the Capital Crescent Trail Garage at Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues aren't the flat-topped "speed humps" used by the County on residential streets. They are the brutal kind that give your neck and suspension a workout even crawling over them at 1 mile per hour.

The Capital Crescent Trail Garage was initially a big success, as many drivers didn't know it was there. Anyone who has spent twenty minutes making the climb from ground level to the top of the other nearby public garage (exacerbated by people who think they are entitled to hold up traffic on the ramps just so they can park on a lower level, apparently unaware that they will be using the same elevator to reach the street as those they block) would consider the CCTG a major improvement. It also has much wider aisles.

Now drivers who don't speed in the garage, and even hesitate or stop at the pedestrian crossing/elevator areas in case someone is going to step out without looking both ways, are being slowed down and their vehicles unnecessarily damaged. Send your repair bill to Montgomery County.

Thank you to our nanny state overlords for your inspired idiocy. #MoCoTermLimits #ThrowTheBumsOut

Abuse of EV spaces rampant in new Bethesda garage (Photos)

Special Investigative Report

Bethesda is known as a progressive, enlightened and environmentally-conscious town. But that isn't on display beneath its urban streets. Drivers of gasoline vehicles are regularly hogging spaces reserved for electric vehicles (EVs) in the new Capital Crescent Garage at Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues, and enforcement appears lax.

Whoops, Hyundai doesn't
make an EV Tiburon 

BMW and
Honda Accord in
EV spaces Friday
evening

Honda makes EVs, but
this ain't one of them

On Friday evening during the busiest dinner hour, several EV charging spaces were taken up by gas vehicles, ranging from Hyundais to expensive BMWs. Subsequent spot checks turned up the same abuse, including on Monday night, again during the 6:00 PM hour.

Volvo on Monday evening
during dinner hour

Nope, these aren't
EVs 

Neither is this

Nor this

Space after space was available
on lower levels of the 900+ space
garage - over 600, to be exact -
for gasoline-powered vehicles

With over 600 parking spaces available, non-EV drivers were still parking in the limited-but-convenient EV spaces - including a Porsche. The EV spaces were conveniently located as another incentive for choosing alternative fuel vehicles, much like the HOV access EV drivers often enjoy.

Only one offending driver
had been ticketed

Only one vehicle had been ticketed by parking enforcement during the times shown here. With Bethesda having one of the largest percentages of EVs in America, the rampant abuse could mean EV drivers planning to park and charge their vehicle would be blocked out by an ineligible driver.

The Capital Crescent Garage is also known as Public Parking Garage 31, and is operated by Montgomery County Government.

County to officially unveil new Bethesda garage EV charging stations today (Photos)

The electric vehicle charging stations have been in place for several months now at the new Capital Crescent Garage on Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues. Today at 1:00 PM, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and County Department of Transportation Acting Director Al Roshdieh will officially "unveil" 3 stations, with a capacity to charge six vehicles simultaneously. They will then conduct a demonstration of how to use the EV charging stations.

This is the first public garage in the county to have these stations, and 23 more parking facilities will be getting them in Bethesda, Silver Spring and Montgomery Hills.

Ten gallon hats are common
attire in downtown Bethesda,
to be sure

SPACES AVAILABLE SIGNS ACTIVATE AT NEW BETHESDA GARAGE (PHOTOS)

Now you'll know just how many (hundred) vacant spaces are available in the new Capital Crescent Garage at Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues. The "spaces available" signs yesterday switched from saying "OPEN" to giving the number of empty spaces in the garage. It will be interesting to see if this sign will ever say, "FULL," as the one down Bethesda Avenue does often during the summer months. Remember, you can park here for free until March 1, 2015.

MORE ART FROM THE CAPITAL CRESCENT GARAGE IN BETHESDA (PHOTO)

Here's one more public art piece in the Capital Crescent Garage, which opened last week. This one is in the lobby. Don't forget, parking is free in this underground garage at Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues until March 1.

THE ART OF THE CAPITAL CRESCENT GARAGE IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

While advocates of the Capital Crescent Trail would likely favor anything that draws public attention to the linear park that runs through downtown Bethesda, naming a garage after a nature trail does have its ironies. I'm reminded somewhat of the "is this really appropriate" questions raised when Rockville was considering naming a town center garage after the celebrated F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the practical matter of using a landmark that might be easier for the directionally-challenged than another number likely prevailed in Bethesda (Fitz's namesake garage did not, but the Great Gatsby author did get a condo building in the end). "Capital Crescent Garage" makes more immediate sense than, "I'm over in Garage 89...or was it 98?"

Another unique aspect of this new garage, which opened yesterday, is the public art found inside. Mainly behind glass cases to shield it from exhaust particulates and vandals, it pays tribute to really Old Bethesda. We're talking about before Hot Shoppes and even the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Old old.

Developer StonebridgeCarras has already paid tribute to Bethesda's "founding father," William E. Darcy, above ground with its Darcy ultra-luxury condo (making him even with Fitzgerald in terms of luxury real estate). Now you'll find additional nods to Darcy below ground in this garage, and much earlier days in a very different downtown Bethesda. Even if Bethesda's Native Americans were actually here before that, and founded some of the most famous roads on these Bethesda maps...

WOODMONT AVE., NEW BETHESDA GARAGE OPEN WITH FREE PARKING BY BETHESDA ROW (VIDEO/PHOTOS)

Drivers take advantage of
the reopened Woodmont Avenue

The new Capital Crescent Garage has opened across from Bethesda Row at Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues, and as good as that news is, there's also great news - you can park in the garage for free until March 1, 2015. Here's a tour of the garage, which includes electric vehicle charging spaces, bicycle parking, and 960 parking spaces available to the public.

Strolling along the temporary
pedestrian walkway towards
Bethesda Row on Woodmont

Of course, opening the garage meant reopening Woodmont Avenue. There are 2 vehicle lanes, and as you saw in my report yesterday, a pedestrian walkway set off by barriers. No bicycle lanes are available at this stage, and the sidewalks are still closed. There is some dirt in the walking area toward the pedestrian entrance near the Capital Crescent Trail.

Woodmont near Crescent Plaza

Several readers were asking yesterday about the left turn off of Leland, and the Jiffy Johns. You still can't turn left from Leland onto Woodmont, and the portable toilets are indeed still there at that end of Woodmont.

Please use caution...

...Woodmont Avenue is now
open, and we wanted to give
you a full 30 seconds notice to use
caution in the new traffic pattern

One interesting point is that the opening process diverted from standard traffic procedures. The public knows there is a standard procedure, because when the ultimately-aborted effort to reopen Woodmont occurred last summer, electronic signs were posted on major routes far in advance. Two weeks in advance, in fact. These signs gave an approximate opening date, and alerted drivers that traffic patterns would soon change. No such advance alert was provided for yesterday's opening, which was certainly not in the best interests of safety and traffic management. In fact, the electronic signs were only activated after the road was reopened, giving unsuspecting drivers only moments to adjust.

Even the garage name was secret

Assuming the inspections that would green-light the garage and street openings are not so weak that they can be conducted in minutes, clearly the approximate date could have been forecast and announced, as it was this past August. Instead, the priority seems to have been to have a tightly-controlled rollout of the news. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation press release was not posted until 11:58 AM yesterday. MCDOT's parking Twitter account made the announcement even later, as did other County-related Twitter accounts.

MCDOT press release at 11:58 AM

I personally did not receive a press release or advance notice from the County, nor from the developer, regarding the reopening. That would not seem to make sense if the point is to alert the public to the new parking availability, and new traffic pattern. What in the world was gained from keeping this important information secret?

The gates are up for now

But starting March 1, you'll
have to pay during these hours

Thank the Monopoly Guy for
Free Parking

Cyclists weren't left out

Shiny elevator doors

It probably won't be this easy
to move around on a Friday night
this summer

Official logo

Elon Musk would approve

Proof this garage was designed for
the future of transportation

Don't touch this

Pay at one of these starting
March 1

Safety first

Driver having no problem picking up
speed on the reopened Woodmont Avenue

Pedestrians will have to use this

Eventually, you might pick up
a treat from the Paul Bakery before
heading back to your car...

...at this trailside pedestrian
entrance to the garage

960 spaces sound great, when you remember
that the existing public garage at Bethesda
Row was often filled to capacity last summer