VETERANS DAY CEREMONY AT BETHESDA'S VETERANS PARK (PHOTOS)

Here are photos from yesterday's Veterans Day ceremony in Veterans Park in downtown Bethesda:

Wreaths laid at memorial to
Bethesda veterans KIA

Congressman Chris Van Hollen speaks

Councilmember Phil Andrews, Van Hollen

BETHESDA U.P. RESTORES VETERANS PARK FLAG LIGHTING

U.S. FLAG

FLYING AGAIN

TUESDAY NIGHT

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

The U.S. Flag illumination problems in Bethesda's Veterans Park I reported here Monday morning, have been corrected.

Tuesday, 8:30 PM

Workers from Bethesda Urban Partnership fixed the lighting, and by last evening, the Stars and Stripes were flapping over Veterans Park once again.

Earlier Tuesday, I received a Twitter message from Bethesda U.P. that said the lighting for the flag was going to be fixed, and in the meantime, the flag would be raised in the morning, and taken down by dark.

So I was surprised to find the flag - properly lit - already flying over the park last night.

Bethesda U.P. released photos showing workers in action Tuesday.

Bethesda U.P. workers repair flag display
lighting at Veterans Park Tuesday
[Photo: Bethesda U.P.]

Kudos to Bethesda U.P. for addressing this matter, and I highly recommend everyone stop by and see the flag in its fully-lit glory after dark.  But if you can't, I've posted a photo above.

BETHESDA'S VETERANS PARK IN VIOLATION OF U.S. FLAG CODE AGAIN

FLAG, MEMORIAL

FALL INTO

DARKNESS AGAIN

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

The display of the U.S. flag in downtown Bethesda's Veterans Park is again in violation of federal law, which requires that flags flown at night be illuminated.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Last night - and by my recollection, other recent nights - the flag was flying in total darkness.  You may remember that the flag, and memorial to Bethesda-Chevy Chase veterans killed in action over the last century, had been unlit at night this year until I pointed this out publicly. Within a week, lighting was restored.

This is how it's supposed to be done
July 2012

Once the lights were back on, I reported that many people were now stopping at the memorial, and reading the inscription to themselves or their children.  In other words, Veterans Park was again serving its original purpose - preserving the memories of community members who made the ultimate sacrifice, for the cause of freedom.

Beyond that, the park has been more active and welcoming at night with the lights on.  Active and inviting public spaces are a major part of the successful urban environment in Bethesda and elsewhere.  Why shouldn't this park be all that it can be?

With that context, I am perplexed as to why the park has gone dark again recently.  If a bulb has burnt out, or wiring has failed, the flag must then be lowered at night, and raised again in the morning.  But if the lights are working, they must be on every night.

This isn't just my advice as a onetime Bethesda Cub Scout.  It just happens to be the law.

U.S. Code, Title 4, Section 6a, to be precise:

"It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset...However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness."

Oops.

As you can see in the photo, this was not the case last night.

Perhaps some feel this is not a big deal.  I do realize that when the weather turns colder, the fountain turns off for the winter.  But the flag and memorial should remain lit year-round.

This is just a matter of respect, and civic pride, if nothing else.  What if an Iraq War veteran - now a traveling businessman - is staying at the Doubletree Hotel, and takes a walk down Woodmont at night?  Upon reaching the park, he finds the veterans memorial and flag in darkness.  Is that the message we want visitors to take away from Bethesda?

It's flat out embarrassing, and I hope most people reading this feel the same.

And in the case of the flag, it just happens to be against the law.

Time to turn the lights on.  Again.

VICTORY FOR BETHESDA VETERANS: NIGHT LIGHTING RESTORED AT VETERANS PARK MEMORIAL

Mission accomplished:  After raising the question last week as to why the lighting at the Veterans Park memorial has been off at night for as long as 2 years, I am pleased to report that it has been restored as of last night.

June 24, 2012

July 2, 2012

Not only are the "dancing waters," as David Letterman would call them, illuminated again, but for one night, our urban park has once again come to life.

Instead of shadowy figures slumping in the dark, the crowds were larger, there was much more energy in the area, and less of the after-hours-we're-closed ambiance the park has projected for too long.

Most importantly, the primary purpose of the park - a memorial to Bethesda's soldiers killed in action from World War I to the "Gulf Wars" - has once again taken center stage.  Monday night, I saw many people standing at the memorial and reading its inscription.

I just have to wonder, what took so long?

Why were the night lights off in the first place?

And much like the scandal of the new Bethesda Post Office, where were the members of the county council?  Why does it take a post by a citizen blogger to get things done, when we're paying these folks $100,000 a year?

It appears their lack of familiarity with downtown Bethesda also extends to its veterans' memorial.

I'd be willing to bet that at least half of our carpetbagger council has never even been to Veterans Park.  Heck, I doubt half of them even know it's there!

But then again, this is a council that includes members like George Leventhal, who infamously declared in 2010 that Bethesda had no 5 star restaurants, and that he had to go to Fairfax County to dine out.  And the same council that handed Wheaton's Veterans Park over to a for-profit developer - with no requirement that it be replaced by a new memorial!  An outrageous insult to veterans for which they were never held accountable by local media.

Our elected officials talk a good game about veterans, much like they talk about farmers, jobs, traffic gridlock, and the poor and "vulnerable."  But as I always say, don't listen to what they say; examine what they actually do.  And on each of these topics, you'll conclude their efforts haven't amounted to anything.

They have a veteran-related TV show, but they don't have a problem leaving a veterans memorial dark indefinitely.

The lights are back on, and I invite the county council to stop by and discover Veterans Park, and pay their respects.

IS NOT LIGHTING THE VETERANS PARK MEMORIAL DISRESPECTFUL TO VETERANS?

LIGHTS OUT

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

One thing that concerns me as summer begins, is the darkness at downtown Bethesda's Veterans Park.  As previously lit in the past, the fountain memorial to Bethesda soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice was visually impressive, and animated the park as a public space after dark.

July 2010

June 2012

After all, Veterans Park is not just a place to hang out or eat lunch; at its heart, it is a memorial.

Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.  If the memorial is hidden in the darkness of night, how is it reminding visitors of those sacrifices?  You're free to hang out there and enjoy life, because someone else gave theirs so you could.

I also wonder if the flag is adequately lighted at night, as well.  Technically, an American flag flown at night should be properly illuminated.

Is the unlit fountain a cost-saving measure?  Is the lighting malfunctioning, and in need of repair?  Given the unwise spending increases - and massive tax increases - approved by the Montgomery County Council, it would be hard to justify a cut in the lighting of a veterans memorial.  And a troubling statement about misplaced priorities.

It's time to turn the lights back on at Veterans Park.

VETERANS AND

TRANSIT

Last month, when writing about ridership on Norfolk's Tide light rail being twice the projected number, I suggested it might have something to do with the large military population there.

While most light rail systems across the country are successful, the Tide service is the biggest success so far (assuming planners didn't lowball the projections, which is unlikely, since low numbers don't win federal money). So the large number of men and women who have served in Germany and Japan, for example, might be one explanation for the above-average performance.

The reason I think this hypothesis is valid is that these servicemembers have experienced the convenience of the more advanced transit systems found in European and Asian cities. So when they return here, while our systems (with the possible exceptions of cities like New York and Chicago) seem quaint by comparison, they are more likely to give them a chance.

Further proof of my theory was found in yesterday's Core Values column by WTOP commentator Chris Core. He printed a letter from retired Air Force Col. Chris Krisinger, who had high praise for Munich's frankly incredible transit system. Noting the seamless mobility offered by Munich's S-Bahn (think the Purple Line or MTA Light Rail) and U-Bahn (subway), he underscored the need for convenient rail service to Dulles Airport.

Alas, the sensible and world-class layout described by Col. Krisinger ("the 's-bahn' train arrives at the airport in an underground station that brings passengers right up in between the two main terminals") has already been rejected for the Dulles Metro station.

In fact, the so-called airport station was never under the Dulles terminal, and that made the cheaper compromise station the right choice. Had the argument been over an actual underground station at Dulles, I would have written letters to editors and promoted that option here. Nothing would tell visitors that America leads the world more evocatively than rising into the airport itself upon an escalator from the train platform.

Ironically, Core's original column was boosting a Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority board member's idea of a smaller, Aero Train line that would restore the original vision by taking Dulles passengers from an even more affordable station further away directly into the terminal.

Given the fiscal and practical realities of the moment, that idea is a good one, but it seems to have been discarded by the board.

The truth is that Metro to Dulles is all about the Benjamins for wealthy developers. The stations have no parking, which means a massive portion of potential ridership will be lost from the get-go. The Tysons mall station... ...is not in the mall. That says third world, not world class. And the afterthought treatment given to the station theoretically the raison d'etre for the whole Metro line? These three facts speak for themselves.

So we won't have a world-class Dulles Metro system (but the skyline view of already-impressive Tysons Corner from the elevated trestle will be fantastic at night).

But Col. Krisinger's letter does offer proof of my theory - our military population, such as those commuting to BRAC sites like Walter Reed, Fort Belvoir and the Mark Center, are more likely to use transit than the average American worker.

The question is, can our politicians "grow up" and deliver the world's best transit and highway systems for the world's best men and women in uniform?