ThayerAvenue.com

Just a quick note to follow up from the Montgomery County Council committee hearing today, courtesy of Councilmember George Leventhal:

The latest news: the County Council’s Health & Human Services and Planning, Housing & Economic Development Committees met jointly to discuss Council President Ervin’s resolution to authorize a bridge over Wayne Avenue.  Consistent with his vote for the bridge in 2009, Councilmember Leventhal moved the resolution (Ervin is not a member of either committee) but it failed for a lack of a second. Councilmembers Rice, Navarro, Floreen and Elrich were present but none seconded the motion.  So there is no committee recommendation. It remains to be seen whether Council President Ervin will now bring the matter before the full Council without a committee recommendation.

Well, that’s that. For now.

In Other Devastating News…
This afternoon, someone on the ESSCA listserv posted this. I was going to summarize, but I think verbatim is best:

Dear Neighbors,

If you called the Weather (301-936-1212) this week, you heard that Verizon is discontinuing this service in June 2011.  In Wednesday’s Post, John Kelly’s Washington column in the Metro section concerned the planned discontinuation of the weather and time services of Verizon.

If you would like to protest the cessation of weather and time reports by telephone, please email verizonweatherofdc@… (incomplete email in listserv post) and call Verizon @1-800-VERIZON.  If you don’t want the service to end, please forward this email to your friends and neighbors on other listserves to spread the word.

Maybe Verizon will reverse this decision.

Really? Last time I called a phone number for weather and time, I was 9 years old. I wonder how many people called that number on a daily basis. I certainly don’t see a problem with the lowest common denominator being “Traffic and Weather together on the 8s” on WTOP, but that’s ESSCA in all its glory.

I may start writing my own version of Goodnight, Moon with the two aforementioned items.

A moment of silence, anyone?

Yes, I put out a call for people to attend the March 8 County Council hearing. And yes, I did not make it to the meeting. And even when life catches up and everyone is busy, I’m not going to make any excuses. My fault – period. Evidently, the council hearing did not go as the anti-bridge contingent would have planned, and reports indicate seven of eight people who actually testified were pro bridge. *facepalm*

That’s annoying. And then, of course, George Leventhal calls me out on Twitter (and Facebook, for that matter):

@ThayerAvenue Dude (may I call you Dude?) you posted on your blog urging people to show up tonite but you didn’t show up yourself!

Thanks, George. Yer a real peach. And congratulations on last year’s fourth place finish in the at-large race. At least you beat Duchy.

He asks, “How are elected officials supposed to know what the public thinks if the public doesn’t show up at public hearings?” Well, George, look at your Facebook page. And the plethora of people who posted on Councilmember Riemer’s Facebook post concerning the matter. Isn’t that why you stay engaged with social media? To communicate with people and hear what they think? Of course, approval for the bridge is far from over. In the meantime:

Step 1: Signs
These will be finished and mounted tomorrow.

Step 2: Show up for shit.
Seems simple enough, right?

Step 3: Hound the Council
According to Councilmember Leventhal, there is a committee discussion on Thursday. I have no idea what that entails and if it’s even open to the public, but I plan on finding out. And if I have to stand on the corner of Maryland Avenue and E. Jefferson Street in downtown Rockville with the aforementioned signs, I will.

Step 4: Wait for the budget discussions
This is really what is comes down to – funding priorities. Let’s face it: Times are tough. Funding for public safety is going to get cut, which means police and fire departments have less. Education funding is going to get cut, which means fewer resources for teachers and students. And we’re still going to approve the bridge? Somehow, I get the feeling that the council members know the bridge will get axed anyway because of budget constraints. If someone tells me this will die in budget discussions, I’ll be happy. But I won’t trust it until I see it.

Okay – so there it is. After constantly attending the most mundane of (ESSCA) meetings in my own neighborhood, I miss this one. So be it. I’ll try not to let it happen again.

And neither should you.

As the MoCo schedule puts it, this hearing will concern a “Resolution to amend the Amended Silver Spring Urban Renewal Plan – Elevated Pedestrian Walkway.”

Yes, boys and girls, the bridge is back. Last night’s Silver Spring Citizen’s Advisory Board meeting dove head first into this issue near and dear to ThayerAvenue.com. From the Patch.com summary of events:

The Advisory Board took an anti-bridge position in March 2009 in a letter to County Executive Leggett and then Council President Phil Andrews, stating “we believe that building a pedestrian bridge runs counter to the goals of economic development for the area…and neglects the primary problem of pedestrian safety and access.”

Let me reiterate: “…runs counter to the goals of economic development for the area…”

I’m not saying that pedestrian safety is less important than economic development, but I still can’t believe, considering the pedestrian traffic currently in the area, that people are going to stay away from the new library if it doesn’t have a bridge. If you’re one of those people, then drive your happy ass to Rockville or Wheaton and be done with it. We do that now, but only because the current Silver Spring library is complete crap.

I went to Calgary once and was amazed at the extensive “+15” walkway system that let us go from one end of the city to the other without having to step a foot outside. But for those of you who don’t know, Calgary is frakking cold. It makes sense. If they didn’t have walkways, people in Calgary would sit inside and drink all winter. To be fair, they probably do that now, but at least they can get out of the house and go pick up more Molsen.

At any rate, this issue won’t be brought down by me ranting in a blog post. Win or lose, I plan on showing up with some signs that display my disdain for the project. Themes in the running right now:

• Buy Books Not Bridges
• I mustache you NOT to build the library bridge (insert Tom Selleck photo)
• GOD HATES BRIDGES
• Can the Bridge. My arms are tired. (from holding up the sign, of course)

Maybe we can get a group of people to interrupt the meeting with incessant whistling of the theme from Bridge on the River Kwai. Any takers?

And one more thing…

I know I’ve been lax in blog posts recently, but I’m hoping to fix that. Between too much stuff to do, a lack of scintillating news in the area, and no motivation to go to ESSCA meetings to heckle, content has been at a minimum. Stay tuned.

As another example of how these people don’t really represent the people they attempt to serve, last night my beloved East Silver Spring Civic Association voted to support the pedestrian bridge for the library (after the Citizens’ Advisory Board and the County Council both voted against it). ESSCA has done a lot of stupid shit over the years, and while this is far from the worst of that, it’s the most annoying right now. I had to walk out right after the vote to attend to some personal matters (and because people wouldn’t shut up and take the damn vote), but I’d put it at about a 2-1 margin. Ben Kenobi said it best: “The Force can have a strong influence on the weak minded.”

For the uninitiated: This is an $800,000 bridge that would serve a small percentage of the library-going population from the Wayne Avenue garage, over Wayne Avenue, to the 3rd floor of the library building itself. The second floor of the library is supposed to have a disability resource center, which I suppose some think would be hypocritical without the bridge. Then there’s the Purple Line, which would come through the south side of the library on the first floor. All these variables do NOT necessitate a walkway that costs over three quarters of a million dollars.

Before you call me anti-people-with-disabilities, hear me out. I am a web designer and developer, and I spend a lot of time making sure my sites – many of which are for the federal government – are accessible by people with disabilities. The crux of that task is this: Any content that is available to the general public should be available to persons with disabilities. If that means the content is accessible through a screen reader, fine. If there needs to be a text equivalent of the content on another page, great. I can do that.

Here’s the catch: The library would be available to ALL – even in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act – without the pedestrian bridge. People would just have to cross Wayne avenue and take an elevator. Oh, and that’s assuming they could even find a parking space in the Wayne Avenue garage once the library is open. I dare you to defend that one when levels 5 and 6 have the only few available places on the weekends as it is now. People going to other places in the downtown area will fill that up fast enough.

I say (as many others do) take the money and put it into improvements into the intersection of Fenton and Wayne. And you can hear the people start to whine: (1) “It’s not safe to take kids across that intersection! It’s already too dangerous!” (2) “You have to take an elevator down and then go across and then go back up for the library!” (3) “Some of our patrons really need this access!” (4) “Parking in the neighborhood will get so bad!”

My answer? STFU.

(1) I take my 3-year-old daughter across that intersection all the time. Just don’t be an idiot about crossing the street. Use the money to make improvements to the intersection and we’ll be fine; (2) Elevators are made for disabled access; (3) Is there content (books) that isn’t available to persons with disabilities by other means? (see #2) Umm, no.; (4) I live three blocks away from the new library site. Bring it on.

Photo courtesy of Lukmire and Associates