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I do enjoy living in Montgomery County. As much as I bitch and moan about particular policies and such, it’s still a great place to be. Then there’s people like Ginny Gong who did everything but actually kick the Fenton Street Market in the ass to get them off the plaza. As you’ll see in the latest post from Hannah McCann, the RFP to open up Veterans Plaza to other options on Saturdays did great things like:

• Increase fees for use to a $600 minimum. Roughly a 1200% increase from current costs paid by Fenton Street Market.
• No guarantee for Saturday use. Yup – you can get kicked out any time they want to kick you out.
• Prohibit food vendors. Goodbye crêpes.
• Heavy-handed county oversight. That means opening books at any time the county wants to see them, standardizing all promotion – way to suck the life out of something else, MoCo.

Of coruse, there are lots of other stipulations. And for jumping through all these hoops, you get access to ONE one-year contract. Beautiful. Way to screw up, Montgomery County. I can understand the issues behind some of the requirements, but this was a boneheaded way to eliminate something that really helped make Silver Spring a community. Are you pissed yet? Then go tell Montgomery County. And Ginny Gong. I can’t wait to see what ends up in her email box after this debacle.

And in other news…

Next Steps for the Purple Line

The federal government approved the detailed engineering for the purple line last week, paving the way for a two-year effort to get actual logistics and engineering down to brass tacks. I still think I have an easier way to handle this:

I proposed this simpler route about 4 years ago, as I only really plan on going to the west side of the county. This would cut costs immensely. Sadly, some people didn’t think it was funny. They even had a tent up at the Fresh Farm Market last weekend promoting it. Now if we could just get the naysayers to agree to the stop at Wayne and Dale, we’d be good.

If I’m lucky, my daughter will be able to use this in about 20 years.

Giving your 5¢

Beginning at the first of the year, the 5¢ bag tax will go into full effect in Montgomery County. Get ready for bitching and moaning. The only time I ask for a bag nowadays is whan I buy 40s of malt liquor. I think it’s worth the extra classiness. And if you think I’m kidding, you don’t know me.

Speed Cameras on Georgia Avenue

I wrote about the addition of speed cameras back in April when two tickets showed up in my mail at the same day. When I was driving home past night, it appears those two cameras are now gone. Not sure if the removal is temporary, but for the time being, please feel free to resume normal vehicular operation.

ADDENDUM:

Meant to include this with the other news, but just got a link sent to me by alert reader BMSTT:

Alleged Bus Masturbator Charge in Driver Stabbing (Silver Spring)

Discuss amongst yourselves.

A great man (okay – he was half human) once said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” With apologies to Admiral James T. Kirk, this has again proven more than true in two recent instances.

Thank you, Councilmember Ervin
I think we really have Valerie Ervin to thank for helping to save Sligo Creek Golf Course. That, and the overwhelming outcry of the community. The only way SCGC was to be saved was for the County Council to renegotiate the contract with the Revenue Authority. Oh – and fix one minor detail: money.

The Washington Post reported that Ike Leggett proposed a plan that would keep the course open for another twelve months, even though my “buddy” Keith Miller at the Revenue Authority thinks “the long-term prospects at the other public courses, all with 18 holes and more challenging, are brighter than at Sligo.” Really? Measured how? By paying your salary? I’m gonna guess that not paying six figures a year to the Revenue Authority will help Sligo Creek’s financial prospects, and with this near-death scare, the people involved will find a way to make it work. And I’ll pony up some money in the form of increased green fees and a contribution to an endowment to help keep it up and running. Just tell me where and when.

And Speaking of Money…
That seems to be the one thing standing in the way of building light rail on the Purple Line, according to a news conference from Governor O’Malley. This endorsement comes much to the chagrin of our wealthy neighbors to the west. Chevy Chase Mayor Kathy Strom, along with 10 others, wrote a letter to the Federal Transit Administration in protest, saying, “It is shortsighted and irresponsible to destroy this irreplaceable greenspace which is both a local and regional treasure.” Not sure if they were talking about the Capital Crescent Trail or their beloved Chevy Chase Country Club.

Can’t wait to espouse the merits of a light rail purple line at September’s ESSCA meeting.

Purple line image courtesy of Wikipedia

There has been much talk recently about the latest round of Purple Line focus groups. Just up the Pike has a great writeup on the last meeting, as a matter of fact. I know that one of the goals is to make it easier for people to get from Prince George’s County to Bethesda, but I have to ask: what’s in it for me? What do I want?

I never go to New Carrollton, and if I ever go to College Park, it’s to pick up loads of unecessary crap from IKEA. I’m not about to haul that back via the light rail system. But I do work in Rockville, and have been known to go to Bethesda for evening outings now and then. All I really want is something to connect with the northwestern end of the Red Line. So here’s what I propose:

This solves multiple problems. Mainly, the issue of where the train travels through East Silver Spring is now a moot point. No splitting up Wayne Avenue. No more SSTOP signs in my neighborhood. If I took Metro (which is time prohibitive with the current map) this would reduce the number of stops in my commute from 22 to roughly 10. Now that’s a commute I could live with.

And now that Doug Duncan is over in College Park, he can find someone else’s budget to steal from to solve the problem of getting people from Prince George’s County to Bethesda (via Silver Spring, I guess). Because it looks like he’s not getting the “Birchmere” money anytime soon.