The Washington Post is reporting that Arlington is going to pull the plug on planned Streetcars for Columbia Pike and Crystal City. You can read the story here.
This is bad news for Arlington, and could signal bad news for Maryland's purple line project. Why?
Two troubling signs:
1. Promises of State aid weren't enough to save the project. Arlington county officials had already secured 135 million from the state of Virginia. Usually, when transportation projects get killed it is because you can't get the state or feds on board. They were on board here. It still got killed. The purple line has a similar set of circumstances.
2. Opponents of local/state/federal spending on infrastructure are organized. The Arlington County Board elections a couple of weeks ago saw the ouster of a streetcar advocate and the election of someone ardently opposed to them. In the WAPO story, the Arlington County Board chair acknowledged that outcome when he announced the decision, saying, "We were caught flatfooted, we did not effectively make the case." In Maryland, Larry Hogan hasn't said much about the Purple Line, but his anti-tax rhetoric suggests he won't support it. And, as readers of this blog know, the purple line's opponents are organized and willing to sue to get their way.
The bigger question--what does all of this mean for redevelopment in the DMV's inner suburbs? Nothing good for people not adjacent to the city's already jammed metro system.
Showing posts with label purple line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purple line. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Purple Line Follies--spring 2014 edition part 1
How do people on different sides of the debate about the Purple Line settle their differences?
If this was Game of Thrones, one of them would invite the other to a wedding and then kill him, his wife, and the horse he rode in on.
Fortunately, Purple Line fights are more Gladys Kravitz than Kingslayer. The results are more comical as well.
The most recent fight started when Wayne Phyillaier complained to the Maryland Department of Transportation that a homeowner along the Capital Crescent Trail had extended his backyard onto public property by building a fence on the shoulder of the trail. For out-of-towners, the Capital Crescent trails is an old rail-line that has been turned into a hiking trail. The Purple Line is slated to be built along the trail.
Montgomery County investigated the complaint and levied a $500 fine against the homeowner, who happens to be one Ajay Bhatt, the president of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, a group fighting the line.
Turns out Phyillaier is an outspoken advocate of the line.
It is hard not to laugh at thesefifth-graders guys.
The Purple Line is most likely going to happen, so Phyillaier is on the winning side. He could have said nothing or reported all of the sheds and fences built in the trails' right of way (Bhatt apparently has lots of company in his sense of entitlement to public land).
For his part Bhatt has already gone to court once to avoid paying the fine. He lives in Chevy Chase, MD and owns his own company so can probably afford the fine. Instead, he'll likely pay more in court costs than the fine.
Well, at least they aren't jousting, sword-fighting or playing dodge ball.
On second thought, maybe dodge ball IS the way to solve this.
If this was Game of Thrones, one of them would invite the other to a wedding and then kill him, his wife, and the horse he rode in on.
Fortunately, Purple Line fights are more Gladys Kravitz than Kingslayer. The results are more comical as well.
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The most recent fight started when Wayne Phyillaier complained to the Maryland Department of Transportation that a homeowner along the Capital Crescent Trail had extended his backyard onto public property by building a fence on the shoulder of the trail. For out-of-towners, the Capital Crescent trails is an old rail-line that has been turned into a hiking trail. The Purple Line is slated to be built along the trail.
Montgomery County investigated the complaint and levied a $500 fine against the homeowner, who happens to be one Ajay Bhatt, the president of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail, a group fighting the line.
Turns out Phyillaier is an outspoken advocate of the line.
It is hard not to laugh at these
The Purple Line is most likely going to happen, so Phyillaier is on the winning side. He could have said nothing or reported all of the sheds and fences built in the trails' right of way (Bhatt apparently has lots of company in his sense of entitlement to public land).
For his part Bhatt has already gone to court once to avoid paying the fine. He lives in Chevy Chase, MD and owns his own company so can probably afford the fine. Instead, he'll likely pay more in court costs than the fine.
Well, at least they aren't jousting, sword-fighting or playing dodge ball.
On second thought, maybe dodge ball IS the way to solve this.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Purple Line Follies--Snarky but Revealing
Last Wednesday, Washington Post metro columnist Robert McCartney wrote an editorial in which he shared some unwelcome news with the Town of Chevy Chase---the Town is not, as was previously thought, the center of the universe.
Ok, he didn't say that. He was far more polite. He suggested the town should stop spending its tax money on lobbying to have the Purple Line moved from its current route and instead work to lessen its impact. The line's route has now been approved by federal, state, and local governments. It isn't likely to move.
Well, not surprisingly, the Town of Chevy Chase didn't like that. No, it didn't. Not one bit.
On Saturday, the Washington Post's editorial page gave its "Local Opinions" space to Jim Mich, a resident of the Town of Chevy Chase. Mich wrote in to say that McCartney was wrong--the Town is indeed the center of the universe.
Ok, Mich didn't say that either. But he was miffed that McCartney had stereotyped the Town's residents as "a bunch of rich people who don't know what to do with our money." He also suggested the state could learn something about "sticking to a budget" by watching how the Town manages its money.
When I got to that line in Mich's letter I thought to myself "Oh no he didn't!" So, naturally, I kept reading. And, what I found was revealing.
Mich stepped outside of the normal parameters of Purple Line critique (that it will put children in harm's way, cut down hundreds of trees, cost too much, and increase traffic) and said what this is really about--stopping development.
As Mich argued, "The driving force behind the Purple Line is the people who want it to provide a catalyst for more development. This is a development issue, period, and we would be remiss if we suddenly took a back seat to the development industry which, left unchecked, will run amok to the detriment of residents."
So, what to make of the anti-development sentiment here?
My first reaction is that trying to stop development in this region is akin to thinking you can stop a barn fire by closing its doors.
According to Census quick facts the District added nearly 45 thousand people between 2010 and 2013. That's a percent change in the population of 7.4% (in the US as a whole the percent change was only 2.4%). Census quick facts for MOCO show greater than average growth as well. Between 2010 and 2012 the county added almost 33 thousand people (a percent change of 3.4%).
You can't blame developers for numbers like these (and I say this as someone who blames developers for a host of things). The DMV has a lot going for it--plentiful, well paying jobs being one of the main draws. So, stopping the purple line won't stop population growth. However, not building the line in the face of this growth will make it harder to move around the inner suburbs.
In light of these trends, the Town of Chevy Chase's opposition to the purple line seems more like a 'the rest of you be damned' sentiment than a garden variety 'not in my backyard' one.
Ok, he didn't say that. He was far more polite. He suggested the town should stop spending its tax money on lobbying to have the Purple Line moved from its current route and instead work to lessen its impact. The line's route has now been approved by federal, state, and local governments. It isn't likely to move.
Well, not surprisingly, the Town of Chevy Chase didn't like that. No, it didn't. Not one bit.
On Saturday, the Washington Post's editorial page gave its "Local Opinions" space to Jim Mich, a resident of the Town of Chevy Chase. Mich wrote in to say that McCartney was wrong--the Town is indeed the center of the universe.
Ok, Mich didn't say that either. But he was miffed that McCartney had stereotyped the Town's residents as "a bunch of rich people who don't know what to do with our money." He also suggested the state could learn something about "sticking to a budget" by watching how the Town manages its money.
When I got to that line in Mich's letter I thought to myself "Oh no he didn't!" So, naturally, I kept reading. And, what I found was revealing.
Mich stepped outside of the normal parameters of Purple Line critique (that it will put children in harm's way, cut down hundreds of trees, cost too much, and increase traffic) and said what this is really about--stopping development.
As Mich argued, "The driving force behind the Purple Line is the people who want it to provide a catalyst for more development. This is a development issue, period, and we would be remiss if we suddenly took a back seat to the development industry which, left unchecked, will run amok to the detriment of residents."
So, what to make of the anti-development sentiment here?
My first reaction is that trying to stop development in this region is akin to thinking you can stop a barn fire by closing its doors.
According to Census quick facts the District added nearly 45 thousand people between 2010 and 2013. That's a percent change in the population of 7.4% (in the US as a whole the percent change was only 2.4%). Census quick facts for MOCO show greater than average growth as well. Between 2010 and 2012 the county added almost 33 thousand people (a percent change of 3.4%).
You can't blame developers for numbers like these (and I say this as someone who blames developers for a host of things). The DMV has a lot going for it--plentiful, well paying jobs being one of the main draws. So, stopping the purple line won't stop population growth. However, not building the line in the face of this growth will make it harder to move around the inner suburbs.
In light of these trends, the Town of Chevy Chase's opposition to the purple line seems more like a 'the rest of you be damned' sentiment than a garden variety 'not in my backyard' one.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
NIMBYs and Nazis? After a Good Start to the Week the Purple Line Hits Bumps in the Road
This week started off with good news for the purple line. The project was selected for federal funds, which will make private investment in the line more likely. On hump day the news was mixed. And, by Friday the story was anything but positive.
The Gazette (a local paper for Silver Spring and Takoma Park) had an above the fold headline entitled "Civil Groups May get Seat at Purple Line Discussion." According to the story, two MOCO council members are asking County Executive Isiah Leggett to transform the "Coalition of Purple Line Neighborhoods" into a formal task force that would interface with the MOCO's Department of Transportation and the Maryland Transit Administration as the final route is finalized and construction begins.
What's wrong with civil participation you ask? Well, it depends on how civic minded the participation will be. This could be good if the civic groups in the coalition push for added safety along the line, especially where pedestrians could cross the line, or better breaks for families and businesses whose property will be taken via eminent domain. But, it could also be a fox in the hen house moment. The Town of Chevy Chase, which has filed a lawsuit over the line, is in the coalition. If they get to meet regularly with the Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) and MOCO's Department of Transportation, they could turn NIMBYism into an executive level function. I'm sorry, but the lawsuit makes it hard for me to trust their motives.
The news on Friday was worse. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) sent a warning letter to Montgomery County officials reminding them that federal contracting rules do not permit discrimination against potential bidders. Some context. One of the companies involved in the bidding as an affiliate is the French company SCNF. During World War II SCNF transported Jews to Nazi death camps. The Maryland House of Delegate's Kirill Reznik (Democrat, Montgomery County, District 39) has introduced a bill to force SCNF to pay reparations to victims of the Holocaust and their surviving family members.
SCNF says the company was taken over by the Nazis during the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Hitler during World War II. They have also paid reparations, but only to French victims/family members. No Americans have received reparations.
Reznik says his bill isn't designed to kill the purple line (he counts himself as a supporter). And, he has suggested he'll change the bill to prevent scuttling the project. But, the testimony to Maryland House and Senate committees from survivors and their family members was a brutal reminder of wartime atrocities and the collaboration of many companies that allowed it to happen. If SCNF wins the contract, it will cast a pall over the project. Let's hope it doesn't.
The Gazette (a local paper for Silver Spring and Takoma Park) had an above the fold headline entitled "Civil Groups May get Seat at Purple Line Discussion." According to the story, two MOCO council members are asking County Executive Isiah Leggett to transform the "Coalition of Purple Line Neighborhoods" into a formal task force that would interface with the MOCO's Department of Transportation and the Maryland Transit Administration as the final route is finalized and construction begins.
What's wrong with civil participation you ask? Well, it depends on how civic minded the participation will be. This could be good if the civic groups in the coalition push for added safety along the line, especially where pedestrians could cross the line, or better breaks for families and businesses whose property will be taken via eminent domain. But, it could also be a fox in the hen house moment. The Town of Chevy Chase, which has filed a lawsuit over the line, is in the coalition. If they get to meet regularly with the Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) and MOCO's Department of Transportation, they could turn NIMBYism into an executive level function. I'm sorry, but the lawsuit makes it hard for me to trust their motives.
The news on Friday was worse. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) sent a warning letter to Montgomery County officials reminding them that federal contracting rules do not permit discrimination against potential bidders. Some context. One of the companies involved in the bidding as an affiliate is the French company SCNF. During World War II SCNF transported Jews to Nazi death camps. The Maryland House of Delegate's Kirill Reznik (Democrat, Montgomery County, District 39) has introduced a bill to force SCNF to pay reparations to victims of the Holocaust and their surviving family members.
SCNF says the company was taken over by the Nazis during the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Hitler during World War II. They have also paid reparations, but only to French victims/family members. No Americans have received reparations.
Reznik says his bill isn't designed to kill the purple line (he counts himself as a supporter). And, he has suggested he'll change the bill to prevent scuttling the project. But, the testimony to Maryland House and Senate committees from survivors and their family members was a brutal reminder of wartime atrocities and the collaboration of many companies that allowed it to happen. If SCNF wins the contract, it will cast a pall over the project. Let's hope it doesn't.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Some Love for the Purple Line
The Purple Line is one step closer to becoming reality after Wednesday's announcement that the Federal Transit Administration had included the Purple Line on a list of 7 projects slated for "new starts" grants.
Although the state has been lining up private money for the project, few people believe private money will materialize without federal backing. In that regard, Wednesday's news can be viewed as an insurance policy of sorts--private money is now more likely and with it so is the purple line.
Here's the most recent map of the proposed route.
Of late the coverage about the purple line has focused on its opponents (e.g. the Town of Chevy Chase). As with any big public works project, though, the goal is to benefit far more people than you disadvantage. So, what are the benefits of a Purple Line? Here are two that come to (my) mind:
1. The purple line will update the metro system's hub and spoke design. A hub and spoke network is basically designed to move people from suburb to city (and vice versa). People that want to go from suburb to suburb don't tend to get much benefit from a hub and spoke system because the spokes only connect through the hub. If I want to take the metro to go from Silver Spring to Bethesda, for example, I have to go through DC and then back out again. The distance by road is about 5 miles. By train it's around 15 miles. The purple line will provide people going between Maryland's DMV suburbs with another, faster public transportation option.
2. Transit beckons development. Urban planners love something called 'smart growth,' which in the DMV usually translates into building at higher density around transit points. And, since the fashion these days is the 'mixed use development,' the transit stations along the purple line could see a boost in housing and retail options. This trend won't have a huge affect in a place like Bethesda, which is already well developed, but stops on the eastern half of the line, where development has been anemic, could really benefit.
There are, of course, potential downsides. And, it is worth considering those not normally considered in the papers (i.e. let's stop worrying aboutthose poor wretches with the best legal representation money can buythe Town of Chevy Chase for a minute and think about who else might see less love than pain from the purple line)
1. The working class Hispanic population. Let me start with some context. Most of the transit stops along the proposed purple line are in areas geographers and urban studies types call 'first suburbs.' The Brookings Institution defines first suburbs with two criteria--they were built before 1950 and are located in counties adjacent to the main city. In DC this usually means suburbs inside (or touching the beltway). First suburbs are a study in contradiction. Some of their neighborhoods are quite posh (Bethesda). But, some have experienced significant disinvestment (Langley Park). This is especially true as you move east along the proposed purple line. This wealth gradient means that housing in MoCo's eastern suburbs and PG county's western suburbs has become an affordable oasis in a metro area where housing prices are ridiculous (see my earlier post on this topic here). Big stretches of University Boulevard, for example, now have large immigrant populations from Central America. The area around 'Tick Tock' Liquor store is a veritable little El Salvador. There are also some amazing Asian and African places tucked in between the pupersaries and Peruvian chicken places. The boom of immigrants to these areas has made them culturally vibrant places. Developers coming into these neighborhoods may appreciate this 'diversity' as a selling point, but they probably won't build new houses or apartments for the working class Hispanics already living in the area. Instead, they'll do what developers in DC have done--aim for the luxury market. And, that will mean gentrification and displacement.
Although the state has been lining up private money for the project, few people believe private money will materialize without federal backing. In that regard, Wednesday's news can be viewed as an insurance policy of sorts--private money is now more likely and with it so is the purple line.
Here's the most recent map of the proposed route.
Of late the coverage about the purple line has focused on its opponents (e.g. the Town of Chevy Chase). As with any big public works project, though, the goal is to benefit far more people than you disadvantage. So, what are the benefits of a Purple Line? Here are two that come to (my) mind:
1. The purple line will update the metro system's hub and spoke design. A hub and spoke network is basically designed to move people from suburb to city (and vice versa). People that want to go from suburb to suburb don't tend to get much benefit from a hub and spoke system because the spokes only connect through the hub. If I want to take the metro to go from Silver Spring to Bethesda, for example, I have to go through DC and then back out again. The distance by road is about 5 miles. By train it's around 15 miles. The purple line will provide people going between Maryland's DMV suburbs with another, faster public transportation option.
2. Transit beckons development. Urban planners love something called 'smart growth,' which in the DMV usually translates into building at higher density around transit points. And, since the fashion these days is the 'mixed use development,' the transit stations along the purple line could see a boost in housing and retail options. This trend won't have a huge affect in a place like Bethesda, which is already well developed, but stops on the eastern half of the line, where development has been anemic, could really benefit.
There are, of course, potential downsides. And, it is worth considering those not normally considered in the papers (i.e. let's stop worrying about
1. The working class Hispanic population. Let me start with some context. Most of the transit stops along the proposed purple line are in areas geographers and urban studies types call 'first suburbs.' The Brookings Institution defines first suburbs with two criteria--they were built before 1950 and are located in counties adjacent to the main city. In DC this usually means suburbs inside (or touching the beltway). First suburbs are a study in contradiction. Some of their neighborhoods are quite posh (Bethesda). But, some have experienced significant disinvestment (Langley Park). This is especially true as you move east along the proposed purple line. This wealth gradient means that housing in MoCo's eastern suburbs and PG county's western suburbs has become an affordable oasis in a metro area where housing prices are ridiculous (see my earlier post on this topic here). Big stretches of University Boulevard, for example, now have large immigrant populations from Central America. The area around 'Tick Tock' Liquor store is a veritable little El Salvador. There are also some amazing Asian and African places tucked in between the pupersaries and Peruvian chicken places. The boom of immigrants to these areas has made them culturally vibrant places. Developers coming into these neighborhoods may appreciate this 'diversity' as a selling point, but they probably won't build new houses or apartments for the working class Hispanics already living in the area. Instead, they'll do what developers in DC have done--aim for the luxury market. And, that will mean gentrification and displacement.
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