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. 

Random MOCO Pic of the Day

I sometimes forget that the train lines through downtown Silver Spring aren't just for the metro.  Freight trains travel through here too!  Today it was a Union Pacific train sitting on the bridge over Colesville Road at a standstill--sort of like the traffic below it.

Colorful houses in my 'hood!

The first time I visited Miami I was taken with how colorful the city's houses were.

I saw houses painted bright red, vibrant blue, day-glow orange, deep purple, and even pepto pink.  Others were painted in soft shades of pastel, and a good number were multicolored.  It was a cacophony of color and I loved it.  In the neighborhood I grew up in everyone (and I mean everyone) lived in a brick house. We measured variation by shades of brick--camel, brownish red, dark red.    

Things aren't much different in the DMV.  There are more exceptions than in my hometown, of course, but as a general rule the houses here are just as buttoned up as their owners.  Brick is where it is at, whether you live in a center hall colonial or a Wardman era row house.  Even when people do paint their houses, they tend to be awfully conformist.  The colors don't stray far from the beige spectrum--tan, taupe, or antique white.     

Fortunately, not everyone in the DMV is a conformist!  Here are some of the more colorful houses in my 'hood.  With temps set to fall to 25 degrees tonight, these house colors remind me of Miami (and warm weather!):

    

What Does Jeffrey Thompson's Guilty Plea Mean for the Suburbs?

For two years DC prosecutors have been building a methodical case against the people involved in funding a shadow campaign to help Vincent Gray unseat incumbent Adrian Fenty in the 2010 mayoral campaign.  Today, the key architect of the scheme--businessman Jeffrey Thompson--pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy.  Prosecutors allege that Thompson spent upwards of 600k on the campaign, and that Gray, despite protests otherwise, knew about it. 

So, what does all of this mean for MoCo and other suburban jurisdictions of the DMV?  In the immediate, not much.  But, there could be some long term consequences if Grey doesn't win the primary.  (Remember, DC really doesn't have a Republican Party--at least not one organized enough to win elections--so the winner of the Democratic primary is the presumptive winner of the general election.)   

The most important long-term implication concerns the District's housing policy.  If Grey is out, the current policy could change.  It is too soon to know how it would change, but let's hope it changes for the better.  Under Gray, low income housing has suffered, and that has effects in the suburbs.

Gray's first mayoral campaign slogan--One City!--was on the face of it all about unity.  But, it was interpreted by many citizens as a comment on gentrification and its divisions.  Indeed,  the city's poor and minority populations saw the changes under former mayor Adrian Fenty as favoring whites and wealthy citizens.  At candidate forums in 2010 primary campaign, citizens on the eastern side of the city frequently complained about dog parks and bike lanes, which were, as Washington Post columnist Colbert I King noted at the time, code for "white influence." 

When Gray got elected, however, he didn't do much to preserve (or build new) low income housing.  In fact, a lot of people who thought he'd be an ally were deeply disappointed.  The result of Gray's approach to low income housing is that the city has been 'exporting' its poor and working class citizens to neighboring suburban districts.  People displaced by gentrification have to go somewhere, and many choose to stay in the area even though they leave the city.

The other side (the backlash if you will) of Gray's housing policy is growing homelessness.  The number of homeless families has been skyrocketing in the District.  Although no one knows exactly why--the numbers are higher now than they were at the start of the recession--we do know that among its neighbors DC has the most generous housing policy for homeless people during cold weather.  When the weather gets below freezing, homeless citizens have a right to overnight shelter.  This winter was really cold, so more people needed, and could demand shelter.  The Gray administration has struggled to find temporary shelter for all those in need of it.  It has also publicly complained that the city is housing homeless people from suburban jurisdictions. (This complaint is rich given that some of those people probably lived in the District not long ago...but I digress).     

Poverty and its negative side effects don't respect municipal borders.  So, if someone besides Gray wins election, DC's housing policy could change.  And, that will effect all of us, whether we live in the city or the suburbs. 

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 about those 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. 

Suburbs and Sidewalks

Ben Adler has an interesting piece on Grist about the new Safe Streets Act, a bill just proposed by Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

The legislation would require that all federally-funded transportation projects incorporate so called Complete Street Principles--the catch phrase for making sure streets take into account a variety of users, including pedestrians, bikers (Schwinn and Harley I presume), public transit, etc. There would be exceptions of course (no one is going to start requiring bike lanes on the interstate!). 

The Complete Streets idea is great, and it isn't just for gentrifying cities.  In fact, Adler points out that the bill's co-sponsors hail from Alaska and Hawaii--states not generally regarded as urban hotspots.  Urban or not, these states still have lots of people who need to walk.  Hawaii is a big retirement destination, and many elderly people can no longer drive.  Likewise, suburban and rural kids still have to walk to school (or the nearest bus stop).  Many walk on the shoulders of busy roads--trips that become more dangerous in winter when daylight comes after school starts and ploughed snow covers usual routes.   

All of this got me thinking about my own neighborhood's walkability.   In many ways my neighborhood is a study in contradictions.  From my house I can walk to a grocery store, a pub, several sandwich shops, a bakery, a coffee shop, a vet, and even a palm reader (suburbanites worry about their future too I guess!).  But, my journey to any of these places requires navigating a wide mix of walk environments. 

The main streets in my neighborhood have sidewalks, but my side street does not.  University Boulevard and Colesville Road also have sidewalks, but crossing either street is difficult.  The crosswalks are few and far between, and crossing between them is a little like running with the bulls in Spain.  You never know what sort of lumbering behemoth of an SUV will come charging your way--walk sign on or not.  

So, what could make my neighborhood more walkable?  Well, the first thing they could do is put in more sidewalks inside the residential parts of the neighborhood.  I don't even think doing so would be that difficult.  One of the first things I noticed when I moved here was that it looked like the lots were designed to have sidewalks out front.  Most of the houses sit on terraces, with a gentle slope down to a flat space in front that looks tailor made for sidewalks.  Here's a picture of one of these flat spaces.  Under all that snow is grass, but the spacing of trees and stair rails suggest a sidewalk was supposed to go here at some point.  
 

Here's another photo from my street.  You can see the same gentle slope down to a sidewalk like area.  Alas, no sidewalk, just grass (or in this case, snow on top of the grass).  

Sidewalks would not only make the street 'cuter,' they would provide a place for people to walk their dogs, play with their kids, and hang out.  And, best of all, the neighborhood wouldn't have to be retrofitted to put them in.  The space is there, waiting for walkers like you and me!

 

Snow Day well played MOCO

My husband had jury duty today at Montgomery County Circuit Court.  Because of the snow and ice, the court was closed.

My husband thought he'd have to show up tomorrow or in a couple of weeks for a makeup day.  Imagine the surprise when he found a notice on the website telling today's scheduled jury pool that they would be summoned again in 2 years! 

That is some snow day/reprieve/extended absence/sabbatical/public service vacay MOCO!   

Of course, this probably means I'll get called to serve on a grand jury, or selected for a high profile case that requires jury sequestration.  Until jury karma comes knocking, though, let me say 'well played MOCO! Circuit Court!'  You must not have the difficulty DC does in getting potential jurors to show up for court.