Like Karaoke, With Civics
Ike Leggett wants to feel your pain. Or at least hear about it.
At Tuesday's open-mic night in Chevy Chase, the county exec-elect listened to gripes ranging from undocumented aliens to traffic to education. For Silver Spring residents attending the town-hall meeting, the big issues were the Purple Line, pedestrian safety and rent control.
"When they talk about affordable housing, I hope that includes rentals," said one Silver Springer who did not give her name. According to the woman, rents had increased by at least 10% despite the county's recommended increase of 4%.
"We pay taxes. We feel betrayal," she added.
MoCo has no rent-control regulations, though the housing department does issue annual voluntary guidelines for rent increases. The recommended increase for 2006 was 4.4%. Actual increases averaged 4.9% in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, according to a county report.
Leggett acknowledged the loss of affordable rentals, which he attributed to condo conversions. "You increase [availability] by maintaining what you already have," he said.
Pedestrian safety was an issue, particularly for those living around the Forest Glen Metro station. A pedestrian bridge over Beltway access ramps opened earlier this year, linking the Forest Glen Metro station with the Montgomery Hills business district along Georgia Avenue. A pedestrian tunnel beneath Georgia Avenue also is in the works.
Walking can be hazardous even along Ellsworth Drive, said Silver Spring mom Sandra Markhardt. She worried that any accident along that privately owned road might create a negative image for all of downtown Silver Spring.
The biggest item--for residents of Silver Spring and beyond--was the Purple Line. Denise Cohen, a Silver Springer who "lives above the CSX [railroad] tracks," voiced her support for development of the light-rail line.
Nancy Nickell disagreed. "In East Silver Spring, homes are threatened by the Purple Line," she told Leggett. Instead, Nickell recommended improvements in Ride-On bus service and taxi service.
Leggett reminded the audience that the Purple Line is in the county's master plan. However, he offered to "exhaust every means necessary" to build it as a subterranean line. Leggett also warned that the line was not a panacea for the area's traffic problems.
"If you believe that the Purple Line standing by itself will do this, then we're not fully addressing the problem," he said. "We can't build our way out of this."
Thanks to MoCo's planning board for the graphic and this dude for the penguin pic.
8 comments:
Another (slightly more impassioned) view of Ike Leggett's town hall meeting.
Every time I hear him speak I lose more faith in him.
Thanks for your comments and link.
I learned something important at last night's town hall meeting: Silver Spring has a dichotemous (read: schizophrenic) nature.
Parts of it have suburban concerns. Development. Eminent domain. Automobile traffic.
Just across the street, one encounters urban concerns. Affordable housing. Mass transit. Pedestrian safety.
Is there a happy medium?
Ike was obviously elected because the majority of the people do want SLOWER GROWTH and "catch up". Have you ever lived in a place that was wildly overbuilt with out the correct infrastructure to support it?? Talk about roads falling apart and traffic jams - just take a trip to the outskirts of Richmond,Va. It's pretty damn ugly. We are very lucky here in Silver Spring and Montgomery County. Stop the Whining Already! With the election over and Ike as the County Exec. the people have spoken.
Development, Eminent domain and Automobile traffic are problems that are found in major cities across the U.S.
It isn't inhering to suburban places.
Baltimore has all the issues you just mentioned.
Silver Springer, you're right: Development, eminent domain and auto traffic aren't exclusively suburban concerns.
But at last night's town hall meeting, I found that those people most worried about those issues lived in suburban areas like Chevy Chase and even East Silver Spring.
Conversely, those worried about affordable housing, mass transit and pedestrian safety were from more urban areas like downtown Silver Spring.
While I agree with the anonymous poster who emphasized infrastructure development, Silver Spring's split personality raises the question of which projects move forward and which ones get the ax. For many residents of the downtown area, the Purple Line gets two thumbs up. For many in East Silver Spring, it gets two thumbs down.
One person's "infrastructure development" is another's "urban blight."
Again, is there a happy median?
a.forsteri, Thanks for the great objective reporting on this meeting. You covered all the bases and helped those of us who were not able to attend
Just giving you some support of schizo MoCo . . . to me it really is multiple personality. From the downtowns of SS and Bethesda
. . . to the suburbans and small towns (like Kensington) . . . to the
almost-rural areas in the north and western parts of the county.
I thought you made a good point.
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