granolapark

Break out the chains and your copies of “We Shall Overcome”! It is time to affix yourself to the nearest Metro bus.

That was the consensus of the March 19th community meeting held to share information about the proposed development of the Metro “common” and discuss what the city’s next step should be in opposing it.

A large number of people attended, many of them activists who have been working on the issue for the last ten years. Not least of them were the city councilmembers, mayor, and staff (and former mayor Cathy Porter who also attended) who over the last decade have passed six resolutions, buttonholed every politician with an ounce of influence over WMATA, testified at numerous meetings, written stacks of letters, and otherwise put many hours of effort into opposing the development.

There are still three outside agencies through which the development must pass review: The FTA (Federal Transit Administration), the DC Zoning Board, and DC Historic Preservation. However, as one of the meeting participants, a DC advisory neighborhood commissioner, noted, DC’s mayor Adrian Fenty, who favors the EYA development, has been appointing his own zoning board members.

So, these reviews offer thin hope.

Another tactic the city can use is The Lawsuit. Understandably, city officials did not want to get specific about this as they do not want to publicly reveal their legal strategy. They did mention the potential high cost.

The tactic that our elected representatives would like to see as well, and one they don’t feel they should spearhead - is “direct action” from citizens. You know, what THAT means, Dear Readers! Linking arms! Singing “We Shall Overcome!” PIcketing! Chanting! Blocking busses! Chaining ourselves to turnstiles!

The audience was solidly behind this idea. Rumor has it that even former mayor Porter was fired up and ready to get in The Man's face. Politely, of course.

Some in the audience accused the city council of exhibiting a lack of passion for the issue. The Mayor assured them that this was not the case, the council and he were at the meeting to listen and gauge the community’s passion. They were also looking for direction. The last thing they want to do is start tilting at windmills only to have the citizenry object to wasted effort and money. It has happened before.

The council council tactic has been to focus on making sure the Metro transit facility, including: handicapped access to the subway, adequate room for buses, facilities for bikers, and so forth, is not compromised by the development. This, they feel is where they have the strongest case.

Some citizens, particularly those who had gone through the original struggle over the Metro station configuration with WMATA 32 years ago, spoke about returning to the original outrage - the despoiling of the green space which WMATA once promised to keep a permanent feature. They asked why the city was not insisting on holding them to that promise.

The reason, the council replied sadly, is that no written evidence of that promise has been found.

So, Dear Readers, it is up to us now. Are we willing make pests of ourselves to WMATA, to irritate them until their little beady eyes widen with frustration and annoyance, until they are driven to make peace, negotiate, surrender, anything to make it STOP?

Some very irate citizens want the city council to get a grip. On the city staff. By the scruff of the neck. Some council members are eager to do so.

The reason for this griping and gripping is The Survey, the one that asks “What should the city council do” about the proposed development on the green common and parking lot surrounding Takoma Metro station. Perhaps you saw it, Dear Reader, as it slithered out of your city newsletter. Or perhaps you browsed over to the city website and filled out the online version there. Maybe you filled it out twice, a dozen, or hundreds of times! And then you downloaded the pdf to your printer and printed out thousands of copies which you surreptitiously delivered one at a time, wearing a series of disguises, to the municipal building!

Sorry, Dear Readers, they are on to your little game! But, suggestion-box-stuffing and fraud are not the chief concerns here. It seems a city consultant (not a staff person, as it turns out), hired to facilitate the special March 19th public meeting about the Metro development, interviewed 10 city council and staff members familiar with the issue, crafted this survey based on the interviews, and - without giving the poo-bahs a chance to back-peddle, er . . . clarify and correct the survey questions, took it straight to the printers, ran off 13,000 copies and tucked them into the city newsletter.

This was considered to be worse than a well-intentioned “oops” by the peetybeeties (PTBTs - Pitchfork and Torch-Bearing Townsfolk) who showed up at the March 10th city council meeting. It wasn’t just townsfolk, either. Two Washington, DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners showed up to say “WTF!” Commissioner Sarah Green said the survey questions and info gave her the impression Takoma Park was ready to “throw in the towel.”

Councilmember Josh Wright, whose Ward 1 borders the Metro station was clearly irate about the survey. Neither he nor any of the other councilmembers had seen or reviewed it he said - as they murmered and nodded in assent. He further said he was not told there would be a survey. He found the survey questions confusing and poorly constructed. Some of them, he said, were off-topic and asked for answers the council does not need. He urged citizens not to fill out the survey, but to come to the March 19th special meeting on the Metro development.

Wright is one of the two New Guys on the council who took office in January. Clearly the training wheels are off. Also, Your Astute Observer noted that none of the other councilmembers mentioned the survey issue in the Council Comment session - probably a result of new mayor Bruce William’s encouragements to eliminate redundant, time-wasting comments.

“Wow, this is going to be a huge impact. This will drive people crazy.” said Takoma Park councilmember Colleen Clay.

Mayor Bruce Williams was apparently already driven crazy. He was squinting like a vengeful Clint Eastwood at the groveling band of sorry-excuse mongers standing before the council podium.

The band, otherwise known as the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), was at the March 3 city council meeting to present that public agency’s plan to replace and relocate old water and sewer pipelines on Sligo Creek Parkway this summer. The parkway, a well-used commuter route, will be torn up and closed to traffic.

The mayor and council took WSSC’s assurances that the job would take 90 days (6 months at the very most, they said later), with enough grains of salt to start a pretzel factory.

For instance, residents were not warned of upcoming water outages, contrary to WSSC pledges to do so, said the Mayor. He ticked off several more annoyances, including the fact that the temporary road patches now covering the work (until permanent ones could be made in warmer months) were inadequate.

The WSSC representatives hastened to regruntle the disgruntled mayor. The head contractor for the Sligo Creek Parkway job rose to assure the mayor that he would be taking a “personal interest” in making sure the job was done on time and to the community’s satisfaction.

The community will need a lot of satisfying. Most of the wards will be affected by the project. The city representatives expressed worries not only about WSSC keeping to its promised schedule, they were afraid the parkway closure would send heavy commuter traffic onto small neighborhood streets. They were also concerned about the potential loss of trees in the park.

WSSC swore on a stack of water utility bills they were not planning on taking any trees down, and that they would hold to the stated schedule.

Pass the salt.

At the same meeting the council heard from Takoma Park Police Chief Ronald A. Ricucci and two representatives from ACS State and Local Solutions, the contracting firm that wants to sell its speed camera service to the city.

The city already asked the police to do a speed study to see if the cameras would be worth the expense and effort. The police came back in the fall and said “no,” but the council asked them to review the data again.

A new study was done, this time by the contractor, that would be the contractor that wanted to sell cameras to the city, and, gosh, whaddyaknow? They came back with data showing that cameras WOULD be worthwhile!

Only councilmember Dan Robinson spoke up to remind the council that when it had reviewed the police speeding study, they had talked about using physical traffic calming measures rather than cameras to slow drivers down. He was promptly squelched by the mayor.

The contractors identified 4 possible spots: the 7400 block of New Hampshire Ave., the 1000 block of University Ave., Takoma Ave. near Buffalo Ave., and the 500 block of Ethan Allen Ave.

The council decided that the city should try putting cameras, or one mobile camera, at two of those locations.

The income from the speeding tickets (for going at least 10 miles above the speed limit) would be split between the city and the contractor, the city getting 40%.