Dinner links: Representatives speak up

by David Alpert • September 10, 2009 5:02 pm

17th and E, NW. Photo from Google Street View.

Three-quarters for transit: 18 of the 24 Montgomery County state delegates signed a letter to Governor O'Malley urging the state to study transit on the 270 corridor as ACT recommends. Five of them also signed the letter supporting the Corridor Cities Transitway and widening 270; they might not be sure what they want, or just support any public works project sight unseen, or maybe, like Saqib Ali, they signed because of the CCT without fully realizing it also endorsed the widening. (Maryland Politics Watch)

Reopen E Street: Among the discussions over the proposed Vermont Avenue farmers' market is a great suggestion from Councilmember Jack Evans: Reopen E Street past the Ellipse. It really doesn't serve much of a security purpose, and with E and Pennsylvania closed, east-west congestion is terrible, including for buses. Evans says, "Today, it is being used as a parking lot by the people who work at the White House ... which is not a security issue." (WTOP)

NYC Councilmember calls for MTA openness: New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer, who also chairs the Technology in Government Committee, sent the MTA a letter recommending they embrace openness and innovation instead of hoarding their schedule data and legally threatening people who want to help riders find transit options. Gale was also my Councilmember for the last two years I lived in New York.

Not the church reserve: A Frederick resident argues against the proposed megachurch on the Frederick-Montgomery border. The project will bring substantial traffic into the Agricultural Reserve, as few of the members live in Damascus, Maryland. (According to the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, most members live in Silver Spring, where the church is now located.) (Gazette)

15 minutes of time savings worth more than a movie ticket: An IBM online poll found that most people would pay about $10-20 for each 15 minutes they could save on their commute. At a conference, a former FHWA official made the analogy to movies: What if you could see all movies anytime, for free, but then the government took an indeterminate amount of money from you at tax time to cover the theater costs regardless of how many movies you saw? (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)

Another island, another parking debate: St. Simon's Island, Georgia, is considering charging for parking. But many residents oppose the idea for the usual reasons. Some suggested just charging during the high demand season, which is very sensible. (Jacksonville.com)

Terrorist right on only one thing: freeway policy: Mohamed Atta, who piloted a hijacked airliner into the World Trade Center's North Tower, had previously earned a Master's degree in Urban Planning. His thesis focuses on rebuilding the damage to the traditional "Islamic-Oriental" city done by American-style freeway building and redevelopment. (Slate, Matt')

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17 comments Share	— tags: Agricultural Reserve, churches, congestion pricing, data openness, downtown DC, Frederick, free parking, freeways, Georgia, I-270, Jack Evans, links, Maryland, Montgomery, New York, road connectivity, security

Montgomery groups attack 270 widening, criticize "false choice" (Jul 20, 2009)
On Tuesday, Montgomery Council can avoid "ICC 2.0" (Jul 16, 2009)
Gaithersbungle, part 2: Old, tired formulas generate old, disastrous solutions (Jul 1, 2009)
Gaithersbungle: Planning Board staff latest to ignore better way for Gaithersburg (Jun 29, 2009)
Delegate Frick sees issue on GGW, writes letter to NPS (Mar 18, 2009)

Comments

Jack Evans is right, but as a parking area it is going to be even harder to convince anyone in the White House to reopen it. The idea would never reach the president because all the aides who would have to walk that much further would never let it filter past them.

by ah on Sep 10, 2009 5:37 pm

I thought churches didn't have to follow government intrusions like land use laws or historic designations...

by цarьchitect on Sep 10, 2009 5:48 pm

I couldn't tell from either your or their blog post - does that mean $15 a day? a year? for the 15 minutes taken off of the commute.

by Lauren on Sep 10, 2009 5:59 pm

I interpreted it to mean each time they saved 15 minutes. I can't imagine it's that much per year, since otherwise the responses would have been orders of magnitude higher, and if it had been per week or something, I'd expect that would have been clear.

by David Alpert on Sep 10, 2009 6:03 pm

Interesting - $1 a minute seems pretty high as an average. It certainly isn't that high for me - if it were I would take a cab to work everyday instead of the Metro or bus - $10 cab ride would get me there in 15 minutes instead of the free (funded by work) 30-35 minute ride on public transit.

by Lauren on Sep 10, 2009 6:10 pm

The FHWA analogy isn't perfect, since most people have (or could easily have) a pretty good idea of their annual taxes. But, yes, the point stands about overconsumption of free resources. Indeed, if Metro charged the full cost of riding it, fewer people would take Metro.

by ah on Sep 10, 2009 8:34 pm

цarьchitect - City of Boerne v. Flores held that Congress's effort to create such protections in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was unconstitutional. As a result, neutral zoning laws can be applied equally to churches.

That said, states may have enacted laws created exceptions. For example, DC I believe exempts churches from the residential use zoning rules--that is, churches can be in residentially zoned areas even though they're not residential. (DC may not be the best example, because RFRA still limits the federal government's application of zoning etc. to churches)

by ah on Sep 10, 2009 9:11 pm

Free parking disguised as a security feature. If the White House were truly concerned about security, it would close the ellipse and E Street to all cars, including those of staffers.

The fact that it remains a large parking lot proves that the ruling political classes' environmental policy is pure hypocrisy: taxes for the common folk and free parking lots for White House and Congressional staffers. Heaven forbid the ruling Democratic poobahs suffer the indignity of public transit. Perish the thought!

by Monumentality on Sep 10, 2009 11:07 pm

I think that cars of staffers who show a WH pass to gain entry are somewhat less likely to contain a bomb than any old car or truck that would otherwise have access to E Street.

That said, if someone can harm the WH from E Street with a truck bomb we'd better close off 17th and 15th as well.

by ah on Sep 10, 2009 11:28 pm

The FHWA movie analogy is way off and woefully incomplete. Other people going to free movies does not benefit me so taxing me to cover the expense would be unfair. Other people driving a free highway system benefits me (whether or not I drive) because then I get cheaper food and goods that need to be shipped over those roadways. Paying some tax to support that system is fair.

Wonder how long it will take to ferret the CATO moles out of the FHWA.

by crin on Sep 11, 2009 7:16 am

I really don't get Evans's weak attempts at equivalency. Opening E St 24/7, as opposed to seven weekday closures of Vermont Avenue. Where's the equivalency? That's not to say I don't think re-opening E St is a good idea, but piggybacking on the FLOTUS's plans for a farmer's market near the White House seems a little tacky. It's as tacky as Mark Plotkin in the White House press room, paying One Note Johnny with his constant harping on inane issues like limousine license plates. And we wonder why the District's issues never get taken seriously.

by Paul on Sep 11, 2009 9:45 am

Monumentality - what does party have to do with it? It was a Republican in office when the choice was made to close E street and turn it into a parking lot.

But let's not forget two things:

1. No truck or car bomb detonated on E street would be strong enough to be a risk to the president or even to the White House itself. There is too much distance. It's physics.

2. E street was open to cars and trucks for many many decades and nothing ever happened other than traffic actually flowing better through the city. Yes, past performance is no guarantee of future results, but the risk is so so low compared to the obvious and immediate benefits to society of reopening the street. ah gets us halfway there by pointing out that WH staffers cars are "somewhat less likely" to contain a bomb. The other half is that the difference is from .0001% to maybe .00005%.

I do hope this has some legs. It's seems unlikely, but we can always hope.

by Josh on Sep 11, 2009 9:47 am

Josh --

The history. E Street was closed under Bill Clinton, after the Oklahoma City bombing, then briefly reopened in 1999/2000, only to be closed again after 9/11/01. It's not a partisan issue.

by Paul on Sep 11, 2009 9:52 am

I'd have far less of an issue with them closing E St NW if they landscaped it and pedestrianized it like they did for Pennsylvania Ave.

Right now, if you try to walk by there to take some touristy pictures of the White House through the fence, you've got to hop over some jersey barriers with security folks not letting you simply walk across the street.

If the street is to remain closed, then close it and redesign it as a part of the Ellipse. If it's going to be re-opened, then re-open it. The current situation is unacceptable regardless of whether E St has traffic on it or not.

by Alex B. on Sep 11, 2009 10:05 am

About the megachurch:

The proposed Global Mission Church site is in Frederick County (near Hyattstown; not near Damascus), but the road access is through the Agricultural Reserve in Montgomery County, and Montgomery County signed off on the road access, signage, forest, and lighting plans. If the proposed site were on the south side of Route 109, in Montgomery County, instead of the north side, in Frederick County, the church would not be allowed to build.

Also, church members live in Potomac and so on, according to the pastor at a church information meeting in Frederick last month; the church is on Georgia Avenue near Northgate Plaza (does this count as Silver Spring?).

by Miriam on Sep 11, 2009 10:28 am

Im with Alex B on this one

Pedestrianize E street and make it accessible to bicyclists and walkers . What they did in front of the WH is excellent.
I for one love this idea- I dont care at all what EH Norton says about it- I think she is wrong. We could use more pedestrianized streets in DC- but make them better than the bad job they did in front of the National Portrait gallery back in the 70's. It became a hangout for criminals,bums and alcoholics and it was not at all a friendly type of atmosphere.

Actually- what they have there now is a world better- a super wide sidewalk that is used for celebrations and has a Smartbike rack on it.Those fountain pits that they used to have never flowed and just contained urine and other toxins.It is a much nicer place now.

Yes- pedestrianizing city streets can be done successfully.

by w on Sep 11, 2009 12:22 pm

david: two things. first, there's no apostrophe in st. simons island (i lived on the next island southjekyllwhen i was in grad school). second, i just have to say WOW, it was interesting to see st. simons even mentioned on GGW. pretty cool!

by IMGoph on Sep 13, 2009 2:00 pm