The Purple Line builders want out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how to lobby HUD to look at Chevy Chase's history of racist redlining policies and to lobby for HUD to build affordable housing there? I'd sign it.

Go pound sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember the story about how one of the leaders of the anti-Purple Line groups had expanded his fenced yard well into the right of way. You can't take land from the government by adverse possession but he (and his neighbors) were arguing that they began doing this when CSX owned the land so it was now theirs.

Sounds like something for the courts to decide, not you or I

It might take years, with appeals, before we really know for sure. In the meantime, construction will have to be halted.

Fortunately the courts did decide. He lost. In 2016. I'm surprised that you haven't heard about this.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/marylands-highest-court-sides-with-montgomery-county-in-purple-line-fence-fight/

Not familiar with it, but I don’t live in that neighborhood either.

The environmental impact filings that are being prepared right now are my area of concern, not some silly attempt at adverse possession.

But a threat to endangered migratory fish from siltation in the stream where they spawn is a very big deal. Even the Feds will want to weigh in on this, after American Shad and Blueback Herring have both been found in Rock Creek now.

Huh. Because blueback herrings aren't listed as endangered or threatened either. And American shad are also not an endangered or threatened species.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/19/2019-12908/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-endangered-species-act-listing-determination-for
https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/endangered.aspx

I hope your lawyer works pro bono.

She’s a neighbor, and spearheading our efforts. We’re all behind her.

Maybe we can save the fish by stopping the PL, maybe we can’t. But we’re certainly going to try. And even if we’re unsuccessful, we can delay it, and you never know what might happen in the meantime. If the economy gets bad enough because of COVID, the state literally might run out of money.

I’ll take a win any way we get it.

So you hired an "expert" to find evidence of anything you could use to try and stop construction, they miraculously found the thing their client wanted and then one of your crackpot neighbors decided to waste her time on your stupid crusade as well. In a just world they'd run the train through your damn houses for being like this.

Yes, that’s the point of hiring a survey firm. To confirm or deny something that you suspect. In this case, we suspected there were vulnerable migratory fish species that will be adversely affected by siltation, and we were correct. This was confirmed by the survey company.

Now the MDE and DNR will have to evaluate these findings.


As I said, I’ll take a win any way we can get one. And a delay is as good as a win. If the economy sours further, as is likely, then MD might even run out of money to finish the PL. In that case, that’s a total victory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're despicable. You don't even care about the environment of the animals. You're grasping at straws to prevent lower income and minorities from having easier access to jobs and businesses in your more affluent community. You don't mind them as long as they stay where they belong.

Actually, my suspicion is that they're despicable because they're a troll.

I wish there hadn't been all of the lawsuits and delays with the Purple Line, though. It would have been great for my nephew who started at UMCP this year and lives in Bethesda.

Great. Let’s switch houses then!

I’ll take your quiet Bethesda street, and you take my house in Rock Creek Knolls, with the state trying to ramrod through a railroad in my neighbor’s back yard.

You’ll get to live near the train you want so badly, and I’ll get another quiet neighborhood like the one I love right now that is being destroyed.


Whaddya say? Deal?

[Anonymous]

The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’re clearly threatened locally by the construction. Once extirpated from an area, they aren’t likely to return. That makes them threatened.

I’m not a wildlife expert, so that’s a question for the people who understand it better than I.

In any case, the court will have plenty of time to go over all the findings of the survey.

Years, probably.

That's so not the way NEPA works that I don't even have words for it.

Again, I’m not the environmental expert. I just know the results of the survey undertaken, and the four species of local concern that were identified.

There will be plenty of opportunities for the Maryland Department of the Environment to conduct their own studies next year to confirm the results that the survey company we hired found. The courts will surely make time available for them to do so.

I just hope it’s not too late for these poor creatures.

"I just hope it's not too late for these poor creatures." Same could be said of Montgomery County residents' economic prospects after this fiasco...

Uh, I LIVE in MoCo. I pay taxes here, too.

And I didn’t vote for this boondoggle, or anyone who supported it. And I’m doing my best to help shut it down, even though I know it’s wasted my money as a taxpayer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

Poll after poll after poll after poll shows widespread support for the Purple Line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

Poll after poll after poll after poll shows widespread support for the Purple Line.

No one ever polled me or my neighbors. We’ve been against it and fighting to get it shut down since before it even started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

+ 1. Hope they run out of money and it stalls and goes defunct. The trail opening again would be amazing, but I won’t hold my breath.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

Poll after poll after poll after poll shows widespread support for the Purple Line.

No one ever polled me or my neighbors. We’ve been against it and fighting to get it shut down since before it even started.

That's not how polling works, either.

Montgomery County bought the right-of-way in 1987 to use for rail transit, so I guess that you and your neighbors have been at it for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

+ 1. Hope they run out of money and it stalls and goes defunct. The trail opening again would be amazing, but I won’t hold my breath.

+ 100. Hope it goes away. Tyranny of the majority (if that’s even true) at its worst.

[Anonymous]

What a horrible mess.

I'm not usually one to criticize people who want to protect nature and trails, but we desperately need public transport options, ,and the anti-Purple Liners are to blame here. They gummed up the works forever, and are responsible for the huge mark-up in cost to the TAXPAYER, ie, to themselves as well as to the rest of us.

Make no mistake - the Purple Line has been in discussion for more than 30 years. It's happening. Thank the protesters for the price tag!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're despicable. You don't even care about the environment of the animals. You're grasping at straws to prevent lower income and minorities from having easier access to jobs and businesses in your more affluent community. You don't mind them as long as they stay where they belong.

Actually, my suspicion is that they're despicable because they're a troll.

I wish there hadn't been all of the lawsuits and delays with the Purple Line, though. It would have been great for my nephew who started at UMCP this year and lives in Bethesda.

Great. Let’s switch houses then!

I’ll take your quiet Bethesda street, and you take my house in Rock Creek Knolls, with the state trying to ramrod through a railroad in my neighbor’s back yard.

You’ll get to live near the train you want so badly, and I’ll get another quiet neighborhood like the one I love right now that is being destroyed.


Whaddya say? Deal?

These arguments are so laughable.

If you don't want to live near the Purple line then sell your house - homes near fixed transit without exception are worth more than homes that are not.

And you do realize that there used to be an actual railroad through your neighbors back yards? A railroad that used to run uncontained coal trains powered by diesel engines through your neighbors back yards that the state bought out in a very public deal to preserve the land for a future rail line?

Nothing about this was secret or ramrodded through or unpopular for that matter as public transit is widely supported and well used in this region.

I hope the state will consider a special levy on homeowners in this neighborhood to collect some of the money their selfish legal shenanigans have cost the state.

Or better yet upzone the whole damn neighborhood and replace it with condos but pass a special taxation district so none of the current property owners can benefit from the increased value of their land and that money can be captured to offset the cost of their intransigence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember the story about how one of the leaders of the anti-Purple Line groups had expanded his fenced yard well into the right of way. You can't take land from the government by adverse possession but he (and his neighbors) were arguing that they began doing this when CSX owned the land so it was now theirs.

Sounds like something for the courts to decide, not you or I

It might take years, with appeals, before we really know for sure. In the meantime, construction will have to be halted.

Fortunately the courts did decide. He lost. In 2016. I'm surprised that you haven't heard about this.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/news/marylands-highest-court-sides-with-montgomery-county-in-purple-line-fence-fight/

Not familiar with it, but I don’t live in that neighborhood either.

The environmental impact filings that are being prepared right now are my area of concern, not some silly attempt at adverse possession.

But a threat to endangered migratory fish from siltation in the stream where they spawn is a very big deal. Even the Feds will want to weigh in on this, after American Shad and Blueback Herring have both been found in Rock Creek now.

Huh. Because blueback herrings aren't listed as endangered or threatened either. And American shad are also not an endangered or threatened species.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/19/2019-12908/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-endangered-species-act-listing-determination-for
https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/endangered.aspx

I hope your lawyer works pro bono.

She’s a neighbor, and spearheading our efforts. We’re all behind her.

Maybe we can save the fish by stopping the PL, maybe we can’t. But we’re certainly going to try. And even if we’re unsuccessful, we can delay it, and you never know what might happen in the meantime. If the economy gets bad enough because of COVID, the state literally might run out of money.

I’ll take a win any way we get it.

So you hired an "expert" to find evidence of anything you could use to try and stop construction, they miraculously found the thing their client wanted and then one of your crackpot neighbors decided to waste her time on your stupid crusade as well. In a just world they'd run the train through your damn houses for being like this.

Yes, that’s the point of hiring a survey firm. To confirm or deny something that you suspect. In this case, we suspected there were vulnerable migratory fish species that will be adversely affected by siltation, and we were correct. This was confirmed by the survey company.

Now the MDE and DNR will have to evaluate these findings.


As I said, I’ll take a win any way we can get one. And a delay is as good as a win. If the economy sours further, as is likely, then MD might even run out of money to finish the PL. In that case, that’s a total victory.

I'm curious has your supposedly environmentally minded group done surveys or filed suits against any of the endless road widenings in the immediate area? I'm certain you'd easily find some road projects that also impacted your beloved salamanders.

Or ever done any air quality surveys and filed any suits based on those?

No doubt if we poked around in your sheds we wouldn't find any pesticides?

And your garages are only filled with bikes and not imported SUVs?

And no doubt everyone in your group has been publicly advocating and insisting that the Columbia Country Club not use any pesticides or chemicals when they treat the golf course? Or better yet advocating that the golf course be closed down and allowed to revert to nature?

I also missed where your trail advocacy group came out publicly in support of the tunnel under 355 for bikers and pedestrians who would use the trail?

Since your group cares so much about the trail and the environment I presume all your members are practicing what they are preaching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Purple Line is doomed. It has a huge hex from all the people who hate it. It was shoved down people's throats. I'm glad it's not going to go forward and I hope the trail is opened up again.

+ 1. Hope they run out of money and it stalls and goes defunct. The trail opening again would be amazing, but I won’t hold my breath.

+ 100. Hope it goes away. Tyranny of the majority (if that’s even true) at its worst.

They're building rail transportation in a rail right-of-way in my neighbors' back yard! Tyranny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're despicable. You don't even care about the environment of the animals. You're grasping at straws to prevent lower income and minorities from having easier access to jobs and businesses in your more affluent community. You don't mind them as long as they stay where they belong.

Actually, my suspicion is that they're despicable because they're a troll.

I wish there hadn't been all of the lawsuits and delays with the Purple Line, though. It would have been great for my nephew who started at UMCP this year and lives in Bethesda.

Great. Let’s switch houses then!

I’ll take your quiet Bethesda street, and you take my house in Rock Creek Knolls, with the state trying to ramrod through a railroad in my neighbor’s back yard.

You’ll get to live near the train you want so badly, and I’ll get another quiet neighborhood like the one I love right now that is being destroyed.


Whaddya say? Deal?

These arguments are so laughable.

If you don't want to live near the Purple line then sell your house - homes near fixed transit without exception are worth more than homes that are not.

And you do realize that there used to be an actual railroad through your neighbors back yards? A railroad that used to run uncontained coal trains powered by diesel engines through your neighbors back yards that the state bought out in a very public deal to preserve the land for a future rail line?

Nothing about this was secret or ramrodded through or unpopular for that matter as public transit is widely supported and well used in this region.

I hope the state will consider a special levy on homeowners in this neighborhood to collect some of the money their selfish legal shenanigans have cost the state.

Or better yet upzone the whole damn neighborhood and replace it with condos but pass a special taxation district so none of the current property owners can benefit from the increased value of their land and that money can be captured to offset the cost of their intransigence.

You’re an ugly, petty, vile creature. You are scum.