S/O purple line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well since we live here and pay a shitload in taxes I think we should have a say; you may use the Purple Line but we have to live with it and it's going to adversely affect quality of life. And honestly, why would I want to go to New Carrolton or Lanham or pretty much anything east of Grubb road? Parkway Deli is far enough east for me.

Great, here is a challenge for you while you're deciding which lululemon cami to wear today:

Please give a compelling reason why the county taxes you paid should give your opinion more weight than the opinion of the all the taxpaying Montgomery County residents who support this project.

Also, the lion's share of the funding is federal, state and now maybe private.

Because I will continue to have to pay sky high taxes even though the quailty of life in my neighborhood will be adversely affected by the PL.

Not all of us are down here from New Jersey getting our tickets punched. This happens to be home and simply moving is not an option. But thanks for concern and have you considered running for governor?

Logical solution: move.

You had your opportunity to protest this, and you lost. It's happening. Put on your big girl pants and accept it or move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The purple line is getting built people, despite what a few nimbys and the columbia country club members want. land acquisition is underway, effectively making eventual construction a fait accompli. along with some responsible version of the brt proposal, this is a game-changer for moco.

Jargon and confused thinking.

Not the PP, but I'll put it in simpler language:

The Purple Line will get built, even though some people who think "Not in my back yard!" and some people who belong to the Columbia Country Club oppose it. The state will soon start buying land for the Purple Line. This shows the state's commitment to building the Purple Line. Montgomery County will also build a responsible version of the Bus Rapid Transit plan that will come before the County Council next month. [I'm not sure what the PP means by "a responsible version".] Montgomery County is finally moving away from the outdated thinking that transportation = cars.

By responsible I meant that not every piece of the huge original BRT plan will get approved at once...probably a scaled down version hitting the highlight corridors. 270 north of Shady Grove and Route 29 past White Oak are the 2 prime examples of what could reasonably be done in the next 10 years with only limited new tax money and/or federal grants. I am pleasantly surprised at how progressive MoCo is by prioritizing quality of life, but then again except for the pike corridor there has been relatively responsible development/redevelopment within MoCo over the years, at least compared to some other local jurisdictions.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why some posters believe that Federal funding for this project is assured. That's not so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why some posters believe that Federal funding for this project is assured. That's not so.

Funding the PL is not a wise political move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why some posters believe that Federal funding for this project is assured. That's not so.

Not assured but also not absolutely necessary. By putting two high profile projects in MD to the feds (Red line Balto and PL) the state is virtually assured of getting one. And O'Malley (and by extension pretty much every Democrat) has pledged to fund the other from state revenues (think ICC like), which makes it a question of when, not whether. By buying the land now, that leads to political momentum. Remember, the timeframe from land acquisition for the ICC until the road opened was only about 8-9 years, which is lightning speed in infrastructure time. I would expect the same here, except a little faster because construction is more streamlined for the PL right of way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The professional football team that plays in Prince George's County might also be a reason why people in Montgomery County might want to consider the Purple Line.

This is such an obtuse discussion with so many who are stuck in the 1950's paradigm of driving everywhere.

It's not about the driving.

It's about who is coming into the lily white 'hood!

LMFAO!

NIMBY at its finest!

Welcome to the REAL WORLD, Bethesda!

[Anonymous]

If they were smart they would build the line to the west. I'd be much more likely to ride it to Tyson's than to New Carrollton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they were smart they would build the line to the west. I'd be much more likely to ride it to Tyson's than to New Carrollton.

Again, the fact that you think you will not ride the Purple Line does not mean that nobody will ride the Purple Line. Plenty of people will ride the Purple Line. It might even turn out that you do.

Now, would a Purple Line extension to Tysons be great? Of course it would. And if you want one, probably the best way to get one is to make sure that the Purple Line gets built as planned between Bethesda and New Carrollton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why some posters believe that Federal funding for this project is assured. That's not so.

Not assured but also not absolutely necessary. By putting two high profile projects in MD to the feds (Red line Balto and PL) the state is virtually assured of getting one. And O'Malley (and by extension pretty much every Democrat) has pledged to fund the other from state revenues (think ICC like), which makes it a question of when, not whether. By buying the land now, that leads to political momentum. Remember, the timeframe from land acquisition for the ICC until the road opened was only about 8-9 years, which is lightning speed in infrastructure time. I would expect the same here, except a little faster because construction is more streamlined for the PL right of way.

Yes, it is necessary. And PL is rated low-medium for cost effectiveness and accuracy of cost estimates by FTA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
PL is rated low-medium for cost effectiveness and accuracy of cost estimates by FTA.

That is incorrect. The FTA rates the Purple Line as medium-high.

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/MD_Maryland_Purple_Line_Profile_final_pdf.pdf

[Anonymous]

Whatever it is rated, it is a better investment than the ICC - a white elephant from the day it was conceived to the present. MD taxpayers will be footing that bill for generations to come.

The Purple Line, on the other hand, will actually take cars off the road and provide a real service where people already live, work and play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Because I will continue to have to pay sky high taxes even though the quailty of life in my neighborhood will be adversely affected by the PL.


Good news! If the Purple Line is bad for the quality of life in your neighborhood, then your property value will go down, and so the taxes you pay will go down too!

That's right, PP, think of the silver lining. Soon you could have an Aldi near you!

[Anonymous]

I'm really surprised to see how much resistance there is to this from Bethesda. I understand anyone who is either displaced from their property or directly in the path of the purple line (such as certain roads in silver spring, where for a long time you'd see anti-purple line signs) objecting to it, but the idea that it's going to fundamentally alter the quality of life in Bethesda seems kind of silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PL is rated low-medium for cost effectiveness and accuracy of cost estimates by FTA.

That is incorrect. The FTA rates the Purple Line as medium-high.

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/MD_Maryland_Purple_Line_Profile_final_pdf.pdf

Read the whole report, not just the parts you like. FYI I do not live in Bethesda but commute there by bike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PL is rated low-medium for cost effectiveness and accuracy of cost estimates by FTA.

That is incorrect. The FTA rates the Purple Line as medium-high.

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/MD_Maryland_Purple_Line_Profile_final_pdf.pdf

Read the whole report, not just the parts you like. FYI I do not live in Bethesda but commute there by bike.

Huh? I don't get it. The rating is right there on the front page of the link, which goes to the FTA website:

Preliminary engineering (Rating assigned September 2011)

Overall project rating: Medium-high
Project justification rating: Medium-high
Local financial commitment rating: Medium-high

On p. 3, the land use rating is medium, the economic development rating is medium-high, the "performance of impacts and policies" rating is medium-high. And then on p. 4 there are a lot of component financial ratings, all of which are medium, medium-high, or high.