Community
What Rhymes with Purple? Controversy
An Op/Ed by Chris Shaffer, Bethesda.com Staff Writer
The proposed light rail Purple Line, designed to connect Bethesda, Silver Spring and College Park while linking into MetroRail’s Red, Orange and Green lines is a much needed East-West transportation conduit for Montgomery and Prince Georges County’s inner suburbs. However, like the Inter County Connector roadway before it, the Maryland Transit Authority’s (MTA) Purple Line steps on a lot of toes regardless of the final route and design.
When major transportation arteries for the Maryland suburbs
were originally conceived, the design and direction was predicated on the
notion that most commuter traffic would travel on a North-South axis, i.e. to
and from jobs in the District. This was true of the major road arteries as well
as Metro’s philosophy.
Snazzy rendering,eh?Originally, the advent of the Maryland section of the Beltway was to ameliorate any East-West/West-East driving difficulties. Anyone who has been stuck in a seemingly causeless traffic jam at any time at all on the
Beltway between Bethesda, Silver Spring and College Park in the last 30
years knows that this is a. no longer sufficient, b. environmentally harmful
and c. can really tick you off.
While the Purple Line would substantially ease this endemic
lack of adequate transport on the East-West axis, it also raises the ire of
many individuals and groups, some wealthy and powerful, some not. In
particular, opposition to the Purple Line as presently proposed comes from the
Town of Chevy Chase, Friends of Capital Crescent Trail (“Save the Trail” being
their mantra) and Columbia Country Club, through which the line would run. The
Town of Chevy Chase, not short on resident attorneys, has hired legal
representation in its attempts to block the Purple Line and replace it with a
bus route.
The CCT: Usually busier
Pro Purple Liners include the Action Committee for Transit, the Sierra Club, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and the Chevy Chase Land Company, whose original and still extant policy of prohibiting commercial development in the neighborhood it
originally developed along Connecticut Avenue between Chevy Chase Circle and
East West Highway had a major impact on the commercial development of Bethesda.
That, however, is another story for another time.
Dubiousness and Deviousness:
The Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail claim that the planned Purple Line would ruin the pastoral splendor of the Capital Crescent Trail (CTT) through removal of large numbers of trees and create dangerous conditions for trail users seems dubious. Yes, there will be some impact, but not of the sort they claim and, construction of the Purple Line would allow CCT extension farther into Silver Spring, i.e. beyond the final stretch that runs along the less-than-idyllic Brookeville Road industrial park. For an in depth response to Friends of the CCT’s complaints, see Silver Spring Trails’ piece at http://home.comcast.net/~phyilla1/sstrails/purple.html. Even the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail has remained neutral on the Purple Line issue.
Columbia Country Club indeed has a gripe, but as one who has never belonged to any country club, well, boo-hoo. Deal with it. Its amateurish attempt, exposed by the Washington Post’s Katherine Shaver in 2008, to anonymously run the Anti-Purple Line "Alliance for Smart Transportation" also undermines any potential sympathy.
Alas, deviousness and its frequent partner greed do have a role in this story. Of all the Pro Purple groups, the one with the most to gain financially is, surprise, the Chevy Chase Land Company (CCLC), who owns commercially zoned land adjacent to the proposed route and has enhanced these holdings by buying the Connecticut Avenue property of T.W. Perry Lumber and Hardware. Mind you, this land is north of East-West Highway and therefore not subject to the severe zoning restrictions of the residential area it originally developed. Former CCLC President Edward Asher was listed on the Board of Directors of Purple Line NOW!, a Pro Purple advocacy group. Mr. Asher retired from both the CCLC and the Purple Line Now! board in 2008.
Purple Line Proposed Route
The Answer:
Manurple, of course, rhymes with purple. According to the
Oxford Engwish Dictionary (which in and of itself defines “tome”), manurple
refers to a state or situation that affords the greatest good to the greatest
number of people. The Purple Line as proposed is, in essence, manurple.
Postscript: Please note that there is no such thing as the Oxford Engwish Dictionary and draw what conclusions you will.
5 comments
To the commenters Ajay and Pam: Were you planning on mentioning that you're the president and founding president of a suspected astroturf group?
And yes, I realize you're both earnest in your beliefs, but since your group doesn't make its IRS 990 records readily available, I'm left to assume that you're hiding something. Maybe the Columbia Country Club is funding you guys too?
As for BRT, Ajay, you're smart and well-researched enough to know that while it costs a bit less to build, it's ultimately much, much more expensive to run, unless you're willing to essentially reduce it to a normal bus line.
The fact is that the purple line plan as it currently exists would extend the trail, which is why the plan has the support of groups like the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, a well-respected an much more transparent nonprofit. If you're truly friends of the trail, as you profess to be, please reconsider your stance.
"While the Purple Line would substantially ease this endemic lack of adequate transport on the East-West axis"
So would express buses in an HOV lane on the Beltway and those would cost a tiny fraction of $2 billion.
The sad truth is that the Purple Line wasn't designed to take cars off the road.
Mike Madden and Montgomery County Council members have acknowledged this fact.
We are Pro-Transit. But everyone deserves REAL solutions. Not transit for developers’ sake.
In this fiscal day and age MTA should design a real transportation plan to alleviate traffic
Yes, not only will the beautiful tree-lined nature Trail be destroyed by the Purple Line, but most likely the Tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue will be closed to cyclists, runners and walkers. Hence, thousands of Trail users will be crossing Wisconsin Avenue at grade and traveling along Bethesda Avenue.
Trai users petitioned to open the Tunnel years ago when a boy crossing at Wisconsin Avenue with his bike was hit by a car. It was dangerous then, and would be even more dangerous now.
I beg to differ. According to Mike Madden, architect of the purple line, 17 acres of mature trees and accompanying ecosystem will be cleared in southern Montgomery County in order to build it. This area is already below state standards for green space. Further, that same authority has publicly stated that the PL will not take many cars off the road
cute
