Friday, September 12, 2008

what's up the pike: double-crossing edition

- Chevy Chase activist Pam Browning, who organized the anti-Purple Line Save The Trail petition, is actively seeking people to crash local events supporting the proposed transitway between Bethesda and New Carrollton. "Purple Line advocates have infiltrated bike and environmental groups throughout the region," writes Browning in an e-mail circulating around the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area, where the Capital Crescent Trail (pictured above) is being considered as a Purple Line route. "We need bicyclists . . . to observe their strategy and to ask questions about the impact the Purple Line will have on the Trail," Browning adds.

- In a letter going out to all nine councilmembers today, 9:30 Club owner Seth Hurwitz reminds the County Council that his offer to build and run the proposed Silver Spring Music Hall without public money is still on the table. Hurwitz cited the County's ongoing budget crisis as a reason why they should walk away from an established deal with the Lee Development Group and corporate promoter Live Nation, both of which have endured intense scrutiny for the perceived "special treatment" they've gotten from Montgomery County. Live Nation will receive $8 million in public subsidies, while Lee may be able to take advantage of a new zoning amendment that streamlines the approval process for potential development behind the new venue, to be located in the former J.C. Penney building on Colesville Road.

With his proposal to pay for the club out of his own pocket, "you can still redirect millions of dollars to what we expect government to invest in: education, public safety, social services and transportation – not a nightclub," writes Hurwitz. Check out the letter in full over at Thayer Avenue.

- When the State announced it was cutting $1.1 billion from its transportation budget for the next six years, many blamed the InterCounty Connector on diverting funds that would have otherwise gone to the Purple Line and other projects around the region. Now, the ICC's cannibalizing itself, as a small portion of the eighteen-mile toll road currently under construction has been postponed indefinitely. This comes a week after the total cost of the highway - last pegged at $2.4 billion - went up over a hundred million dollars.

3 comments:

silverspringtrails said...

Oops, I've been busted by Pam Browning!

I started cyling and joined WABA almost 30 years ago, and have been pushing for better cycling conditions county wide since then. But now Pam Browning has revealed my real motive to the public - I'm just another Purple Line advocate trying to infiltrate biking groups.

www.silverspringtrails.org

Davemurphy said...

I wonder if Pam Browning is in favor of the ICC?

Unknown said...

She makes no sense... ever.