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Wednesday, September 4, 2013
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Page A-8
The price of transit One step forward, one step back. First, the step forward: Gov. Martin O’Malley announced last month that $400 million of state money, funded through the controversial fuel-tax increase, would go toward the Purple Line. The funding shows the state is serious about the $2.2 billion rail link, important not only to Montgomery County but to the region. Jobs in THE PURPLE Bethesda will be connected LINE NEARS FRUITION AS to apartments in Silver METRORAIL MARC SHOWS ITS AGE Spring. and Amtrak lines will be a quick ride away. Neighborhood businesses along the line will have new customers. A longdesired direct transit link to College Park and the university will be a reality. Construction could begin in 2015 and the first trains could run by 2020. Rural Marylanders, including upcounty Montgomery residents, have raised objections that millions collected statewide through the fuel tax is heading toward transit. The state needs miles and miles of highways so its residents can move efficiently. The Maryland Department of Transportation says that when all is said and done, the gas tax revenue will be split about evenly between transit and road projects. The critics — cock your ear and you can hear them chambering the argument — will say that less than 10 percent of Marylanders use any of the transit systems across the state. It’s a disconnect, and one that lands in the lap of elected and appointed leaders to defend. Funding for the Purple Line is definitely a step forward for Montgomery. Now the step backward: Water is seeping into Metrorail’s Red Line between the Medical Center and Friendship Heights stations. As first reported by WRC NBC4, repairs could mean that section of the subway will be closed. Metro maintenance already inconveniences its riders. Track work shuts down stations on the weekends. Escalator repairs and replacements mean long climbs up and down stairs to trains. Metro’s engineers say it could be months, or even years, before they develop a repair plan for the seepage, and it’s likely to be painful. A section of the line could be shut down for months as workers plug the leaks. In the past, Metro has used “bus bridges” to get riders past temporarily closed stations. One can imagine a commuter disembarking at Grovenor-Strathmore, riding a bus along Md. 355 that stops at Medical Center, Bethesda and Friendship Heights, and then picking up the Metro again at Tenleytown. Getting to a downtown Washington, D.C., office could be a trial for Montgomery commuters. Such repairs are going to be a fact of life for the Metro, which is showing its age. In three years, the subway system will mark the 40th anniversary of opening its first Red Line stations. And though other cities have older subway systems that seem to run better, few transit systems have the issues Metro faces. The system serves a world capital, two states, and a half-dozen other jurisdictions, not to mention a fickle federal government. It has no secure funding source (fares cover about 55 percent of the day-to-day expenses). None of that constitutes an excuse, but it certainly adds complexity to the problems of providing reliable transportation for as many as 800,000 people a day. The news of the seepage — a step back — comes just as the region is embracing the notion of the long-sought Purple Line could be a reality — a step forward. Reliable funding sources that can expand transit and maintain it are crucial for the entire region.
The Gazette Karen Acton, President/Publisher
LETTERS TOT HE EDITOR
Opposing opinions in Clarksburg I have been an avid reader of The Gazette for many years, and rely on its editorials to be accurately researched. This week’s editorial endorsement of the proposed Pulte development in the headwaters of Ten Mile Creek however was biased and inaccurate for the following reasons: 1. In this specific case, it is not possible to balance development and the environment. The Staff Draft Limited Amendment by the Montgomery County planning staff is clear on this: if the plan is implemented, it will degrade the water and biological quality of Ten Mile Creek.
2. Development in this sensitive watershed will degrade Little Seneca Reservoir because it is the last clean tributary flowing into it. The emergency drinking water supply for the Washington, D.C., area will be affected. 3. Developers make promises of environmental site design and engineering fixes but these stormwater management techniques have not worked in the other two tributaries to Little Seneca Reservoir. Little Seneca and Cabin Branch tributaries are significantly polluted and have been downgraded. 4. We have a moral duty to pro-
Seniors being thrown under the Metro train The Washington, D.C., Metro system has accomplished a lot for senior citizens with handicaps over the years by making it easier for them to access and travel on the Metro system, but what happens when a senior citizen is no longer able to use the Metro system? The answer is they forfeit any remaining monies they have left on any type of senior fare card. I help my wife take care of her parents, who are senior citizens. My in-laws have approximately $200 in senior paper fare tickets and can no longer travel on the Metro system because of health issues. They asked me to help them obtain a refund for their fare cards or transfer the money to a regular SmartTrip card so that other family members could use the money they had invested in these cards (seemed like a reasonable and thoughtful request). I spoke first with a Metro station manager. The station manager told me that Metro’s policy is “no refunds” but said that I could transfer the value of the senior paper fare cards to a Senior SmartTrip card. I pointed out that this does not help because they are not capable of using the Metro system and no other member of our family qualifies for the senior citizen discount. I asked if the value of the paper fare cards could be transferred to a regular SmartTrip card. The station manager didn’t think that was possible but suggested that I consult with the staff at the Metro Center sales office in D.C. (we live in Maryland). I went into D.C., to the sales office, and repeated my in-laws’ request. The sales office representative (rudely) told me that a
refund was out of the question and that the value of the fare cards had to be transferred to a Senior SmartTrip card. What was even more incredible was that the representative told me that one of my in-laws had to come to the Metro Center sales office in person to do this! I called the Metro customer service help line and repeated my story. After consulting with a manager, the customer service representative stated that no refunds were allowed. The representative told me that since my in-laws were handicapped, they could mail their paper fare cards to Metro headquarters and obtain a Senior SmartTrip card in the mail. I could pick up a “blue fare adjustment envelope” at any Metro location to start this process. Still no one is listening — a Senior SmartTrip card is the same as throwing our money and/or our paper fare cards in the trash. I believe it is truly incredible that Metro executives have thrown its senior citizens “under the train” by refusing to give them options after they have invested their hard-earned, and possibly limited, money in the Metro system. What is a senior citizen or their family to do when they can no longer use the Metro system due to health issues or worse, they pass away? The answer is very simply that no one cares and Metro is very happy to keep the hard earned money of those seniors without a second thought. We would simply like to transfer the value we have on the Senior paper fare cards to a regular SmartTrip card or obtain a refund of funds paid.
Michael Gooden and Margaret Nolan, North Bethesda
tect our water resources; sound land-use practices require us to limit imperviousness (hard paved surfaces) to fully protect vital headwater areas. The imperviousness of the Pulte plan is too high. 5. Montgomery County has had a good record of environmental protection thus far. Degradation of the Ten Mile Creek headwaters is not necessary to provide needed amenities in Clarksburg, and housing which through more TDR’s can be put elsewhere. The 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan does not take into account the substantial scientific data determining water quality (see Staff
Robert Rand, Managing Editor Ken Sain, Sports Editor Andrew Schotz, Assistant Managing Editor Dan Gross, Photo Editor Jessica Loder, Web Editor
Dennis Wilston, Corporate Advertising Director Neil Burkinshaw, Montgomery Advertising Director Doug Baum, Corporate Classifieds Director Mona Bass, Inside Classifieds Director
Anne James, Germantown
League opposes legislation on pervious surfaces On Sept. 30, two County Council committees are scheduled to meet jointly to discuss Bill 13-13 and ZTA 13-03 that deal with the calculation of impervious and pervious surfaces. The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County recognizes that the concept of porous pavement has great appeal. Nevertheless, as indicated below, we want to share with Montgomery County citizens the serious concerns on which we base our stand in firm opposition to this county bill and zoning text amendment. Please note that if pervious surfaces consistently worked as planned, we would not have to worry about runoff with its gullies and water-carrying pollutants. However, they do not — as exemplified by the following points about maintenance and water quality: • Maintenance. A long-term Rockville study indicates that only with good-quality maintenance do pervious surfaces provide a high rate of removal efficiency not only for water, but also for sediment, phosphates, and nitrogen. As evidenced by the large cuts (and little recovery) in county maintenance budgets during recent budget difficulties, relying on good quality maintenance of pervious surfaces is chancy. • Water quality. In addition, because pollutants such as nitrates and chlorides are not easily adsorbed, they may continue to move through the soil and contaminate the groundwater. In fact, the federal Environmental Protection Agency suggests that until more scientific data are available, it is not advisable to construct porous pavement near groundwater drinking supplies or in areas of sole-source aquifers (such as Montgomery County’s Ten Mile Creek and the emergency water supply into which it drains). Please also note that EPA estimates the high failure rate of porous pavement at 75 percent: this failure rate leads to concern for water quantity as well as quality.
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Amendment, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and other water quality data). Ten Mile Creek needs to be kept as a reference stream (how else will we determine what clean water is?) as well as a crucial surface and groundwater drinking resource. The developers have every reason to insist that their plans will protect the Ten Mile Creek Watershed yet scientific data clearly states that this is not so. Do we really want to risk clean water by destroying our last, best creek and jeopardize the health of Montgomery County?
Jean Casey, Director of Marketing and Circulation Anna Joyce, Creative Director, Special Pubs/Internet Ellen Pankake, Director of Creative Services
• Water quality (continued). The processing of nutrients, production of macroinvertebrates and such contribute to the overall hydrology and ecology of the larger river system. These types of productivity especially need to take place in headwaters areas that have high surface-to-volume ratios and intimate contact with the region beneath and alongside a stream bed: this enables mixing of shallow groundwater and surface water. Covering such an area — even with porous pavement — would seriously affect the water quality in a stream. • Biodiversity as well as water quality. The proposed amount of paving would also affect biodiversity, as described here: The impervious surface restrictions in special protection areas are used as a proxy for other regulatory measures to protect not only the water quality and quantity of the streams, but also the biodiversity situated in these resources. Allowing almost one-third of the area to be paved over — as suggested by the proposed ZTA 13-03 — would certainly have a negative effect upon biodiversity. An alternative to consider: Perhaps a less ambitious approach to the use of porous pavement could work. This would, however, need to include strict maintenance requirements and apply only to low-volume parking areas in densely developed zones or to pathways not requiring snow clearance. We need to preserve our headwaters as well as preserving our ground water for rural wells. Impervious — and pervious — pavement should be used only where they are appropriate and well maintained. The blanket approach of bill 13-13 and ZTA 13-03 is not acceptable.
Linna Barnes, Chevy Chase The writer is the president of the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County.
POST-NEWSWEEK MEDIA Karen Acton, Chief Executive Officer Michael T. McIntyre, Controller Lloyd Batzler, Executive Editor Donna Johnson, Vice President of Human Resources Maxine Minar, President, Comprint Military Shane Butcher, Director of Technology/Internet