Light Rail is Catching On

A guest post by Hans Riemer.

Hi everyone, it's Hans Riemer — Silver Spring resident, political activist, regular MPW reader — and now, occasional MPW guest writer.

Some of you might remember me as the guy who ran for Council and said he was going to build the Purple Line or die trying. I’ll have you know that I’m still working on it — and I’m not going to up my life insurance policy.

Today, via Purple Line NOW, I bring you a quick update of how light rail is catching on around the country and even the world.

Now, here in Maryland, a lot of people don’t realize that the Purple Line is intended to be light rail. Light rail can be integrated into an existing community harmoniously because it is smaller scale, quiet, and incredibly modern. In Europe, you see light rail laid down right in the middle of many of the oldest and most beautiful cities.

By contrast, metro-scale rapid transit trains are expensive, loud, and, unless they are built underground, very disruptive to existing communities.

Purple Line = light rail = wave of the future:

HOUSTON:
The Houston City Council voted 13-2 to give the Metro Transit Authority permission to move forward with construction of five light rail lines on city streets. Groundbreaking for the East End line is expected next month. These lines were previously planned to be bus rapid transit, however the City switched gears based on their positive experience with Houston’s first LRT line, which is a source of civic pride.

TEXANS SUPPORT RAIL:
A recent survey of 1,000 Texans about transportation issues found that a majority of participants support investment in light rail, regional rail, and high-efficiency bus systems, and also oppose the building of new toll roads. 76% of the respondents support a regional rail system connecting Texas cities. Nowhere is this amazing transformation of priorities more evident than in Dallas where the area transit agency DART is working on expansion plans to add two rail lines by 2013 for a total of 91 miles and 93 stations.

MINNEAPOLIS:
The University of Minnesota Board of Regents voted to support the Central Corridor Light Rail alignment through the heart of campus... The line is an 11 mile $892 million project, which will link downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis. Like Purple Line plans in College Park, automobile traffic will be banned from one road segment passing through the heart of campus. The project will come with $20 million worth of road improvements in the university district east of the Mississippi River.

PHOENIX:
Phoenix will become the latest Sunbelt city with light rail when it opens its first LRT Line in December. The 20-mile line connects the Phoenix to Tempe and Mesa and was initiated in 2000 when voters approved a 20-year transit sales tax by a wide margin.

FRANCE LOVES LIGHT RAIL:
The French LRT system continues to expand by leaps and bounds with the network expected to grow to 358 miles of tracks by 2015. Mulhouse, a small city in the northeastern Alsace region is the latest to open a line. “We wanted a tram that called attention to itself,” says Deputy Mayor Michel Samuel-Weis, “as a symbol of economic vitality, environmental awareness and civic improvement -- transportation as an integrated cultural concept.”

Montgomery and Prince George’s county voters and legislators are remarkably unified on the Purple Line. It doesn’t take an engineer to see that the problem we face in the Washington region — the state’s economic engine — is that our regional transportation plan was originally designed largely to get people in and out of DC. But today, more people are moving around the region rather than to and from the center. The Purple Line should be the start of a new approach to transportation in the region—and just a start.

Africa Against the Purple Line

As regular MPW readers know, the Purple Line has many opponents, including residents of Chevy Chase, supporters of SSTOP and a few homeowners with “No Trains on Wayne” signs in Silver Spring. But now a new combatant enters the field of battle… an entity based on the tiny African island of Madeira?!??!!

In case you missed it, a new anti-Purple Line website has recently popped up, this one run anonymously. When Action Committee for Transit reported that it was registered to a firm based on the autonomous Portuguese island Madeira, I checked it out. Sure enough, whois.com gave the following information about the registrant:


Now, the bikini-clad residents of Madeira have little obvious reason to protest the Purple Line (unless ACT plans to relocate after MoCo’s project is done). Most Purple Line opponents, including MPW blog-father David Lublin, denounce the project openly. Activist Pam Browning owns the domain savethetrailpetition.org under her own name. So who would have the incentive to start an anonymous anti-Purple Line website through the ultra-secretive Domain Discreet registrant service?

Could it be… the Columbia Country Club? Regular readers will remember how the club vowed to start a “grass roots campaign” to protect its lovely golf course from those awful Purple Line trains (and their uncouth riders). This follows a long history of cooperation with former Republican Governor Robert “I Love Golf” Ehrlich to block the rail project. After being outed by the Post, the club finally admitted responsibility for the new website. Eric Luedtke covered ACT’s wine-soaked reply outside the club gates. And just to throw gasoline on the fire, Silver Spring trail activist Wayne Phyillaier noted the club’s squatting on nearly three acres of Capital Crescent Trail right-of-way to add to their already-luxurious golf course. Does the county even know about the club’s erection of a giant, hideous fence on public land?


Picture from Finish the Trail Blog.

As you can see from the following excerpts from its 2005 filing with the IRS, the club can draw on significant amounts of resources to fight the Purple Line. In the year ended September 30, 2006, the club reported revenues of $13.3 million, net income of $2.5 million and net assets of $25.5 million (of which $5.7 million is in cash). The club has minimal liabilities of $2.3 million and its property is not encumbered by a mortgage.



But all of this hugely understates the club’s influence. Its members are among the wealthiest people in the Washington metro area and have donated thousands of dollars to politicians, including Ehrlich. Club President J. Paul McNamara even had his employer, United Bankshares, pay his club dues for years.

For all of its wealth and power, the club’s Madeira affiliate has constructed a truly sorry website. It has just five pages, stock graphics, no contact names and no actual pictures of the Capital Crescent Trail. Considering that in its most recent reporting year the club spent $165,452 on laundry and linen, $25,110 on uniforms, $38,325 on decorations and $65,093 on china and silverware, we would expect it to offer more than a bargain-basement website.


Neighborhood residents have every right to oppose the Maryland Transit Administration’s proposed Purple Line alignments if they wish. But any participation by the country club will hurt their cause. No non-club members will see protection of their golf course as a legitimate reason to block a transit project. If the Columbia Country Club really wants to help the Purple Line opponents, it should give its members one-way tickets to Madeira.

Columbia Country Club Promises “Grass Roots Campaign” to Defeat Purple Line

In a letter to members of the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, club President J. Paul McNamara promises to launch a “grass roots campaign” to defeat the Purple Line.

Part of the Purple Line transit project is planned to run along an abandoned CSX right-of-way that stretches from Silver Spring to Bethesda. The right-of-way is currently used as a popular pedestrian and bicycle route known as the Capital Crescent Trail but was originally intended to be used at least partially for transit. The right-of-way runs through the country club’s golf course and thus defeat of a rail line is one of the club’s top priorities. Just Up the Pike ran an epic series on the issues surrounding the Purple Line and the trail last year and Silver Spring resident Wayne Phyillaier covers the trail-rail relationship regularly on his Finish the Trail blog.

In his letter, McNamara tells the country club members:

Regarding the issue of the Purple Line and the proposed light rail connecting Bethesda, Silver Spring and New Carrollton, as I indicated at our annual meeting, this is a very critical issue for our Club. As a result, we have increased our community and government relations effort at both the state and federal level and will be working on several different fronts to promote the Club’s position and protect our long term interests. Specifically, we will be helping to launch a grassroots campaign to identify and organize a broad and diverse coalition of opponents to the current proposal for the Purple Line. Once organized, we will be partnering with neighborhood associations, citizens groups including those working to save the trail, as well as businesses and elected officials who will be impacted by this issue.

As you would expect, the implementation of this effort requires a commitment of financial resources. The Board of Governors believes that it is in the best interest of the Club to fund this effort. However, we are doing so within the context of a balanced budget for the fiscal year. We do not expect that this expenditure will have a material impact on the long term finances of the Club. We will keep a tight control on the spending for this effort and all funds will be allocated from our capital budget.

The Columbia Country Club has a long history of fighting the Purple Line. Between 2001 and 2006, four of the club’s current officers – President McNamara, First Vice President Joseph J. Brigati, Second Vice President Eugene A. Carlin and Secretary Martin Wiegand II – collectively contributed $4,600 to former Governor Robert Ehrlich and $550 to Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie. (One can only imagine how much more was donated by the club’s full membership.) In September 2003, Ehrlich reciprocated, declaring that the Purple Line “will not go through the Country Club.” Robert Flanagan, his Transportation Secretary, explained, “The Governor happens to love golf.”

At the same time, then-District 18 Delegate and Chevy Chase resident John Hurson struck a deal with Ehrlich to route buses along Jones Bridge Road as a substitute for the Purple Line. In return, Hurson reversed his position on slots from opposition to support, matching Ehrlich’s agenda, and was promptly rewarded with a fundraiser by racetrack owner William Rickman Sr. Hurson and Ehrlich’s arrangement infuriated many Montgomery County politicians but no doubt delighted the country club’s members. The club’s announcement promises the potential for more events like the above.

To evaluate the club’s letter fairly, MPW readers need to remember three facts.

1. There is plenty of genuine grass-roots opposition to a Purple Line alignment on the trail. Whatever the country club’s membership, it is surely less than the 10,000 signatures collected by rail opponents.

2. Non-grass-roots interests exist on both sides. Ed Asher, President of the Chevy Chase Land Company, serves openly on the board of Purple Line Now. Asher is no mere train enthusiast – his company seeks to develop the land around a proposed Purple Line station on Connecticut Avenue. Asher is a prolific contributor to politicians, giving $12,000 to state and local candidates since 2000. The Chevy Chase Land Company gave $5,950 more.

3. The truth is that while the country club and Asher participate in Purple Line campaigns, neither controls them. Organizational leaders like the heads of the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Coalition and Action Committee for Transit are the true strategists and seek suitable allies when they are available. This is a reasonable approach for anyone seeking to organize a civic (or labor) coalition.

But the universal rule of coalitions is this: you are judged based on your associations with other coalition members. If Purple Line opponents publicly (or even privately) embrace funding from the Columbia Country Club, they will damage their credibility in the long run. No Democratic Party or civic activist from outside Chevy Chase will harbor any sympathy for an effort they perceive to be connected to wealthy country club members – or through them, to former Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich.

Should State Legislators Hand Over Their Salaries?

According to the Baltimore Sun, Senator Bryan W. Simonaire, Republican of Anne Arundel, is proposing to give the legislature the option to reduce its own pay. Currently, legislators’ pay is determined by a state commission, and the legislature can vote their recommendation up or down. Simonaire would like to allow the legislature to cut their own pay if the state’s finances suffer (as is currently happening). But is this such a good idea?

I’m not convinced that it is. I know quite a few politicians pretty well. They may be motivated by a lot of things, but pay is not one of them. After all, the typical state legislator makes just over $43,000 per year for a 90-day session and endless nights of putting up with crazed civic activists (like me). They would get a whole lot more money (and less aggravation) from continuous non-legislative employment, believe me. And the savings available from eliminating their salaries altogether amount to only $8 million out of a $15 billion general fund.

But the compensation question is an interesting one. In my industry – unionized construction – we have fixed scales for journey workers. But on certain jobs, we negotiate shared bonuses for the workers that are tied to targets. So if we meet our schedule dates, the workers would get a bonus. If we meet our safety goals, we would get another bonus. And if we keep absenteeism below a certain specified level, we’d be paid even more. Because the profitability of the contractors increases in line with our performance, they are more than happy to make these kinds of deals with us. In our case, bonus payments are made to groups of workers because construction is a team industry. So too is politics.

So why not have a bonus system for politicians? If all the legislators within a particular district get something important done for their constituents, let’s throw ‘em a bit of extra dough! So here’s my bonus schedule for my beloved District 18 delegation:

Install new sidewalk on west side of Connecticut Avenue in Kensington: $10,000 bonus

Bury power lines in Montgomery Hills: $20,000 bonus

End evil train horn noise in Kensington and Forest Glen: $30,000 bonus

Get special elections for legislative vacancies in MoCo: $40,000 bonus ($20,000 more for banning MCDCC members from appointing themselves)

Get funding for underground, deep-tunnel Purple Line: $50,000 bonus

Get new Metro entrance at Intersection of Death: $100,000 bonus plus Adam agrees to not send any email for a year.

So what are you waiting for? Come on guys!! Let’s get cracking!!!