Photo: Leggett at some gig in April.
MoCo exec Ike Leggett stuck to his guns Monday and insisted that a pedestrian bridge over Wayne Avenue was the way to go between downtown’s new library and a public garage across the street.
“The primary rationale [behind the bridge] is not one solely of safety,” Leggett wrote in a Jun 8 letter to Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board. “It is primarily one of accessibility and sustainability.”
The exec outlined five criteria that spell success for pedestrian safety around the new library, which will be built on the corner of Wayne and Fenton Street:
- Elderly and disabled patrons must be able to access the library without too much of a hitch.
- Parking must go down at the existing Wayne Avenue garage as a flash of “good fiscal stewardship”.
- To promote walking and mass transit, no new parking spaces can be built as part of the project.
- Residents and businesses in the central business district can’t be expected to put up with additional economic bullshit.
- Whatever the pedestrian-safety solution is, it’s got to be ready when the library opens. No waiting for someone else to build it.
The pedestrian bridge is “the right fit for all our goals,” Leggett wrote.
But what about pedestrian safety at street level? The citizens advisory board previously tore into the idea of a bridge because they worried its construction would wipe out pedestrian-safety improvements at the intersection of Wayne and Fenton. They also weren’t into how a bridge linking the garage directly with the library would impact business in nearby Fenton Village.
“If downtown Silver Spring — the Fenton Village neighborhood in particular — is going to thrive, we need to do our best to create a lively and urban environment that will be safe for current residents … and inviting to visitors,” the board wrote to Leggett in March.
“Building a pedestrian skywalk over Wayne Avenue will likely do exactly the opposite, keeping people off the streets, and limiting pedestrian traffic in and around Fenton Village,” they added.
Leggett’s rebuttal didn’t address that urban-renewal stuff, but it did say the county’s departments of transportation and general services would work to make the intersection of Wayne and Fenton safe and pedestrian friendly. The library’s entrance also will be designed to be as close to the intersection as possible to detract people from jaywalking a bee line across Wayne, the letter read.
A proposal to permit the footbridge’s construction was introduced to the county council Tuesday morning. The council hears public testimony on Jun 30.
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I’ve realized that now I’d be disappointed if they didn’t build this bridge. I’ve become kind of fond of it, with the sort of affection you might have for an idiot child.
Why not make Silver Spring into Crystal City? A soulless conglomeration of tall buildings, pedestrian bridges, and underground tunnels with zero street scape activity.
I lived in Crystal City once and it was the Chernobyl of all urban planning disasters.
I think IHateYuppies has characterized the issue quite nicely. I agree.
Maybe we can get some stimulus money for this. Then suckers all over the US can pay for it, not just us.
IHY is absolutely right. This is a big mistake and sets a bad precedent for future development here. Crystal City is horrible, we don’t want to turn into that.
I don’t think I get what he means in point #2 – can you elaborate on that Penguin?
Personally, I hate the bridge idea – unless a corporate entity were to sponsor and fully pay for it. Really, MoCo needs to start being more fiscally responsible to its citizens and ask what we REALLY need.
To follow up on Kathy J’s point: did we really need a civic center building plopped between the Baja Fresh and Chick-Fil-A on Fenton? I guess MontCo puts low priority on families and kids spending time together in public spaces.
The letter’s actual language for point no. 2 reads:
Glean from that what you will.
still pretty obtuse – but I expect no less from Leggett ;-)
Seems like Ike is designing SS all by himself.
Leggett also said building the bridge was an issue of sustainability. Uh, sounds like a good buzzword ripped right from our eco-era, but what in the world does that mean? How does the footbridge help sustain downtown silver spring?
I have a very simple read on this issue, and a general philosophy in life. If Ike Legett says it, you’ll never go wrong doing the exact opposite thing.
Wow. I’m amazed at all the opposition to the bridge. It seems like a good idea to me. Anything that will increase the likelihood that people will use the library is a good idea. Plus, it seems to me that the bridge would increase access to Fenton Village by eliminating the need for people who park in the Wayne Avenue Garage to cross Wayne at street level. Anyone could simply cross the bridge and exit the library. Just because you go to the library doesn’t mean you can’t exit the library. And, by the way, why all the opposition to this bridge when as far as I know there wasn’t any opposition to the “double helix” bridge to be built between the two United Therapeutics buildings on either side of Cameron Street at Spring Street.
Woodside Park Bob wrote:
That’s a damned good point. I don’t even have a reasonable response to that, other than to say that perhaps the United Therapeutics bridge shouldn’t be built, either.
I believe that the United Therapeutics bridge was an entirely different situation, something to do with their desire to preserve a sterile connection between parts of their research facility. You should check with them.
Editor’s note: Glenn Kreger runs the community planning division with the county’s planning department. — JD (Jun 10, 2009)
Couldn’t agree more with most other responses. The bridge is a ridiculous idea and waste of money. Best comment of all–if Ike likes it–it must be wrong. How did we ever elect this idiot? Let’s remember this come next election time for county exec.
Isn’t it likely that the Unit Therapeutics bridge was built with the companies money not taxpayers and, of course, is not exactly in the middle of the downtown business district.
True, the public didn’t fund the bridge in the United Therapeutics project unlike the proposed Wayne Avenue bridge. U.T.’s bridge is also outside the urban renewal area. It is the approved Urban Renewal Plan which prohibits bridges like the proposed Wayne Avenue bridge. The County Council is considering an amendment to the Urban Renewal Pla to allow the proposed bridge between the library and Wayne Avenue garage.
I think the very vocal opposition to the bridge is due more to what the bridge represents than what it actually is. There’s little doubt that the bridge is symbolic of all that has and could go wrong in the design of downtown Silver Spring – it’s the embodiment of the urban planners’ desire to walk over the little man on the street. By building the bridge what are we saying? In essence, that certain classes of people are above others. Clearly the bridge will become the Berlin Wall of DTSS.
Woodside Park Bob wrote:
“Why all the opposition to this bridge when as far as I know there wasn’t any opposition to the “double helix” bridge to be built between the two United Therapeutics buildings on either side of Cameron Street at Spring Street.”
Isn’t this bridge strictly for the employees use? I don’t have a problem with the library bridge i think you will increase library use with it. My sister has already told me that if there is no bridge she is not going to try and cross Wayne with a baby carriage and a 4 year old.
“My sister has already told me that if there is no bridge she is not going to try and cross Wayne with a baby carriage and a 4 year old.”
I bet you’re right and I fear that many others will feel this way. However I think it is sad that we are raising kids who are too scared to cross the street. Should we build a bridge from the metro to the new Fillmore? I’m too scared to cross the road.
People need to live in the real world eventually, crossing the street isn’t the end of the world. This bridge is a huge waste of money, period.
RE: “My sister has already told me that if there is no bridge she is not going to try and cross Wayne with a baby carriage and a 4 year old.”
I’m a parent of a three year old and a 17-month old and we cross at the intersection of Fenton and Wayne all the time. The intersection is very busy and you need to be vigilant and absolutely not try to jaywalk across (especially with kids). That said, using basic common sense greatly minimizes our risk at this intersection. If I were too afraid to walk across intersections in DTSS with my kids, we’d never leave the house, or worse, we’d drive everywhere.
“However I think it is sad that we are raising kids who are too scared to cross the street.”
I don’t think that’s a terrible problem for the moment. They are only kids; they should be afraid of fast moving cars.
As I’ve said before, while I don’t have a vested interest either way (I mean, I walk to the library now, I’ll walk to the library when the new one is built) I can see how the bridge would increase traffic to the library and help to control traffic at the intersection. Its not that I don’t like pedestrians, but heavy ped. traffic does make it difficult for cars to execute turns, and would make traffic at that intersection even worse. It also is a likely place for people to try to jay-walk. It’s a little scary for me sometimes with all the idiots who drive around here, I would also absolutely refuse if I was a mom with several kids, or an elderly person with a walker or cane, or someone in a wheelchair that traffic might not even see as easily.
And if we’re talking about it purely as a waste of money, then the new library is a waste of money, too. I mean, we already have a library. The bridge is an investment in making sure that this other big financial investment (the library) gets all the use it should to be worthwhile.