I propose a trade our city council and two Jet Skis for their County Council.
QuoteMontgomery bypasses bus for light rail transitway
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/17/AR2009111702945.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/17/AR2009111702945.html)
By Katherine Shaver
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday officially endorsed building a light rail line and adding two reversible highway lanes to ease traffic congestion in the growing Interstate 270 corridor.
The 6 to 3 vote for light rail over a bus rapid-transit system mirrored a straw vote taken last week. The two new lanes on I-270 would be free for buses, carpools and van pools; others would pay a toll.
The lanes would carry traffic south during the morning rush and north during the evening commute. The I-270 proposal calls for widening the interstate north of Route 124 where it narrows to three lanes in each direction.
A transit line, called the Corridor Cities Transitway, would compete for scarce federal construction money along with two other Maryland projects: a Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton and a Red Line in Baltimore. Council members who supported a less-expensive busway option for the transitway said the state has little chance of winning highly competitive federal money for three relatively expensive light rail lines. Light rail supporters said they think it has a good chance because a Corridor Cities Transitway would be far cheaper than both the Purple and Red line rail projects.
A 14-mile light rail line between the Shady Grove Metro station and the Clarksburg area is estimated to cost $999 million, and a busway is estimated to cost $533 million, according to a state analysis.
The council also voted to change the transit line's route to better serve Kentlands town center and to travel through the planned Crown Farm and Gaithersburg West developments.
When I first saw the title of the thread, I was thinking Montgomery, AL! It wouldn't surprise me though. I think they have a bigger Convention Center than we do.
^Yeah, that got me too.
(http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/darta.jpg)
Same here, but I still bet Alabama is smarter then we are. BTW boys, heard from GVILLE today, looks like THEY LOVE THE RDC TRAIN idea... More to come.
OCKLAWAHA
Having people in office here like the Motngomery County Council would mean voting for Democrats....I don't think this community is ready for that :-)
tufsu1.....I could care less about someone's political affiliation! The bigger question should be "Do they represent the voters who put them into office"?
Well in the case of Montgomery County, yes....as most people are progressive and registered as Democrats.
In northeast Florida, that is far from the case....this is not a politically progressive region....registered republicans in St. Johns, Clay, and Nassau County outnumber Democrats by about 5 to 1....while Duval has more registered Democrats, actual voters are more evenly split.
Locals must do a better job of explaining what needs to be changed as well as their solutions. Our elections are based on signage and negative ad airtime.
It occurs to me that a forum such as this would be an ideal means of connecting to the public. Faye has the good sense to use it. Look out Mica, She's got my vote on that!