Hurricane Irene Assessment and Response in the Town of Chevy Chase

Dear Neighbors:

The Town staff and Town arborist have completed an evaluation of the damage caused by Hurricane Irene in Town. In addition to multiple power outages, there are a number of trees that fell during the storm. Following is a list of the addresses where trees have fallen and a description of the resulting damage. If residents are aware of any other public trees that have fallen and need to be addressed by the Town, please e-mail townoffice@townofchevychase.org or call the Town Office at 301-654-7144 and leave a message if the office is closed. Town staff are checking messages regularly.

Trees at the following addresses have fallen on primary power lines and must be removed by PEPCO.
-- 4107 Thornapple Street
-- 4102 Oakridge Lane
-- 7105 45th Street
Both Thornapple Street and Tarrytown Road are impassable as a result of these fallen trees or power lines. Both streets have been cordoned off as a result.

Trees at the following addresses have taken down power lines serving individual homes. PEPCO will need to restore these lines as well.
-- 4314 Curtis
-- 4412/4414 Stanford
-- 4104 Woodbine

A tree at 4316 Stanford has fallen but has not affected power lines. The Town's tree contractor will remove this tree tomorrow.

The Town arborist has removed many large branches from Town streets, and the Town's maintenance crews will begin the removal of smaller branches and debris tomorrow. Following this clean up, the Town will have the streets swept.

Please do not to touch any downed wires and report all power outages to PEPCO at 1-888-PEPCO-62. We're also contacting PEPCO to let them know about problems and encourage speedy restoration, but it is very important that you do the same. There are almost 200,000 households without power in the PEPCO service area in Montgomery, Prince George's, and DC, so it will likely take time for all power to be restored.

As I went around the Town this morning, I saw many neighbors already picking up branches and leaves around their homes and want to thank them for their help. I'm also grateful for the good cheer shown by many of our neighbors even as they have experienced fallen trees on their property and a loss of power. Thanks also to the many neighbors who have checked in on people near them who may need help--I hope people will continue to reach out to their neighbors as we recover from this storm.

David Lublin
Mayor, Town of Chevy Chase

Read More...

Summary only...

Meet the Mayor

In yet another sign that blogs are taking over the known universe (or at least MoCo), MPW founder David Lublin has just become Mayor of the Town of Chevy Chase. Way to go, blogfather!

Read More...

Summary only...

All Quiet in the Town of Chevy Chase

Election Board Member Costis Toregas, County Councilmember Marc Elrich, Town Councilmember David Lublin and Senator Rich Madaleno outside Chevy Chase Town Hall at the Lawton Center

Unlike in Chevy Chase Village which has seven candidates running for three seats in an election to be held this Saturday, elections were quiet this year in the Town of Chevy Chase with no one challenging the three incumbents, including yours truly. However, County Councilmembers Roger Berliner, Marc Elrich and Nancy Floreen stopped by to say hello as did Senator Rich Madaleno along with Delegates Al Carr, Ana Sol Gutierrez, and Jeff Waldstreicher.

The vote tallies came in shortly after the Town's Annual Meeting; 159 ballots were cast in the election--a low turnout since there were only three candidates for the three seats. Here are the official results:

Kathy Strom, 120 votes
David Lublin, 118 votes
Al Lang, 103 votes.

Read More...

Summary only...

David Lublin to Appear at District 18 Breakfast Club

Following is a message from District 18 Breakfast Club organizer Susan Heltemes:

The April meeting of the District 18 Breakfast Club will be held on Monday, April 12th at 7:30 am at the Silver Spring Tastee Diner. Our speaker will be David Lublin of Maryland Politics Watch. Join an exciting conversation about politics, blogging and journalism. With the 2010 elections fast approaching, come be a part of this timely discussion.

Invite your neighbors and friends.

Susan Heltemes

Read More...

Summary only...

David Lublin in the Gazette

The Gazette profiles MPW blogfather David Lublin this week. Mysteriously, his role as founder of this blog is not mentioned. Perhaps David is embarrassed at what has happened to MPW since his semi-retirement!


As for that picture, well... may I suggest sunglasses and a leather jacket for next time?

Read More...

Summary only...

David Lublin's Testimony on the Purple Line

Following is the testimony of Town of Chevy Chase Council Member David Lublin, who is a Professor at American University and is the founder of Maryland Politics Watch.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about this important issue today. Many others will speak about the need to protect the Trail—vital green space in a rapidly growing area—and the need for public transit. However, I plan to focus on serious concerns that the Town of Chevy Chase has regarding the ridership and cost estimates in the DEIS. As will be outlined in the Town’s written submission, these estimates seriously underestimate costs and overestimate ridership for the five options on the Trail. At the same time, MTA has failed to optimize the Jones Bridge Road Bus Rapid Transit alignment despite repeated requests from the Town. Changes clearly need to be made if the EIS is to fulfill the legal requirement to optimize all options and estimate costs and ridership accurately.

First, we remain concerned that the ridership estimates for the five options on the Trail continue to include riders from beyond the half-mile limit in violation of accepted transportation planning standards despite repeated efforts by the Town to point out this error. In response to enquiries, MTA replied that it had adhered to “the model” but this vague answer suggests that it continues to include riders from outside the appropriate catchment area.

Second, the ridership estimates continue to assume a free transfer to Metro and fail to reflect that the cost of the transfer must be borne by either passengers—thus reducing ridership—or by the State—thus increasing operating costs. Again, though the Town has repeatedly pointed out this problem, MTA continues to assume a free transfer even though WMATA’s current practice is to charge for intermodal transfers and FTA requires the analysis to reflect the current practice. In addition, the model fails to follow standard industry practice of including time penalties for transfers. Such penalties account for the amount of time it takes to complete a transfer—including wait time—plus the added inconvenience and anxiety associated with transferring.

Third, there are two significant costs to be borne by the County which appear to be outside the Purple Line cost estimates, raisings questions as to the true costs of the Purple Line. One is the $60 million southern elevator connection at Bethesda Metro. MTA fails to include costs for the elevator in its budget for the master plan light-rail options and it is unclear what credit the County will get for providing this needed amenity. Yet, the costs to put a new Metro connection at National Naval Medical Center are included in that alignments’ budget pushing the costs of the Jones Bridge Road option up. The other is the cost for building the Trail–we’ve heard estimates between $12-14 million—which the DEIS states will be borne by the County. Those costs are not easily isolated in the Purple Line budget and it is unclear if the estimated costs include the many long ramps, grading, retaining walls and landscaping in their analysis. The EIS should contain an accurate estimate of costs and benefits and the County should know exactly what it is committing to.

Despite MTA’s best efforts to produce favorable numbers for the light rail options on the trail, these options remain like horses which barely qualify for a race and have little chance of finishing in the money—or receiving federal funds. If we really want to move the Purple Line forward, MTA and the EIS need to take a more serious look at the Jones Bridge Road option and to optimize it correctly. The projected growth of the Woodmont Triangle, the BRAC process, and the enormous growth of the National Naval Medical Center make this imperative.

MTA has repeatedly explained that it has relied on the accepted Council of Governments model in estimating ridership. However, MTA has amazingly relied on a pre-BRAC version of this model. If the changes caused by BRAC were minor, this wouldn’t matter much. However, BRAC is going to produce enormous increases in traffic. The Purple Line is an ideal opportunity to address this problem by providing a one-seat ride to Medical Center and Bethesda.

Yet, MTA has not optimized this option. Unbelievably, MTA’s estimates have the supposedly optimized version of Bus Rapid Transit on Jones Bridge Road running at a slower speed than the slowest local bus on the same road today. MTA also has not done a reasonable study of traffic signal priority for this alternative, which is a key feature of Bus Rapid Transit. Moreover, MTA still has this option taking a slower path than any of the other options east of Jones Mill Road.

Finally, the DEIS repeatedly states that the Trail was purchased as a “transitway” and in the Master Plan. Reality is far cloudier. The formerly little-used train right-of-way was purchased as part of the “Rails to Trails” program. The Montgomery County Master Plan calls for a one-lane trolley—not the two-lane light rail proposed by the Purple Line. And the $10 million used to purchase the Trail includes the segments now part of the Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and DC. Does MTA claim that this portion of the Trail is also reserved for a future light rail network as well?

Thanks again for providing myself and the Town the opportunity to participate in this process. Instead of promoting an option which wrecks two parks—the Capital Crescent Trail and Woodmont Plaza—for the price of one light rail, the EIS needs to reexamine the Jones Bridge Road Bus Rapid Transit option so that we can get two transit lines—the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway—for the price of one.

Read More...

Summary only...

The Apple Has Worms

The most important endorsement to have in the Democratic primary in liberal MoCo comes not from the party bosses over in Kensington or left activists in Takoma Park and beyond. Rather it is in getting the Apple Ballot endorsement.

Having worked the polls the past six years for a series of candidates time and again I have seen voters not take the Democratic materials or even liberal materials in democratic stronghold. But they will almost always take the Apple Ballot.The results are evident at the ballot box. In the last election cycle all but three of the Apple Ballot nominees won.

As part of full disclosure here at Maryland Politics Watch (MPW), I am a District 4 Resident and I support Don Praisner. I came to that conclusion after sitting down with 2 of the candidates personally (Navarro and Ryan) and having brief conversations with the other two (Praisner and Kanstoroom).

Why The Apple Ballot is the Biggie
One of the reasons people select the Apple Ballot over other material is the perception that being for the schools is good AND that the MCEA endorsement is above board and beyond party politics. Our citizens, who are in favor of good schools, also see hope in providing a bright future for its children with a solid education. But there is also an element of good government in the using the Apple Ballot as the metric for selecting one's candidate.

The Apple Ballot is really a union endorsement put out by the MCEA. It is not a good schools endorsement though it can be. Nor is it a good government endorsement though it has in been the de facto one in recent times. But the people who use it consider both a good school and good government endorsement as much as it is a union one. Teacher's Union (MCEA) does this endorsement under a hugely successful PR blitz with a bright red apple on everything. I mean who is against apples for teachers. It hearkens back to the days when giving an apple was considered a nice gift, whereas now that might be an ipod.

Fellow Blogger Adam Pagnuccio wrote about the MCEA calling them the 800 lb gorilla of MoCo politics. The strength of the Apple Ballot causes politicians to bow before the owner of it, the teachers union. The problem lay not in the Apple Ballot itself. I tip my hat to MCEA for creating an effective PR tool. I have used the ballot to help my candidates when I thought it would make the pitch better than me.

The real strength of the Apple Ballot lays in the voters who use it as their voting guide, much like previous generations of MoCo-ers may have used the Gazette or the League of Women Voters. The strength is not in the teachers' union itself. There are not enough teachers in the county to make that type of impact. Also the number of teachers who are politically active are on par with the rest of the county. So it is not that teachers are more active than the rest of us.

That strength comes when voters from non-union households and non-teacher households who think this endorsement embodies the ideals of both good education and good government as much as it is a pro-union selection.

It is that second value -- being is viewed as above party politics -- that is the real strength of the Apple Ballot. MoCo residents, much more so than other parts of the country, do not take kindly to backroom deals when exposed to the light of day. It is the reason other endorsements be it from party bosses or insiders have limited impact compared to other parts of the US. In MoCo, those type of endorsements lost their impact because voters saw through it and what remained exposed was a blatant political agenda.

If the voter who use the Apple Ballot thought that the MCEA was using the Apple Ballot solely to advance a political agenda then its strength in non-union households would diminish greatly and getting the Apple Ballot would become another endorsement right up there with who Amway Reps endorse.

Is the MCEA really above politics?
First the unions, MCEA along with their ally SEIU, had private meetings on the "budget" at King Jerry's Castle, where only one elected member of the School Board, President and candidate Nancy Navarro, was invited. They did not invite the rest of the duly elected School Board. Also the School Budget chief was not invited. Humm... there is a meeting on the school budget and only one person from the School Board is there and the key staff budget person is also missing. And to make sure everyone can come over let's have it in a private home away from the school resources that could help in making good budget decisions.

The MCEA sends out emails to its teachers in District 4 on the school system list. And the teachers are saying that this is ok. Really? Most of us tend to think that electioneering using public resources is not kosher.

Was the MCEA fair and open in its endorsement process?
The MCEA also went to great lengths to tell us how open and transparent their endorsement process would be. They even posted ads in the Gazette, saying the deadline for endorsements would Monday March 3, when they had already had private meetings at King Jerry on March 2 and February 29 to select a candidate who would give them what they wanted -- more money for union contracts, regardless of whether or not the county had the money for it.

The unions can and should endorse but then don't tell everyone how fair you are going to be and then select your candidate before you get a chance to interview all of the candidates. But to have your endorsement set while you tell the public it is still being decided that is just plain wrong. Unless of course you only care about #1, money. But if you do then the impact of the Apple Ballot diminishes to being one of the many endorsements candidates seek rather than the most important endorsement to have.

Why is the MCEA doing this? Simple. As blog father David wrote it is about money. And more money. The MCEA is practicing the original sin of politics. They want COLAs in excess of what others Moco residents are getting in a down market. And they will support anyone who will get them their money. There are other candidates in the race who are just as supportive of teachers and good schools. Some of them even have family members as teachers. But having family members as teachers is not the trump card. It is who will provide the union with the most money. And that is what the Apple Ballot really is -- a union endorsement for more money. It is not for better schools though it can be and it not for good government, at least this time.

So tomorrow when you go to the polls and someone hands you an Apple Ballot remember this time the Apple Ballot has worms.

Read More...

Summary only...

General Assembly Announces Blogger Tax

Following is the exclusive transcript of the press conference called by Senate President Mike Miller.

Senate President Miller: Ladies and gentlemen of the press – the real press – I am announcing today a solution for the state’s financial crisis. Delegates Bill Frick and Kirill Reznik are introducing The Blogger Taxation Act of 2008. For too long, a growing group of rogue bloggers have been enriching themselves by impugning the integrity of your state’s noble public servants. It’s time that the people received a share of their ill-gotten gains!

Under the provisions of the bill, each blog post would be taxed $1,000. Any post mentioning a state legislator would be taxed $5,000. And any post that mentions me – well, don’t bother, because you don’t have the money!

Reporter: What about a companion bill in the Senate?

Senator Rich Madaleno: I will introduce the Senate version of the bill. It will of course be amended to exempt sitting office-holders.

Miller: I can’t stress enough what a high priority this is for the state. Your legislators work hard every day and these bloggers don’t understand that. Our folks get more emails than God, have to put up with crazy constituents at home and are forced to stay up until 2 in the morning listening to boring speeches by assembly leadership!

Reporter: But Mr. Miller, you are the Senate President.

Miller: Errr, well yes, strike that remark from the record. Anyway, support for the legislation is coming in faster than we can track it. Already, we have letters from the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, Montgomery County Council Members Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal and Marc Elrich and famous television personalities Itchy & Scratchy complaining of defamation on these blogs. Even one of the bloggers themselves is calling for a halt to the nonsense! And poor Don Dwyer is still apologizing to his constituents after those bloggers caught him raising money for Dana Beyer!

[Unidentified delegate shouting from back]: Why are you blogging about the CARR bill? I’ve got five bills that are better. Where’s my blog coverage you little punks?!

Miller: Enough of that! These bloggers are getting rich – I mean, some of them live in Chevy Chase for heaven’s sake! It’s time for them to pay up!

[Just then, a stretch limo arrives with a license plate number of “CH CH 1.” Preceded by four tuxedo-wearing servants, world-famous blogger David Lublin steps out carrying his chihuahua, Muffitt.]

Lublin: This blogger tax is unfair, Mr. President! The Blogger.com fees are already killing me, my advertisers are asking for lower rates and now you want to tax me. I might have to move to Virginia! As it is, I can only afford to feed caviar to Muffitt three times a week. [Yap! Yap!] Look, you’re disturbing Muffitt! [Yap-yap! Yap!]

Miller: Now now, Muffitt, I meant no offense. [Kisses chihuahua on head] We certainly can’t have you rich people moving to Virginia. After all, we need the campaign contributions! So maybe we can work something out. But can you bloggers at least just tell the truth the way your public servants do?

Read More...

Summary only...