MONTGOMERY COUNTY deployed speed cameras at targeted stretches of roadways last year, and it appears that drivers are starting to slow down.
As The Post's Dan Morse reports, "the cameras are causing drivers to slow down on roads where the cameras are located and suggests that drivers in others parts of the county are easing off the gas for fear that cameras may be nearby." And those results could help efforts to expand speed camera enforcement in other parts of Maryland.
At locations where there were either cameras positioned or signs warning of camera enforcement, Morse reports, the proportion of drivers going 10 mph over the speed limit decreased by about 70 percent. At other studied locations, where there were no signs or cameras, speeding fell by 15 percent.
» "Drivers Slow Down Where Speed Cameras Are in Place, Study Says" [WaPo]
LAST YEAR, MONTGOMERY COUNTY became the first jurisdiction in Maryland to deploy speed cameras on its roadways as a traffic safety measure. Now, lawmakers in Annapolis will soon consider legislation that would expand their use.
As The Post's Philip Rucker reports, the administration of Gov. Martin O'Malley is preparing a bill that would authorize the use of traffic cameras in construction zones. The Maryland Association of Counties and some lawmakers are pushing for speed cameras near schools and in residential areas. But critics say the use of such automated traffic enforcement infringes on civil liberties and is simply a covert way to raise revenue.
» "Lawmakers May Open the Way for Cameras to Watch for Speeding" [WaPo]
GET READY TO PAY a little more for items and services purchased in Maryland.
As The Sun reminds readers today, a 20-percent sales-tax increase, the first such hike since 1977, will take effect on Thursday:
Consider a pack of gum.Business owners across the state have been adjusting their cash registers to account for the new sales tax rules.If your favorite chicle-based confection costs from 41 cents to 60 cents, the tax to be applied under the old formula was 3 cents. Starting tomorrow, the 3-cent levy applies to gum that costs 34 cents to 50 cents. Chewing gum between 51 cents and 66 cents will now take a 4-cent tax.
WITH THE NATIONAL NAVAL MEDICAL CENTER in Bethesda predicted to see an influx in the coming years of 2,200 workers and double the amount of patients it serves, officials in Maryland are taking steps to improve transportation infrastructure near the site.
As The Post's Steve Vogel reports, Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown presented the state's action plan to deal with the upcoming shift in military resources and personnel around the region, including the planned move for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center from the District to the National Naval Medical Center campus.
Reports Vogel:
Concerned about the impact of the Navy's plans to nearly double the number of patients and visitors at the hospital, Montgomery County officials have asked the state to pay for more than $70 million in road projects, including widening Wisconsin Avenue and adding turn lanes at several congested intersections.Brown said the state will pay for "a substantial portion" of the needed improvements.
AT AN OPEN HOUSE in Silver Spring last night, transportation officials with the Maryland state government presented ridership projections and other statistics for the long-proposed Purple Line, a 16-mile mass-transit corridor that would link Bethesda and New Carrollton via Silver Spring and College Park. At issue is what form the proposed line could take: light rail, rapid-transit bus or traditional bus service.
Let's take a look at state's findings and projections by the numbers ...
» 47,000: The number of riders a Purple Line light-rail link would attract per day. As The Post's William Wan reports, that figure compares "favorably with similar transit projects being created throughout the country, bolstering Maryland's case for federal money needed to build the $1.8 billion line, state officials said."
» 45,000: The number of riders a Purple Line bus-rapid-transit link would attract per day.
» 29,000: The number of riders a traditional limited bus line along the Purple Line route would attract per day. That's the lowest projected ridership for the Purple Line.
» 46: The number of minutes it would take to ride the Purple Line end to end, according to one alignment option. Another alignment would result in a 73-minute ride.
» "Purple Line Could Draw 47,000 Riders a Year, Officials Say" [WaPo]
» "The Purple Line" [MTA Maryland]
Cross section of a possible University Boulevard alignment courtesy MTA Maryland
AS NATIONAL HARBOR, the massive $2 billion convention-hotel-entertainment complex in Prince George's County, has taken shape over the past year or so, there's been a big unresolved issue: its liquor license.
As The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman reports, the Nashville-based Gaylord hotel chain, which is developing National Harbor, had asked a judge to force the county's Board of License Commissioners to issue a liquor license, which had been in dispute:
The board had insisted that there was no class of liquor license appropriate for the new $800 million hotel and that a special license, with a fee that surpasses what other county hotels pay, needed to be created specifically for Gaylord by the Maryland General Assembly.The dispute has been resolved, for now.
In a settlement, the county will issue a standard hotel liquor license that will expire May 31 and need to be renewed. But there is room for the matter to be reconsidered if the General Assembly moves forward on the special Gaylord-tailored legislation when it reconvenes in January.
» "Pr. George's Gives License to Gaylord" [WaPo]
Photo courtesy the Peterson Cos.
"IF A LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER is able to do what a national brand is able to do, and in a less expensive way, I don't know how or why we're not entertaining such offers."
» "Critics Question Fillmore Plans" [WaPo]— Evan Glass, president of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, as quoted by The Post's Ann E. Marimow.
Just as Montgomery County has been moving forward on a deal with Los Angeles-based Live Nation to build a Fillmore music hall in downtown Silver Spring, local promoter Seth Hurwitz, whose Bethesda-based IMP Productions owns D.C.'s 9:30 Club and Columbia's Merriweather Post Pavilion, has offered to build a similar venue in Silver Spring at a reduced cost to taxpayers.
Live Nation is set to get $8 million in state and local funds to build the Fillmore. Hurwitz, pictured at right, has said he's willing to pay double Live Nation's proposed monthly rent and kick in $2 million to defray public costs, among other things.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has called Hurwitz's offer a "distraction."
REJECTING ENVIRONMENTALISTS' ACCUSATIONS that state and federal planners improperly handled impact studies for the proposed and long-delayed Intercounty Connector, a judge's ruling handed down on Thursday brings the highway — which will connect Interstate 95 in Prince George's County with Interstate 270 in Montgomery County — one step closer to reality.
Maryland officials, who already gave the green light to preliminary work on the toll road as the lawsuits were pending, say that full construction will start in the next few days.
As The Post's Katherine Shaver reports:
The environmental groups have 60 days to file an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond. Their attorneys said they will not decide until next week whether to appeal. They could also ask [U.S. District Judge Alexander] Williams to reconsider. Either action could entail the plaintiffs seeking a judicial order to stop construction while the case is reviewed.Maryland's transportation secretary, John Porcari, said "[i]t's a fair decision ... one that's unequivocal, and it's time to move forward."
» "Judge Paves the Way For Long-Delayed ICC" [WaPo]
HAVE YOU EVER wanted to take a tour of Maryland's State House in Annapolis, the oldest such building still in use? You'd better get there soon. The building, constructed between 1772 and 1779, will close in the spring for major repairs.
The Sun reports today that the state is preparing to shutter the building in April for an overhaul of a pipe system that's in danger of failing:
More than 60 state employees and elected officials will move out temporarily, including the governor, Senate president and House speaker, and preservationists will take careful steps to safeguard the artifacts and trappings that make the State House one of the most visited tourist attractions in Maryland.The State House is expected reopen in time for the 2009 General Assembly session.
Continue Reading "Md.'s Historic Capitol Building Closing for Repairs" »
IT'S PRETTY EASY to figure out who represents the District's disenfranchised voters on Capitol Hill — non-voting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (or, perhaps Texas Republican Louie Gohmert). For residents in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, however, the congressional borders are drawn so oddly that representation is anybody's guess.
The map at right, though, has the answers. The three members of the Maryland delegation that represent the area are Steny Hoyer (in blue), Chris Van Hollen (in red) and Albert Wynn (in green). It's easy enough to find your street on there, right?
A recent comment at Silver Spring Penguin addresses the confusion:
I voted in the wrong district last year (whoops) because who would have thought moving from Georgian Towers to Twin Towers would change your congressional district!!?? I mean, come on! I realize "Silver Spring" and "Downtown Silver Spring" are [unincorporated] areas ... names with no legal bearing — but you'd think these things would follow SOME sort of logical path! And yes, I realize the reason is that the partisans (uhm.. that'd be the entire [C]ongress) somehow have the authority to move the lines back and forth all day long until they get the balance of power they're looking for — in the process, effectively making some people's votes more or less significant ... but that shouldn't bother us, we're not a democracy or anything.So how exactly can you figure who represents you in Congress, or, for that matter, in Annapolis? Just use this mapping tool. It has overlays that show district boundaries and an address lookup feature so you can find where your home fits in the mix.
» RELATED: "The Race to Gerrymander" [Washington Monthly]
Addison Road