Residents and others lament loss of trees

The Montgomery Gazette ^ | April 30, 2008 | Melissa J. Brachfeld

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Uh, I definitely like fresh air at night.

[tgslTakoma]

These people who are "mourning" the loss of their private woods should have looked at their plats (or whatever the hell those property blueprints are called) before they signed the mortgage papers. The ICC has been on the Montgomery County Master Plan for more than 50 years; and everybody who bought property backing up to the ICC right-of-way knew damn good and well (unless they didn't look at the papers they signed) that they were buying property that backed up to the ICC right-of-way.

And they continue to whine.

Montgomery County was a nice county when I was a kid, with lots of farmland and rolling hills. I spent many a day wandering around Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Terrestrial Megnetism field station in Derwood, MD, where there were a few radio astronomy dishes which my dad helped to build. As kids, my brother and sisters and I traipsed all over that property, climbing on the base of the under-construction dishes like they were monkey bars, and collecting snake skins and all kinds of "wild" stuff in the tall grass all around us.

Now if you drive out to Derwood, where Carnegie used to own the land, you'll find ticky-tacky, brick-front but vinyl-sided houses crowded together. Carnegie got crowded out by suburban sprawl. And the only reminder of those days is the street sign on that short street leading into that subdivision - Carnegie Avenue.

Now, I would be very happy to see all the liberal transplants leave Montgomery County and go back to where they came from and get back the rural charm of my old stomping grounds; but that won't happen. Time, and progress, marches on. They need to march with it, or get trampled by it. But they need to quit whining, that's for certain.

[meyer]

Another tragic metric road sign catastrophe.

I confess - I saw "Montgomery" and I immediately thought of England. My brain switched to metric! ;-)

[RockinRight]

Actually, a reasonable solution in areas like this is a road that’s basically designed as a one-way road at different times of day.

I’ve often thought that US 29 in MD could be a southbound-only road during morning rush and northbound-only during evening rush.

[Dan Cooper]

At least they still drink in pints in England...they do don’t they? :’)

[ottbmare]

Actually, a reasonable solution in areas like this is a road that’s basically designed as a one-way road at different times of day.

I don't know--are we sure that the road is all people from Gaithersburg and Germantown looking to go to Laurel in the morning? Or is it people from Laurel trying to get to jobs in Gaithersburg? Might be both. I don't have any data on this so I'm just asking.

[Albion Wilde]

A walking tour playfully called ‘‘O’Malley’s March,” the name of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s former Irish rock band, mimicked the processional of an Irish wake as bagpiper Steve Porter led the group to the barren field behind several homes.

Governor Owe'Money, they mean.

Since the sassy Democrat voters of Montgomery are almost solely to blame for the entrenched Marxism in this state, it is only just that Monkey Canny should start reaping the whirlwind.

[pnh102]

So the idea is to take all the non-local, non-commuting traffic off of 95?

Yes.

[RockinRight]

Since the sassy Democrat voters of Montgomery are almost solely to blame for the entrenched Marxism in this state

Don't let PG County and Baltimore City off the hook, either...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

What needs to be done is this... and yes, I am dreaming, I know...

You could call the new route I-995 (yes, I know that technically, I-995 would not be a spur, but I-540 in NC is not a spur, either, as far as I know). Or you could call it I-1095, America's first 4-di Interstate. Or you could call it I-301 (an orphan similar to I-238 out in California). Or I-101 (the East Coast analog to U.S. 101). Possibilities abound.

[pnh102]

I’d steal I-97 and use that. The route would traverse 4 states. Another possibility would be to call the new route I-95E and the current route I-95W.

[chessplayer]

I would be pissed off, too. This country is becoming more and more paved over.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Damned people, multiplying and building stuff and cutting down trees! We oughta just kill ‘em all!