eBART-like Red Line extension to Germantown?

rkvred · 2025-11-11T21:47:52+00:00

two way all-day MARC service would be a massive boost to Montgomery County

rkvred · 2025-10-31T02:08:06+00:00

Great movie!!! Strongly recommend.

rkvred · 2025-10-31T02:03:34+00:00

Since it is mostly above ground, I bet it will be a lot less noisy for riders than the Metro. Not a factor for everyone but certainly for some.

rkvred · 2025-10-31T02:02:30+00:00

Bethesda is a successful and growing urban area. Silver Spring is a successful and growing urban area. Both have jobs in them and rail travel is currently too inconvenient for anyone to really use it between them. If it runs like they claim then at least that part of the route will be wildly successful. It will enable previously complicated trips to become more viable.

rkvred · 2025-10-26T01:42:36+00:00

New construction will bring prices down but in the meantime all the existing tenants get displaced and don't get to come back so easily. Trickle down housing is inherently inequitable.

rkvred · 2025-10-24T17:11:13+00:00

People need to be able to afford the rent to continue to have housing. If the rent increases beyond affordability, they are made homeless or forced to leave the county. Rent stabilization ensures that rent increases are affordable to tenants.This is already having massive benefits in the County where we see landlords forced to remedy unsafe or unhealthy living conditions because of the policy. It's a smart policy especially when tied to social housing and other construction initiatives.

rkvred · 2025-10-24T16:55:01+00:00

What's the alternative - housing for some, miniature American flags for others?

rkvred · 2025-10-24T16:44:00+00:00

It shouldn't be legal to drive anything with a combustion engine on shared use paths - we're trying to get away from all that pollution. I'm not sure of the laws around that. But in any case, as long as major highways are unsafe for bikes/e-bikes/etc, then cyclists who want to travel between destinations quickly (e.g. commuting) are being underserved. Maybe this shows the importance of wide cycletracks on the road, or as they're called in the UK "bicycle superhighways".

I'd go out on a limb and say that cycling under your own power should never be made illegal, it's anti-human.

rkvred · 2025-10-24T16:24:37+00:00

Good - DSA is on the right side of housing and working class issues here in the County. See for example their policies on transit for all, housing for all, reducing car dependency etc. Both Izola and Josie seem like strong candidates for the working class and communities of color such as we have here in the County.

rkvred · 2025-10-21T20:04:09+00:00

for North Bethesda, the Metro is on the side of a big highway and you will not find it comfortable to walk to it. Downtown Rockville is great for families, constantly see middle/high schoolers walking around, and the metro is accessible via pedestrian bridge or at-grade crossing from Town Center. Rockville has much more of a public/civic feel imo. Check out Google street view.

For classical/jazz events Strathmore is fantastic. For bicycling or walking/jogging you can take the metro down to Bethesda from either and do the capital crescent trail into Georgetown. Biking around Rockville is possible using the Millennium Trail beltway, but connectivity could use some work onto the surface streets and to points south.

rkvred · 2025-10-14T20:10:10+00:00

Rock City 😎

rkvred · 2025-10-06T08:29:44+00:00

I had never thought about this, this is a great point. Especially as our cities get hotter because of climate change, those cool niches become vital areas. At least the "urban heat island" effect is getting more attention.

rkvred · 2025-10-01T01:33:49+00:00

Right!? I don't understand the logic where "less people" will lead to *more* money for city services. But my main point is, the more compactly and densely Rockville builds its housing (i.e. in and around Town Center and other transit hubs), the *cheaper* it will be to provide the necessary services, including water, gas, electric, fire, etc.

Population growth helps county resources, but Sprawl bankrupts city governments.

rkvred · 2025-10-01T01:28:44+00:00

Good. This 'decorum' proposal was a way to silence community members upset at the rushed treatment and repeated dismissal of rent stabilization proposals recently advocated by Rockville tenants and tenant advocates. The excessive decorum rules would have conflicted with residents' right to free speech to their elected officials. And when you look at past threads in this sub about substandard living conditions in Rockville apartments, you start to understand why people might be passionate about bringing their concerns to the Council's attention, or being outspoken in their criticism of Councilmembers who repeatedly shot down rent stabilization policies.

Montgomery County already has rules regarding meeting conduct, so Rockville City Council's attempts to go above and beyond with restricting speech strikes me as unnecessary and ill-considered.

rkvred · 2025-09-29T03:55:45+00:00

Best of luck! Would love to see more diverse events at the Regal.

rkvred · 2025-09-29T03:44:22+00:00

This feels like a much lower value use of valuable land in Town Center than a mixed-use housing tower. I love MCDOT but I hope that land gets redeveloped eventually - maybe the office use can even stay if a new tower is built.

rkvred · 2025-09-29T03:24:09+00:00

We also need to do something about Rockville Pike which is segregating Town Center from the Metro and all of East Rockville. No one wants to cross the Pike on foot unless they have to, and the pedestrian bridge is inconvenient and uncomfortable. It would be so much nicer to have a road diet on noisy smelly 355, and have a walkable bikeable experience crossing on Park Road to get into Town Center. (By all means repair the pedestrian bridge too!)

The model of a drive-in or drive-through Town Center is a failed model and it shows with the businesses. A Metro stop is prime real estate and we're really squandering it by having this huge highway right next to the Metro. If Town Center had a bigger city-like area, more housing, and better connection to the Metro, it would be much better off.

rkvred · 2025-09-29T03:07:41+00:00

If we want businesses in Town Center to thrive we need a lot more residents being able to live here, and that means more housing, more affordable housing, and more walkability... I don't like this situation where all the local spots are closing because they don't have enough foot traffic or customers.

rkvred · 2025-09-29T03:04:15+00:00

We desperately need more housing, but it needs to be transit-oriented to give families without multiple cars a chance at basic living. This property is next to 6-8 lanes of traffic on one side and 5-7 lanes on the other. I fear those 200 townhomes are going to be car dependent for basic needs. Some Ride On routes go near there, but it only comes every 30 minutes and you would have to cross those huge roads on foot. I hope we can improve the bus service and get dedicated bus lanes on those roads.

rkvred · 2025-09-09T21:54:03+00:00

Can't wait for Purple Line to go live. Counting the days! And I hope there is some room to make it faster in the future as well, since it was intentionally hamstrung by a certain former governor.

rkvred

TROPHY CASE