WMATA has provided us with a comprehensive list of the crimes committed in and around the Forest Glen metro station. Note that complete lack of crime in the pedestrian tunnel.

For years, we have been telling anyone who would listen that Forest Glen Road and Georgia Avenue, while seemingly innocuous compared to some of the big name intersections in our county, is actually the most dangerous near a Metro stop. Now that Montgomery County is making its police information available online, via CrimeReports.com, we finally have the evidence to back up our claims.

Our research on traffic accidents on CrimeReports.com has uncovered some truly remarkable data:

Traffic Incidents within a 1-block radius of a Metro stop: (11/07-1/08)

On average, we are talking about an accident every other day at this intersection. The other dangerous intersections near Metro have pedestrian overpasses or tunnels. Forest Glen does not.

So WMATA asks its Forest Glen/Holy Cross hospital customers to walk through the most dangerous intersection near a Metro stop, without the pedestrian safety measures that other Metro stops are afforded. Seems backwards to us...

The following letter has been sent to the District 18 delegation:

 13 February 2008

District 18 Delegation
Senator Richard S. Madaleno, Jr.
Delegate Alfred C. Carr, Jr.
Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez
Delegate Jeffrey D. Waldstreicher


Dear Senator Madaleno and Delegates Carr, Gutierrez and Waldstreicher:
 
On behalf of the Forest Estates Community Association, the Crossing Georgia committee and our neighbors who must cross Georgia Avenue to the Forest Glen metro every day, we are writing to thank you for your help in extending the Montgomery Hills study to include the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Forest Glen Road.
 
Your ongoing support for the east entrance to the metro and your leadership to help improve pedestrian safety has been key to keep momentum going.  Thank you for sending a clear message to the State that it is imperative that we continue to make progress to improve pedestrian safety at this dangerous, congested intersection.  
 
We have shared your letter on our listserv and reported to the neighborhood the inclusion of the intersection in the Montgomery Hills study.  There is still much work to be done to ensure that an underground passageway is studied, funded and built, but we appreciate the work you are doing each step of the way to help make it a reality.
 
Sincerely,

Shawn Marie Jarosz    
President                            
Forest Estates Community Association                    

Adam Pagnucco
Chairman
FECA Crossing Georgia Committee

Yesterday was Primary Day in the State of Maryland, and the Crossing Georgia committee took its usual spot in front of the Holy Cross Resource Center to educate neighbors about the latest information in our fight for a new Metro entrance.

The cold and snow drove most of the other campaign workers away, leaving the Diggers as the sole activists for much of the day. State Delegate Jeff Waldsteicher was on hand to show his support for the new Metro Entrance, pictured below with Adam Pagnucco and Doug Goldenberg-Hart.

When MDOT announced its new capital budget, the agency included a development and evaluation plan for Georgia Avenue between 16th Street and the Beltway.  But MDOT did not include the Georgia-Forest Glen intersection or the new Forest Glen Metro entrance in this plan, thereby ignoring the interests of Metro station pedestrians who have to cross the infamous Intersection of Death.
 
Senator Rich Madaleno and the District 18 delegation protested the decision in a letter to Maryland Transportation Secretary John Porcari (below).  MDOT responded by expanding the Georgia Avenue study to include the Forest Glen intersection and also announced a separate concept study on the new Metro entrance. See this article in the Gazette for the whole story.

This represents a substantial victory for Senator Madaleno, his District 18 delegation, and thousands of District 18 residents.  We thank our state legislators as well as County Council Transportation & Environment Chair Nancy Floreen, who offered us invaluable support in our time of need.
 
Below is the letter that turned everything around in our favor:

Perhaps you have heard about the recent passing of Montgomery County Council Member Marilyn Praisner .   I write this post in praise of a legend of county politics, a true titan of public service who will never be forgotten.

Mrs. Praisner has represented District 4 (East County) since 1990.  She is the longest-serving woman in the history of the County Council.  But she was far, far more than that.  She was a former member of the school board, a long-time chair of the council’s Management & Fiscal Policy Committee and a long-time member (and recent chair) of the critical Planning, Housing & Economic Development Committee.  Those positions and her long tenure made her one of the county’s most influential voices on budget issues, cable policy, technology, education and land use.