On Monday night, 11/20/06, the Montgomery County delegation to the state legislature held a Joint Senate-House Priorities hearing. Anyone in the county was eligible to testify at the hearing about any issue they wanted the legislators to address in the 2007 session.  Over a hundred people testified about issues as diverse as the ICC (both supporters and opponents), the Purple Line, the Corridor Cities transitway, laws to prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals, the death penalty and more.

However, no organization sent more individuals to testify than Forest Estates.  And no single issue had more speakers than the need to build a new Forest Glen Metro entrance on the eastern side of Georgia Avenue.

From left to right: Oscar Sodani, Doug Goldenberg-Hart, Adam Pagnucco, Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, State Senator-elect Rich Madaleno, John Howley, Delegate Jane Lawton, Michael Ravnitzky, Shawn Jarosz, Paul Gordon, Joseph Davidson, Nancy May

More photos of the event can be viewed on the Forest Estates web site.

Forest Estates resident and Crossing Georgia committee chair Adam Pagnucco testifies

Choice quotes:

"Our first priority three years ago and today remains the construction of a Metro entrance across Georgia Avenue from the Forest Glen Metro station, so pedestrians won't have to cross Georgia at Forest Glen." - Paul Gordon

"We can no longer allow our parents, our neighbors, our kids and ourselves to be endangered by the simple act of trying to use public transit." - Adam Pagnucco

"The Georgia Avenue-Forest Glen intersection, the most dangerous in the County, is in close proximity to the Capital Beltway, a recently enlarged Holy Cross Hospital, a busy medical building, a new school in the Montgomery Hills church and sits on Georgia Avenue, a major north-south traffic route." - Nancy May

"Forest Glen and Georgia is not the only deadly intersection in our County.  What makes the situation uniquely dangerous is the conjunction of an over-capacity intersection and a Metro station.  The Metro stations at Silver Spring, Wheaton and Glenmont all have passageways allowing pedestrians safe access to either side of the adjacent thoroughfare." - John Howley

"Every morning and every evening I must cross the congested and dangerous Georgia Avenue-Forest Glen intersection--and each and every time I do it, I am relieved when I get across without incident. I wonder how long my luck and the good fortune of other pedestrians will last. I'm here to urge you to support the construction of a pedestrian tunnel. . .for my safety and the safety of my neighbors." - Doug Goldenberg-Hart

"I invite all our delegates to cross this congested intersection with me and my neighbors. Join us and cross during the morning rush hour, join us during the evening rush hour and during inclement weather. Please feel free to cross while pushing a stroller, or in a wheel chair. Help us build the tunnel and get pedestrians out of the mix." - Shawn Marie Jarosz

"By last year I recovered enough stamina to cross the intersection on foot.  Still there are many others who are not so lucky. They either cannot cross at all or cannot do so without risking their life.  As the years go on and age slows me down, I will join that group.  I hope before then, there is an alternative to Georgia Avenue's excessive traffic, an east entrance to the Forest Glen Metro." - Joseph Davidson

"Taking pedestrians largely out of the mix by providing an East Entrance to the metro station is a prudent and cost-effective approach to minimizing adverse impacts from the anticipated increases in traffic from these near-term projects underway in the Georgia Avenue corridor." - Michael Ravnitzky

Forest Estates resident Shawn Marie Jarosz testifies