Mendelson
Would Restrict Beach Drive To Commuter Use
November
1, 2002
At a
candidates forum, At-Large Candidate Phil Mendelson revealed that he
supports closing Beach Drive to vehicles except during rush hours,
effectively limiting the historic parkway to a commuter traffic route.
Siding against the majority of citizens in surrounding wards and
neighborhoods, Mendelson stated that he supports and backs up the
Mayor in closing Beach Drive 7 days a week.
Closing Beach Drive
would be contrary to the original purpose of the parkway, which was
established by Rock Creek Parks creator, Frederick Law Olmsted, to
provide public access to the parks beauty. Set aside as a
pleasure ground for all people of the United States, the National
Register of Historic Places recognizes that [a]ll of the park's
serpentine roads were designed as pleasure drives, which was a major
recreational activity in the park before 1941. The present road
system continues to reflect their original purpose of providing public
access to the enjoyment of extraordinary rural scenery. Although
adapted to the automobile, the designed alignment, width and
environmental surroundings of these scenic roads has not substantially
changed since the 1920s.
Closing Beach Drive
also will further cripple our already over-crowded transportation
system, this in the nations third most traffic congested city.
The roads of Rock Creek Park form a historic and significant circulation
system that is vital to the transportation and recreational needs of
local citizens. Beach Drive provides an alternative route that is
considerably more desirable than the available options, such as
Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street, which are overcrowded and
significantly more dangerous travel corridors.
Mr. Mendelson continues
to show that he has lost touch with citizens, consistently espousing the
impractical views of radical idealists. Closing roads ignores
reality. We live in an urban area. Our city is choked with
traffic. A new multi-million dollar campaign seeks to attract new
businesses and residents. No transportation alternatives exist
that are adequate to our roads. Expansion of the public rail
system is decades away. These practical considerations stand in
stark contrast to the romantic notion of reducing our transportation
capacity.
Even more ironic, the
ideologues would have us reduce our existing transportation capabilities
in order to expand an extensive trail system in Rock Creek Park that is
vastly underutilized. Moreover, other alternatives exist for
expanding the trails of Rock Creek Park and protecting its environs,
without sacrificing the legitimate transportation and recreational needs
of local motorists. We could better maintain and expand existing
trails. A creative approach could be taken to designing and
installing new trails. Even Beach Drive itself could be made
friendlier to multimodal use by enforcing speed limits aggressively and
consistently.
Mr. Mendelson should be
denied the power to impose on his electorate an environmental agenda
tipped heavily in favor of an idealistic minority, while ignoring the
practical needs and concerns of the citizenry that elected him. We
need a candidate who supports what is best for all of us.
Copyright,
the NW Current, Wednesday, October 30, 2002
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