With credit to Mr. Paul Harvey. For those who don’t recognize the name, Mr. Harvey was a MARVELOUS and WELL-RESPECTED radio commentator who provided the WHOLE story and not just the ‘headline.’ Often, he saved the ‘meat’ of a story for a ‘rest of the story’ segment.
Intersection of Monroe Street and Park Avenue. This was (about) a decade-long undertaking, slowed primarily by the need to accumulate the funds to carry it out. Solutions were publicly reviewed and accepted/discarded over the years. Public interest was pretty low until the ‘end.’ In the final analysis, I rejected (as one member of council) the worst possible solution for improving safety at the intersection—a 4-way stop. Why? Because it would have sent hundreds and perhaps thousands of cars daily THROUGH A QUIET RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD on Van Buren Street, Grant Street, and Dranesville Road (and perhaps Madison Street and Jefferson and Jackson Streets as well) between Park Avenue and Elden Street to avoid what MUST SURELY become a hugely long line of waiting traffic from Elden Street to Park Avenue along Monroe Street and/or on Park Avenue between Dranesville Road and Monroe Street.
This would have brought back the ‘bad old days’ when cut-through traffic used those roads regularly before the Elden Street to Dranesville Road section of Herndon Parkway was completed. I also chose to allow staff to do their jobs to liaison with the residents in the vicinity instead of preempting staff by undertaking a (politically motivated?) campaign to ingratiate myself with residents in the vicinity of the intersection and support an unsupportable solution.
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I take my job as a member of council very seriously, and very carefully crafted my contribution to the language adopted by council to eliminate much of the need to take land from homeowners. I even conceded some sidewalk construction along the east side of Monroe Street and south side of Park Avenue (I THINK SIDEWALKS ARE GREAT!) for ‘another day’ to make the project acceptable. I was one of several who sought to make the safety of the ‘many’—pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers/passengers greater instead of doing something ‘politically convenient’ and therefore easy to perhaps benefit the ‘few.’
Another story continuation on another day!
