Statement of Patrick Parlej, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, 6E05 Mount Vernon Triangle Area, District of Columbia
Response to the Proposed MAGLEV Draft Environment Impact Statement, May 22 2021
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter in response to the request to review the materials included in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) for the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting MAGLEV Project (“MAGLEV Project”). I have been following this project closely because the district I - represent – Single Member District 6E05 – is the proposed site of significant construction related to the Northeast MAGLEV project, including its Station Headhouse. [...] Note that in addition to this letter, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6E voted to endorse a similar letter on May 18, 2021 in response to this project. [...]
To understand the costs, benefits, and implications of the proposed MAGLEV Project for the 6E05 community, I have had significant discussions within the neighborhood as well as with the MAGLEV team throughout 2021, including a community-wide public meeting on April 29, 2021.3 My discussions with the community have led me to understand that there are varying opinions surrounding this project; this letter compiles those neighborhood perspectives on the project. Although there are different levels of support for the project within the neighborhood, there is a wide consensus that, if approved, it would bring significant changes to the 6E05 community.
In summary, the residents, businesses, and other stakeholders of Single Member District 6E05, which encompasses much of the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood, believe that the MAGLEV proposal as described in the DEIS would significantly increase private automobile traffic, exacerbating current congestion and pedestrian safety concerns, and does not adequately mitigate construction-related disruption around the proposed Mount Vernon Square East station. Specifically:
1. The MAGLEV Project fails to propose a direct connection with Metrorail, thereby placing greater demand on access via private automobile travel. Given that the MAGLEV project would involve significant tunneling in construction, it is a missed opportunity to exclude a direct connection to Metrorail. A connection to Metrorail would decrease aboveground congestion when accessing the Station Headhouse and would encourage use of public transportation. The absence of a proposal to directly connect the station to existing transit infrastructure is concerning and is reflective of an over-prioritization of private automobile access.
2. The MAGLEV Project proposes over 1,000 parking spaces; an influx of private automobile traffic at this scale would be devastatingly disruptive to the neighborhood. The streets within and surrounding the 6E05 area are already congested with automobiles. Inviting hundreds of additional cars into the area via a high-capacity parking garage would exacerbate current traffic issues, resulting in gridlock and danger to pedestrians. The MAGLEV team must refine their approach to be more focused on access via walking, biking, and existing public transportation systems and significantly reduce this number of proposed parking spaces.
3. The MAGLEV Project fails to offer specific actions to mitigate the impact of construction on the immediate neighborhood. The MAGLEV Project would involve multiple years of construction that would disrupt major corridors in the neighborhood, such as New York Avenue. Although the MAGLEV team has offered reassurances on future construction-related mitigations, the lack of specifics in the current proposal has resulted in nearly unanimous concern about fundamental changes to the character of the neighborhood if residents move out and businesses are forced to close due to the disruption.
I am available to further discuss any of my comments and concerns above and can be reached at [...]. Thank you for considering the perspectives of our neighborhood.
Sincerely,
Patrick Parlej
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, 6E05
Source: See attached pdf file
Orinally from
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZA1ICe ... Vqy-z/view
posted by Patrick K. Parlej @PatrickForANC
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Not active on Twitter (X) anymore. Too much spam and rubbish there, not much serious stuff.