Senator Jamie Raskin

Lobbying group aims to put Purple Line on funding track

Supporters raise $30,000 to pressure Assembly for multimillion-dollar transit-line project

This story was corrected on Oct. 17, 2007, from its print version

Purple Line supporters helped raise more than $30,000 on Oct. 10 to promote the Bethesda-to-New Carrollton transit line. The money will help fund a new lobbying group called Purple Line Now!

U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Dist. 4) of Mitchellville and state Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari were among the more than 300 people who came out to Montgomery College’s Silver Spring-Takoma Park campus for a $50-a-person fund-raiser.

‘‘I’ve never been to an event where I not only brought a $500 check from my own campaign, but so many other elected officials brought $500 for their campaign,” said Maryland Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), one of several speakers. ‘‘I think we need to roll up our sleeves and say the delay is over. ... We need to get this project done now.”

The Purple Line project stemmed from the former Georgetown Branch right-of-way trolley lane first conceived in the 1980s that ultimately floundered when the state determined that the proposed cost was excessive.

In 2001, the administration of Gov. Parris Glendening (D) resurrected the idea by announcing plans to move forward with environmental studies, but it was again postponed when Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s administration indicated a preference for a Purple Line outside the Beltway.

Porcari said the new lobbying group hopes to pressure the General Assembly to increase funding for transportation projects, should Gov. Martin O’Malley’s latest tax proposals pass.

‘‘Right now, there is no money for transportation,” Porcari said.

Wearing a purple shirt and purple tie, Montgomery County Councilman George L. Leventhal said the next few months are critical.

‘‘The governor and the General Assembly are right now making the decisions that are going to determine the future of transportation,” said Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park. ‘‘If our legislators are going to raise taxes of their constituents to raise revenues, then we have to say, ‘Here’s what we’re giving back.’”

The state and county are finalizing ridership, alignment and environmental studies of the proposed line before applying for federal and state money, Porcari said.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Silver Spring resident Webb Smedley, chairman of Purple Line Now! ‘‘The state has a lot of priorities. We know ours is not the only one.”

Smedley said the Purple Line needs $500 million in state money and $500 million in matching federal aid.

Business, labor and environmental officials joined politicians in supporting the rail line.

Among local representatives in attendance were state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park, County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring and Takoma Park Mayor Kathy Porter, who said the Takoma Park City Council has formally supported the Purple Line on several occasions.

Two proposed stops on the line — one in East Silver Spring, the other at the Takoma-Langley Crossroads — would boost those business centers and help alleviate congestion created by drivers passing through Takoma Park, Porter said.

Takoma Park resident Mike Tidwell, founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said the Purple Line is a preferable environmental alternative to existing traffic on the Capital Beltway because rail lines create less pollution and runoff.

Joslyn Williams, president of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, said area workers need a reliable and cheap public transportation alternative to driving.

‘‘Workers in this region, who are the backbone of the economy, must rely on an economic way to get to work,” he said.

Better area transportation is needed to move people and goods, said Georgette ‘‘Gigi” Godwin, president and CEO of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. ‘‘Transportation is key to commerce,” she said.

Many civic organizations, however, have raised objections to proposed alignment routes that would bring the Purple Line through their communities.

‘‘Our main concern is the damage to the community here,” said Karen Roper of the East Silver Spring Citizens Association.

Roper and other Silver Spring residents say proposed routes could have a negative impact on the merchants along Bonifant Street or the residents on Thayer Avenue, depending on where the line would go.

‘‘It goes right down the heart of private properties between Silver Spring and Thayer Avenue,” said Robert Rosenberg, founder of Silver Spring-Thayer Avenue Opposed to Plan, or STOP.

‘‘We’re not anti-Purple Line,” he said, ‘‘but we’re highly concerned about the number of alignments that seem to be going through East Silver Spring. It’s the last working class-dominated community that’s right around Silver Spring. ... I just want to make sure my community is not steamrolled in this.”

Roper said about 1,100 homes and 50 to 70 small businesses are within the area where planners are considering one of four possible routes.

Rosenberg, Roper and others say they would support the Purple Line if it included an underground tunnel that would not affect their neighborhood.

Del. Heather R. Mizeur acknowledged that many residents don’t want the rail line cutting through their neighborhoods.

‘‘At the closest local level, we have big decisions concerning where the alignment is going to be,” said Mizeur (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park. ‘‘We have to lay the tracks so it doesn’t divide communities.”

Unless planners decide to use tunnels in certain areas, as has been proposed, Takoma Park City Councilman Reuben Snipper (Ward 5) warned communities inevitably would be affected. ‘‘It’s going to be in somebody’s backyard,” he said. ‘‘That’s the nature of any public project.”

Silver Spring resident Virginia Haufler said she supports the Purple Line because it would ease her commute to work at University of Maryland.

‘‘I’d like an easy way to get from Silver Spring to College Park,” she said.