More News

What about plan B

for White Flint?

When it takes two full evenings to hear public input for the proposed White Flint Corridor Plan, you know this is big. Yet, there is one aspect of this development, as with others, that is missing — an economic plan B.

Developments are based on projections, with a changing economy never considered. With such developments taking years to completion, that changing economy could spell disaster.

Why is this so vital? Look at where we are today. Economic mavens almost unanimously confess, "We never thought things would turn out this way." Even Alan Greenspan, who continuously predicted a robust economy, now admits he misused previous economic models.

Fiscal responsibility and reality, like traffic, do not come out of nowhere. There were warnings of economic foreboding, but they were ignored. Without an economic plan B, future county development will be fraught with dire consequences that cannot be reversed once they are set into motion.

Look no farther than the draconian budget adjustments the county has been forced to take, which may well continue. Why did not the county's economic experts at least consider a plan B?

It is not too late to require this of any development not already approved. If anyone believes economic recovery will bring us back to where we were before, he or she is pipe dreaming. Recovery may be in terms we never envisioned. Just because this area is the seat of government, planners and decision makers should not be lulled into believing we are immune from what could become a type of recovery before imagined.

David H. Brown, North Bethesda

Schools for all in White Flint

In a letter written by Steven Phillips, published Oct. 21 in The Gazette, he disagreed with Rocking Horse Center being named by the Planning Board as the elementary school site for the White Flint Sector Plan. Rocking Horse Center was a logical and smart solution to the issues confronting the larger community of White Flint, not just one side of the tracks. I also live in a neighborhood bordering the White Flint Sector, Randolph Hills. I, though, wish to see a solution to this dilemma that serves the needs of all of our children and values the needs of all neighborhoods surrounding the sector.

Rocking Horse Center sits on 18 acres already owned by Montgomery County Public Schools and is as close to the sector center as the White Flint Park location. During a time of economic hardship for our county, the Planning Board chose common sense over a line drawn 20 years ago. We continue to applaud the decision of Commissioners [Joe] Alfandre, [Jean] Cryor, and [Amy] Presley, who acknowledged the needs of our community and our connection to White Flint.

I believe that two schools are needed to serve the communities surrounding White Flint — opening Rocking Horse immediately would address current and severe overcrowding and reserving a site within the Walter Johnson cluster would serve their need when the time arrives (projected to be 15 years). The growth in White Flint will be felt in our neighborhood too, the largest source of workforce housing in the form of single family homes next to the sector. New development will bring families not just to the condominiums near the Metro, but to our neighborhood, as well.

Next year, my son will start at Viers Mill Elementary, a school currently about 200 children over capacity, with projected numbers that swell to 290 children over capacity in three years. Our adjacent elementary schools within the Downcounty Consortium face similar overcrowding. These very large schools are already significantly overcrowded, have limited capacity for future growth and must absorb new children attracted by White Flint development. Re-opening Rocking Horse will address immediate needs and allow room for future growth, beyond the short-term Band-Aid of an addition to an existing school. This would not prevent the White Flint Sector plan from adding language that sets aside a school site for the [Walter Johnson] cluster in White Flint, as they should.

There is a clearly a need that no one can deny and county leaders should do everything they can to make creating additional school capacity a priority. I expect that MCPS will treat all children in communities surrounding White Flint with the same level of respect.

Lindsay Hoffman, North Bethesda