Councilman Berliner Responds

Many of us have received a response from Councilman Berliner, including the following letter he sent to County Executive Ike Leggett. It's nice to know we have been heard & to know that our Councilmember supports us!!

However, the battle is not yet won. Please take a moment to contact Councilman Berliner to thank him for his support and (more importantly) to encourage him to attend the meeting next Monday to show his support. His presence & backing could go a long way towards making this a reality. In addition, many of us would like the chance to thank him in person & if we know he's coming to the meeting, we'd have the opportunity to do so.

Here's the letter he sent to the County Exec:


MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
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> Rockville, Maryland
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> Office of Councilmember
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> ROGER BERLINER
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> MEMORANDUM
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> February 4, 2008
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> TO: Isiah Leggett, County Executive
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> FROM: Roger Berliner, Councilmember
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> SUBJECT: Proposed Cancellation of Ride On Route 37
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> I am writing to request that you reconsider the cancellation of Ride
> On Route 37.
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> Since your FY 2008 Savings Plan came to the Council, my office has
> heard from dozens of constituents who desperately want the County to keep this
> route. Many have shared the specific difficulties they will experience if the
> route stops running. For example, an elderly couple that has lived along Route
> 37 for decades wrote the following about their dependence upon this bus route
> for the health aide who assists the wife in many vital ways:
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> The Ride-On bus Route 37 is the final link her home health aide takes daily in a
> 2½-hour commute each way from her home in Bowie, MD. Without the aide, we are
> in desperate straits. It would be extremely difficult to locate a replacement
> as efficient, capable, uncomplaining and personable as our Alma []. Alma does
> not drive or own a car so she is totally dependent on public transportation
> which she uses daily.
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> Many other residents in Potomac have written passionately about
> their reliance on Route 37 for the last 5, 7, and even 8½ years to get to the
> Grosvenor Metro Station for their daily commute, the use of Route 37 by their
> housekeepers and child care providers to get to their jobs and by their children
> to get to and from activities at Hoover Middle School and Churchill High School.
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> I certainly learned that the ridership numbers for this route are
> lower than the County's standard rate. However, in addition to the human
> hardship that our constituents will endure, there are several other reasons why
> it is in the best interest of the county to maintain this route at a reduced
> schedule:
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> * Rather than eliminating the route completely, it would be far more
> acceptable to reduce the frequency of the route. For example, running every 30
> minutes, instead of the current 20-minute interval, will result in some
> financial savings for the County (over $15,000 in FY 2008 and $91,000 in FY
> 2009), as well as an increase in the route's passengers-per-hour figures.
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> * Secondly, in light of the importance of encouraging mass transit
> alternatives for our citizens and the County's desperate need to keep as many
> cars off the roads as possible, for both environmental and traffic congestion
> reasons, we should not be canceling Route 37.
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> * Route 37 should be maintained because there are no real transit
> alternatives for these residents/riders. For these dozens of bus riders in
> Potomac that we have heard from, they have no alternative but to drive (if they
> are able), should Route 37 be canceled. It would be short-sighted to attempt to
> fix immediate budgetary problems by transit cuts that will carry significant
> short and long-term costs by putting more cars on the roads.
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> For all of these reasons, I request that you remove the cancellation
> of Route 37 from the FY 2008 Savings Plan, and that you send it back to the
> Council for verification of this change.
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> Thank you for considering this matter, and I look forward to hearing
> from you in the near future.
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> RB:kbw