We would like to express our support for the White Flint Sector Plan and urge the Council and County Executive to create a feasible transportation infrastructure financing plan to move this effort forward without delay. We call on the Council to work with the Executive to establish a financing plan that is fair, accelerates redevelopment, and rightfully places this high value Metro-oriented development plan as a top priority for County and state transportation spending. The urgent need to create a workable, timely transportation financing plan requires us to rethink our spending priorities.

The Metrorail collision in June 2009 prompted a spate of articles about the Metrorail system. To evaluate the relative safety of Metrorail compared to driving, the Coalition for Smarter Growth collected the following statistics.

Both the Coalition and the Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) were actively involved in the entire process that brought us to this point. We began our engagement in early 2007 when we worked with the County Council to adopt a “Complete and Green Streets” law that gave new emphasis to street designs for all users and reduced polluted runoff. Based on direction for the Council, your staff conducted an extensive workgroup process. Both of our organizations participated in the workgroup.