Court Square

Let me preface this post by saying that I've met John Dow many times and found him to be a very nice guy. He's also expressed alot of interest for smart growth issues (including inviting me to speak on several different occasions).

But, in today's Montgomery Advertiser, John--who is running for Montgomery's mayorship this year--issued a campaign press release that Mayor Bright should personally pay for the $75,000 cost of adding curb cuts to the downtown Court Square Plaza.

This does not make sense for two reasons:

1. The Court Square Plaza was one of the first of its kind in the United States in the last 100 years. And, part of the unique beauty of the plaza calls it to have rolled curbs that give the area a more flowing feel. I mention this because--as with any novel idea--sometimes unexpected circumstances arise. In this case, I have not read or heard a single thing to suggest that the omission of the curb cuts was anything more than an honest mistake.

And, one that, once it came to light was promptly addressed to the city (despite the fact that some of those protesting the issue seemed more interested in making the evening news or the Advertiser than having a truly constructive discussion. Your conduct makes that very clear).

2. Yes, it added $75,000 to the cost to add curb cuts that--in the best case scenario--would have been added from the beginning. And, indeed, from the plans that I saw, they were supposed to be there. Regardless, it is clear that the Mayor was not the engineer or contractor in charge of the project. So, it makes little sense to have him personally pay for someone else's error simply because he's the Mayor.

It would be like demanding that the Governor personally pay to correct an engineering error that ALDOT made on an interstate.

So, the long and short is that this appears to have been an honest error on a cutting edge (no pun, intended of course) project.

While I don't know all the politics is this extremely political city, I can say with 100% confidence that--of the 100 plus mayors that I've met throughout the country during smart growth seminars, speeches, and the like--Mayor Bright is as supportive of smart growth principles as any other mayor in the United States of America.

We commend him for that.

p.s. We'd be remiss not to mention that Montgomery County is also fortunate to have Gordon Stone as the Pike Road since Mayor Stone is also a national leader in smart growth vision when it comes to mayors.