There have a few near misses for the rail-to-trail conversion of the Glen Echo and Cabin John Trolley line. There was a missed chance for the DC section in the 1970's and numerous times that the line has found its way into plans that never came to be. Back in 1993, there was another missed chance on the part of the line in Maryland, from Cabin John to Brookmont.
It all started with the end of the streetcar system in DC.
Transit riders filed a successful class-action suit in the 1960s challenging fare increases by the D.C. Transit System Inc., which operated Washington's bus system and street cars in addition to the trolley.
That class-action lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court and wasn't settled until 1989
The ROW continued to be owned by the D.C. Transit System until it defaulted on its debt to the Washington Metropolitan Area Riders Fund, a nonprofit group created to hold the millions of dollars of refunds. They forced the auction of the ROW, which they then bought (because all the revenue of the sale would go to them and they'd thus get the land for free? Just guessing.)
They bought the 3 mile, 15 acre ROW for $42,500, which seems like a steal
[Leonard N. Bebchick.], court-appointed counsel for the Riders Fund, said he has no plans to develop the property, which was assessed at $571,000. "I think the bulk of the property has no value, except to the National Park Service," he said. Bebchick added that he'd like to sell the land to the Park Service so it can make the Clara Barton Parkway four lanes throughout.
But Audrey Calhoun, assistant superintendent of the George Washington Parkway, said the Park Service doesn't have the money to widen the two-lane part of the Clara Barton Parkway.
Still, a lot of people were interested in getting it for free.
Nevertheless, [Calhoun] added, "If someone were to donate {the trolley corridor} to us, we'd be more than happy to take it."
Glen Echo Town Council member Bill Shultz attended the auction and approached Bebchick yesterday about donating the Glen Echo segment of his new property to the town of 350. He was turned down.
At the time, the Post wrote
The fund now has $11 million, most of it invested in Treasury notes, and is still owed $4.8 million by the D.C. Transit System, Bebchick said.
When the Riders Fund is finally tapped, Bebchick doesn't want the millions used to lower bus and subway fares. "I want something tangible to show the riders that after 30 years of litigation they've got something for their money," he said. What does he have in mind? More bus shelters.
In 1996, the Riders Fund (and the related Bebchick fund) was transferred to WMATA with the conditions that the money be used to buy buses and that it not offset any contributions due from the jurisdictions that fund WMATA. The land was transferred too, though there was one suggestion to not transfer the land (I don't know what they wanted done with the land instead). If only someone could have made the argument that turning the ROW over to Montgomery County and DC for the purpose of a trail would benefit bus riders.
Not to be pedantic, but it's not really correct to refer to it as a right-of-way. A right-of-way is the right to use property owned by another. My understanding is that the trolley company owned the land under its tracks outright, which is why the news reports refer to it as "the property." I've taken to calling it "the trackway."
The issue is a little confusing because there are also at least two rights-of-way on the the trackway, owned by DC Water and PEPCO (or whatever PEPCO is calling itself these days).
Language is important because where the trackway runs through residential neighborhoods, many of the abutting neighbors incorrectly believe that the trackway is actually a right-of-way, and that their property extends under the trackway.
Posted by: contrarian | February 05, 2017 at 01:05 PM
Also, to lose the loop on that riders fur money for buses, that was about 1/3rd the seed funding for Circulator in '05
Posted by: Will Handsfield | February 06, 2017 at 07:53 AM
I'm enjoying these "from the archives" historical posts. We can learn from the past.
Posted by: freewheel | February 09, 2017 at 12:37 PM