Investors are operating in the real estate market for profit. Converting a public parking lot and adjoining lots into a commercial rental and meeting hall for sale is a profitable move. It will add little social value to this highway intersection in our town.
The existing Takoma Junction buildings have empty storefronts looking for tenants. Commercial space is available. The minimal demand for social meeting space comes exclusively from the developers.
“Soliciting Public Comment” comes in the form of a meeting with refreshments. The developers layed before us large maps and crosswalk stickers that would make a kindergartner happy. The adult public responded similarly because the insult is so disarming that they acquiesce to the “professional developers.”
Commercial development on the south side of Carroll Avenue/Grant Avenue/Ethan Allen Avenue/Sycamore Avenue complex is to profit the developers. None of it is for the community of Takoma Park. Also, developers have minimized the point that Highway 410 exists to get vehicle traffic between Silver Spring and Hyattsville.
A building with four storefronts would make a modest profit. Anything offered that is more civic is only to flatter the local people to gain their endorsement.
When I put a crosswalk sticker onto the oversized map at their meeting, I was playing their game. Now they can say, by implication, that I approved their map.
I do not approve.
