Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Starr Wants to Put 400 Buses on a Site Half the Size of Shady Grove Bus Depot

The 2009 MCPS presentation on the Montgomery County proposal to move the MCPS Shady Grove School Bus Depot shows that Superintendent Joshua Starr's current plan to move the bus depot to a site half the size is unworkable, dangerous and outrageously expensive.

Superintendent Joshua Starr's current plan is to move the already severely, dangerously overcrowded 35 acre Shady Grove school bus depot to the Ewing Center School site where there will only be 15 acres of available land.

In order to fit 400 school buses at the Ewing School site, the County will have to build a multi level school bus parking garage and stack the buses on top of each other.

Where will Ike Leggett find the $200 MILLION +  to build the 4 story school bus parking lot that will be needed to fit the 400 MCPS school buses on the way too small Ewing School site?

Below is the 2009 Board of Education presentation on the Shady Grove bus depot that gives the facts behind the move of the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot.

Here's the math problem:
The current MCPS Shady Grove bus depot is 35 acres.  The current site is already severely, dangerously overcrowded.  A superintendent wants to move the Shady Grove bus depot to a 15 acre site.  
How many levels will the parking garage need to be to safely fit all 400 MCPS school buses on the 15 acre site?   
What will it cost taxpayers to build a ____ level school bus parking garage?
Show your work.



http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/agenda/2008-09/2009-0414/7.0%20Shady%20Grove%20Sector%20Plan%20Green%20Sheet_4-14-rc.pdf

16 comments:

  1. Sounds like another example of 10 pounds of sugar in a 5-pound bag.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you mean sugar or another "s" word?

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    2. Let's keep it clean.

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  2. county council will vote unanimously for this
    payoffs are huge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can you be more specific? what payoffs?

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    2. Is that what they mean when they say, stuffing envelopes?

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  3. Is this multi level bus building going to look/be kind of like the Silver Spring Transit Center?

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    Replies
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sNvgD9ZnN4E#t=45

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  4. Maybe we'll be replacing our current fleet with more of those short stubby buses.

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    Replies
    1. Short stubby double decker buses?

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    2. Brilliant idea! Just go to double decker school buses! That cuts the parking needs in half!

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  5. This is insanity. Will they have to widen Avery Road? I can't imagine the traffic on 28 as buses attempt to come out onto the road. If some of the buses go the other way, it will be even worse. Avery is not a road that should have a fleet of 400 buses traveling on it. Who comes up with these ideas?

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  6. Is this the result of secret meetings between Starr and Planning Board chair Casey Anderson?

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  7. I toured the Ewing Center school this past Monday, and it is a solid, well-built building, and it has been well-maintained & is very usable. It certainly should not be demolished!
    Would anyone care to see the feasibility study from 2013 that shows the building can work to meet the AEP students' needs? This just appeared this week:
    http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/construction/studies/Docs/BGEwingCtrModFeasibilityStudy.pdf

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  8. Note that the BoE Staff felt that they could make the Blair G. Ewing Center a "national model" for alternative programs. Check out the BoE meeting minutes from September 9, 2014... less than two months before Dr. Starr released the details of the CIP, which called for the demolition of the Ewing Center to make way for a parking lot.

    ReplyDelete

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