An Infill Metro Station

You can't get to the Greenbelt Metro Station from the development called Greenbelt Station.

Well you can, but it’s a long walk. I was surfing the internet recently. Yes, I do that. I’m a voracious reader, and the internet is the largest library in the world. I was looking at old rail maps, trying to piece together in my mind, what the US passenger rail system was like in the 1950s. I saw an image that caught my eye. There was a label on it for Beltway Plaza. There was a link to this website. I’m glad I discovered it. It’s called “City Block,” by Alex Block.

https://www.alexblock.net/blog/

He has great arguments for an infill Metrorail station on Metro’s Green Line. I’ve said that every time I drive over the bridge by Greenbelt Station, which ironically doesn’t connect to the Greenbelt station.

Alex Block says to name the station, Berwyn, because it’s right by the town of Berwyn Heights. It’s also adjacent to the Berwyn section of College Park. I agree that it’s an ideal location for an infill station.

First of all, I’m being selfish. It’s walking distance from my house. It’s a long walk, but it’s shorter than walking the 1.5 miles to the Greenbelt station, or the 2.5 mile walk to the College Park UMD station. It’s probably between 1/2 a mile, and 3/4 of a mile from my house. It’s a safe walk too. The only major road to cross it Rhode Island Avenue. They reduced the speed limit and installed bicycle lanes on that road, so it’s now a lot safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The rest of the walk is through residential neighborhoods.

That area is zoned light industrial, making it ripe for redevelopment into mixed-use. There is Beltway Plaza Mall, basically across the street from the apartment/townhouse complex, Greenbelt Station, which is right next to the tracks, but nowhere near the actual Greenbelt station. You could build a complete development right over the tracks. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take an elevator from your floor to the fare gates?

There have been plans for years, to redevelop Beltway Plaza Mall, and the deteriorating Springhill Lake apartment complex behind it into some sort of mixed-use development. The read-between-the-lines real reason, is they are trying to control the crime problem, coming out of Springhill Lake. Rather than doing what they should do, which is competent, aggressive law enforcement, to take out the criminal element, the powers-that-be want to tear everything down. Then, you have the developer put in expensive, luxury residential units, pricing the “Lumpen Proletariat” out of the market; problem solved. Gee, how “woke.”

I did read somewhere that the mall has been nominated for designation as a National Historic Landmark. I don’t know if it’s been declared that nor not. The argument is that it is basically a working museum. It’s a perfect, working example of a 1960s American shopping mall. It is.

Personally, I like the mall. It is full of little mom and pop stores and places to eat, own mostly by immigrants. Some of them have been there as long as I’ve lived in the area, which is 1982. It’s geared primarily, for a working poor, lower-middle class, middle-middle class clientele.

Yes, there are gangs of unruly teenagers. The two jewelry stores in the mall have hired armed security to prevent smash-and-grab shoplifting. Mall Security definitely earns it’s paycheck. There is also a Greenbelt Police Department substation located by the movie theaters. Personally, I’ve never had a problem and I go there frequently.

I’m sure many of the residents of Greenbelt Station would love to see an infill station where the road goes over the tracks. From the back end of the development, it would be about a 1/2 mile walk. I’m guessing that those that live in density living, are also fans of public transportation. What there not to like about a Metrorail station, practically right at your front door? Having one a 3/4 of a mile walk from my house, is not going to hurt my feelings either.