Chevy Chase, The Trolleys And Other Happenings

I picked up the latest Chevy Chaser the other day and saw where the Business Owners group there are exploring the possibility of being added to the Blue (or Main/Vine) trolley route.

The last that I have spoken of this was back in August when I suggested adding the Woodland Triangle shops into the route. The Chevy Chase folks want to bypass that idea and team up with the restaurants on Main and Ashland to make a longer loop.

As their proposal is described, they would take their extension from the existing turn at Woodland and Vine/Central and continue on instead of turning left. They would go to Ashland and proceed to High St and the Chevy Chase area proper. Then, returning to Ashland for a run up to Main St. and then back downtown.

I, on the other hand, would proceed to the next street and turn right on Kentucky Ave., run up by the park and turn right on High St. Then loop around the Triangle, head straight down High, past Ashland to the Euclid/Fontaine intersection where I would hang a right. After another right onto Ashland, would proceed to Main St for the run downtown.

This route would limit the number of left hand turns for which we have no dedicated timing at the signalized intersections, while passing a larger number of businesses or points of destination. The expected extra cost could be split among a larger number of participants and the distance is not significantly more than the alternative. There also would not be any repetitive travel by backtracking over the same street in both directions. It would open up the possibility of a noontime stroll in Woodland Park, or a picnic of take out from some of the restaurants along the route.

While on the subject of Chevy Chase, I also see where they will be losing another of the neighborhood churches. The Greek Orthodox Church at Tates Creek and Melrose has been given permission to head farther out Tates Creek and build a new, larger facility on the corner with Rebecca Rd.

This location is right across the street from the exit of Immanuel Baptist Church and right in the middle of the mega-church row. It just happens to be on the other side of the street. I have a friend who attends this congregation and she tells me that they can rarely fill the seats that they have, much less do they NEED a bigger building. This is just one more instance of neighborhood churches leaving to become “available” to their constituents.

Funny thing is, this could have become my neighborhood in my teen years. About the time I was 10, my mother toyed with the idea of moving from the area around Woodland Park and joining a few of her sorority sisters in the spacious suburbs. She went so far as to find a lot and sketch out the type of floor plan that would suit her and our family. Next, she found a builder and convinced my father to go along with the scheme. Everything was a go, until she found out that we kids would have to go to the County schools. This was pre-merger of the schools which occurred well before the merger of the governments.

We would have to ride the big yellow buses and spend some hours in traffic both morning and evening. This did not set well with her.

At this time Tates Creek Road was a narrow two lane country road and a dairy across the from the lot she had chosen. Our new house would have been quite some distance from shopping, any other entertainment and the rest of our relatives, who then resided not more than 6 blocks from our current home. I would have grown up a much different person had we moved.

Well, my mother backed out of the deal, but the builder took the plans, made some slight modifications and built the house on the corner of Rebecca Rd and Tates Creek. On the town side of this photo and across the street from what will be a new church.

I am kind of glad that I did not move to the county, it would have given me a different and wrong slant on life. I am a city kid.