We are asking an important favor - Purple Line NOW needs your assistance in raising financial support. We are a bare bones operation. Today, with about $5,000 remaining in our operating budget, Purple Line NOW needs your help - we hope you will continue your leadership by donating. Please read on to see the impact PLN is making in our community - including a brand new forum in late September (details coming soon!)

Specifically, here's how you can help:

1. Become a sponsor of our Envisioning the Purple Line Series - your name will be listed alongside these terrific sponsors.
2. Consider becoming our Presenting Sponsor (donation level: $5,000). You will be highlighted at our forums, on our website, and at the top of the marquee at all of our venues. Please contact Christine Scott ([email protected]) if you are interested.
3. Consider a donation of airline miles! Purple Line NOW has agreed to host an expert from the Denver Eagle project to headline our September forum and we need your help to defray those transportation costs.

As you know, the project has come a long way, and its realization is coming more rapidly than many of us ever thought possible. Our position at the moment raises important questions:

1. Where do we go from here?
2. Is there more that Purple Line NOW can do to assure the project arrives at the station on time and on budget?
3. Can we assist the community by providing education, leadership, and a place to discuss best practices, plans, and insights from those making the project a reality and those who are affected by it?
4. And finally, can we connect the residents in our community affected most by the upcoming construction to their elected officials, project leadership, and others who can help smooth the way for an easier transition?

The answer we hear from you is a resounding YES! Purple Line NOW's work is not done - there is more to do to ensure the best project possible for our community. Many of you took part in the first two of our year-long Envisioning the Purple Line forums, both were extremely well attended, covered extensively by the media, and reinforced Purple Line NOW as a primary resource for the community, the media, and for those wanted to know more about the project.

With your help, planning is already underway for the next two events:

• A Best Practices Forum in which members of the Denver Eagle project will be help us get a better idea of what our community can do to assure the best possible outcome for the project, hurdles to be aware of, ideas to borrow, and ways to keep the community informed during construction. We will need funds to bring people associated with this first in the nation major transportation project constructed with a public private partnership to Maryland. 
• What kind of jobs will be available as Purple Line construction gets underway? How can people seek them? What is the timeline for the project? A forum set in the Takoma Langley Crossroads area will bring together the community, county officials and the Purple Line builders to highlight opportunities associated with this exciting venture. 

You already know we survive on a very slim budget (well under $20,000 a year) and that funding goes to pay our quarter-time executive director, create and direct all of our events, manage our excellent website, provide email information to a large constituency, keep the press updated about the positive aspects, provide speakers for testimony, community groups, and small group meetings, provide flyers, brochures, and many other informational pieces to the general public, and often be the clearinghouse for community questions and fact-finding issues. 

Now, I ask you to step up, once again, with a financial contribution to Purple Line NOW so we can continue our work.

Please contact us with questions or to chat about how much your financial support can help us. Thank you for all you do for Purple Line NOW!

This loan, which is taken on by the Purple Line Transit Partners and not the state of Maryland, completes another critical remaining step left before construction can start later this year.

“The Washington metropolitan region is one of the most congested areas in the country, and viable transportation alternatives are needed to accommodate a growing population,” said Secretary Foxx. “When completed, the Maryland Purple Line will connect residents in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, MD with improved access to jobs, education, and medical care and, overall, will help improve the quality of life.”

Read more here >

The Purple Line's vendors will close the deal on major financing around the June 13th and 14th. Now that the ratings have come in just where they were expected to be, we're one step closer.

Fitch Rates Purple Line Transit Partners' Sr PABs & Sub TIFIA Loan 'BBB+(EXP)'; Outlook Stable
BUSINESSWIRE.COM

Read more here > http://goo.gl/3SgseQ

The Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) is hosting an important community forum regarding Wayne Avenue THIS  Thursday , May 26th, 7-9 PM at the Silver Spring Civic Center. The Purple Line Transit Partners, the private sector vendors, will also be in attendance.These events can both be an important medium for informing people about changes and soliciting input about specific implementation choices. However, local opponents often try to turn the events into gripe sessions and promote poison pill proposals rather than taking the opportunity to collaborate. Opponents should get a fair hearing, but so should the strong majority of area resident (two-thirds in Montgomery County!) who support the Purple Line. 

We hope you can attend - please feel free to share these important facts.

For those attending and others who are curious, here is a roundup of some key facts on that part of the Purple Line. We've talked a lot about the big picture. The Purple Line connects four Metro stations: Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. That's on top of all three MARC and two Amtrak lines and bus hubs like Takoma-Langley. Ninety thousand people will be within a half mile of a station for the first time and seventeen thousand cars will be taken off the streets. Here are some key details:

Improved connections! 

​The Dale Drive station, like other Silver Spring stations, dramatically expands the range of jobs, shops, and schools that residents can get to without a car (map courtesy of PLCC).

• Bethesda, Wheaton, University of Maryland campus center, and Fort Totten will now all be less than a half an hour away.
• The Purple Line will not be run by WMATA. It will be a Maryland Transit Administration line run by the vendors you can meet at Thursday's meeting. The vendors' revenue directly depends on how good a job they do running the trains on time and keeping the line in good working order.

The Purple Line promotes pedestrian safety!

• While a left-turn lane is being added to Wayne Avenue at Dale Drive, the speed limit on Wayne has been lowered to 25 MPH in response to community concerns. This is not planned to change during or after construction.
• Adding that left turn lane allows for continued use of existing arteries without rerouting traffic through side streets or unintentionally encouraging drivers to race the train.
• MTA has emphasized that safety is a top concern and that trains will operate at lower speeds entering and leaving the Dale station.
• There will continue to be dedicated crossing guards when students are arriving or leaving school, as well as warning lights at Wayne and Springvale.
• Communities with better transit access also tend to be safer, because they take seriously the needs of all road users - not just drivers.

The Purple Line produces value for those nearby!

• Multiple studies have shown that proximity to light rail stations generally increases values for nearby homeowners, a benefit even for homeowners who aren't riding.
• You can see this in the DC area, as well. Land near rail stations is disproportionately valuable.
• The contract includes a range of incentives to minimize noise during both construction and operation - if they are too loud it will cost the private operator.
• In response to community concerns about noise, the concessionaires have added solar power rail lubricators to their proposals.
• The contract mandates that the concessionaire engage a certified arborist to monitor and approve plans for tree preservation efforts during construction.

Thanks for your support of the Purple Line and special thanks to all who can attend and voice their support for the project. Please feel free to share.