In today's edition of Purple Line NOW News, here's what you'll find:

• What's Happening at PLN?
  
  • Last Chance! Show Your Love for Purple Line NOW!
• Happening Along the Purple Line Corridor
  • Purple Line NOW Submits Testimony in Support of Transit
• Construction Updates
  • Maryland DOT Launches Grant Program for Small Businesses Along the Purple Line Corridor
  • Some Items of Interest from Social Media

Share This Newsletter

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our Purple Line NOW website which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees. 

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT PLN?

 Show Your Love for Purple Line NOW 

Important -- please take a moment to read:

All good things must come to an end! For us, that means this is the final week your gift will be matched, dollar-for-dollar. The "I Love Purple Line NOW!" matching campaign will end this Friday (February 28) and we are SO very grateful to all who have jumped in to support us during this matching campaign! Our terrific donors are listed below!

**We didn't reach our target in December, so with the kindness of a donor who has agreed to extend the matching campaign through February, we've relaunched the matching campaign to give you a chance to have your donations doubled! We are rolling closer to our goal -- thank you, thank you!! For every dollar raised, a donor will donate the same amount (up to $2,000) until we reach our goal of $6,000 or until the end of the month, whichever comes first. 

We only have a short time left and if you don't see your name on the list below, we hope you might consider a donation to help us reach our goal. Together, we can make a powerful difference in our community!

 Double the Love, Double Your Impact! 

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Why Your Support Matters: With your help, Purple Line NOW can continue to advocate for this essential transit project that connects communities, reduces congestion, and promotes sustainable transportation. Your matched donation will directly support:

• Annual Community Forums: Engaging with key Purple Line and community leaders.
• Bi-weekly Newsletters: Keeping you informed with important updates and construction information.
• Community-wide Information Sharing: Through our quarterly board and monthly executive committee meetings.
• Connecting and Problem-Solving: Helping connect residents and workers with the right person on the project to solve problems or bring attention to an issue.

How to Participate:

1. Donate Online: Visit our donation page and choose your desired amount (or click the purple "Donate Today" button above!)
2. Matching Gifts: Your donation will be recorded and matched by our generous donor.
3. Share the Love: Encourage friends and family to join our campaign by sharing this newsletter and spreading the word on social media.

 We Love Our Donors! 

Featured Donors
The Malloy and Sanders Family
Tina, Don, and Jessie Slater
Purple Line Corridor Coalition
Purple Line Transit Partners

Supporters
Elizabeth Barbehenn
Ben Ross
Eric Talbot

Engineers
Brian and Bee Ditzler
Isiah Leggett
John Robinson
Nancy and Rob Soreng

Conductors
Christine Scott and JohnR Llewellyn

Commuters
Anne Ambler & John Fay
Gus Bauman
Marney Bruce
John Carroll
Margaret Chasson
Elaine Emling & Michael Jenner
Margaret Greene
Gerrit Knaap
Jodie Kulpa-Eddy
Francine Meyer
Anita Morrison
Rodolfo Perez
Tom Quinn
Jerry Withers

Passengers
Glen Bottoms
Patrick Dougherty
William & Kay Gilcher
Tom Pogue
James Riley

Your love and generosity will drive us forward, creating a better and more connected community for everyone. The dollars we raise this month will help us continue our work this spring and summer. Please consider a donation, if you can – and as always, thank you for your continuous support and for making a lasting impact!

HAPPENING ALONG THE PURPLE LINE CORRIDOR

Purple Line NOW Submits Testimony in Support of Transit

Keeping with our theme of love, Purple Line NOW submitted testimony in support of public transit to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee at a budget hearing on February 14. What better way to show our love than supporting funding to improve and expand public transportation across the state?! Here's a copy of our testimony:

SENATE BUDGET AND TAXATION COMMITTEE
Public Safety, Transportation, and Environment Subcommittee - Budget Hearing
By: Christine Scott, Executive Director, Purple Line NOW
Date: February 14, 2025

Re: J00A0104

I appreciate the opportunity to provide written testimony on behalf of Purple Line NOW, an organization dedicated to advocating for the completion and success of the Purple Line, a crucial component of Maryland's public transportation network.

Investing in public transit is essential for the vitality and growth of our communities. The benefits of public transportation are vast and far-reaching, impacting not just individual commuters but also our economy, environment, and overall quality of life.

Economic Benefits Public transit systems, like the Purple Line, are catalysts for economic development. Studies have shown that every dollar invested in public transportation generates approximately $4 in economic returns. Transit projects create jobs during construction and operation phases, stimulate local businesses, and attract new investments. By improving access to job centers, public transit empowers individuals with better employment opportunities and contributes to a more robust and resilient economy.

Environmental Benefits Public transportation is a powerful tool in our fight against climate change. By reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road, public transit helps decrease greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. The Purple Line, for example, is expected to remove thousands of cars from our congested highways, leading to cleaner air and a healthier environment for all residents. Supporting public transit is a crucial step towards meeting our state’s environmental goals and creating a sustainable future.

Social Equity Benefits Public transit promotes social equity by providing reliable and affordable transportation options to all members of our community, including those who may not have access to a private vehicle. This accessibility is vital for low-income individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities, ensuring they can reach essential services, education, and employment opportunities. By investing in public transit, we are investing in a more inclusive and equitable society.

Quality of Life Benefits Public transit enhances the overall quality of life for residents by reducing traffic congestion, lowering transportation costs, and providing convenient and efficient travel options. The Purple Line, for example, will connect diverse communities, fostering greater social cohesion and a sense of belonging.

Additionally, public transit systems contribute to the development of vibrant, walkable neighborhoods, encouraging healthier lifestyles and reducing the need for extensive parking infrastructure.

In conclusion, the funding and support of public transit projects like the Purple Line are critical for the continued growth and prosperity of Maryland. I urge the legislature to prioritize public transit funding, recognizing the multitude of benefits it brings to our economy, environment, and communities. Together, we can build a more sustainable, equitable, and vibrant future for all Maryland residents.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATES & PROJECT FEATURES

MDOT Launches Grant Program for Small Businesses Along the Purple Line

Applications are now being accepted by Maryland Department of Transportation for grants up to $50,000 to support small businesses impacted by construction of the Purple Line Light Rail project. According to the MDOT MTA website, "eligible small business applicants must operate a customer-facing business within one-quarter of a mile from the Purple Line alignment and have been open and operational since January 1, 2022."

Small businesses are eligible if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

• 50 or fewer employees
• gross sales averaging $2 million or less
• or are certified in the State of Maryland’s Small Business Reserve Program

"Grant award amounts of up to $50,000 will vary based on location of the business, construction impacts and whether the business is located in areas designated for community and economic development, revitalization and sustainability. Up to three application rounds will take place each year."

Important: The first round of applications are due by March 14, 2025. Program details and the grant application can be found at www.purplelinemd.com.

Some Items of Interest from Social Media

STAY CONNECTED

Get Connected

Make sure you are signed up for timely alerts from Purple Line NOW via our Twitter and Facebook pages, and at our website Purple Line NOW.

In today's edition of Purple Line NOW News, here's what you'll find:

• What's Happening at PLN?
  
  • Love is in the Air!
• Happening Along the Purple Line Corridor
  • Purple Line NOW to Highlight Businesses Along Route
  • Maryland General Assembly
• Construction Updates
  • Sign Up for Construction Alerts
  • Capital Crescent Trail Pedestrian Bridge

Share This Newsletter

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our Purple Line NOW website which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees. 

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT PLN?

Show Your Love for Purple Line NOW

We are thrilled to announce our "I Love Purple Line NOW" matching campaign, where your donations will again be matched dollar-for-dollar!

**We didn't reach our target in December, so with the kindness of a donor who has agreed to extend the matching campaign into February, we're relaunching the matching campaign to give you another chance to have your donations doubled!

This Valentine’s season, we hope you’ll help us celebrate love in the most generous way possible! Every dollar you donate will be matched, amplifying your generosity and helping us reach our goal faster. Together, we can make a powerful difference in our community!

Why Your Support Matters: With your help, Purple Line NOW can continue to advocate for this essential transit project that connects communities, reduces congestion, and promotes sustainable transportation. Your matched donation will directly support:

• Annual Community Forums: Engaging with key Purple Line and community leaders.
• Bi-weekly Newsletters: Keeping you informed with important updates and construction information.
• Community-wide Information Sharing: Through our quarterly board and monthly executive committee meetings.
• Connecting and Problem-Solving: Helping connect residents and workers with the right person on the project to solve problems or bring attention to an issue.

How to Participate:

1. Donate Online: Visit our donation page and choose your desired amount (or click the purple "Donate Today" button below!)
2. Matching Gifts: Your donation will be recorded and matched by our generous donor.
3. Share the Love: Encourage friends and family to join our campaign by sharing this newsletter and spreading the word on social media.

Your love and generosity will drive us forward, creating a better and more connected community for everyone. The dollars we raise this month will help us continue our work this spring and summer. Please consider a donation, if you can – and as always, thank you for your continuous support and for making a lasting impact!

Double the Love, Double Your Impact

(Not sure if you have donated in the past year? Visit our donor page on our website to see if your name is listed!)

HAPPENING ALONG THE PURPLE LINE CORRIDOR

Purple Line NOW to Highlight Businesses Along the Corridor

At the Purple Line NOW Quarterly Board meeting last week, we chatted about ways Purple Line NOW can help highlight businesses located along the corridor, especially those who are suffering through the challenges of ongoing construction and detours. We have a number of ideas we plan to roll-out this spring, and hope you can help us identify businesses that could use a little boost by being highlighted in our newsletter!

If you have a favorite restaurant, barbershop, market, or other business located along the Purple Line route -- would you send us a sentence or two about why you love them? We'll try and highlight as many of these businesses in both Montgomery and Prince George's counties as we can in the Purple Line NOW News. You can send your blurb to our executive director, Christine Scott at [email protected]. Thank you for helping us help our businesses!

In the meantime, MDOT MTA has a great directory on their website -- next time you are looking for a local business, show one of these a little love!

Maryland General Assembly

We are closely watching legislation related to the Purple Line project as well as other transit-oriented legislation. Specifically, we are watching HB 527 Maryland Transit Administration - Purple Line - Free Ridership and Advertising. This bill would require the Maryland Transit Administration to develop and implement a program providing, for the first 3 months after transit service begins on the Purple Line, free ridership on Purple Line transit vehicles to individuals residing within a one-quarter mile radius of the Purple Line track and free advertising space on Purple Line transit vehicles and at Purple Line transit stations to businesses located within a one-quarter mile radius of the Purple Line track. We'll keep you posted.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATES & PROJECT FEATURES

Construction Updates

STAY CONNECTED

Get Connected

Make sure you are signed up for timely alerts from Purple Line NOW via our Twitter and Facebook pages, and at our website Purple Line NOW.

Happy New Year!

As has become tradition for Purple Line NOW News, this edition highlights our annual Top Ten List! Every year, we put our heads together to come up with the top ten stories that had an impact on or around the Purple Line corridor. With all of the construction and activity, the closures (big sigh), the re-openings (yay!), and tracks being laid -- so many tracks! -- there were a lot of items that could have made the list. Keep on reading to see which ones we chose!

Before we jump into the list, we wanted to alert you that we will be sending out a blast later this week with a message from our President, Ralph Bennett, as well as an update on how we fared during our matching campaign as the year closed out. Please keep an eye out for it.

Wishing you a very happy New Year and a big thank you from all of us here at Purple Line NOW!

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT PLN?

Our need is ongoing and we are grateful for all donations at any time of year. Ciick the Purple "Donate Today" box above to donate. Thank you for being part of the Purple Line NOW community!

Our Top Ten Purple Line Stories from 2024!

We had so many stories from which to choose this year, it was hard to narrow the list down to a mere ten. Without further ado, and in no particular order, we offer up these items which we deemed most impactful for the Purple Line! (Make sure to catch some honorable mentions at the end of the list we simply couldn't overlook in this monumental year!)

1) Kicking off the list with a biggie! The announcement came in December from the project's team, the Purple Line project is 73% done -- almost three quarters of the way to opening day! 

2) Canopies going up along the corridor at many of the future stations surely deserves a place on our Top Ten list! A visual and public sign of progress, beauty, and character, these canopies represent a smidge of what these future stations will look like, how the art-in-transit for each may be captured, and how it all comes together with the tracks and station facilities.

Photo Courtesy of MDOT MTA

3) Who can forget the summer Red Line Shutdown?! The shutdown, which was necessary to complete for Purple Line work, but serendipitously, also led to a Bus-Only Lane pilot program, which the state has agreed to make permanent on Colesville and Georgia Avenue. We were also tickled to see the re-opening happen on time (and not a moment too soon!)

4) Not every item on our Top Ten list is a happy one and the cost increases on the project certainly is one of them, even while necessary, to get the project completed without further delay. In March, the Maryland Board of Public Works unanimously approved an additional $425 million for the Purple Line construction and a delay of the project start until December 2027 due to rising costs during the pandemic, a recent contract for the connection to the Bethesda mezzanine, and the necessary funds to complete the massive utility work. Oversight continues with regard to construction on the project. In December, additional funds were requested due to an overlooked insurance contract after which the Maryland Board of Public Works approved the new increases in a divided vote and warned against unexpected costs increases.

5) On September 4, Purple Line NOW hosted a forum featuring Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld, MTA Senior Project Director Ray Biggs II, Purple Line Transit Partner CEO Doran Bosso,  Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass, and Prince George’s Councilmember Eric Olson. It was a terrific evening and a chance for our community to ask questions directly to the team building the Purple Line.

6) We surely count the arrival of the first Purple Line rail cars as one of the major highlights of the year! We were honored to attend the unveiling event at the new Operations and Maintenance Facility in Glenridge and watch so many years of hard work in the form of a very pretty (and huge) rail car come to life! What an awesome and memorable day it was!

(L-R): PLN President, Ralph Bennett; Montgomery County Councilmember Kate Stewart; PLN Executive Director, Christine Scott; PLN Treasurer, Tina Slater; Montgomery County Council President, Evan Glass; PLN Executive Committee Member, Barbara Sanders; Donna Nelson; PLN Vice President, Greg Sanders

7) There are many areas along the corridor that could be singled-out this year as an example of the phenomenal progress crews have been making, but we think the Kenilworth flyover ramp deserves a spot on the list as a visual representation of how quickly the landscape is changing and how close these areas are to the finish line!

Photo courtesy of MDOT MTA

8) At the University of Maryland, embedded track was laid on campus drive, new sidewalks were finished, a bi-directional bike path was added, and a colorful canopy at the Student Union made its debut!  (Diamondback, October 11, 2024). And, Campus Drive re-opened!

9) We'll never forget one of the first major public milestones for the project which happened back in the spring, but still brings smiles when we revisit photos from the event! On May 24, the Talbot Avenue Bridge reopened with a ceremonial crossing by Patricia Tyson and other longtime Lyttonsville residents! The original bridge historically connected an African American community to the range of amenities in Silver Spring and it was awesome to watch its reopening! (Moco360, Source of the Spring, NBC4, WJLA, WTOP)

10) And, finally, this year, with all the progress we have seen, we must take a moment to salute the dedicated and determined crews who show up every day in the hot summer months and the freezing temps to deliver this world-class project. By March they had laid over 17,000 linear feet of track and by late fall, over 10 miles have been completed! We are grateful to them for their hard work on behalf of our community.

"Purple Line Construction" by local artist Chris Luckman

So many worthy items could easily have made the list, including the revitalized Baltimore Red Line project, the Beyond the Rails community grant Purple Line NOW received from the Purple Line Transit Partners last January that helped us continue this newsletter and bring the terrific forum to you last fall, along with the Rivertech Court opening earlier than slated, 17 miles of sidewalks completed, and 19 stations under construction! We are so excited to head into the new year and can't wait to see what 2025 brings!

STAY CONNECTED

Share This Newsletter

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our Purple Line NOW website which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees. 

Get Connected

Make sure you are signed up for timely alerts from Purple Line NOW via our Twitter and Facebook pages, and at our website Purple Line NOW.

Time is running out -- the matching campaign is scheduled to end at midnight on December 31, less than a week away!

Purple Line NOW operates on a very tight budget, and currently, our funding is critically low. Our matching campaign ends on December 31, and we are still far from reaching our goal.

We have an ambitious goal of raising $6,000 by the end of the year with the help of a very generous donor who has offered to match every donation (up to $2,000) until the deadline or we reach our goal, doubling the impact of your generosity! Please note, Purple Line NOW Board members are exempt from this matching campaign.

Some of you have already contributed and have had your donation doubled -- see our website! If so, please accept our deepest appreciation -- your generosity in helping us kick off this campaign means the world to us! 

Why Your Support Matters

We need your help to make this vital initiative a success. Your contribution will play a crucial role in supporting our efforts to help ensure the Purple Line becomes a reality, bringing improved transportation options and economic growth to our community. The funds raised through this campaign will help us sustain our efforts through the spring. Your support enables us to continue producing our bi-monthly newsletter and hosting forums with key leaders on our project. Your contribution, no matter the size, makes a significant difference. With your help, we can continue to advocate, inform, and engage our community on important Purple Line and transit developments.

Donate Today and double your impact! Remember: The matching campaign ends December 31 at midnight. Every gift counts—especially now.

Thank you for being part of the Purple Line NOW community! As the year draws to a close, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to you, our dedicated readers and unwavering supporters. Your enthusiasm and commitment to the Purple Line project have been truly inspiring and instrumental in the progress of the project through the years.

Thank you for standing by us, sharing our vision, and contributing to the journey towards a brighter and more connected future. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year from all of us here at Purple Line NOW!