NAACP launches petition for return of bus stop

Loitering, bad behavior blamed on bus riders

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

The two Calvert County Public Transportation bus stops, clustered close together in front of a Family Dollar and a Safeway in the shopping center, were closed by the property manager after complaints from vendors and patrons of loiterers drinking and harassing passersby, according to the company and the county. Representatives of the Richmond, Va.-based real estate company, Edens & Avant, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

About 70 people attended a meeting about the closures Thursday, July 31, at the Calvert Pines Senior Center in Prince Frederick, according to Calvert County NAACP Branch President Joyce Freeland.

Those suffering from ‘‘age or infirmity would suffer hardship if public transit did not stop at Safeway or Family Dollar stores,” including Calvert Pines residents who would find the distance to the shopping center too far to walk, Freeland said.

At the meeting, bus riders said they are not responsible for disturbances at the shopping center. Afterwards, Freeland visited with vendors to make the riders’ case and get vendors’ support for a return of bus service.

‘‘I just hope something can be worked out where maybe a bus stop can be put in that shopping center area somewhere, so that people — particularly the elderly and those who have health issues — don’t have to walk too far,” Freeland said. ‘‘If there’s a loitering problem, that has to be really dealt with because it ends up with the bus riders being punished, in a sense, and they’re not the problem. But then on the same time I understand the merchants who are there, they don’t want people loitering in front of their business, and sometimes people still feel threatened or intimidated by that, so I hope something can be worked out so the transportation needs can be met.”

County Director of Community Resources Maureen Hoffman also attended the meeting. She agrees that perennial loiterers, not bus riders, are the problem at the shopping center. The county has inquired about opening a stop elsewhere in the center but was rebuffed by the real estate company, she said.

According to Hoffman, in a letter dated July 11, Evans & Avant wrote: ‘‘This decision was made after months of consideration, monitoring the activity at the bus stop and responding to concerns of shoppers and retailers. The use of buses in the parking lot not built for this purpose has a significant impact on curbing, pavement and landscaping throughout the center. We will continue down the path of closing the stop in several weeks and not replacing it with another stop on our property.”

County Transportation Services Supervisor Sandy Wobbleton said the county had to remove the stop from the private property but still hopes a compromise can be reached.

‘‘We’re still trying to work with them to see what kind of outcome we can get,” Wobbleton said. ‘‘Hopefully we can get a [bus] shelter in there, but not along the storefront. ... Since it’s private property, we can’t force ourselves to be in there. We have to honor the request that they’ve given us, but that doesn’t mean we’re not trying to work for a positive conclusion.”

In the meantime, bus rider Nona Wynne is convinced the most vulnerable members of the population will be the ones to suffer most from the loss of service.

‘‘It’s going to disrupt everyone’s life,” she said. ‘‘There’s two senior citizens’ buildings up there that people depend on, the supermarket that everybody goes to. They’re so set in their ways.”