The pro-road group unabashedly says what ever they believe may support rebuilding the road, with a cynical and reckless disregard for the truth. It is hard to believe that there is any Roadie credibility, but some people apparently believe many of their claims. Here are some of the most spectacular whoppers the pro-road group has tried to sell to the public.

1) People are dying because Klingle Road is not open.

2) Rich and powerful white people in Woodley and Cleveland Park conspired with a corrupt D.C. government to keep poor African Americans and Hispanics from going west of Rock Creek Park by closing Klingle.

3)  Rebuilding Klingle Road is supported by "more than 100,000 people."

"Death by Klingle Valley"

Roadies have been careful to never propose this ridiculous theory in print or on the web, but they have stated it in private lobbying efforts and a public forums. Like most of the roadie whoppers, there are no actual facts, statements or evidence of any kind anywhere that prove these absurd claims. Recollections of the fabled "death by Klingle Valley" story runs something like this: "A man was choking at a restaurant in Cleveland Park, and if Klingle Road had been open, he could have gotten to the hospital in time to save his life, but he died instead. Congestion on Connecticut Avenue from Klingle Road slowed the EMTs from arriving at the restaurant on time." Variants on this theme include ambulances trying to get over to the Washington Hospital Center, and patients died before arriving because of congestion due to Klingle Road being closed. Another variant claims that EMT's from Adams Morgan were backed up behind cars on Porter and couldn't reach the scene on time.

1. The incident is claimed to have occurred in Aug 2002. At that time, major construction was taking place on Connecticut Ave in front of the fire house, causing backups in and out of Cleveland Park. This was the cause of congestion, as is the case all over the city in the summer. To suggest that Klingle Road caused this congestion is absurd. Although Klingle Road might provide some relief of congestion on Porter under this scenario, the Zoo road would still be a far better choice as a shortcut to the south side of Cleveland Park. 
    
2. There is a fire house less than 1 block away from the restaurants on Connecticut, and even if Connecticut was impassable, the EMT could WALK there in just seconds.
    
3. The Berger traffic study shows virtually no change in the level of service on Connecticut Avenue, regardless of any of the build scenarios, meaning that emergency response time along Connecticut would not be affected by rebuilding Klingle.
    
4. If someone had an emergency on Connecticut Ave, it is hard to imagine a scenario where it would be faster to take Klingle Road to get anywhere since Klingle doesn't intersect with Connecticut. In the case of an Adams Morgan unit responding to Cleveland Park, and backups on Porter because of construction on Conn. at the fire house, Klingle is still not helpful. The best road would undoubtedly be the road through the Zoo, which does intersect with Conn., and would be much faster than Klingle.
    
5. Other hospitals are closer in both distance and time than Washington Hospital Center, like Georgetown University Hospital. Let's take a worst case scenario: someone has a life threatening emergency at the top of Klingle Road at Cortland Place. Where do you go? Georgetown is 1 1/2 miles away, Washington Hospital Center is 2 3/4 miles away. Let's get real.

It is truly contemptible that the roadies would try and manipulate this poor person's death into a justification for their pet road. Their trademark sophistry and innuendo has nothing to do with getting to the truth. They are truly shameless in contorting the truth in order to counter the utter lack of facts in support of a road.

"The Man wants Klingle Road closed"

This particularly nasty fabrication sprang out of the '95 fair and democratic process for evaluating the closing of the road. The roadies lost on the facts, and had to create something to get a redress on the issue. They wove this whopper out of whole cloth in order to divide residents along racial and economic lines, and have had some success in making it stick. Although it is true enough that there are real demographic differences between east and west of the park, it doesn't mean that the issue of Klingle Valley/Road is caused by those differences. In point of fact, the activists working on Klingle Valley have an established track record of working on similar issues throughout the city, regardless of race or class.

The roadie myth goes like this: D.C.'s 1995 decision to close the road, was allegedly “backroom dealings,” and that “well-heeled residents” took advantage of a “corrupt...D.C. Government” in order to turn Woodley Park into an “gated community,"  where "folks from other parts of Washington are just not welcome.” 

You would think that there would be some evidence, some statement by someone in support of such a vicious accusation, but there is absolutely nothing to support it, just appearances and innuendo. In 1995, the District announced it’s decision to convert Klingle Road to a hiker/biker trail after extensive and open public debate in multiple forums, and after professional traffic, environmental, and cost benefit analyses. The pro-road argument is now a two time loser, with the data unanimously favoring the park.

"Over 100,000  people support rebuilding Klingle Road"

This tally of supporters apparently comes from counting all of the residents of ANCs who made pro-road resolutions, a boast that calls into question the credibility of all claims made by the roadies. The small but hardcore pro-road group has aggressively sought and claimed endorsements from dozens of groups and politicians, many of which are valid, but many others are very weak or patently false. For example, the group claims the support of the Sierra Club and WABA groups, both of which are ardent park supporters.

At the recent roundtable, ANC (1C) Cmmssnr. Josh Gibson explained how the road group convinced his ANC to quickly pass a pro-road resolution before hearing the pro-park side, or learning all of the facts about the issue. When the new ANC learned both sides, it reversed position. He complained that the pro-road website still list ANC 1C as a supporter, despite repeated requests to remove it, and that many other supposed “supporters” of the road are actually “straw men” who do not support the road or would not if given the chance to hear both sides. Several claimed supporters, like Sierra Club or WABA, nearly required legal action to remove their logos from the roadie website.

A majority of the claimed roadie supporters had only brief, one-sided considerations of the issue under extreme pressure to provide support for the road.  ANC 3C (Woodley Park/Cleveland Park), in which the closed section of Klingle Road is located, has not taken a position on the issue, although it has recognized the importance of both traffic and environmental concerns. ANC 1C has taken a pro-park position after carefully considering the issue. ANC's 1A considered the issue fairly carefully, although it was before the Berger Study was released, and passed a pro-road resolution. ANC 1B briefly considered the issue, and passed a pro-road position. 

The Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners' Assembly, ANC 3B, ANC 1E, ANC 3/4G, ANC 4A, ANC 4C, ANC 5C never invited the pro-park to present a case, and took positions without ever hearing from park supporters.  These kind of decisions rarely have any depth, they are just rubber-stamping a pet issue, and hardly seems like an true endorsement. These railroading tactics belie a profound insecurity the roadies have about full disclosure of all the facts.

The pro-road group targeted nearly all the six council members who support Klingle Valley Park, as well as Mayor Williams. They bombarded the Mayor and Council candidates with political threats, claiming that a majority of voters supported turning Klingle Valley into a road, and promised political payback at the polls.

If the roadies delivered on these threats, nobody noticed. Specifically, they aggressively targeted At-Large candidate Phil Mendelson both in the media and behind the scenes. Mendelson is the most vocal advocate for Klingle Park and the environment in general. He was characterized as "consistently espousing the impractical views of radical idealists." Before the 2002 election they said "Mr. Mendelson should be denied the power to impose on his electorate an environmental agenda tipped heavily in favor of an idealistic minority."  He fought a tough primary and general election, yet easily defeated his pro-road challengers. Mendelson got nearly double the votes of his nearest At-Large competitor.

There is no doubt that there are dozens of highly motivated roadies, and dozens more who may be sympathetic. However, this is an opportunistic single issue group, without deep roots or width in terms of organizing. Proof of this is only too clear with the 2002 election results - where is the beef?

"This is not a green issue"

The roadie website is chock full of anti-environmental rehtoric: "The repair of the road does not pose a threat to Klingle Valley.", "Klingle Road will add almost nothing to our green space", "We have Rock Creek Park ... for the birds.", and "DPW has spent years conducting an unnecessary and wasteful environmental assessment study of the road."

It is hardly worth the time to rebut such absurdities,  other than the pro-road group believes this is not an environmental issue.