Outreach has been a watchword for the latest ICC study, which has had its own newsletter, cable shows, letterhead and electronic bulletin board. Everything, it sometimes seems, except pavement. It's a facade. The draft environmental impact statement is being reviewed by eight federal and state agencies, Montgomery planner Joe Anderson said, and remains on track for public release in the spring. More than once, someone rose to point out that Winstead used to work for a law firm hired to promote the ICC and that Glendening has embraced the roadway for years.
Opponents hold out little hope of changing the mind of either.
That's why they have been trying so hard to influence the recommendation that will be presented publicly to the state officials about a year before Glendening faces reelection. He had changed a road map into a protest sign. Possibly, a half-century of prelude is about to give way to the main event. Absolutely no one, however, is willing to say so for sure. The battery ran out.