Won’t you be our Neighbor? An international suburban explorer is

In honor of our 12th birthday and the 2020 Neighborhood Drive, GGWash asked one of our Neighbors—Sanjida Rangwala—to talk about her experiences with urbanism and why she values being a part of the GGWash Neighborhood.

When you join the GGWash Neighborhood, you’re not only contributing to the financial sustainability of our community, you’re also joining a group of inspiring urbanists that are leading the fight for more sustainable and equitable urban planning and policy in our region.
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In our conversation, Sanjida mentioned that she is particularly interested in empowering people living in her neighborhood to fight with her for better transit and more walkable retail. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Where did you grow up and how did that inform your understanding of urbanism?

I was born in India, and when I was a year old, my parents moved to a planned suburban development in Edmonton, Canada, in a neighborhood that had a lot of immigrants from all over Asia. We all walked. Edmonton has serious winters, but I remember being bundled in a snowsuit and snow boots and climbing over snow drifts with friends to get to school. It was normal for us.

When I was 14, I started taking the bus to a magnet high school in a central city area. I took two buses from home everyday and remember how exciting it was to take the public bus to school on my own for the first time. We had a crew of friends who would meet on the bus. In Edmonton, only the very sheltered kids or the very wealthy weren’t taking public transit.

All this makes it sound like Edmonton is some sort of urbanist paradise, which couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s very much a sprawly car-centric metro. I remember having to cross large roads and larger parking lots to get to box stores and supermarkets on foot, or trudging groceries back across muddy fields to access a light rail station. However, it was doable to live without a car in Edmonton, which wasn’t the case when I later moved to St. Louis and Columbus.

Ultimately, what I’ve learned is, you can make buses and walking doable. It’s not the size of the city or the climate that matters, it’s the will to treat transit as a priority and a city culture where people are willing to take transit and advocate for it.

Where do you live in the DC region and what do you like about your neighborhood?

I live in an inner suburban area in eastern Montgomery County, about halfway between the central business districts of Wheaton and Silver Spring. Living in these suburbs is a continual culture shock, but I do love some things about where I live.

There are enough bus options that I can get to work or downtown DC by transit in less than a hour, traffic and transit gods permitting. Three Red Line Metrorail stations are a short drive away, and one is an easy bike ride or walk away, in good weather. I feel safe walking back from the bus at night or jogging because I don’t have to be in the street if I don’t want to be.

Because this neighborhood still has many of the original small post-war Cape Cod and ranch style houses, it’s relatively affordable for Montgomery County, and therefore has a mix of incomes and ethnicities. My concern here is that we do see some small houses being torn down and replaced by larger homes, which are then put on sale for twice or three times the rate of the older homes in the area, slowly leading to turnover and gentrification.

When did you start reading GGWash and what drew you to it?

I moved to the DC area (and Silver Spring) about eight years ago. I found GGWash through other local media (shoutout to Dan Reed’s blog) shortly afterward. I came to it for local news and a perspective on the built environment that agreed with many of the observations I’d made living in different cities. I love that GGWash covers stories from different perspectives all over the region. I also appreciated that it hosted events and happy hours where I could meet other like-minded folk from the region.

What do you do to push for a more equitable and sustainable Washington DC region?

I volunteer with Greater Greater Washington and am currently on the editorial board and previously served on the elections committees. I’ve also volunteered with Action Committee for Transit and other groups to promote transportation and housing equity in the county and region.

I try to make sure we are mindful of the experience of people in the suburbs, who are often there because they can’t afford to live in places with better transit or better walk scores. I’m always trying to push back on the prevailing stereotype of the suburbs as a place where people love to drive and where we need cars and highways and can’t possibly slow down cars on our bigger roads. I’m on buses every day with people who need buses, who need to be safe getting to and from transit, who need transit to work for them. I attend memorials for people who paid the price for not being in a car and trying to bike or walk or bus somewhere.

I’m also a YIMBY. I want more people living in my neighborhood to fight with me for better transit and more walkable retail. Neighborhoods like mine are prime spots for densification. We need infill here, rather than more development further out along the freeway. And I think more of my neighbors agree than you’d think, and we just need to empower them to speak up.

What is on your urbanist wishlist?

My number one wish list for where I live is a dramatic road diet along the major state highway a block from my home, where I catch the bus every day and where I walk from other bus routes and retail. There isn’t nearly enough traffic to justify six lanes here! As a result, drivers treat this road like a speedway. In fact, it can be scary to drive, let alone walk or bike.

Please, can we pretty please take a car lane (and narrow the others) from each side of University Boulevard between Piney Branch and Connecticut Ave? Let’s have some sidewalks that are actually wide enough to be safe, some separated bike lanes. People are hit along this stretch walking pretty much every week! A few people die here every year.

Unfortunately, this road is owned by the state department fo transportation, and almost no one in the county or the state is prioritizing safety here. So we’ll continue to suffer, and a brave few of us will continue to try to move the Overton window toward public safety.

Why are you a member of the GGWash Neighborhood?

Because GGWash people are my people. We all care so damn much about making this place better, one local elected official or bike lane or community meeting at a time.

If you want to join Sanjida in her quest to find like-minded people that will advocate for more density and safer streets - consider joining the GGWash Neighborhood today!

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GGWash only happens with you!

We need to raise $21,000 and add 200 new members to start the year off strong. If you find Greater Greater Washington a valuable resource and/or enjoy the community we have created here, please contribute whatever you can afford or think is a fair value for what GGWash means to you. Any donation made before March 12th includes a ticket to our 12th birthday celebration.