DC Area Transit Zone

The Prince George's County Council narrowly voted 5 to 4 yesterday to shift the terminus of Metro's proposed Green Line in southern Prince George's from the Rosecroft Raceway to Branch Avenue, capping a hard-fought lobbying effort over one of the county's longest running disputes.

The resolution, drafted secretly two weeks ago by several council members with the help of a lawyer prominent in the dispute, reverses at least two decisions by earlier councils to end the subway line at Rosecroft Raceway.

Council Vice Chairman Floyd Wilson made an impassioned speech during the debate in which he told his colleagues that the county would be a "laughingstock" of the region for being unable to decide a controversial issue.

"What is the message being sent to the business community -- that as soon as the faces change on this council, we can go back and change everything?  The kind of commitment we're making here is not like changing a traffic light," he said.  "We are the only county that can't decide."

In another reversal of a previous council position, the council voted 6 to 3 yesterday to introduce a bill stripping the Washington Capital's hockey team of a tax break awarded last year.

The bill, the first one introduced by the newly elected council this year, has remained stalled in committee for months while the council reviewed information detailing the financial condition of the Capitals and the Capital Centre sports arena, both owned by businessman Abe Pollin.

The previous council had awarded a tax break in the belief that Pollin would sell the team because it was losing so much money.

Yesteday's vote means the tax break will now be reviewed at a public hearing, after which it can be approved or rejected.  Unless the council members who joined as sponsors yesterday change their minds, the bill to remove the tax break will have enough votes for passage.

Metro spokesmen were uncertain what effect the council's vote on the Green Line alignment would have.

"I don't have any comment," said Gerald Gough, Metro government relations officer.

Metro board Chairman Richard J. Castaldi, also a Prince George's council member, said he believed the resolution might put the county at odds with District of Columbia officials, who have been concerned that the county's inability to rsolve the issue has endangered the inner-city portion of the line.

"This is an inhumane position" to be placed in, complained Castaldi after the vote on the resolution, which he opposed.  "My influence down there, what with Prince George's County's indecision, is gong to be very, very difficult to foster."  Castaldi said, however, that he is committed to working for the majority position.

A D.C. representative to the Metro board, City Council member Jerry A. Moore, said through a spokesman that the final decision over the route rests with the Metro board, which has the sole legal authority to decide.  He said he had to study the resolution before making further comment.

Yesterday's vote on the Green Line split the council largely between the newly elected majority and the incumbent minority, whose members had made the decisions reversed yesterday.

Council members revived all the old arguments about the merits of the two alignments.  The Rosecroft section, its supporters said, would be cheaper to build, displace fewer people and promote desirable development that would make money for the county.

Rosecroft supporters argued further that attempts to change the alignment at this date would jeopardize the entire Green Line, and lawyers for the Rosecroft hinted that they would file a lawsuit if the line changed, just as Branch Avenue supporters did years ago.

But Branch Avenue supporters said that alignment would better serve already developed areas, carry more people, and be cheaper to operate.

"I'm just delighted!"  said Secretary of State Lorraine Sheehan, a former state delegate whose furious lobbying for Branch Avenue caused her to be dropped from the county's democratic slate during last year's election.  Yesterday, Sheehan ran up to the council's seating area during a brief recess and threw her arms around council member Anthony Cicoria, one of the bill's five sponsors.

Council member Wilson suggested some Branch Avenue supporters want to jeopardize the building of the line altogether, and are motivatd by racial prejudice.  "After all this time it seems clear to me that the purpose is to keep certain people out of this county," he said, "and that to me is a grave injustice to all the citizens of the county."

Branch Avenue supportes introduced their bill to change the Green Line after a federal judge ruled that the Metro transit authority had failed to comply with legal requirements on public hearings prior to approving Rosecroft.