By Adam Pagnucco.
Anthony Fauci, the former director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is a well-known figure both in MoCo and across the nation. Many MoCo residents relied on his guidance during the pandemic and, at one point, the county led the nation in COVID vaccination rate. Now a prominent former county employee is asking the county executive and the county council to rename a stretch of Rockville Pike in front of his former agency Anthony Fauci Way. Will they do it?
The former county employee in question is Glenn Orlin, who was the council’s primary expert on transportation and the capital budget before he recently retired. MANY council members and their staff (including me) were tutored by Orlin on these subjects during our tenure and we were better off for it. Orlin sent the email below to the council on November 2 and sent it again before Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment at a contentious U.S. Senate committee hearing.
Orlin’s email is reprinted below. Readers, do you agree with his points? Should the county honor Fauci?
*****
Dear County Executive Elrich and Councilmembers,
In these semi-dystopian times at the Federal level, when the Health & Human Services Secretary promotes medical malpractice and anti-vaxxers are given agency, it’s time for us to stand up forthrightly in support of a hero in our midst, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a former Montgomery County resident. (He now lives in Georgetown.) I propose we do so by renaming Rockville Pike in front of NIH and Walter Reed Medical Center as “Anthony Fauci Way.” Rather than calling it a “Boulevard” or “Avenue,” I suggest it be a “Way” because of the double meaning it would convey: not just a thoroughfare, but a tribute to the “way” Dr. Fauci conducted himself honorably during his long career serving this country.
While route numbers are established by the State Highway Administration, street names are determined by the Planning Board staff, and the street name signs are fashioned and erected by the County DOT’s Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations. So changing the name and sign blades are entirely under the County’s control.
Specifically, I recommend renaming Rockville Pike as Anthony Fauci Way from its southernmost point at the intersection with Woodmont Avenue to its intersection with Wood Lane, the northern entrance to Walter Reed.* The only street addresses that would be affected are NIH and Walter Reed themselves, and even they don’t uniformly identify “Rockville Pike” as their address. Google Maps, for example, identifies Walter Reed’s address as 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, even though Wisconsin Avenue’s northern terminus is Woodmont Avenue.
The short segment between Wood Lane and Cedar Lane is bordered on the west by NIH as well, but on the east it fronts the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, which uses the address 9101 Rockville Pike. So changing the name in this segment may cause a one-time cost burden to the school. I suggest the school be asked which option it prefers for this segment:
Leaving the name as Rockville Pike.
Renaming it as part of Anthony Fauci Way.
Renaming it as “Katie Ledecky Way,” for another Montgomery County hero who is an alumna of Stone Ridge.
Changing the road name and erecting the signs would entail only a miniscule cost and would send a powerful message to our citizens–and, more importantly, to the dedicated medical professionals at NIH and Walter Reed–that we continue to support medical science and the Anthony Fauci Way.
Sincerely,
Glenn Orlin
* The segment between Woodmont Avenue and Jones Bridge Road is bordered on the east by townhouses, but their address is the service road that fronts them, Terrace Garden Way.