Little libraries — through which people can share books in their neighborhood — are a common sight in the D.C. region, but one that was set up in Kensington, Maryland, had drivers hitting their brakes.
This little library on McComas Avenue in Kensington didn’t look like a little wooden birdhouse, but instead a Montgomery County speed camera.
“I got a kick out of it,” said Matthew Fairbank, who found the mysterious library along the road outside of his home last weekend.
Once he saw it, Fairbank said he ended up sitting on his porch and watching as cars would slow down on the road — which has had a long history of vehicles, many driven by nonresidents, speeding through the neighborhood as a cut-through between Connecticut and Georgia avenues.
“That’s actually the first time — I’ve been living here now three years — the first time I’ve seen people slow down in front of my house,” Fairbank said.
Tuesday morning, after media reports about the library went out, the county’s department of transportation arrived to remove the little library. Neighbors stepped in to take it so it wouldn’t be disposed of.
Fairbank said his disappointment is not over the library, which contained several books about safe driving, being removed.
“The disappointment is more in the fact of the response to have it taken down with same day, yet we’ve had this issue for a couple of years now and it seems to not gain any traction about the speed issue here on McComas,” Fairbank said.
The department of transportation, when asked about the library’s eviction, said placing unauthorized signage or objects in the public right of way is illegal. The library was situated next to the road.
As for if the library would be allowed on private property, spokesperson Emily DeTitta said that question would be for the county’s permitting department. WTOP is awaiting a response from the permitting department.
As for the speeding issue in the area, DeTitta said a project known as the McComas Avenue Neighborhood Greenway Project is currently in the design phase.
“The goal of the Neighborhood Greenway Project is to prioritize walking and biking on this corridor while lowering vehicular speed using traffic calming measures, signing and marking, as well as updating existing sidewalks and crosswalks where needed,” DeTitta said.
More public outreach will happen this fall, she said, and construction is set to begin next spring.
Fairbank said his fear is that, without changes to the road and more enforcement of the current speed, someone will get hit.
Longtime resident Bill Avery hopes the attention the library received and the message it sends will result in county officials adding a camera to the road.
“It’s overdue to get a speed camera in here because this has really become a thoroughfare, not a residential street,” Avery said.
In the county, residents can request that police place cameras in their neighborhood online.
