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I attended the Sept. 15 public hearing at the Montgomery County Council building in Rockville regarding the Gaithersburg West Master Plan. I was especially impressed by the testimony of Tim Newell, representative of the Banks Family. It was very moving and revealing. He confirmed that the Banks family does not support the magnitude of the new development. Before Ms. Banks died, she insisted that the development on her farm would be restricted to specific parameters. Johns Hopkins has breached these parameters and Ms. Banks' wishes. If any voice should be heard the loudest, it should be Ms. Banks.

Other notable testimonies were given by the representatives from the City of Gaithersburg, who testified against the extent of the development. The city engineer stated that the traffic models in the plan fail miserably and that the projected congestion is not even close to the real impact that will be experienced. The multilevel interchanges will be beyond capacity the minute they are built. These voices have no hidden agendas. They are not driven by money and greed. They are only concerned about future planning and how it will impact our community. Please listen to them and give their testimony the proper weight.

Dr. Johns Hopkins was a generous and compassionate man. In 1870 he wrote a will, setting aside $7 million for the incorporation of a free hospital and affiliated medical and nurse's training colleges, as well as an orphanage for black children and a university. In his will, Hopkins made provisions for scholarships to be provided for poor youths as well as assistance to orphanages, to those he employed, and to other institutions for the care and education of youths regardless of color, as well as the care of the ill, including the mentally ill, and convalescents.

But now, the Johns Hopkins Foundation is acting more like a large, greedy corporate bully rather than the compassionate man Dr. Hopkins was. They are acting less like Dr. Hopkins and more like Gordon Gekko. They are disrespecting Dr. Hopkins' legacy and they should be ashamed.

The planning of the Gaithersburg West Master Plan should not be driven by greed, money and the bottom line. It should be driven by the wishes of Ms. Banks and her family and proper planning to merge the plan with the interests of the surrounding community. I've talked with many of my neighbors about the Gaithersburg West Master Plan and many of them have expressed a common sentiment: "We have no power. Johns Hopkins has the money and the power and they will do whatever they want."

Please don't let money and power win out over common sense and reason. That's the way Dr. Hopkins and Ms. Banks would have wanted it.

Thomas N. Lampos, Gaithersburg