Rock Creek Palisades and surrounding neighborhoods

RCPCA May 2008 Newsletter

May 19, 2008

Dear Neighbors,
We hope you will attend the RCPCA meeting on Thursday May 22nd from 7 - 9 p.m. at Rock View Elementary School . Your Board and I are committed to keeping you informed about what?¡?¦s going on in our area and want to encourage everyone to participate and become involved. For our upcoming meeting, we are very honored and proud to have our neighborhood?¡?¦s State Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher join us for discussion. Jeff serves on the Land Use and Transportation Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the criminal justice subcommittee. If you have not yet had the chance to meet Jeff, this will be a fantastic opportunity to talk with Jeff and learn about what?¡?¦s going on at the State level.
I want to thank all our sustaining and new members for being part of our growing neighborhood organization. There are many important issues and committees that we all can take part in and at the same time make our neighborhoods a great place to live!
Remember, we are a volunteer organization established to serve ALL of us. We currently have just a few steady active members who are doing the important work of our very large association. These few folks are doing commendable work but we should not expect just a few people to represent us on everything that matters to everyone! RCPCA has accomplished so many wonderful things for its members as well as its community over the years. We would like to continue this tradition and need your help.
Taking an active part in our committees and getting involved locally as a representative of our Association are great ways to stay informed and to be well represented in our area. On a more basic level, I am encouraged to see the neighborhoods that we all live in have organized and continue to do fun and neighborhood friendly events such as Block parties, yard sales, clubs, Halloween parades and neighborhood watch groups. Since RCPCA includes a large number of residents, our goal is to have representatives from different subdivisions to get together and share information and solutions to many things that are shared among them. Many residents belong to the local school PTA?¡?¦s, community forums and etc. so we can all share many common ideas and information that will benefit us all.
I invite you to come and attend our meetings and get to know your neighbors. Come join us and let us know how you would like to become involved!
Best regards,
Faye Nabavian

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Participation in Umbrella Organizations Benefits RCPCA
By Al Geske

RCPCA is a member of two umbrella organizations, each of which consists of many organizations with similar concerns. Participation in each of these organizations permits RCPCA to find support for its activities and to expand our effectiveness by combining with others with similar concerns.

Montgomery County Civic Federation

Montgomery County Civic Federation (MCCF) is a county-wide federation of more than 60 civic associations and similar groups. MCCF generally focuses on county-wide issues at its monthly membership meetings and provides a forum for organizations like RCPCA to seek support for dealing with the county government on issues of concern. For example, when we discussed our problem with the permit fees for the neighborhood signs and MCCF membership and executive committee meetings, we received not only technical assistance in drafting proposed legislation to eliminate the fees but also a letter of support. That letter of support was important in having the legislation introduced and in its approval.

MCCF also provides an opportunity for RCPCA representatives to meet and mingle with members of the County Council, key personnel in the County administration, and even members of the County's delegation in the State legislature. For example, at the MCCF Awards Banquet on May 9, I was seated between Council Member Nancy Floreen and State Delegate Roger Menno (District 19). This gave me ample opportunity to talk with Ms. Floreen about our concerns about traffic, the Kensington and Wheaton Sector plans, and the potential development of the Pleaseantview Pool property.

Recent MCCF meetings have included programs on: (1) the effects of the expansion of the Bethesda Naval Hospital, presented by the director of the County's program designed to deal with the impacts of the federal Base Realignment and Closure program on the County (February 2008); (2) developments in the county fire and rescue services presented by Chief Tom Carr (March 2008); and (3) a discussion of the 2009 County proposed operating budget which included the County's Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Council Members Phil Andrews, Marc Ehlrich, and Duchy Trachtenberg (April 2008).

MCCF also serves as a forum for member associations and others to seek assistance in coping with problems in dealing with various county agencies. As was the case with our sign-fee issues, these issues often start out involving only one or a few associations but potentially could have much broader effects.

Coalition of Kensington Communities

The Coalition of Kensington Communities is an association of the citizens associations that represent the areas surrounding the Town of Kensington. Its focus is more local. For example it has concerned itself with such subjects as accelerating work on the updates of the Kensington and Wheaton Sector Plans, pedestrian safety in the Kensington area, traffic concerns in the Kensington area, and the effects of development on the Rockville Pike and Georgia Avenue corridors on local traffic congestion.

CKC meets six times per year, generally on the last Thursday of each odd-numbered month. In its March meeting (actually held on April 3 due to speaker availability), a discussion of the developments in the Kensington and Wheaton Sector Plans was led by Fred Boyd, Park and Planning's primary contact for these two sector plans. (As Kensington Mayor Pete Fosselman explained at RCPCA's January meeting, sector plans essentially are plans that govern the development of commercial and other non-residential portions of an area.) The principal point that I gleaned from the discussion is that these two sector plans are being delayed due to staff shortages in critical areas, a substantial turnover in leadership at Park and Planning, perceived needs to address other areas first, and lack of any significant developer interest.


Spring Is Here!

Spring is a fantastic time to get rid of clutter in and outside the house! Here are some suggestions from the County for responsible discarding:
?„?? From the Montgomery County Division of Solid Waste Services:
o Try Grasscycling your yard to save time and improve the environment
?„X Make sure to use sharp mower blades
?„X Maintain grass at a height of 2?¡?¨ to 3?¡?¨
?„X Mow at least once per week
?„X Cut when grass is dry
?„X Grasscycling is a natural process of lawn fertilization ?¡V by leaving grass clippings on the ground you save time and recycle water and nutrients back to your lawn
?„?? Get rid of your large scrap metal waste (air conditioners, washers, dryers, cycles, swing sets, doors, etc.)
o Scrap metal collections are made on your regular recycling day, but MUST BE SCHEDULED IN ADVANCE.
o To schedule pickup call (no later than 11:00am on the day before your normal recycling day: 240-777-6410 or go to www.montgemerycounty.gov/solidwaste)
?„?? Dispose of rechargeable and cell phone batteries through the County?¡?¦s Hazardous Waste program: 301-840-2370
RCPCA Beautification Committee
Our Beautification Committee has been working hard to spruce things up for us and keep things looking great! Here are some of the things we?¡?¦ve done:
?„?? Pruned and weeded the garden at Newport Mill and University Blvd
?„?? Organized a spruce up day at Hammond Wood on April 19 which benefited several of the Association's barrels as well as the entry-way garden at Veirs Mill and Pendleton Drive.
?„?? Cleaned up the Association?¡?¦s barrels at College View and Pendleton. Several members pitched in to haul away the old barrel, which was falling apart. We planted a new Helleri Holly in another barrel, cleaned out the entry-way garden and planted some daylilies at the location of the former barrel.
?„?? Planted daylilies in a new barrel at Newport Mill and Denfeld.
Volunteers are needed for weeding in June. Please call Pat Price at 301-933-8733 if you can spare a few hours to do this. We need your help!

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Special Guest Speaker:


Jeff Waldstreicher, Maryland State Delegate, is Featured Speaker
Please join us at the May membership meeting. Our featured speaker will be our RCPCA neighbor and our District 18?¡?¦s representative in the Maryland House of Delegates, Jeff Waldstreicher. Jeff serves on the Land Use and Transportation Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the criminal justice subcommittee. He will be joining us to report on the significant developments in the 2007 special session and the 2008 regular session of the State Legislature and inform us of the major problems likely to be addressed in the 2009 session.
Please invite your neighbors to attend this meeting.