NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

Today is the second Thursday of the month and hence the day for NCPCA’s monthly meeting. As usual, the meeting will start at 7:30 pm at Davis Hall. Here are the highlights of the meeting

• Thomas Fryer of Washington Gas will be there to talk about their project on Branchville Rd.
• Zari Malsawma, the Chair person of the Neighborhood Watch Steering Committee will discuss College Park Neighborhood Watch program.
• Members will discuss and establish standing committees on the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety, Edgewood and Route 1 Property.
• There will also discussion on Development and Outreach effort. Members will appoint persons to track CSX, Duval Field, Greenbelt Metro, Edgewood / Rhode Island light streetscape and Reengineering of US 1

Almost around the same time (7:00pm), there will be another community meeting on the Greenbelt Sector Plan at the Greenbelt Middle School . In this meeting, there will be some important discussion on the impact of traffic and transportation on this plan. In case you didn’t know, the plan will affect some 300+ homes in north College Park, on the west side of Metro / CSX rail track. More about the plan can be found here on Park and Planning’s website.

Counilmember Wojahn and I plan to attend both meetings (We’ll be late at NCPCA meeting due to the sector plan meeting). If you have some time, please do.

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

Today is the second Thursday of the month and hence the date for December monthly meeting. The meeting will start on 7:30pm at Davis Hall. Everyone is welcome!

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

Tomorrow is the second Thursday of the month and hence the day when we have our monthly meeting.

We’ll start the meeting with a candidate forum. Candidates who will participate in the upcoming November 8 council election will talk about themselves and what they want to do once elected or re-elected. We’re expecting to have all 10 candidates running in four districts. District 1 and 3 are contested, where as District 2 and 4 are not. Mayor Andrew Fellows is also running, uncontested. At the end of the forum, you will have opportunities to ask candidates questions.

Following the forum, members will discuss a few new developments on the Greenbelt sector plan. We’ll most likely talk about the community meeting we had in last September 22. The plan has also recently played an interesting role in county’s redistricting boundary plan, where Greenbelt Metro has been placed in District 3 or 4; previously the Metro was part of District 1, which includes North College Park.

Members will also vote on a revised NCPCA by-laws on some changes in the areas of membership and dues structure. I hope to see that passed by members.

See you all tomorrow.

Patch Interview

Yesterday the College Park Patch published an interview that I gave early this week. Here I talked about the issues College Park, in particular our area in District 1 are facing and the ways to address them. Please check that out here.

Also, next Thursday (Oct 13), at 7:30pm, the North College Park Civic Association will be hosting a candidate forum. Meeting starts at 7:30pm. Candidates will speak why they are running for office this time, what they see as the biggest challenge for the city in the coming years and what they hope to accomplish during their next term in office. There will will also be a short period at the end for questions and answers from those attending that night. See you all there.

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

After two months summer recess, NCPCA will meet again tonight. This will be our first meeting in 2010 – 2011 calendar year. We have a new board of directors – Bob Seward is our new vice presidents and Larry Bleau has rejoined the board as NCPCA treasurer.

The meeting will start with a briefing from Maryland State’s 21st Delegation. State Senator Jim Rosapepe of our district has been conformed to attend. Two Delegates representing College Park, Ben Barnes and Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk are also expected to join. Expect to hear the progress they have made in the past legislative session and also what they are doing to address the current situation surrounding related to recession and economic downturn.

Maureen Cissel and Dwight Joseph of the Prince George’s county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) will be on hand to talk about the traffic signal project at the Rhode Island / Edgewood road intersection. They have been serving as project managers since the project started some time ago. Please bring your questions to find where the project is heading.

Members will discuss where the City should be putting neighborhood entry signs for our neighborhoods.

There will be one bylaws amendment related to a new dues structure. The proposed structure is based on individuals living in households, as opposed to household itself. You must be a member to vote on the amendment.

NCPCA will also discuss and will likely take a position on new sector plan for Greenbelt Metro.

Oh, please do not forget our annual picnic this Saturday.

See you all tonight.

It's picnic time

North College Park Civic Association picnic organizer Donna Weene said that Hurricane Irene has forced a delay in the neighborhood picnic planned for August 27th.

She had a plan for rain but not for high wind.  Picnic will be Saturday September 10th now — same time (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and same place (the grounds of Davis Hall, 9217 51st Ave.).

See here to find more about the picnic

NCPCA Picnic 2011

On August 27, Saturday, the NCPCA will hold its annual picnic at Davis Hall parking lot.

The picnic is open to all residents and family members living in North College Park. You don’t have to be a NCPCA member to attend the picnic.

The picnic will be a great opportunity for members and non-members alike to get to know each other. Our regular meetings are full with tight schedules, thus we don’t often enough time to socialize at these meetings.

NCPCA will be serving hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, chips, and the usual picnic food.

If you plan to attend, please let picnic coordinator Donna Weene know (301-982-7113) – soon.

The picnic will start at 11am and will continue until 3pm. Please come a little early if we want to volunteer.

If it rains, the picnic will move inside Davis Hall.

Mark Shroder, NCPCA President (the Patch)

This is the month of June, the time when NCPCA elects a new officers’ body.

In its last week’s meeting at Davis Hall, members elected four officers. Mark Shroder and I (duh!) were both re-elected for another year as president and secretary. Bob Seward was elected as vice president and former president Larry Bleau was elected as our new treasurer.

Congratulations to Mark, Bob and Larry.

Joe Smith decided not to run another year as a treasurer. He has been an excellent help in not only keeping track of NCPCA funds, but also doing many other things in the background, most notably sending monthly mails to members. I know it’s not an easy job.

Let’s also thank our outgoing vice president Bill Robertson, who is perhaps the most senior member of NCPCA. As Mark said, Bill has been an active community activist, even before he was introduced to NCPCA in the early 90′s.

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

NCPCA’s last-minute rescheduling to the American Legion has not worked out.

We will meet on Thursday, June 16th, at 7:30 pm – a week from today – at Davis Hall.

Agenda remains the same.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Our sincerest apologies.

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

Tomorrow is the second Thursday of the month and thus is the day of the monthly regular NCPCA meeting. Here is a quick summary of what will be on tomorrow’s meeting agenda.

Recently, a petition drive by PGPOA (Prince George’s Property Owner’s Association) has caused much stirs among area residents and City officials. PGPOA has hired Petition Partners, an Arizona company, to circulate two charter amendment petitions in the City. The City has denied any affiliations with Petition Partners in any way. These petitions seek to impose two amendments to the City Charter. If Petition Partners obtains the signatures of 20% of the qualified voters of the City on the petitions, and the amendments are otherwise lawful, then the City will be required to place both questions on a ballot for a vote in the council election. We are expecting to have a lively debate on the matter. NCPCA will most likely take a position on the matter after the discussion.

As Summer is now upon us, residents are concerned about likely rise of crime activities in the neighborhood. The community liaison officer of PG Police Ofc. Jaron Black will be on hand to share more about crime prevention and recent crime activities in the area.

We’ll also have our yearly 2011-2012 election tomorrow. Please renew your membership before the start of the meeting to be eligible to vote. If you’re already a member, please note that your 2010-2011 membership will expire this month, so please renew your membership at the meeting.

As usual, the meeting will be held at Davis Hall, at 7:30 pm.

See you all tomorrow.

WMATA officials at NCPCA

Charlie Scott and John D. Thomas of WMATA were at this month’s NCPCA meeting to present Metro’s proposed plan to build new test tracks.

The tracks will be built between Greenbelt and College Park Metro rail stations and the commissioning facility at the Greenbelt rail track.

They said WMATA has recently placed an order for 428 new rail cars. A test track would cut in half the time required to place the new rail cars into revenue service.

They said of 106 miles of rail corridor owned by WMATA, 46.3 miles are at-grade. For practical purposes the test track needs to be built at grade.

They said only Green line between College Park and Greenbelt station meets the criteria for the test track. Environmental analyses of each facility are being conducted in accordance with FTA criteria.

Construction to begin in the Spring of 2012. Test tracks are scheduled for completion by late summer of 2013 and commissioning facility to be completed in early CY14. The total budget for the project is estimated as $88.3 million.

Map of the proposed test track

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

Tomorrow is the second Thursday of the month and thus is the day of the monthly regular NCPCA meeting. Here is a quick summary of what will be on tomorrow’s meeting agenda.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be dominated by a few potential railroad development in the area. NCPCA president Mark Shroder has put this nicely here in this ‘I hear that train a-comin’ article.

• Sharon Daboin of CSX Railroad will be at the meeting to discuss the proposed Beltsville train-to-rail facility, that will allow the transfer of freight trailers and containers between trains and trucks. Area’s residents say the proposed plan could have a significant impact on traffic and the environment in Beltsville, Berwyn Heights, College Park, Calverton, Laurel, Vansville and other surrounding communities in MD.

• John Hovatter of MARC Train Services and NCP  resident Dave Johnson will provide an update on the MARC Train Service, specifically the Camden Line and planned improvements as it relates to our community.

• Charlie Scott of WMATA will also be at the meeting to talk about the Metro Test Track in North College Park between the Greenbelt and College Park Metro stations.  Currently, WMATA tests new and rehabilitated rail cars on existing “revenue” track, which sometimes interferes with the regular operation of the Metro or has to be done at night.  WMATA did an analysis of the track areas, and found that the only place where it has sufficient right-of-way to install a third “test” is the area between College Park and Greenbelt.  The proposed track would be built alongside the existing track between the existing track and the CSX rail.  Construction is to begin in Spring of 2012 and be completed by late summer 2013.  I have some questions for WMATA about the impact that the construction will have on our neighborhoods.

As usual, the meeting will be held at Davis Hall, at 7:30 pm. If you’re already a member, please note that your 2010-2011 membership will expire next month, so please renew your membership at the meeting.

See you all tomorrow.

Nine competing designs were on display at Thursday’s  NCPCA meeting for public comments. The City has also sponsored a design competition among UMd landscape architecture students. NCPCA earlier formed a committee on the proposed park and came up with a design based on preliminary ideas. I took pictures of some of the designs and posted them above.

The City will also scan the designs and post them to its site in order to seek residents’ reviews.

Residents also gave their feedback on the designs, which NCPCA will publish at a later time. NCPCA members present in Thursday’s meting also passed a motion thanking the University of Maryland students for their creative and hard works in the design project.

The projects will be financed by the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), which receives grants from various local and Federal sources.

The key development projects in north College Park  include:

• Hollywood Gateway Park development
• Duval Field improvements
• Hollywood commercial district / intersection  improvements
• Neighborhood access improvement near Rt 1 and Hollywood Rd / Mazza GrandMarc (traffic lights etc)
• Improvements of Public Works facility at Davis Hall (new HVAC system, improved acoustics etc)
• Safe to school project around Hollywood Elementary school
• Sunnyside skateboard park project
• Street improvements

I hope to go in details on some of these projects in future posts.