Month: February 2010 Page 1 of 3

At a time when we need more cohesion and understanding between various communities and ethnic groups in our neighborhood, talks of more accusations got on our way.

Very recently, I came across an interesting theory explaining the reason for the attempted dissolution of our neighborhood association NCPCA. According to this theory, dissolution of NCPCA was related to the amendment vote that failed to pass in the last January NCPCA meeting.

As a secretary, I record not only who says what in our regular meetings, but also when statements are made, so let’s take a deeper look at the series of events happened.

The amendment vote was taken around 10pm that night, nearly 2 hours after the dissolution motion was raised. Before the dissolution motion at 8pm, there was no debate on the amendment motion, and no member said anything the way she or he would vote. How can we then conclude that the reason for the dissolution motion was the outcome of the amendment motion?

As an avid student of science, I know it’s tempting to introduce a theory, but in this case it would have been a lot easier, if the sequence of events would have happened just opposite – if the dissolution motion had come after the amendment motion – unfortunately, just the opposite had happened.

In explaining the unfortunate matters, I also find this saddening to see an effort to identify some of our neighbors as part of a “group” – whereas a neighbor should be considered as a neighbor, just that.

I wonder however how we identify the members be part of a group, if we do need to put the blames on. Could it be – by looking at their names, by the way they wear dresses, by their languages or by the way of their livings. I thought gone are the days when citizens in this country used to be judged by their “traits” they carry with. There is a term identifying citizens based on their color, religion, race or language – it’s called “profiling”. I hope none of us is taking that dark alley of our history again.

While it’s undesirable to profile our neighbors based on their race, religion and language they speak, solely for the purpose of putting the blames on, it may help to know more about them to find a positive solution.

Many of the members of this group, as the allegation hints, belong to newer and immigrant generation, while as I understand the members having the ‘left-out’ grievances belong to older ones.

I think our time and energy will be better spent if we stop profiling our fellow neighbors as part of a group or groups and as source of ‘problems’. Instead we should find ways how we can bring these two generations – new and old together.

In my earlier article in the Gazette, I tried to touch upon this issue of recognizing the old and nurturing the new members, however due to restriction of word counts, I could not go further, let me expound on this now.

Like many, I do recognize that the older / long time members of our community deserve respects. They are the ones who have started many community projects like our civic association. I wonder if we can recognize them with awards in public ceremonies for their hard work and contributions for our community at large. I know other civic associations have similar recognition programs.

We should also start projects like brief community history project, taking the stories from our older community members. This would connect the older generations with the newer ones by establishing the heritage of our neighborhood. Our neighboring city Berwyn Heights has just done that.

In a similar fashion, the newer generation of community members also needs to be nurtured. As a long time member of the association, I do recognize that my fellow long time members have a responsibility to invite and nurture the newer members. If we do recognize who are our new members why don’t we approach them and find their issues. I know many of them have difficulties in the ways our meetings are run, other have small children, whom they cannot bring with them to the meeting. Discussing these matters with them would probably enable them attending our meetings on a regular basis.

Pointing fingers to the old and the new generations will only widen the gulf between the two. Recognizing and respecting the needs of these two generations can bring them together.

Last night we had a rather brief but productive NCPCA meeting at the Davis Hall.

Safety Report: As usual COPS Ofc. Sarita and Ofc. Taylor briefed the members on the recent crime incidents in the neighborhood. The number of break-ins has gone down significantly this month compared to the similar numbers in the previous month. The Police now have a suspect relating to the incident at the St. Andrews Pl. Last Thursday, there was a burglary around the area of Lackawanna Ave and the Mangum Rd. – the suspect pretty much ransacked everything in the house. We had an stolen auto in the area – an warrant has been issued against suspect living in DC.

Reuse of WaPo Plant: Reps from the University of Maryland came over to update the reuse of UMD’s Washington Post plant on Greenbelt Road. The new location will support the East campus development and will thus save 22.4-acre forested area near Comcast Center known as the Wooded Hillock. The University will use the space to relocate facilities currently housed on East Campus to clear space for a 38-acre development that will include shops, a music hall and graduate student housing. The new facility will include the Campus Mail Facility, Shuttle-UM and maintenance shops.  Around 150 employees will be located in the facility, however the UMD does not have any plan to transport them through shuttle service. There hasn’t been any traffic study on the impact of the move and the UMD does not have one in future. It will take around 1 to 3 years to complete the move. Mayor Andy Fellows added the City’s PILOT contract with the UMD does not include the personal property tax, as it used to get from the WaPo from its press equipments; the PILOT however include real estate taxes based on the real state. Bob Catlin said the City may lose as much as $175000 from the loss revenues.

NCPCA Funds: Members also discussed the use of NCPCA funds. Suggestions included spending on improving acoustics at the Davis Hall, community get together / refreshments / ice-cream socials, picnic and on concerts.

Budget Priorities: There was a brief discussion on the budget priorities. Due to anticipated loss of revenues / budget gap this year, the City is less interested in getting ‘Wish list’ as it used to get in previous years.

Dissolution: The dissolution motion was brought again, but was tabled later by another motion.

Please attend tonight’s NCPCA February regular meeting at Davis Hall. The meeting will start at 7:30pm. If such a venue isn’t available for your own meetings, then you can head out to sites like
venuefinderpro.com/venue-finding-agency/.

Other than the recurrent agenda items, tonight’s session will include the following discussions:

(1) The Purchase of Washington Post Plant by the UMD: As you probably know, The UMD has recently purchased the Washington Post’s old College Park plant. The UMD later agreed  to pay the City compensation towards the loss of revenues the City used to get from the Washington Post. This will primarily be an information update session on this subject.

(2)    Budget Priority: NCPCA will get your ideas on how the City should be spending your tax dollars in the upcoming FY 2011 budget. Typically NCPCA sends a prioritized “Wishlist” of top items that the members want to see in the budget. These items are prioritized upon the number of votes they get from the members.

(3)    NCPCA Fund: Over the years, NCPCA has collected nearly $2000 from its members. NCPCA would like to know how best members want to spend this money. The discussion is also important in case some extreme circumstances happen, such as the members decide to dissolve the association (read more..)

(4)    Dissolution Motion: In the past January meeting, a motion was brought to the floor to dissolve NCPCA. While the motion was declared out of order due to a procedural issue, it was promised to have this discussion in tonight’s meeting. The motion will need at least 2/3 votes of members present in the meeting.

To vote on any of the matters discussed in the meeting, you must be a member before the start of the meeting. Also please sign in your name on the signup sheet at the entrance of the meeting hall.

See you all at tonight’s meeting. Stay warm.

The following article was published in this week’s Gazette paper.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/02182010/prinlet123058_32552.php
 
A Strong Civic association for All North College Park Residents

As a NCPCA member of many years, while I think my fellow long-time members deserve recognition for their contributions to the association, they also bear responsibilities in inviting and retaining them in the association. The credibility of our association to the public officials depends much on the strength of our membership. I wonder how credible our association appears to our elected officials when only 0.01 percent of the population votes on an important matter that affects the entire neighborhood. Thus, instead of being welcoming and neighborly to the new members, blaming them as being part of a bloc or branding them as “recruited” will only repel them from the association.

We need to find strength in these new members, especially when our city’s budget is shrinking at an alarming rate and the demand for services are going up.

Fazlul Kabir is secretary of North College Park Civic Association