In case you missed this month’s regular NCPCA meeting, here is the minutes – please take a look.
http://myncpca.org/2010/03/11/minutes-2/
The next NCPCA regular meeting will be on April 8, Thursday at 7:30pm. Please try to attend. The tentative agenda has been posted on NCPCA’s website http://myncpca.org. It’s on the home page.
[The following is a guest column by Rachel Hare of the UMD for Clean Energy]
Since developer Foulger-Pratt pulled out of plans for the University of Maryland’s East Campus Development project last fall, the entire endeavor has been thrown into uncertainty. The university has reconsidered the project’s design, the timeline, and even toyed with the idea of postponing or abandoning the plan. But among the growing uncertainty, there is something else: an opportunity.
The East Campus project presents an opportunity for the University of Maryland to become the benchmark for sustainable development in Maryland.
On April 5, UMD for Clean Energy will host Green for College Park II: Making East Campus a Beast Campus, a panel discussion exploring green initiatives to make the East Campus project a pioneer in environmentally sound development. The panel will consider innovative solutions including green building, storm water management, smart growth, and transit-oriented development.
The event will bring together sustainability specialists Tom Liebel, an architect and one of the first 25 U.S. professionals to receive LEED accreditation, an internationally recognized green building certification; Ralph Bennett, Director of Purple Line Now, an organization that advocates for the Purple Line on behalf of the community, businesses and the environment; and James Foster, president of the Anacostia Watershed Society, an environmental group that works to protect the Anacostia River.
The university has recently committed to ambitious environmental standards, including the Climate Action Plan for a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2020 and complete carbon neutrality by 2050. By adopting initiatives such as the Climate Action Plan, the university has placed itself at the forefront of energy conservation and green development.
The East Campus Redevelopment project presents another opportunity for the University of Maryland to take a stand on the climate issue and make a statement to institutions across the nation. The university should set strict and firm goals for this new undertaking; goals that take into account sustainable building practices, the surrounding environment, and smart growth, and advance the university’s position on the front lines of climate action.
The East Campus Project could set a new standard for environmentally sound development and urban planning.
The red and white has a chance to make a big green statement.
Yesterday I attended the storm drain marking event that took place in most part of the north College Park. The Committee for a Better Environment of the City of College Park organized this event.
Many community members took part in this event. Volunteers also included several members from the Pan-Hellenic Association (the U-MD sororities). The event started from 9am and continued until 2pm. Volunteers started their work at the corner of Rt 1 and Erie St. at Wood’s Flowers store.
The area was divided into a dozen or so sub sections. Volunteers were assigned to take care of the areas of their choices. They walked / drove through designated streets and followed a County map where storm drains are supposed to be. They cleaned off the area of the curb where the marker would go and used adhesive to place the marker on that cleaned spot. They also marked the location on the County map where they really found the drain. Finally they placed door hangers describing this project—and the importance of not dumping in the drain–at the surrounding houses.
Thanks to the CBE members, organizers and volunteers for making this great event a success.
I took a few shots of the event. Here they are. Please enjoy.
The second public hearing for the Amended US 1 Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment will be held at the County Administration Building, 14741 Governor Owen Bowie Drive, in Annapolis, on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, at 7 pm.
The City will once again be taking a shuttle down for anyone who would like a ride. The shuttle will leave Davis Hall at 5:30 pm and, if anyone from the south part of the City is interested in riding the shuttle, will leave City Hall at 5:45 pm.
Seating is limited, and the City needs to know how many people will be going in order to know which bus to send. Please call to reserve a spot if you wish to ride with the shuttle. If interested, please contact City Clerk Janeen Miller at 240-487-3501, by 5 pm on Monday, April 5.
More on the amendments can be found here:
Disaster drill
The National Medical Response Team will be holding a mass casualty drill on Saturday, April 10th2010 at FedEx Field in Landover, MD. With your assistance, the capability to respond to a mass casualty event within the DC region will be tested and the information obtained will produce a study in order to share the outcomes with other local and national teams.
The National Medical Response Team-National Capital Region (NMRT-NCR) (formally Metropolitan Medical Strike Team) was the first weapons of mass destruction response team developed in the United States. The primary mission of the NMRT-NCR is to respond to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction within the National Capital Region. Additionally, the team can quickly move into an area and provide immediate mass casualty care, triage services, responder medical support, strike team capabilities and other operations similar to a standard Disaster Medical Assistance Team. It is comprised of over 150 firefighters, paramedics, hazardous materials technicians and specialists, law enforcement officers, doctors, physician assistants and nurses. Fifteen local and federal agencies are represented on the team. NMRT-NCR has many capabilities to supplement a catastrophic emergency, which includes mass decontamination, mass treatment and hazardous materials detection and identification.
Students who wish to volunteer will serve as mock patients in disaster drill. The volunteers will be assigned a patient scenario, made up to represent the specific injury pattern and placed in a safe but active disaster scene. Each volunteer will be “rescued” and directed through a decontamination shower in which they will become wet. After decontamination final care will be provided according to their specific patient scenario. The volunteers will be given a tee shirt to wear over their clothing and should anticipate their clothes getting wet. The volunteers will need to arrive at FedEx Field by 10am and the mock disaster drill will conclude by 1pm. Transportation to and from the Morgan Boulevard metro station as well as lunch will be provided. Individuals may park onsite if desired.
You can sign up by emailing at volunteer@nmrt-drill.com and can receive more information on the volunteer website at www.nmrt-drill.com.
At 9:30 am, buses begin shuttling volunteers from Morgan Blvd metro. Volunteer check-in will begin at 10:00 am. The drill will start at 11:30am and end at 12:30pm. Buses will return volunteers to the metro.
After nearly three years of waiting, the residents of our neighborhood will finally see the skateboard park near their homes.
In this week’s council session (Mar 22), the City of College Park has awarded Seattle-based Grindline Skateparks (http://www.grindline.com/) a contract to design and build a skateboard park in Sunnyside Neighborhood Park. The skate spot will be built within the confines of Sunnyside Park on Rhode Island Avenue just north of Edgewood. (please see below for map).
A bid submitted by Grindline in December said the $250,000 park would be built on land formerly occupied by a tennis court and could be completed by Aug. 4.
The council first approved the building of the park in February last year.
The north College Park residents in NCPCA have always supported the project, dating back Spetember 2007.
While the city is responsible for building the skate park, it will be funded, owned and operated by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which owns Sunnyside Neighborhood Park.
The City has scheduled an Open House for the Sunnyside Skate Spot for Thursday, April 22nd at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers at City Hall (4500 Knox Road). Grindline Skateparks, Inc. will be on hand to gather input from skaters about what they would like to see in the park and will take this information back to prepare three conceptual park designs. For more information, please contact the city’s planner Elisa M. Vitale (email: evitale@collegeparkmd.gov )
Anything we put in a storm drain goes directly to our streams. The Anacostia River and all of our streams drains to the Potomac River, which in turn drains to the Chesapeake Bay.
In last night’s council session, the city council approved speed cameras in the city’s school zones. The zones includes most of the City, including all of Route One and Rhode Island Ave. north of Route 193.
In order to make the approval, the council approved an amendment to the Chapter 184 of an ordinance “Vehicles and Traffic” by adding article Viii, “Speed Monitoring Systems” Section 184-45 “Speed Monitoring System In School Zones”.
The council voted unanimously on the proposed change.
” I believe that the restrictions on use of the speed cameras provide sufficient protection for the rights of innocent people, while still helping to ensure that we can promote public safety on these roads”– said council member Patrick Wojahn.
I attended my first Committee for Better Environment (CBE) meeting last night at the City Hall. CBE members meet fourth Monday of every month to discuss and plan various activities related to environmental issues in the city.
It was quite an experience to meet and discuss with the fellow members. Everyone I found was passionate about making the city a better and cleaner place to live. There were also two presentations from outsiders. A few UMD student representatives also attended the meeting.
There are a few exciting CBE events coming soon that the College Park residents can benefit from. I hope to discuss those public events in future posts. Please stay tuned.
As some of you may recall, we organized a winter clothing drive a few weeks ago. I thought I should give you all an update on that.
I think the drive went pretty well. We collected nearly 15 boxes of warm clothes from the neighbors and school parents. At the end, the entire collection was donated to the local charities. They include
On behalf of the organizers and volunteers, I thank everyone for their kind donations to this drive. I’m sure the recipients of your donations will much appreciate your efforts. Thank you.
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