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Month: October 2014 Page 1 of 4

Tomorrow at the Hollywood Farmers Market

Please see below this week’s Hollywood Farmers Market newsletter. See you all tomorrow.

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‘Tis the Season for Gourds!fall_produceDuring this time of year, gourds and their cousins, pumpkins, get their time in the spotlight. A collection of these might be sitting in the center of your dinner table right now, serving as an autumnal centerpiece. Some might be on your outside steps, or the neighborhood squirrels might have had them as a feast!While some gourds are certainly good to eat, they have historically had many other functions. Gourds can be made into tools, musical instruments, bird houses, toys, and objects of art.According to Wikipedia, one type of gourd was discovered in archaeological sites dating from as early as 13,000 BC! Luckily, you don’t have to travel through time to enjoy them. All you have to do is come to the market and find an acorn or butternut squash to cook—or a pumpkin to feed to the squirrels!

Recipe of the Week: Cheese Spread Served in a Gourd

Sometimes a squash can be used as a serving dish, such as in the easy-to-make recipe below, which comes from here.

INGREDIENTS: 1 medium-sized acorn squash, 1 large sweet dumpling squash, or 1 small turban squash

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped pitted dates
2 tablespoons drained and chopped cranberry chutney

1. If necessary, cut a 1-inch slice from the bottom of the squash so that it sits upright. Remove the stem end. Scoop out and discard seeds and fibers. 2. Fill a saucepan with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil. Set the squash upside down in the saucepan. 3. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan, and simmer until the squash flesh is tender when pressed with a fork but the shell is still firm, about 20 minutes. Transfer the squash to a colander to drain and cool. 4. In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until thoroughly blended. Mix in the dates and chutney. 5, Scoop the flesh from the cooled squash shell, leaving about 1/4 inch of shell. Add the squash flesh to the cream cheese mixture and blend well. Spoon the mixture into the shell. Cover and chill.

Serve chilled to 8 to 12 people with crackers.

This week’s Vendors

  • Pleitez Farm
  • Legacy Manor Farm
  • Heavenly Created Desserts
  • Calvert Farms
  • Morning Glory Farm
  • Ferguson Family Farm
  • Designed Naturally
  • Tuckey’s Mountain Grown
  • Roy & RT’s Kitchen and Garden
  • Wood Doctor
  • Christiane’s Knits and Gardens
  • Phil’s Dills
  • 49th Ave. Furniture
  • A Little Pottery
  • Ear Gear
  • Huma Henna Art
  • True Honey Tea
  • Great Shoals
  • Jessyka Padilla Jewelry
  • Crest Hill Bakery
  • National day of the Girl
  • Linda Jones- Elements of Nature
  • Bee Street Photography
  • ThunderBeast
  • Celestial Sweets

kevin


Pssst…we’ve got a secret…

It’s hard to believe there are only four more Saturdays left for us to stock up on local produce at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Now is the time to stock up and prepare your produce for freezing or canning for the months ahead.

We have something special planned for November 22, our last market day of the year. To celebrate the end of our second successful season, we’re planning a surprise that you won’t want to miss! Stay tuned for more information!

ron_leishman


Hollywood Farmers Market is located at the Hollywood Shopping Center (near REI) on Saturdays from 9am to 1 pm. Email: Hollywoodmarketcp@gmail.com. Phone: (301) 659 – 6295 Like us on the FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodmarket Copyright © 2014 Hollywood Farmers Market, All rights reserved. www.Hollywoodmarket.org

Conceptual Facade Designs for the Hollywood Commercial District

Recently, we met with staff from the City, County and the Park and Planning to review a design study on the facade / store front improvement of the stores at the Hollywood commenrcial district. The City has some matching grants that these businesses can apply to make these changes happen. The designs will be presented at next month’s NCPCA meeting. Please see the designs below and let me know what you all think.

Residents Speak About New City Hall Options

About 3 dozen residents came to last night’s town hall meeting and told the Mayor and council about what they think about the two future City Hall sites.

Our staff made a presentation about two sites before residents offered their feedback. You can see that presentation here.

  • Residents who favored the Calvert Road site made the following points
  • Opportunity for development – Can have a day care
  • Larger size – Perfect for a more Civic space
  • Not used, currently What else can we have if we do not have
  • Not very far from the current City Hall site does not matter

One Calvert Rd site supporter said the current Knox Rd site does not look pretty, architecturally

Residents supporting the Knox Rd site raised the following points

  • Better accessibility due to close to Route 1
  • Great development opportunity in partnership with the UMD
  • Parking garage next to the site
  • Close to future Purple line
  • Renovated not a long time ago

The Knox Rd site supporters also said:

  • Will send wrong signal to development community Community if not done at the current site
  • Calvert Rd is a residential area, Traffic issue must be considered
  • Will take more time from residents to get to the site from north College Park.

One resident wanted to divided the need into two parts – office Space and public meeting. He wants to see City Hall at Calvert Road sites can both meet these needs jointly.

One resident asked to keep the current building for public use

Another resident commented that about the Calvert Rd site, the nearby residents need to be consulted before taking the decision

Another residents said instead of building a new structure, the City should restore the eastern wing where the current offices are located.

If you have any comments, please let me know.

FBI Development at Greenbelt: The Question on Environmental Impact

I’ve received a few questions from residents with concerns of the proposed development’s impact on the surrounding area, particularly With respect to the effect of the proposed stormwater management facilities on flooding along the rest of Indian Creek watershed.

I contacted the project’s developer on these concerns. He argues that the impact from the project will “definitely be beneficial”.

According to him, current stormwater management facilities at Greenbelt do little to mitigate the quantity or quality of stormwater generated during rain events (quantity being the key concern for flooding).

The developer has included the cost of Contech Stormfilter system in the budget for the overall development to control both quantity and quality. The other system that the developer is looking at was the Jellyfish system. It is similar in terms of function and cost.

With respect to the GSA site, the developer thinks GSA controls site specifications for stormwater control, and thus under Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), federal agencies are required to reduce stormwater runoff from federal development and redevelopment projects to protect water resources. Federal agencies can comply using a variety of “green infrastructure” or “low impact development” stormwater management practices, including reducing impervious surfaces and using vegetative practices, porous pavements, cisterns and green roofs. The requirement is to use all practical means to reduce or eliminate stormwater runoff.

The developer is expected to come to City Council and the neighborhood association meeting to update residents and the Council with these ideas and take questions. I will let you know once that happens.

City to Seek Public Input On New City Hall Options

The current College Park City Hall

College Park City Hall

Tomorrow, at 7pm, the City Council will host a public forum on the future City Hall options.

The Council has been considering two sites with several development options. The site options include:
(1) The current Knox Road site: This includes tearing down the site and rebuilding a new building there
(2) Rebuilding at the 4601 Calvert Road site, where our current Public Services office is located.

City staff will make a presentation about these options and the need for a new site, plus the history of Council’s attempt to build a new City Hall.

The discussion will continue until 7:30pm, when our regular meeting will start.

See you all there at the meeting.

North College Park Crime Map – Oct 19 – 25, 2014

Stolen Vehicle

Event

Type

From

To

Location

[10/20/14]CKAUTO19:0519:525000 Blk MANGUM RD

 

Theft from Auto

Event

Type

From

To

Location

[10/25/14]THEFTA14:3514:479500 Blk BALTIMORE AVE

Free Computer Class for Adults

Recently one of our neighbors asked me if I can arrange a free computer class for our adult residents, who may not feel very comfortable in using computers. Accordingly, I approached some of our University of Maryland students who became very excited in teaching such a class for free. In fact, one of these students told me he had experience in teaching a similar class in the past. Our very own College Park Community Library in Hollywood also came forward with their help in hosting a class with no charge. This gave birth to our first free computer class, which will take place on Sunday, November 2nd, from 2pm to 4pm at the library.

Most of you who are reading this email may not need this class, but I’m sure you know someone around who will benefit from this class.

Spaces in this class are very limited. So if you find someone interested, please have them register soon. Details below. Please spread the word. Thank you!

computer class Nov 2 2014

Tomorrow at the Hollywood Farmers Market

Please see below this week’s Hollywood Farmers Market newsletter. See you all tomorrow.

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Free Health Check ContinuesThanks to our “market doctor” Zahra Ahmed, M.D., who provided free blood pressure checks, and offered medical advice and discussing health-related questions last week. She said she liked the market so much, she wants to come again tomorrow. Please stop by her table in case you didn’t get a chance to get the free checkup.

Lunch Special at Roy and RT’s Kitchen!

RoyRTStop by at Roy and RT’s Kitchen tomorrow to get will have $ 8 lunch meal special ( Vegetarian or non Vegetarian). Additionally, enjoy the home-made, hot-to-serve veggie fritters, egg rolls, iced tea, and smoothies.

Birds on Wire Will be Back

Our very own local folk band Birds on a Wire will be back to tomorrow’s market. While, you’ll still have chance to shop with more than 20 vendors, relax and enjoy their live tunes. You can even incorporate products such as CBD Oil UK to improve the relaxation experience.birdsonwires

This week’s Vendors

  • Pleitez Farm
  • Legacy Manor Farm
  • Heavenly Created Desserts
  • Calvert Farms
  • Morning Glory Farm
  • Ferguson Family Farm
  • Designed Naturally
  • Tuckey’s Mountain Grown
  • Roy & RT’s Kitchen and Garden
  • Wood Doctor
  • Christiane’s Knits and Gardens
  • Phil’s Dills
  • 49th Ave. Furniture
  • A Little Pottery
  • Huma Henna Art
  • True Honey Tea
  • Great Shoals
  • Jessyka Padilla Jewelry
  • Crest Hill Bakery
  • Alcoba Coffee Beans
  • Terp Care Center
  • National day of the Girl
  • Elated Harmonies Massage
  • ThunderBeast

Recipe: Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients and Directions
Seeds from 1 large pumpkin, rinsed and dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Scatter pumpkin seeds onto a sheet pan in a single layer and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Bake for about 7 minutes, until light brown and crispy
 


Hollywood Farmers Market is located at the Hollywood Shopping Center (near REI) on Saturdays from 9am to 1 pm. Email: Hollywoodmarketcp@gmail.com. Phone: (301) 659 – 6295 Like us on the FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodmarket Copyright © 2014 Hollywood Farmers Market, All rights reserved. www.Hollywoodmarket.org

Enjoy Oven-Fresh Pizza and Support Your Community

On November 12, I will be joining some of my Council colleagues and our police officers serving oven-fresh pizza to raise funds for the College Park Community Police Dream Team and the Office of the Public Engagement. Please see below for details and spread the word.
Celebrity Waiter 2014

City Sends Its Comments Supporting FBI Move to Greenbelt Site

At last night’s worksession, the City Council decided to send a letter to GSA with its comments on FBI’s possible move to the Greenbelt location. GSA is seeking public input as part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. Here is the draft text of that letter:

The City of College Park supports the Greenbelt alternative for the relocation of the FBI Headquarters and appreciates the opportunity to provide comments during the scoping phase of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. While the Greenbelt Station site lies within the municipal boundaries of the City of Greenbelt, the City of College Park neighborhoods of Hollywood and Sunnyside adjoin the site to the west of the rail lines.

Due to their close proximity, the City is concerned about the cumulative impacts of the project on these neighborhoods. It is important to preserve their single-family residential character. Specific concerns that have been raised include groundwater drainage, flooding caused by new development, noise and light reflection into nearby homes, air quality and the protection of environmentally-sensitive areas. The Renard Development Company, LLC has been working with neighborhood residents for the last year and is expected to continue to do so.

Transportation and traffic issues need to be fully and adequately studied during the preparation of the Draft EIS. The need for beltway access improvements including new ramps into and out of the site has the potential for significant property impacts to College Park residents. The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) is examining the need to widen the beltway to accommodate these ramps and the Draft EIS should encompass the same study area. The City supports the preparation of a Transportation Management Plan (TMP) that takes full advantage of an on-site Metro station and utilization of GSA incentives and subsidies to encourage ridership.

Water resources, particularly the impact on wetlands and floodplains, should be given special attention. The preservation of the Indian Creek Stream Valley Park and Narragansett Run are extremely important to the City. All impacts to water quality and quantity should be very clearly stated.

Aesthetics and visual resources are also important. The view of the project from College Park’s low-rise neighborhoods should have an attractive appearance and all impacts resulting from building heights and materials should be measured.

Finally, the City asks that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in and surrounding the project area be addressed.

The City of College Park looks forward to reviewing and commenting on the Draft EIS and thanks the GSA for this comment period during the scoping process.

Sincerely,

Andrew M. Fellows
Mayor

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