The challenge of making a sound budget

In last Thursday’s NCPCA meeting Council member Wojahn (Dist 1) and I were present to talk about our own wish list for FY2013 budget and listen to what other residents think the City should be doing in the upcoming fiscal year.

Here are three items we both discussed..

  • Funding to design and implement streetscape improvement plan in the Hollywood Commercial District. There is currently $25,000 in the budget to begin the design process this year, and we would like to follow through on implementing whatever the community and the designers develop.
  • Funding for next steps in development of a community center in North College Park. I’m not sure that we will know exactly what that will look like until we have community meetings later this year and complete the feasibility study that we have money set aside for in this current fiscal year. We think, though, that we would be more likely to bring Park and Planning on board for this project if the City devotes some funds towards it.
  • Rain garden near the Hollywood Shopping Center. This would be a joint project of Carrollton Enterprises, REI, and the CBE, and we may get funding from Carrollton to support it. But we would need to have the labor to put in the rain garden and the tools and materials necessary to do it. I imagine we could use past experience from the Rain Garden at Duvall Field to estimate cost.

The NCPCA voted to support the first two, and they didn’t take a position on the 3rd. They also asked to put the following on their wishlist:

  • Money to expand the tree replacement program, due to increased trimming of trees by Pepco.
  • More pedestrian lights in the Hollywood Commercial District (possibly as part of streetscape plan)
  • Directional signs pointing drivers to side streets off of the Rhode Island Ave. access road (similar to the sign pointing the way to Lackawanna and Muskogee Streets at the access point from Rhode Island Ave. just south of Hollywood ES).

Two of us also plan to have a mini town hall meting sometime before council worksessions where we will discuss the FY2013 budget more in depth about. In the mean time, if you have more ideas, please let me know.