Subscribe free to our daily email newsletterContributor Opinion By Mark Pierzchala: Support Closure Of Princeton Place Fence; Only Open When Smoking Areas Are Provided On Campus
Feb 25, 2009 8:00 - 4 Comments
Posted by: bradrourke
Department: Contributor Opinion,Opinion,Politics
Tags: by Mark Pierzchala, election 2009
Department: Contributor Opinion,Opinion,Politics
Tags: by Mark Pierzchala, election 2009
>This is a contributor opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such opinions for consideration — the more voices the better. We especially welcome people who disagree with us. We ask that all such contributions be civil and we reserve the right to edit (in consultation with the author) or reject. Contributor opinions should not be seen as reflecting opinions held by Rockville Central editors, as they are just as frequently at odds with our own views. That’s the whole point!
The following contributor opinion is by Mark Pierzchala.
One more note. Mark has announced that he is running for City Council. We do not know of other declared candidates yet; as we do, we will try to make sure we provide a balanced forum for all voices.
Dear College Garden Neighbors (via the College Gardens Forum ListServe),
Montgomery College has informed the City of Rockville that with respect to the Princeton Place access to Montgomery College, it plans to “modify and close the opening of the fence to provide immediate relief for the residents. College and city staff agree that immediate relief has to be provided to those residents most adversely affected by the College’s Tobacco Free Campus policy. The College expects to close the opening and erect a new fence beginning as soon as February 28, 2009.”
The information above comes from an internal City memorandum dated February 23, 2009. One of the action items on the memorandum is that there will be a stakeholder’s meeting on March 16 where various options will be presented and feedback from the stakeholders gathered.
Since I’m running for City Council some people including some neighbors would like me to reiterate my oft-stated position on this issue. There are two points: First, given the current Montgomery College policy of absolutely no smoking on campus, I support the closure of the fence to provide relief for the campus’s near neighbors on Princeton Place. The impacts on them have been severe and real. Second, I would support the re-opening of the fence but only if this is accompanied by the implementation of a smoking area on campus. I can’t see any other solution that would provide permanent relief to the Princeton Place residents while re-establishing access.
Please keep in mind that it is Montgomery College that has caused the problem. The Princeton Place residents are defending their children and their property; I can’t fault them for that. We should not allow unilateral action by Montgomery College to cause a rift in our neighborhoods.
With the current MC policy, either keeping the gate open or closing it, would have negative impacts on the community. This fact was clearly established in Citizen’s Forum to Mayor and Council and in testimony to the Planning Commission and the MC Board of Trustees the past several weeks. It is my opinion that the only unifying position for our community is if both College Gardens and Plymouth Woods rally around a position for the College to modify its policy and establish one smoking area on campus.
Other groups, such as the Rockville Bike Advisory Committee should also make the establishment of a campus smoking area central to their efforts to re-open access. Further, I call on Mayor and Council to formally state such a position by resolution. The facts are known and other so-called solutions have been proposed and found lacking. Though I recognize that individual council members have been vocally supportive, it is time for all our elected to go on record and to formally take a clear and strong stand in defense of its neighborhoods.
Yours,
Mark Pierzchala
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I agree with Mark that Montgomery College should establish a smoking area as part of a solution that keeps access for the neighborhood through Princeton Place. >
Mark is a little late in calling in calling on the Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee to support a smoking area on Montgomery College Campus – RBAC is already on record in support of a smoking area on the college campus. RBAC Chair, Nancy Breen, has already testified in front of the Mayor and Council in support of that position.
Carl
But Mark, Montgomery College will not establish a smoking area. You need a different approach. Closing the gate is the problem, not the solution.
“The impacts on them have been severe and real.”>
What have they been? Nowhere have I encountered any claim of actual grievances (or seen wrong-doing myself). Perhaps “severe and imaginary” would be more honest. Until someone presents cases of real problems, I can only suspect that this hostility toward the young adult students is a combination of the typical xenophobia of the community resident, the bizzare intolerance for so-called “loitering” (enjoying oneself in one place for some time – rather than all time spent outdoors be for the sole “legitmate” purpose of transporting oneself to “legitmate” destinations), and the equally irrational stigma attached to young people who smoke.
“The Princeton Place residents are defending their children and their property;”
Again defending against what? The argument presented would be much stronger if at least a single example could be mentioned. And “defending their children”?! That’s just too much, an extreme claim to make. Empty, baseless, absurdly emotional, and yet it this sort of thinking that leads to such disputes in the first place.
To the author’s credit, I believe that he would not have been so unduly generous to the residents of the community if he was not running for city council! It can be seen clearly that he is intelligent and bold when he does not hesitate to point to MC’s anti-smoking policy as the original cause of current problems.
Along with the majority of people in and around my neighborhood (Plymouth Woods) I am unhappy with the closing of the fence. I feel like there has to be a win/win situation here. I am a part-time student at MC and use the fence opening to attend class, walk to the track, bike to the pike as well as access the bus hub. >
In answer to Anonymous, I HAVE seen some inappropriate behavior. I have see students/faculty toss trash towards the bins, but when it misses, they don’t bother to pick it up and actually put it in the can. I have seen smokers put their butts on the ground instead of in the cans. Two weeks ago, I was walking to school on a lovely Friday morning and found a man laying in the roundabout, cigarette in one hand, and the other hand fully down the front of his pants. I have reason to believe he is a student because of the backpack laying next to him. In that situation, how do you explain to a child who might be playing outside that it’s inappropriate to masturbate or otherwise pleasure yourself in public?!?
No, I haven’t seen people smoking something other than tobacco, as has been reported. But I have seen littering and indecent behavior on the edge of my neighborhood that would most likely not otherwise be there, where it not for the intolerant policy set by the college.
I hope that as many people as possible will attend the meeting on Monday March 16th at the library – the more minds that come together to reasonably and rationally talk about addressing these issues and attempting to come up with win/win solutions for everyone involved – the better our community will be.
And Anonymous – you have a lot of strong things to say, but apparently don’t feel like you can own up to them by leaving any kind of moniker?