Contributor Opinion by Carl Henn: Plant Fruit And Nut Trees

This winter’s heavy snow and high winds have damaged and destroyed a fair number of trees. That is a pity since trees give us shade, reducing the energy we use to stay cool in summer. They block the wind, reducing the energy we use to stay warm in winter. They protect our watershed by reducing the storm surge when it rains. They give us the oxygen we need in the air we breathe and provide beauty that we often take for granted.

We tend to forget that trees can also give us food. I got a mailing from the Arbor Day Foundation earlier this week that offered me ten trees, not one of which provides food for humans. To be fair, I could eat the crab apples if I were hungry enough.

I hope never to be hungry enough to eat crab apples on a routine basis. But our agricultural system is heavily dependent on oil. We use oil to plow, plant and harvest our food. We use fossil fuels to generate nitrogen fertilizer, to dry crops for storage, to grind the grain, bring the food to market and cook it. Each calorie of food we eat has around 10 calories of fossil fuel embedded in its production.

Many energy experts believe we are near the peak of global oil production. America’s production peaked 40 years ago and has since fallen by half. World oil discoveries peaked over 40 years ago and we’ve been burning more than we discover since 1980. And we have more mouths to feed each year. We added over 70 million people worldwide last year, about the population of the entire United States in 1900.

Put rising population together with declining oil production and we will soon find ourselves in a different circumstance than we currently enjoy. I believe that we could manage the transition to a sustainable world without collapse or starvation if people of all nations acted promptly with intelligence and compassion. I haven’t seen that happening yet.

But I don’t envision huddling in the dark eating crab apples for my future. I’d rather eat apples and pecans. Accordingly, I have planted a few apple and hardy pecan trees. The storm-killed trees offer us an opportunity. Plant fruit and nut trees in their stead.

You may not see times coming that are hard enough to require you to grow your own food. I would note that Manna Food Center has faced unprecedented demand this year. Further, it has been normal through most of human history to grow your own food. And remember it takes years for a tree to get to the point where it provides fruits or nuts. We must anticipate the need.

The City of Rockville plants around 700 trees each year. These should also be fruit or nut trees.

Now is the time to find your tree catalogs or look online and order them, so you can plant them in the spring. I know next to nothing about fruit and nut trees, so I won’t offer any advice other than to be sure to plant them far enough away from your house that they fit when full grown, be careful that some varieties need another tree of a different cultivar nearby to pollinate, and note that you can train hazelnuts to serve as hedges.

Carl Henn

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such opinions for consideration — the more voices the better. 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!

Contributor Opinion by Roald Schrack: Growing Old In Rockville [Updated]

Rockville was incorporated on March 10, 1860. The city will celebrate its 150th birthday with appropriate pride. The residents have been getting older too. In the 1950’s the population of Rockville was about 5000 people. The development of affordable housing attracted young families from Washington D.C. and Rockville grew at a rate of about 2000 people a year. This baby boom generation that led to the rapid growth of the city is now reaching retirement age. The graph below shows the expected increase in population of Rockville residents age 65 and over. This graph is based on a Task Force Report prepared by Senior Services Long Range Plan Task Force in 2006. The task force called attention to the “coming Tsunami” with numerous suggestions for city action in anticipation.

Graph mistakenly omited from original post.

These seniors are retiring in a very bad time economically. Most have seen their savings greatly reduced because of the stock market crash and the crash in housing values.. Over half of the retirees in the city depend on Social Security, 1/3 are “highly dependent” on Social Security. The average Social Security is about $1000/ month. There are a few affluent seniors who can afford the luxurious retirement community recently built in King Farm but the vast majority cannot. The city desperately needs affordable senior housing. It is thus especially tragic that the proposed 68 86 unit facility, Victory Court, that was to supply affordable senior housing has withdrawn its request for support from the city that would have enabled it to obtain tax credit funding from the state. With tax credit funding it would have been possible to set a rent of $1000 making the units affordable by the 1/3 of city seniors “highly dependent” on Social Security. Further development of Victory Court depends on finding alternative financing and completing site review by the Planning Commission.

The growing number of seniors in the city should have a political effect. The graph above shows a projection of the senior fraction of the total vote. This projection is based of past patterns of behavior and represents a best guess. It shows that in the next Rockville election in 2011 seniors will contribute between 35 and 40 % of the total vote. By 2020 seniors will contribute the majority of the vote. It is probable when seniors command a majority of the vote that their needs will receive greater support than they do now.

Roald Schrack

[UPDATED 2/9/10: The original post did not include the "Projected Senior Population in Rockville" Graph provided by R. Schrack, which has been added above.]

[UPDATED 2/9/10: The digits in the number of units were transposed. The figure has been corrected.]

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such opinions for consideration — the more voices the better. 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!

Editorial Opinion by Cindy Cotte Griffiths: Affordable Housing As A Priority

During the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the Mayor and Council will attend their biannual retreat and set their priorities for the next two years.

As many of you know, I chair the Human Services Advisory Commission and we have sent the following letter to the Mayor and Council:

We, the Human Service Advisory Commission (HSAC), are writing to you in support of affordable housing in our community. Whenever HSAC studies needs assessments, the lack of affordable housing in the City is evident. In addition, the recent economic slowdown and loss of investments has left many seniors in Rockville living on much less than they expected while trying to maintain their homes and pay taxes. We strongly encourage you to include affordable housing in your Vision Statement.

We support affordable housing in our community such as Beall’s Grant II and Victory Court. We urge you to sign a Letter of Support for tax credits for Beall’s Grant II. Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP) has worked very hard over many months to compromise on the design of the building. With the new design 35 fewer apartments will be built and less people will be served. Since the new design has been submitted to the Planning Commission, we wholeheartedly support this project going forward without any additional demands being placed on MHP. Because of the tremendous need for affordable senior housing, we also support the plan to build Victory Court on the Montgomery County land at Fleet and Monroe Streets. Victory Housing reports that most of their market comes from a three-mile radius of each community built because seniors don’t want to move away from family, friends, and doctors, so this would be an affordable community for Rockville residents. We don’t want to lose their contributions to the civic life of our community and Victory Court will provide a much-needed alternative for seniors who can’t afford to remain in our City. We were particularly supportive of Victory Housing’s endeavor to keep the rents below $1,000 per month which will serve our seniors well. Additional requirements made on this development will unnecessarily increase the rents. The community’s proximity to stores, city services, and transportation makes it even more attractive as a location.

With this letter we are asking for your leadership in creating these and other affordable housing options for our City.

Since 1980 Community Ministries of Rockville has surveyed candidates on human service concerns. Last year was no exception and one of the questions concerned affordable housing:

Affordable housing is a top priority because it is good for business, it attracts younger people to an aging community, and it improves the quality of life for everyone. What do you propose be done during the next term to increase affordable housing in Rockville?

Here are the responses from those who were elected:

Phyllis Marcuccio: I served on the Rockville Housing Authority for ten years. Affordable housing is important to me, as is the ability of homeowners to remain in their affordable homes of the past. The Legacy project in Lincoln Park is a good example of partnering with developers and the city to provide moderate homes to moderate income buyers. We need to watch for buildings in the city that might be converted into affordable housing for the elderly as well.

John Britton: I agree that affordable housing not only benefits those who are able to live is an affordable house or apartment, but also greatly benefits the community at large, in part because it complements the richness of residential diversity – and I reference diversity in terms of socio-economic levels, race and age. It also benefits employers who are able to find a nearby pool of employees who do not have to travel great distances to get to their jobs. Although the city has the laudable goal of increasing affordable (and senior) housing, we sometimes find ourselves in contentious situations in trying to implement this goal. I think it prudent at this time to have a community-wide discussion about affordable housing – how do we define it, who are the target residents, where should it be located. This will help us more precisely set a community framework within which we can attempt to satisfy our goal of increasing affordable housing. Along with this, the city needs to be more proactive (recent proposals illustrate the pitfalls of being exclusively reactive) in identifying appropriate and attractive sites for affordable housing.

Mark Pierzchala: I agree with your description of the positive attributes of ‘affordable housing’. However, we see neighborhood reactions against affordable housing in part because it is misunderstood. Rockville elected officials need to emphatically educate the public that affordable housing is for law-abiding people who work. Additionally, we need to make sure that the size of these projects fit some sort of human scale. Mid-size projects work for me, but they have to be near enough to (not necessarily on top of) good transit.

Piotr Gajewski: Rockville is very fortunate that there are non-profit organizations in our community whose mission it is to provide affordable housing. The most important thing that the City must do to promote affordable housing is to not get in the way of those nonprofits. The saddest result of my term on the council was the holding up, by the Mayor and Council, of the building of more affordable housing.

Bridget Newton: I support affordable housing and have been working with the WECA committee on Beall’s Grant to bring a quality project that balances the needs of the immediate neighborhood with those of MHP. Additionally, we need to provide work-force housing for those who hold positions such as teacher/firefighter/police and do not earn enough to live in the community in which they work. I will continue my efforts to see that the development projects and services coming to Rockville are balanced with the concerns of the community they are joining.

As they meet, I hope the mayor and council will begin the discussion about affordable housing as John Britton has suggested, and become more proactive in developing this much-needed asset to our City. However it is developed, whether through the conversion of older buildings or new construction, we need leaders who will put great effort into turning their support for affordable housing into a reality. Leaders who, as Mark Pierzchala states, “emphatically educate the public that affordable housing is for law-abiding people who work” and spread the truth. I do hope the vision for Rockville during the next two years will include strong advocacy for affordable housing. Our officials need to lead the effort and lend their support to make it happen, even if compromises are required.

Contributor Opinion by Roald Schrack: Voter Participation In Rockville For The Past 22 Elections

The voter participation figures are usually given in terms of votes per number on registration list. The recent surge in Democratic registrations before the 2008 presidential elections increased the registration list so that even though there are more voters in the 2009 Rockville election than in the 2007 election, the relative participation numbers went from 20% in 2007 , down to 17% in 2009. It is probable that the county registration list may actually shrink from 2008 to 2010. The county Board of Elections website shows a net loss for November and a net gain for December in the number of registered voters.

In 1987 the city switched from maintaining its’ own registration list to using the somewhat larger County registration list. Before 1987 the city had participation rates of 60% and 70%. Going to the larger County registration list reduced participation rates to about 20%.

Comparison of participation rates in Rockville elections can be very confusing and misleading The following graph shows the voting history in Rockville from 1968 to 2009, with participation based on registration lists in the upper curve. The lower curve shows participation based on city population. Note that this curve is relatively flat, staying about 10% from 1968 to 2009. The major excursions are in 1985 when Van Grack spent more than $10. A vote and in 1993 when Coyle had no opposition.

The final curve shows the ratio of registration to total population. Ideally, the number of Rockville residents over 18 should be used but that data is not readily available.

The purpose of this study is to show that participation calculations based on registration lists can be greatly misleading. The fraction of the population that votes in City elections is not as high as might be desired but it is a relatively constant fraction of the population and has remained relatively constant for the past 22 elections.

Roald Schrack

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!

Editorial Opinion by Cindy Cotte Griffiths: Missed Opportunity With The Parking Garages

Last Friday I did a little Christmas shopping in Rockville Town Square. When I pulled into the parking garage on Rt. 355 by CVS, only 170 spaces were left. (Here’s a picture of me fooling around with the mirrored ceilings in the elevator. Usually when I’m in the garages, I don’t need to go up a few levels to park during the weekdays and since I was all by myself, well, you know.)

The garages seemed well-used and I doubt the drivers of all those vehicles were shopping or eating in the Square. Were commuters taking advantage of the free parking in our City garages through January 3rd instead of parking in the Metro lot?. Even in the cold, I think at least some of these drivers were willing to park and walk over to the Metro to save money because when the garages were first opened and free, they were packed with commuter cars.

During the election season, when the Town Square merchants asked for changes in the parking fees, the mayor and council agreed to a $1 flat fee for evening parking and no charge on weekends. In order to increase revenue, a goal of attracting 200 additional monthly parkers was set and projections were based on a total of 400 monthly parkers.

Everyone agreed that the monthly rate of $65 would have to be advertised. People suggested handing out flyers at the Shady Grove Metro.

• At our monthly rate of $65, people would only have to park 14 days per month at Metro’s $4.75 rate in order to come out even.
• Metro’s monthly rate is $55 to reserve the spot but you must pay $4.75 per day on top of the rate. So, if you parked 20 work days in a month your total would be $150.

Our garages offer quite a savings for commuters.

So I wondered why there hasn’t been more advertising during this free parking season. We, as a City, are giving away the parking and possibly attracting people who are willing to use the City garages for commuting, yet we aren’t taking any actions to convince them to be the monthly customers we so desperately need. These are our best prospects.

Personally, I don’t like the flyers on my windshield but these drivers are parking on our dime so we have every right to bombard them with advertisements. The only sign I noticed was a small plastic tent with “Free Parking”. A few more signs and banners would help the effort.

This is a prime opportunity being lost. In the business world, if you get them in the door, you do everything possible to make the sale. We need to be much more business-like if we are going to pay off our parking garage debt with something other than our tax dollars.

If you know someone who parks in the Metro lots to commute, let them know about the Rockville garage savings, a nice present for the New Year. Parking passes for the City’s 355 Garage P3-P5 levels can be purchased from the garage pay stations.

Share Your Blizzard Stories Here!

Dear Rockville Central readers:

As this gets posted, we are in the middle of what appears to be the record-settingest snowfall for December ever in the region. Metro has closed all above-ground stations, RideOn buses are ceasing running in a few hours. It’s an official blizzard out there! We hope that most of you are nestled snug in your homes and taking it easy. Our sympathies to all those who have to go out today, for work or other important things. Stay safe, take it slow, leave room between you and the cars around you. And . . . most important . . . clear off your vehicle fully before hitting the road. Visibility is bad enough without having to peer through a tiny gap in the snow.

But with all the down time can come some reflection, fun times, and good, clear thinking.

We’d like to invite the Rockville Central readership to share any stories you want in the comments section of this post — from a touching moment to a harrowing escape, and everything in between.

I’ll start. I’ve already shoveled twice and I expect to shovel at least twice more before the day is out. I have had two important errands that took me out onto the roads, where I saw numerous people stuck. But right now, I’ve got a really nice fire going and I’m doing something I love: connecting online with my Rockville friends. And, to add to my joy,  my son wants to help shovel my dad’s walk later.

How about you? What are you doing? What are you thinking about? Let us know!

Contributor Opinion by Roald Schrack: 2009 Election Finances Update

In the original report on November 18 the final candidate financial report had not been made. I stated that if the final report made any major changes that I would issue an update. The final report on December 3rd showed increases up to 30% in expenditures of some candidates. Most candidates had changes much smaller. The final line of the table comparing the last 4 elections needs modification The expenditures in 2009 are now much closer to the peak year of 2005.

The financial reports of the candidates can now be found on the city website.

A comparison of expenditures in 2009 to previous elections is presented in the table below.
The very low numbers shown for $/Vote occurred in years that the Mayor and Council ran as a slate, greatly reducing expenses for individual candidates. Since there was no opposition to Coyle and his slate, there was no significant expenditure of money.

The graph labeled Votes per Donor shows in graphic form the relative votes obtained per donor. Donors are a major outreach method for a candidate. Marcuccio was remarkably effective in getting 190 donors but not as effective as other candidates in turning these assets into votes. It is possible that some slating took place to augment her vote total.

The final graph shows the cost of a vote for the candidates. The highly competitive race between Marcuccio and Hoffmann made them pay more for a vote than would be the case for a less competitive race. In the table showing the cost per vote in other elections it can be seen that in weak or non- competitive races the cost per vote drops markedly. For the council races where the candidates were closely matched in relative ability, it is clear that there is a strong correlation between campaign expenditure and votes obtained. Consider the cases of Henn and Pierzchala. Pierzchala spent nearly twice as much as Henn and beat him by only 62 votes. It is probably true that the $6000 Pierzchala invested in his race was necessary for him to win.

The new modified tables that include the December data are shown for contributions and expenditures. The tables include an additional column showing the amounts added in the December 3rd reports.

The amounts added in the last report are quite large in some cases, but there is no indication that an attempt was made to conceal donations. Such a move might have negative consequences for it would be held against the candidate if they ran again and in addition the candidate would lose the appearance of strength before the election that could help them get votes. It is interesting to note that the largest increase in expenditures in the December report was by Marcuccio, who won.

New Cash Cont. – from the December 3 financial report
Total Cash Cont.- Total cash contribution to candidate including December 3 contributions.
# Donors – Total contributions list. There may be duplications
# N-R Donors – number of contributors with non-Rockville addresses
% N-R Donors – % of Donors with non-Rockville addresses
In-Kind Cont. – Value of listed in-kind contributions.
Total Cont. – sum of cash and in-kind contributions
Unpaid Loans – Value of loan, usually made by a candidate to their campaign. None of these has been repaid.

New Expenditures – from the December 3 financial report
Total Expenditures – All expenditures including December 3 expenditures
Balance – Amount left in campaign account. Loans have not been repaid.
Ave. Cont. – Average contribution, Cash Contributions divided by number of donors.
Votes – Votes received by candidate
$/vote – Expenditures divided by number of votes.
Votes/donor – Votes divided by number of donors.

Roald Schrack

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 Rockville Flag by Temperance Blalock

I collect flag images from the Internet, and I recently ran across a site called 15 of the world’s strangest flags and at the top of that list was a flag that looks almost identical to our Rockville city flag. It’s the city flag for Fryslan/Friesland/Frisian, Netherlands. Their flag uses the red images to represent lilypads.

The Wikipedia article goes into some detail about the symbolism of all the components.

One of the best vexillology websites is “Flags of the World”, which has a short entry on the Rockville city flag. It describes the red parts here as “red cross bottony”.  A cross bottony is a heraldic symbol, a cross with each side ending in three rounded lobes. This symbol also appears on the Maryland state flag, which in turn is based on the heraldic banner of the Calvert family.

I can’t get over how similar to each other the flags of Rockville and Friesland are: other than the lilypad/bottony difference, and the fact that Rockville’s blue bands are wavy but Friesland’s are not, they are strikilingly similar, including the shades of red and blue.

I wonder if it’s just coincidental?

Temperance Blalock

This is a contributor submission. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit pieces for consideration on all sorts of things — the more voices the better.

Contributor Opinion by Carl Henn: Solar Co-op Options

Let’s say you want to put solar panels on your roof. It’s a big expense. There are many options to choose from, many companies offering different products, lots of paperwork to get the state, local and federal support that is available. It’s a daunting prospect. I’m sure some people who might otherwise move forward with solar panels haven’t due to the complexity of the process, while others fear they’ll pay too much or buy a system that doesn’t perform as anticipated.

Solar Co-ops can help overcome these barriers. Depending on how it is organized, they may also reduce the cost by buying in bulk instead of as a single system at one household.

There is a fine example of what a solar co-op can do in the nearby DC neighborhood of Mount Pleasant. A few neighbors there wanted to install solar panels and thought if they are going to go to all the trouble of figuring the whole thing out, they would bring some other neighbors along and get a volume discount. They were driven to action by deep concern about global warming and other environmental problems. They have succeeded in getting 50 systems installed so far. See http://www.mtpleasantsolarcoop.org/

Another twist on this idea comes from the United Power Co-op in Brighton, Colorado. In this case, the power co-op is the local utility. Noting that many of their customers wanted solar power but face the same barriers noted above or don’t own their roof or have too much shade for solar to work at their home, they created a “solar farm” leasing arrangement. See http://www.unitedpower.com/solpartners.aspx  They set up solar panels on their own land, getting the capital from their customers. They provide a 25 year lease on a 210 watt photovoltaic panel for $1,050. They provide a 3% return on investment, based on current energy prices. Their promotional material claims a 17 year payback, though my own calculation shows that unless electricity prices increase, it won’t pay for itself before the lease expires. But carrying an income source into the future isn’t risk free. The stock market disappointed my expectation for a return on investment and indeed has swallowed much of the principal I invested. This investment has the potential to hold its own against inflation since rising energy costs are a primary source of inflation.

Another co-op approach worth noting is the effort by the Rockville Chamber of Commerce. They will negotiate purchase of wind generated electricity on behalf of their members. See http://www.gazette.net/stories/12022009/rocknew220922_32535.shtml This will be done through Clean Currents, which is also available to individuals who aren’t in the Chamber of Commerce. Clean Currents will sell you electricity that has been generated via wind turbines as described at http://www.cleancurrents.com/index.php/C-Green-Overview Currently, their price is lower than the standard Pepco price.

So what should we be doing differently in Rockville to increase renewable energy generation? First – step back and look at the bigger picture. There is a good chance you can save more energy by putting insulation in your attic then by putting solar panels on your roof, and can do so for less money. You should get an energy audit. Chevy Chase recently set up a rebate program for their residents to pay for energy audits and a portion of the upgrades that such audits recommend. See http://www.townofchevychase.org/n/166

The co-op approach used by Mount Pleasant is very powerful. But it requires a huge effort by a few individuals. I’ve seen several websites from other people trying to do the same thing. Most of them haven’t had a single installation yet. My hat is off to the Mt. Pleasant folks. Convincing people to part with thousands of their dollars, and setting up a structure for the contracts to work through is quite an accomplishment.

I would recommend a simpler approach – negotiating a “Rockville Deal” for solar panels that any resident can use, without trying to put the contract through the City or a community group, without guaranteeing a certain number of installations. While this would likely mean the cost per unit would be a bit higher, it is a more achievable approach. It would still be helpful. The City could set up a competitive process, eliminating those companies that have had performance issues, negotiating the technical specifications and prices of the unit and setting forth how to capture the state, local and federal subsidies. It would likely still be cheaper than most people would get on their own. The City could present the Rockville Deal approach in the proper perspective – energy audit first, invest in the most cost effective upgrades, how much sunlight/shade do you have?, is your roof good for another 15 years (i.e. Don’t put new panels on an old roof). If you get guidance from a salesman, you might not get unbiased advice.

The City could also mirror the approach taken by the Brighton co-op. The City’s owns a number of buildings that have unshaded roofs where solar panels could be installed. The City doesn’t have the money to do this, and indeed if they did they would probably be better served to put that money into more efficient street lights or better insulation at Glenview Mansion. But they could lease panels in such a manner that citizens would pay for the panels and the city would then pay the citizen for the electricity that the panels generate.

Investing in solar panels as an individual requires an appropriate site, knowledge of the marketplace and technology, knowledge of government subsidy programs, research into contract terms and such. Making this investment through the City allows for economies of scale, and makes it so each individual doesn’t have to do all the legwork alone. It makes the process more simple and accessible. This program would provide an investment alternative to the stock market which may fail widely in an era of declining oil production. A Rockville Solar Farm may well be one of the better investments available.

Carl Henn

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!

Reader Note by Brigitta Mullican: A Verifiable Voting System

Will Rockville consider using the optical-scan voting machines in the 2011 election? The City of Takoma Park used the new voter verified technology for their November 3rd Election.

Optical-scan voting machines offer a relatively high degree of verification support. These machines save a record of the votes and allow auditors to go back and verify results if necessary. Maryland should adopt optical-scan systems which cost less than the touch-screen voting systems.

More information about the 2009 City of Takoma Park election is available at their website.

More information about the Scantegrity application is available at www.scantegrity.org.

Brigitta Mullican

If you would like to contribute a Reader Note or other piece of writing, please send submissions to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. The more community voices, the better Rockville Central will be. Please remember that the views of contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors.