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.

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!

Editorial Opinion By Brad Rourke: Suggestions For Charter Review

In her inaugural talk at this weekend’s ceremony, Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio outlined a number of planned initiatives, including three commissions: one to review budget and finance, one to improve communications, and one to review and make recommendations for the governance of the city.

I wanted to make a suggestion about city governance. People can take or leave it, dismiss it entirely, or perhaps build on it if they so choose.

Move to a Hybrid District and At-large Council Structure

I suggest that Rockville be divided into four (or some other number) representative districts, with roughly similar populations, and that each district would be represented by one member of the City Council. Candidates would run in each district separately. This would ensure that each area of Rockville would have someone on council focused on their interests and seeking to give them a voice. These would be two-year terms.

However, criticisms I have head that a district-only system might result in division do carry weight. And so, I suggest that, in addition to the district council representatives, two other candidates run at-large for four-year terms. These terms would be staggered, so that every two years citizens would vote for one district representative and one at-large representative. (If the number of districts is odd, then the number of at-large members would have to be odd too.)

This would result in a six-member Council with two at-large members and four district members. Including the Mayor, this would result in a seven-member governing body. With a seven member body, three could gather without triggering open meeting laws.

It would also ensure that each area of the City has someone speaking up on its behalf. I believe that Our Fair City is simply too big and diverse for one person to truly keep their eye on everything. This was driven home to me during the Twinbrook candidate forum in the last election. There was one question that asked the candidates to say how they would respond to specifically Twinbrook issues. A dismaying number of candidates appeared to be winging it on that question, hypothesizing what issues might face Twinbrook. Too few candidates seemed to just know the answer.

Various parts of town have, over time, gotten the feeling that they are shut out of conversations at City Hall, in part because candidates from other areas are over-represented. With district representation, we would no longer have to be content with having many candidates saying to each area, “I can represent you too.” Instead of a field with one candidate from Twinbrook, we might instead have three people competing for the chance to bring Twinbrook’s voice to City Hall — no matter what, each area will get a voice.

And, at the same time, with some at-large, longer term council members, we would also make sure we maintain some continuity and institutional memory from term to term, as well as have folks who are focused across the City and not in specific areas.

I am sure this is not a perfect plan. I have not tried to think it all the way through yet, as I am more interested in hearing discussion of its pros and cons — and perhaps some competing ideas.

So: What do you think?

(Please note: I don’t mean to pick on Twinbrook here, nor to pick on any individual candidates. I am just using it as an example.)

Sniper’s Gone But Not Forgotten, Which Is Not Necessarily A Bad Thing

As reported by the Gazette, last night at 9 PM the Beltway sniper, John Allen Muhammad, was executed by lethal injection down in Virginia. Although most of the sniper murders in the DC area (6/10) occurred here in Montgomery County, everyone thought Virginia would carry out a quicker death sentence. Seven years later, the task is done. Is it finally over?

Although the terror he inflicted on our community with his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo lasted only 23 days, the experience has never really left me. I do still occasionally think about it when I stand to pump gas. Back then, I’d dash to sit in the car instead of standing by the side of my car. Rockville was in lock down. All the local sporting events were cancelled. We didn’t play outside with the kids unless protected from view.

Since people were attempting to protect themselves, you might think the sniper attacks would have lessened our feeling of community. However, the opposite was true. We were all in it together. After they shot the middle school boy, all the parents made a human shield at Ritchie Park Elementary to protect the kids as they entered the building. We looked out for the kids and each other. Since Julius West was so close to 270, a helicopter flew over each morning and afternoon. From my house I could hear it and know that everyone was doing everything possible to protect each other and find the culprits.

At the time of the sniper, I planted an evergreen tree to block the view of our house from the road. I worried that I was closing myself off from the community. Last weekend I noticed how tall it had grown. Time has passed. I can still see my house and more importantly, I still trust our community to work together and care for each other during our darkest moments.

More On Rockville Central’s Comment Policy: Full Names Required

Dear Readers:

Thank you for continuing to make Rockville Central an important destination for information and opinion about what’s going on in Our Fair City. Yesterday we had 1,836 page views, which I believe may be a record for us. As a recent article made clear, we continue to try to hone our comment policy and to balance openness and responsibility. We discovered what looked like abuse of the commenting system and implemented some controls that we hope will put an end to it.

We also want to let you know about another control we are formalizing. As many know, we in general are opposed to people commenting under pseudonyms, even ones that are not meant to hide a person’s identity. But we believe that Rockville Central needs to be a forum where people truly own their words. We do not want things written in the comments that people would not say to one another face to face, in a public setting.

For that reason, we are going to be requiring comments to be attributed by first and last name before we approve them for publication. That includes pseudonyms like “Fred In Hungerford,” even if the comment is positive.

If feel you have a pressing need to remain anonymous due to personal safety reasons, please email us and ask ahead of time (rockvillecentral@gmail.com).

Cindy and I know that there are some people who will be made uncomfortable by this. We are sorry, but believe this is best for the overall health of the space. There are many forums where people can comment and express opinions anonymously or pseudonymously. This is not that place.

Thank you.

Comment Policy And Multiple Aliases

Dear Rockville Central readers:

As many of you know, our comment volume has been going up and up, and with the volume we have had a number of challenges as we try to balance openness with the necessity of keeping a civil forum. Cindy Cotte Griffiths and I have felt that we have reached a good equilibrium where, for the most part, we have no completely anonymous commenting and relatively few over-the-line instances of bad behavior. There have been a few judgment calls, and recently we decided to get a little stricter with what we approve, as people’s emotions began to run higher. But by and large it’s been working.

We have a new issue and a new policy we want to draw your attention to.

We recently discovered through looking at our log files that we may have had instances where people have logged comments under multiple pseudonyms. These are called “sock puppets” in the online world, and there is no online forum where they are tolerated. Rockville Central is no exception.

The best way to make sure sock puppetry is not going on is to ban the IP address on comments where we detect what appear to be intentional multiple comment logins (after first looking to make sure it is not multiple people logging in at one place of business, or some other obvious legitimate reason).

We are posting this note to let the community know that, from now on, that is what we are going to do. We have added a warning to the brief instructions above the comment-entry box, and we will not allow comments from IP addresses where there is evidence of multiple comment logins. IP addresses where that is happening will be banned from commenting.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

My Thanks for the Candidate Forum

What a great honor it was to co-moderate our Rockville Central Candidates Forum last Saturday. Thank you to the candidates who were able to attend: Piotr Gajewski, Carl Henn, Susan Hoffmann, Phyllis Marcuccio, Tom Moore, Bridget Newton, Virginia Onley, Waleed Ovase, Mark Pierzchala, and Max van Balgooy. Their willingness to share details about themselves as well as their viewpoints provided insight into how they will handle the next two years in office. Many people have told me the forum either helped them decide or confirmed their vote.

We didn’t know if spending a Saturday morning learning about the candidates would be of interest to our readers, but with over 70 in attendance, it seems that it was. I’m grateful to everyone who gave us a chance by showing up.

All of our questions were developed from the comment streams on Rockville Central, so our readers played a big role in creating this forum. You may hear mention of “chickens”. If you weren’t at the forum, you’ll have to watch the video when we post it. A question about allowing chickens for eggs and companionship was submitted. I had the idea of using it for a “workshop” to find out how candidates approach issues, so we wrote up a scenario and asked the candidates to explain what they would do. People can’t resist a chicken joke!

Mid-way through the two hour event, I realized our timekeeper, Jonathan Smith, had a much more difficult job than me. He had to intently watch his stopwatch almost every minute without missing a second and he managed to do it perfectly.

Tim Hampton of VisArts volunteered to video the event for us and we kept him busy going back-and-forth with that camera, while Tom Miner of the Digits handled the sound system loaned by The West End.

Theresa Defino has been such a strong supporter of Rockville Central and was quick to jump in and help which meant we sent her for coffee and donuts bright and early. Thanks to her for all her efforts with Rockville Central, and also to Jacquie Kubin who joined her for the pickup and Andrea Jarrell who greeted everyone.

I know I missed John Britton who was at his daughter’s college parents’ weekend and Trapper Martin who had to attend his aunt’s funeral in North Carolina but I was able to read a statement from both of them.

As I stated in our closing, online communities can feel anonymous. Sometimes people are inconsiderate when stating their opinions or leaving comments because they are not thinking about the people behind the words. When we all gathered at the Thomas Farm Community Center, we made our online community a bit more real. Now we can picture a roomful of faces when we’re reading.

The past two and a half years working with Brad Rourke on all things Rockville Central has been such an adventure. From the very beginning, I wanted to get people interested in our local civic life. The low voter turnout has always bothered to me. I hoped Rockville Central would inspire people to get involved, volunteer and vote. Some people who have never attended a forum came and I’m glad.

Thank you to everyone who made the forum something special.

Comment Policy: Focus On The Civil

Dear Rockville Central readers:

As some might have noted, there is an election coming in a few weeks (November 3, in case you wondered). As happens when it’s campaign time, emotions are running a bit high. Editor Cindy Cotte Griffiths and I have been amazed at the volume of comments and gratified that so many readers see Rockville Central as a good place to discuss issues.

However, with the increase in comment volume, we feel the need to refine our comment policy in order to protect the civil and respectful qualities of this space. Rockville Centralhas always been intended to be a blog where we can discuss issues in a measured way. Sometimes we worry it may have lost sight of the “measured” part of that goal, in favor of being open to all.

Moving forward, we plan on tightening our moderation of comments. That means fewer comments will be approved. We will not approve comments that are clearly mean spirited or do not add to the discussion. We will be especially careful of comments that are critical of individuals. There are ways of criticizing behavior without criticizing people.

Our suggestion to people who wish to leave comments is to stop a moment and think about whether and consider whether you would really say what you are writing to an acquaintance or friend. That’s the bar we want to adhere to.

We will continue to actively seek out views that differ from our own, and to try to maintain a fair and impartial policy — both in attitude and in practice. We do not moderate comments based on ideology or because we disagree on the viewpoint of a writer.

We recognize that this policy refinement may cause some to lose interest because the comments will get less active. We accept that. We hope that it will also cause some readers togain interest, because there will be more room for thoughtfulness.

Thank you.

My Opinion: Watch A Candidate Forum

The first of the televised Mayor and Council forums was held last Thursday evening, October 8, 2009, by the West End Citizen’s Association. If you missed it, you should take the time to watch it on demand from Rockville Channel 11, or if you have cable check the schedule for air times.

Although responses were brief, the forum provided a good introduction to the candidates. You could get a feel for their personalities and priorities. The questions indicated which topics are of interest to voters in the West End, which is my neighborhood. Since this was the first formal candidate forum, I was keen to find out what would be considered important in the election.

In the opening 40 minutes between the mayoral candidates, Susan R. Hoffmann and Phyllis Marcuccio answered questions concerning the success of the Town Center businesses, the budget for Fiscal Year 2010, funding for the arts, the lack of protection for Chestnut Lodge, the parking fees for Town Center, the plans for the Victory Housing and Beall’s Grant II affordable housing developments, the increasing failures at busy intersections, the hometowns of campaign contributors, and the deficit from the Redgate golf course.

The city council forum allowed each candidate John Britton, Carl Henn, Trapper Martin, Tom Moore, Mark Pierzchala, Bridget Newton, Virginia Onley, Waleed Ovaseand, and Max van Balgooy to briefly introduce themselves and say a couple of summary sentences. Councilmember Piotr Gajewski had a prior longstanding work commitment and did not attend. The candidates were asked to speak about the changes occurring over time in Town Center, the massing of affordable housing and zoning regulations, the salary increases in the FY 2010 budget, the best way to solve the parking issues for Town Center, and the preservation of green space as it pertains to the Victory Court location.

Obviously, this is only a summary of topics and you should watch the forum. I found myself curious about what exactly the candidates meant in their brief responses. Some issues needed a longer dialogue. There seemed to be a definite disagreement on whether the budget was actually balanced. Candidates had differing views on development. Some offered concrete suggestions about the Town Center parking issue and possible new programs.

Lately when I try to talk about the election to people who are not involved with city issues, their eyes glaze over. This is true! I hope many more people become interested before the election. If you have cable, listen to the forum while you do something else around the house. Run it on demand from your computer or laptop while you straighten up, clean, or cook. The City is spending your money! Make sure you know what’s going on and whether your elected officials are voting the way you would. I can’t emphasize enough that there are definite differences between the candidates and the direction they will take our City.

Rockville Central will be having our own candidate forum on Saturday, October 24 at 9:30 a.m. in the Thomas Farm Community Center. I strongly encourage everyone to attend. On the 23rd, you’ll only have 11 days until the election on November 3, 2009, when we all need to vote.