Contributor Opinion by Herb Winkler: A Strategy For Earth Day

>The 40th anniversary of Earth Day provides the opportunity to change some behaviors that can prolong our existence, individually and collectively. We’ve been made aware of climate change, but a less publicized danger is that CO2 forms carbonic acid in the ocean, which will further stress the coral reef, and dissolve the bottom of our food chain. Maybe when we can’t feed ourselves, behavior modification will be easier.

In the meantime, let’s plan a strategy. The Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee wants to promote safe cycling. The issue is that many of our roads aren’t safe enough to ride on. The Millenium Trail is nice for recreation, but many destinations aren’t on there, so people resort to using their cars to traverse the Pike. Stores naturally want to be on high traffic areas, but that doesn’t make for a safe bike trip. Let’s develop a parallel path a block west of the Pike that links Town Center with the existing path behind Richard Montgomery HS, and continues south through Woodmont’s front lawn and links to the Bethesda Trolley Trail. The old Indian trail that once was is now clogged with hazards, which won’t go away unless we take action. The present plan is to route bikes to the east of 355 on Lewis Avenue, but that requires our cyclists to cross at very busy intersections.

These obstacle were previously tackled with fiscally and environmentally costly overpasses on 270 and 586 (Veirs Mill). Let’s instead keep people on ground level, and west of the pike, and continue up through the college and into King Farm. Then Gaithersburg can do the same, and we can finally get out of our cars and still get to where we need to go. This will finally be a nice gift to our descendants, as opposed to the debt and carbon we’ve been known to accumulate.

Another idea is to lobby for some climate friendly actions, like turning off the TC escalator at night, and dimming some lights. If you have to squander, make sure you use renewables. I don’t take kindly to killing polar bears just because you’re too lazy to turn off an appliance. I did notice the CFLs there in the stairwell, but the energy savings is negated by the fact that there are 28 of them. There is an elevator for those who can’t use the stairs. Must the escalator run 24/7? No wonder we can get a grocer to move in if the rent has to cover avoidable expenses like that. This is our town, and we have to make it livable. The sooner we get stated, the easier it will be. The present prediction is that the reefs and everything that depends on them won’t survive the century.

Herb Winkler

This is a Contributor Opinion. Rockville Central encourages readers to submit such pieces for consideration — the more voices the better. Simply send them to rockvillecentral@gmail.com. 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 Herb Winkler: Indigenous Rock For Rockville

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Recreational rocks being installed at Town Square

I applaud the choice of recreational equipment in out Town Center. Rocks are stylish, maintenance free and could be carbon neutral, depending on how far they had to travel. I propose shopping locally next time. If we can’t get a decent town center rock in Maryland’s Rockville Town Center, which Rockville should we shop: CT, IN, MN, MO, NE, SC or UT?

In support of the Buy Rockville campaign, I propose we dig up our own rock during our next excavation.

The city does well with the various imported rockers, but we have to realize the importance of indigenous species, i.e. The West End. Our very own rock could serve as a mascot, sparing us the $75,000 marketing campaign (p.3 of the pdf link). A version of the mascot (Rocky?) could loose some weight and show up at civic events. This guy is saving us money already, and we haven’t even unearthed him yet!

Getting back to the business at hand: obtaining our soon to be beloved Rock (perhaps Rocko, a less violent cultural reference). Admittedly, there is no ongoing need for such items, as we have to brand our rocks before we can market them. Therefore, I propose we poll ourselves to determine what we want, and inform retailers of our findings.

As has already been discussed on Rockville Central, the wares that we need but can’t get in Town Center are hardware and underwear. That surprising result indicates the poll was not conducted properly, so let’s try again. I’ll ask one of our blogs, REDI, or the city itself to host a site to take your vote and address (so people don’t stuff the ballot box), and post results online. This won’t guarantee that we’ll get those stores, but some merchants may elect to carry useful items along with their usual wares. This could keep residents from having to navigate the Pike to shop.

When these items are available, will it increase the parking problem in Town Center? Recent blog entries about library parking have me concerned that it would. People, remember that the RideOn 45 stops right on the square, and I never have difficulty getting a bike rack. And walking works when we have a parade or fireworks, so try it when you shop.

By Herb Winkler

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!