Don’t Even Think About Smoking Near Playgrounds

Last night the Mayor and Council approved a request by the Recreation and Park Advisory Board to ban smoking within forty (40) feet of playgrounds at all City of Rockville parks and facilities. City Staff received favorable feedback since the proposal was first introduced at the August 3, 2009 Mayor and Council meeting.

The decision is a policy change, not a change in law. As with other park rules, compliance depends on the cooperation of park users. City police regularly patrol the parks. They will respond to complaints if they are available and not on service calls.

Smoking is already banned on City property near playing fields during games and practices, by the outdoor pool complex at the Swim and Fitness Center, and at the Dog Park at Stepanek Park. The ban is for City parks only, not privately-owned playgrounds.

At their July 23, 2009 meeting, the Recreation and Park Advisory Board considered a general ban on smoking within City parks but they decided this was not necessary and they voted unanimously to approve a recommendation near playgrounds.

The documentation for the Mayor and Council meeting lists the following actions to be taken to inform the public:

• A modestly-sized sign will be posted at each City playgrounds, with a friendly message of this sort: “Children at Play – Please – No Smoking Within 40 Feet of the Playground.”
• A press release will be issued to all media.
• The new policy will be published on the City’s website, in Rockville Reports, on Rockville Channel 11, in the Recreation Guides over the next year, on the weekly e-newsletter and on the City’s ‘Facebook’ page.
• A notice will be placed on the neighborhood association listserv.
• The policy will be included in the park rules and regulations.

So, don’t say you didn’t know.

Our September 11th Memorial

Today when I visited the memorial park dedicated to the Montgomery County residents killed on September 11, 2001, I found bouquets and single-stem white roses left on the benches and ground.

The names of the victims are engraved on a plaque covered by two doors in a small pavilion.

William Edward Caswell
Dr. Gerald Paul Fisher
Capt. Lawrence D. Getzfred
Michele M. Heidenberger
Angela Marie Houtz
Teddington Hamm Moy
Lt. Darin H. Pontell
Scott A. Powell
Todd Hayes Reuben
Patricia J. Statz
Ernest M. Willcher

If it had been sunny, the names would have been illuminated by a shaft of light. If you open the doors on September 11th, a slit in the roof allows the sunlight to slowly move down the list and highlight each of their names shortly after 9 AM when the attacks began back in 2001.

Eleven benches circle the green grassy area of the park located behind the Old Courthouse building. The signature of each victim is engraved on the benches along with a quote chosen by their families.

The park is always neatly trimmed in a respectful manner and today the flowers paid even further tribute.

Update: The park is located at the corner of Rt. 28 and Maryland Avenue behind the Old Brick Courthouse.

Community Input Sought for Sk8Park

An informal community meeting of parents and kids interested in the Sk8Park in Welsh Park will be held this Sunday, March 15th and next Sunday, March 22nd at Noon. Community Recreation Manager, Jon McLaren, will be on hand to talk about fixing up and improving the park. What features do you want?

Drumroll please … the Park is going to be open year-round, unsupervised, and for free during daylight hours!

Kids will be able to volunteer to help build the new Park. They’ll even be eligible for SSL hours. The plan is to open the Park on April 11, 2009.

So if you use the Park, get involved!

Tribute to Marg Collins

Tonight the Elwood Smith Community Center was dedicated in memory of Marjorie Collins, who served as president of the Elwood Smith Park Council from 1977 until her death last year in 2007. Although I had not known Marg for as long as many of the others at the dedication, she had an immense impact on me by taking me to my first public meetings and encouraging me to speak up. Her long-time neighborhood friends spoke of this same influence on their lives and how much she is missed.

Back in 1976 the park was not safe because of vandals. The community came together and created the Park Council. Marg was very inclusive as she worked to make sure that everyone in the community was represented. They attended a City Council meeting to explain what the community wanted for the park. At the time, the City was considering tearing down the “Teen Center”. These citizens convinced the City Council that they could make the park a place that could be enjoyed by everyone and the building was saved.

Burt Hall, Director of Recreation and Parks, spoke at the dedication. He told everyone that nothing can solve a community problem better than the actual community coming together and being involved, as in this situation.

He had nothing but the highest praise for Marg. He said she was someone you always wanted to work with. “Marg was always the nicest person, but she was tough. She was not going to put up with the problem not being solved, but always it was in a positive, gentle, kind way.”

Betsy Thompson, Superintendent of Recreation, joined Burt Hall to show the plaque to Marg’s daughter, Kathy Miller, and her granddaughter, Erin, who came up from Virginia for the gathering. The plaque will be added under the picture of the ribbon cutting for the current Elwood Smith Center which was renovated and rededicated in 2001.

For those of you who don’t know, in 1956 Elwood Smith was the first firefighter to die in the line of duty in Rockville. He was with other firefighters trying to save people in the flooding waters of Rock Creek when he died, a hero.

The City on Inclusive Recreation Options

This contributor opinion was written by the City’s Recreation and Parks director, Burt Hall:

The Rockville community is fortunate to have this perspective on our parks, facilities and programs from Dr. Reeve Brenner. As the inventor and marketer of “Bankshot Basketball” and other “total mix” sports equipment, Dr. Brenner, a native son, has contributed greatly to the recreational opportunities for different segments of the able-bodied and “differently-abled” populations. I am proud to say that the City offers the opportunity to play Bankshot Basketball at our court located at Welsh Park and will soon have a full-sized Bankshot court at our new park in the King Farm neighborhood, Mattie J.T. Stepanek Park. These courts truly provide the kind of inclusive opportunity for residents of all abilities to participate together that Dr. Brenner describes.

There are many other opportunities at Rockville’s parks and facilities for inclusive participation by all. One of the best examples is the Rockville Municipal Swim Center, which is totally accessible and available to people of all abilities for drop-in use 363 days each year. The Swim Center has a widely varied clientele, many of whom have disabilities, or are recovering from recent medical procedures. They use the five pools, the whirlpool, the fitness centers on an equal basis. Even the recently installed “Sprayground” was designed specifically to accommodate play by the able-bodied and those with disabilities.

Another facility that welcomes people of all abilities is our Senior Center. Members, regardless of ability, visit the Center throughout each week. They take advantage of drop-in activities such as the Fitness Room, enjoy a snack or lunch in the dining room, read a book or newspaper in the library, watch a movie, use the woodshop and ceramic room, play cards, use the computer center and receive assistance from the nurse or wellness coordinator. Many of these members and visitors use walkers, canes, wheelchairs, as well as visual and hearing aides.

Similar opportunities are available at our recreation centers such as Twinbrook, Lincoln Park and the Croydon Creek Nature Center. At Lincoln Park we have three organizations that cater to special populations who use the center each month. These include the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC of Montgomery County), the Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children (CSAAC) and the Supported Employment Enterprise Corporation (SEEC). Participants from these organizations enjoy activities in the gym such as basketball, kickball, dodge ball, etc.; they use the game room and the computer center as well. SEEC brings in a personal trainer two times per week who works with the group in the fitness room. At Twinbrook Community Recreation Center, residents with physical and mental disabilities are regular drop-in participants, making use of the gym, the fitness center and the computer center. Several children with disabilities are currently registered in our after school program.

When we build new facilities, such as the Dog Park at Stepanek Park, we make sure to include accessible features such as asphalt pathways, so that persons in a wheelchair or who have ambulatory disabilities are fully able to enjoy the park with their dogs.

In our programs, the City has a policy of providing inclusive opportunities for people of all abilities. We ask persons with disabilities who may need assistance to fully take advantage of a class or program to notify our staff so appropriate accommodations can be made. Each year there are hundreds of “differently-abled” children and adults who benefit from these many programs side-by-side with abled-bodied participants. We have participants with different types of mental and physical disabilities who play in our youth sports programs each year, including basketball, football, t-ball, baseball, track and field and soccer.

Each year fifteen to thirty young men and women with physical or mental disabilities participate in our fall 5K road race. The January 2008 issue of the Town Courier newspaper included a nice article about one of these individuals. In fact, Rockville’s entire Special Events program, including Hometown Holidays, July 4th, the Car Show, and others, presents regular opportunities for our residents of all abilities to come together for these community celebrations.

In closing, we understand that we can always improve our facilities to make them more welcoming and more usable by Rockville residents of all abilities. We appreciate the challenges in this arena articulated by Dr. Brenner and pledge to continue to work closely with all interested community members to make Rockville’s parks, recreation facilities and programs even more inclusive and welcoming to all.

Burt Hall
Director of Recreation and Parks
City of Rockville

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

Contributor Opinion by Reeve Brenner: Our Parks And The Differently-Abled

The following contributor opinion is by Dr. Reeve Brenner, President of the National Association for Recreational Equality. Dr. Brenner will appear this week on Montgomery Municipal Channel (Ch. 16) during the “Municipal Notebook” show, discussing Mattie J.T. Stepanek Park. (Thursday at 7:30 pm and Friday-Sunday at 10pm):

• It is good there are programs (scheduled activities) for the different segments of the able-bodied and disabled populations.
• Where are the recreational/sports drop-in facilities in our parks and recreation centers for the differently abled – facilities that are inclusive so that everyone can participate together?
• Why are there no inclusive facilities – without cost! – for wheel-chair users, children with MS, Muscular dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy, Cystic Fibrosis, autistic children, Down syndrome, developmentally different and other differently-abled children and adults?
• There are many no-cost facilities outdoors for all others. Why not for the differently able?
• Why only scheduled programs for these special populations?
• Other children do not need supervised activities at a rec center or at ball fields to make use of public facilities, why do they?

Why are there playgrounds for young children, play fields for athletes and older children and no Playcourts for post kindergarten ages? Playgrounds are provided without requiring membership costs. But developmentally challenged and differently able school age children, young teens and adults are ignored. They by contrast are offered no outdoor or indoor “Inclusive” facilities for ball playing. Able individuals by contrast are provided with many courts such as basketball – and tennis in abundance. Why?

Why do we continue to build recreation centers like Twinbrook, in our own community, with ball-playing facilities – which receives our largest budget and land use -for everyone able-bodied but nothing for special populations (and for mixed and diverse families), and no drop in facilities for wheel-chair users, the autistic and the developmentally dissimilar and other differently-abled youth? Why do special populations continue to be overlooked in our recreation centers and parks? Able-bodied individuals and elite athletes do not have to wait for a scheduled program. They drop in. And play ball. Why do the differently-abled still not have similar drop in ball fields and facilities available without cost, without staff and adult supervision as do all other youngsters, children and adults?

Why do communities offer first, and often only, exclusionary, fast-moving tennis and basketball facilities, speed and strength-dependent sports that exclude seniors and the differently-abled? Why are basketball courts (ten courts) and tennis courts (two) constructed in the Twinbrook rec center at huge costs and not one facility for differently-abled children who would also like to play ball as drop-ins without expense but cannot play tennis and basketball as drop-ins.

Should we not be raising consciousness and awareness for the recreational needs of the entire community?

Is it a right-thinking policy of a community that disabled children and adults have no drop in facilities? Why do they have to depend on prearranged and supervised programs as others do not? All others have tennis and basketball courts in abundance and baseball, soccer and football fields and the like – all running fast-moving facilities. These facilities do not lend themselves to drop in play by wheelchair users and non-athletes who also wish to recreate by playing ball. The special populations also wish to drop-in whenever they would like and also have an opportunity to play ball alongside and with their family and friends. They cannot in parks of Rockville – and Montgomery County, MD.

Rockville Central runs occasional, edited opinion pieces by contributors. Their views are not necessarily those of Rockville Central. To submit your opinion for consideration, contact us.

POTD: Benched

In the future, they will say this is part of my black and white phase.

POTD: The Bleachers

That was quite a lot of snow at its height! This is the bleachers at Monument Park, while my son was sledding (toward the ballfield, Martha, toward the ballfield!).

Summer Camp Catalog Released!

As Rockville Central readers know, we can’t get enough of Rockville’s summer camp options. And word comes to us that the long-awaited summer camp catalog has just been mailed.

New to town? Here’s what the City’s Parks and Rec Department wants you to know:

The City of Rockville Department of Recreation and Parks offers a variety of camps for children of all ages and with transportation, swimming and extended care options for most camps, the choice couldn’t be easier!

Something new this year is “Reach the Beach”, a fitness initiative to help promote active, healthy lifestyles for our campers. Just look for the camps with the “sneaker” symbol.

Read about all our exciting camps in the 2008 Summer Camp Guide or go directly to Rock Enroll and search for programs by selecting the Activities tab and following the instructions.

City residents should receive the 2008 Summer Camp Guide in the mail. Non-residents can pick up a copy at Rockville City Hall, at all City of Rockville recreation centers and at Rockville libraries.

Resident Registration via Internet, Fax, Mail and Drop-Off begins Wednesday, January 23, 8:30am

Home School Registration via Mail, Fax or Drop-Off begins Monday, February 4, 8:30am

Nonresident Registration via Internet, Fax, Mail or Drop-Off begins Wednesday, February 6, 8:30am

Should We Leave It to Beaver?

Last year my friend, Dave King, told me that you could see trees taken down by beavers behind Dogwood Park. His family discovered this during a baseball game. You had to walk down the Monroe Street right-of-way along New Mark and make a left down to the stream. Sure enough when my sons and I went exploring, we saw that a beaver lived in our neighborhood. Several months ago, I saw the beaver at Stoneridge Pond while out jogging.

As autumn arrived and the leaves fell, a white band around a large tree on the far side of the Pond caught my eye. About six small trees disappeared on the opposite side. The Saturday before Christmas, the large tree was down. When we went to see it, there was another large tree also being gnawed.

Initially I was excited about a beaver in my neighborhood, but now I’m wondering if the beaver’s lifestyle is sustainable. If I was down in the park with a chainsaw, I think I’d be in trouble. Our forested areas are limited in the City.

The Montgomery County Parks and Planning website indicates that beavers are a good feature. They clear pockets in the forest and create ponds which attract a variety of wildlife for a diverse ecosystem and their dams help reduce sediment in the water. Beavers are vegetarians and during winter they eat the wood just under the bark. The beavers are just feeding down at the Pond.

Beaver removal companies will only refer to them as “rodents”. These companies detail all the terrible problems created by beavers such as polluted drinking water and lowered property values.

A recent Mark Trail comic strip told the story of a man trying to get rid of the beavers on his property even though his son liked them. Would they be shot? In the end, the beaver pond saves the day during a fire, so the beavers were a good thing.

Having beavers, foxes, coyotes, groundhogs, and raccoons in my neighborhood is enjoyable (notice I didn’t mention the deer) and I love seeing them. All the animals in my neighborhood make Rockville seem even more special, even though some persistent little fellow keeps knocking over my garbage can.

The City has a management company that comes regularly to the pond. I see them testing and treating the water. City workers just drained a section of the Pond into the stream. I’m curious how the beaver fits in with our pond management plan. As they reproduce and spread, will we reforest? Is there a limit to how many trees we are willing to lose?