The RCHCA Pot-Luck Dinner/Annual Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 31, 2004 at Grace Episcopal Day School. The traditional pot-luck dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m., with our annual meeting scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. RCHCA will provide the main dish (e.g., pizza and fried chicken) beverages, and foodservice items (plates/cups/napkins/cutlery). We ask everyone to please bring a side dish, salad, or dessert. Babysitting will be provided during the meeting.
The pot-luck has proven to be a great opportunity to meet and introduce new neighbors, as well as an opportunity to re-connect with friends during the winter months when we tend not to see one another as often. The brief meeting to follow will include presentation of the holiday decoration awards and election of RCHCA Board Officers for 2004. Please plan on attending.
We welcome volunteers to help in planning, set-up, and clean up of the event. Please contact Marty or Eden Fisher Durbin (301-933-0522, martydurbin@comcast.net) if you are interested in helping.
Please contact Shannon Hamm (phone: 301-933-5264, email: shannonhamm@comcast.net) if you have any interest in serving on the RCHCA Board in 2004, specifically in the capacity as president. She is working to put a slate together for the upcoming elections for the January 31 meeting.
President Marty Durbin, Vice President Joe Rosenberg, Treasurer Deanna Marcum, Secretary Mike Baker, Past-President Shannon Hamm
We hope that everyone enjoyed holiday vacations over the last few weeks. For some of us, the strangest thing was having everyone back at work or school except for college students, who seemed to have the longest vacation of all during semester break!
For newcomers, RCHCA holds three business meetings a year (January with potluck dinner, May and October). We also sponsor a September Concert in the park and a Halloween parade and potluck, both of which are generally well attended.
There are many issues of community interest about which we try to keep members both informed and engaged. Several of these issues will be addressed at the January 31 meeting. We welcome members to raise other issues of concern to them and to view RCHCA as a useful vehicle to address these issues in the form of organized public participation.
As always, volunteer organizations require sufficient numbers of volunteers. In addition to our Executive Board, for which elections will be held at our next meeting in January, we also have openings for the following appointed position/liaison:
· Legislative, Planning & Zoning: A neighbor who will communicate RCHCA concerns and positions on relevant issues to various legislative, planning and zoning officials and who will keep the community informed as such issues are being addressed.
Rock Creek Hills Citizens’ Association
Financial Report
January 1, 2004
Balance, October 1, 2003 $17,140.02
Dues collected 105.00
Total Income $17,245.02
Expenses:
Concert in the Park 1,296.18
Halloween Party 1,786.20
WSSC 7.50
McNeely Triangle expenses 66.74
Total expenses 3,156.62
Account Balance, January 1, 2004 14,088.40
Respectfully submitted,
Deanna Marcum, Treasurer
As you may be aware, an updated RCHCA Community Directory was published last spring and each household should have received a copy. Please be sure you make note of any corrections, additions or changes and send them in writing to Sam Hoxie (9711 E. Bexhill Drive), or by email to samhoxie@comcast.net.
If you did not receive your copy, please contact Marty Durbin, or just plan on coming to the next meeting where copies will be available.
The Rock Creek Hills Citizens’ Association e-mail network, rchcanet, is for families of Rock Creek Hills. Founded in March 2000, rchcanet has about 90 members. We urge everyone in Rock Creek Hills with email access to sign up and participate, as it will allow information about the neighborhood, planned events, etc. to be easily disseminated to everyone in a timely manner. This communication forum is not intended to replace any existing communications – newsletters will continue to be sent and meetings will continue to be held.
The list is not moderated, that is no one reviews messages before they are posted. When individuals apply to join rchcanet (become members), we check to make sure they are families residing in Rock Creek Hills. Only members can post messages, receive messages, or review messages on the Yahoo Groups web site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rchcanet. Usually list members receive each e-mail message as it is sent. If you would prefer, you can receive a single daily message or opt to view the email messages on the Yahoo Groups web site.
To join rchcanet or to ask a question about it, contact Sam Hoxie via email at samhoxie@comcast.net. Be sure to include your name and address if you would like to join so that we may verify your connection to the neighborhood. Thanks!
Annual dues are $35 per household. Please make your check payable to RCHCA and send it to the Treasurer, Deanna Marcum, 3315 Wake Dr., Kensington, MD 20895. Remember to put adequate postage on the envelope. Thank you in advance for your payment.
The Board is considering hosting a Pet Day at Rock Creek Park in the spring of 2004. The event would offer current and future pet owners tips on training, information on adopting pets through the Humane Society, pet sporting events, and other information regarding pet care.
The purpose of this event is to promote responsible pet ownership, encourage families to consider adopting/owning a pet, and meet other pet owners in RCHCA.
Lynn Whitman (phone: 301- 946-7297, email: lrwhitman@earthlink.net) and Shannon Hamm (phone: 301-933-5264, email: shannonhamm@comcast.net) are interesting in hosting this event with RCHCA. If you would like to volunteer to help organize or you have ideas and contacts, please contact us.
We also want to encourage all pet owners to be responsible for their dogs by picking up after them on all walks.
As of mid-December, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) removed all trashcans at their 110 parks. They are installing bags for residents and visitors to use to remove their trash. This is their “carry in, carry out” policy. The Rock Creek Hills Park lost 5 trashcans. In addition, the doggie waste bag dispensers may not continue to be maintained, according to the July 14, 2003 letter from Mr. Loehr, Director MNCPPC. RCHCA is monitoring the situation and hopes that MNCPPC will be able to continue to maintain the doggie waste bags.
The Board wrote to MNCPPC in the summer noting concerns about park conditions, and in particular, about the decision to remove trash cans and invoke a “carry in, carry out” trash policy. The Board is committed to monitoring the situation at our park and the parks that border our community. The Board has noted that the doggie waste bag dispensers were removed from our parks!
We are encouraging residents to report to Shannon Hamm (phone: 301-933-5264, email: shannonhamm@comcast.net) if they see the “carry in, carry out” trash policy not working well. Please note date, location and any other relevant information when reporting this information. You can also document this by sending an electronic picture of the situation. In addition, the Board will contact MNCPPC to reinstall the doggie dispensers and we will maintain the bags in our park!
As construction of a sound barrier on the south side of the beltway between Connecticut Avenue and Georgia Avenue is approaching completion, several residents have noticed an increase in beltway noise and asked if a sound barrier is planned for the north side of the beltway. Unfortunately, there are no plans for a noise barrier on the north side of the beltway. RCHCA has a long history of attempting to address the issue of beltway noise.
· At the January 1998 meeting of RCHCA, funds were allocated for a beltway noise study.
· The 30 hour beltway noise study was conducted May 22, 1998. There were three monitoring points and a control point. The location on Campbell Drive exceeds the guidelines 40% of the time. The location on Raymoor exceeded the guideline 3% to 5% of the time. The location on Hillridge and the control location on Saul Road did not exceed the guidelines.
· November 2001 – RCHCA receives a letter from the State Highway Administration stating in part “the Rock Creek Hills community does not meet all of the eligibility criteria for a sound barrier.”
· November 2001 – Ms Sharon Grosfeld, then a member of the Maryland House of Representatives, sends a letter to the SHA Office of Environmental Design questioning the reasons for not providing sound barriers for Rock Creek Hills.
· 2003 construction of a sound barrier on the south side of the beltway begins.
· Beltway noise was discussed at the May 2003 meeting of RCHCA.
Please attend the January meeting of Rock Creek Hills Citizens Association, if you would like to discuss beltway noise and steps to request a new study.
After long last, the FRA "Interim Final Train Horn Rule" was released just before Christmas! The fact that it is referred to as an "Interim" rule simply means that although the regs are now effective, the FRA will still accept comments over the next year for possible modification. The 135 page rule document has a great deal of useful information. For interested parties, the link below provides access to the full rule document.
http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/safety/train_horn_rule/trainhorn_part1.pdf
We have been in touch with the FRA, and were informed that FRA officials from around the country will be in Washington during the week of January 26 to receive formal training on how the rule will be implemented, including the required political process for communities wishing to consider establishing a Quiet Zone. By the time of our January RCHCA meeting, feedback on this training and what the next steps are likely to be, will be presented. Please see the RCHCA Website for the FRA press release and related information.
As the Safeway Renovation planning continues, RCHCA members have expressed a variety of views on the subject. Safeway officials have already presented and discussed their renovation plans at the RCHCA meeting held on October 9, 2002. To hear alternative views from one concerned community group, people may wish to visit the website of the citizens group Kensington First at www.kensingtonfirst.com. Someone from this group may be available to speak briefly at our January 31 meeting.
Shannon Hamm has recently volunteered to head up this committee for RCHCA. Please contact her if you want to volunteer your time as a Welcome Committee member. Shannon’s home phone number is 301-933-5264 or email shannonhamm@comcast.net The Welcome Committee provides new residents RCHCA directories and a welcome letter from the Board. The Committee will start delivering directories soon. In addition, if any new residents plan on attending the Pot Luck Dinner on January 31, 2004, please look for the Welcome Committee sign in sheet, to ensure your information is updated in future directories.
As more families with pets fence in their backyards, more dogs are left out in yards barking! Please be considerate of your neighbors by immediately taking your dog indoors when they start to bark.