Trachtenberg Office Attends the East County Citizen’s Advisory Board Meeting

The East County Citizen’s Advisory Board (ECCAB) held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, June 2 at 7:15pm at the Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center (3300 Briggs Chaney Road in Silver Spring, MD).

At the meeting, the Board received a presentation from Mr. Khalid Afzal, Team Leader for East County of the Maryland Park and Planning Commission, regarding the East County Science Center Master Plan. The plan will create a vision for an expanded Cherry Hill Employment Area with the goal of creating a mixed-use life sciences center that builds upon the presence of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) campus in White Oak. It is intended to address the land use, urban design and environmental issues. It also will address the need for mobility options in the area. For more information on the ECSC Master Plan, click here. There will also be an open house on Wednesday, June 30 at the Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center from 4:30pm to 8:00pm. Residents can drop in at anytime to learn more about this new Master Plan.

The Board also received a presentation from Council President Nancy Floreen regarding the recently passed $4.3 billion Fiscal 2011 Operating Budget. The budget is 4.5 percent less than the approved budget for FY10, marking the first decrease in a total budget since the adoption of the current County Charter in 1968. For more information on the budget, click here.

Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg attended last April’s ECCAB meeting where she learned how important the East County Police Satellite Substation is for East County residents. Knowing that, she worked hard with the fellow Councilmembers to keep the Substation open. Wil Gutierrez from the office of Councilmember Trachtenberg attended the meeting and shared the good news with the group.

Appreciation: East County Citizens Advisory Board

I was very pleased to have had the opportunity to attend the monthly meeting of the East County Citizens Advisory Board last night. I was warmly welcomed by some old friends and I made some new ones.

I thought that we had a very thoughtful and, for me, a very useful discussion of many issues related to Eastern Montgomery County. We talked about the budget crisis facing the County, public safety issues, education funding and maintaining a safety net for the County’s most vulnerable residents.

Most prominently, we talked about giving more attention to economic development issues in the East County. I agreed with Board members that both the Executive Branch and the County Council could do—and should do—more to both promote new development and job creation in the area and to enhance community engagement around these issues.

I learned a lot from the conversation last night, as I do from all of the meetings that I have with residents across the County. I believe that the County’s Citizens Advisory Boards are a critically important part of the community engagement that makes Montgomery County great.

Many thanks to Board Chair Bill Strassburger and the ECCAB members for their hospitality and their service to our community.

The Trachtenberg Office Attends East County Citizens Advisory Board Meeting

Naomi Bloch represented the Trachtenberg office at last night’s meeting of the East County Citizens Advisory Board which took place at the East County Regional Services Center, located at 3300 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904.

In addition to the regular monthly meeting, where any resident is invited to attend and present any of their concerns to the Board, there were also three separate speakers:

Mr. Jim Stowe, from the Montgomery County Office of the Human Rights Commission, presented information about the wide range of issues their office works on in order to help any county resident who believes that they may have been discriminated against. He explained that it is illegal in Montgomery County to discriminate against anyone based on: age, race, age, national origin; gender identity; physical or mental disability, just to name some of the areas that they work on. It is also illegal to discriminate against anyone in housing and real estate for any reason. Their office is located at:

21 Maryland Avenue
Suite 330
Rockville, MD 20850
Tel: 240-777-8450
TTY: 240-777-8480
FAX: 240-777- 8460
Website: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/humanrights/index.asp

The second speaker was Ms. Roylene Roberts from the Department of Community Affairs, who presented an update regarding the Burtonsville Revitalization plan. The plans mainly address façade upgrades and a general beautification of the central business areas including sidewalk upgrades, landscaping and an overall unification of the look visual esthetic including signs that would mark the boundaries of the town.

The final guest speaker was Ms. Joy Patil of the Third District, Department of Crime Prevention, Environmental Design program (CEPTED). Ms. Patil let the audience know that her office works with residents, businesses and designers in order to address the environmental aspects of making an area safe from where trees and shrubs are placed to lighting and the location of parking and traffic flow in and out of the area. This is a free service offered to anyone in the community and she invited people to contact her for more information and to make an appointment for an assessment of your property or to invite her to make a presentation to your organization.

Officer Joy b. Patil can be contacted at the following address and phone number:

Department of Police
3rd District
801 Silgo Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: 301.565.5762

The regular Board meeting took place after the speakers during which time updates were also given from the three Councilmember offices; Ms. Mara Parker, from Councilmember Elrich’s office; Miti Figueredo, from Councilmember Navarro’s office and Naomi Bloch from Councilmember Trachtenberg’s office.

The Trachtenberg Office Staff Attends East County Citizens Advisory Board Meeting

Naomi Bloch, representing the Trachtenberg office, attended last night’s meeting of the East County Citizens Advisory Board.

The Board meets the first Monday of every month at the East County Regional Services Center which is located at 3300 Briggs Chaney Road in Silver Spring.

Citizens in attendance last night expressed concerns about crime rates and traffic safety.

This was followed by presentations from:
Steve Silverman, Director, Department of Economic Development
Jonathan Genn, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Percontee, Inc. and
Robert Jepson, Associate Vice President, Washington Adventist Healthcare

They presented information of the FDA's important role to the area and how that adds positively to the development plans for a Science Village in the East County. A very lengthy and in-depth discussion took place concerning this project as well as other types of development in Eastern Montgomery County especially with regard to jobs creation.

County Executive, Ike Leggett will be at the East County Regional Services Center on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 from 7:00 to 8:30pm to conduct a budget forum in order to seek input from residents about the challenges facing the County in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget. The public is encouraged to attend.

For more information about upcoming meetings and events: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/RSC/EASTCO/Newsletters/2010
Or call: 240.777.8400