The Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail Dedication

The Trachtenberg Office was represented at the dedication ceremony for the new Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail. On Saturday, June 5, 2010—National Trails Day—we joined with the Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail project sponsors—Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT), Northwood High School (NHS), Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC), Friends of Sligo Creek (FOSC), Neighbors of Northwest Branch (NNWB), and MD State Highway Administration (SHA), to celebrate the land restoration project completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a 5k Bay Fun Run and Hike. Leaders from each partnering organization officially opened the new green space and the new, nature interpretive Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail at 10:00 am.

American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day was the opportune time to celebrate the completion of the eight month project to restore fifteen acres of SHA property adjacent to Northwood High School and the Kemp Mill and Northwood Four Corners’ neighborhoods which will give these communities new green space for recreation, physical fitness, wilderness watching, and environmental education. More than fifty years ago, the state purchased this land to potentially build a road on it. A road was not built and instead it became an unofficial, community landfill. With the help of a $7,500 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, 272 community members, 227 of them students, volunteered 675 hours to create and design eight nature interpretive signs, build a half mile trail, remove 50 pounds of invasive plant species, grow 300 native plant seeds, plant 160 native meadow plants and nine trees, and clean-up 11,000 pounds of trash. After eight months of dedicating hundreds of hours of work by many volunteers, it was time to celebrate the community’s success in creating a new dual ecosystem park, deciduous forest and meadow. We wanted to especially recognize the vision and hard work of Jennifer Chambers for this local success story.

Our Chief of Staff, Alan Bowser, represented Councilmember Trachtenberg at the dedication ceremony.

Councilmember Trachtenberg’s Office attends Parks and Recreation Summit in Germantown

Councilmember Trachtenberg’s Office was represented at “Vision 2030,” a Montgomery County-wide Summit of community leaders, government officials and other stakeholders interested in a forward-looking agenda for the County’s parks and recreation resources.

The Summit was held at the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland. The program, which was facilitated by GreenPlay, LLC, emphasized the values, vision and mission for the County’s Department of Parks and the Department of Recreation.

Among the featured speakers were Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen, Councilmember Mike Knapp, County Planning Board Chair Royce Hanson, Vice Chair Mary Wells-Harley, Director of Parks Mary Bradford, and Director of Recreation Gabe Albornoz. Our Chief of Staff Alan Bowser represented Councilmember Trachtenberg at the program.

For more information about the program, visit www.VisionMontgomery2030.org. Email your comments to Vision2030@MontgomeryParks.org.

Wayne Goldstein Playground Dedication in Kensington

On Saturday, I attended the Wayne Goldstein Playground Dedication at the Kensington Heights Neighborhood Park in Kensington, Maryland. It was a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful tribute to our good friend, Wayne Goldstein, who passed away in April 2009. We remembered him in our words, thoughts and prayers, and honored him by planting a tree and unveiling a sign for the playground with his name. We also recognized his mother, Trenice Goldstein, who was present at the ceremony. Wayne was a former president of the county's Civic Federation, president of Montgomery Preservation Inc. and a columnist for The Sentinel newspaper.

Among his many friends who were there to honor him were Congressman Chris Van Hollen, County Executive Isiah Leggett, Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews, County Councilmembers Marc Elrich, Valerie Ervin and myself, Delegate Al Carr, Peggy Dennis and Jim Humphrey of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, Lorraine Pearsall, Montgomery Preservation, Inc, Donna Savage, Kensington Heights Citizens Association, Amy Presely, Montgomery County Planning Board, and Montgomery County Director of Parks, Mary Bradford.

Grand Opening of the Cabin John Dog Park

The Trachtenberg Office was well represented at the Grand Opening Celebration of the Cabin John Dog Park. Scores of big dogs and little dogs were in attendance for the raucous party sponsored by the County's Department of Parks.

Dedication of the Broad Acres Park in Silver Spring

On Wednesday, September 23rd, representatives of the Trachtenberg Office joined the Montgomery County Department of Parks, Broad Acres Elementary School, the Silver Spring Regional Center, and the Northwest park Oakview Weed & Seed Program for a celebration and dedication of the newly renovated Broadacres Local Park.

The dedication program included brief remarks from Broad Acres Elementary School Principal Michael Bayewitz, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews, Director of Parks Mary Bradford, Community Advocate Serena Locust, and other special guests. St. Camillus Church offered a blessing for the park, followed by a ceremonial ribbon cutting on the local neighborhoods newest resource.

Broadacres Local Park, located next to Broad Acres Elementary School, now features a basketball court, soccer field, paved trails and landscaping. The students of Broad Acres Elementary School also left their mark on the design of the park, with their original artwork prominently featured in the seat walls of the new plaza area and park entrance.