[RP TownTalk] Mr Caputo's Presentation at Town Hall

[Rob Oppenheim]

The man behind the Field of Rubble at the corner of main and
main is Joseph Caputo who is the Chief Executive Officer of
PDC (Potomac Development Corp).
 
Mayor Archer convinced PDC and Mr. Caputo to attend our
Legislation Session on Tuesday 9/6/05 to discuss the status
of the development.
 
Mr. Caputo made a brief statement ("we hear you, we
understand, we would be upset too if it were in our
neighborhood"), and then took comments and questions 
from the audience, which went on for a long time. 
 
PDC officers expressed surprise at how upset people were,
and promised to do something, but did not commit to much 
of anything specific. They did promise to investigate several
possibilities and get back to the town in a week or two with
proposals.
 
The audience comments were passionate but mostly civil. It
was made clear by several people that this rubble pile is
grinding salt into our wounds. The hurt and anger runs deep.
The name Rubbledale Park was used to express how
disappointed we are.
 
The audience seemed to feel some relief in Mr. Caputo
statement that he would investigate what could be done to
improve the appearance and get back to the Mayor in a week
or two and that they would also come to next months meeting
hoping to have a known tenant and site plan at that time.
They promised to continue attending these meetings as long
as it was needed.
 
Their 6-month plan for the rubble pile is to pulverize it
and use it as fill in the basement under the church building
when that building comes down (which is expected to happen
this winter.) 
 
Here are a couple of specifics they did commit to...
 
They agreed to pay our town's public works go in and clean
up and fix up the fence etc. 
 
They said they have contracted with Long Fence to put up
some kind of fabric on the fence that would hide the rubble
pile. Our people expressed concern that this would make a
hiding place for crime and create more problems.
 
Suggestions from the audience were to pulverize the rubble
pile now to reduce its height and cover it with dirt and
seed and remove the fence. Another suggestion was to hide it
with a hedge. (If the dirt level behind the hedge was just
below the top of the hedge then criminals might not be able
to hide there.) PDC said that there is a water sewer access
pit area that must remain fenced until other work is
completed. I got the impression that they will look hard at
improving the appearance of some of the area and the
possibility of reducing the area that is fenced.
 
They have two prospective tenants, which Mr. Caputo did not
want to name since they are still negotiating. He said one
was a financial institution (when pressed he used the word
"bank") and the other was a drug store.
 
One audience member expressed disappointment in the tenant
prospects and asked for a Trader Joes. Mr. Caputo passed out
his business card and encouraged us to spread it around and
have people call him. The information is:
 
PDC, Potomac Development Corp
Joseph A. Caputo, Chief Executive Officer.
Office phone: 301-947-6901
Cell Phone: 703-850-4499
Fax: 301-947-8189
E-mail: josephacaputo at aol.com 
 
1208 Lantern Hollow Drive
North Potomac, Md 20878
 
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-Rob Oppenheim