[RP TownTalk] Worms to Taxes et cetera Re: TownTalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 64

[Jack Randall Jones]

>
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 08:44:19 -0400
>From: "Charity Fox" <charity.fox at hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] tick control?
>To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
>Message-ID: <BAY143-F17F9BB82F556B01ADEE41BEC2F0 at phx.gbl>
>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
>Sarah,
>The website Clean Air Gardening has a variety of organic pest control
>options.  We used their Green Light Organic Lawn and Garden Spray last week
>and noticed a huge reduction in insects in our backyard.  It's made to deal
>with a wide variety of insects, including mosquitos, ants, and ticks, and it
>should be safe for your cats.  Plus, their customer service is great if you
>have any questions.
><http://cleanairgardening.com/gardenpests.html>
>
>Charity Fox
>Ravenswood

Dear Charity and Nancy,

The problem of overdoing things is a greater harm than if it is not 
"Green", "Natural" or "Organic". On my 10 year tenure on the Maryland 
Organic Certification Advisory Committee we had to on several 
occasions had to revise the rules. For instance...Rotenone eventually 
had to have added to the violations of the code "programmed use", the 
original intent was one time use on a problem infestation...but when 
I was on farm inspections i noticed that there were some where there 
were no insects of any kind in the field, like in sterile. On further 
inquiry we found that the farmers were spraying Rotenone every two 
weeks on their fields. Not what we had in mind for an organic program.

Another sample of too much, a USDA Grad School Biochem Professor 
relating an unrequited love story from Chicago...the rejected male 
committed suicide by drinking 21 liters of water in a 24 hour period 
and died of edema.

And the deadliest toxins are made in Nature by our many Animal, Plant 
and Bacterial Friends.

Also to keep your soil in good shape hang on to as much organic 
material as you can, compost it to control weeds unless of course you 
like where all your plants are...then you do not have weeds, feed the 
soil and it will grow. The worms love leaves, grass, and decaying 
wood. One of the best things ever happened to my yard was about 25-30 
years ago the Town ran out of room to dump the leaf collection. When 
I heard about it I told them they could dump the leaves on my yard. I 
ended up with between 80-100 cubic yards of leaves. I used them for 
mulch every where and mowed them up fine to sift in to the grass. In 
about 4-5 years my topsoil went from 1 inch to 9-12 inches with a 
nice population of worms et cetera. When it rains to saturation and 
then stops, water continues to drain for 3-5 days after my neighbor's 
lawns have gone dry.

Nothing to excess, moderation in everything.

Jack


>
>Message: 3
>Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 09:23:22 -0500 (CDT)
>From: Nancy Augustine <nya_md at verizon.net>
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] tick control?
>To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
>Message-ID:
>	<12769266.505971180448603075.JavaMail.root at vms170.mailsrvcs.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
>But wouldn't an insecticide also kill off the beneficial insects? 
>I've avoided using any because I want to keep my worms and (very 
>few) ladybugs, and don't much want to kill off the other 
>multi-legged creatures that live in my yard.
>
>Nancy A.
>(Resident Granola)
>
>=====================
>From: Charity Fox <charity.fox at hotmail.com>
>Date: 2007/05/29 Tue AM 07:44:19 CDT
>To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] tick control?
>
>Sarah,
>The website Clean Air Gardening has a variety of organic pest control
>options.  We used their Green Light Organic Lawn and Garden Spray last week
>and noticed a huge reduction in insects in our backyard.  It's made to deal
>with a wide variety of insects, including mosquitos, ants, and ticks, and it
>should be safe for your cats.  Plus, their customer service is great if you
>have any questions.
><http://cleanairgardening.com/gardenpests.html>
>
>Charity Fox
>Ravenswood
>

Dear Dwight,

My guess is that the other towns started rising in the bubble sooner 
than Riverdale did and in the past year as everything was getting up 
to the top of the bubble Riverdale and Hyattsville had more of a 
change to make to catch up, hence the difference.

Also are these incorporated town results or zip codes...I am thinking 
zip codes as the Hyattsville zip codes run over past Lanham and to 
Takoma Park. If it were just towns I am more suprised to see 
Hyattsville there.

On the increase in taxes TANSTAAFL.

Jack


>
>Message: 4
>Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 22:08:54 -0400
>From: "Dwight Holmes" <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
>Subject: [RP TownTalk] RIverdale Park,	home of the second-fastest real
>	estate assessments in the area
>To: TownTalk <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
>Message-ID:
>	<8123da3c0705291908q4ae8f3d1j472cc6156ff931ee at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>Alice had posted here the link to the state's "constant yield rate" 
>spreadsheet:
>http://www.dat.state.md.us/sdatweb/stats/cytr.htm )
>
>Calculating the change in "assessment base" from '06 to '07, you find that
>Given that RP has the second greatest increase of all these towns in
>our area.  Specifically, here's the list:
>
>TOWN - INCREASE IN ASSESSMENT BASE
>Mount Rainier	18.7%
>Riverdale Park	18.2%
>Hyattsville	17.8%
>Brentwood	16.6%
>New Carrollton	12.9%
>Edmonston	12.9%
>Greenbelt	12.8%
>College Park	12.4%
>Bladensburg	12.1%
>Takoma Park	11.8%
>Cheverly	11.3%
>University Park	10.2%
>
>I'm curious if anyone has an explanation or hypothesis as to why our
>base grew faster than surrounding towns?
>
>I'm also interested to hear from Mayor Archer and council members on
>why, given that we've seen an increase in our assessment base greater
>than in any of our neighboring towns save Mt. Rainier, and given that
>Hyattsville, College Park and University Park have been able to hold
>their rates at last year's level -- why do we need to raise our rates
>this year?
>
>
>Message: 6
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 05:58:02 -0400
>From: "Sarah Wayland" <sarah.wayland at gmail.com>
>Subject: [RP TownTalk] why are the taxes going up? Road improvements!
>To: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
>Message-ID:
>	<d6da06a80705300258l53075a74je1310efab738afc2 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
>Hi Dwight,
>
>You ask why the taxes are going up. The answer is: road improvements.
>
>For many, many years the town has been putting off road improvements,
>repairing them only when they were literally decaying into rubble.
>Last year, the council and mayor decided to take advantage of low
>interest rates, and got a loan to pay for doing many repairs at once.
>
>It costs money, and it's why our taxes are going up.
>
>-Sarah
>
>
>------------------------------
>
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>For more information about Riverdale Park, visit 
>http://www.ci.riverdale-park.md.us
>
>End of TownTalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 64
>****************************************