[RP TownTalk] ward 1 report for April

[Alice Ewen Walker]

Town Talkers,

My ward report didn't make it into this month's Town Crier, so for those
interested, I thought I'd post a copy here rather than leave it another
month. Thanks,

Alice

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Ward 1 Report for April Town Crier

Alice Ewen Walker

Spring is finally here and I’m looking forward to getting reacquainted with
neighbors as we all get outside more. The Farmer’s Market will open earlier
this year on April 9th and continues every Thursday from 3:00 to 7:00 pm
through the fall. We look forward to several new vendors this year,
including J-Wen Farms and Dairy, which will bring dairy products – a welcome
addition.

The developers of the Cafritz property continue to meet with representatives
of the Town of Riverdale Park along with elected leaders from College Park
and University Park. We recently had opportunity to review their traffic
projections for the development. I expressed some concern with the market
comparables that were used to project traffic burden. While I remain very
supportive of the mixed-use development concept for the site, I believe we
need to base our decisions on sound data. I anticipate that the development
team will review the traffic figures incorporating the feedback received at
our meeting.

The town attorney has reached a milestone in title work related to the plans
to build a hiker-biker trail along the trolley line right-of-way connecting
our town to College Park and Hyattsville. We will be coordinating next steps
with Councilman Eric Olson who has been such a strong supporter and leader
for the effort. There are still many steps ahead of us to bring the project
to fruition, but I’m pleased that we have had steady progress both on the
design front with the technical work undertaken by M-NCPPC and the legal
work performed by the town.

Since January, our code enforcement team has been working with the county
fire inspector and homeowners’ insurance company to move action forward at
4602 Queensbury Road, which experienced a fire in December. Unfortunately,
both the county and the insurance company were severely delayed in
performing necessary fire inspections of the property. This is why the
property was not cleaned up promptly after the fire. Our code enforcement
team is continuing to work with the property owner, county, and insurance
company to ensure that the clean up and repair of this property moves
forward with speed. In addition, the house at 4603 East West Highway
recently experienced a devastating fire. This property has long been in
failing condition and with the damage from the fire, my expectation is the
property will need to be condemned and torn down. I have asked senior staff
to begin work now to undertake the condemnation process, which can be
lengthy.

On April 18th the town is hosting one of the major volunteer sites for
Anacostia Watershed Society’s giant Earth Day Clean Up. We expect volunteers
from throughout the DC area as well as a contingent of guests from Ipala
Guatemala. Please bring your family out for a morning of volunteering to
help make our trails, river, and parks as clean and green as possible. The
project starts at 9:00 am and will take place along the Northeast Branch
starting in the park off Riverside Drive. Bring gloves and wear long pants.

I believe that in the coming year, code enforcement will be more important
than ever as the town experiences, like many communities, the continued
impacts of the housing downturn and foreclosure crisis. The code enforcement
department has created a list of vacant properties in the town to assist our
enforcement and security efforts. If there is a property in your area that
you believe is empty, please call or email our code supervisor, Colleen
Ferguson to alert her to the status.

Chris Martin, a Riverdale Park resident and local teacher, has approached
the town with a great student project he plans to lead this summer to
install a mural within the town at a neglected underpass or other location.
This will be a great way to involve young people in service and add vitality
to our town.

-- 
Alice Ewen Walker
Councilwoman, Ward 1
Town of Riverdale Park
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