[RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote

Wed Jul 11 19:38:38 UTC 2012

It's unclear to me how any of this was missed by the public. That us,
unless you didn't attend any of the seemingly endless public meetings on
the Cafritz property proposal over the past year. At no time was there a
sense that the Cafritz proposal would breeze through to a council
approval.There was often terse questioning of the smallest detail by
Riverdale Park Town Council members who ALWAYS put Cafritz representatives
on the hot seat.  In fact, there were moments where I thought some members
of the Town Council were absolutely rude, embarrassingly rude, in their
questioning of Jane Cafritz about her plans. I was concerned that she might
turn on her heel and walk. I even made my own complaint about the council's
tact to Town Hall. So the rude behavior went away but the questioning just
got tougher. As a former newspaper reporter, I liked that. The council
members did not let the Cafritz team up for air or get away with anything
they shouldn't have. But it was all respectful, public and transparent.

And, there was no end to the Town Council's soliciting public opinion for
the record. Night-after-night, meeting-after-meeting, anyone with a
temperature was encouraged to say what they thought about the Cafritz
plans, to make suggestions, offer ideas and solutions. And all of it was
honestly taken into consideration and recorded in the record. In fact, it
was the opinion of the people that forced the bridge deal -- no bridge over
the tracks, no deal on the development.

The council was so thorough in its discussion that the idea of a new
development soon lost its sex appeal and became boring. Everything was
pondered to a pulp. So, if someone feels they didn't get an opportunity to
lodge their opinion about the project, it's simply because they didn't
bother to leave their house. So, stuff a sock in it with this "I didn't get
a chance to express my opinion" and "everything was done in private (or,
"privet")." That's just inane silliness.

And, of course, inaccurate.

The fact of the matter is that the Riverdale Park Town Council, and the
University Park Council, worked well together and ultimately worked well
with the developers to hammer -- and there a lot of public hammering! --
out a plan that works best for all surrounding communities. (Most folks in
College Park also support and want the Cafritz development but they were
drowned out by a few super-loud folks committed to their own unhappiness.
Perhaps they should focus on their on fast-spreading sprawl.)

Each member of the RP council worked hard to change the shape of the
Cafritz plan to fit the needs of the greater Riverdale Park community. They
worked so hard in fact that several of them stressed their own personal
family relationships over the Christmas (2011) holidays because they agreed
to squeeze in meetings on Calvert Tract, LLC. It's not stuff they want to
talk about so let's not press them on it but they all paid a personal price
for their efforts. Their hard work produced a much improved plan that will
serve the Town and greater community well for the next 100 years. Yeah,
that's what they are supposed to do. But what's unusual is that they DID so
well do what they were elected to do. That in itself is remarkable.

And remember, members of the Town Council are not all friends.  They did
and continue to have disputes with each other. But they all are mature and
responsible adults and  they respect each other and worked well together to
make this development success. They deserve our respect, too. They have
earned that.  Any suggestion -- and there have been a number of baseless,
senseless, just plain mean spirited attacks -- that deals were made in
private to benefit a few is grounds for a check up from the neck up.
(Better produce hard evidence of wrongdoing if you are going to continue
making spurious accusations that annoy everyone with common sense.)

As for the save-the-trees crowd, they are not your trees to save. Buy
yourself your own park if you want trees but don't tell someone else what
they grow and not grow. Take a stroll through that compound and you'll find
no heritage trees there at all, just acres of mosquito scrub that serves as
refuge for the homeless (not all the droppings are made by deer!) And, if
you are looking for your kid's stolen bicycle or the missing family
lawnmower, chances are good you'll find them on the Cafritz property. And,
by the looks of it, at least three liquor stores have been emptied on the
property. It really time to welcome the parade of the bulldozers!

Let's not forget that every year since 1958 -- that's 54 years! -- someone
in the Cafritz clan has stroked a significant property tax check to PeeGee
County and got nothing in return. No streetlights, no trash pick up, no
police service, nothing. Now is Cafritz' turn to do what they want with
their own property. And what they are about to do will benefit everyone who
wants to see the benefits of smart growth. The rest can continue to whine
among themselves.  Like the College Park white-haired dames who
dramatically declared on the evening of the College Park Council's vote
that development "will change our lives forever!"  Oh, come on, gals, we
are all out of Daytime Emmy Awards! Call the moving van, you all are headed
for Florida anyway...

On the Flip Side...

As for the County Council's month's long delay on voting on this proposal,
I do think they are a shameless lot of fumbling boobs. All of them. Whether
for or against the Cafritz development, the council should have been
responsible and taken a vote a long time ago. Instead, they kicked the can
down the road until July 9.  By delaying important business, the Council,
sitting as the District Council, sent a clear message to businesses
considering opening in Prince George's County that says: "stay out. We're
incapable of making decisions that will affect your future, our future."

What a bunch of bums! All of these council members should get off the
government dole and look for work elsewhere when their current terms are
over. Maybe they can open a business in the county and practice under the
terms they preached?

Desperately Seeking Elected Officials ...

You musta bumped your head! Accusing Riverdale Park elected officials of
not being available, not seeking public opinion is laughable. Take David
Lingua. Ten days ago when the roof was ripped off the top of Park
Tanglewood Apartments where Councilmember Ray Rivas resides, Council member
Lingua was there in an instant to help. All day Saturday, all day Sunday
and checking in all the following week. He also made the rounds at Town
Center Market  where he ran into Council Member Alan Thompson and his
wonderful family. Rivas, for his part, spent several sleepless night in the
shelter at Northwestern High with his tenants before convincing the County
inspector to open up as many apartments that could be deemed safe to get
his residents back in their homes. Now, Ray and the rest of the council
members, along with Code Enforcement Officer Colleen Ferguson and the
town's office staff are trying to find places to stay for the 34 families
that have temporarily lost their homes. Mayor Vernon Archer regularly
responds to comments on Town Talk, offers his thoughts and opinions and
seeks those from the community, and can be found visiting town businesses
and at the weekly farmer's market. You cannot miss Vernon with that wacky
hat and colorful clothing, he often looks like a Guatemalan rodeo clown.

 And look how much time, effort and interest Council Member Jonathan
Ebbeler has invested just in the past two days fielding one accusers'
outlandish claims. (Time for a rubber biscuit, Jonathan?) In fact, she's
gotten more local government attention than ANY taxpayer could every wish
for and she doesn't even live in Riverdale Park -- she rents in another
community.

-- Jeffrey Yorke

On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com>wrote:

> This seems so strange to me because every thing I ever heard from MUTC
>  council and the town council was that they were all for the development,
> closed sessions where the public was not allowed to be involved or express
> opinions even family members of town council and MUTC members all for the
> development.
> What exactly is going on here?
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Alan K. Thompson <akthompson at riverdaleparkmd.gov>
> *To:* jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com
> *Cc:* towntalk at riverdale-park.org
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 10, 2012 10:24 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote
>
> I will confirm Jonathan's statement below that this project was never (and
> still is not) a "done deal." I came to at least one council meeting in
> early January with a pre-written letter recommending denial of the
> rezoning.  We had very long, intense negotiations, and I voted for it
> because the final package had everything I thought the Town needed, and a
> lot of things we wanted.
>
> On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 2:18 PM, Jonathan W. Ebbeler <
> jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com> wrote:
>
>
> **
> It is unfortunate that the Council’s position on this question was seen
> that this was a done deal – it wasn’t – at least from the single vote I
> cast.  I had very clearly communicated to the developers what it would take
> to get a Yea vote and up until the last day or two before we voted that had
> not materialized.  I voted Yes because the Developers acquiesced on key and
> critical components of the negotiation.  I cannot speak for the rest of the
> Council but I saw no indication from those that voted that their positions
> were any different.  We would have voted to support the project in
> November/December vs. giving up our holiday seasons to sit in almost
> nightly meetings and negotiations if this was all a forgone conclusion.  *
> ***
>
> **
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TownTalk mailing list
> To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
> TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription
> processing only
> http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk
>
> For more information about Riverdale Park, visit
> http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TownTalk mailing list
> To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
> TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription
> processing only
> http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk
>
> For more information about Riverdale Park, visit
> http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info
>
>

-- 
Jeffrey Yorke
Yorke Property Management, Inc.
Yorke Partners
Jeffrey at YorkeRents.com
301-502-1243
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20120711/99f923fb/attachment.html>