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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Kate, and good neighbors of Riverdale Park,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>When it comes to development it’s important that all community stakeholders’ positions be heard. Too many people don’t bother to take the time to engage in dialogue with their representatives. Engaging in dialogue with our representatives doesn’t always get the outcome an individual is seeking; but if the exchange is meant to shed light and not just create heat, it is almost always worthwhile.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It’s great to see that Riverdale Park has residents engaged in its civic life and that care enough to comment and dialogue. My comments at the Work Session last night that Kate referenced were in answer to one Councilman’s question about a planning perspective held by parties neighboring the Town, not an attempt to promote a particular position about the development itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I’d like to observe that from my perspective as a community development agent, the Riverdale Park Town Mayor and Council are doing an absolutely outstanding job examining options and exploring the implications of this proposed development of the Cafritz parcels. Whatever direction they collectively move towards, they have been thorough-going, earnest, open, and smart about how to go forward. Not only that, but they have also been acutely aware of the regional impacts of the development. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>By participating in the broader Route One Market Study; by meeting and conferring with neighboring town leaders and by seeking independent expertise; they have shown planning discipline and an openness to look at evidence and external impacts. They’ve demonstrated personal discipline in not arguing fruitlessly with each other. And they demonstrate political maturity in their dealings with neighbors. It’s not a simple thing to balance all the needs of the future with the demands of the present: along with respecting the landowner’s property rights and the needs of the Town and the region. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Good, smart people will disagree about what is the best outcome here, that’s natural and inevitable, but they can also come together to discuss reconciling those disagreements to the degree that it is possible. No party is going to get its way in a development proposal like this. Your Council seems to be trying to do the right thing for the Town as they proceed. Asking for accountability and better, substantive data from the developer, the Council, Park & Planning, and the District Council is the only way for stakeholders to ensure that due diligence is met before a decision is made. It’s an expensive proposition for communities to fix problems of zoning designation and design after they are built.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thanks for your consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Stuart Eisenberg,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Executive Director<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Hyattsville CDC Please note our new phone number!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>301.683-8267</span></b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> desk 301.693.0073 cell 207.470.3805 fax<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.hycdc.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.hycdc.org</span></a> a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> towntalk-bounces@riverdale-park.org [mailto:towntalk-bounces@riverdale-park.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Kate Kelly<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 02, 2011 8:41 AM<br><b>To:</b> towntalk@riverdale-park.org<br><b>Subject:</b> [RP TownTalk] (no subject)<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Here's a copy of an email I sent this morning to the mayor and council. --KK<br><br>Good morning.<br>Before the brickbats, let me say thanks to the Riverdale Park mayor and<br>council for staying up late so many nights. I know it's a difficult job<br>that none of you was hoping to do.<br><br>As you go forward with the Cafritz negotiations, please remember that most<br>people in Riverdale Park--certainly those who are closest to the site--are<br>not ambivalent in any way or hoping to settle for the best of a bad<br>situation. We oppose the development. You know that. You've heard us say<br>it, and you've heard our neighbors say it.<br><br>And you have heard it from most people in the neighboring towns. Stuart<br>Eisenberg from Hyattsville said it last night and others have said it from<br>the beginning: This is building with regional consequences. The developers'<br>and planners' renderings all stop at the boundaries, but the impact does<br>not.<br><br>Let me recapitulate: There is no dishonor in demanding that the Cafritz<br>group prove the value in its plan in exchange for your assent to the zoning<br>change. To name a single point, it's still going to be a shopping center on<br>Route 1, even with a wall and a buffer. The truck traffic that will begin<br>with construction and continue for a decade as the project is completed<br>will go on forever with deliveries. It will be a regional fact of life,<br>just like the drive-through bank at East-West Highway. That's something<br>even proponents are against.<br><br>How is it wrong, then, to demand that the developer prove it will work<br>BEFORE saying yes?<br><br> - It's too much for the site.<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal> - It's derivative, not innovative.<br> - It's bad for the environment.<br> - It's bad for local roads, schools, and services.<br> - It's benefit will not offset its cost.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><br>So far, we've not heard a straight answer, so we are asking again: What is<br>in this for us? Our neighborhoods, our neighbors, our towns, our children,<br>our planet?<br><br>Thanks, as usual, for your time.<br>Kate and Joe Kelly <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>