<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>It is interesting, particularly in our current political climate, that so many of us go to meetings or watch them on television and later have quite different perceptions of what was said or what happened or why. At least when we are all neighbors, I do think we try harder to keep open minds about our differences and try harder to see the opposite viewpoint. We all live very near each other in our glass houses. I will just try to hold onto the perspective that I like having Big Bag Wolf and Yes within walking distance, the new Town Center Market a short dirive, and maybe a Whole Foods in our future.<BR>On an aside about Whole Foods, each store carries different merchandise that they claim reflects what the community wants. I worked next door to the new one just off Rockville Pike for awhile. This is what they kept telling me as I complained that they did
not carry the same products as Silver Spring or Georgetown. When and if we acquire a Whole Foods, I will be very interested to see what corporate management thinks we want. I suggest we all provide any input possible at any opportunity. That Rockville store is very large and has all sorts of fresh, prepared, and packaged food, but it did not carry a number of products that our household buys from other Whole Foods. That makes it not worth my while to shop there.</DIV><BR><BR>--- On <B>Wed, 7/11/12, Chris Currie <I><crcurrie@gmail.com></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From: Chris Currie <crcurrie@gmail.com><BR>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] EYA in Hyattsville<BR>To: "towntalk" <towntalk@riverdale-park.org><BR>Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 9:13 AM<BR><BR>
<DIV id=yiv23145200>It is interesting to look at parallels between the EYA and Cafritz projects, and there certainly are some. The main one is that both projects featured a developer who was promising to bring in amenities that were not previously found in Prince George's County and appealed not only to current residents' consumer desires but also to their sense of self-esteem. That was such a powerful dynamic that it overrode other concerns that residents typically have about large, impactful new developments.
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<DIV>I think that in the case of EYA, one has to distinguish municipal elected officials from county elected officials. The former, for the most part, were vigilant about protecting the community's interests with respect to the project. On the other hand, the County Councilman -- recently elected after spending a record amount of money, raised almost entirely from big developers -- told EYA officials at the very first public meeting -- long before the M-NCPPC staff report, or the Planning Board recommendation, or the District Council consideration of the project -- that he was grateful to them for the proposal and would do everything possible to ensure that it was approved. From that point on, the City of Hyattsville had virtually zero influence over the evolution of the proposal. EYA knew that the County decision-maker was in their pocket and, contrary to the way the vetting process normally works, with each public meeting they
actually *retracted* elements of the proposal that were designed to please the local community. It was breath-taking to behold. </DIV>
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<DIV>This dynamic didn't take hold in the Cafritz process, and I believe one of the main reasons why was that not only Riverdale Park citizens and officials were forthright in representing their town's interests, but that your County Councilman was clearly not in the developer's pocket. Interestingly, Hyattsville's Councilman was the one who led the approval fight for Cafritz. That should be reflected at some point down the road in future campaign finance reports. </DIV>
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<DIV>Where Hyattsville had an influence in the Arts District Hyattsville project was before it was even proposed. The property owner, Bert Lustine, initially approached Hyattsville with a plan to develop four gargantuan apartment buildings on the site. The Hyattsville Planning Committee approved the plan, but the Mayor and some Councilmembers at the time (myself included) were staunchly against it. Mayor Gardiner worked behind the scenes very aggressively and skillfully over the course of months to reshape the development concept, which happened at least twice thereafter, until Lustine agreed to the new-urbanist, mixed-use scheme that EYA was recruited to build. As a result of that effort, the Arts District Hyattsville project was conceptually very sound, even if the details did not shake out entirely to the City's satisfaction.</DIV>
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<DIV>Incidentally, Mayor Gardiner was very aware of the parking shortfall, and worked aggressively -- with the very little influence he had left after Councilman Campos' unconditional approval of the development plan -- to at least get EYA to agree to reserve a pad for an eventual parking garage. That effort for a parking garage continues today ...</DIV>
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<DIV>Chris Currie</DIV>
<DIV>Hyattsville</DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">Message: 11</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:28:07 -0700 (PDT)</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">From: Nina Faye <</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ns_faye@yahoo.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank
ymailto="mailto:ns_faye@yahoo.com">ns_faye@yahoo.com</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">></SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">To: Sue Collins <</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=wheadle@yahoo.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:wheadle@yahoo.com">wheadle@yahoo.com</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">>, "</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204);
FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jebbeler@efusionconsulting.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:jebbeler@efusionconsulting.com">jebbeler@efusionconsulting.com</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">"</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"> <</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jebbeler@efusionconsulting.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:jebbeler@efusionconsulting.com">jebbeler@efusionconsulting.com</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:
rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">>, "</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=towntalk@riverdale-park.org" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:towntalk@riverdale-park.org">towntalk@riverdale-park.org</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">"</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"> <</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px"
href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=towntalk@riverdale-park.org" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:towntalk@riverdale-park.org">towntalk@riverdale-park.org</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">>, Melissa Avery <</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=m.avery@rocketmail.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:m.avery@rocketmail.com">m.avery@rocketmail.com</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">></SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR:
rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">Message-ID:</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"> <</SPAN><A style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(17,85,204); FONT-SIZE: 13px" href="http://us.mc1620.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=1341941287.51580.YahooMailClassic@web162005.mail.bf1.yahoo.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank
ymailto="mailto:1341941287.51580.YahooMailClassic@web162005.mail.bf1.yahoo.com">1341941287.51580.YahooMailClassic@web162005.mail.bf1.yahoo.com</A><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">></SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px">Sue and Melissa, I agree with many of your
points.? I do not know the elected folks in Riverdale Park; we live in Hyattsville.? I certainly know how many of our elected people acted and spoke during our extensive development.? UTC is a poorly planned mess from my perspective and that of many of my fellow residents.? With EYA, many of us repeatedly spoke before our Council of the need for adequate parking in the early, middle, and late planning stages.? Guess what?? Now everyone is scrambling to try to create more parking.? We told them there wasn't enough planned and that it would fail without adequate parking.? We were told that everyone would walk and ride bikes.? I was proEYA because I had worked in downtown Silver Spring when that EYA project was built.? Hyattsville did not get that aesthetic or quality, partially,?I have been told, because our elected officials kept meddling.? We begged for traffic studies and traffic remediation.? We</SPAN><BR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255);
FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 13px"> were ignored until it was too late.? As to county politicians, haven't we all been reading about developers, kickbacks, payoffs, and fraud in the newspapers for years?? I am certainly not accusing or implying anything about?anyone involved in this deal, but the climate in the county has led to cynicism on the entire topic.? The increased traffic from UTC and PG Plaza Metro development has been a nightmare for us.? There are business vacancies at EYA, UTC, and College Park.? I would like a Whole Foods near by, but what they are insisting on, as I understand it, is a huge parking lot along Route 1--awful.? The rest is too much density, and it is NOT a short walk to Metro.? Anyway, ladies I agree with you.? Early this morning I e-mailed Campos what I thought of
his vote.</SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<BR><BR>
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