Northwood News ♦ June 2011

Update on Saving Rachel Carson Meadow and Youth Soccer Field

By Carole Barth

People are always saying to me, “Well, one good thing about the budget crisis, at least they can’t destroy the Meadow for a soccer field.”  But staggeringly, in the midst of a massive structural deficit that is expected to continue for years to come (fueled in no small part by the rising cost of debt service) when core programs like libraries are being cut, the North Four Corners Park soccer field project remains in the CIP (Capital Improvements Budget).  Moreover, the facilities planning process is scheduled to resume in FY2012.

In case you are new to the issue, here’s a little background.  In 2008, the Montgomery County Parks Department decided that an adult-size soccer field with a 50-space parking lot should be built at a cost of over $5 million.  As part of this project, the existing soccer field on the other side of the park would be removed.

County Executive Ike Leggett did not recommend funding this project, but the County Council voted to spend the money anyway.  This despite the fact the same amount of funds (five to six million dollars) could renovate 11 existing athletic fields.  This happened while we were without representation on the Council, and the reason given was, “It would set a dangerous precedent to listen to affected communities.”

Recently, our council representative Nancy Navarro and at-large Council person Marc Elrich tried to delay the project for a year during the Council’s annual CIP adjustment process.  The effort failed when the other members of the PHED committee (Nancy Floreen and George Leventhal) voted against the postponement.  Park and Planning testified against the postponement.

So it’s time to gear up for the next CIP cycle, which begins in December.  We need to do all the classic things (emails, petitions, letters to the editor, coalition building) plus modern social marketing, blogging, and maybe even a flash mob doing environmental art.

And most importantly, we need to speak truth to slander and stereotyping.  There are some who claim our opposition to the soccer field is rooted in racism.  Those who spread such rumors are doubly disrespecting our diverse community:  first, by failing to recognize our existing ethnic diversity and secondly, by perpetuating the stereotype that providing soccer fields is all the county need do to serve its Latino residents.

Please join us in this fight to preserve North Four Corners Park for future generations.  If you would like to help, please contact me at [contact details redacted].   ■