Northwood News ♦ April 2017

President’s Message

By David Rotenstein

It’s spring in Four Corners.  This year, the arrival of spring means Montgomery County Department of Transportation contractors are back in the neighborhood finishing up the long-awaited road repair project begun in the fall (see Roads Update).  It’s also a time when longer days and outdoor activities make greater demands on our time.

It seems like winter almost missed us.  After a very mild February, we were reminded that March can still pack quite a wallop.  Winter Storm Stella gave us our first (and only?) measurable snow this season and our new Snow Angels program rose to the occasion.  Evan Horne coordinated responses to several homes in the neighborhood and I’m looking forward to seeing this program expanded next winter.

And then there are the many anonymous neighborhood heroes among us.  Like the neighbors who take the trash out without being asked for elderly neighbors and the folks who shoveled former NFCCA officers Jim Zepp and Carole Barth’s steps as Jim continues his recovery from a stroke last November.

As you fill out your calendars for April, please think about leaving some time open to attend the next NFCCA meeting Wednesday, April 12.  The NFCCA board has been looking at ways to boost membership and meeting attendance.  One idea we floated was finding a way to provide free babysitting at the Forest Knolls Elementary School during meetings to make it easier for parents with young children to attend.

I wanted to explore the babysitting question further and I distributed a survey via the NFCCA list.  I asked if small children were keeping folks from meetings and, if not, what was.  Though only 28 people completed the survey, it showed most (64.29%) don’t attend NFCCA meetings and, for most people in the small sample, only 25% cited childcare concerns as a factor in deciding to attend meetings or not.

Most folks who left explanations for why they didn’t attend wrote that our meeting dates and times conflicted with other activities: church events, afterschool programs, scout meetings, work, and other obligations.

Fair enough.  Do these responses mean that we should investigate a different approach to meetings, perhaps offering at least one meeting a year on a weekend?  A different night?  Perhaps.

Other responses suggested that we as an organization need to do a better job with our neighbors.  Comments about a lack of reminders and agendas on the listserv are fair criticisms and they are easily remedied.

Other comments are not so easily addressed.  One person wrote, “Nothing ever seemed to be accomplished — sense of community seemed to be lacking.”  And another offered, “Hard to want to participate when it seems like majority are excluded from process.”

The criticisms about how the NFCCA operates are harsh and they have merit.  For too long our meetings have been dominated by angry diatribes aimed at county leaders (the park, BRT, etc.) and I’ve tried to make them less contentious, less adversarial.  Unfortunately, civic associations tend to thrive when there’s a hot-button issue galvanizing opposition.  After the issue is resolved, people tend to drop their involvement.

Although we’d like to see more folks at meetings and more paid members, we do have a very active and engaged neighborhood.  Our new volunteer listserv manager, Xiah Kragie, just finished a massive outreach effort to revise the listserv’s guidelines.  The new guidelines build on earlier ones established by Xiah’s predecessors and they reflect changes in how we use technology for everything from announcing yard sales and lost pets to warnings about unsafe conditions and crime to looking for a home repair or improvement contractor.  Xiah introduced herself at the February meeting and we’re pleased that she is part of our community.

At the April meeting, we’ll be discussing formalizing Xiah’s role in NFCCA that reflects the valuable service that the listerv moderator provides.  We’ll also be discussing changes in the bylaws.  If you’re one of the folks who feels that NFCCA seems to lack a sense of community and that nothing seems to happen at our meetings, come out April 12 and help us improve what we do.

Besides the NFCCA business, we’ll hear about new programs at the Silver Spring Library and we’ll get an update on Ike Leggett’s proposed budget.  I hope to see you there.   ■