Below is a memo that the County Executive's Office has sent to interested parties announcing the Request for Proposals to change the organic farm into soccer fields at the Brickyard school site. Seems like a done deal, folks. As the memo states, "The discussion will be limited." No kidding. This format is typical for Montgomery County government: control, control, control. If you plan to attend I would recommend asking questions and not adhering to this highly controlled form of public meeting. There is no reason other than for control that a public meeting needs to be run in this manner. The 'small group' organization is a way for the organizers to split up the larger group and allows more control by the organizing party. Don't let this happen. Make sure the stakeholders, not the government, are in charge of this meeting. In the end, the County Executive will use this meeting as proof that there was 'community involvement.' Don't let that happen.
Memo Regarding Proposal for Brickyard Soccer Fields May 26 2011
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2011 11:59:40 -040
ReplyDeleteFrom: sarah@msisoccer.org
Subject: LOCATION CHANGE FOR TONIGHT'S MEETING!
YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS EMAIL BECAUSE YOU ARE A REGISTERED MEMBER OF MSI CLASSIC.
Coaches,
Tonight's all-important public meeting location has changed!! We need you and your parents to attend tonight's meeting and voice support for the proposed Brickyard Soccer Park project!
Many of you have indicated that you will be attending tonight's all-important public meeting, and many will be bringing parents from their team. Thank you so much! Please tell anybody you know that is coming that the meeting will be held at:
Potomac Community Center (PCC)
11315 Falls Road, Potomac
7:00-9:00
The PCC facility can accommodate more people, and has more parking, so that is a good thing, but parking still will be tough, so please arrive early. You may have to park in neighborhoods on either side of Falls Road if you arrive a bit later.
Please make every effort to attend tonight, and proactively voice your support for this badly needed project. The County as a whole is desperately short of rectangular ballfields, leading to the kinds of overcrowding and field conditions we are forced to deal with. Nowhere is that problem more acute than in the lower county, where the density of development and population has made things especially tough.
Please tell everybody to carry a soccer ball with them, to help give us a 'visible presence' in support of the project. Once the meeting begins, the County will be organizing folks into groups for discussion about specific characteristics of what the project should involve, and I would ask each of you to remember the following basics:
1. The normal way that an athletic park gets built in this county is that the taxpayers foot the bill for the entire project, and the taxpayers foot the bill for a large subsidy required to maintain the park.
2. This project is intended to reverse that funding model, in light of the dire economic circumstances we face in government finances. The County wants a youth recreation organization to raise the funds to pay for and maintain the park. This is a seismic shift, and the economics of building and maintaining such a park are daunting. As such, any youth recreation group that participates in making this a reality will be making a phenomenal gift to their community and the taxpayers.
3. The County intends to create a Request for Proposals, and to consider responses from any youth recreation organization that is interested. MSI certainly is supportive of the project, and we hope to be successful in convincing the county that we can and will be very positive partners and stewards of the land. We have been raising funds for 10 years to be able to help our community in exactly this way!
ReplyDelete4. Our vision for use of this soccer park is not any different than the current use of nearly identical parks located nearby, such as Avenel Park and Falls Road Park. The fields are permitted completely for use by recreational groups for league play, practices, clinics, tournaments, camps, etc.
5. The primary differences for our vision would include:
5a. The fields would be less heavily used during weekdays, in order to allow high quality fields to rest and recuperate from the normal weekend use that all fields incur.
5b. There would be adequate parking, such that parking in neighborhoods would not be necessary, as currently occurs at nearly all other parks.
5c. The fields would be built and maintained without taxpayer dollars, unlike all other parks.
In order to support these 'differences', all of which inure benefit to our community, we will need to run a wide variety of programs, and it will be important not to have restrictions placed on this park that would be different than those for any other park. That said, the overall use still would be less than any other park, due to the need to rest fields!
For more information and background on the Brickyard site and project, please go to the MSI website (www.msisoccer.org), and print the document posted under Announcements, labeled 'Brickyard Road Soccer Project Summary', which attempts to be a fair and balance summary of information, along with MSI's specific viewpoint. We are very committed to doing something terrific for our community, and we appreciate your help in making it happen!
> Regards,
> Doug Schuessler
> Executive Director, MSI
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