The Seven Oaks / Evanswood Citizens' Association website
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 7:30 - 9 pm
Meeting Location: Springvale Terrace Retirement Home, 8505 Springvale Rd. (Blue Room, entrance on Springvale Road)
*Note, new meeting location
Program: Downtown Silver Spring Senior Village
Roberta Gosier, a SOECA resident, will present “The Downtown Silver Spring Senior Village.’ Senior Village is an ‘aging in place’ grassroots organization who help people remain independent in their own homes when ordinary maintenance and management tasks become too difficult or unsafe. Here is more information about the Senior Village, including an online survey for neighbors to complete. and a contact email address.
Phyllis Courlander of Top Banana, a home delivery grocery service for seniors, will also present. Top Banana started in 1982 with a mission of making sure no one's family member would need to go without food or dignity simply because they couldn't get to the grocery store. www.topbananagrocer.org
Mark Gottlieb, Administrator of Springvale Terrace, will provide information on the Retirement Community. At Springvale Terrace, a person can rent an apartment and live independently, and if and when help is needed, can sign up to receive personal care and even medication management services.
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Happy New Year 2012!
2011 was an active calendar year. We held 5 resident meetings with a range of presenters and topics, plus we held 3 precedent setting social events (a wine tasting, block party, and a holiday party.) Special thanks to the SOECA Board, active Chelsea Task Force volunteers, the List Serve Manager, Block Captains, Watch Captains, Newsletter Distributors, Membership List Managers, and Treasurers. We are an all volunteer civic association that supports each other, neighbor to neighbor, street to street, block by block, from downtown Silver Spring’s Central Business District throughout the green hills and valleys of homes in our part of the Sligo Creek watershed all the way to Franklin Avenue.
Please consider joining for only $20./year dues ($10./seniors). Dues help with printing of newsletters and nominal costs to run events. We welcome your participation in the interests and causes that surround us, they help make this a great community and a special place to live and cherish.
NEWSLETTERS: You can get the current newsletter by following the link for SOECA newsletters.
MONDAY, November 7, 2011, 7:30 pm
Location: Silver Spring Library, Basement Meeting Room,
Topic: Reemberto Rodriguez, Director Silver Spring Regional Services Center
Since July 2009. Reemberto Rodriquez has served as director of the Silver Spring Regional Services Center, a county government supported Center. He works out of the Veterans‟ Plaza Civic Building and has an extensive background in building community partnerships, planning and revitalization. He is a surrogate mayor to all things Silver Spring, magically working behind the scenes to generate the “Spirit of Silver Spring.” You may get the notices of events he posts on our listserv. Here is the Regional Services Center blog: http://silverspringspeaks.blogspot.com/
Come meet Reemberto and learn about downtown Silver Spring. He beats to the pulse of our interconnectedness between the community, the county government, and business. Reemberto has worked with NeighborWorks America, served with the City of Atlanta in the Department of Community Development‟s Bureau of Planning, and has extensive experience as a trainer and facilitator, covering topics such as neighborhood revitalization strategies, design charettes, how to engage communities, public private partnerships and ethics collaboration.
Chelsea Task Force Reception
A Tip of the Hat to the Task Force, Petition Signers, and to those who attended the Oral Argument. Remand celebration & recognition with light fare and conversation. Hear updates on the October 18 Oral Argument and the Hearing Examiner‟s Remand & Recommendations, and next steps for a development that is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. Over 40 residents attended the Oral Hearing and saw first hand how zoning decisions are made. We learned why it is so critical for neighborhoods such as ours to advocate strongly for the protection of established neighborhoods on the edge of central business districts. We need to continue to work to ensure reasonable, consistent, and compatible levels of infill development on sites such as the Chelsea School and to preserve the 1.4 acre historic setting of the pre- Civil War Riggs-Thompson house. As this case bears out, spaces like these inside established single family communities are indeed vulnerable to being up zoned by developers despite being located outside the densely developed central core of mixed business/residential zones such as downtown Silver Spring.
FIRST FALL MEETING: MONDAY, September 26, 2011, 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Location: Silver Spring Library, Basement Meeting Room,
Topic: Proposed Curfew Law & Alternative Approaches
Councilmember Ervin and the Silver Spring Police have reached out to SOECA leadership. They have requested our residents' feedback on the curfew law, proposed by County Executive Ike Leggett.
The County Council needs your input now. The law was proposed in July, and the full Council will vote on the proposed law in mid-October. This meeting is an opportunity to hear why the law is being recommended and hear about alternative approaches.
Teens and families are invited to attend.
We have also invited our neighbors in the Park Hills Citizens‟ Association to join us.
The July 11, 2011 proposed law, Expedited Bill 25-11, Offenses-Curfew- Established can be found here: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council//pdf/bill/2011/Packets/20110712_7-1.pdf
On Aug. 31, the County Executive offered additional amendments to the proposed bill, found here: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/pdf/CE-signed_transmittal_amendments.pdf
Send comments to: county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov
Presenters:
Luis Cardona, Montgomery County MD, Department of Health & Human Services, Positive Youth Development & Street Outreach Network Coordinator, will speak about prevention, intervention, youth services, and challenges.
Jim Zepp, is resident of Northwood-Four Corners Civic Association, Public Safety Chair for the Montgomery County Civic Federation, Member of the County- Wide Recreation Advisory Board, and Member of Safe Silver Spring. Professionally, Jim is the Training and Technical Assistance Director for the Justice Research and Statistics Association, a national nonprofit which represents state government officials involved with criminal justice policy analysis and research. Jim will be speaking as a private individual and not as a representative of the above organizations, about alternative approaches to juvenile justice.Rich Romer, Legislative Aide to Council President Ervin, will answer questions
Saturday, June 25, 2011, 2 -5 p.m.
***SOECA BLOCK PARTY***Dear SOECA Residents:
It is with great pleasure that I invite you,
your family, children and next door neighbors to the Seven Oaks Evanswood Block Party!
Update: a few documents about Montgomery County Council activities pertinent to SOECA can be found by clicking here.
Dale Drive Crosswalks / Pedestrian safety enhancements: A letter of explanation and schematic drawings can be found at this link
SOECA testimony on the Purple Line AA/DEIS can be found on this page.
PURPLE LINE FACT SHEET - download by clicking here - sized for legal paper (8.5" x 14").
The Purple Line Alternatives Analysis / Draft Environmental Impact Study (AA/DEIS) has been released and is now available for download by following this link (points to the MTA website - it will open in a new window).
Also of Interest: slides and video mock-ups from MTA Purple Line presentation to SOECA and Park Hills representatives, which have been posted since April. Click here to download them.
The Seven Oaks / Evanswood Citizens' Association (SOECA) is a County-recognized civic association in Montgomery County, Maryland. Geographically, we're located just north and east of the "Downtown" Silver Spring area, less than a mile from Washington, D.C.
This website is intended to share information within the Seven Oaks / Evanswood community and with our neighbors. We welcome your comments, additions, and suggestions.
The site organization is, at least for the moment, very simple. From this page, you will find links to a few other pages, each of which has a specific focus. For example, there's a repository for files, including SOECA newsletters; another page has links to the SOECA bylaws, resolutions, and selected correspondence; still another page has links to documents specifically relating to the proposed Purple Line. There is a page of links to other websites of interest; and maybe more to come.
Do you live in SOECA? If you're uncertain, you can click here and you'll be shown a Google map of the SOECA boundaries.
RESULTS OF THE VOTING from the February 28th, 2008 meeting are available on this website - just click here. The agenda and rules governing that meeting, and the full texts of the proposed resolutions can be found by clicking here.
SOECA also has an active email / online discussion group (ListServe). It is hosted at Yahoo! Groups; you can get there directly by clicking here. If you are not currently subscribed as a member of that group, you will need to sign up by following the instructions on that page.