June Newsletter is On-Line!!!
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News from your Civic Federation:
Updated June 9, 2009
June Newsletter
Our June newsletter is on-line.
Remembering Wayne Goldstein
This week in the Sentinel the topic is on the death of a friend. Former president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, publisher of countless articles on this site, and tireless activist for historic preservation and improving the quality of life in Montgomery County.
May Newsletter
Our May newsletter is on-line, with information on the upcoming April county budget program.
April Newsletter
Our April newsletter is on-line, with information on the upcoming April county budget program.
Catching Up on Published Sentinel Articles
When is "green" green? Read Need to Act Greener. Balancing historic preservation with affordable housing is discussed in A Tale of Two Silver Spring Garden Apartment Historic Designations. Highjacking Planning Underway points out flaws with current planning lobbying.
March Newsletter
Our March newsletter is on-line, with information on the upcoming March program on Public Service Commission.
Sentinel Articles
A number of new articles have been posted. See the index.
February Newsletter
Our February newsletter is on-line, with information on the upcoming February program on the county's Climate Action Plan.
New Sentinel Articles
Several Sentinel articles have been posted. The dramatic water main break on River Road reveals history of known solutions with WSSC in WSSC Endangers Us By Failing To Confront The PCCP Problem. More history on historic preservation in When the Government Finally Got It About Historic Preservation. Dropping property values and mortgage issues are discussed in New Year, Old Problem.
January Newsletter
Our January newsletter is on-line, with information on the upcoming January program on Historic Preservation..
Sentinel Article
More information on the history of historic preservation, in How American Women Saved Mount Vernon and Democratized Historic Preservation, our weekly article from the Montgomery Sentinel.
Sentinel Articles
Two articles about historic preservation, in Lawsuits Filed Against County Council and Planning Board and How the History of U. S. Historic Preservation Began.
December Newsletter
Our December newsletter is on-line.
Sentinel Articles
Jim Humprey pauses on Thanksgiving in Let us Give Thanks. School performance is discussed further in How Does MCPS Measure Up To Other Maryland School Systems?
Understanding Property Taxes
A seminar has been scheduled for Saturday, December 6, from 9:00 to 11:30 AM on "Understanding How Property Taxes are Assessed and Appealed". The seminar will take place in the 1st floor auditoium of the County Council Office Building in Rockville. PLEASE RSVP TO ATTEND nmcaprexy@aol.com or frankauffunger@hotmail.com Tel: 301-570-0481.
Sentinel Articles
A list of outstanding land use issues was documents in Whatever Happened To.... School performance is discussed in President Obama, Take My Superintendent, Please!
More on Slots
Another article on the history of slots in Maryland, in Maryland's Sordid Slots History About to be Repeated, our weekly Sentinel article.
Sentinel Articles
Several articles have been posted. A discussion of development's impact on organic neighborhoods in Growing Pains. Several articles have been posted about the upcoming referrendum on gambling, including Show Us the Money That Slots Will Bring, What They Don't Want You To Know About Gambling Addiction, and Slots Study Tells The Truth of All That's False About Gambling.
October Newsletter
Our October newsletter contains information about our October Program on ballot questions, President's message, Montgomery delegation meeting, Question B, 2008 elections, environment committee report, membership renewals, forum on crime, September Executive Meeting Minutes, September Regular Meeting Minutes.
Zoning Training
There is an educational session on zoning to help you understand this process and prepare yourself for participation on October 18th in the First Floor Auditorium of the County Executive Office Building in Rockville. Please see the announcement on the right for contact information.
Sentinel Articles
We wrap up the discussion on schools and national test scores with the article "Weast's ACT Doesn't Hide the Truth of the SAT" from last week. This week we highlight how the expansion of construction through "master planning" will overload transportation in a period where the county and the state have cut back plans to increase transportation capacity in "Master Planning for Failure".
Articles on Schools
Two recent Sentinel articles focus on schools. The controversy on school fees is discussed in "The Amazing Story of Illegal School Fees". Declining SAT scores are discussed in "Weast Losing His War Against The SAT".
Praise Where Praise is Due
Jim Humphreys from our Planning and Land Use Committee writes about several positive changes in county development processes our weekly Sentinel article, "Change for the Better".
September Newsletter
Our September newsletter contains information about our September Program - The county's labor contract negotiations. Additionally, there is debate on the proposed ambulance use fee, a memorial to Neil Potter, information on our taxpeyer survey, and notes from our meetings and activities.
TAXPAYERS SURVEY!
The Civic Federation Executive Committee approved an effort to initiate a Taxpayers Survey with a goal to provide a public outreach. This will hopefully result in the public joining in the effort to identify fiscal issues of concern to our elected officials. A two page survey was developed which is available here. Please help us by filling out the form and sending back!
More on School Performance
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is discussed in this week's article from the Montgomery Sentinel, "AYP Also Means Another Year of Propaganda".
Weekly Sentinel Article
Distorted statistics are discussed in our weekly Sentinel article, "How Weast Blames Simpson's Paradox For His Failures".
Weekly Sentinel Article
"Does Johns Hopkins Understand Smart Growth?" is provided by the local Sierra Club, and highlights traditional suburban sprawl being passed off as "smart".
Affordable Housing Report
A report from our Planning and Land Use Committee on Housing Affordability is available for reference.
What Goes Around
Jim Humphrey from our Planning and Land Use committee shows that turnabout is fair play, we live by the golden rule, and many other folksy sayings apply to the Planning Board in What's Good for the Goose..., our weekly Montgomery Sentinel article.
RSS Feed Available
For those using RSS readers to keep up on changes to our web site, see the icon on the top of the left navigation section of this page for a link to our RSS feed. For the unfamiliar, Wikipedia provides a primer.
MCCF Committee Issue Tracking
MCCF committee members are maintaining a list of issues that are being tracked. Please see this page for information on specific issues and reference materials. This page is updated frequently.
Upcoming Events:
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This page last updated May 5, 2008 .