The Gazette
C COMMUNITY OMMUNITY NE N NEWS EWS www.gazette.net
|
Thursday, August 1, 2013
|
Page A-4
Communities brace for Purple Line disruptions
Grounds for dancing
Transit officials say more than 100 regional families and businesses will be displaced
n
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
(From left) Kathleen McPartland of Jessup, Siara Clark of Laurel, and her mother, Melonee Clark of Laurel, dance Friday to The Winstons, Motown and soul music band, at the 35th annual Montpelier Summer Concert Series on the grounds of the Montpelier Mansion in Laurel.
New center aids inmate outreach n Beltsville Adventist Community Center hosts videoconferencing BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
The Beltsville Adventist Community Center, not yet a year old, is the pilot site for a first-in-thestate program connecting prison inmates with families. “We’re very excited to be piloting this,” said Glenn Holland, community pastor for the center, which is operated through the Beltsville Seventh-day Adventist Church. The pilot program uses videoconferencing software and equipment to let family and friends schedule an appointment at the church to see and speak with inmates at Jessup Correctional Institution eligible for visitation at no cost, Holland said. Holland said he learned about videoconference visitation being used in Virginia through the regional conference of Seventh-day Adventist churches. Holland said Virginia is the only other state to provide the service. “It seemed like something we ought to be doing in Maryland,” he said. Holland said he contacted the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services last September. A plan was developed to create the free pilot program. “We think this is better for safety and it is easier on families in that they do not have to travel as far,” said Martha Danner, the department’s deputy director of Community Supervision Support. Jessup is the only prison participating, but if the pilot is successful, it would be expanded to other state prisons, Danner said. Several Baltimore-area churches have expressed an interest in the idea. Inmates are more likely to be successful after prison if they have strong family support, but many families cannot make the journey
The Purple Line light rail system is expected to displace more than 37 Prince George’s families and businesses residing in its path, as well as cause traffic and access problems during its five-year construction, Maryland Transit Administration officials told members of the Four Cities Coalition. The Four Cities Coalition, a meeting of officials from New Carrollton, Greenbelt, Berwyn Heights and College Park, met July 24 to discuss regional concerns and hear from MTA officials about the Purple Line, the proposed 16-mile light rail from Bethesda to New Carrollton. Michael Madden, MTA Purple Line Project Manager, said the agency will work to minimize any inconvenience caused by the construction, expected to begin in 2015. “It will be disruptive, but our outreach team is gearing up to develop a plan,” Madden said. Madden said approximately 60 businesses and 50 residences in total will be displaced by the Purple Line. Most of those will be in Montgomery County, but 23 residences, nine businesses and five empty lots in Prince George’s will need to be acquired for the Purple Line, stated MTA Strategic Outreach Coordinator Teri Moss. “We have begun to go in and interview those tenants, those property owners, and find out what information they need,” Madden said. “They will eventually be assigned a relocation counselor to help them through the relocation process.” According to information provided by MTA, the agency will offer negotiated settlements for the properties based on their fair market values and will provide relocation
assistance through the MTA’s Relocation Assistance Program, but if an agreement cannot be reached, the state has the authority under Maryland law to acquire the property through eminent domain proceedings. Madden said there are also “slivers of property,” such as a stretch along University Boulevard, that will need to be acquired to widen the roadway. Madden said business outreach team members have been speaking to businesses regarding the disruption likely to be caused by construction. “We will work with the contractor very closely to make sure we maintain access, both pedestrian access and vehicle access,” Madden said. Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, chairman of the Four Cities Coalition, expressed concern about adding the Purple Line along state Route 193, particularly along the intersection with Riggs Road in Chillum. Madden said the Purple Line will run on the two middle lanes, which will be converted to light rail, turning the six-lane highway into a four-lane highway. “Riggs Road around [Md.] 193 has to be one of the worst intersections in the county,” Calvo said. “The turn lanes are totally inadequate.” Madden said the MTA is working with the State Highway Administration to develop a plan for intersection improvements. The entire project is expected to cost $2.2 billion, with funding from state and federal sources, Madden said. The MTA is also pursuing a private partnership to gain additional funding, Madden said. College Park Councilman Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1) expressed concern that the project might not all the way through if the project is not fully funded. Madden said that construction may begin a portion at a time, “but the goal has always been for the entire 16 miles to be operational.” janfenson-comeau@gazette.net
Walking today, for grandchildren Greenbelt activist walks 60 miles to raise awareness of environmental issues n
BY JAMIE
ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Glenn Holland, pastor for community ministries at Beltsville Seventh-day Adventist Church, sits in the video conferencing room in the church’s community center. The room is being used for a pilot program of video visitation between inmates and their family members through the Maryland correctional services department. for visits on a regular basis, Danner said. “If somebody can visit from a remote location and maintain closer contact with the inmate, that inmate may well do better when he or she gets out,” Danner said. There are 22 prisons in Maryland; Jessup is the closest to Prince George’s County. Capt. Anthony Lewis, pilot project coordinator at Jessup, said the benefits include not having to search visitors for contraband or worry about visitor safety inside the facility. “Jessup Correctional Institution was pleased to be chosen by the DCPCS to pilot this video visit program,” Lewis said. “This is a wonderful program and I would like to see it expand throughout the DPCPS.” The first video visitation was held July 14. “It went great,” Holland said. “They were really excited to be the first ones to try it.” The inmate and visitor wished
to remain confidential, he said. Video visitations must be scheduled at least a week in advance, by calling the Beltsville Seventh-day Adventist Church. Currently, visits are only scheduled for Sundays, as the church observes the Sabbath on Saturdays and hosts a day care program weekdays. But if demand increases, it might be extended to weekday evenings as well, Holland said. Holland said the prison video visitation is one way churches and government can cooperate. Beltsville Adventist Community Center provides other services, such as counseling, a computer lab and a food pantry. “Both churches and government need to be working together to meet the needs of the community that we both have a mutual interest in serving, and that’s what we’re doing here,” Holland said. net
janfenson-comeau@gazette.
Lore Rosenthal, a Greenbelt environmental activist, not only talks the talk about global climate change, she also walks the walk — in this case, a walk of more than 60 miles in six days to raise awareness. Rosenthal took part in the Walk for Our Grandchildren, a 62mile journey by foot from Harpers Ferry Hostel and Campground in Knoxville on July 21 to Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., camping out along the way. Rosenthal, 55, has no children or grandchilRosenthal dren, but said the name of the walk took on a very special meaning. “For me, it was more metaphorical. It was about walking for the seventh generation,” she said, referring to a concept in the environmental movement that takes into consideration the effects an action will have seven generations into the future. “We’re borrowing from the future everything we use now,” Rosenthal said. “What is the impact of our actions going to be 100 years from now? Everything is going to have a reverberating effect.” Rosenthal, along with two friends from Howard County and one from the District, were among over 70 “through-walkers,” people who walked several days. Others, referred to as “day walkers,” walked part of the journey, usually a day. Greg Yost of Asheville, N.C., one of the walk organizers, said this was the first year
and the turnout was higher than expected, with some walkers coming from New England, California and Washington state. “This was our first walk, but the energy and response to it was so tremendous, we are already dreaming of how to build on it for a future event,” Yost said. Marjorie Gray, 66, of Greenbelt was one of the day walkers, joining the walk in Dickerson on July 24 and walking more than 12 miles to Riley’s Lock on the Potomac River near Darnestown. “I never walked so far in my life. I never thought I could make it,” Gray said of her journey, adding that the time went faster talking with so many interesting people. Gray, a member of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit working to combat climate change in the Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland area, said she joined the walk for her grandchildren. “I have four grandchildren and I am very concerned about their future,” Gray said, citing a number of environmental issues, such as global warming and water pollution. “Our children and grandchildren will see what we are doing and will grow up with an understanding of how important our environment is.” On her walk, Rosenthal also carried a letter from Micah Hughes, the 7-year-old daughter of her friend Megan Hughes, a former Greenbelt resident who now lives in North Carolina, to support and encourage Rosenthal. “She had written that the walk was a protest and that it was about climate change, and that she is planning to write President Obama about protecting polar bears,” Megan Hughes said. Rosenthal said she thinks the goal did well in accomplishing its goals of raising awareness of environmental issues. “Climate change solutions will not happen overnight,” Rosenthal said. “I’ll probably be working on global climate change until the day I die.” janfenson-comeau@gazette.net