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Lorraine N May 31st, 2006

Maplewood Citizens Association
General Meeting
May 17, 2006

The MCA General Meeting was convened by Allen Myers at 7:30PM. This is to be the last meeting held at Heart House. The January minutes were read and accepted with one change, as noted on the edited manuscript and submitted to the President of MCA. The March Minutes were read and submitted by Janet Maalouf.
These were accepted by the membership.

The Treasurer’s report was submitted with the warning that expenditures are continuing to outpace contributions and income for the third straight year. MCA total assets for May, 2006 are $6,051, down from $9, 161 in August, 2004. There are as of May, 2006, 264 members of MCA, and increase of 15 new members following the Spring Social.

I Pepco and the rate increases

The meeting opened with a presentation by Victor Holloway of Pepco Holdings, Limited, Technical Consultant who addressed community concerns about the expected 39% increase in electrical utility rates in June, 2006. The reasons given for this increase are the higher prices for the coal, gas and oil needed to generate electricity. Customers have the option of accepting the 39% increase in the first bill or having the increase introduced in two phases, 15% on June 1, 2006 and another 15% rate hike in March, 2007. This is called the “opt-in plan” and is more fully explained in literature which Mr. Holloway provided to MCA.

A general discussion followed by members of the community who raised good questions and had clearly done some homework prior to the meeting. Ralph Schofer asked if Pepco was presently losing money, and if this is the reason for the rate hike. The answer was no, so, is this 39% increase “pure profit” was the follow-up question? The answer was no that Pepco is simply passing on the hike to customers so that it can continue to turn a profit. It was explained that deregulation had not achieved its objective of lowering rates. Instead, customers were allowed a cap on increases over 10 years while attempts were made to increase competition. While this was happening, gas rates increased by 400%, making rate hikes inevitable in the end.

Why is it that Washington, DC, will experience only an 11% increase? Evidently, Mayor Williams saw this rate hike coming and got concessions from the utilities before the price controls were lifted. Bill Hagan and others in the meeting reported that they got on line to learn more about other options, such as Pepco Energy Green Power. However, in the end, none of these options are in place to save on customer’s utility bills.

It is hoped that aggregate groups can still sign up enough members to negotiate better rates, but so far, the 39% rate increase stands.

II Election of New Officers, New Meeting Spaces Considered and Discussion of Dues

The vote for officers is as follows: Allen Myers, re-elected as president; Seth Maiman re-elected as Vice President; Bill Davis re-elected as Treasurer.
Lorraine Nagy will step down as Secretary as soon as a volunteer is elected in her place.

The election was followed by a ceremony honoring the volunteers of MCA. We also discussed where MCA will host future meetings, and the suggestions include:

• FASEB (near Pooks Hill, an NIH facility), the recreation center, but it charges $19 an hour, with a minimum of four hours,
• Bethesda Woman’s Club, KOC (all charge)
• St. Jane’s, Boy Scouts, BCDS were all discussed and will be considered at future meetings and news in Maple Leaf.

MCA voted to increase dues by $5 for a total amount of $25 for the 2006/2007 budget year. This is needed to slow the outflow of money relative to the income of the community. The added expenses have included production and mailing of the Maple Leaf. Commercial sponsors have helped, but not enough to stave off the need to increase dues.

III Pooks Hill Re-Development Plans

Representatives of Pooks Hill Development group presented plans for three apartment/condo units that are proposed to be built on the present parking lot of Pooks Hill Marriott Hotel. This area is zoned for hotels only, so the Development Group (Northview Hotel Group and West Brook Developers) through its legal team (Stephen Cohen) is indicating that it is preparing to request a zoning text amendment from Park and Planning. They want community cooperation in this plan, so that, as they present the situation, there can be gains on both sides. The community talked about the inevitable increase in automobile traffic through their streets as a result of 450 new units. Parking on the street was another issue raised. People wanted road improvements, not promised but actually implemented before buildings are put in with new numbers of tenants.

Ed Papasian, a traffic engineer who is a consultant to the Pooks Hill Group argued that a hotel would have more cars for its operations, and this view was challenged by the community members present. Others sought consideration of bridges to be built to allow access to Grosvenor Station, as a means to reduce traffic congestion. Building a community center for the condo development and neighbors was also proposed. The architect showed the drawings of the proposed buildings, trying to show that green space and height restrictions are integrated in the technical plans for the site.

MCA wants more time to review the plans and to provide input so that the community has a voice in this proposal and any changes that may result for the citizens.

Tags: development, FASEB, MCA, NIH, traffic

• General Meeting minutes
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