Email County Council to Create a Park Paradise in the Pike District!

According to the 2010 White Flint Sector Plan, Wall Park next to the Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center is supposed to become a park paradise. The plan creates an eight-acre park with room for sports, heart-healthy walks, quiet contemplation, a children’s playground, public events, and maybe even a dog park.

To create this essential community amenity, we need to pull up the parking lot that covers much of Wall Park. To replace the surface parking, a garage will be built immediately behind the swim center with plenty of safe, convenient parking for the park and the aquatic center.

Montgomery Parks requested funding in the County’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget to build the garage. Unfortunately, the County Executive did not include the garage funding in the CIP budget he presented to the County Council. But that does not mean that the garage can’t be built.

Friends of White Flint is launching an important advocacy campaign focused on the County Council to include funding for the garage in the CIP budget. If the County fully funds a convenient, safe Wall Park Parking Garage in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP), we can have a park paradise in just two to three years.

Why should we build the Wall Park garage now?

1. The County can realize significant savings and construction efficiencies if the Wall Park garage is built at the same time as Gables builds their apartment garage.

2. There is currently very little park space for residents to enjoy in the Pike District, and the thousands of people in the White Flint area deserve a full-fledged park. Green space is an important promised feature of the 2010 White Flint Sector Plan.

3. The White Flint Sector Plan is transforming this area, and green space is one of the most attractive amenities to both residents and businesses. Wall Park’s Great Lawn, which is part of the approved White Flint Sector Plan, is essential to attracting the people, retailers, and offices needed to create a thriving, successful White Flint community.

 Here’s how you can help create a Park Paradise in the Pike District:

1. Attend the Council Capital Improvements Program (CIP) hearing on February 9th, 7 pm, Third Floor Hearing Room, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850. (We’ll have Wall Park T-shirts for folks to wear.)

2. Email council members. While we have an email template you can use which you can find here, it is more effective if you draft your own email.

Your email should be short and to the point and be sent to each of the council members at the addresses below. The key points to include in your email are: 

1) Constructing the Wall Park Garage now is cost-effective and the best use of County land and funds.

2) Wall Park is a vital community amenity that is important to you and essential to creating a thriving Pike District/White Flint area.  

Here are the email addresses for the council members. Please send your email urging funding of the Wall Park Garage to all of them and please copy us at info@whiteflint.org

councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.hucker@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov 

Will you join our fight for a park paradise in our neighborhood? Will you urge the Council to “un-pave paradise and pull up the parking lot?” Will you tell your friends and neighbors about this campaign and urge residents to become involved? We won’t succeed without lots of support from community residents.
 
Please don’t hesitate to contact executive director Amy Ginsburg at info@whiteflint.org for more information and to learn how you can be part of this campaign. You can also visit www.WhiteFlint.org/WallPark for more information.

Thank you very much for your time and help!