Northwood News ♦ June 2002

President’s Message

By Ken Hawkins

There was a saying used by activists in the last century that went, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”

This saying is as true for local civic matters as it is of larger movements for progress.  The NFCCA has an excellent record of standing up and responding to proposals or conditions that, if ignored, would have blighted our neighborhood:  the widening of Colesville Road for a bus-way; a garish prototypical McDonalds that clashed with the forlorn streetscape around the commercial core; massage parlors within walking distance of school bus stops; speeding cut-through traffic; no plans for new sidewalks where kids walk to school; and nearby creeks choked with litter and overgrown with invasive weeds.  Each of these conditions were challenged by local residents using the NFCCA and our neighborhood is better, safer, and more attractive as a result.

This brings us to the present.  There are still threats to our neighborhood and things that we as a community can do using our civic association to oppose them.  The State and County governments and the Planning Board pay attention when civic associations speak.  We urge you to show up to meetings, pay your membership dues, and even give a few hours every other month to take a board position for just one year.  You will get to meet some of your very nice neighbors, find out what’s going on in Four Corners, and get a say in how things turn out.  You can make a difference in the place you live and ensure that its vital civic voice, the NFCCA, continues to stand for something instead of falling for anything.   ■