RSCA Annual Meeting

Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Williamsburg Middle School LIBRARY

RSCA Annual Meeting October 20

The RSCA Annual Meeting will be held at 7:30 pm, October 20, in the library of Williamsburg Middle School on Harrison St. Our key note speaker will be Dr. Patrick Murphy, new Superintendent of the Arlington Public Schools. Several very important items of business also will be conducted, including the election of 2010 RSCA officers and Executive Board members, ratification of proposed new RSCA Bylaws, and approval of the Rock Spring Neighborhood Conservation Plan.

Dr. Murphy will speak on the Yorktown High School construction project, including impacts on the Rock Spring community, and will outline his academic vision for the Arlington Public Schools. He also will take audience questions on any other topics of interest to RSCA residents. 

All RSCA residents/members are strongly encouraged to attend the meeting and to review in advance the important documents which will be considered. The list of candidates for the various RSCA positions and the Annual meeting agenda are attached. The proposed Bylaws and Neighborhood Conservation Plan may be found in the “Annual Meeting Folder” in the Documents section of the RSCA web site: www.rockspringcivicassoc.org . That folder also contains Dr. Murphy's Bio and resume. 

Proposed New Bylaws  The RSCA Executive Committee also will present for approval a proposed new set of RSCA Bylaws, which were posted on the RSCA website for review beginning on Aug. 31and were available for comment until Sept. 20. The proposed draft was substantially based on the bylaws of other Arlington Civic Associations, with a few modifications to reflect historic RSCA practices. After careful consideration and revisions, the Executive Committee unanimously endorsed this draft for presentation at the Annual Meeting. A two-thirds majority vote by eligible residents attending the Meeting is required for adoption.

Neighborhood Conservation Plan  After an extensive neighborhood survey conducted two years ago, a draft Neighborhood Conservation Plan was written and presented at a special meeting last July to gather further resident inputs. It was then posted to the RSCA website for a 30-day comment period. The final plan is now ready to be acted upon at the annual meeting. The vote will be taken following a brief presentation on the process, the Plan, and the resulting broad project priorities.

RSCA Elections for 2010  The Nominations Committee, comprised of Charlie Flickner (chair), Mark Luncher, Paul Michl, and Judy Guerrero, invited nominations from all RSCA members for a 30-day period ending September 30, 2009. The resulting attached slate of candidates for all RSCA positions will be voted upon at the Annual Meeting. All RSCA residents 18 years of age and older are eligible to vote.

Message from the President

Civic associations are a little like mother bears. Leave them alone, and they won’t bother you; but hassling their families can cause a lot of trouble. Likewise, when nothing much is happening they both tend to go into hibernation. RSCA had a history of intense activism in the 1950s and 1960s. Subsequent decades saw such activism interspersed with periods when the civic association faded into the background as fewer issues presented themselves; yet always the skeletal organization was maintained ready for action when needed.

Recently a gradual accumulation of new developments has once again presented RSCA with a full agenda. Major near-by construction projects are peaking at Marymount University and Yorktown High school, with construction worker parking rented at the Knights of Columbus. Phase 2 of the Little Pimmit Run (LPR) culvert replacement and channel work project is underway. The County LPR advisory group on storm water management is considering a downstream (Phase 3) project plus upstream measures to control storm water runoff. Detailed planning is underway for the Rock Spring section of the long-awaited Old Dominion Dr. sidewalk, curb and gutter project, which recently began construction near Lee Highway. The County also is planning to resurface and curb parts of Williamsburg Blvd. as well as implement water retention projects there and elsewhere in the RSCA area. Finally, approval of the RSCA Neighborhood Conservation Plan should lead to the funding for other neighborhood improvement projects.

Active citizen involvement is important in all these undertakings to assure that residents know what is happening and can provide their input on desired designs and implementation. To stay on top of them RSCA needs additional volunteers -- especially persons who live in the directly affected neighborhoods. If you have an interest, please contact me at 703-237-8950, or cunninghamrsca@verizon.net.

To learn more about these developments and how RSCA is rejuvenating itself to play an effective role in dealing with them, please visit our new websitewww.rockspringcivicassoc.org and attend the upcoming Annual Meeting. The RSCA bear is out of hibernation and needs your active support.

Carl Cunningham

Northwest Arlington Candidates Night, October 28

Jointly sponsored by RSCA and other civic associations, local candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates and Arlington County Board will speak, debate the issues, and respond to audience questions. Event takes place at Resurrection Lutheran Church, Parish Hall, 6201 N. Washington Blvd., Arlington from 7:30 to 9:20 pm.

RSCA Needs Your Email

There has been a good response to our previous request for your participation in the new RSCA email listserve.  Email would permit us to notify you of RSCA activities, important community meeting dates, county projects planned in your neighborhood, as well as seek your input on concerns and County proposals— without incurring prohibitive mailing costs. For those who haven't done this already, we recommend that you enroll yourself in the Yahoo list we use to email members. All you need do is send an email message addressed to: RSCA_Arlington-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, with a copy to: rsca_arlington-owner@yahoogroups.com. Please type the word "subscribe in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body of the message. In return you will receive a confirmation request from Yahoo — just follow the brief directions and you're done. If you have any difficulty enrolling, you may instead send your email address to Alan Geralnick, RSCA Treasurer, who will do the entry for you - via email (preferred) (rockspringcivic@gmail.com  and mention Alan's name) or mail: 5117 N. 37   St, Arlington, VA 22207. Your email address will not be shared with others without your further permission.

Attachments

Agenda - Rock Spring Civic Association Annual meeting

7:30 P.M., Oct. 20, 2009,  Williamsburg Middle School Library

I           Welcome and Introduction

II          Election of Officers and Board members

II          Approval of Proposed By-Laws

III        Approval of Neighborhood Conservation Plan & Priorities

IV        Key Note Speaker: Dr. Patrick Murphy, Superintendent, APS

V         Other business

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Candidates for Election

Rock Spring Civic Association

at Oct. 20, 2009 Annual Meeting

Officers

President

Carl Cunningham            

3417 N. George Mason Dr.

703-237-8950

Vice President

Mark Luncher                   

3481 N. Emerson St.

703-534-1277

Treasurer

Alan Geralnick 

5117 N. 37^th St.

Secretary

Lillian Ulman    

3706 N. Albemarle St.

Executive Board Directors

Mary Cottrell                    

5530 Yorktown Blvd.

Deirdre Donahue            

4844 Rock Spring Rd.

Charlie Flickner

3416 N. Glebe Rd.

Suzanne Gartner             

3420 George Mason Dr.

Judy Guerrero                  

4836 Rock Spring  Rd.

Sharon Jolly                      

3790 N. Dumbarton St.

Gregg Kurasz                     

3465 N. Edison St.

Paul Michl                          

5118 N. 33^rd St.

John Roberts                    

4906 N. 34^th Rd.

David Wahl                        

4805 Rock Spring Rd.

Kevin Scott                        

5631 Williamsburg blvd