You are invited to attend a celebration of academic excellence demonstrated by students from your community. The celebration takes place on Friday, February 24, 2012, at 7:00pm. Parents, faculty, community members, and PGCPS leadership will demonstrate their support of academic excellence by attending a Celebration and Reception for Northwestern High School's 408 Second Quarter Honor Roll and 284 Perfect Attendance Award recipients.

The theme for this special program is "Excellence Without Excuse: Our R.O.A.R. Gets Louder.” In addition to performances by Northwestern's award-winning Music Department, NJROTC Drill Team, and others, the celebration will feature special performances by PGCPS Board Member Amber P. Waller, leading the Marching Band during the ceremony and Prince George's County Councilman Will A. Campos, who will play his saxophone with the Jazz Band during the reception.

Along with the honorees, families and its staff, local schools and community organizations to include churches, fraternities and sororities, Northwestern expects to be graced with the presence of many local officials and community leaders. This is where you come in. It would be a great show of support for these students if you could participate in this event. The students and staff of Northwestern are working hard to continue to do great things in this school and in the community. It would be a wonderful gesture if you could represent these constituents in your community by attending this event and showing your support of Northwestern students.

According to Principal Edgar P. Batenga, “Our mission is to continue to transform Northwestern High School into a world-class school. Our student body exemplifies the tenets of R.O.A.R: Respect, Opportunity, Achievement, and Responsibility. We praise our students for exhibiting the principles of R.O.A.R. and for theiracademic accomplishments and exemplary attendance.” I hope you will be able to attend this important event. Supporting your constituents in this way will go a long way to help in transforming this school. If you are able to participate, please contact Douglass Jones, Assistant Principal at 301-985-1820 or via email at dfjones@pgcps.org. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for considering this. I hope to see you there. Best regards,
Chris Hinojosa

For more information contact Chris Hinojosa at:

hinojosa@umd.edu
tel) 301-405-6286
fax) 301-314-9583

ELECTRONIC RECYCLING

Resident, our Public Works Department will be conducting its Electronic Recycling Event for 2012 on March 17, 2012, from 9 AM - 1 PM at the Public Works Department in Mount Rainier. Come on out and be a part of this event. It is just one of the things that we are doing to keep our environment footprint as small as possible.

Got other ideas you would like to see happening in Mount Rainier? Great, contact City Hall and become a memmber of Mount Rainier's Green Team! The number to City Hall is 301-985-6585 or send and email to jwallace@mountrainiermd.org and express your interest to join the Green Team.

Wintry Weather Headed OUR WAY!

Pepco Prepared for Rush Hour Rain, Sleet, and Snow
Wintry Weather Could Prove Hazardous, Customers Need to Prepare

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Pepco is closely monitoring the wintry mix that has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Winter Weather Advisory for northern portions of the Washington Metro Area. The National Weather Service predicts that later today the local region will experience a wintry mix of rain, sleet, and snow at the onset, changing over to all snow that will continue through the end of the evening commute. No ice accumulation is expected. Largest snow accumulations will occur in northern sections of Montgomery County.

Heavy wet snow can weigh down tree limbs bringing them into contact with power lines causing power outages. Also, the combination of wet snow, and rain, can adversely affect saturated soil causing trees already weakened by previous storms to fall onto power lines and equipment causing power outages.

In anticipation of the inclement weather, Pepco has scheduled additional line personnel and tree trimming crews for this evening and through tomorrow morning. Pepco will continue to monitor the weather and customer outage activity, and can adjust its resource plans accordingly throughout the evening.

PLEASE CALL TO REPORT OUTAGES AND ASK FOR CALL BACK

Customers are urged to report outages and downed wires by calling, 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662) and follow the prompts. Customers may also report outages by visiting pepco.com.
Customers’ reports are extremely vital to Pepco’s restoration efforts. Combined with other customer calls and Pepco’s technology, it helps the company identify the precise location of outages more quickly. Pepco also recommends that when reporting an outage, customers request a call back to confirm their power has been restored.


Pepco urges its customers to prepare for potential power outages and act to ensure their safety. Here are some tips:

• Have adequate prescription medicines and/or infant supplies on hand.
• If a customer or someone the customer knows uses life-support equipment that requires electricity to operate, identify a location with emergency power capabilities and make plans to go there during a prolonged outage.
• Assemble an emergency "storm kit." Include a battery-powered radio or television, flashlight, a first-aid kit, battery-powered or windup clock, extra batteries, special needs items, an insulated cooler, and a list of important and emergency phone numbers.
• Keep at least a three-day supply of non-perishable foods and bottled water and have a hand-operated can opener available.
• Have a telephone with a cord or cell phone to use as a backup. Cordless telephones require electricity to operate, and will not work if there is an outage.
• Protect electronic equipment. Unplug sensitive electronics or plug computers and other sensitive equipment into surge suppressors, and consider a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for temporary battery backup power.
• Turn off power to flood-prone basement appliances, if it is safe to do so. However, if the customer has an electrically operated sump pump, the customer should not turn off the power.

Safety Tips

• Stay away from downed wires.
• Tune to local news broadcasts for the latest weather and emergency information.
• Follow the advice of local emergency management officials.
• Take cover if necessary.
For more information and updates, visit www.pepco.com and follow Pepco at ww.twitter.com/PepcoConnect.

####

Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 789,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.




=================

Jerry Pasternak
VP Pepco Region
Maryland Affairs
701 Ninth Street, NW
Suite 9212
Washington, DC 20068

(202) 872-2524 (office)
(202) 872-2032 (fax)

INTERESTED Growing Community Gardens

Save the Date for

Growing Community Gardens

A gathering for Prince George’s County gardeners to build community, learn from each other, and gain gardening skills

Saturday, March 24, 2012, 10 am – 3 pm

University of Maryland Center for Educational Partnership,
6200 Sheridan St., Riverdale, MD 20737

Join us for workshops, a panel discussion, and lunch

$20 per person

Register at http://growingcommunitygardens.eventbrite.com/. Contact Christie Balch at cbalch@umd.edu for more information or to register by mail.

Sponsored by University of Maryland Extension Prince George’s County

Co-sponsored by:
Eric C. Olson, Council Member, District 3, Prince George’s County Council
Ingrid M. Turner, Council Member, District 4, Prince George’s County Council
MOM’s Organic Market

University of Maryland Extension programs are open to everyone without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, or disability.

Warmly,

Christie Balch
University of Maryland Extension Program Coordinator
Center for Educational Partnership
6200 Sheridan St.
Riverdale, MD 20737

Mount Rainier seeks proposals from qualified developers!

January 31, 2012

The City of Mount Rainier is seeking proposals from qualified developers for the purchase and redevelopment of an approximately 32,906 square foot site located in the Town Center of the City of Mount Rainier, at the northeast corner of the intersection of Eastern Avenue in Mount Rainier, Maryland. Bid package documents are available via a link on the city’s website at www.mountrainiermd.org. Users are directed to click on the Economic Development tab on the home page, and then click on the “documents” tab on the left hand column to download the following documents and links:

• Mount Rainier Town Center Urban Renewal Plan (June 2004)
• Site Analysis Torti Gallas and Partners, March 31, 2010
• Land Disposition Agreement (LDA)
• Market Study: Partners for Economic Solutions/Green Door Advisors, May 25, 2009
• RFP for Mount Rainier Town Center Development (January 31, 2012)
• Site Boundary Survey (January 2011)
• Zoning, Prince George’s County, SUBTITLE 27. ZONING http://egov.co.pg.md.us/lis/default.asp?File=&Type=TOC
• Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission Mixed Use Town Center (M-U-T-C) guidelines http://www.pgplanning.org/Resources/Publications/Mount_Mount_Rainier_MixedUse.htm
• Approved Section and Section Map Amendment for the Gateway Arts District (11/04 http://www.pgplanning.org/page10253.aspx

An informational meeting pre/bid conference is scheduled for February 29, 2012 at the City of Mount Rainier Municipal Building, One Municipal Place, Mount Rainer, MD 20712.

Please feel free to direct inquiries to Jeannelle Wallace, City Manager, at the above referenced phone number or by email to jwallace@mountrainiermd.org

LET ME HEAR FROM YOU!

The Maryland General Assembly will be discussing the following potential sources of new income form Maryland, and I need YOUR opinions on each of them.

Would you be supportive of a new

· Gas Tax

· Gambling Slots

· Bag Tax

· Sales Tax increase

· $100K+ income tax increase (recently proposed by Governor O’Malley)-- the numbers provided below are extremely rough estimates.

Here's additional information for you to consider on each of the above as provided by Senator Victor Ramirez.

· Gas Tax -- A 15 cent gas tax is proposed over a 3 year period expected to generate $471 million in revenues for the State.

Gambling Slots/Tables -- Slots only are expected to generate $360 million

Slots and table games are expected to generate an estimated $650 million

5-cent Bag Tax -- This is a fee to be charged and collected per disposable carryout bag provided to a customer. This is a fee not subject to sales or use tax. Stores may retain 1 cent of every nickel fee collected. If they opt to participate in a credit program then they may retain 2 cents for every nickel. This bill may prove to have a substantial positive financial impact on small businesses. The bill is expected to generate $5 million for the state after small business deductions. The revenue estimate is based on estimated participation rates.

· Online Sellers Sales Tax – expected to generate $21 million

· Income tax increase and caps on personal exemptions for singles making over $100k and couples making over $150k -- expected to generate $280 million

SEND your response to mayormiles@gmail.com. NEEDED ASAP!

MAIL FRAUD -- If it is too good to be true, it is PROBABLY not True!

Mount Rainier's Police Chief reported the following:

Mail fraud – 1:15 pm. Officers spoke with the victim who said that she had received a letter notifying her that she had won $125,000. The letter included a check for $3,875 to cover taxes on the winnings and instructions that she was to cash the check and then send the money to an address in London, England via Western Union. Several days after complying with this process she was informed by her bank that the check she cashed was no good.

Residents, usually, NO ONE gives away money. If it is too good to be true, before you accept it on face values, thoroughly check it out before getting caught up in it and taken to the cleaners. This is a hard lesson to learn, but an ounce of prevention is often better than a pound of cure.

Stay AWAY from "Forensic Loan Audits."

Escalating foreclosures provide criminals with the opportunity to exploit and defraud vulnerable homeowners seeking financial guidance. One of the newest foreclosure rescue schemes, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is known as a "forensic loan audit." In exchange for an up-front fee of several hundred dollars, so-called forensic loan auditors, mortgage loan auditors, or foreclosure prevention auditors who are backed by forensic attorneys, offer to review mortgage loan documents.

The documents are reviewed to determine whether a homeowner's lender complied with state and federal mortgage lending laws. The "auditors" claim you can use the audit report to avoid foreclosure, speed up the loan modification process, reduce the loan principal, or even cancel the loan. According to the FTC and its law enforcement partners, there is no evidence that forensic loan audits will help get a loan modification or any foreclosure relief. To make their pitch, this new breed of foreclosure rescuer looks for homeowners in distress, especially those already facing foreclosure.

For more information see the Consumer Affairs website at http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2011/12/dont-fall-for-a-loan-audit-scam.html

Mayor and Council Work Session Agenda 1/17/2012

MAYOR AND COUNCIL WORKSESSION
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, UPPER LEVEL
7:00 PM

DISCUSSION TOPICS

Develop criteria for 3200 block of Rhode Island Avenue /Council / 30 minutes
Permanent barriers at Perry Street location /Bolin/Jan Townshend / 20 minutes
CIP Plan – Discussion /Council/Mike Jackson / 15 minutes
Purchasing Ordinance /Ivy Thompson / 15 minutes
Code Enforcement Compliance Committee /Mayor Miles / 15 minutes
Assistance Fund for Mount Rainier Residents in Need /Tarlau / 10 minutes
Recreation Council requirements (partnership with Town of Brentwood?) / Mayor
Federal Highway Enhancement Program /Updike / 10 minutes
MR Sustainability Plan/ Sustainable Maryland Certified /Updike / 10 minutes
Uncurbed food truck temporary suggestions for vacant spaces /Mayor / 10 minutes

General public comment limited to one minutes per person per subject matter

Rules for Speakers

The Mayor and City Council invite and welcome comments at public meetings. The Mayor or presiding officer will recognize you. Please introduce yourself at the podium (spelling your last name, for recording purposes) and give the name of your street and block number (e.g., 4300 block of 34th St.). Time limits for speaking are indicated on the meeting agenda.
While speaking, please maintain a courteous tone and avoid personal attacks.

If you wish to lodge a complaint about the performance or conduct of any City employee, please bring your concern to the attention of the City Manager, who will look into the matter and respond to you.

As a courtesy to other residents and businesses, the Council requests that speakers not use specific addresses or names of individuals when describing a situation or making a complaint. Noting the block is preferred over a specific address.

Code enforcement and public safety issues should first be brought to the attention of the appropriate department and/or one of your Council members.

Please Note: Pursuant to the Annotated Code of Maryland, State Government Article Section 10-508(a), the Council by majority vote may retire to executive or closed session at any time during the meeting. Should the Council retire to executive or closed session, the chair will announce the reasons and a report will be issued at a future meeting disclosing the reasons for such session.

THANK YOU to Mount Rainier's Police Department

A Mount Rainier resident sent a major shout out to the Mount Rainier Police Department. Here's what she said:

Chief Scott,

We just wanted to write to thank you and your officers for responding to the calls for police attention at ________. A couple of weeks ago -- the call for the woman screaming/fighting with someone in their back yard that resulted in a couple of arrests. We are right next door to that house and it is a constant problem -- people hanging out in front (or in back) all night being loud, yelling, carrying on, drinking, doing PCP, throwing trash all over the block, and who knows what else -- and since that arrest, the house has been quiet. I guess the young man who was arrested who lives there doesn't want to jeopardize his bond. In any case, we just wanted to let you know that we very much appreciated the police department's intervention. I know you all were just doing your job, but it has meant a rare period of peace and quiet for the block that is much needed.

Best,

What's the message here? Here things, see things, know things that are suspicious in our neighborhood -- CALL OUR POLICE 301-985-6565! The response time is quick, and the officers know our neighborhood.

FiOS TV Enhanced for Business package will be increasing by $10.00 a month

This is to inform you of rate changes to Verizon’s FiOS® TV for business service as fully described in the attached customer notice. Due to the rising cost of providing quality premium programming, the FiOS TV Enhanced for Business package will be increasing by $10.00 a month, effective March 17, 2012.

We realize that our customers have other alternatives for entertainment and our goal is to offer the best choice and value in the industry. Verizon appreciates the opportunity to conduct business in your community.

Should you or your staff have any questions, please contact me at 212-406-6443 or email darian.e.gill@verizon.com.

Martin Luther King, Jr Celebration

On Monday, January 16, 2012, Joe's Movement Emporium will host the third annual MLK program. RESIDENTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES are invited to come out and be a part of this great celebration.

The AGENDA/PROGRAM

10-11:30am Community Activity and Projects with Quilt of Valor

11:30am to 1:00pm A Grand Performance

1:00pm until 2ish Lunch

There will be guests speakers

Buffalo Baptist Church Choir

Students in Art Education will also be performing

Want to RSVP: VISIST www.joesmovement.org

WE WANT TO SEE YOU THERE: 3309 Bunker Hill Road Mount Rainier, MD 20712-1922

(301) 699-1819

Want to Become a MASTER GARDNER?

BECOME A MARYLAND MASTER GARDENER

The Maryland Master Gardener Program is designed to train participants as volunteer horticultural educators to help Maryland residents.

Participants receive 50 hours of basic training from University faculty staff and Master Gardeners, and complete 40 hours of required volunteer service during the first year to receive certification.

2012 SPRING MASTER GARDENER BASIC TRAINING BEGINS:

DATES: Monday, March 5th and every Monday and Wednesday until May 9th

TIME: 6:00pm – 9:30pm every Monday and Wednesday.

PLACE: 4-H Center, College Park, MD

COST: $200 for Prince George’s County residents; $300 for non county residents

Interested?? Contact Esther Mitchell at estherm@umd.edu or 301 868-8781 for an application.

Please consider your time, whether you will be able to complete the training, and, the required 40 hours of volunteer service.

Just heard from Christie Balch, and I wanted to pass along the word about the Master Gardener Program in Prince George’s County. The flyer is posted in this message. A volunteer application can be picked up from Mount Rainier City Hall. For more info, contact Esther Mitchell at estherm@umd.edu.

The Mount Rainier Tool Shed Committee is supporting this endeavor and encourage interested RESIDENTS to PLEASE participate.

From the Desk of Mayor Miles: SAFE and Happy New Year

From the Desk of Mayor Miles: SAFE and Happy New Year: From our County Executive, Rushern Baker New Year's is a time for celebration, not tragedy. Do your part: don't drink and drive. With the ...

SAFE and Happy New Year

From our County Executive, Rushern Baker

New Year's is a time for celebration, not tragedy. Do your part: don't drink and drive. With the SoberRide program offering free taxi rides all evening, there's no excuse to put yourself and others at risk. Call SoberRide toll-free at 800-200-TAXI and check out the article below for more details. Here's to a fun, safe, and happy New Year's Eve!

From the Washington Post

SoberRide offers free trip home
By Mark Berman

Area residents who drink have an easy way to avoid driving: The SoberRide program, which provides free taxi rides to people who shouldn’t be behind the wheel, runs through Sunday morning.

The service is available to people age 21 and older and covers a cab fare up to $30 (riders have to cover anything over that amount). Area residents can call SoberRide toll-free at 800-200-TAXI each night from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.

SoberRide is available in the District as well as Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, eastern Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park) and Maryland (Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and the cities of Rockville, Bowie, College Park, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt and Takoma Park).

The Mayor Speaks Out on Youth Violence

Something must be done to address youth violence in the Mount Rainier, Brentwood, and North Brentwood neighborhoods. Law enforcement alone will not solve this problem. Pushing money at the problem will not solve the problem. Putting more police on the streets will not solve the problem. Increasing police on the streets supplement overtime pay for officers, increases the City's expenses, and forces crime to a different location.

These supplemental actions (as of yet) has not had any input from those who it affects the most—the City’s young people. This must change. We want our streets safe. We want our young people involved, and yet they have not been invited to the table.

On Wednesday, December 28, 2011, Team Mount Rainier Against Violence Society (Team MAVS) was formed. Its purpose is to work with our Youth, Mayor and Council, and other residents to address youth violence in the City.

City policies that affect young people will be reviewed. It is suspected that there are more policies and codes on the books about dogs and other animals than there are about the City's youth. I will be proposing that there be a review of curfew laws and their impact on youth.

Knowing that most crimes committed by minors are during specific after-school hours, the City must invest in after-school programs and activities that are age appropriate. We must stop letting our older teens invent their own entertainment. Programs for our youth must be developed in conjunction with our youth, their parents, the schools, and Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC). This will require the community sitting down with the youth and these stakeholders to create effective programs and activities.

The key to deterring late-night youth violence is to provide alternatives to the streets in the form of entertainment venues. There should be weekly and monthly organized events and activities for our youth that build healthy character. The old shove them off the streets attitude and tactics have simply not worked! There needs to be a safe place and space for our teens to get off the streets, protect the community, and even have some fun in the process.

This, of course, will require some funding from various sources, but should be a priority for the City of Mount Rainier! The budget for such planning is estimated to cost about $100,000, most of which could come from grant. Until the City is able to raise the kind of money needed to help build a facility for its youth, most of this funding would be spent on providing secure transportation back and forth to current MNCPPC parks and recreation centers. City police would be involved in making this transportation possible using the City's van and caller-a-bus. It would also require the hiring of a youth program and events coordinator that would work with the Mount Rainier Youth Council, Police Department, MNCPPC, and the community's youth and parents to determine appropriate activities and events.

Rather than patrolling the streets in their cars all night where their only interactions with youth are punitive, police officers could be used for proactive measures. Police officers could be very useful as a quiet deterrent at events, during transportation to and from events, and sitting in on planning meetings of the shareholders. Police officers could also be useful as a precautionary insurance policy outside of events. This proposal would simultaneously provide safety, without the youth feeling menaced by the police, build relationships with the youth in the community, and provide parents and the community with a safer environment. In addition, police could be working alongside the youth to make the community safer.

This is all needed because youth in Mount Rainier deserve better than what they have been given over the years. For example, the nearest "free" swimming pool is in Chillum. The pool in the community is and has been out of reach for our youth. Although improving, the Nature Center does not provide an outlet for youth 15 to 22 years of age.

In light of all of the issues surrounding the complexities of violence, the Mayor calls for the following actions:

• Police Department—review and report data to access the role youth 13 and over truly play in contributing to violence in our community, youth arrests, criminal activity, and homicides.

• Mayor and Council —host a public forum on youth recreation and youth violence in the community with youth(13 to 22) participation.

• Mayor and Council —prepare an outline of how they will address youth recreation and violence in the City of Mount Rainier, with a review of curfew laws, their implementation and/or prohibitions, specifically in regards to how youth will be detained and where they will be taken should such a law becomes policy, and budget/funding.

• MNCPPC—review it budget, protocol, and past recreational services in the City of Mount Rainier, providing recommendations for assisting the City in addressing it youth recreation and youth violence issues.

The need for real, comprehensive violence prevention is desperately needed, and the only good solutions are those that begin and end with community involvement, and where law enforcement is a mere tool when needed rather than the centerpiece. The City must open its ears to the voices of what is so often called this City’s future—our young people.

The City needs to provide solutions that our young people believe will work because so far the City has done very little to engage our youth, and the results are obvious! Another murder of a youth in Mount Rainier is UNACCEPTABLE!

PEACE and BLESSINGS today and ALWAYS

On this day that we have set aside to honor the birth of Jesus, I want to take a moment to say to all of my family, friends, neighbors, residents and others that it is truly a blessing to have you in my life. I am sure that we all have different feelings and beliefs, but I also know that we have one thing in common, and without it we cannot live -- AIR.

We are all breathing the same AIR. We exchange it between us regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sexual preference, nationality, etc. It is exchanged without purification. It is what it is, and today it is no different. So whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or nothing, our similarities are greater than our differences, and so I extend to you peace, love, blessings, respect, hope, and all those things that just by our humanness we hold dear, and WHOLEHEARTEDLY wish them to you and yours today and every day into the future.

Viewing and Wake Scheduled

One of our young residents departed this life on Friday, December 16. The Family has provided the following information:

Dontae John Cook
Sunrise: August 25, 1995
Sunset: December 16, 2011

Viewing and Service
Monday, December 26, 2011
Viewing: 8:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Service: 10:00 a.m.

New Horizon Christian Faith Church
2211 Varnum Street
Mount Rainier, MD 20712

Repass
Mount Rainier Nature and
Recreation Center
4701 31st Place
Mount Rainier, Maryland 20712

Intermittent
National Harmony Hills Cemetery
7101 Sheriff Road
Landover, MD 20785

John and Dania Cook
Sister, Dajona Cook
3202 Upshur Street
Mount Rainier, MD 20712
301.779.5515

A trust fund is being established
for “Dontae John Cook.” Details
will be provided once finalized.

STOPPING the VIOLENCE

What's on my mind? This morning that is an excellent question. For the past two weeks, I have pondered what can be done to help our young men and women understand that violence is not the answer. Two Fridays in a row, our community has lost TWO young men ages 21 and 17 to gun violence. Senseless destruction of families, friendships, community and the sense of peace that one gets living in our community.

Guns have their place in our society -- law enforcement, the military, etc., but not in the hands of our juveniles! When guns are used for violence, they do not destroy just the person that got shot, but the shooter, both families, AND the communities in which both the shooter and the victim were participants. TODAY, my shout out is a PLEA to the young men and women in Mount Rainier, Brentwood, and North Brentwood. PLEASE PLEASE stop the violence. Let's find other ways to resolve our differences.

I am organizing a mediation program in Mount Rainier to address some of the differences and the disputes that young people are having with each other. For many of you, the skills were taught at Mount Rainier Elementary under Mr. C (Mr. Cantano who started the peace parade at Mount Rainier Elementary, and carried on by Ms. Reid the current principal at Mount Rainier).

Some how we have forgotten to respect life -- ours and that of our neighbors. We have walked away from values, such as honor, integrity, honesty, working for a living, helping one another, choosing right over wrong. Moral values are the standards of good and evil, which govern an individual’s behavior and choices. Each of us are born with it and our religious beliefs, government, community, family, friends and associates all work together to define those values.

I am ashamed to be a part of a community that says it is alright to shoot and to kill for pleasure, for things, and for no reason at all! This is Mount Rainier. This is our HOME. Respect it.

MNCPPC's New Nixle Community Messaging Service

December 1, 2011


SUBJECT: New “Nixle” Community Messaging Service

This week, the Department of Parks and Recreation has launched a new community notification and messaging service called “Nixle” to improve communication with people who live, work, and recreate in our area. The system provides a quick, efficient, and secure way to get neighborhood-level information out to community members who subscribe to the system. Through www.nixle.com, the Department will be able to send text message (SMS) and e-mail alerts to subscribers in a specific area (down to a quarter of a mile) or the whole community.

Notifications could include weather-related Departmental closures and program cancellations, incidents such as a broken water main that might cause one particular facility to be closed, or a young child who walks away from a program—in that case, the alert could include a picture of the child with a map identifying the area where they were last seen. Other uses might include trail access updates, or even parking notifications at large festivals and events.

Through Nixle, we will deliver messages securely to subscribers (including staff) by e-mail and cell phone, supporting and expanding our community outreach efforts. Any public messages we send out via Nixle to post instantly on our website and on our Departmental Facebook page and Twitter feed, as well.

Obviously, the system will be most effective when we have large numbers of subscribers. You will soon see our registration campaign on www.pgparks.com, in the e-newsletter, on Facebook and Twitter, and on flyers at the front counter of facilities. We’re also issuing a challenge to all staff to ask five friends, neighbors or family members to sign up before the holidays! Please help us spread the word about our use of the system and add this information to the bottom of your e-mail signature: “Get up-to-the-minute notifications from the M-NCPPC Department of Parks and Recreation by e-mail and text: sign up at www.pgparks.com ”.

Nixle is a secure communications service available only to municipal, county, and state government agencies. The system is available at no cost to our customers and residents (standard text message rates will apply for subscribers who do not have text plans with their cell phone providers). Subscribers can receive technical and non-technical assistance directly from Nixle by sending email to support@nixle.com.

Sign up today: go to www.pgparks.com, click on the Nixle widget on the left side of the page, and follow the simple registration steps.

Nixle messaging is managed 24/7 by our Public Affairs and Marketing Division, with support from the Help Desk.