After setback, group angry about DC airplane noise vows to continue fight

(Click on the image for Nick Iannelli's WTOP report)

• The FAA revised flight paths around the United States under the NextGen plan, which uses more precise, satellite-based navigation to save time, increase how many planes airports can handle and reduce fuel burn and emissions.
• In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan has threatened to sue the FAA, saying he has heard from “countless Marylanders” about how aircraft noise around Reagan National and BWI-Marshall airports has made residents “miserable in their own homes.” [Has he heard from you?]
• More information is here. An FAA report proposing concept changes to current arrival and departure flight paths is here.
• DC and Virginia residents are making their complaints known. Maryland residents should also.
• File your complaint here.
• Track the flight activity in to and out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, along with information about each aircraft, and measured noise levels by clicking here. Data is delayed one hour.

Happy Arbor Day: Tree Mulch Basics

(Click on the image for more information)

Mulch volcanoes kill trees! 

See Mike McGrath's WTOP report, "Everything you think you know about tree planting is wrong"

Do Traffic Cameras Really Make Streets Safer?

(Click on the image for  Alan Ehrenhalt's commentary in Governing)

"When I get a ticket for driving 14 miles per hour over the speed limit, I may have reason to be angry. But the cameras aren’t there to make my life easier. They’re there to protect all the other drivers who are threatened by my failure to obey the law. When they work properly, they are a modest price to pay for more safety. That’s why, once I vented a little bit about getting cited for speeding, I calmly wrote a check for $100 and went on about my business."

Traffic deaths in Md. continue to climb

(Click on the image for Kate Ryan's WTOP report)

• In 2017, there were 557 traffic-related deaths, according to information from the Maryland Department of Transportation. That's up 7 percent over the previous year. The number of deaths has been on the rise since 2014.
• Driver behavior can avoid nearly every crash.
• The factors included in roadway fatalities include impaired driving, speeding, distracted driving, not using crosswalks and not wearing seat belts.
• A motor vehicle death has some of the most extensive injuries that medical examiners ever see. You get injuries that are just indescribable.

Computer Tech Support Fraud

(Click on the image for details and advice)

In 2017, the IC3 [Internet Crime Complaint Center] received approximately 11,000 complaints related to tech support fraud. The claimed losses amounted to nearly $15 million, which represented an 86% increase in losses from 2016. While a majority of tech support fraud involves victims in the United States, IC3 has received complaints from victims in 85 different countries.
Criminals may pose as a security, customer, or technical support representative offering to resolve such issues as a compromised e-mail or bank account, a virus on a computer, or to assist with a software license renewal. Some recent complaints involve criminals posing as technical support representatives for GPS, printer, or cable companies, or support for virtual currency exchangers.
As this type of fraud has become more commonplace, criminals have started to pose as government agents, even offering to recover supposed losses related to tech support fraud schemes or to request financial assistance with “apprehending” criminals.

2018 National Night Out

Please see the attached invite letter for the upcoming NNO planning meeting. We would like to incorporate the ideas, suggestions and assistance from the community in making this a great event this year. Pass along this letter to the members of your association (all are welcomed) and be sure to RSVP with Cpl. Blackwell (vablackwell@co.pg.md.us) or Cpl. Rannacher (sdrannacher@co.pg.md.us) no later than May 8th, 2018. I look forward to seeing many communities represented at this meeting.

Thank you to our Spring Clean Up Volunteers

Thank you to the 11 volunteers who came out to help with our spring cleaning: Diane Miceli, Angela Malone Williams, Eric Williams, Jacque & Ed Akselrad, Alvin Burwell, Tony Yates, Carter Ferrington, and Carl Wynn.  In addition to cleaning up along Fort Washington Road, we were able to fill 42 bags of leaves that were left behind from last fall on W. Tantallon Drive near Surrey Circle Drive, as well as numerous branches picked up by Mr. Wynn.   No need for lifting weights today!
Jamie Crist

Just Slow Down

(Click on the image for David Culver's News4 report)

The parents of a baby boy who died when a car struck his stroller in a crosswalk are sharing an important message: "Just slow down."

Looking for Highly Motivated High School Graduates

(Click on the image for more information)

Tantallon Community Players - New Beginnings

Security camera insecurities that may leave U.S. [and you] exposed

(Click on the image for Lisa Fletcher's Seven On Your Side report)

Md. Trooper in Disguise Stops Dozens of Distracted Drivers

(Click on the image for Pat Collins' News4 report)

• In just two hours, state troopers stopped more than 120 cars.
• About 30,000 crashes occurred in Maryland last year because drivers were distracted, police said. Every second with your eyes off the road counts. If you look at your cellphone for five seconds going 55 mph, you travel the distance of a football field, Capt. Dan Pickett said.

[Major Keleti collaborates with Capt. Pickett on MD 210 traffic enforcement. Don't be surprised to see the same technique being used here to crack down on distracted driving.]

Some Drivers Still Don't Get the Message to Slow Down on MD 210

George Washington, Maryland, and Mount Vernon: The Cultural Landscape

(Click on the image for a pdf version of Dr. Pecoraro's presentation at St. John's, Broad Creek)

From Luke J. Pecoraro, PhD:
It was great to meet you at St. John’s this past Sunday. Please reach out if you have any questions – or if you’d like to visit Mount Vernon!
Luke J. Pecoraro, PhD, Director of Archaeology, George Washington’s Mount Vernon
P.O. Box 110, Mount Vernon, Virginia 22121
O: 703.799.6303 | F: 703.799.8670
lpecoraro@mountvernon.org / mountvernon.org

Hazardous Duty on MD 210

From Major Keleti:
This morning [April 17] our traffic unit was rear ended while on a traffic stop at MD 210 and Pine Drive. The officer was transported but should be okay.
At the April 17 District VII Citizens Advisory Council Major Keleti added that the officer was in his vehicle after making the traffic stop. The impact of the rear-ending vehicle broke the seat of the officer's vehicle and drove his vehicle into the car he had stopped. All three people were taken to a hospital.

Six ways, including one few homeowners know about, to right a contractor’s wrongs

(Click on the image for Elisabeth Leamy's Washington Post report)

Note that step 6, "Seek government compensation" is only for people who were harmed by licensed contractors.

Speed-camera violations down 11.8% — and the city [Chicago] credits drivers for that.

(Click on the image for Tanveer Ali's report in the Chicago Sun Times)

• This year through March 29, drivers had been caught speeding by one of Chicago’s 151 speed cameras 208,891 times, a Sun-Times analysis of city data found. That’s down 11.8 percent from the same period in 2017.
• While a snowy February might have contributed to that drop, City Hall also credits drivers who slow down because of the cameras.
• “There are several factors at work here, most importantly improved driver behavior,” says Michael Claffey, spokesman for the city Department of Transportation.
• Claffey notes that the number of violations has been decreasing since the city began using speed cameras in 2014. He calls the cameras program “an effective tool that encourages drivers to slow down and observe the speed limit.”

Maryland Leaders Urge Drivers to Slow Down

(Click on the image for Megan McGrath's News4 report)

• "As Maryland begins its busiest construction year ever, local Maryland leaders are asking drivers to slow down. From 2016 to 2017, the number of deaths involving work crews doubled."
• e-Road Ready highlights major road construction and maintenance projects. [Currently, there are 11 projects shown for Prince George's County.]

In Maryland: Final tally in record year: 890 bills passed, 142 already law

By Len Lazarick, April 10, 2018, in MarylandReporter.com: "In a record year in which 3,127 bills and joint resolutions were introduced, 890 bills or 28% were passed and 142 have already become laws, most of them (114) in Tuesday’s [April 10] bill signing."
A list of the bills that passed both chambers this year is here.

Speed Camera on Indian Head Highway After Woman's Death

(Click on the image for Tracee Wilkins' News4 report)

April 10, 2018:

"It's one of the most dangerous roads in the D.C. area. And now it has a new speed camera. The mother of a woman killed on the road this year spoke with News4's Tracee Wilkins about how much that means to her."

(Click on the image for Chris Gordon's News4 report)

April 9, 2018:

• School security, speed cameras, and Metro funding among the bills passed on the last day.
• Delegate Valderrama, sponsor of the speed camera bill, says speed cameras are to save lives and if you don't want a speed camera fine - slow down.