ASPEN HILL CIVIC ASSOCIATION, Inc.

Welcome to the website of the Aspen Hill Civic Association (AHCA). Aspen Hill is a an unincorporated area in central Montgomery County, Maryland. Apparently its name came from the aspen trees that once were found near the first post office in the area. That post office was located in a general store on what was then known as the Washington-Brookeville Pike (now known as Georgia Avenue) near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue. That was about 1864. It is interesting to note that the current Aspen Hill Post Office is located in almost the exact same position.

The Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. (AHCA) as an organization is not quite that old. It was formed about 1980. According to our constitution, the boundaries of the Association includes the region bounded by Georgia Avenue on the east, Bel Pre Road on the north (includes all properties on both sides of Bel Pre Road), to Norbeck Road, to Rock Creek and then to Veirs Mill Road on the west, and to the southern boundary of Matthew Henson State Park, and back over to Georgia Avenue. Aspen Hill also includes the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department Station No. 21 (see map). According to the 2000 census this area includes 6222 homes and probably about 20,000 people. The subdivisions contained in this area include: Wheaton Woods; English Manor; Harmony Hills; Rock Creek Village; Brookhaven, Bel Pre Woods, and Rock Creek Valley. The Associations' membership year is from October 1st to September 30th and the dues are $7.00 per person or $12.00 per household. If you become a member, in addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling you get(!), you will receive at least two yearly newsletters, occasional email updates on items of interest to the community, and the ability to vote for who you would like to see as Board members of this organization.

The AHCA promotes maintaining our community as a clean, beautiful and safe single-family residential area, a nice place to live. We work to keep our members informed about County Housing and other Codes and regulations, and about proposed or actual changes to the County Codes. We also promote member awareness of proposed changes of any kind which the County or State may plan for our area. Major concerns are proposed changes in neighborhood roadway intersections, which are scheduled to occur in the near future. We will do our best to keep our members informed of these things as we find out about them, and we often have County officials present their plans and activities to our meetings, both our monthly Board of Directors meetings as well as the twice yearly General Membership meetings. These meetings are always held at the Aspen Hill Library (on Aspen Hill Road, near Parkland Ave.), in the downstairs meeting room. We will do our best to assure that the concerns of the members will reach the appropriate officials of the County or State. Any resident of the area is cordially invited to attend both the General Membership meetings (May and October), as well as the monthly Board meetings, especially if they have a specific concern they wish to share.

In addition, during election years we usually hold candidate forums, with local candidates invited to speak at a special or scheduled meeting, where you can ask them questions on what their views are on a variety of subjects, and what they plan to do if elected.

2009-2010 New Board of Directors

The October 26, 2009 General Membership Meeting had as one of its major subjects the election of the Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. Board of Directors. The new Board and officers are shown here. Note that the subdivisions they live in are also shown. The Association feels it needs the opinions and views from many different sections of our Civic Association area to properly function. Please strongly consider joining the Board in our future elections, the next one only a few months from now in October of 2010. If your subdivision is not represented on the Board, you are especially encouraged to submit your name to be nominated for the Board.

There is no limitation as to the number of representatives from any one subdivision that may be on the Board, so all interested persons are encouraged to apply. Members are elected in the October General membership meeting, which will be held this year on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010, starting at 7:30 PM, in the basement meeting room of the Aspen Hill Library. If you feel that you cannot join, ask around to your neighbors and actively recruit your neighbors. The Community needs all of our help in making Aspen Hill a better place to live!

If you would like to know more about the Association or would like to ask questions or volunteer your help for community activities in the area, please contact us at the email address shown at the bottom of the list of Board members. A representative from your subdivision might be particularly helpful in answering specific questions.

For volunteering for the Board of Directors and/or for more information about the functions of the Board of Directors, you may also contact our membership chair: David Polinsky, Phone: 301-460-4874, Email: DAP1049@COMCAST.NET

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AHCA Meeting Minutes

......Minutes of June 2010

......Minutes of May 2010

......Minutes of April 2010

......Minutes of March 2010

......Minutes of February 2010

......Minutes of January 2010

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LINKS OF INTEREST

...MONTGOMERY COUNTY ADOPTS NEW 311 NON-EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBER! You can now call 311 for ALL Montgomery County phone numbers, and the operator will transfer you to the appropriate department. Read about it in more detail on this card(in both English and Spanish).

... MAP with Boundaries of the Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc.

...One of our County Council members, Duchy Trachtenberg (At large) has been especially proactive in providing up-to-date information for county residents. To see what she has to say on a variety of subjects you can read it on her county web page, or you can sign up to receive her emailed newsletter personally.

...Web site of Montgomery County, MD.

...Speed camera locations. (Note: Click on appropriate box at top to locate fixed speed cameras, mobile speed cameras, and red light cameras. Also note that camera locations may be changed, so keep aware of signs.)

...Online Montgomery County Services.

...Pothole repair Services. (Note: This really works!)

...Friends of the Aspen Hill Library

...Weekly Updates of Community and Public Service News called Connected Communities. (Note: For your information we are in Mont. Co. Police District 4.)

.........Location of AHCA in Police District 4

...Crime reports for our area

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A listing of currently scheduled activities for our area is below for your information. If available, contact information is included with the individual announcements.

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Activities in the Aspen Hill area

Sep. 13, Mon. - AHCA Board of Directors Meeting, Aspen Hill Library, 7:30 PM (All Welcome!)

Oct. 16, Sat. - Community Festival at the Aspen Hill Library. 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Games for kids! Clowns! Fire truck! Fun!

Oct. 20, Wed. - AHCA General Membership Meeting, Aspen Hill Library. 7:30 PM (All Welcome!)

Nov. 13, Wed. - Used Book Sale, Aspen Hill Library. 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM Used books of all types, inexpensive!

Nov. 17, Wed. - AHCA Board of Directors Meeting, Aspen Hill Library, 7:30 PM (All Welcome!)

Dec. 15, Mon. - AHCA Board of Directors Meeting, Aspen Hill Library, 7:30 PM (All Welcome!)

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Rockville NEWS ITEMS FROM THE MONTGOMERY GAZETTE by Nesa Nourmohammadi- Gazette

CREDIT CARD SKIMMER FOUND BY CUSTOMER IN ROCKVILLE
Cases of a hard-to-detect form of credit card fraud are showing up more frequently in the Washington, D.C., region, police say, including a recent case in Rockville, where a skimming device that reads encrypted credit card data was found in a Wachovia Bank branch Automated Teller Machine. A credit card skimmer is a device that utilizes a card scanner and camera to capture an individual's credit card information. The skimmer is placed over the card slot reader and reads the magnetic swipe, while a hidden camera works in tandem to record the personal identification number, called a PIN. Once the confidential information is collected, thieves are free to use it for personal use, police say. The skimmer found in Rockville was discovered by a customer using the Wachovia ATM in Congressional Plaza April 3. Despite being relatively unknown to the general public, skimmers are not difficult to detect, Mengedoht said. "The skimming attachment protrudes from the card slot. If you go up to where the slot is at, you can tell something is off," he said. "You can certainly feel around before you put your card in." The card-reading attachment often is held together with double-sided tape, making it easy to remove, Mengedoht said. Bank customers who see a credit card skimmer should remove it from the machine and turn it in to a bank employee, he said. They should not stand by and wait, as the thieves sometimes lurk near the ATM to monitor activity. Mengedoht said "multiple cases of skimming" were reported in the metropolitan area during the past couple months. The Rockville skimming device is the second such device found on a D.C.-area Wachovia Bank ATM this year, police said. On Feb. 28, a skimmer found in an ATM machine in the 3600 block of King Street in Alexandria resulted in the theft of more than $60,000 from Wachovia bank accounts. Local ATMs from other banks, including Bank of America and M&T Bank, also have been found with skimmers attached, police said. Montgomery County Police are cooperating with law enforcement officials in Connecticut, Florida and Virginia on cases they think might be linked. Kodjanian said customers also should be vigilant when using their bank cards for purchases. "Our customers are key partners in these efforts," he said. "We encourage everyone to pay careful attention to the card readers they use frequently, whether at the bank, the gas station or any other point of sale, and notify the proprietor immediately if they notice anything unusual."

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by Melissa J. Brachfeld, Gazette

WELCOME SIGN DEMOLISHED - The Aspen Hill Civic Association plans to replace a welcome sign members believe was destroyed by a vehicle this summer. The green and gold sign on Parkland Drive east of Veirs Mill Road touted a friendly "Welcome to Aspen Hill." It was one of two welcome signs in Aspen Hill and was installed by the civic association as a symbol of neighborhood pride in 2000. Alexandra Minckler, president of the civic association, said she thinks the sign was struck in June, but there is no police report on the incident, county police spokeswoman Officer Melanie Brenner said. Residents believe it happened in the middle of the night. Minckler said tire marks were visible in the grass leading up to the sign, which was knocked off one of its posts. Members of the civic association's Board of Directors had already been discussing replacing the sign before it was hit because it was weathered and showing its age. The sign also sustained damage in December 2000 when vandals broke it into five pieces, but had been repaired by residents. Minckler said she had called the county's Department of Transportation last week and found out the Civic Association may qualify for matching funds through a county beautification program to replace the sign and do some landscaping around it. Minckler hopes to have it replaced by early fall. "It's good for us to put a good face forward because that is a very visible location," Minckler said. (Staff Writer Margie Hyslop contributed to this report.) (Note by Webmaster: That is the sign shown at the top of this web site!)

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by Melissa J. Brachfeld, Gazette

CIVIC ASSOCIATION WANTS TO HELP CLEAN UP PET CEMETERY - The civic association hopes to pitch in and help save the buildings in Aspin Hill Memorial Park from demolition. "It's silly for something of that size and interest to languish," civic group president Alexandra Minckler said. Members of the board have long been concerned about the fate of the storied pet and people cemetery, where dozens of people and thousands of animals, including some celebrity pets, are buried. The Montgomery County Humane Society took over the deed to the cemetery in 2007 in exchange for agreeing to care for the property and put it to good use, but still has not come up with a definitive plan to rehabilitate it. The group has also been hampered by a drop in donations estimated at 15 percent. The county condemned the property last year, declaring its building unfit for habitation. The county granted an extension that gives the group until March of next year to make repairs or face demolition of buildings, including a house, which date back to about 1921, when the cemetery was established. JoAnn Hoffman, chairwoman of the Humane Society's board of directors, said Tuesday that the group has been working "diligently" to come up with a plan to fix up the property and hopes to have one in place soon. She added the Humane Society has put together a list of 20 to 30 volunteers, including landscaping companies, to help clean up the property. A crew was out at the cemetery Saturday and more are scheduled to be there over the next few weeks. Minckler said she contacted the Humane Society last week to see if one of its representatives could attend the civic association's meeting to explain what is happening with the property and how the civic group can help. Hoffman said she had not heard about the invitation, but noted the Humane Society would be "more than happy to attend." Carol S. Petzold, a member of the civic association's board and a former state delegate for District 19, said the pet cemetery is a landmark for Aspen Hill and needs to be preserved. "I certainly don't want to see it disappear," she said. (Staff Writer Margie Hyslop contributed to this report.)

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I hope you have enjoyed visiting the AHCA Website. We will be adding more content and information about our area and things going on in our area as it becomes available. Come back to visit us again soon.

© 2010 AspenHillCivicAssociation, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

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Don Becker, Email:Webmaster(at)AspenHillCivicAssociation.org

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