12.23.2022 Knocking Doors to Have Conversation on Great Seneca Master Plan
CCACC and Everyday Canvassing's Joint Effort on Montgomery County's Great Seneca Plan
By May Zhou, CCACC Employee
As a partner of Montgomery County’s planning department on the Great Seneca Master Plan, the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC) recently sent staff to Everyday Canvassing, another partner of the Plan, for the door-to-door survey and conversation with renters across the Great Seneca Science Corridor (GSSC) of Montgomery County, following the successful November 15 Envisioning Workshop that CCACC and the County Planning department co-sponsored on the Plan.
By December 7, the canvassing team, whose 20+ members speaking Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, and English, had had conversations with 220 residents after knocking about 2,400 doors in the following nine apartment complexes in the GSSC area.
- • Londonderry Apartments
- • Montgomery Club Apartments and Townhomes
- • Sawyer Flats
- • Eaves Washingtonian Center
- • The Willows
- • Avalon at Traville
- • The Villages at Dicoverly
- • Londonderry Towers
- • Bell Shady Grove
The following five apartment complexes will be canvassed during the upcoming three weeks:
- • Camden Shady Grove
- • Mallory Square
- • Residences at Rio
- • Axis at Shady Grove
- • Gardens of Traville
The residents are also encouraged to complete a survey questionnaire, whose barcode and link are presented on a multilingual flyer the canvassing team hand delivers door by door. The above mentioned 14 apartment complexes are mainly located in the City of Gaithersburg, since the 4,360 acres of the Great Seneca Science Corridor area, in the heart of the I-270 Corridor, covers the Life Sciences Center, the Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, the Universities at Shady Grove, the western Quince Orchard neighborhoods and enclave areas such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Rosemont. While the City of Gaithersburg occupies 10 square miles in the center of the Plan area, the City of Rockville borders the Plan area on the east and the Town of Washington Grove is located to the northeast.
Despite the fact that feedbacks from residents of different neighborhoods varies depending on their specific needs and access to public amenities, the most common feedbacks include: the desire for rent control, especially limit of rent increase, the desire for more parks and dog parks within walking distance of peoples’ homes, more cultural events co-hosted by representatives of the diverse communities represented in the Gaithersburg area, better lighting within communities and along sidewalks to make communities safer, greater support for small business owners, multilingual staff members in the Management/Leasing Office to facilitate the residents’ communication with the Office, better accessibility for senior residents renting in buildings with no elevators, shuttle services to grocery stores that take into consideration the cultural relevant food stores, public exercise facilities, and more opportunities for interactions with neighbors.
The Great Seneca Plan: Connecting Life and Science is an effort by Montgomery County’s planning department to examine the Great Seneca community to identify strengths and needs and create a vision for future development. Since this area has grown significantly over the past 10 years, the Montgomery County Planning Commission is planning for a minor amendment to the Master Plan. It hopes to review the past with its residents and to plan for the future.
CCACC employee May Zhou joined the canvassing team in November as a Chinese translator and lead canvasser for four weeks. Among the many residents, she and the team have recently spoken to are the dozens of Chinese residents at the Gaithersburg 99 Ranch, the Gaithersburg CARES Hub (a free food delivery center), and a number of apartment complexes. May noticed that, compared to community members with other ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Chinese community members are generally more content with what they have and appreciative of the diversity in the area, although some are a bit uncomfortable about their English speaking proficiency, hence hesitate to speak to the Leasing Office or attend community activities. May offered to translate the survey questionnaire from English to Chinese.
In the belief that real community engagement, which meets people where they are–quite literally at their doors–is the best tool to shape local government’s work, Everyday Canvassing, a Montgomery County nonprofit, is working to send flyer to 5,000 of Great Seneca’s rental homes and canvas (knocking doors to have conversations with) 3,850 home residents by the end of 2022. “The reason for us doing this is that we are committed to empowering residents in people of color (POC) communities by amplifying their voices, and by connecting them to services, resources, and local organizations fighting for social, economic, and environmental justice through issue-based organizing and advocacy,” said Tino Fragale, Founder and Board President of Everyday Canvassing.
Most of the residents were friendly and open to the canvassing team. Some even invited the canvassers to their homes to talk or offering freshly baked cookies. Yet a few other residents appeared reserved or even expressed suspicion that this is a “soliciting activity,” according to Mady Nadje, Everyday Canvassing Executive Director.
Mady and the team were pleased with the County planners’ participation in the door knocking during the past week. Steve Findley, Alex Rixey, Aaron Savage, Jessica McVary were among them. Maren Hill, Lead Planner, will soon participate as well.
Upon completion of the canvassing by the end of December, Everyday Canvassing will submit a summary of the survey/canvassing results to Montgomery County’s planning department. The latter will then amend the Great Seneca Plan by creating recommendations to guide future growth with a focus on equity, sustainability, and transportation and community connections.
The Montgomery Planning English-Chinese Bilingual Questionnaire Link -
