OpenGov
will share your response with the Montgomery County Department of Parks staff. Do you also want your response shown on this website?
Yes -
show it with my name
Sign in and be yourself
Sign in and let others know who you are and what you think. You can sign in now or after you submit your response. You'll be able to read your response on this website and change it if you change your mind.
Yes - show it without my name
Sign in and be someone
Sign in and let others know what you think. Only OpenGov will know who you are. You can sign in now or after you submit your response. You'll be able to read your response on this website and change it if you change your mind.
No - just show it without my name to staff
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Even though your response will be shared with staff, it won’t be shown on this public website so other community members won’t have the opportunity to see it.
Concerned about sharing your contact information with OpenGov?
What is a disruptive statement?
A statement
containing personal attacks, profanity, commercial advertising or content which is entirely off-topic, and/or
from a user who has falsified their registration information with the intent to post multiple statements in one topic or to misrepresent their city of residence.
Why does Open Town Hall monitor for disruptive statements?
OpenGov is a non-partisan company dedicated to building public trust in government and broadening civic engagement. Many people will not participate if the forum has disruptive statements.
Does Open Town Hall find many disruptive statements?
No. Disruptive statements are quite rare - less than one in a thousand statements are disruptive.
What does Open Town Hall do if they find a disruptive statement?
Open Town Hall
moves the statement to a different web page,
describes the problem in an email to the author, and
invites the author to change the statement.
Does Open Town Hall ever edit or delete statements?
Never. Only the statement's author can edit or delete a statement.
If I disagree with someone, can I post my opinion?
Yes. Open Town Hall encourages open dialog which, by necessity, includes disagreements.
How do I know if my statement is a 'disagreement' or a 'personal attack'?
Personal attacks are disparaging remarks which impute motives to a person's action. Statements of fact, or of your own opinion are generally not personal attacks.
Here are some examples of statements which are, and are not, personal attacks.
Personal Attack
Not A Personal Attack
He lied.
He said he did X, but in fact he did Y.
She misrepresented the truth.
I don't trust her.
He is greedy.
He is making plenty of money.
It is merely a power play on her part.
She will announce her candidacy soon.
Open Town Hall has two participation channels :
The Registered Channel: Sign in before or just after you submit your response. Either way, Community Feedback will show your response on this website.The Unregistered Channel: Don't sign in and remain anonymous. Community Feedback will just share your response with Montgomery County Parks staff.
Note: The first time you sign in, you'll need to register (establish an account on Open Town Hall). Registration is free.
The Montgomery County Department of Parks has contracted with Community Feedback to monitor responses shown on this website.
To prevent any single user from dominating the forum, the Montgomery County Department of Parks restricts the number of responses any one user can post on selected topics. Registration helps Community Feedback enforce this restriction.
Users, staff and government leaders often want to know the neighborhood from which a response is posted. Community Feedback uses registration to show the neighborhood next to each response (not the address).
If a user posts a response that does not meet the Montgomery County Department of Parks guidelines for civility , Community Feedback uses the user's email address to invite the user to resolve the issue.
Community Feedback will get your contact information. The company is under contract with the Montgomery County Department of Parks to hold it in strict confidence per their privacy policy .
Since you'll see your own response on Open Town Hall, you'll be able to confirm that your response was posted as you intended.
You'll be able to change and/or delete your response as long as the topic is open.
Yes. Sign out, then set your privacy preference to be "No - just show it without my name to staff". You won't need to register.
While no authentication procedure can perfectly detect every fraudulent registration, Community Feedback is able to secure the registered channel against systematic fraud : cases where users submit enough statements with fraudulent registrations to sway the overall interpretation of the feedback.
Community Feedback is unable to secure the unregistered channel against systematic fraud, because unregistered users are anonymous.
Neither the registered nor the unregistered channel represent a certified voting system or ballot box - and that caveat is footnoted on every page of feedback. Instead, both are additional channels for feedback to government.
Users can participate on the registered channel (by signing in) or on the unregistered channel (by remaining anonymous). The Montgomery County Department of Parks offers both channels in order to broaden participation and maximize decision makers' insights.
The registered channel enables users to assure decision makers that their feedback comes from a real person in a specific neighborhood. It also enables users to participate in a public discussion on the website, as well as manage their own response after posting it.
The unregistered channel is for users who want to provide quick feedback without registering, and/or whose privacy concerns would prevent them from participating if required to register. Because many users with valuable insights will only share them anonymously, this channel gives decision makers the option to consider those insights in their deliberations.
OpenGov is a non-partisan company whose mission is to broaden civic engagement and build public trust in government. The Montgomery County Department of Parks has contracted with OpenGov to administer Open Town Hall.
Montgomery Parks is proposing various improvements in McKnew Local Park. Please review the conceptual design options for the renovation to answer the questions below.
All options propose more trees in the park, including flowering trees to enhance the park and shade trees to provide more shade along the trail and for the courts. Please note that the playground and tennis court shown in the three options are not part of the Phase 2 as they will be renovated summer 2024 .
Option 1 tries to utilize the existing trail as much as possible. The full-size basketball court will be located at the same location of the existing court. The fitness station will be located at the southeast wrapping around the proposed stormwater facility and overlooking to the field. Along the existing loop trail, there will be another smaller fitness station and a seating area.
Option 2 also utilizes the existing trail alignment, and the primary fitness station with shaded tables is positioned along the trail, situated between the tennis court and the proposed full-size basketball court. Like Option 1, a smaller fitness station and seating area will be suggested along the existing loop trail.
Option 3 presents a consolidated sports area on the southern side of the park, incorporating the tennis court, basketball court, and a spacious fitness station with shaded tables. It also includes a realignment of a small section of the trail to provide options for both long and short loop trails. An additional seating area will be proposed along the main loop trail. Furthermore, Option 3 offers the largest entrance plaza among all three options to enhance its welcoming ambiance.
Which option do you prefer? (Select up to 2)
* required
Please provide any comments about the proposed options.
Would you like to see more seating areas along the trail? (Select one)
Please use the following information to answer the question below.
The fitness equipment has two large categories:
1. Ground-level equipment (Category A)
2. Equipment with elevated components (Category B)
Due to the requirement for fall protection, equipment with elevated components (Category B) will need additional depth for ground surfacing. This will either incur higher costs for installing expensive surfacing materials or require more maintenance for raking and replenishing engineered wood fiber. Consequently, if we opt for Category B equipment, we won't be able to disperse the fitness stations along the trail as depicted in Options 1 and 2. Moreover, due to the potential cost implications of the surfacing, there will be limitations on the number of equipment installations we can undertake.
What type of fitness equipment would you prefer? (Select one)
Please provide any additional comments. It is important to note that the options presented have certain limitations in terms of major alterations. However, we are open to addressing any minor comments related to the operation or maintenance that we may have overlooked in the proposed options.
What is a disruptive statement?
A statement
containing personal attacks, profanity, commercial advertising or content which is entirely off-topic, and/or
from a user who has falsified their registration information with the intent to post multiple statements in one topic or to misrepresent their city of residence.
Why does Open Town Hall monitor for disruptive statements?
OpenGov is a non-partisan company dedicated to building public trust in government and broadening civic engagement. Many people will not participate if the forum has disruptive statements.
Does Open Town Hall find many disruptive statements?
No. Disruptive statements are quite rare - less than one in a thousand statements are disruptive.
What does Open Town Hall do if they find a disruptive statement?
Open Town Hall
moves the statement to a different web page,
describes the problem in an email to the author, and
invites the author to change the statement.
Does Open Town Hall ever edit or delete statements?
Never. Only the statement's author can edit or delete a statement.
If I disagree with someone, can I post my opinion?
Yes. Open Town Hall encourages open dialog which, by necessity, includes disagreements.
How do I know if my statement is a 'disagreement' or a 'personal attack'?
Personal attacks are disparaging remarks which impute motives to a person's action. Statements of fact, or of your own opinion are generally not personal attacks.
Here are some examples of statements which are, and are not, personal attacks.
Personal Attack
Not A Personal Attack
He lied.
He said he did X, but in fact he did Y.
She misrepresented the truth.
I don't trust her.
He is greedy.
He is making plenty of money.
It is merely a power play on her part.
She will announce her candidacy soon.
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