Reporting from the Citizen's Summit, by Joseph Glover

On Saturday March 24, 2007 we attended the 1st Annual Anacostia Watershed Citizens' Summit from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the University of Maryland Stamp Student Union Prince George's Room. The Pope Branch Restoration Alliance was represented by Joseph A. Glover, Founder and Chairman; Mr. Irv Sheffey, Sierra Club; Mr. Charles Mason, Mr. Kwame Brown's Office (At-Large DC City Councilmember) and Ms. Trinh Doan, DDOE. We thank all of the attendees and offer a special thanks to Mr. Kwame Brown for participating. Also, we thank Mr. Irv Sheffey for producing out Power Point Presentation (PPP). We were extremely blessed to have such an illustrious group representing our Sub-Watershed - The Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance.

At the summit each Sub-watershed were allowed to make a five minute presentation. Most had a PPP. I presented for Pope Branch Alliance Sub-Watershed. It was my 1st experience with a PPP, but I think it went pretty well. Some of the other Sub-Watersheds are very well organized and seeing their displays and presentations was a learning experience for me. I plan to put to practice what I learned. I have already provided additional data for improving our power point presentation.
The Summit included two panels with members of the Sub-Water Sheds making up the panels. I represented the Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance group on the 2nd panel. They wanted to know our successes, and that was easy for me. Since we were the only Sub-Watershed group with a fully funded restoration plan with an approved and signed MOU and projected plans that should lead to the restoration of one of the two Anacostia River Sub-Watersheds in the city. Also, we were the only group that had representation from an elected official. We feel Washington, DC and Ward 7 were well represented by us.

We were very impressed with every aspect of the summit and hope it becomes an annual occurrence. In my opinion it is these types of affairs that will speed up the day when the Anacostia River will become appealing for its cleanliness and beauty. It will then take its rightful place with other grand and important rivers of the world.

If you questions, please address them to Joseph A. Glover at my Email address jagbfree@comcast.net or by phoning 202-581-1214.

Sincerely,

Joseph A. Glover, Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance Founder and Chairman