In today's edition of Purple Line NOW News, here's what you'll find:

• The Debut of MTA's Redesigned Purple Line Website
• Riverdale and Glenridge/New Carrollton CAT Meeting Summary and Art-in-Transit
• Our Treasurer is Nervous, Consider a Sponsorship to PLN Today - All Levels Welcome!

Please feel free to share this newsletter - no permission from us needed! You can always find a link to our newsletter on our website (www.purplelinenow.com) which makes it easy to share with your friends, neighbors, constituents, customers, and employees.

CONSTRUCTION NEWS TO KNOW

Highlights from the MTA Website Redesign

The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) made a big announcement at the April 30 Community Advisory Team (CAT)  meeting in Riverdale Park. They have launched an updated version of their Purple Line website, PurpleLineMD.com.

The new home page looks pretty snazzy and the site is still the place to go to sign up for construction updates, to see CAT materials, and even to see the P3 contract. However, what we're most excited about is the addition of some long-requested content. The most fun to browse may be found by clicking on the new “Gallery” tab at the top of the page. Here, you’ll find lots of photographs showing the progress of construction.

Additionally, you can go to the "Public Involvement" tab to see the materials the state has been presenting both at special purpose neighborhood meetings, such as the Greater Lyttonsville Community Meeting that took place before the bridge construction, as well as overall project summaries presented to the Montgomery and Prince George's Councils. We've previously been able to share some of these materials with you, our newsletter readers, but we are glad the full range of materials is now officially available.

We will definitely be highlighting relevant parts of the site in future newsletters, but please let us know if you find something particularly interesting in your own exploration!

Riverdale and Glenridge/New Carrollton Community Advisory Team Summary

The first meeting of the latest series of Community Advisory Teams was held on April 30 and focused on the section of the project from Riverdale Park through New Carrollton, which encompasses Beacon Heights, as well as the new maintenance yard at Glenridge. The Riverdale and Glenridge/New Carrollton CAT meeting presentation is on the new website in both English and Spanish.

The presentation included a number of interesting topics, including the art-in-transit program, construction progress with a particular focus on Ellin Road, and concerns about Glenridge construction noise. We encourage you to view the presentation and holler back to us if you have any questions - we'll try to get the answers for you.

We were entranced by the art plans at the elevated Riverdale Park station, which, according to their presentation, will create a “dynamic experience where vertical folded columns gently sway offering the public an iconic gateway outside of the station entrance. The kinetic sculpture is activated by engagement; as people sit in the folded seats it will cause the columns to gently sway and reflect a play of colored lights above them." We can't wait to see this!

A lot of terrific citizen input, public official advocacy, and county resources have gone into making sure the Riverdale Park station will be effectively integrated into the community and we are glad to see the appearance of the ground level approach has not been neglected. Check out the presentation for a preview of the art at the other three stations!

We'll have a wrap-up of the May 7 CAT meeting in College Park in our next newsletter.

Have any questions about who handles what aspect of the design, construction, or maintenance of the line - or anything else Purple Line-related, for that matter? Just drop us an email and we'll find an answer for you.

PURPLE LINE NOW NEWS AND EVENTS

Next Envisioning the Purple Line Forum

We are working on the next Purple Line NOW forum happening this summer. The topic will be "Completing the Capital Crescent Trail" and will be held at the Jane E. Lawton Community Recreation Center in Chevy Chase. We will announce the date and time very soon, so watch this space. We expect a good crowd for this forum. As always, all of our fora are free and open to the public and media, but we require a seat reservation, so look for your invitation to arrive in your email box soon. We are working on a terrific and informative panel of speakers who will bring us all up to speed on the trail as it relates to the Purple Line.

PURPLE LINE NOW ACTION

Purple Line NOW Needs Your Sponsorship Today

Sponsorship is another way to help Purple Line NOW continue our efforts to bring you important Purple Line related news and information via our newsletters, outreach, and public events. Our organization has been around for a long time and is almost entirely run by dedicated volunteers. We don't hold big fundraisers and we do not receive underwriting grants from any source, government (local or otherwise), nor are we a membership organization (we do not ask for annual dues). We operate solely on donations from individuals and businesses who care about the Purple Line and whose generosity allow us to continue our work.

If you need more information before you push the donate button, we sent out a request a few weeks ago that will give you a good, indepth idea of how hard we make your donations dollars work. Click here to read all about what we do with your donations!

All levels of sponsorships are welcomed and appreciated!

As always, we are happy to share financial information about our operating expenses and our income. Just shoot us an email or give us a call. When we say we do a lot on a skinny budget, we mean it. We try to only ask for donations when our bank account gets low enough to make our treasurer nervous - and that is usually around the $3,000 mark.  

We hope you will consider joining the sponsors already on board (you can see these awesome folks here) – and remember, with your donation, your name (or your business name) will be listed on our website and in event literature and signage for a year following your donation.

Thank you!

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