The Greenbelt East Trail would run from Greenbelt's Eleanor Roosevelt HS to the Glenn Dale Splash Park, effectively connecting the WB&A Trail with the Anacostia River Trail System, and providing a critical link in the East Coast Greenway.

Here is all the News:

1. We successfully got our tax-exempt status approved. We are now officially a charitable organization under IRS section 501c3. So all donations are now 100% tax deductible. Donate Here!
2. We won a "Rocket Grant" for $5,000!! The grant will be applied to design renderings by the Neighborhood Design Center, and is funded in part by the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area and Maryland Heritage Areas Authority
3. Both donations and volunteer hours can be counted toward the grant's matching requirement. If you'd like to volunteer, please reply to this email or send us a note on "info@greenbeltnasatrail.org." And click this link Donate Now!
4. Our next virtual volunteer/stakeholder meeting will be at noon on August 10th. If you'd like to join us, please send me a note and I'll send you a calendar invite.
5. In addition to organizing volunteer hours and starting our fundraising to match the rocket grant, our agenda will talk about the two big hangups that often plague bike/walk trail proposals in Maryland: maintenance and standards.
6. Idealized standards can hold up bike/walk projects by making them too expensive or difficult. For example, requiring utility poles to be moved (which is expensive and takes forever) rather than working around them. Or requiring acquisition of private land right of way (which is expensive and takes forever) rather than just approving a narrower-than-ideal section of trail.
7. There's also the Maintenance hangup. Fighting over who should maintain bike/walk trails or sidewalks -- the state or the county -- can thwart projects before they even begin. These fights are more performance art than anything, because trail maintenance is not really that expensive. And by the time the Greenbelt East Trail is built, we will have a team of volunteers ready to be trail stewards. Besides, there are already county public works and state highway maintenance facilities right beside the trail and its extended route in Greenbelt! (And College Park is purchasing a really cool new bike lane sweeper, which we could probably rent or borrow!)

Our Motto: "Less than 2 Years, Less than $2 Million, Start Sector 2 now!" Let's get this project done and show what's possible in Prince George's County!

Full Trail Resources:

• Friends of the Greenbelt East Trail basics
• Street View of the proposed route
• Preliminary Cost Estimate (full trail)
• MDOT SHA Feasibility Study Letter
• Prince George's County Support Letter
• Greenbelt Support Letter
• County Council Request Letter (Eric Olson, Ingrid Watson)

Sector 2 (NASA) Resources:

• Cost Estimate for Sector 2
• Rough Route Slides Starting at Sector 2
• Draft Expedite Sector 2 Letter Template
• Trail Walk Video Starting at Sector 2

Our community partners in this effort are the City of Greenbelt, WABA, ATHA, the East Coast Greenway, the Greenbelt Community Development Corp., and the Glenn Dale Citizens Association. Would your company or organization like to help the trail effort? Please use reply to this newsletter or email us at info@greenbeltnasatrail.org for more info. -Jeff