preserving the quality of life in Olney, Maryland

Falcigno earns GOCA’s top honor

Mom turned zoning expert to be honored at Sunday ceremony

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

An Olney mom who became a local ‘‘expert” on zoning, land use and environmental issues in order help shape two area master plans is the Greater Olney Civic Association’s 2006 Howard J. Garber Memorial Citizen of the Year Award.

Barbara Falcigno, 36, is credited with playing an instrumental role in fighting for the interests of the Olney community before the Montgomery County Council and the Planning Board over the past two years.

After becoming concerned with development proposals for the Upper Rock Creek Planning Area and the former school site on Bowie Mill Road, she helped organize the Olney Coalition, an independent, non-partisan network of individuals and neighborhood associations representing more than 2,000 households in the Olney area.

Falcigno quickly became a resource for county officials as well, and is credited for significantly influencing Planning Board decisions and council deliberations regarding both the Upper Rock Creek and Olney master plans.

Subsequently elected president of the Olney Coalition, she has continued to provide leadership for that organization and the Olney civic community, all while also serving as an active board member of the Olney Oaks Single Family Homeowners Association.

Her other life

Falcigno sits in her Olney kitchen, with large windows overlooking the 32-acre property on Bowie Mill Road scheduled for redevelopment.

While talking, she finishes serving homemade waffles to her 4-year-old son, Adam. Five-year-old Sarah has already left for school and her husband Greg is in London on a business trip.

This is the other life that Falcigno leads, the one of wife and mother.

She grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from Springbrook High School.

After earnng her undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Maryland, she worked at the National Institutes of Health running the national registry for alpha-1 antitrypsin. She screened patient samples from all over the world and worked on identifying different genetic mutations and how they affected the cell’s function.

She then earned a master’s degree in molecular genetics at Case Western Reserve University and was on track to earn her doctoral degree when she married her high school sweetheart, Greg.

‘‘I had wanted to teach at the college level, but when I started to add up the years it was going to take to earn my PhD, I realized I wanted to start a family,” she said. ‘‘So instead, I decided to teach high school.”

After relocation stints in New Jersey and North Carolina, Greg’s job landed them back in Montgomery County in 2002.

With careful consideration, they chose to live in Olney because of its proximity to his job, their family members and the fact that it reminded them a little of Raleigh, N.C.

‘‘We felt there was still open space, and you were able to breathe,” she said.

Before purchasing their home, they did their homework.

They learned the property behind the Olney Oaks home was owned by the school system. It wasn’t until a neighbor bought a house on her street the following summer that she learned the school system no longer owned the property, and its recommended use had changed from a school to affordable housing.

Falcigno said her first thought was, ‘‘What’s affordable housing?”

She attended a meeting organized by one of her neighbors and connected with Nancy Wendt, with whom she later co-founded the Olney Coalition.

Wendt, a recipient of the 2003 GOCA Contribution to the Community Award, has since moved out of the area, leaving Falcigno at the helm.

‘‘Nancy and I were the Bobbsey Twins,” she said. ‘‘I learned more from working with her for six months than I could have in 12 years of school. And that was while taking care of a 3-year-old and 18-month-old.”

Looking back on the past two years, Falcigno says she was sleep-deprived.

‘‘I had responsibilities at home, so I would just stay up late working on Olney Coalition stuff,” she said. ‘‘Sometimes I would fall asleep at my computer. Other times I was sending e-mails to county officials at 4 a.m.”

She said that in the beginning she was devoting as much as 10 hours a day to learning all of the issues, ranging from school projections to zoning codes to the best places to park in Rockville.

‘‘That 10 hours usually started after 8 o’clock [p.m.], after my kids were in bed,” she said.

She said she feels that the Olney Coalition had the impact that it did because the residents did their homework and didn’t whine.

‘‘We didn’t just say that we didn’t like something, but we’d say that is not the best answer for these reasons, but here is an alternative that we feel is better for these reasons,” she said. ‘‘That sounds easy, but it’s the hardest thing. You have to research everything, word it correctly and concise, and justify it.”

Her efforts paid off, as evidenced by the fact that the County Council cut and pasted several portions of the Olney Coalition testimony directly into its own documents.

Falcigno, who pauses to change the batteries in Adam’s toy robot, says she does what she does because she is very proud of Olney and wants to keep it a great place to live.

Even though the master plans are finished and the Bowie Mill Road property’s fate is in now the hands of the county executive’s office, Falcigno is still forging ahead.

‘‘I know too much to give it up now,” she said. ‘‘I’ve met so many people that I call good friends that I would have never known if I hadn’t felt the call to make sure the government did the right thing. I can’t close the door now. I need to share this knowledge.”

In addition to her duties to the Olney Coalition and the Olney Oaks Single Family Homeowner’s Association, she was recently elected as GOCA’s first vice president.

‘‘The council and Planning Board have so much to look at that there is no way they can know all the details and how things are inter-related,” she added. ‘‘That’s why it’s so important for people and local groups to learn the system and stay involved.”

Although she intends to stay involved, Falcigno says she has ‘‘zero political aspirations.”

‘‘I want to focus on my children,” she said. ‘‘I wanted a family, and that is why I changed my career path. I want to raise them as a stay-at-home mom.”

After contemplating the idea, however, she admits that if she remains involved, she may consider it at a later point in her life.

‘‘I think to be a good politician, it has to be more than a part-time job, and that’s not what I want at this point in my life,” she said.

Award made it all worthwhile

‘‘I am very honored to be chosen as GOCA’s Citizen of the Year,” she said. ‘‘It’s nice to be recognized and know the work I did was appreciated.”

Falcigno admits there were many nights when she thought that no one else cared, and she was the one doing all the work.

‘‘But the fact that I was even nominated made it all worthwhile,” she said. ‘‘There’s no financial reward that comes with my job now, but it is worth it to know that our community will continue to be a great place to live.”

She said the award represents so many other people.

‘‘This award really represents the work of many people: the Olney Coalition delegates, those who watched my two toddlers while I went to meetings, those who did research or compiled data, those who donated money or passed out fliers, and those who wrote a letter or attended a hearing,” she said. ‘‘To me, it represents the community’s commitment to preserving the quality of life in Olney.”

GOCA President John Lyons said Falcigno has become a very visible proponent and advocate on behalf of Olney.

‘‘In that context, I can’t think of any other person more deserving of this award,” he said. ‘‘Barbara has made tremendous contributions to the Olney community, many of which aren’t even known. She gave tirelessly of her time and energy to help make the master plan a better product for our future.”

Councilman Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown agreed.

‘‘I think Barbara is phenomenal,” he said. ‘‘She is the quintessential civic activist and is a joy to work with.”

Knapp called Falcigno a ‘‘successful advocate,” saying she has a good understanding of the issues and can talk about all sides.

‘‘She researches, learns and engages, and just does a great job of pulling it all together,” he said.

You’re invited

Barbara Falcigno will be honored as the Greater Olney Civic Association’s 2006 Howard J. Garber Memorial Citizen of the Year Award at the 27th annual GOCA Awards Ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday at Longwood Recreation Center, 19300 Georgia Ave. The public is invited to attend.

The Howard J. Garber award is named for a previous GOCA vice president who exemplified the kind of participation in the community that results in a significant contribution. Among his many accomplishments during the few years he was involved with GOCA before his death in 1982 was leading the effort to eliminate a dangerous S-curve on Georgia Avenue near Greenwood Park, north of Route 108.

Copyright © 2006 The Gazette - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Privacy Statement