Spring Cleaning

From Suzanne Ludlow, City Manager of Takoma Park

Dear Residents,

As we near the end of this miserable, moist month of May, the sun is finally shining and we can get out and play and then…do some outdoors spring cleaning!

On my walk in to work today, I saw several properties that needed mowing, and I saw trash and standing water along the sidewalks. Please take some time this week to do the following:

• Pick up litter on and around your property
• Look for standing water where mosquitos may breed (gutters, flower pots, toys and furniture outside, etc) and dump out the water; this can be a great scavenger hunt for kids – see the list of places to check on Emergency Manager Ron Hardy’s blog post about mosquitos and the Zika virus.
• Mow grass, cut back overgrown bushes, and cut vines growing up trees

We’ll get Takoma Park’s spring cleaning done just in time for summer!

As the school year ends and young people clean out their school lockers, please consider recycling school supplies in good shape by dropping them in bins available in June in the Takoma Park Community Center so that they can be given to others for use next fall. We’ll have the bins available for several weeks, including during the Community Conversation on Youth Success, to be held Saturday, June 18 from 12:30 to 4:00 PM.

My spring cleaning involves clearing my office of all of the budget preparation materials I no longer need. Budget preparation is a major activity of my office and department directors between January and May each year. I want to thank my staff for their good work on preparing the budget for Council consideration. We were helped by the Council setting priorities in February, giving strong direction for budget recommendations and for structuring the Council’s discussions. The Mayor’s blog on Dollars and Cents gives a good overview of the Council’s decisions for a final Adopted Budget.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have a question, suggestion or complaint, or if you would like me to come to a community organization meeting. I learn so much about our wonderful community with each interaction.

Happy Summer!

Suzanne Ludlow
City Manager
Email: SuzanneL@takomaparkmd.gov
Phone: 301-891-7229