While we are still nailing down some of the details for the meetings, we have settled on initial meeting dates for the upcoming Montgomery College and Takoma Park community consultation process. The series of meetings is designed to provide the community with information about the College’s facilities planning process in the context of County and City processes and give community members an opportunity to engage in discussion and share feedback in order to move toward an agreement between the City and the college on future construction.

The meetings will be held on the evenings of March 21, May 9, and June 6. Specific times and locations will be announced in the next couple of weeks. The meetings will be advertised through a variety of sources, including postcards sent to residences within a half mile of the College, and the City’s website, weekly ENews, and social media.

This article appeared in the March 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

This month Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) in partnership with the City of Takoma will host the second set of four community meetings to seek input and share information about the proposed project located at the intersection of Ethan Allen and Carroll Avenue. Two meetings were held last month that addressed the topics of form and character with market and retail ideas.

The topics covered at the March meetings will be the public realm and access and mobility. Come give your input on design features of the new development. The two meetings are identical in content and opportunity for feedback. Choose the option that works best for your schedule.

• Thursday, March 9, 7-9 p.m. at the Takoma Park Community Center in the Azalea Room
• Sunday, March 12, 3-5 p.m. at the Fire Station Meeting Room, 7201 Carroll Avenue

If you plan to attend, please call 301- 891-7119. RSVPs would be appreciated but are not required. For more information, visit takomaparkmd.gov/initiatives/ takoma-junction-redevelopment.

The Takoma Park Grants Review Committee is accepting letters of inquiry from organizations seeking funding through the City of Takoma Park’s FY18 Community Grants Program for projects occurring between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.

The City of Takoma Park’s Community Grants Program is designed to provide financial support for specific programs, projects and events that improve residents’ quality of life by providing greater access and opportunities for participation in the arts and sciences.

A letter of inquiry is required of all applicants. The letter of inquiry cover sheet and requirements may be found on the City’s website. If selected for further consideration, organizations will be contacted by the Grants Review Committee and invited to submit a full application for funding.

To be considered for funding, organizations must submit letters of inquiry electronically to grants@takomaparkmd.gov on or before 4:30 pm on Monday, March 13, 2017.

Prior to submitting a Letter of Inquiry, organizations are encouraged to review the Community Grants Program Guidelines, available on the City’s website, to verify eligibility for funding.

For more information, please contact the City of Takoma Park’s Housing and Community Development Department at 301- 891-7119 or grants@takomaparkmd.gov.

This article appeared in the March 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

By Helen Lyons

While factories abroad mass produce low-priced picture frames by the thousands using the latest in high-tech machinery, in Takoma Park some things are still done the old-fashioned way.

“It’s more work, a lot of labor, ragged fingers and working late at night to make what ends up being minimum wage, but there’s something really gratifying about it,” said Mark Howard of his chosen profession. Howard of Takoma Picture Framers has been at the helm of a family business that dates back to the forties, perfecting a craft even older than that.

“This is kind of an old world type of shop,” he explained, standing before shelves that seem to stretch on for miles in the basement of 7312 Carroll Ave. Upon them are countless cuts of wood, meticulously organized and waiting to be assembled carefully by hand into frames for photos, prints and original works of art.

They come in seemingly every type and color, from oak to gold-leaf, and some were once the property of the National Gallery of Art where Howard’s father Alden’s first frames were sold.

“He worked for a framer downtown on Constitution Avenue,” Howard said, “and at the same time was going to the Corcoran School of Art, and visiting the National Gallery and doing sketches of the oil paintings that hung there.”

His employer had a contract with the National Gallery of Art, and in 1950 when Alden Howard Jr. wasn’t learning the skill of framing, he was flirting with a woman at the coat check who would later become his wife.

“For twenty years he built frames,” Howard recalled. “My earliest memories are of my father and my uncle downstairs in the basement sawing and sanding and painting and clipping and wrapping and creating frames for the National Gallery that were sold in the gift shop.”

But in 1970, the end of that contract brought the Howard family to Takoma Park, where Willard and Katherine Atherley owned and operated the first ever framing store in all of Maryland out of a downtown row home that had once been a bakery.

There were still commercial baking pans and cupcake trays in the home above the storefront when Alden Jr. bought the store from the Atherley’s, but soon they were replaced with paints, putties, sandpaper and pieces of whalebone used to perfect the edging of a matte.

Not much changed when the business switched hands, including some of the help (Katherine stayed on as a part time employee.) and the name.

In the 1970s, Takoma Picture Framers was still one of the only framing places in town, and Mark Howard remembered lines out the door. “We were open to nine o’clock at night and we had lines of people here and they wouldn’t leave. We’d be up until ten, eleven o’clock taking orders.”

But business isn’t exactly booming today, nearly 70 years after the shop first opened. Mark Howard took over the business from his father in the year 2000, and now it’s only him behind the counter, instead of the whole family and an apprentice or two.

But Howard still burns the midnight oil from time to time, working past nightfall above the shop mixing paints and putties and operating the same old pressing machine that his father used in the 70’s to fulfil his clients’ orders. He even has his father’s old whalebone tool, well over half a century old.

“It’s not really worth it monetarily,” Howard admits, gazing around the shop with its creaking stairs, sloping floors and family of squirrels embedded in the walls upstairs. “I had to find a way within myself to say, well, I took over Dad’s business. I’m doing it for him.”

And even on a freezing winter’s day, the buzzer just outside the door rings. A customer has arrived. She’s moved to Takoma Park just recently and is looking to have something framed for her new home.

While Howard gives her a short version of his shop’s rich history, she notices a book with her mother’s name as the title amongst the collection of old keepsakes Mark has for sale at the front of the store (his “yard sale,” he calls it). She’s delighted.

There’s a CVS Pharmacy on Carroll Avenue and a new Walmart just six minutes away on Rigg’s Road, but in Takoma Park, these “old world types of shop” and the dedicated people who run them still manage to charm.

This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

By Helen Lyons

English Ivy, Wintercreeper, Porcelainberry, Bush Honeysuckle and Multiflora Rose – these are some of Takoma Park’s most common and visible plants, climbing the sides of brightly painted bungalows and decorating the yards of 1930s brick homes. But they’re also invasive, and some of the most aggressive non-native plants to dominate the neighborhood landscape.

“The invasive species, aggressive ones especially, don’t let the native species grow,” said botanist and Takoma Park resident Gorky Villa Muñoz. “There is a small threshold for change between animals, insects and plants. If insects use a plant to pollinate other plants and that plant disappears, the insect population can disappear.”

Villa Muñoz is a staff botanist at Finding Species with over fifteen years of field experience identifying plants. He joined a group of volunteers from Friends of Sligo Creek, as well as nearby neighbors, in trying to clear some of these invasive plant species from Dorothy’s Woods as part of Takoma Park’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

“Japanese honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, English Ivy or hedera helix – it’s so invasive that it’s more damage control than removal,” said Luc Phinney, a volunteer who lives close to the woods and came to help with the project. He estimates that many of these plant species, while not native to Takoma Park, have been here for over a century.

“Japanese honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, English Ivy or hedera helix – it’s so invasive that it’s more damage control than removal”

“Some of them are long-term problems, things that came in with European settlement or trade with Asia- a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago,” said Phinney. “Some of them are more recent, and sadly, some are even from people’s gardens, [like] Bush Honeysuckle.”

Fliers on hand at the clean-up, produced by Friends of Sligo Creek, warned that “non-native invasives crowd out native plants and could be spreading from your yard.”

Among the culprits are Mile-a-Minute, a vine with triangular leaves and bright blue-black berries in the summer; Norway Maple, a tree with spiny leaf tips; Bittersweet, a vine with drip-tip leaves that gets orange berries in the fall; and the beautiful Bush Honeysuckle with its yellow flowers so often planted along the borders of Takoma yards.

Removing the plants isn’t easy. Phinney used a special device called a Pullerbear Tree Puller Tool to give him the leverage needed to yank up the root of a Kudzu plant, which can get as thick as four inches according to the Forest Invasive Plants Resource Center. Vines on the ground will set roots at the leaf nodes, creating more Kudzu plants that are capable of growing a foot a day.

It’s hard work, but if the invasive plants aren’t controlled, they could take over the woodland and kill the native species. “Even a small break in the chain of what is natural can cause problems,” Villa Mu- ñoz said.

After hours of back-breaking work at Dorothy’s Woods, the flora was visibly improved and children set off to play in the forest, which was officially christened on Oct. 23 last year and named after long-time Takoma Park resident Dorothy Barnes, 94, who has lived next to the woods for most of her life.

But beyond the stretch of woods at the intersection of Woodland Avenue and Circle Avenue, invasive species are still running rampant in Takoma, stifling the growth of native plants and killing trees that have stood for decades or longer. Friends of Sligo Creek offers assistance in plant identification, removal techniques, and ideas for native replacements. Residents seeking help in removing the invasive non-native plants from their yards can visit www.fosc.org for more information.

This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

The Takoma Park Recreation Center is offering its annual Dribble Pass and Shoot spring break basketball camp for youth ages 5 – 12. The Dribble Pass and Shoot Camp is one of our most popular camps and has a lot of returning kids. Campers will be provided with excellent coaching that allows each participant to develop a sense of pride and individual accomplishment. The level of instruction will be adjusted to fit the individual needs of each participant.

This fun-filled camp will focus on fundamentals. Experienced co-ed counselors with positive attitudes will be on hand to provide fun basketball related games that will keep the participants enthusiastic and engaged while getting them in shape.

Participants love this camp because of the professionalism of the staff and the fun activities they provide. Ryan Bobb one of our returning campers said, “I really liked the three-point contest and the pizza on Friday.”

Romel Williams, our camp director, will be returning for his fourth year with this camp. Coach Williams has put together a fun-filled curriculum that includes games that allow the campers to use their brains as well as their physical skills. Coach Williams said, “I love coming back to this camp year after year because the campers are eager to learn and I love sharing my passion for the game of basketball with them.”

Campers will have an opportunity to play full-court basketball games with a referee and scoreboard. Teams will be divided evenly by age and skill set. This is a great opportunity for kids to make new friends or spend time with classmates during their spring break.

Camp will be held from April 10 – April 14 at the Takoma Park Recreation Center Gymnasium. Camp will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. We ask that you bring a non-perishable lunch Monday through Thursday. On Friday, lunch will be provided by the recreation center. For parents that need additional activities beyond the regular camp hours, we are offering before care as well as after care for an additional fee. During before and after care, kids can take advantage of this time with staff improving their dribbling or shooting skills. For more information or to register for camp, visit takomaparkmd.gov.

This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

Fiesta Laundromat opened at 7601 New Hampshire Ave. (a door down from ALDI). It is a modern, clean facility with washers and dryers and a children’s play area. One can throw in a load of quilts and bedspreads and then go next door to ALDI for grocery shopping.

JK Mart opened in mid-December at 7603 New Hampshire Avenue (between ALDI and Fiesta Laundromat), relocating from Union Market in northeast DC. The family-owned business sells cookware, small appliances, African fabrics, bedding sets, CDs and DVDs and other housewares.

In addition to these new businesses opening, Taco Bell construction has begun at Holton Lane & New Hampshire Avenue with construction fencing installed and site preparations under way.

For more information, visit www.takomalangley.org.

This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

The Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center began operating on Thursday, Dec. 22. The Takoma Langley Crossroads Transit Center provides bus service to more than 12,000 customers daily, making it the largest non-Metrorail station transfer point in the Washington region. The center features a large well-lit canopy, ADA-accessible bus loading areas and real-time bus arrival screens. The center also provides an off-street location for safe bus boarding and transfers and decreased vehicular-pedestrian incidents.

The much anticipated opening has resulted in a number of route changes that could impact Takoma Park Metrobus and Ride On riders:

• Metrobus stops for routes C2, C4, F8, J4, K6 and K9 near the new transit center at New Hampshire Ave. and University Boulevard have moved to the transit center.
• Ride On routes 15, 16, 17, 18 and 25 will service the new transit center along with 111 of the UM Shuttle.

For more information, visit www.wmata.com/service/bus/upload/takoma-langley-brochure.pdf.

This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

Working in partnership, Unity in the Community and the City of Takoma Park will host a series of Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) seminars beginning in March and continuing through June.

No matter how many advancements we make as a society, it seems we can’t escape prejudice. Of course, our first reaction to prejudice is usually to blame someone else. Our second reaction may well be to blame ourselves. Blame, shame and guilt don’t get us anywhere. However, Takoma Park SEED will help you understand what’s happening in your life and connect you to the lives of people around you. It will challenge you to push for change.

Takoma Seed is part of the National SEED Project, which entails a group of about 20 people coming together for a series of conversations twice a month for four months. The seminars are facilitated, but not lectured, by local residents who have been trained as SEED leaders. They will guide you in interactive activities and conversations often stimulated by films and readings.

Through personal reflection and testimony, listening to others’ voices, and learning experientially and collectively, SEED equips participants to connect their lives to one another by acknowledging systems of oppression, power and privilege—and challenges them to push for change. SEED values your voice so you can, in turn, better value the voices of your neighbors, colleagues and children.

What happens at a SEED seminar? We listen to each other’s stories, watch videos and participate in interactive activities. A few of the exercises might make you smile, some, not so much, but all of them are meant to make you look inward in a safe environment.

SEED leaders Annie Mozer, Rachel Alexander and Shereece Millet will facilitate the seminars for interested participants on March 4 and 18; April 8 and 22; May 6 and 20; and June 3 and 17 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Topics for the upcoming seminars are listed in the shaded box.

This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.