On Wednesday, December 11, 2024, the Takoma Park City Council was joined by members of the District 20 delegation to the Maryland General Assembly to discuss the city’s priorities for the new year. It is common practice for the two bodies to meet ahead of the upcoming state legislative session, which runs for about 90 days. The new session begins on Wednesday, January 8.
Takoma Park falls within District 20, which is represented by Senator Will Smith and Delegates Lorig Charkoudian, Jheanelle
Wilkins, and David Moon.
Takoma Park Mayor Talisha Searcy began by thanking the delegation for previous financial support, which included “$425,000 in legislative bond funds for our library renovation [and] $250,000 … supporting our mental health pilot program,” referring to a new public safety measure to provide a more nuanced approach to policing.
Mayor Searcy reminded the delegation that Takoma Park has set priorities to guide policy and budget decision-making. These include
- advancing a community of belonging;
- a fiscally sustainable government;
- an environmentally sustainable community;
- community development for an improved and equitable quality of life; and
- engaged, responsive, service-oriented government.
Different members of the city council addressed these priorities, speaking in turn— starting with Ward 5 Councilmember Cara Honzak who addressed community belonging as a current concern because of the xenophobic rhetoric of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as well as the prediction that budgets will be tighter across all strata of government.
“Considering the current political climate and pending fiscal challenges … we feel that it’s more important than ever to support residents in need,” said Honzak. “There is fear that [because of] pending policies at the federal level … many of our residents … may face life altering changes like deportation, losing jobs, or discrimination.”
She asked the delegation to affirm that Maryland law enforcement agencies will not participate in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. Additionally, she asked that the general assembly fund support services for residents facing deportation.
Ward 6 Councilmember Amy Wesolek then addressed the council’s position on equity, asking the District 20 delegation to affirm LGBTQ rights, “in particular, transgender rights for children and adults.”
Ward 1 Councilmember Jessica Landman brought up fiscal sustainability during a time of tighter budgets.
“We would like to encourage the D-20 delegation to collaboratively explore potential sources of new revenue streams for municipalities, such as the authority to collect a sales tax,” said Landman. She also mentioned her hope that the state tax code be updated “to benefit working families.”
Ward 2 Councilmember Cindy Dyballa focused on the environment, “asking for specific attention … to support legislation that focuses on building out electric charging infrastructure throughout the state, including here in the city, and funds for electrifying municipal and the governmental fleets [and] advance energy efficiency in buildings.”
Dyballa also asked for support for stormwater mitigation with increased funding and technical assistance.
Ward 3 Councilmember Roger Schlegel asked the delegation to consider enhancing Takoma Park with community development that focuses on “an improved and equitable quality of life.”
He specifically referred to Vision Zero goals to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries on Takoma Park roads. He asked for help with legislation that includes lowering speed limits, installing stop-sign cameras, and established the roads around Montgomery College and Washington Adventist University as school zones.
Addressing a hot Ward 6 issue in 2024, Schlegel asked the delegation for legislation that would “prevent the concentration of liquor stores in marginalized communities.”
Ward 4 Councilmember Kurt Gilbert brought up housing policy, asking the state legislators “to enact good cause eviction laws [and] support budget and legislative initiatives to significantly increase the stock of affordable housing, including housing for the missing middle and for people with disabilities.”
“We would also like you to … create a source of funds for multifamily building rehabilitation, including condominium rehabilitations,” requested Gilbert.
Mayor Searcy went last. She mentioned that some city staff does not have ideal work environments, especially those with Public Works. They lack critical infrastructure such as bathrooms and office space. The mayor asked for $500,000 to be able to move forward with design work to meet these needs.
Senator Will Smith spoke first, in response to the council. He congratulated members of the community who participated in the democratic process in 2024 and addressed fears about the Trump administration.
“Nationally, obviously, we had a significant setback, which has been alluded to several times here,” said Smith, saying that it “fundamentally changed” the priorities to “being more of a protective and defensive posture.”
Smith said that Maryland faces a $2.7 billion shortfall in 2025, which will hamper expansion of services. “Our budget deficit is going to be $4. 7 billion by 2028 if we keep on the current track.”
He said that despite this, the delegation will work to achieve the mayor’s capital request, though it might not come all at once.
Delegate David Moon started by welcoming new Councilmembers Landman, Schlegel, Gilbert, and Wesolek and paying tribute to outgoing Ward 4 City Councilmember Terry Seamens. He reminded the council that he is a resident of Ward 4 and was well represented by Councilmember Seamens.
Delegate Moon then addressed the worries that community members would be harmed by policies of the Trump administration.
“There is some good news here from our years and years of work and our past experience with Trump on this,” he said. “This is not our first rodeo.”
During the previous Trump administration, “we decided to shut down all of the … for-profit immigrant detention centers,” which theoretically inhibits the capacity of immigration enforcers to fill beds,” said Moon. He said that the general assembly helped fund legal services for people facing deportation—funding that continues.
On another matter, Delegate Moon thanked Takoma Park and Maryland residents generally for its help in “locking down reproductive rights at the ballot” and helping the legislative body expand access to health care services in the state.
He reassured the council that Governor Wes Moore is “racing forward with regs right now on reproductive rights and transgender
health care records so that they will not be subject to some of the negative actions that we are concerned about.”
Delegate Moon spoke to the theme of tight budgets, saying that they would do what they could to protect revenue streams.
“But I just want to give you a word of caution” that many jurisdictions are asking for increased revenue from unique tax sources, such as restaurant and beverage. “And if you add all of these requests up, it’s a lot of stuff” being passed along to consumers.
“We do intend to put a little more rigor towards putting the state’s land to active use for solar siting for housing production and for other things,” said Moon, “but I do think it will start with some tough conversations about housing.”
Delegate Charkoudian spoke next, addressing first the expectation that energy prices will increase in 2025 due to closure of fossil-fuel power plants and lack of a sustainable source, with much of Maryland’s power coming from out of state. Charkoudian
identified this situation as a “failure of planning” by regional transmission organizations.
Charkoudian affirmed her commitment to staying “on track for our climate goals in a way that protects ratepayers.” She said that she will support state efforts to support clean energy and create greater battery storage. She cautioned those who advocate turning to increased methane/natural gasto lower the expected increase in energy prices. This will be a setback for the environment and will strengthen an energy monopoly, she said.
Charkoudian said that she will continue to support stop-sign cameras in school zones and legislation to consider density and the public health and public safety” when it comes to decisions to grant new liquor licenses.
She also addressed issues related to the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Purple Line, which is currently under construction along the western and northern borders of Takoma Park. She said that she is already monitoring the effect on traffic and will keep an eye on other issues such as equity among ridership as the project continues toward completion.
“So please stay in touch with our offices,” she said. “It’s fine to keep harassing us because then we just keep harassing [MDOT].”
Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins reiterated her concern about the Purple Line and echoed Delegate Charkoudian’s call to residents to reach out with any concerns.
Wilkins said that she is working with Casa de Maryland on protections for immigrants in places where people gather, such as churches and hospitals. She said that all spaces should be safe spaces.
“As a state, we’re not able to deal with immigration law specifically,” she said. “What we can do is take every action possible to make sure that the state of Maryland and our various entities do not participate in any way or fuel … any sort of actions that are negative when it comes to immigrant rights.”
Wilkins reminded the council that she is the vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee, which means that she will be working specifically on how to fund state and jurisdictional services during lean times. She said that one solution may be to raise the state tax rate for high earners.
She then said that she has introduced legislation for the past seven years regarding “just cause or good cause eviction,” which protects tenants from unreasonable rent hikes and retaliatory or discriminatory evictions, and that she is confident that it will pass the Maryland Senate this year.
As this part of the council meeting moved toward closure, Councilmember Honzak asked about the possibility that Takoma Park become a “democracy hub” as the country moves into the second Trump administration.
Delegate Moon responded with the observation that Maryland and Montgomery County are currently losing population, in part because of the high cost of housing. But he added that he does see value in the proposition that “this is a welcoming community.” He said that he believes that “we are going to see folks moving to our region. And, hey, the more neighbors, the better as far as I’m concerned.”
This article appeared in the January Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.
