Join the City of Takoma Park Youth Council in revving up those get-out-to-vote efforts for the upcoming elections this November with an “I Voted” Sticker Design Contest! Submit a design for your chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card and have your art handed out to voters in the November 2024 City Election!

Contest Details

• You must be a Takoma Park Resident who is 18 or under to submit.
• By submitting a design, you grant permission for your design to be used by the City of Takoma Park on promotional items, social media, websites, and any marketing campaigns.
• Submission Period closes Friday, May 24th, 2024
• 6 Finalists will be selected by members of the youth council and those finalists will be voted on by the public.
• Contest winner will be announced no later than July 25th and the form for voting will open no later than June 21st.
• First Place prize is a $100 Amazon gift card, with 2nd and 3rd place receiving a $25 Amazon gift card.
• The winner will be used in the November 2024 City Election.

Design Guidelines

Submit a design for this exciting competition on the official contest submission form.

The City Council will finish its FY 2025 budget deliberations with three scheduled budget reconciliation sessions and a public hearing.

April 2024 Budget Schedule

Wednesday, April 24–7:30 p.m. in the Community Center Auditorium (Regular Meeting and Budget Reconciliation). Also on April 24, the City Council will hold the second public hearing on the budget. The public hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter can be taken up. The public is encouraged to attend the hearing and sign up to speak. Those wishing to comment on Zoom must register by 5:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

Monday, April 29–7:30 p.m. in the Community Center Auditorium (Final Budget Reconciliation)

May 2024 Budget Schedule

The City Council will not meet on Wednesday, May 1.

Council votes on the final budget are scheduled for first reading on Wednesday, May 8 and second reading on Wednesday, May 15. The Council will vote on three budget ordinances:

• Ordinance Adopting the FY 2025 Tax Rates
• Ordinance Adopting the FY 2025 Stormwater Management Budget
• Ordinance Adopting the FY 2025 Budget

Note: Complete meeting agendas will be posted on the Council Agenda Pages. Public comments on the budget are welcome at the beginning of each meeting.

FY2025 Proposed Budget and Presentation Information

View the FY 2025 Proposed Budget and Departmental PowerPoint Presentations.

You are invited and encouraged to provide feedback on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for the City of Takoma Park!

Try out our new budgeting tool: Balancing Act

This budget simulation is a way for you to learn more about the City’s spending and revenues.

• The module starts with a snapshot of revenues and expenditures for the Fiscal Year 2025 Proposed Budget.
• As you work through the module, you have the ability to adjust various expenditures and revenues by using the Plus and Minus symbols.
• Real-time updates will show the impact of your funding choices at the top of the screen.
• Before submitting, please provide comments as you adjust the budget so we can understand your reason for adjusting each item.

How to (Gently) Fight Plants with Plants: Using native plants to crowd out invasives- Presented by Nancy Lawson

• What: Free Presentation
• When: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at 7:00 PM
• Where: Takoma Park Community Center (Main Auditorium). 7500 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912

You’ve decided to start or expand your native plant garden for the good of the animals and the environment. Great move! But there’s just one problem:
You’re staring down at a yard replete with stiltgrass, garlic mustard, English ivy, and other invasive species. How can you remove these plants that harm wildlife and their habitats while also nurturing valuable ones that are dormant in the seedbank, just waiting to escape the mower and sprout? Which native groundcovers, shrubs, wildflowers, vines and trees can you proactively plant to help you hold the ground? In this session, you’ll learn strategies for gradual replacement and discover which native species can help you shift the balance toward a more wildlife-friendly, native-plant-filled habitat.

Nancy Lawson is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife and Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and Other Sensory Wonders of Nature. A nature writer, habitat consultant, popular speaker, and founder of The Humane Gardener, LLC, she pioneers creative wildlife-friendly landscaping methods. Certified as a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional and master naturalist, Nancy co-chairs Howard County Bee City in Maryland and co-launched a community science project, Monarch Rx, after discovering a little-known butterfly behavior in her own garden. Her work has been featured in Science Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Oprah magazine, Entomology Today, and Ecological Entomology. Her most recent book, Wildscape, received an honorable mention in the American Horticultural Society’s national book awards and was a finalist for the 2024 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.

Bike Werks will be onsite to perform brake adjustments, derailleur adjustments, lubrication and tire inflation  at no charge.

If parts are needed (brake pads, cables, tubes, chains, etc…), they will be available to buy onsite, and installation of those parts is covered by your home town City of Takoma Park!

Where will we be?

• The Crossroads Farmers Market
  April: 24, May: 1, 8 & 15, between 10:30AM to 2:30PM
• The Takoma Park Farmers Market
  (by the bike rack closest to the entrance)
  May: 5 & 12, between 10:00AM to 2:00PM

You can also stop by on Bike to Work Day!

Bike Werks will also be out on Bike to Work Day on May 17 at two pit stops:

• Sligo Creek Trail & New Hampshire Avenue crossing – East Side     7:00AM to 9:30AM
• Takoma/Langley Crossroads – 7676 New Hampshire Ave
  6:30AM to 9:00AM

Hope to see you there!

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

Nonprofit organizations serving residents of Takoma Park are encouraged to apply for funding to support Arts, STEM, or STEAM programs that will take place between July 1. 2024 and June 30, 2025. 

Grant Details

• Awards will range from $5,000 to $10,000, with a total of $50,000 available in the grant pool.
• The deadline for applications is 11:59 pm, Friday, May 10, 2024. Grantees will be announced prior to July 1, 2024.
• Visit the Community Quality of Life Grant Program page for more details on eligibility and to apply.

Questions? Email the City’s grants coordinator at grants@takomaparkmd.gov or call 301-891-7235.

From Montgomery Planning (M-NCPPC)

On April 2, the Montgomery County Council voted to approve the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment!

The plan preserves and expands affordable housing and advances economic development and employment opportunities in a section of the City of Takoma Park from the Takoma Park Community Center in the west to the Erie Center and Washington Adventist University and the former Washington Adventist Hospital site in the east.

Read Montgomery Planning’s press release about the plan’s approval for more information. Read the Takoma Park City Council’s March 22, 2024, letter of support for the plan.

Watch the Council Vote

Highlights of the plan’s recommendations

Land Use, Zoning and Housing

• For compatible future development flexibility, recommend residential and commercial mixed-use zoning for properties on and around Washington Adventist campus and along Maple Avenue.
• Highlight new and existing strategies for compatibility of new development with the surrounding communities.

Improved Connectivity

• Incorporate a well-lit, walkable Green Promenade from Town Hall to the Washington Adventist campus.
• Seek opportunities for a micro-mobility hub for better multi-modal access.

Environmental Resiliency

• Support the city’s Stormwater Management Program to improve Sligo Creek water quality and reduce untreated runoff and flooding.
• Provide methods to reduce impervious surfaces.
• Minimize urban heat islands by incorporating cooling elements like street trees and shaded seating areas into the streetscape.

Parks and Open Space

• Provide for significant new public open space on the Washington Adventist campus.
• Enhance the ecological health and performance of Sligo Creek Stream Valley Park.

Historic Preservation

• List the Heffner Park Community Center, Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Krestview sites on the Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
• Study Takoma Park’s historic African American neighborhoods for potential future listing on the Master Plan for Historic Preservation and/or the National Register of Historic Places.

The plan also focuses on racial equity and social justice

Advancing racial equity and social justice is woven into the plan with specific recommendations to:

• Prioritize no net loss of affordable housing by prioritizing existing residents, recommending a diversity of unit type, preserving the number of existing affordable units, and upgrading existing affordable units.
• Propose the development of new housing with inclusive affordability.
• Increase access to parks, open space, community gardens, and local healthy food production.
• Promote cultural heritage and diversity of the community and further explore its past.
• Connect the community through increased mobility options.
• Support the creation of new diverse and welcoming public spaces.
• Provide ways to combat environmental inequities.
• Increase access to the existing transit network to help reduce reliance on single occupancy vehicles and provide all residents, regardless of car ownership, access to employment and other destinations.

Event Details

• What: Takoma Park Community Blood Drive
• When: Saturday, June 1, 2024 between 11:30 am – 04:30 pm
• Where: Takoma Park Community Center (Azalea Room). 7500 Maple Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912
• Registration: https://www.inovabloodsaves.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/34060

Takoma Park Police and Inova Blood Donor Services are once again teaming up to host a Takoma Park Community Blood Drive! Your selfless act of donating blood can help save lives, and it only takes a short amount of time.  Let’s come together as a community to positively impact the health and well-being of those in need. Register today!

Registration is SOLD OUT for the Adult Learn to Ride a Bike Class at the Takoma Park Food Co-op! However, we encourage you to sign-up for the waitlist to help us determine the need for future classes.

WABA’s Adult Learn to Ride class is for participants 18 and older. Our experienced Instructors break the skills down step by step to get you on a bike and rolling in no time. Participants learn to start and stop, balance, glide, pedal and steer a bike and progress at their own pace.  Although registration spots are limited,  we encourage you to sign up for the waitlist if space runs out to help determine the need for future classes!

• When: Saturday, May 11 · 10am – 1pm
• Where: Takoma Park Food Co-op (201 Ethan Allen Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912)

 Learn more and join the waitlist on the official event posting: https://bit.ly/adultlearntoride