The City of Takoma Park is aware of the communications between the Neighborhood Development Company and the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op regarding the Takoma Junction Redevelopment Project. The City staff and City Attorney are working together to formulate options regarding a path forward. Council will address the matter as appropriate. Staff notes that the FAQ page that the communications referred to had been removed from the City’s website for review over a week ago, but the link remains in a cached mode at this time.
Category Archives: News Alert
Category for Takoma alert items.
Takoma Junction Project Review Is On Hold
A review of the City’s Takoma Junction Redevelopment Project is on hold pending consideration of information in a letter provided today by the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA). The letter, first dated April 6 and then changed to April 13, raises a number of concerns with the design of a layby on Carroll Avenue, proposed to allow for deliveries for area businesses.
MDOT SHA was to have submitted its comments for the Montgomery County Development Review process by June 2019. Without an indication of MDOT SHA’s position on the layby, City and County officials had proceeded with the review of the project plans, including holding a special City Council meeting yesterday, April 12.
Due to the need to review the comments received today, Takoma Park City Council’s review of the site plan will not go forward on the dates that had been announced to the public: April 14, April 28, and May 5.
Information about the proposed project is on the City’s website. The letter from MDOT SHA has been posted at that link.
April is Designated “National Distracted Driver Awareness” Month
April is designated ‘National Distracted Driver Awareness Month,’ and Takoma Park Police officers will be participating and focusing their efforts on distracted driving using traffic enforcement initiatives. Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving; this includes using:
- Hand-held cell phone
- Texting
- Wireless devices
All distractions endanger drivers, passengers, and bystanders. Takoma Park Police officers observing the above violations, as well as any other distracted driving activity, will issue citations to the driver of the vehicle as well as educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving.
This effort is part of a high-visibility enforcement initiative that combines intense enforcement with further educating the public of the dangers of distracted driving. The ultimate goal is to save lives by convincing motorists to obey the law.
Drivers are reminded to remove all distractions while driving including any wireless devices. A wireless device is described as a hand-held or hands-free device used to access a wireless telephone service or to send or receive electronic messages.
- The penalty for this violation is a fine not more than $83.00 for the first offense, not more than $140.00 for a second or subsequent offense or not more than $160.00 for a third or subsequent offense.
- Three points may be assessed by the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) if the violation contributes to a motor vehicle crash.
- Texting while driving carries a fine of $70 and one point, however, if the texting and driving contributes to a motor vehicle crash, the fine is $110 and three points are assessed by the MVA.
- If distracted driving causes an accident and results in the death or serious bodily injury of another person(s), there could be 12 points assessed by MVA and there is a mandatory court appearance.
Takoma Park Police will continue their efforts beyond April to focus on drivers who are distracted using hand-held cell phones, or engaging in other distracting activities while driving. Please be safe and keep your eyes on the road for your safety and the safety of others!
COVID-19 Vaccination Updates from Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services
As vaccine information is rapidly changing we encourage all residents to visit the Montgomery County Vaccine Website as well as Maryland State Vaccine Website for updated information. We also encourage all residents to text “MDReady” to 898-211 to get alerts from the State, including notices of when there are available appointments at the mass vaccination sites.
*Update* Starting April 6: based on the state’s accelerating vaccination rate and an anticipated increase in supply from the federal government, all Marylanders 16 and older are eligible for vaccination at Maryland’s mass vaccination sites.
Preregister for Maryland mass vaccination sites
To get Vaccinated at a Clinic Operated by Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services:
- Everyone must preregister.
- Preregistration expanded to all Marylanders 16 and older
- We are currently preregistering all groups in Phase 2C and Phase 3 in Montgomery County. Check the County vaccine webpage for preregistration information.
- Maryland state is currently in Phase 3
Preregistration information:
- Preregistration is NOT a vaccination appointment—it places you in the queue by priority group. When vaccine doses arrive, we contact residents from the preregistration list and invite them to make an appointment.
- When invited to make an appointment, preregistered individuals will receive an invitation to make an appointment by phone call or email directly from the County’s Department of Health and Human Services.
- Email invitations will come from c19vaccination@montgomerycountymd.gov
Other Vaccination Locations:
Preregistering on the County’s vaccine page does not mean you are registered with other venues.
In addition to the clinics operated by Montgomery County DHHS, hospitals and several community partners have COVID-19 vaccines available to the public. These clinics follow the State guidelines, and not the rules issued by the County. Vaccine supply continues to be limited at all venues in Montgomery County.
Please visit the Maryland State Website to view a list of vaccination clinics near you.
Hospitals include:
- Adventist HealthCare
- Holy Cross Hospital
- Kaiser Permanente
- MedStar Health
- Suburban Hospital, a subsidiary of Johns Hopkins (Suburban Hospital is prioritizing existing patients in the Hopkins system).
Retail partners include:
Statewide Mass Vaccination Sites:
- Statewide Mass Vaccination Sites require Pre-Registration: Click here
- The pre-registration list will allow the state to contact you when you are eligible to schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine at one of our Mass Vaccination Site locations: Six Flags America Theme Park, Regency Furniture Stadium (Blue Crabs Stadium), Wicomico Civic Center, Hagerstown Premium Outlets, M&T Bank Stadium, Montgomery College, Greenbelt Metro Station
Assistance for Spanish Speaking Communities: 
- Information provided on behalf of Por Nuestra Salud y Bienestar (PNSYB)
- Montgomery County community members who speak Spanish that need help in filling out the Montgomery County vaccine pre-registration form can call the PNSYB Helpline at 301-270-8432.
- Para ayuda llenando el pre registro para la vacuna de COVID-19 y para más información, comuníquese a la Línea de Ayuda al 301 270-8432, de lunes a viernes de 9:00 AM a 7:00 PM.
Telephone Assistance for Preregistering in both Spanish and English:
Residents are encouraged to assist their neighbors, family members, and friends to preregister if they need help.
- Montgomery County: Those without internet access can call the Preregistration Helpline for assistance at 240-777-2982 seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bilingual staff (English/Spanish) are available and call takers can also access a translation line to help callers with many other languages.
- Maryland Statewide: You can also schedule by calling 855-MD-GOVAX (1-855-634-6829). Representatives are available 7 days a week from 7 am to 10 pm. You will answer the same questions to determine eligibility by phone, as you would by going through the online process.
This line is for preregistration only.
- General questions about vaccinations and COVID-19 can be answered by calling 240-777-1755 seven days a week from
8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Until the vaccine supply increases, we urge you to continue practicing social distancing, limiting your exposure to individuals outside your household, wearing masks and washing hands.
A Message From Mayor Stewart on the Recent Shooting and Arrest in our Community
On Wednesday, our City witnessed the violent taking of life. Dominique Williams and James Lionel Johnson were shot and killed at the hands of an off-duty Pentagon police officer. We are horrified by these events, and acknowledge this is all the more painful for those who have and continue to experience profiling based upon their appearance and brutality at the hands of those sworn to protect us.
There has been too much pain, trauma, and loss of life. It needs to end. From my perspective, there is no justification for what this person did. We do not and cannot tolerate violence. Our City is committed to ensuring justice is served. And it will be.
In Takoma Park, we must continue our work towards creating a just community. We are committed to reimagining public safety and ending this cycle of violence and trauma.
I want to thank our Police Chief and the detectives who swiftly investigated this case to get the shooter charged. I know many of us have had questions and have been anxious for a result as they conducted a full investigation of this heinous crime.
I also want to thank the many residents who reached out to us over the last couple of days. Your voices and commitment to justice in our community will serve to ensure continued dedication to protecting people’s lives and dignity in our City.
I want to extend my sympathies to the families of Mr. Williams and Mr. Johnson and to Mr. Thomas. To the residents who live in the Takoma Overlook and Hampshire Towers neighborhood where this violence occurred, we are here for you. Our community is here for you.
Takoma ARTery Spring Art Fair this Saturday at Girl & the Vine
Takoma ARTery Spring Art Fair
Saturday, April 10 from 11 am-5 pm
Girl & the Vine at 7071 Carroll Avenue
You can celebrate spring and support local artists at the Takoma ARTery Spring Art Fair this Saturday. Fifteen local artists will be selling their work across a wide range of mediums in this covid-conscious free outdoor event. Some artists also will create artwork live and explain their artmaking process. Masks are required and 35 people will be allowed into the art fair at any time.
The City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division is providing city funding and promotion for the ARTery, which also arranges storefront displays with artwork by a diverse range of local artists. The displays, which feature changing bimonthly exhibitions, can be seen at at the Historic Takoma building at 7328 Carroll Avenue at the Takoma Junction and the Takoma Masonic Center at 115 Carroll Street in downtown.
The storefront displays support the livelihoods of local artists and improve the appearance of local business districts by filling vacant or underused storefronts with arts and handicrafts from Takoma Park’s creative community. Artists arrange sales directly with buyers and aren’t charged any commission. Artists who are interested in showing their work or anyone with possible locations for more storefront displays should email takoma.artery@gmail.com. There also is more info at takomaartery.com.
“The City of Takoma Park is happy to support the Takoma ARTery’s important work,” said Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith. “Artists are small business owners who are responsible for Takoma Park’s reputation as an arts-friendly city, and they stimulate economic development both for the city and other businesses. We’re hoping for a good turnout at the Spring Art Fair this Saturday.”
Historic Takoma Window Display
Sidewalk Poetry Contest Winners Announced
After receiving more than 150 entries, the winners of the Takoma Park Sidewalk Poetry Contest have been selected, including 10 children and 10 adults ranging from 6 years old to seniors. The winners will receive a $100 award and a chance to have their original poems stamped into a local sidewalk in the contest organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division.
“We were impressed by the diverse breadth of poetry displaying the creativity, intellect, and whimsy of so many Takoma Park residents,” Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith said. “This is a fun public art project which brings poetry to the streets and under people’s feet. We hope the poems will provide a laugh or a moment of reflection as people walk around town.”
Local residents could submit one or two poems in English or Spanish. The selection committee included Takoma Park Poet Laureate Kathleen O’Toole and local poets Bernardine Watson and Vladimir Monge.
Twelve of the 20 poems have been stamped so far and more poems will be stamped as sidewalk work continues.
A new online map provides a looping 4.5-mile walking or biking route which connects the sidewalk poems located across the city.
Child/Teen Winners
Ari Bernstein -10 years old
From the sky to the earth
and the nature in between
you can see the beauty
in which it is woven
and the space you may weave
Sofia Dalanda Crandall -14 years old
Poetry is not a chair
Until you eat it
From a freshly shined plate
In a rickety old bus
On a blanket of snow
Edwige Ghembesalu -16 years old
sunshine honeydew
drip drops from the sky
and we shimmy in the rain
by the creek and on the bridge
slippin cause we mean to
Graham Gould -8 years old
Joy is what I feel within
It burns right through my thin tan skin
Those I love I share my gift
You just need a hopeful lift
Hector Herrera -6 years old
People love
people hug
the love is strong from above
Ash Hewchuck -15 years old
Song of moon, I take your hand
In dusk of sweet July night
Dappled thoughts and silver emotions
We’ll dance until first light
Nala Miller -7 years old
Little green ball in the tree
Bouncing and rolling free
Off the branch in the grass
Down the hill that’s all we see.
Maeve Monahan -11 years old
Takoma
Instead of a park
It’s more like a sea
Flowing from every
Green leafy tree
Ida Shaeffer-Allen -9 years old
Carving out rock
Cutting through land
Soft tender touch
Transforms more than seen.
Aissatou Thiam -7 years old
Six Legs
Tiny Ants
Don’t crawl up my pants!
Adult Winners
Sally Brucker
So here is the thing
not getting any younger
flowers
still budding
Chris Carson
If I had my way,
love and money would grow
All over the ground,
Like wild strawberries.
Colleen Cordes
Late light shines
through dusk dark pines.
Everywhere silence,
everywhere song.
Sing, silence, sing.
David Alberto Fernandez
(Spanish poem with English translation)
Las palabras que importan
no se imprimen,
ni están talladas o estampadas
Arden en nuestros corazones
The words that matter
are not printed,
carved or stamped
They blaze in our hearts
Rosemary Ferreira
If there is one thing I hold constant,
it is that I belong to this city
as much as it belongs to me.
Veronica Jackson
What will you have today?
I would like tomorrow
Ok that will cost you a day
Just give me yesterday
Sorry no refunds
Emily Kombe
You call it nappy,
I call it being able to breathe
for the first time
through my curls
Samantha Magrath
my footsteps sound
on hard surfaces
crisp and regular as a dealer
laying down card after card
on the city’s table
Maja Tokic
long ago
they walked this road
cold wind chilling their bones
over the ground hard as stone
long ago
Richard Weil
Know, that a valley,
Is a mountain resting
Your Action Is Needed to Ensure Fair Tax Duplication Payments
“The Council of Takoma Park calls on the County Executive and Council to recognize the complementary work done by the County and municipalities in making our communities safe, attractive, and welcoming and to finally rectify this long-standing inequity.” — Resolution 2021-8 Demanding Fair Tax Duplication Payments
– City of Takoma Park, March 10, 2021
As the County Council begins to work on the County’s budget, it is time that we renew our calls for the County to address the long-overdue issue of tax duplication. This is the year to do it.
The Takoma Park City Council passed a resolution calling on the Montgomery County Council to finally pay the tax duplication
rebates they owe our city. Every year, residents of Takoma Park and other municipalities in Montgomery County pay both the County and their cities for services that only their cities provide them. To account for this tax duplication, the County is required by law to rebate municipalities for the amount that city residents pay for services the County does not provide to them.
In Takoma Park, these services include road maintenance, crossing guards, parks, and our police department. You can read about tax duplication in more detail here and in our resolution here.
We have three asks:
- That the Council amend the County Executive’s FY22 budget to adjust the municipal tax duplication payments to the amount for Transportation (road maintenance), Police, Crossing Guard, and Park services to reflect the amounts owed to municipalities in Montgomery County, which would total $14,203,314;
- That the Council work to codify a consistent process and method to update the formulas for these categories, and
- That the Council urges the County Executive to begin negotiations on the formula for police and park maintenance services for the FY23 budget year.
During the 2008-09 Great Recession, the County froze the rebate at its current level due to a lack of revenue. Revenues have since recovered. However, the tax duplication rebate has remained frozen at 2012 levels, even as the County has increased what it spends to deliver services to County residents who do not reside in Takoma Park and the cost of providing services such as road maintenance has increased since 2012.
Residents of Takoma Park and other municipalities have been paying their cities for services they receive and also have been forced to pay the County for services it does not provide. If the rebate had not been frozen in 2018, the City of Takoma Park would have received an additional $900,000 as part of our rebate in that year alone. Although only a drop in the bucket for the County budget, this figure amounts to 3.77 cents on our tax rate. It would make a big difference for our tight budget, increasing the City’s ability to maintain our roads and parks, reduce property taxes for those struggling financially, work to make housing more affordable, and provide other services.
The County Executive and Council have neglected to address this inequity for years. The Montgomery County chapter of the Maryland Municipal League, Takoma Park City Manager Suzanne Ludlow, members of the Takoma Park City Council, and I have all asked repeatedly that Takoma Park receive its fair share.
As the budget season begins, we must take the opportunity to continue and build on those efforts. County Executive Elrich included in his proposed FY22 budget an increase to the rebates, but not one that matches the County formulas for calculating how much cities are owed.
We will continue our efforts and I believe we will succeed if our residents join the call for tax justice. I encourage you to call or email the County Council and tell them to pay municipalities in full. Now is not the time to be short-changing cities, as we have been and continue to be on the front line in the fight against the pandemic, economic hardship, and racial inequity. Please call or email now and over the next couple of weeks as the County Council considers the County budget.
Here are some points to highlight:
- The County Council should recognize the benefits of having its municipalities provide services that the County would otherwise have to provide.
- The failure of the County to increase rebates to municipalities to provide such services since 2008 is an injustice that the Council should correct.
- The FY22 budget should provide the $14 million for municipal tax duplication payments to Montgomery County municipalities for Transportation (road maintenance), Police, Crossing Guard, and Park services.
- The Council should begin negotiations with Takoma Park and other municipal leaders regarding the FY23 budget and codify a consistent process and method to update the reimbursement formulas.
To sign up and testify on the County budget on April 6th or 7th go here.
Email addresses for the County Council:
Council President Tom Hucker – Councilmember.Hucker@montgomerycountymd.gov
Council Vice-President Gabe Albornoz – Councilmember.Albornoz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember At-Large Evan Glass – Councilmember.Glass@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember At-Large Will Jawando – Councilmember.Jawando@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember At-Large Hans Riemer – Councilmember.Riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Input Needed: Take The Takoma Park Recreation Center Community Survey!
The Takoma Park Recreation Center on New Hampshire Avenue will be redeveloped into a new, state-of-the-art, community resource, and we need your input! The City of Takoma Park is conducting a community survey to understand the needs and priorities. Participants will have a chance to win one of several gift cards from local, Takoma Park businesses!
Click here to fill out the survey online! Now available 4 languages:
- English
- Español
- Francais
- አማርኛ Amharic
Paper copies are also available on-site the drop off locations. Drop them off at the locations below.
Drop-off Locations:
- Takoma Park Police Department – 7500 Maple Ave
- Hampshire Tower Apartments – 7401 New Hampshire Ave
- Takoma Overlook -7333 New Hampshire Ave
The deadline to complete the survey is March 31, 2021.
For more information contact housing@takomaparkmd.gov or 240-414-8177.
Grants and rebates available for weatherization, energy savings
The City offers residential sustainability grants to Income-qualified residents for FREE weatherization (insulation, draft reduction, and potentially heating and cooling equipment and appliances) by applying here.
Additional rebates are available for all residents who make energy efficiency improvements.
All residents looking to keep the cold air out, warm air in, and reduce utility bills at home can get a FREE ENERGY SAVING KIT from Montgomery County: https://
Kits contain:
- door sweeps,
- rope caulk for those leaky windows,
- window insulations kits, and more.
- requests must be received by March 31, 2021.
