Category Archives: News

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News, News Alert, Public Notices

Takoma Park Receives Sustainable Maryland Certified Award and is 2024 “Sustainability Champion”

The City of Takoma Park is proud to announce that it has achieved recertification for its sustainability efforts and has been named Sustainability Champion 2024!

Takoma Park accumulated the highest point total of all the Maryland communities receiving certification this year at 730 points.

“We are honored to receive this year’s Sustainable Maryland certification. Our commitment to the Sustainable Maryland program has been steadfast since our first certification in 2011, and this recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our city’s staff, residents, businesses, and organizations who have made sustainability a priority and have been champions towards our climate action goals. We are proud of our efforts in implementing innovative sustainability programs and initiatives across numerous focus areas, and we are committed to continuing to build a more sustainable and resilient future for the City of Takoma Park” said Mayor Talisha Searcy.

Takoma Park has been a pioneer of sustainable initiatives in Maryland. The City is fully committed to the idea of acting locally while thinking globally. If we all do our part on the local level, we will ensure that generations have a healthy planet to call home.

View the full Sustainable Maryland Press Release here.

 

News, Public Notices, Takoma Park Newsletter

Fall Leaf Collection Program to Start November 18

This year’s vacuum leaf collection program will take place between November 18 and December 20. Every household will receive a leaf collection notice in the mail and more information can be found on the City’s webpage. 

Loose leaves raked to the curb are collected via vacuum trucks. These leaves are taken to the Public Works yard, where they are ground into small pieces. This leaf mulch is then available for residents for pick-up or by delivery for a fee.

While the city does provide collection for leaves, we strongly encourage residents to consider alternatives including mulching or composting all or most of the leaves and keeping them in their yards. Information on the best ways to do this can be found on the Leaf Collection Webpage. Leaves can also be bagged in paper bags and collected throughout the year in Monday yard waste collection.

This year’s fall leaf collection, like previous years, will divide the city into five zones, with one leaf collection crew per zone. City streets will receive collection throughout the collection period as crews pass through their zones. The program will cover every street at least twice during the collection period and usually more often.

Collection Routes with Assigned Collection Dates

There are five streets that receive collection on scheduled dates due to heavy traffic:

  • Saturday, November 23 and Monday, December 16: Carroll Avenue (7000 to 7800 blocks), Ethan Allen Avenue, and Philadelphia Avenue
  •  Friday, November 15 and Saturday, December 14: Piney Branch Road and Flower Avenue (7900 to 8600 blocks)
Important Guidelines for Leaf Collection
  • Place leaves into a pile just behind the curb.
  • Do not rake leaves into the street as the leaves can create traffic hazards.
  • Do not include branches, brush, vines, rocks, or debris. These items can damage equipment and delay collection.
  • Do not pile leaves near storm drain inlets. Leaves can block the drains and cause fl ooding.
  • Do not park your car in front of a leaf pile during the work day.
Leaf Collection Hotline

The Leaf Collection Hotline, 301 891-7626, will be available for residents to report when their leaf pile is at the curb. It is not necessary to report when your leaves are ready, but it is an option.

This article appeared in the November Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.

News, Public Notices

Message From Code Enforcement: Too Much Noise!

 

Fall leaf season is upon us, and so are yard care contractors with their noisy gasoline-powered leaf blowers! Takoma Park has passed a law that bans the sale of gasoline-powered leaf blowers in the City. On July 1st of next year, the use of these blowers will be banned. Homeowners can request their lawn care contractors to use battery-powered or electric leaf blowers instead of gasoline. Why wait for July?

A lack of noise is offensive to no one, and in addition to the noise, the gasoline-powered blowers contribute to our air pollution issues. Please use your power as a consumer and help eliminate gasoline-powered leaf blowers in Takoma Park.

Learn more about Noise Control in the City of Takoma Park on the Code Enforcement webpage.

News, Public Notices

Sustainability Interns Take a Deep Dive into Recycling

 

On September 17th, the City Sustainability Office team joined forces with the Recreation Department to take a group of seniors for an insightful tour of the Prince George’s County Materials Recycling Facility (MRF). Our two interns, Joy Togo and Emma Spencer, offered their perspectives from the experience:

[EMMA] Our tour of the facility started with a brief presentation on the facility and the different recycling rules that apply. It was interesting to visit with such an inquisitive group, and we all learned a lot about what we are actually able to recycle. MRF is a single-stream facility, meaning that consumers don’t have to separate their recyclable materials. Instead, everything can just be placed in the same bin and there is technology at MRF that can separate paper from plastic from cardboard. In Takoma Park, our recycling gets sent to Prince George’s facility because it is a single stream. Thus, these recycling rules apply to Takoma Park residents whose recycling gets collected by the city.

Here are the top tips I took away from our trip:

  • Do not bag your recyclables in a plastic bag! MRF does not accept plastic #4, which is what most plastic bags are made of. If your recycling is in a trash bag and it gets picked up, it will be just thrown in the trash. Instead, you can use an unlined trash can or bin to hold your recyclables. On the topic of plastics, MRF also does not recycle plastic #6. MRF does accept plastics 1,2, 3, 5, and 7.
  • Don’t recycle anything smaller than a sticky note (3 inches by 3 inches). These small items jam up the machinery needed for sorting recyclables, so it’s better to reuse them when possible, upcycle them, or as a last resort, throw them out.
  • Lids are a particularly tricky small item. If your bottles and cans have different material lids, separate them! If the lid is smaller than a sticky note, toss it in the trash OR place it inside a container made of the same material. You can then crush the container so it will keep the lid inside it. That way, the lid can still be recycled and not cause issues for the machines. For bottles and cans that have the same material lids, you can leave those lids on.
  • Don’t recycle soiled materials or wet paper! However, as long as you rinse out plastic bottles and aluminum cans you can recycle them. Your recyclables should be rinsed and clean, but it’s okay they all aren’t super squeaky clean.

Touring the facility also allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of the recycling process. We got to watch the process and see the machinery in action. After recyclables are collected through curbside pickup, they are brought to MRF. There, they are dumped onto what is called the ‘tipping floor’. The tipping floor is essentially a massive empty warehouse where the recycles are all piled. From there, they are placed in a large conveyor belt that brings them back to where they will be sorted. The sorting process is complex, with machines and workers working together. First, individuals pull out hazards like large objects and plastic bags. The rest of the materials travel down a conveyor to star screens which separate flat material (paper, cardboard) from other materials (cans, plastics). The containers are then sent to the combination screen which separates any paper that made it through the star screens from the containers.

Containers continue on their journey to a large magnet that picks out the metal containers and then a machine that breaks and removes any glass containers. What’s left is mostly aluminum cans and plastic containers. They are sent to a magnetic field that uses an eddy current to separate the aluminum from plastic. The last step for the remaining plastic containers is to pass through a high-tech machine that uses optical sorting to identify what is acceptable. After being sorted, each material gets baled. Those bales are then sent to manufacturers. There, your household materials are transformed into items like carpets, clothes, and even stuffed animals that can be made with the fibers that are produced from recycled materials.

[JOY] Seeing firsthand how single-stream recycling works—where paper, plastics, glass, and metals are collected together and later separated—was eye-opening. The tour showcased the intricate process, from conveyor belts and manual sorting to advanced machinery that identifies and categorizes items based on size, shape, and type. It gave me a deeper appreciation of the complex work involved in recycling.

A key takeaway was the importance of reducing contamination to improve recycling efficiency. Facility experts emphasized that small actions—like keeping non-recyclables, such as plastic bags, out of bins and rinsing out containers—can prevent disruptions and keep recyclables from being sent to landfills. The tour left me with a renewed sense of responsibility for managing recyclables at home, showing that recycling requires more than just tossing items in the right bin; it demands thoughtful choices to ensure the system functions effectively. For anyone interested in sustainability, I highly recommend visiting a facility like this—it provides valuable insight into the recycling process and inspires us to become more mindful recyclers.

Still have questions about recycling? Learn more on the City webpage.

If you are interested in scheduling your own tour, please reach out to the staff at the MRF at 301-324-4760.

News, News Alert, Public Notices

Extra Public Hearing on Proposed Housing Tax Credits – Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Public Hearing Details:

The City Council will hold a second public hearing on the proposed housing tax credits on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at 7:30 pm. The public is encouraged to attend the public hearing and sign up to speak or register to comment via Zoom. To comment on Zoom, registration is required by 5 pm on the day of the meeting.

Written comments may be sent to the City Clerk (clerk@takomaparkmd.gov).

October 14 Update: The tax credit fiscal analysis has been posted to the agenda page.

 Helpful Links:

News, Takoma Park Newsletter

Behind the Badge- Sgt. Henok Atakilt : ”The biggest thing for us is communication.”

by Sean Gossard

For Sgt. Henok Atakilt, being a police officer was always his dream job.

“I’ve always wanted to be a police officer,” says Atakilt. “My biggest thing was coming from an Ethiopian background. There’s a lot of Ethiopians in the city and I thought that would be a great way to bridge the gap in the community.”

Atakilt, 29, is very much a product of the community he’s served for years. He went to Takoma Park Elementary School and Takoma Park Middle School before going to Montgomery Blair High School and later Montgomery County College. Before joining the force, Atakilt worked at the recreation desk in the community center, helping out with after-school activities.

Since joining the Takoma Park police department in 2017, Atakilt quickly rose through the ranks. He served as a patrol officer, responding to calls for service in the community; then detective, investigation crimes from homicides to robbery; and then was promoted to corporal.

Atakilt was named Takoma Park’s Offi cer of the Year for 2019 because of his dedication to duty and his significant accomplishments and contributions throughout the year.

In a message from then-City Manager Suzanne Ludlow, she wrote, “Pfc. Atakilt is quick with a smile and has an upbeat attitude with everyone he comes into contact with; he has been the subject of many compliments from residents for his assistance. On a personal note, I want to say how wonderful it is to see Henok win this honor. He is a hometown hero. He grew up in Takoma Park, worked for the Recreation Dept, then has succeeded in his dream to be a Takoma Park Police Officer.”

In March, he was promoted to sergeant and now leads a team of five officers who work in 12-hour shifts around the city. The test for being promoted to sergeant was a rigorous hundred-question exam covering state laws, criminal laws and general procedures among other inquiries. The second portion of the exam involved sergeants giving scenarios on how he would respond to several high-stress situations.

He says being in the police force gives him the opportunity to talk to many members of the community.

“As community as a whole we’re doing great,” he says. “The biggest thing for us is communication, not just between offi cers, but with the community. It’s nice having events like National Night Out and Coffee with a Cop.”

He says his team has a Spanish-speaking officer who helps bridge the gap with Takoma Park’s growing Hispanic population. “We have different beats we work in the city,” he says. “We want to have someone they can communicate with. It’s all about having the right officer in the right spot to help the community.”

Atakilt says one of the biggest challenges of policing in Takoma Park is the various jurisdictions that surround it.

“We’re surrounded by Prince George’s County; Washington, D.C.; and the greater Montgomery County area. We have a lot of different traffi c flow that goes through our city. It’s kind of important to stay active and be in those areas to keep the crime out. Even with our agency, we’re the only fullservice police department in Montgomery County. We all work together very well to
take care of the community.”

In the little personal time Atakilt has, he says he loves spending it with his wife and daughter.

If you have a frontline offi cer that you’dlike to nominate for a profile, please contact seang@takomaparkmd.com.

This article appeared in the October Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.

News, Public Notices

Message From Code Enforcement: Fall Is Upon Us! So, What Can We Do with Leaves?

Shredding leaves with a mulching mower will save you time and money. Mulching is faster and easier on the back than raking. Studies have shown that mulching leaves can return nutrients and organic matter to the yard and have long-term positive effects.

4 Best Practices for Making Shredded Leaf Mulch

  • The turf must be mowed high.
  • The leaves should be dry, not wet, and matted down.
  • Leaf mulching should be done every week. If done too infrequently, the thickness of the leaf litter will be too much for the mulching effort to be effective. You will create a layer of smaller leaves.
  • Leaf mulching early in the fall, while the soil temperature is still warm, will lead to rapid litter decomposition. Waiting until the end of fall is counterproductive as the soil temps have cooled, and decomposition is slower.

In conclusion, fall lawn care doesn’t have to include the tedious job of raking or blowing leaves. Follow these simple steps for how to mulch leaves and your lawn and your back will thank you!

Arts & Humanities, News, News Alert

D.C. Labor Chorus Sing-Along Concert on Oct. 18

D.C. Labor Chorus Sing-Along Concert 

Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

Featuring singers from Takoma Park and other communities, the D.C. Labor Chorus will lead an audience sing-along of some favorite civil rights and peace and justice songs.
Led by founding director Elise Bryant, the chorus includes about 25 members of various ages, races, and faith traditions who have performed at concerts, rallies, demonstrations, and picket lines. Some of the singers are current or former union members, and they all actively support the principles of liberty and justice for all. And singing about it!
The concert is free and no tickets or reservations are required. Some limited parking is available at the Takoma Park Community Center, Piney Branch Elementary School, or on neighboring streets.
The D.C. Labor Chorus is one of the programs of the Labor Heritage Foundation, which also organizes the D.C. Labor Filmfest and Great Labor Arts Exchange. For more info, go to laborheritage.org.
This concert is part of the City of Takoma Park’s Takoma Park Arts series, which includes free concerts, theater, dance performances, art exhibitions, and other events at the Takoma Park Community Center. For more info about all of our upcoming events, sign up for our e-newsletter. Join us and celebrate the arts!

News, Takoma Park Newsletter

Step into the School Year with a Walking School Bus

What is a Walking Bus?

A Walking Bus involves a group of children walking to school together, led by adult volunteers, such as parents. Similar
to a traditional school bus, it follows a designated route and schedule, allowing children to meet at specified stops before walking to school under supervision.

Benefits of a Walking Bus
  • Promotes Physical Activity: Walking helps children meet their daily exercise needs, combating obesity and improving overall health.
  • Enhances Safety: Walking in a group increases visibility and safety. Adult leaders assist children with traffic navigation and safe crossing practices.
  • Builds Community: Fosters connections among families and neighbors, creating a sense of belonging and community spirit.
  • Benefits the Environment: Reduces car traffic and emissions, promoting a healthier environment.
  • Alleviates Traffic Congestion: Minimizes cars around school, making drop-off and pick-up times safer and less chaotic.
How to Start a Walking Bus
  1. Gather Interest: Connect with other parents to discuss forming a walking bus group.
  2.  Plan Your Route: Identify a safe route with sidewalks, crossing guards, and pedestrian crossings. Visit the City of Takoma Park’s “Map Your Route” page to find recommended and safe paths.
  3. Set a Schedule: Determine a pick-up and drop-off schedule that aligns with school hours.
  4. Recruit Volunteers: Find adults willing to supervise the walking bus. Adequate supervision is key to safety.
  5. Communicate with the School: Inform your school and the Special Project Coordinator Kaysi-Ann Webley (kaysiw@takomaparkmd.gov) about your walking bus plans, for additional resources, or for suggestions.
  6. Promote Your Walking Bus: Use flyers, or school newsletters to inform other parents and encourage participation.
  7. Hold an Orientation: Organize a session to explain the walking bus operation and address questions before the school year starts.
Pedestrian Road Safety Tips
  • Look Both Ways: Always look left, right, and left again before crossing the street.
  • Use Crosswalks: Cross streets only at designated crosswalks or intersections.
  • Stay Visible: Wear bright or reflective clothing to ensure drivers can see you.
Get Involved!

We invite you to consider launching a walking bus to your school. This initiative promotes health, safety, and community engagement. Takoma Park is committed to providing safe walking routes to all our schools. We encourage parents and students to visit our Safe Routes to School page. On that webpage, detailed maps outline the safest paths to each school in our Safe Route to School Program highlighting designated crosswalks, crossing guards, where sidewalks are missing, and routes that minimize exposure to vehicular traffic.

If interested or needing support, contact Kaysi-Ann Webley at kaysiw@takomaparkmd.gov or visit bit.ly/SRTSRoute for more resources.

Let’s work together to make this school year a safe, active, and enjoyable experience for our children!

This article appeared in the September Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.

News, Takoma Park Newsletter

Takoma Park Arts Returns with Free Performances

The Takoma Park Arts series will return this fall with more free arts events at the Takoma Park Community Center, including an art exhibition, concerts, and an improv musical.

Organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities division, the series features free events in the Takoma Park Community Center auditorium at 7500 Maple Ave. No tickets or reservations are required, but donations are accepted to support the performers.

“We’re very excited to share the arts with local residents and visitors in free performances,” the city’s Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith says. “We provide honorariums, extensive promotion, and a state-of-the-art venue to support artists and performers from across the D.C. area, which enhances Takoma Park’s well-earned reputation as an arts-friendly city.”

More than 1,500 people attended 13 Takoma Park Arts events during the 2023-24 season. There’s more info about our upcoming events here and at takomaparkmd.gov/arts, where you can sign up for the Takoma Park Arts e-newsletter.

Takoma ARTery Exhibition
Opening Reception

Friday, September 20, 7:30 p.m.

Artwork by local artists from the Takoma ARTery group will be featured in a group exhibition in the gallery spaces at the Takoma Park Community Center. The artwork branches across a wide range of mediums, including painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media.

The Takoma ARTery is a local volunteer-run group of artists that organizes artwork displays at the Historic Takoma building, Olive Lounge, and other locations. Many of the artists’ work also is featured in an online artist directory at takomaartery.com.

D.C. Labor Chorus

Friday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.

Featuring singers from Takoma Park and other communities, the D.C. Labor Chorus will lead an audience sing-along of some favorite civil rights and peace and justice songs.

Led by director Elise Bryant, the chorus includes about 25 members of various ages, races, and faith traditions who have performed at concerts, rallies, demonstrations, and picket lines. Some of the singers are current or former union members, and every member actively supports the principles of liberty and justice for all.

iMusical Improv Musical

Friday, November 15, 7:30 p.m.

What’s going to happen during the iMusical performance? No one is sure yet, including the actors since they will be improvising a live musical on the spot.

Based at the Washington Improv Theater, iMusical has performed at the Kennedy Center, theater spaces, and comedy festivals on the East Coast. Founding director Travis Ploeger created the improv group in 2006 after moving to D.C. from New York City.

At the beginning of a performance, the group of about six actors takes suggestions from the audience for the theme of the show and then creates a musical with completely improvised scenes, lyrics, and music with piano accompaniment.

“I wanted to create an improvised musical not to satirize the genre but to celebrate it, having warmth and poignancy as well as comedy,” Ploeger says.