by Sean Gossard

Takoma Park is open for business! And to help those businesses, the city is offering local entrepreneurs grants to relocate or expand their shops in the city.

Using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the city has allocated $119,157 to help local businesses.

“The city’s been really lucky that we had some ARPA money to help support small business in a way we haven’t before,” said acting Housing and Community Development Director Ira Kowler. “We’ve been able to leverage the ARPA dollars into grant programs.”

Applications for the grants opened at the end of January and will be available until the funds run out. Grants are capped at $10,000 per business. For ground-floor businesses outside of the Old Takoma commercial district, they may be funded at up to $6 per square foot. Any Old Town businesses, and upper-floor businesses elsewhere in Takoma Park, may be funded at up to $4 per square foot.

Businesses must be opening or expanding in Takoma Park, with an ownership deed or a signed lease of at least three years for the property with start date no earlier than Oct. 1, 2023; have not have received prior funding from the city; are in good standing with the State of Maryland; are in compliance with city, county and state
regulations; and have a valid Use & Occupancy Certificate.

“There’s a lot of expenses that go into growing or moving a business,” says Kowler. “The more flexible getting the money to people, the easier it is to use.”

The funds will come with no restrictions on their use and can be applied where most needed, “whether to support capital expenditures and hard costs related to new business fit-out, existing tenant improvements, or serve as a one-time subsidy to offset cost of lease,” according to the city’s website.

The grant program is the outgrowth of the city’s recent Business Investment Grant (BIG) program. The grant helped several businesses, including Cielo Rojo, a regionally recognized fine casual Mexican restaurant that has expanded to a new, larger location; Muoi Tieu, a former Vietnamese food truck that opened its first
permanent location in the former home of Mark’s Kitchen; and People’s Books, a locally owned bookstore in Old Takoma. It also helped A Plus Medical, a medical services provider in the Takoma-Langley Crossroads, and Healing Practice Center, a new wellness practice that has opened in the Professional Building on the Washington Adventist site.

For more information contact the City’s grants coordinator at grants@takomaparkmd.gov or 301-891-7235.

Access the full March Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter here.

Gordiya Khademian joined the library staff in December to replace cataloger Janet Jendrzejczyk, who retired in June 2023. Gordiya comes to us from the Montgomery County Public Libraries.

Tell us about yourself.

I use she/her pronouns, and I was born in Madison, Wisconsin—but only lived there for a few weeks. My family moved around quite a bit throughout the Midwest and East Coast till we got to Chevy Chase, Maryland, where I mainly grew up. I lived in New York City, where I went to NYU for my B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in Near Eastern Studies. But probably the most interesting place I’ve lived in is Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where I spent the summer of 2017 studying Persian.

What was your favorite childhood book?

My favorite childhood book would have to be one of the classic yellow hardback Nancy Drew mysteries. I loved checking those books out from the library as a child. I was always hooked by the suspense and would need to try to solve the mystery as I read.

What is your favorite book now?

My favorite book now is Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. It’s a difficult read, but the way Octavia Butler shows how we can come together and take care of each other, even in the most dire circumstances, is moving and I love how she explores the creation of a new faith.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading Bitter, Akwaeke Emezi’s prequel to Pet. I’m completely blown away by Emezi’s prose. I’ve also realized the library has a really excellent Young Adult collection.

If you could meet any author, living or dead, whom would it be?

If I could meet any author, I would want to meet Ursula Le Guin. I want to talk to her about anarchism and hear her thoughts and insights on the current state of the world today.

This position has you handling pretty much every new book we buy. Do you want to read every single one? Do you see any gaps in the sorts of books we buy?

I love getting to look through the new books while I’m cataloging! I don’t know if I have seen enough to know of any gaps yet, but Dave (Burbank) and I have talked about growing the Manga collection, which I’m very excited to help with!

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about self-reflection and self-growth. I like to take time with myself to understand where I am mentally and emotionally through journaling and time alone.

Do you have any hobbies or other things you do in your down time?

In my downtime I love watching all kinds of movies, horror, science fiction, old screwball romantic comedies. I also love talking about what I’ve watched or read, going for walks, and spending time with my partner, family, and friends.

By Eric Bond

As a rookie police officer in the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department in the early 1970s, Gayle Fisher-Stewart responded to a call for service in Georgetown. When she rang the bell, the homeowner came to the door and, seeing that Fisher-Stewart is Black, asked her to come around to the back door.

“I said, ‘Obviously, you don’t want police service today.’” She returned to her patrol car and notified the dispatcher that no service was needed. Throughout her police career, Fisher-Stewart paid attention to how she was received as a Black woman in her various ranks and roles and in different districts around the city.

Fisher-Stewart started out serving warrants. She also worked on the emergency response barricade team (then known simply as the barricade team) and in communications. She retired in 1992 as a captain, a rank that was unusual for a woman at that time. Fisher- Stewart remarks on how much things have changed, even as barriers and prejudices persist that hold people back in professional life—not to mention civic life. She’s proud of her work training officers coming into the police department to change their mindsets about policing and about the communities they serve.

After retiring from the police force, Fisher-Stewart focused on raising her son, David (here in Takoma Park); teaching criminal justice at the University of Maryland; and consulting—always thinking about issues of justice, community need, and spirituality. Her area of special interest, as a professor, is the history of policing as it intersects with race in the United States.

With church as a vital—and sometimes problematic—aspect of her life, Fisher-Stewart decided to go to seminary in 2007. That path eventually led to ordination as a priest in the Episcopal Church in 2015. Now retired from active parish ministry, she currently assists churches determine their role in eliminating guns and understanding how to focus on mission. And on occasion, she still preaches. While serving as assisting pastor at Calvary Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., she founded the Center for the Study of Faith in Justice, which conducts research and creates a safe space for the discussion of vexing issues. She is also the president for the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians.

In 2019, Fisher-Stewart accepted the position of chaplain for the Takoma Park Police Department.

“I am engaged in a ministry of presence,” says Fisher-Stewart about her role as chaplain. “I don’t try to convert anybody. If you don’t want me to pray, I don’t pray for or with you. I don’t make those assumptions. I’m an extra set of ears for department personnel who need somebody who’s not affiliated with the government, not affiliated with the police, even. I’m just there to listen and to ask questions.

“What is interesting about Takoma Park, particularly under the leadership of Chief [Tony] DeVaul is that we don’t have problems other departments face. The department is not under a consent decree. Our officers are not involved in abuse issues. Shootings are [virtually] nonexistent, so my role is primarily to be a support to personnel—when they want it. And if there is a Coffee with a Cop event or other community activities, I’ll be there.”

Fisher-Stewart points out that activities like the National Faith and Blue event in October are valuable for building bridges and fostering better relationships between the police and their community. “We had a LEGO Serious Play session next to Sligo Creek Parkway for Faith and Blue. You see the police and the kids playing together, and the kids had to interview the police. So I said, ‘Well, at least when these officers see these kids, they will remember having built LEGO bridges with them in the park. It’s making a connection, and that connection is important because if we have a relationship, then [a police officer is] less likely to ascribe negative motives to a kid. And the young people are less likely to see the police as enemy. The more we can establish relationship between the police and the community, the easier everybody’s job is.”

Fisher-Stewart points out that as a retired police captain, as a scholar, and as a mother, she brings understanding from multiple
perspectives to her role as chaplain.

“Policing as we have it now, was created to maintain and control Black folks,” says Fisher-Stewart. “We’ve been trying to reform policing since the 1930s, but what happens is that it resets itself. We reform and then it comes back to what it was designed to do [control Black people]. So in order to have the policing that we need for today, we need to abolish it as it was created and recreate it to what we want it to be.”

She points to Police Chief DeVaul, who grew up in Takoma Park, as a driver of a community-focused policing, which was in vogue during a recent reformation effort.

“I tell him that he’s a blast out of the past because he’s saying, ‘If you want to take care of some of these problems, you have to go to root causes.’ It’s easy to arrest and lock people up, as opposed to figuring out why this is occurring. The figuring out takes money. It takes time. It takes effort— and people don’t want to do that. But that is at the foundation of community policing.

“And so when you talk about defunding policing, [you’re saying that] the police cannot do everything. They should not do everything. People want the police to be social workers, teachers, parents, priests, everything. And they can’t be—because they’re not trained for that.

“So what we can do, for example, is have mental health practitioners embedded with the police. When we find out the percentage of calls that go for mental health issues, we take that money and put it in a program that provides mental health services.”

Along with police reform, Fisher- Stewart is passionate about church reform.

“A lot of times, churches are about maintaining the institution as opposed to being more like Jesus. We tend to do charity as opposed to following the mission of Jesus,” says Fisher-Stewart. Charity keeps people dependent on the giver. Mission fixes things so people do not have to rely on charity. True ministry and community policing are similar. You fix the problems that negatively affect people.

“So how do we take all these half-empty buildings we call churches that are closed during the week and turn them into something that can help the unhoused? How do we figure out why people come to us every Monday for this brown bag lunch? How do we stop people from having to come to the church to get this bologna sandwich? Charity is handing out 150 meals a day— it is about the giver. Ministry is about the person. How do we work together so that all people thrive in this world?

“Being ordained, you get to the underside of the church and what it does and does not do. You can get frustrated with the church and leave, or you could be like the thorn in Paul’s side and say to the church, ‘You all are not doing what you’re supposed to do. You’re not showing people Jesus.’” “I tend to be a thorn,” says Fisher-Stewart, pointing to her two published books and her most recent book, which is in the publication process.

Preaching Black Lives [Matter] is a series of essays that examine the role of the church in ending systems of injustice. In Black and Episcopalian: The Struggle for Inclusion, Fisher-Stewart argues that whiteness is embedded in every aspect of religious life and that inclusivity needs to be more than a superficial pose. It needs to be authentic to each person.

Her newest book is Church Hurt: Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?

“How can the church become trauma-informed,” asks Fisher- Stewart. “How do we really help people heal? We say want to eradicate anti-Black racism, and white supremacy. The Episcopal Church has admitted white supremacy and anti-Black racism is at the foundation of the church, and since we know that, how do we eradicate it? How do we deal with the racialized trauma people bring to the church and the trauma caused by the church?”

Fisher-Stewart says that whether in the home, on the street, in a patrol car, or in a pew, we need to recognize that people in our community are dealing with difficult issues, and we need to be there for each other.

“Coming from my perspective where everything belongs to God, and God created enough for everybody, there’s no reason for there to be want—except that we allow it.”

Check out the full Takoma Park February Newsletter.

For Takoma Park’s new city manager, Robert DiSpirito, his first day on the job last month started bright and early. Well, maybe not so bright, since the sun wouldn’t be rising for a couple of hours. DiSpirito began his tenure at Takoma Park with a 5:30 a.m. trip to the city’s refuse and recycling garage, where he introduced himself to employees in the public works department.

“Those crews are the folks who are doing the hard work serving our residents,” DiSpirito said in an interview with the Takoma Park newsletter. “I wanted to have a feel very quickly for what they need and what can the administration do to fund and support those operations for the people who are literally out there putting their
lives at risk to provide those services. Public works is a dangerous job. Working on those big rigs in the dark and on narrow streets and not knowing what you’ll encounter.”

From there, he caught the 8 a.m. shift change at the Takoma Park police station to speak with officers about public safety and policing in the community. “I wanted to stop by and say ‘Hey, this is my first day, but I recognize that I’m here to support you, and that begins with me getting to know you and coming out and seeing you where you are.’ And that’s to my benefit. I’ll learn, become acclimated sooner and get a perspective that the employees
have on public services,” he says.

The Takoma Park City Council and Mayor Talisha Searcy announced last month that DiSpirito had been chosen as the city’s newest city manager after a nationwide search.

“Throughout the process, Mr. DiSpirito was a standout,” the city wrote in a statement announcing the hire. “He is a proven leader with the knowledge of the challenges and opportunities we have in Montgomery County, 28 years of experience as a City Manager, and the vision necessary to move our city forward.”

It turns out, the mayor and city council barely had to leave their backyards in picking DiSpirito, who was formerly the city manager for Rockville, the seat of Montgomery County.

“I would say there are more similarities than differences between the two cities,” DiSpirito says. “Rockville is obviously bigger, population wise, but both are very diverse, both have a high quality of life, and both have excellent parks and public services from their employees. I’d say it’s a question of scale.”

But there was something alluring about helming the progressive bastion that is Takoma Park and DiSpirito decided to apply for the position that has been open since former city manager Jamal Fox resigned last February.

“For the seven years I’ve been in Montgomery County, I’ve been a fan of Takoma Park,” he says. “It’s a very progressive, complex city. Takoma Park is a thought leader. It’s relatively small compared to other cities, but looms large from a progressive standpoint and trying to thoughtfully address central issues for people.”

Prior to moving to Montgomery County with his wife, Evangelina, and two children, DiSpirito served as city manager of Oberlin, Ohio, for 11 years; and then moved on to Dunedin, Fla., for nearly 10
years; before serving Rockville for seven years.

“I’ve been blessed in my career to serve a number of dynamic and progressive communities,” he says. “I’ve been in Ohio, Florida, and Maryland and am very happy to have this opportunity to be in Takoma Park.”

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., and raised in Slippery Rock, Pa., DiSpirito got his undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock University before receiving his Masters in Public Administration from the University
of Pittsburgh.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot along the way from a lot of people smarter than me and from experts in their fields in multiple departments,” DiSpirito says. “Takoma Park is no exception. We have some brilliant people here and I know I’m going to learn a lot from them, but I also hope that I can impart some of what I’ve learned in
my 28 years as a city manager and 35 years in the profession.”

Throughout his career, he’s dealt with both the lows and the highs of life in the public sector, including working for years in Dunedin, Fla., to create a 7-acre beachfront public park on the last undeveloped,
waterfront property in the city.

“The new park establishes Dunedin as one of Pinellas County’s most environmentally conscious areas, drawing a stark contrast to the high-rises of Clearwater Beach visible on the horizon,” the Tampa
Bay Times wrote of the park’s grand opening in 2011.

DiSpirito says the experience working with the city, county and state and with the property’s owner to acquire the land and open it for public use is something that drives him in public service.

“Those are the gemstones in the course of your career, when you work with a team to pull something off like that,” he says. “It was such a desire to see that happen. Sometimes the planets align.” DiSpirito looks to bring that same sense of cooperation and success to Takoma Park, including working with the state and county.

“Being in the same county, I have access to the same network of resources with the [Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation] and various agencies at the county and Maryland,” he says. “I’ll be talking to a lot of the same people, just this time in the interest of Takoma Park instead of Rockville.”

He also hopes to engage with the city’s residents and hear from them directly on their concerns with Takoma Park, even if they may disagree with him.

“Part of what I’ve been blessed with in my career is that in the three previous cities that I’ve managed all had very great public engagement. I’m used to having folks be highly engaged and express their opinions,” he says. “People who make the effort to work with us, we need to respect that. We may not ultimately agree on the
point, but I think what’s valuable in keeping a community close knit is a sense that their government respects them and cares when they speak. Those are things I hope to promote here and I think there’s a great tradition of that here.”

As for the future of Takoma Park and where he sees the city heading, DiSpirito says he wants to focus on the things that make the city strong, including housing and developmental issues and maintaining
a high quality of life.

“Things like housing and sustainability, pedestrian safety, these are areas that most cities are involved in some degree, but this city is involved in them a great degree,” he says. “It aspires to do even more.
It’s that aspiration that really attracted me and where this mayor and council want to go and how they expressed it in respect to
their goals and priorities. They’ve talked about their dreams for the city and I’d like to achieve some of that for them along with this talented staff.”

DiSpirito says he’ll be introducing himself to businesses and residents around town and looks forward to meeting as many people as he can. If you need an icebreaker, maybe ask about the secret to his favorite recipe.

“I make a mean eggplant parmesan,” he says.

For Hatib Joof, a restaurant is a home. His restaurant, Mansa Kunda, on Flower and Erie Aves., both evokes his childhood home in Gambia and creates a new homespace here in Takoma Park.

“I hope that the people who bring their kids here, 30 or 40 years from now they will say, ‘I used to go there when I was a
kid.’ This will be a place that they come to,” says Joof.

In 2019, Joof opened Mansa Kunda—a king’s domain in Mandingo—with the notion that Takoma Park would be the ideal home for his West African cuisine. Over the previous 23 years, Joof had been the manager of the Spring Mill Bread Company, which used to supply the Takoma Park Silver Spring Food Co-op with bread and pastries before opening a storefront in Takoma Junction. So Joof had a good understanding of the location.

“In the DMV area, Takoma Park was the only place that I know that has the diversity and the people who are curious enough to entertain the idea of having a cuisine that is unorthodox,” says Joof. “Gambian or Senegalese cuisine is not mainstream.

“People ask me, where is The Gambia? And I have to say, ‘Well, do you know West Africa?’ Yeah. Everybody knows Nigeria, Ghana. And then I say, ‘Do you know Senegal?’ Oh yes. ‘Well, Gambia is inside of Senegal.’

Although Joof is, himself, a vegetarian, he recommends the seafood peanut butter chu, a dish that celebrates the coastal culture of The Gambia.

“Chu is like a gumbo,” says Joof. “So it does have shrimp, it does have crabs, it does have smoked catfish, it does have white fi sh. And it is very thick because it does have yuca in the broth in it. That’s why
we don’t serve it with a side of starch—because it has starch in the dish. And it’s very, very filling, also.”

According to the Mansa Kunda menu, “Chu was invented by Mandingo farmers who needed to use up peanuts that the government didn’t purchase for export.” At Mansa Kunda, the chu can be altered to accommodate diners who prefer beef, chicken, or vegetarian versions of the historic stew.

“In this restaurant, almost 90% of the dishes are cooked to order,” says Joof. “So nothing is spicy unless you say I want it to be spicy … or you want less salt in it … or you want chicken—because we are cooking for you. I wanted to make sure that menu is very vegetarian- and vegan-friendly, and that has added a lot to the little popularity that we’ve gained in the neighborhood.”

Joof also points to the ebbe, a Gambian street food, as a favorite. Ebbeh combines cassava, smoked catfish, crab, shrimp, habañero, tamarind, and lime into a stew. Another popular dish is grilled fish, beef, or chicken, with a side order of jollof rice—long-grain rice, tomatoes, chilies, onions, and spices. Tofu is featured on the menu with yassa, a tangy, spicy onion and vegetable dish.

Joof says that although “cooking is in my DNA,” he did not prepare food when he was growing up. “I came from a country where men don’t cook,” he explains. But at Spring Mill, Joof learned to bake and loved the experience of transforming raw ingredients into nourishment. As he was preparing to open Mansa Kunda, he leaned
heavily on his mother, Nancy, who comes to visit every year to provide guidance.

“She spent all her life as a home economist— first working for the Department of Education back home,” says Joof. “And then, she had a job working for the UN at the Food and Agriculture Organization. Her job was mainly to make sure that every student in the rural areas of Gambia have a well-balanced diet before they go home.

“So quite often, when I went to her work, I would see her bake and make some of the recipes she made at home,” says Joof. “And
so it was in me.”

“When I decided to open Mansa Kunda, I hired women from my country who could cook. But our language is not written, so
you can’t find recipes [of the authentic cooking]. So for three months prior to my opening, every weekend I would have these women cook, and would invite my friends to come and eat.

“I stood behind [the women] with my notepad. I watched everything they did, and I would jot it down. Once we’ve done that, then I would say, “Let’s cook it without the protein”—because I wanted to have
a vegetarian version of it.

“It took me about three months to develop a menu that is unique to this restaurant. And I finally got it down to 14 dishes. I had to incorporate the tofu, the paneer cheese—because I knew that’s what I will consume, and those who live around here
who are very vegetarian would be attracted to it. And it worked out.

“There is a lot of love gone into it,’ Joof smiles. “The onions are diced here, the sauces are made here, the fish are cleaned here. Everything is made here. Nothing comes here frozen. So if you’re talking about straight-up natural, organic food that is made with TLC, you have it.”

Fitting to the Gambian theme, all 50 seats in the restaurant are actual drums, made from tree trunks. While negotiating the lease to the restaurant, Joof was trying to figure out how to create a restaurant where you feel like you are in Africa when you walk in, while also feeling modern. When he saw the drums carved by a
Gambian craftsman, it came to him in a flash, and he put in the order. Later he was touched to learn that those drums provided the money for the craftsman to finish building his house.

From one home to another, Hatib Joof promotes the African value of ubuntu, “the idea that there is a universal bond of sharing that connects all people and calls for humanity toward others.”

“The restaurant has become my living room,” says Joof. “There is not a day that I don’t meet someone who walks into this place as a customer. And when they leave, I call them a friend.

“It happens every day.”

Mansa Kunda is located at 8000 Flower Ave., and is open every day, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. The menu—including a special Valentine’s
Day menu—and other information can be found at mansakunda.com.

Maple Avenue Connectivity Project

After an autumn community engagement effort that reached more than 200 residents, the project consultants shared a draft of the preliminary design at a January community meeting. A city council presentation is planned for February, and the draft designs can be viewed in detail on the city website.

Takoma Park Minor Master Plan

The Montgomery County Council’s Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee will hold a dedicated work session on the plan scheduled for February 12. The sessions will provide a platform for in-depth analysis, committee member discussion, and potential amendments to the plan.

For information about the work sessions,
visit montgomerycountymd.gov/council.

Metropolitan Branch Trail Upgrade

This project was awarded $465,000 to create construction-ready designs. New Ave Bikeway—Section A The consulting team continues to work on the final construction-ready designs; this project has suffered from delays due to negotiating permits with public utility companies.

New Ave Bikeway—Section B

The consulting team continues to work on the final, construction-ready designs; this project has suffered from delays due to negotiating permits with public utility companies.

New Ave Bikeway—Section D

City staff is seeking funding opportunities to advance the existing preliminary designs to final, construction-ready designs.

Read more from the February edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter on the City webpage.