City Offices and Facilities Closed on Thursday, November 28, through Sunday, December 1 for Thanksgiving Holiday
Thursday, November 28, trash, food waste, and recycling routes will be collected on Wednesday, November 27. Friday, November 29, trash, food waste and recycling routes will be collected on Saturday, November 30.
Kids and kids at heart should visit B.Y. Morrison Park to play games, eat lunch, or share their creativity on a new chalkboard mural.
A new public art project organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division has enlivened the underused park at the Takoma Junction at the corner of Carroll Avenue and Ethan Allan Avenue. The pavilion features a new chalkboard mural outlined by colorful flowers that was painted by artist Chris Pyrate. Chalk and erasers are available in mailboxes next to the mural.
Pyrate said his design was inspired by the need to get children outside for exercise and social interaction during the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s been difficult for kids because many of them are stuck at home staring at computer screens all day for online learning,” he said. “Play is important for children. I wanted the mural to be interactive so kids could draw and write to express themselves, and they can meet other kids outside.”
City of Takoma Park employees painted colorful stencils on the concrete in the park, including a giant hopscotch robot, balloons to jump on, and animal tracks to follow. The picnic tables in the park also have been painted with colorful designs to encourage people to eat or relax there.
Public art is an important source of inspiration, creativity, and solace during difficult times, especially during this ongoing pandemic, Arts and Humanities Division Coordinator Brendan Smith said.
“We all need to get outdoors and take a break during the day, especially kids,” Smith said. “Anyone who wants to have some fun or just relax should visit the park. People should wear masks and practice social distancing as long as those restrictions are in place.”
Due to the pandemic, we regret to report that we aren’t holding our annual celebration with food and music this year nor are we organizing formal service activities. But we hope you still honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday on Monday, January 18th.
You can help:
Local groups that are distributing food (see list below)
You can venture to Sligo Creek or any public area and do your own cleanup (use gloves and take trash and recyclables home)
You can offer assistance to the elderly or infirm neighbors.
You can perform any act of kindness.
And you can shine a light into the darkness, symbolically and literally.
Please go outdoors onto your front stoop or balcony 7:00-7:15 pm on MLK Jr. Day and lift a flashlight or a candle or your phone into the evening sky.
To quote Dr. King, “Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow I still have a dream.”
MLK Committee members Jackie Frazier, Cherwanda Oliver, Cindy Dyballa, Jay Keller, Annie Mozer, Howard Kohn
Acts of Kindness or Service
A PTA coalition provides meals to families from Takoma Park Elementary, Piney Branch Elementary, East Silver Spring Elementary and Takoma Park Middle. Volunteers are needed to move boxes of food and to communicate in Spanish and Amharic. Older students receive SSL credit. You can donate money at https://tpespta.net/donations/takoma-food/ Or sign up to volunteer at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4AAFA72FA0F58-gift For more information contact Meghan Holland McDonald (megholland@gmail.com)
Adventist Community Services distributes food and addresses other basic needs. On MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 18th) they will be sorting food and clothing outdoors at 501 Sligo Ave, Silver Spring. (In case of rain or snow, they will cancel.) Contact Terry or Joyce Seamens at 240-793-5108 to schedule a time to volunteer — 3 one-hour shifts each with 15 volunteers (at least 3 must be adults). Shifts will start at 10 am, 11 am and Noon.
Small Things Matter distributes fresh food and staples, with assistance from the TPSS Coop, Takoma Park Presbyterian church and the 9:30 Club. Currently they are looking for teens to earn SSL hours by making casseroles, baking, and bagging bulk items, and they ask that donations of canned foods and other nonperishable items be deposited in a grocery cart near the Coop service desk. Volunteers can sign up at https://montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need/?agency_id=81036
Homes Not Borders needs volunteers to sort household items and move furniture for refugee families on January 18th (10 am to 1 pm) at 117 Elm Avenue, Takoma Park. More information at https://www.mobilize.us/nationaldayofservice/event/369826/
We Belong Here: Takoma Park Equity Walk is designed to challenge family and friends to explore equity by examining who we are and what makes us feel valued and included. Each station engages you in a fun, physical activity, then prompts discussion. Additional resources enhance understanding about ourselves and others.
Would you like to see your original poem imprinted in a city sidewalk? Takoma Park residents can enter their short original poems in a contest organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division. The contest is open to adults and children, and no poetry experience is needed. Just write a poem and enter it!
Winners will receive a $100 award and a chance to have their poem stamped into a local sidewalk. You can find more details in the online submission form.
Sidewalk Poem in St. Paul, MN Photo credit:Thaiphy Phan Quang
The 20th District Delegation and the City Council will hold a Joint Priorities Meeting on Wednesday, December 9, 7:30 PM. The complete agenda for the meeting is below.
7:30 PM Welcome and Overview – Mayor Kate Stewart
7:40 PM Public Comments – District 20 Residents and Organizations*
(Opportunity for the community to inform the Delegation of needs and priorities for the 2021 Legislative Session. Speakers are limited to 3 minutes each. Advance sign up by 5:00 PM on the day of the meeting is required, and space is limited.) Link to sign up to comment.
8:10 PM Presentation of Takoma Park Legislative Priorities
8:30 PM Delegation Comments
9:15 PM Summary and Closing
9:30 PM* Adjournment
Due to the public health crisis, the meeting will be held remotely on Zoom. The public may view the meeting on City TV (RCN – 13, HD 1060; Comcast/xfinity – 13, HD 997; Verizon Fios – 28), on the City Council Video Page of the City Website; on YouTube, or on Facebook.
*Immediately after the Joint Priorities Meeting is adjourned, the City Council will begin its final regular meeting of the year.
The City of Takoma Park Police Department has been accepted into the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, Georgetown University Law Center’s national training and support initiative for U.S. law enforcement agencies committed to building a culture of peer intervention that prevents harm.
By demonstrating agency commitment to transformational reform with support from local community groups and elected leaders, the
City of Takoma Park Police Department joins a select group of more than 60 other law enforcement agencies and statewide and regional training academies chosen to participate in the ABLE Project’s national rollout. To date, hundreds of agencies across the country have expressed interest in participating.
Backed by prominent civil rights and law enforcement leaders, the evidence-based, field-tested ABLE Project was developed by
Community
Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program in collaboration with global law firm Sheppard Mullin LLP to provide practical active bystandership strategies and tactics to law enforcement officers to prevent misconduct, reduce officer mistakes, and promote health and wellness.
ABLE gives officers the tools they need to overcome the innate and powerful inhibitors all individuals face when called upon to intervene in actions taken by their peers.
We are very excited to have our staff participate in the ABLE training,“ said Chief Antonio DeVaul. “We always seek out training that will increase trust and transparency within our community.”
“As we work to reimagine public safety and seek to rectify injustices in our institutions, we must also ensure individuals have the ability and skills to take action against bias and violence,” said Takoma Park’s Mayor Kate Stewart. “Our participation in the ABLE Project is an important step to ensure accountability and continue the culture change in our police department needed to serve every member of our community.”
Those backing the City of Takoma Park Police Department’s application to join the program included the NAACP Montgomery Chapter and the Washington Adventist Church.
Professor Christy Lopez, co-director of Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program, which runs ABLE, explained: “The ABLE Project seeks to ensure every police officer in the United States has the opportunity to receive meaningful, effective active bystandership training, and to help agencies transform their approach to policing by building a culture that supports and sustains successful peer intervention to prevent harm.”
Chair of the ABLE Project Board of Advisors, Sheppard Mullin partner Jonathan Aronie, added: “Intervening in another’s action is harder than it looks after the fact, but it’s a skill we all can learn. And, frankly, it’s a skill we all need – police and non-police. ABLE teaches that skill.”
The ABLE Project is guided by a Board of Advisors comprised of civil rights, social justice, and law enforcement leaders, including Vanita Gupta, the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; Commissioner Danielle Outlaw of the Philadelphia Police Department; Dr. Ervin Staub, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the founder of the Psychology of Peace and Justice Program; and an impressive collection of other police leaders, rank and file officers, and social justice leaders.
For more information about the ABLE Project, visit the program’s website.
See a list of the ABLE Standards to which every participating agency must adhere.
These articles share more information about active bystandership generally, and the ABLE Project in particular.
The ABLE Project Train-The-Trainer event begins later this month. By the end of December, the City of Takoma Park Police Department instructors will be certified as ABLE trainers; and over the coming months, all of the Department’s officers will receive 8 hours of evidence-based active bystandership education designed not only to prevent harm, but to change the culture of policing. Look for our progress in this critical area that will be on the web page soon.
For more information regarding the City of Takoma Park Police Department, contact Catherine Plevy, Public Information Officer at cathyp@takomaparkmd.gov
For more information on the ABLE Project, contact Liza, ABLE Program Manager, at lba17@georgetown.edu.
The City of Takoma Park is proud to partner with Docs in Progress, supporting emerging documentary filmmakers by teaching the skills and providing the tools they need to shape their stories. By developing, encouraging, and celebrating new and diverse voices via documentary film, Docs in Progress also seeks to lessen the racial divide in storytelling.
Documentary Dialogues Takoma is a multi-year program that uses video as a vehicle for reflection, self-expression, and empowerment by engaging Takoma Park residents through hands-on video production activities and film screenings. This project educates, inspires, and transforms people’s interaction with documentary film. Activities include The Community Stories film festival, running from November 20-22.
Community Stories Film Festival, November 20-22
25 Films, 7 Live Q&A Sessions Over 3 Days.
The 2020 Community Stories Film Festival, presented by Docs In Progress, showcases people, places and events from the Maryland, Washington DC, and Northern Virginia region. This year, COMMUNITY STORIES will be virtual and free via Eventive on November 20-22.
The City of Takoma Park’s Community “Quality of Life” Grant program provides financial support for projects that provide greater access and participation in the arts and sciences for predominantly low-and moderate-income Takoma Park residents.
The City of Takoma Park is proud to partner with Upwardly Global (UpGlo), an organization focused on integrating immigrant and refugee professionals into the U.S. workforce. With funding from the City’s Community “Quality of Life” Grants program, UpGlo has developed a program to serve Takoma Park residents with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) backgrounds who are underemployed in their professional fields. Watch thisshort video for an overview of Upglo’s program and impact.
Information Session for Takoma Park job seekers interested in applying for Upwardly Global’s free job searching services:
Session Info:
Date: Wednesday, November 18 Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Who should attend? Eligible job seekers with STEM backgrounds What: Virtual session to learn about free job-searching services RSVP: Register here
The City of Takoma Park is excited to offer this program to residents because working with UpGlo can lead to life-changing individual success stories. UpGlo helps clients move from unemployment or “survival” jobs as rideshare drivers, cashiers, and nannies to careers as Data Scientists, Financial Analysts, and Software Engineers– jobs that can break the intergenerational poverty cycle and enable newcomers to realize their full potential in their newly-adopted home.
To protect the health of Public Works employees, their families, and the larger community in the pandemic, the City will not be hiring the usual number of seasonal workers to assist with vacuum leaf collection this year and we anticipate a slower than normal response rate to removing leaf piles at the curb.
For this and for environmental reasons, we strongly encourage residents to mulch or compost all or most of the leaves in their yards. Leaves can also be bagged and collected on the Monday yard waste collection. The City will be offering vacuum leaf collection, but it will be less frequent than in past years.
This year’s collection will divide the City into three zones with one leaf collection vehicle per zone. The collection period will be extended from November 16 to December 31. This arrangement is expected to reach every street in a 3 to 4 week period. The length of time that a leaf pile will remain on the curb is likely to increase by an additional week or two.
Streets that receive collection on posted days (State Highway routes) will still receive two collections on the scheduled date as usual. The City explored other options, including canceling vacuum leaf collection this year and requiring all leaves residents wished to be collected to be bagged in paper bags, but that option does not work as well with available vehicles and staffing.
The City will be mailing the annual leaf collection notice this month and will have updated information on the City’s website. The Leaf Collection Hotline will remain available (301 891-7626) however, the City will not be able to provide collection as frequently as previously provided.
Residents should consider more environmentally beneficial alternatives for managing some or all of their fall leaves.
A Request for Proposal is now issued for Facilitation Services for the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force that has been established by the Takoma Park City Council.
Services desired include:
Preparing for Task Force meetings,
Configuring settings to create a meeting environment that is supportive of participants with different views, particularly those who are Black and Brown,
Ensuring the Task Force has recommendations for the City Council by June 2021.
As we look forward to Election Day tomorrow, the Board of Elections provides the following update on the process for voting and results announcement in the coming days.
The Board appreciates the enthusiasm of residents throughout the city to vote in this year’s election. The city has already exceeded the total turnout in the 2017 election and is still receiving ballots. Though the primary method for voting has been by mail, on Election Day, an outdoor polling place will be open to voters from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Community Center (7500 Maple Ave) with voters allowed to drive-through and vote or walk through and vote. The city drop box locations, at the New Hampshire Ave Recreation Center and at the Community Center will also remain open until 8:00 pm on Election Day. All ballots mailed and postmarked on or before Election Day will be counted if they are received by November 10.
The Board recognizes that residents and candidates will be eagerly awaiting results from the election and have been processing thousands of mail-in ballots over the past week. The Board will be able to release the first batch of results soon after the polling place closes on Election Day, noting that voters in line at 8 p.m. will still be allowed to vote and could push back the time that results are released. Results posted on Election Day will include those ballots scanned through November 2. As more ballots are scanned and then tabulated, results will be updated daily at 7:00 p.m. on the city website. The final certification will take place on November 12.
For further inquiries, please contact Brian Ernst, Chair, at elections@takomaparkmd.gov.
To protect the health of Public Works employees, their families, and the larger community in the pandemic, the City will not be hiring the usual number of seasonal workers to assist with vacuum leaf collection this year and we anticipate a slower than normal response rate to removing leaf piles at the curb.
