By Rick Henry

For 95 years, local boys have been joining Takoma Park Boy Scout Troop 33, and the reasons now are the same as they have always been.

“Leadership skills and management skills,” says current Senior Patrol Leader Nate Blower, 17, when asked what he values most about of the Boy Scout experience. “And knowing how to tie different knots will come in handy, too.”

It is that mix of the organizational and aspirational (leadership, service projects), the practical (knot tying) and the natural (camping, hiking) that has kept young boys involved in Boy Scouts of America (BSA) since it was established in 1910 in New York City to help young people be “Prepared for Life.”

Ten years later, in 1920, Troop 33 was established in Takoma Park, where it has been continuously chartered to the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church. As has happened so many times since, troop members and Takoma Park residents gathered at the church for a fundraiser on Saturday, Nov. 14. This time it was for a chili dinner to commemorate the troop’s 95th anniversary.

Such a long-standing association between a troop and a sponsoring organization is “rare,” said current Scoutmaster Tim Miller. “We have a really great relationship with them,” he said.

That relationship was showcased during one of the seminal moments in the troop’s (and church’s) history. In 2012, both stood up against what was at the time a BSA policy excluding “open or avowed homosexuals” from membership (a policy that has since been changed).

The troop was one of the most openly critical and defiant of the national policy and even adopted a rainbow theme at its annual pancake supper that year to show its support for inclusiveness.

But that is only one of many achievements and milestones the troop can claim. Troop 33 has a proud record of service and achievement. The newly chartered troop of the 1920s undertook community projects, such as a clean-up of the Sligo Creek area. On February 22, 1932, a select patrol from Troop 33 performed the opening ceremony of the George Washington Bicentennial Birthday Celebration at his birthplace in Wakefield, Va.

Eight young men associated with Troop 33 lost their lives serving in World War II. In its 95 years, Troop 33 has engaged an estimated 4,000 boys in scouting, and 96 scouts of Troop 33 have reached the highest level of scouting achievement, the rank of Eagle Scout, including Hank Harman, who earned his at the age of 86!

In 1957, Troop 33 purchased 43 acres of rolling timberland east of Romney, W. Va., for a permanent troop camp with funds donated primarily by the parents of Waldo E. Schmitt, one of the former Troop 33 scouts who perished in World War II. Today, Camp Waldo E. Schmitt includes a large main cabin, a Venture Scout cabin, numerous patrol camp sites, a lake, and nature trails.

For Troop 33 scouts, such as Adil Hall, 11, it is the opportunity to bond with nature at places such as Camp Schmitt that make scouting so appealing.

Hall, who says he got involved in Scouts four years ago after hearing one of his friends talk about how great it was, loves ”camping, hiking, trailing, exploring around, all of it.”

His self-described “best friend” Mateo Griffis, agrees. “Camping is the best,” he says. “I love running around and being free.”

Talk to scouts at the Troop’s 100th, 150th or 200th anniversary, and it’s a safe bet they will express the same love.

This article appeared in the December 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

Judging from the results of last month’s election, many Takoma Park residents are in favor of moving City Elections to even-numbered years. Beginning with the election in November 2018, and providing that voting rights can be maintained for City residents who are (1) 16-17 years old, (2) non-citizens, or (3) on parole or probation for a felony conviction, and that instant runoff voting and same day voter registration can be maintained, the City of Takoma Park municipal elections for Mayor and Councilmembers could be changed to the Tuesday following the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year to coincide with Maryland statewide general elections. Below is the tally of voters in favor of the advisory question broken down by wards.

This article appeared in the December 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

On Nov. 18 Maryland Health Care Commissioner Frances B. Phillips issued a recommended decision to approve the certificate of need request for Washington Adventist Hospital to move most of its operations from the Takoma Park Campus on Carroll Avenue in the center of the City of Takoma Park, along Sligo Creek Stream Valley Park, to a new location in the White Oak area of Montgomery County.

The recommended decision has five approval conditions; the first two directly affect Takoma Park:

Urgent care center (in the location of the current Emergency Department). Adventist HealthCare Inc. must open an urgent care center on its Takoma Park campus.

• The urgent care center must operate 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
• Adventist HealthCare Inc. may not eliminate this urgent care center or reduce its hours of operation without the approval of the Maryland Health Care Commission.

Specialty hospital for psychiatric services (a stand-alone version of the current behavioral health in-patient unit of the hospital). In the fourth year of operation of a replacement Washington Adventist Hospital, Adventist HealthCare Inc. shall provide a report to the Maryland Health Care Commission on the operation of the specialty hospital for psychiatric services in Takoma Park. This report must review:

• patient intake and transport issues
• coordination of care for psychiatric patients between the White Oak and Takoma Park campuses
• the specific financial performance of the special hospital, exclusive of the operation of Adventist Behavioral Health and Wellness overall.

In addition, Adventist HealthCare Inc. stated its intention to have on-campus laboratory and radiology services to support these units as well as a rehabilitation hospital (currently located withinCity Staff discussed the recommendation with the Takoma Park City Council in closed session on Nov. 23.Washington Adventist Hospital). A federally qualified health center on the Takoma Park campus will remain and be expanded. Washington Adventist University intends to lease 50,000 square feet of hospital building space for its use.

City Staff discussed the recommendation with the Takoma Park City Council in closed session on Nov. 23.

The City of Takoma Park will submit comments, and the City will be interested to see the comments from WAH and the hospitals opposed to the move.

Below is portion of the statement the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

City issued following the recommendation. For the entire text, visit takomaparkmd. gov/news.

The relocation of Washington Adventist Hospital’s main hospital out of the City was expected, but is a disappointment to the City of Takoma Park. Washington Adventist Hospital has been an integral part of the history and fabric of Takoma Park. Over the last year, the City Council, Staff, and residents have worked diligently to ensure that throughout the certificate of need process the needs of Takoma Park residents have been front and center.

As a result of our hard work and persistence, the top condition of the Commissioner’s recommended approval is the maintenance of an urgent care facility at the Takoma Park campus, to be operated every day, 24 hours per day, beginning as soon as the hospital move takes place. This will ensure that there is no gap in care for the primary care service that our community needs. Clearly, the commissioner recognized the need for these services based on the information the City presented.

The recommended decision will go before the full Maryland Health Care Commission on Dec. 17 for a final decision. The final decision could accept or reject the recommendation or accept the recommendation but change the conditions. For additional information, contact Suzanne Ludlow, City Manager, suzannel@takomaparkmd.gov.

This article appeared in the December 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

On 7:30 the morning of Election Day, volunteers reported that voter turnout was good so far. This was a sign of good things to come as Takoma Park enjoyed a 21 percent turnout rate, one of the highest in the last few election years.

By 7:45 a small line had formed as residents voted before heading to work. Residents of all ages showed up at the polls, from families strolling with young children to 55+ voters who came accompanied by spouses and other relatives. And they all embodied the spirit of community and inclusiveness that Election Day brings out in Takoma Park.

“I have always appreciated the openness of the election process in Takoma Park,” observed 15-year resident Margerita Silverstone of Ward 1. Silverstone was in favor of the advisory question on the ballot if it meant the process could be “even more open and inclusive.”

One of her fellow residents shared this sentiment. Joan Horn, also of Ward 1 and a 35-year resident of Takoma Park, was also in favor of the advisory question. In addition, Horn said, “Face-to-face contact made the difference in casting her vote.” She talked with Kate Stewart during her campaign and “would like to see her continue on the same path” should she become Mayor.

Stewart, councilmember for Ward 3, was elected Mayor of Takoma Park, and Peter Kovar, one of two newcomers to the city council, won the Ward 1 seat with 630 votes. Ward 6 councilmember Fred Schultz kept his seat, receiving 206 votes. The other four candidates, Ward 2’s Tim Male, Ward 3’s Rizzy Qureshi, Ward 4’s Terry Seamens, and Ward 5’s Jarrett Smith ran unchallenged. (See full election results on p. 11 and read our interview with the new mayor in the January issue.)

Bernice Tyler, who has lived in Takoma Park for 45 years, also appreciated candidates who gave their campaigns that personal touch. “Folks who came to my home to visit personally got my vote,” she said.

It’s clear that the Takoma Park community takes elections personally. Perhaps an exchange between one of the City’s younger residents and his mom as he was dropped off for before-care best summed up the day. “What election?” he asked. To which his mom replied, “The city election.” “Why?” he asked. She said, “They’re deciding who will be the next mayor.”

This article appeared in the December 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

By Gina Mathias and Alexandra Young

Winter is coming, and with it chilly drafts and high heating bills. Most home owners can likely pinpoint a few of the biggest energy wasters in their homes, but many of the places in your home that drive up your bills remain harder to diagnose. That’s where a professional comprehensive home energy audit can help.

Takoma Park resident Keith Kozloff recently had a comprehensive energy audit. He also helped his neighborhood team earn points for the Neighborhood Energy Challenge by completing upgrades to his home to save energy.

Costs:

Energy audit: $0 after rebate and subsidy. Keith initially paid $100 for the energy audit, which normally costs $400. Because he chose a participating Pepco contractor, the cost is subsidized through EmPOWER Maryland. Through City of Takoma Park Energy Efficiency Rebate Program, Keith received a $100 rebate for the energy audit.

Energy audit recommended work: $1,512 after rebates. The total cost for the insulation and air leakage reduction package was $4,262.30. Keith qualified for the 50 percent, up to $2,000 Pepco insulation and air sealing rebate, the Takoma Park 25 percent up to $500 energy efficiency rebate, and the $250 Montgomery County energy efficiency tax incentive.

Lifetime energy savings: $3,005. The recommended work included wholehome air leakage reduction attic insulation and crawl space insulation.

What was the biggest surprise the energy audit revealed for Keith? He had no idea that a large amount of air was getting through his 2nd floor crawl space (or “kneewall”). The energy audit revealed that the space was only half insulated, making it ambiguous if it was an interior or exterior space. After speaking with the auditor and learning the options for how to better treat the space, Keith decided to make the crawl space an exterior space. He moved the insulation and fiberglass batts to an inner wall and then covered the wall with a reflective air barrier. Keith also insulated the half door leading to the space. The contractor sprayed dense pack insulation in the floor through holes drilled in the floor.

Other improvements included sealing air leaks in the attic floor, basement, and other areas of the home with caulk and spray foam. After the contractors achieved a targeted rate of air leakage reduction, measured by a blower door, insulation was added to attic floor to bring the total thermal value of attic insulation to R49. Keith hopes an upstairs bedroom that was too warm in the summer and a downstairs office that is too drafty in the winter will be much more comfortable.

The importance of working with a professional energy auditor:

Many do-it-yourselfers can install insulation, caulk and spray foam. Beyond finding energy savings, however, energy auditors perform tests to ensure that projects are completed in compliance with safety standards. A blower door test measures how drafty your home is, ensuring it is within safe levels. Most homes in Takoma Park are well over the building airflow standard necessary for safe indoor air quality. However, over-tightening your home can cause once properly venting gas appliances to back-draft, spilling dangerous flue gasses into your home.

Combustion safety tests measure the pressure of flue gasses being vented from the appliance to outside your home, including carbon monoxide. While the blower door is running, there is also a better chance to find hidden drafts and areas of missing insulation, especially when used with an infrared camera.

The improvements didn’t stop with insulation and air leakage reduction. Committed to helping reduce greenhouse emissions, helping his neighborhood win the Neighborhood Energy Challenge, and the City win the Georgetown University Energy Prize, Keith has made more changes that will make home as energy efficient as possible and earn him a Takoma Park Dark Green Home certification.

Solar PV rooftop installation: $7,209. Total system cost before federal and state tax credits $11,433.

Solar lifetime electricity savings: $28,094. System size is 2.94 kW. This will generate approximately 3,323 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, representing about 70 percent of Keith’s total electricity needs annually. This estimate was made before many of Keith’s energy efficiency improvements were completed; the total dollars saved on electricity may be lower; however the panels may get closer to generating 100 percent of Keith’s electricity needs.

Other energy efficiency improvements Keith has made:

• Super efficiency boiler and hot water system
• Energy star appliances (refrigerator, washer and dryer, dishwasher)
• Programmable thermostats
• Motion sensors on outdoor CFL security lights
• LED and CFL light bulbs throughout home
• Blinds and shades on windows to minimize/maximize solar heat gain in summer/winter
• Ceiling fans to make rooms more comfortable at a higher temperature in summer
• Faucet aerators
• Power strips on electronic device centers
• Cleaning refrigerator coils every six months to improve function
• Blocked off fireplace to prevent drafts

Would Keith recommend using an energy auditor and making audit-recommended upgrades to his neighbors? “Sure, I would recommend this to my neighbors,” he says. “There are three motivations: one is to save money, another is to increase comfort, and the final one is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” We couldn’t agree more.

This article appeared in the October 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A., is moving. The firm has been on the corner of Carroll and Laurel in Old Town for twenty-seven years and has served as the city attorneys for Takoma Park as well as assisting clients in Takoma Park and the DC-Metro region. The law firm is moving its offices to the Takoma Business Center, just a few doors down from its current location, where clients will have access to elevators and great views of Takoma Park. The firm’s new location will be 6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 610, Takoma Park, Md. 20912 as of Nov. 1, 2015. The firm looks forward to continuing to serve clients from its new space.

By Tim Rahn

Join the Friends Reading Group to discuss Edwidge Danticat’s novel Claire of the Sea Light on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hydrangea Room of Takoma Park Community Center.

Claire of the Sea Light takes place in a fictitious Haitian town, Ville Rose. Within the first couple of pages of the novel, Danticat describes two profound events. First, she tells how Claire’s fisherman father has learned of the death of another fisherman and then she reveals that the father has made the difficult decision to let another person raise Claire.

The evening of the same day, Claire’s birthday, she goes missing. Danticat uses the stories of neighbors and acquaintances to explore the mystery of Claire’s disappearance. We learn how Claire, whose mother died giving birth to her, has touched the lives of the other characters and what these relationships mean.

One reviewer commented that much of Danticat’s fiction is about “how the coercive power of collective silence about gender, race, and inequity creates deeply personal damage for individuals.” Claire of the Sea Light, she comments, “is a further investigation of the infinitely rippling consequences of silence.”

Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, Edwidge Danticat has won numerous awards for her fiction. Claire of the Sea Light was short-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Danticat is considered a major voice of the Haitian Diaspora.

This article appeared in the October 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

Books & Breakfast

This school year, the Library is partnering with the ESOL teachers at Takoma Park Elementary School in a special “Books & Breakfast” program.

Funded by a grant from the Takoma Foundation, the “Books & Breakfast” program is designed to connect ESOL parents and their pre-K and kindergarten children with helpful local resources, including the Library.

At each of the four hour-long meetings (October, November, February and March), participants are given breakfast while ESOL teachers model ways to read aloud and offer other helpful tips to encourage families to make books and reading part of their daily lives. Participants are given a new book at each of the meetings, plus other literacy tools, such as a jar of magnetic letters.

The “Books & Breakfast” program had a successful debut during the last school year (2014-2015), and the ESOL team decided that adding the Library as a partner this year would further enhance their efforts to teach parents how to help their children build pre-literacy skills.

As part of the Library’s participation in the “Books & Breakfast” program, Karen MacPherson, children’s and teen services coordinator, will help parents and children register for Library cards and also introduce them to the many resources the Library has to offer. These include print and electronic books in Spanish and French for all ages, numerous book-related events, and a fully-staffed Computer Center. The Library also has numerous online resources, including one for learning English, as well as numerous other languages.

A recent Pew Research Center report, “Public Libraries and Hispanics,” underlined the importance of libraries to immigrant Hispanics, once they discover what the public library has to offer them. This Pew report is just one more indication of how connecting Hispanics and other immigrants with their local public library can offer them a key educational and cultural lifeline. It is this connection that the “Books & Breakfast” teachers, working with the Library, hope to offer their participants this school year.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor program

Newbery Medalist Phyllis Reynolds Naylor will talk about the fourth book in her “Shiloh” series on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Takoma Park Community Center auditorium.

Titled A Shiloh Christmas, aimed at readers ages 8-12, Naylor’s new book continues the saga of a beagle named Shiloh and Marty Preston, the young boy who rescued him from an abusive owner. The new book comes 24 years after Naylor published the first book in the series, Shiloh, which won the 1992 Newbery Medal, given to the best-written children’s book each year by the American Library Association.

Since then, Naylor has published two sequels, Shiloh Season and Saving Shiloh. In A Shiloh Christmas, Naylor tells how Marty and his family reach out to Judd Travers, Shiloh’s formerly abusive owner, when his house and others are burned in a drought, and Travers is suspected of arson. Meanwhile, a new preacher has come to Marty’s town of Friendly, W.Va., and it seems the preacher is more interested in stirring up controversy than talking of mercy.

In a starred review, Kirkus said, “Shiloh’s move from abused pup to well -loved pet is an ideal metaphor for the plot’s various redemption stories, which culminate on Christmas day. Perfect for longtime fans of the series and newcomers alike, this Christmas story can be enjoyed yearround.”

Meanwhile, School Library Journal noted in its review of A Shiloh Christmas: “This is not so much a Christmas story as it is a book about practicing tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness and recognizing one’s own moral compass. In response to Marty’s many philosophical questions, his loving and supportive parents offer realistic guidance, advice and discipline. As expected, Shiloh the dog plays a pivotal role in bringing about a happy resolution for Judd and Marty.”

Politics & Prose will be selling copies of Naylor’s books at the event, but the program is free, and no purchase is required to attend. Please join us for what promises to be a very special event with a top author.

This article appeared in the October 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

By Ellen Robbins

The lines between old and new music are often blurred, especially when beloved standards are re-worked with understanding and sensitivity by younger musicians or even by their original creators. A sampling of our new music CDs is an evocative mixture that brings this idea home.

“Still the King: Celebrating the music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys” is a tribute album that is imbued with new life in the hands of ninetime Grammy winners Asleep at the Wheel. Bob Wills was known as the “King of Western Swing” in the 1930s well into the 1950s. In this 22-track release, Willie Nelson joins Merle Haggard, George Strait, Lyle Lovett and Del McCoury and other virtuosos in a dazzling display infused with unabashed enthusiasm for this rollicking genre.

2015 is the centennial of the matchless blues and jazz singer Billie Holiday. It’s no coincidence that Cassandra Wilson’s new album “Coming Forth by Day” is released now. Music reviewer Stephen Thomas Erleine has abundant praise for her celebration of Lady Day: “It luxuriates in its atmosphere, sometimes sliding into a groove suggesting smooth 70s soul, often handsomely evoking a cinematic torch song… moods that complement each other and suggest Holiday’s work without replacing it.” (allmusic.com)

Darlene Love is included among Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest singers. Her career spans 60 years from gospel to pop, and she appears in the academy award winning documentary “20 Feet from Stardom” (2013). Identified through much of her career with Phil Spector, who obscured her original style by attributing her singing credits to The Crystals, Darlene Love reemerges with her first solo album in 30 years. Produced by Steve Van Zandt, with songs recorded earlier by Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello among others, “Introducing Darlene Love” has had mixed reviews. Nonetheless, her vocal signature and prowess are abundantly clear. “This is likely the first album that Love has ever released to a wide culture of music fans who know her as the legend she always should have been rather than the footnote she once was” (Dave Bloom, Popmatters, 9/28/15).

A legend since he began his career with the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards is rated as fourth on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 greatest guitarists. “Cross-eyed Heart” is his first solo album since 1992. He has remained an unaffected original with unquestioned staying power. Elysa Gardner in USA Today observes that he is “one of the few vets in his field who has neither lost his edge nor devolved into a parody of his younger self. That enduring, effortless cool is rooted and reflected in his blues-based playing: muscular but not flashy, instinctively groovy, capable of brooding or stinging but also of expressing playfulness and joy.”

In their new album “Django and Jimmie,” Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard are invoking two icons that have inspired much of their music over the years: the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt who was legendary in the 1930s and 40s, and countrywestern swing musician Jimmie Rodgers. Rolling Stone’s reviewer calls the album “a grab bag of new songs and rerecorded signatures fixed on the duo’s own mythology, largely sans blue yodels or gypsy jazz. Highlights are Haggard’s “Missing Ol’ Johnny Cash”…and “It’s All Going to Pot,” the “420 Day” single that shows two masters nailing the right song at the right time.”

In her album “The Trackless Woods,” vocalist and composer Iris DeMent is inspired by the poems of Anna Akhmatova, who was born in 1889 and died in 1966. Dement and her husband adopted a child from Russia when she was six, and this album is in part an attempt to build a “symbolic bridge” to her daughter’s homeland.” What is so amazing is that she is inspired by a past that is neither her own, nor strictly musical. According to NPR, “Iris DeMent makes music that celebrates humanity’s efforts toward salvation, while acknowledging that most of our time on Earth is spent reconciling with the fact we don’t feel so redeemed. Grounded in hymns, early country songs, gospel and folk, DeMent’s work is treasured by those who know it for its insight and unabashed beauty.”

Visit the Library soon to hear albums by some of the most creative and accomplished musicians recording today, who both celebrate and re-imagine their artistic inspirations.

This article appeared in the October 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

By Code Enforcement Staff

On or before Nov. 30, information will be sent out to all Takoma Park landlords informing them that they must apply for the renewal of their rental housing licenses. All applications must be submitted online as the City no longer accepts paper copies of the application for renewals. Email addresses are also now required by code.

If you own a rental housing property or unit in Takoma Park, you are required to obtain a rental housing license. There are five requirements that must be satisfied before the City will renew your rental license. You must 1) complete the online application, 2) pay the license fee (charged per unit), 3) maintain a valid Landlord certification, 4) must meet the lead risk requirements for the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE), and 5) successfully pass a property maintenance code inspection. Licenses are issued for the calendar year and only after all requirements have been met.

If your landlord certification has expired, we offer a class every other month at the community center that introduces and briefly reviews the requirements and laws that apply to rental housing in Takoma Park. The classes are held the third Wednesday of every other month on alternating mornings and evenings in the auditorium. If you plan on attending, please call 301- 891-7255 to register for the class. A schedule can be found on the City’s website.

New in 2015 is a change in the MDE requirements from a construction date of 1950 to 1978. Additional information is available online www.MDE.state.md.us/ lead or by contacting the MDE at 800- 633-6101 x4199 or 410-537-4199.

Why be licensed? If your property is not licensed, neither the tenants nor the landlords are protected by Takoma Park’s laws governing rental properties. This is especially important in dealing with health and safety issues, repairs, security deposits and issues with leases and rents. Please ensure that your rental property is licensed so that the rights of all parties involved are ensured.

This article appeared in the October 2015 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.