Voice Mail
August 2005

The Takoma Voice welcomes all correspondence. We remind readers that the opinions expressed here are those of the writers. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. While we strive to print every letter, we reserve the right to refuse any which we deem inappropriate for a community forum. Name, address, and phone number must be included.

Send correspondence to:
The Takoma Voice
P.O. Box 11262 Takoma Park, MD 20913
fax: 301-891-6747
email-at-takoma-dot-com

Kids need parents who earn a living wage

I   am a sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring ^ one of the most diverse schools in the region. Plenty of my fellow students at Blair receive free or reduced-price lunch. I know these kids ^ they are my friends ^ and I know that most of their parents work long and hard. A parent who works minimum wage full time makes only $10,700 each year. If both parents work full time, the family will make more money, but the child will have no attention or assistance with schoolwork.

This child will have a lesser chance of excelling in school and moving on to college. Without college, the student will have less career opportunities and a greater chance of getting stuck with a minimum wage job.

Progressive Maryland passed a bill through the Maryland General Assembly this year to finally raise the minimum wage in our state above the federal level of $5.15 per hour. But Gov. Bob Ehrlich vetoed that bill. Our state can do better than this. Lawmakers in the General Assembly should override Ehrlich's heartless veto so that more of my fellow students at Blair can at least afford to pay for their own lunches.

-- Mike Curl
Silver Spring, MD

Ich bin ein Clarksburger...

Indeed, the citizens and communities of Montgomery County are all Clarksbugers, because what happened in Clarksburg is not an isolated incident. Rather, it is the certain result of a political culture that favors narrow interests over the public good.

In Takoma Park, I have been involved with Sensible Hospital Growth, a citizens movement that sought compromise regarding with Washington Adventist Hospital's massive expansion plans. The recent good news is that we have apparently reached a win-win solution in this case.

The bad news is that the possibility of compromise was almost yanked away from us last summer when Park and Planning staff met behind closed doors with development interests to produce a zoning text amendment that would have changed the rules in the middle of the game, removing all incentives for hospitals to work with surrounding communities.

Park and Planning had every intention of getting the amendment to County Council without any community input at all. When we discovered at the last minute what was afoot and shined a light in the back room, it was a pretty sight indeed: developers and lawyers with their hands deep in the cookie jar and Park and Planning staff standing right there asking how to make the recipe sweeter for the next batch.

When I spoke with Steve Silverman earlier this year about the zoning text amendment and the shady circumstances surrounding its birth, he had no apologies. Rather, he backed the amendment and blamed communities for standing in the way of progress.

And yet there is now wonderment at the fact that a staff member at Park and Planning altered documents to favor developers in Clarksburg.

The parallels between the hospital expansion issue and wrongdoing in Clarksburg are obvious: in both cases, developers simply expected to get whatever they wanted and private citizens--committing their own money and pro bono time to investigate and fight against entrenched power--had to save their own skins.

When the bulk of our elected officials make clear that serving developers takes precedence over serving communities and citizens - when they not only don't punish staff for back-room dealings that are fundamentally anti-democratic, but actually endorse such behavior, we know that our focus must be much broader than the "honest mistakes" of a single staff member.

There was considerable discussion at the July 7 hearing about possible sanctions on the developers and builders in Clarksburg. Conspicuously absent from the proceedings was any mention of culpability by those who with winks, nods, and back-room support have been egging the developers on. Heavy fines on the Clarksburg profiteers are absolutely necessary. But they are not sufficient. The time has come for the voters of Montgomery County to demand accountability from our elected representatives and county staff - to punish them when they sell us out. Only when we decide as a county that business as usual will no longer be accepted here, will we get public servants who serve us professionally and in the full light of day.

-- Keith Berner
President, Between the Creeks Neighborhood Association
Member, Sensible Hospital Growth
Takoma Park, MD

Farmers Market economy

In your July issue, I understand your publication has posed some questions about the new Saturday farmers market in Silver Spring ["New farmer's market yields bitter harvest to local farmers," Silver Spring Voice]. Our farm began the Takoma Park farmers market, and has sold there since its inception. As a business, we are totally dependent on sales through such producer only markets; in addition to Takoma Park, we attend 12 others in the region each week.

Two things are essential for a successful producer only market.

1.          A strict producer only rule, so that customers can be assured they are in fact receiving local produce from its producer, and so that farmers are only competing with others in their climatic region.

2.          Good management, so that the market has sensible rules, a balance of producers, and adequate promotion. The Takoma market is exemplary in this regard, and the markets run by FreshFarm markets, of which Silver Spring is the newest, are also well-managed, with strict adherence to the producer only rule. As a grower run market, Takoma Park charges minimal fees, and relies on members for administrative work. As professionally run markets, those of FreshFarm charge a percentage of sales. Our farm happily pays those sales fees.

Since all the farmersºat the pre-existing Silver Spring market were given the automatic opportunity to join, with the new charges covered by the Council for the first year, and since the FreshFarm management will bring balance, farmer inspections, and good publicity to the market, its inauguration can only be a good thing for the region's farmers and local food-buying citizens.

Additionally, there is currently only oneºfarmer, a baker actually,ºfrom Montgomery County at the Takoma market--the same as the new Silver Spring market. Bringing the best produce from the best farms should be what all markets strive to deliver. This is the way most markets are run.

Finally, surveys of markets show that those in urban settings--like Takoma Park and Silver Spring--draw the bulk of their customers from within 2-3 miles.ºThey will not compete for customers.

-- Charles Planck
Owner/manager, Wheatland
Vegetable Farms
Purcellville, VA

Thanks, Rusty

On the behalf of the Neighborhoods Committee of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board, I wish to pay tribute to an outstanding civil servant, Rusty Wallace, who is retiring from a very distinguished career in Montgomery County government.

In my thirty years of public and community service, Rusty Wallace stood head and shoulders above any of the public officials that I have met in local, state, federal and international civil service. To those who worked with him, Mr. Wallace's professionalism, attention to detail and his dedication to his work were impressive and legendary. But what was most admirable was his passion for and commitment to helping the underserved and geographically isolated communities of Silver Spring, notably Northwest Park/Broad Acres and Long Branch.

His pioneering work in support of the federal Weed and Seed programs for these neighborhoods will pay substantial community dividends for years to come. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Silver Spring community has been diminished by the departure of one of its foremost champions. We will miss him and we wish him well in his retirement and future endeavors.

-- Alan S. Bowser
Co-Chair, Neighborhoods Committee
Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board
Silver Spring, MD

Tribute to Lisa Hill

We were so pleased to read the story in the June 2005 issue of the Takoma Voice about the new tree recently planted in memory of Lisa HILL. We remember well the dedication and the planting of the first tree, watching it grow, thrive, and bloom over the years. At the same time, because Lisa HILL was such an avid reader, many individuals and the PTA, I believe, gave books to the school library in Lisa's memory. Special care was taken to select books Lisa would have liked.

My son, Alan, was in the same second grade class with Lisa and David and was a good friend to both of them. Lisa's sudden death was Alan's first experience with the loss of someone close, and he, like David Paterson, was devastated. We have no answers either, but Lisa's tree was a help. Even after all these years, we remember Lisa's lively, cheerful personality and vivid imagination. What a shame that your headline and all of the picture captions referred to her as Lisa HALL instead of Lisa HILL.

-- Faith Stern
Takoma Park, MD

Editor's note: We regret the error. Corrections have been made to the web version, which can be accessed by clicking here.

By the book

As a resident of Takoma Park and, for the past 10 months, the owner and landlord of 7009 Carroll Ave., I am sad to see Mark closing his bookstore, Takoma Books. I am also sad at the mischaracterization that, in my opinion, was displayed in your article "A new chapter for Takoma Books" in the July issue.

In the article, the reporter indicates that Mark "received an eviction notice" and then proceeds to use the word evicted and eviction twice more in the short article. Just to set the record straight for those people, like myself, who relate to the legal implications of the word [in the legal dictionary, "eviction" means: "the dispossession of a tenant of leased property by force or especially by legal process."], Mark's month-to-month lease was terminated with 60 days notice so that I, the owner, could use the space for the purpose for which the building was purchased--for my architectural firm.

I will miss Mark and the store--I had hoped he would find alternate space in the Takoma Park community.

-- Lorena Checa
Takoma Park, MD