It is surprising that Shari Jackson Small would allow skin color to so greatly influence her choice for president when she herself was discriminated against on the same basis as a child (Voice Mail, “From Alabama to Obama,” April, 2008). Hopefully, there are better reasons to vote for Mr. Obama. To write that “citizens of good conscience prefer Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton” is an insult to thoughtful people.
—Sam Pancake
Takoma Park, Md.
Kate Elizabeth Queram’s report in the March issue of the Voice (“Wind power meets resistance in Maryland”) on a proposal by a private company to build a wind energy project on public lands in Garrett County, MD, neglected to mention one very salient point—that the “public lands” involved in the prospective deal are two State Parks!
This past Valentine’s Day, the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee of the Maryland Senate heard testimony on a bill that would set a uniform voter registration age of 16-years-old, offering young people more opportunities to register to vote before reaching voting age. At the hearing, Senators were greeted with valentines from students from Montgomery Blair High School that read, “Don’t break my heart!; Vote for S.B. 92.”
Continue reading "Voice Mail: If you register them, they will vote" »
As we stroll through the aisles of a grocery store or sit down to eat at a favorite restaurant, few of us question the safety of the food we’re purchasing. But a recent investigation inside a southern California slaughter plant may forever change the way we think about where our food comes from.
Clearly the man was outraged. His face was red and he spat when he spoke. His hand, holding the cigar shook spasmodically. “Who do you think you are, walking right alongside a little white girl like that in this town?” he roared. “N_____, you better learn your place!” He jabbed his burning cigar into the chest of the brown-skinned six-year old where it sizzled for a few seconds through cloth and against flesh.
The year was 1965. The place was Ft. McClellan, Alabama. The burned child was me. The “little white girl” was my light-skinned sister.
Recently I received a proposal from the City of Takoma Park for “traffic calming” in my neighborhood. One option called for building “bump-outs” in two paces on Glenside Drive and two places on Wildwood. These bump-outs would block one lane of traffic in order to divert traffic from Wildwood to Glenside and back again (west-bound) and from Glenside to Wildwood and back (east-bound). The purpose of this proposal would be to improve traffic on the affected streets by discouraging “cross-through” traffic, i.e., traffic traveling from one side of the neighborhood to the other without stopping.
Continue reading "Voice Mail: Is Takoma Park becoming a gated community?" »
At our recent General Meeting, the Park Hills Civic Association discussed and voted on key Purple Line issues affecting this east Silver Spring community. With this vote, we learned several things that should be of interest to the Montgomery County and State of Maryland officials who are planning this important East-West transportation link.
First, we learned that these issues are of continuing great interest to our neighbors. The enormous community concern about adverse impacts has not diminished since our September 2007 General Meeting where the PHCA membership overwhelmingly adopted a Resolution requesting that the Maryland Transit Administration prepare detailed studies of “underground” options as well as traffic and congestion studies, so we can better understand the costs and benefits of the Purple Line for our neighborhood.
Continue reading "Voice Mail: Our Purple Line vote: What we learned" »
When I heard that there might be picket signs in the works here in Takoma Park, I naturally became excited and began rummaging through my closet for my marching boots. I love a good demo. But then I found out that I might not need to do much walking, since the picketers would be right outside my door.
Apparently the combined Takoma Park, Silver Spring banner on the cover of the January Voice has stirred up some controversy concerning the Takoma-obliterating schemes of a certain publisher.
Maybe it would help if I provided a more basic and human explanation.
Continue reading "From the Editor: Don't picket... picnic!" »
This announcement has come across the wires from Frankie Blackburn, the executive director of IMPACT Silver Spring. As a graduate of the IMPACT program, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in making a difference in our community.
—ed
IMPACT Silver Spring is now accepting applications for the eighth year of its training program, Neighborhood IMPACT 2007, formerly called Community Empowerment Program (CEP). Neighborhood IMPACT is a unique leadership development and community action program offered to Silver
Spring renters.
Continue reading "Announcement: IMPACT Silver Spring looking for candidates for training program" »
After you watch the "Cleaning the Green" video, check out "Showing Off on the Silver Spring Turf" uploaded to YouTube by blademonki (Ryan).
(BTW, Blademonki, feel free to contact us so that we can attribute you with more than a screen name.)
Check out this fun video and blog entry from Richard Jaeggi—about cleaning the astroturf on Ellsworth Drive.
—ed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ltzLBskJI
A few weeks ago my family was lamenting the horribly dirty state of Silver Spring's downtown green space, AKA, the Turf. I was complaining about my failed attempts to persuade local officials to clean it.
My daughter, uninterested in sharing my high dudgeon, made a brilliant suggestion. "Why don't we clean it ourselves?"
In a stroke: from powerlessness to power. Of course we could clean it ourselves— and have a good time to boot. So we teamed up with our friends the Karn/McDonagh's, put out a call for assistance on the list serve, and showed up on Saturday with brooms and trash bags.
As if by divine intervention, on the very Friday before our clean up, the Red Shirt Brigade was moved to do a thorough clean up of the turf, which made our jobs much easier. Big thanks to the Red Shirts.
This movie is a little vignette of that pleasant afternoon on the Turf.
Ten years ago, Takoma Park and Hong Kong unified on the same date (July 1, 1997). The People's Republic of Takoma Park unified into Montgomery County. Hong Kong unified into the People's Republic of China.
As if to mark the decade anniversary, Mr. Simon Lee of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong visited Takoma Park on June 12 to learn more about our municipal government. Mr. Lee and his party are advocating for greater political strength for the local district representatives in Hong Kong.
He will be visiting Burlington, Vermont; Jackson, Mississippi; Lincoln, Nebraska and San Francisco on his three-week tour of the United States. He is participating in the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Lee met with City staff and with Councilmember Terry Seamens.
He was particularly interested in learning about where municipalities get revenue from and in Takoma Park's Council-Manager form of government.
—Source: Takoma Park Press Release
The June Diversity Concert Series continues this coming week at the Gazebo on Carroll Avenue. On Thursday, June 21 from 6-8pm, join Jaqui MacMillan with the Drum For Joy Orchestra in their premier performance and participate in a Community Drum Circle.
The series is organized by the Old Takoma Business Association/Main Street Takoma with the Institute of Musical Traditions and support from the Takoma Foundation and the Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission.
The next meeting of tenant associations and tenants interested in forming new associations will take place this coming Wednesday, June 20, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Takoma Park Community Center.
Topics to be discussed will include tenants' concerns about the condominium conversion process and possible changes in the rent stabilization law. Those interested in attending may contact Linda Walker at 301-891-7222.
The Grand Opening celebration of the new Crossroads Farmers Market is this coming Wednesday, June 20 at 6:00 pm.
The market—located at 7676 New Hampshire Avenue—features a variety of locally grown vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, baked goods, freshly squeezed juices and ethnic foods.
The market will be open every Wednesday through November 14 from 3:00 to 7:00 pm.
Low income renters and home owners may be eligible for a tax credit. To find out if you qualify, file an application with the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. To obtain an application, you can call the State of Maryland at 1-800-944-7403. Or you can access the application directly on their website at
www.dat.state.md.us/sdatweb/taxcredits.html.
Or call Linda Walker at (301) 891-7222.
The deadline for filing this year is September 1, 2007.
From the Takoma Park Department of Housing and Community Development:
The Montgomery County Planning Board seeks applicants for a community advisory committee to work with its planners as they craft a plan for the proposed Metro Purple Line, slated to connect Bethesda and New Carrollton.
The advisory committee will help planners analyze the transit line's potential impacts on the community. Called a functional master plan, the resulting product will lay out the Planning Department's recommendations for the type of transit—light rail or rapid bus—alignment, and station locations in Montgomery County.
The Purple Line functional master plan will provide a framework for the Montgomery County Planning Board to react quickly to the MTA's recommendations for the alignment of either light rail or rapid bus transit, expected by summer 2008.
If you are interested in serving on the advisory committee, please submit your letter of interest by Friday, July 13, 2007 to Tom Autrey, Transportation Planning Division
I want to thank the Voice and Allison Baker for the coverage of the closing of the Takoma Women's Health Center and the impending closure of the freestanding birth center portion of the Maternity Center in Bethesda. This is truly a tragedy for women in our community.
Why does the ice rink need a cover?
Look at Rockefeller Center in New York, Millennium Park in Chicago, and the ice rink on the Smithsonian Mall. They are not covered and serve as beautiful gathering places. With an emphasis on green instead of pavement, Silver Spring's ice skating rink could be really lovely.
The Silver Spring Town Center Inc. Board of Directors strongly supports the timely construction of a new Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza. We view this important public project as our community’s principal amenity of the downtown Silver Spring development, and we have worked diligently with the community, and private and public stakeholders to move this project forward. We believe that the Civic Building, along with a Pavilion and multi-purpose skating rink element, will be the exciting and dynamic centerpiece of our Silver Spring community.