Dear Neighbors:
Here’s the link to the agenda for the March 10, 2021 City Council meeting: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-march-10-2021/. We’ll be voting on traffic calming for Darwin Avenue and Wildwood Drive, on removing funds from the budget “hold list”, and on a County tax duplication resolution. In the work session the Council will have a further discussion of the proposed new stormwater fee structure. There will also be presentations from the Complete Safe Streets Committee with their recommendations on traffic calming and sidewalk policies, and from the City Manager on CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index as applied to Takoma Park. For more details on the agenda items see below. Residents who wish to speak in the public comment period will need to sign up by 5:00 PM on the day of the meeting: Link to sign-up for Live Public Comments
Viewing the Council Meeting: The meeting can be viewed 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.
PRESENTATIONS
Complete Safe Streets Presentation: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210310-1.pdf. The Committee previously proposed some policy changes based on the idea that it would be preferable to have decisions about whether to install traffic calming measures or sidewalks tied to calculations of safety, impact on the community, racial equity, etc. than simply whether a petition from a certain number of residents is submitted. The Council was favorably inclined toward that approach, and asked the committee to return with a set of more detailed proposals. Members of the committee will be presenting a report with more specific recommendations.
City Manager Presentation on Social Vulnerability: This information was not yet available at blog-post time.
UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
COVID UPDATE
The Takoma Park Data Dashboard has been updated with data through March 5, 2021. The dashboard now includes a new section on vaccine usage in Takoma Park based on data shared by the County for people listing Takoma Park as their city of residence:
· 2,583 residents of Takoma Park have received at least their first dose of a vaccine and 1,081 have been fully vaccinated, representing 6.1% of the City's residents.
· Racial disparities exist in vaccine uptake. Black residents represent 32% of the City's population and 27% of cases, but only 20% of known vaccine recipients.
· After weeks of declining cases, there were 19 reported cases in Takoma Park last week, and the City's seven day moving average of new cases increased slightly.
· For the fourth week in a row, no new deaths were reported in the 20912 zip code.
Testing at the New Hampshire Avenue Recreation Center continues every Saturday, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For other Montgomery County testing locations, visit this link. You can pre-register for vaccinations through the County vaccine page: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/. Or you can call 240-777-2982. You can also sign up for vaccines through the Maryland Vaccine Website: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/vaccine. In addition, there’s a site created by people who have had experience seeking vaccines which residents might find helpful: https://mdvax.info/.
KEY UPDATES FROM LAST WEEK’S COUNCIL MEETING
Council Priorities. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210303-2.pdf. The Council unanimously approved our Council Priorities document, which lays out the areas on which we anticipate focusing our efforts in the coming year and beyond.
Report on Committees. https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/Documents/council-appointed-committee-2nd-update-presentation.pdf. The Council sub-group which is reviewing the operation, engagement with, and recruitment for, our Council appointed committees, boards and commissions, made a second presentation on their work. It included suggestions for clarifying the general purpose and common charge for standing committees, and developing criteria for prioritizing the need for specific standing committees. The Council was generally supportive of these proposals. This will be an ongoing topic for us over the next few months, as the Council previously decided to hold off on most appointments through the end of June, with the idea that in the intervening period committee procedures would be updated and a plan developed to help make committee membership more reflective of the City’s population.
COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Recreation Department Scholarships. https://takomaparkmd.gov/uncategorized/time-to-renew-the-takoma-park-recreation-department-scholarship-program/. The program is designed to assist individuals and families accessing City programs by providing an opportunity to apply for a lesser fee than the published amounts. Scholarship applications are valid on a calendar-year basis, and all applications will need to be resubmitted every year, three weeks before registration. You can review the FAQ section for further information.
Plant a Tree application. https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/plant-a-tree-order-form-is-now-available-submit-by-friday-march-26/. Residents can purchase trees at reduced prices until April 20, and have them installed by City staff.
College & Graduate School Scholarships. The State makes college and graduate school scholarships available to residents of District 20 (our Maryland legislative district) who are attending a Maryland institution of higher education. Applications for 2021 are due by May 15: APPLY ONLINE.
Free Tax Preparation. The AARP Tax-Aide Program can provide free Federal and Maryland tax preparation services for low to moderate-income taxpayers who live or work in Montgomery County. The Takoma Park Community Center will serve as a drop-off location for taxpayers. To schedule an appointment to drop off your tax paperwork, you must first call the scheduling telephone line at 240-777-2577.
Sign up for alerts: You can sign up to receive updates and alerts from the Police Department, the Takoma Insider, the Office of Sustainability, Takoma Park Arts and more: https://takomaparkmd.gov/sign-up/. You can also register with WSSC to be notified when they are planning local water/sewer work near your home: https://member.everbridge.net/1332612387831877/login. And finally, you can sign up to receive my blog directly instead of through your neighborhood email list: http://www.councilmemberkovar.com/
VOTING SESSION
Traffic Calming: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210310-2-3.pdf. In a recent Council meeting there was a public hearing on the proposals for traffic calming on Darwin Avenue and Wildwood Drive. During that hearing residents from the two streets expressed support for taking action aimed at slowing down vehicle traffic. Last week the Council had a favorable discussion on both proposals, and we’ll be taking an initial vote on each of them this week, with a final vote scheduled for next week. As I’ve explained previously, I support the idea of slowing traffic on Darwin, given that it has substantial traffic because it leads to the parking area for several parks, it lacks sidewalks, and it has a large bend. According to Public Works Department regulations, the length of Darwin would only permit one speed hump, and if that’s the case, determining the appropriate location for it will be something on which residents of the street will have input.
Budget Hold List: The agenda information was not available as of blog-post time. I mentioned in last week’s discussion of this topic my concern about releasing too much of the on-hold funds without a clearer idea of our COVID needs or at least a better sense for the amount of money the City may receive from the pending federal relief package. You can see my initial comments from the discussion starting at the 1:16:30 mark in this video: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/meetings-and-documents/city-council-video/. Since then, with Senate passage on Saturday, Congress has gotten closer to finalizing the legislation, and the City appears likely to receive a substantial amount of federal funding. As a result, I’m more willing than I was previously to support the release of a larger amount of money from the hold-list.
Tax Duplication Resolution: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2021/council-20210310-5.pdf. The Council has for a number of years sought a fairer payment from Montgomery County to reflect the services the City has taken on -- such as policing and road maintenance -- for which we still contribute financially to the County. There have periodically been partial payment increases or near-agreements for improved payments, though in some cases larger financial downturns have led to a falling back from such agreements. This resolution provides a useful historical breakdown of the tax duplication issue, and calls on the County to approve a fairer system and to compensate the City for past loss of revenue. I plan to vote in favor of the resolution.
WORK SESSION
Stormwater Fee Structure: While the updated agenda information was not available as of blog-post time, as I have noted previously the Council has discussed a number of times over the past two years the potential adoption of a new single family property stormwater fee structure tied to the amount of impervious surface on each property. Commercial, industrial and multi-family apartment properties already pay a variable fee depending on their amount of impervious surface. As I’ve also mentioned, I don’t support going forward with the new fee structure unless we also begin to address the broader problems of stormwater costs connected to more intense rain storms as a result of climate change. In addition, there are other aspects of the fee proposal that need more attention, including the details on how a property owner would be able to appeal the impervious calculation for their property and whether we can phase in the increases for residents who would have to pay significantly higher fees.
If you’re interested in more information on these issues, you can scroll down in my blog from last week (http://www.councilmemberkovar.com/blog/2021/3/1/agenda-for-march-3-2021-council-meeting-amp-more) to the stormwater commentary -- which is in the third bold section of the blog -- to see a detailed discussion with other key links. I’m working on several proposals aimed at getting some of the points mentioned above addressed before we vote on the fee plan later this month, and we’ll be discussing options for doing that in this week’s work session.
Please feel free to be in touch with questions or comments about any of the topics covered in this blog.
Peter Kovar, Takoma Park City Council, Ward One
240-319-6281; www.councilmemberkovar.com
(He, Him, His)
Important Privacy Notice: All correspondence, including emails, to or from City of Takoma Park agencies, officials, and employees is subject to the Maryland Public Information Act and may be disclosed to the public.