News

Takoma news

BY CRAIG STONE

Search is on for new City Manager

The Takoma Park City Council entered the early stages of its search for a new city manager in November, assembling a citizens' committee to write criteria and questions for candidates.

City residents who contacted council members to be on the committee were invited to attend a closed session on Nov. 17, immediately following the swearing-in ceremony for the new council. Eleven citizens attended the meeting and voiced their opinions on what qualities they were looking for in a city manager.

Current City Manager Rick Finn did not attend the meeting.

Mayor Kathy Porter said that during the last search, the citizens' committee did not have the opportunity to be deeply involved in the process, so this time she "would like the search committee to be more up-front."

Ward 5 Councilmember Marc Elrich said that it was necessary for the committee to expand so that it received a representative voice from all sides of the community. He observed that if the committee ended up consisting only of those residents who attended the meeting, it would be "a committee of white homeowners."

At the previous week's City Council meeting on November 10, Porter had encouraged citizen comment by e-mail, letter, or phone call to councilmembers or the city clerk.

Historic Takoma member Lorraine Pearsall attended the November 10 meeting and said that the main quality she hopes to see in a candidate is "the ability to work with the community and understand what an activist community we really are. Our roots really are entrenched in this."

She added that the city manager needs to "set the tone for city government in general."

Resident Mary Carter-Williams said the new city manager needs to have a plan for the completion of the new community center, as well as for the Washington Adventist Hospital expansion. She also said that the city manager should promote citizen participation in legislative actions.

Dave Lorentz, founder of the Takoma Park JazzFest, also brought up the community center, and encouraged the council to seek a candidate that is knowledgeable in construction.

"With the community center construction going on, the new city manager is going to need to be competent in that area," he said.

Porter thanked the speakers for their comments and encouraged further participation by the community.

"As we get started on this extremely important process for our city," she said, "we are very anxious to hear from anyone about your concerns and the kinds of things that you think we should be looking for."

The committee is now composed of over 40 members.

City Council adopts county smoking ban

Smoking in the bars and restaurants of Takoma Park is a thing of the past, thanks to a City Council vote on November 10 that repealed the city's existing smoking ordinance in favor of the new, stricter Montgomery County legislation.

The new Montgomery County law bans smoking in restaurants and bars completely. The old city law required any restaurant with 25 or more seats to have a smoking section and allowed smoking in the bar area of restaurants.

The change also means that the county is required to enforce the law within Takoma Park, a responsibility that would have fallen on the city had they held their old law or created a new one of their own.

At the City Council session, Ward 1 Councilmember Joy Austin-Lane said, "It's something the public has been asking for for a long time. I think that certain tobacco-industry motivated restaurant associations are working against this type of legislation, but it is what the public wants."

The city kept its own law this long because of the concern that the county law might not stand up when challenged in court. A group of restaurant owners filed a suit against the county in hopes that the county law, which was passed on July 1 and went into effect on October 9, would be rejected. The case was thrown out.

When smoking bans have been imposed in other areas, such as California and New York, "the findings are that restaurant revenue actually goes up," Austin-Lane said.

"The clear intention of the Council is to enhance the safety and well-being of our residents by restricting the amount to which they are exposed to second-hand smoke," Mayor Kathy Porter said, adding she believes that this legislation will benefit patrons as well as workers at restaurants.

Robert Lanza of Cedar Avenue stood up during the session and argued that it was inappropriate for the Council to vote on the legislation at the time.

"I don't think the city should be voting on revising or repealing major city ordinances before the new council members have an opportunity to take office," he said. Takoma Park City Council elections were held on November 4. The swearing-in of new council members did not take place until November 17.

Members of the Council defended the decision to vote on the legislation, saying that they were in office during previous discussions on the matter, and that those discussions would be wasted time if the vote was postponed.

"I haven't received any calls of concern from residents or business owners in Takoma Park about this, and what I have heard just in my professional life and talking with residents is a very strong degree of support for smoking bans," Austin-Lane said. "I want to commend the county for actually showing so much leadership in this respect and giving us something to repeal our ordinance for."

Ward 4 Councilmember Roland Dawes offered a dissenting voice and defended the right to smoke. Dawes said that the argument about keeping restaurant workers safe from second-hand smoke was not valid because "they smoke more than their guests that come into the restaurants." He added, "They take a break every time they have a chance to smoke. That's what I've noticed."

Old Town garage elicits mixed reactions

Takoma Park business owners are having mixed reactions to plans for a possible parking garage in Old Town funded by state loans and landlord John Urciolo.

City of Takoma Park staff members are still working out the details and deciding on the feasibility of the parking garage, which would stretch from Carroll and Laurel avenues to Eastern Avenue. Urciolo owns the land and is developing properties adjacent to the parcel.

Greg Moorin, owner of Summer Delights, thinks that the garage will have a positive influence on the small businesses in the city, especially in Old Town. But he is disappointed in how long the city is taking to get the project underway–he and other business owners have responded to city requests to fill out questionnaires and attend meetings, but so far the process has been "a lot of talk and no show," he said.

"The longer it takes, the longer it will be before...very positive changes can be brought [here]," Moorin said. "It's been promise after promise."

Not every business in Old Town is eagerly awaiting a groundbreaking on the garage. Hal Shay, a manager at Mark's Kitchen, takes issue with the city possibly funding a parking garage in Old Town because of the benefits that he thinks it would give to a select few businesses.

Shay said that the planning of the parking garage has been "very improperly done, by any standards of contracting," adding that it is "improper because public funds are being used to subsidize a developer with influence."

Shay believes that the garage as proposed would disproportionately help a few retail outlets in the vicinity, specifically those owned by Urciolo. He said that other local establishments would lose business because of the increased traffic that the garage would give to stores and restaurants closer to it.

"If this is proper under [Takoma Park's] rules," Shay said referring to public funding of the garage, "then the rules themselves are the problem."

Urciolo was befuddled by Shay's "off the wall" assessments.

"It's the entire town of Takoma Park that benefits from this," Urciolo said. "The burden on the city is minimal. It's a win-win situation."

As to the claim that Urciolo would be the largest beneficiary of the proposed parking garage, he said that he already has the necessary parking for his current development, so he is not required by law to add any parking spaces.

"It's something that I've always wanted...to keep Takoma vibrant. And we do have the competition of Silver Spring to draw away some of the business. We have to have something unique...and parking is a key to people coming over here."

In a city council meeting on September 2, Urciolo and Takoma Park Economic Community Development Director Sara Anne Daines proposed a deal in which the city would receive a $300,000 loan from the state's Community Legacy Fund, and the remaining $650,000 would be financed by Urciolo. The city would be required to pay the state back in 10 years, but could take 20 years or longer to pay Urciolo back. The money to pay back the debts would come from metered parking spaces in the lots.

City Council considers stormwater switch

The City Council is trying to decide whether or not to transfer management of Takoma Park's stormwater drainage systems to Montgomery County, an act that would save most taxpayers $13.93 per year.

Currently, the city maintains its own stormwater drainage systems and assesses a yearly fee of $26.68 per household per year. The county fee is $12.75.

Council members are wary that the shift in management would cause a decline in services. The city currently cleans one-third of their storm drains each year, so that the entire system is cleaned about once every three years, Mayor Kathy Porter said at the November 10 City Council meeting. Under Montgomery County's Stormwater Facility Maintenance Program, inspections and maintenance of drainage systems are not performed on a regular basis.

Boyd M. Church, the chief of the county program, told the council that for such inspections to be possible, the county would have to raise their fee to about $40 per year, and said that such a raise will be considered about six years from now. Church said that in cities under the county's management, the fee goes toward emergency maintenance of large filter systems, such as drainage ponds.

"We don't have many of those [filter systems] at all," said Takoma Park Public Works Director Alfred Lott. "We've got some small systems up in place in certain places to help us out that...require little or no maintenance."

Porter clarified that "if we were to go under the county's system, the amount of fee that we would then pay the county wouldn't pay for the storm drain maintenance that we now receive. It would pay for maintenance of this small number of facilities."

The Council also expressed concern about the fact that the county would only perform maintenance on storm drains when it became absolutely necessary.

Lott told the Council that a representative from the Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation told him that "their operation is strictly reactive right now, not proactive." Lott also said that the representative thought there was "no way that [the county] could deliver the sort of response and service that we provide the residents right now."

The Council, however, did not write off the possibility of going under the county's stormwater management program.

"There may be some opportunities at the county level for some services that can help some of our residents," Porter said. "We need to continue to pursue this."