Features: Talk of Takoma  •  Howard Kohn

March, 2006

Don't tread on me
The tactic of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps is to strike fear. They give public notice to their targets and brag about their intentions. It is their first step.
In February the Minutemen announced CASA of Maryland's day-laborer center in Takoma Park as a target and proclaimed a melodrama of next steps. They would photograph the men and the contractors who pick them up for daily hire. They would make identifications so the authorities can prosecute. It is a Minutemen theory that many laborers are illegal and many contractors fail to pay payroll taxes.

The picture-taking has started, but far across the street and infrequently, not like their publicity-hound actions in other locations. Here it has not been so easy to take advantage of the inadequate legal knowledge of immigrants. Here we have Gustavo Torres, the CASA executive director, willing to meet bullying in kind. He is training a counter-force of people with video cameras who are prepared to follow the Minutemen to their own jobs, even their homes. "We will let their neighbors know who these extremists are," Gustavo says. "It will be a shame to their families."

Gustavo Torres CASA executive director

A House for Mrs. Hevia
I n the haggling a couple years ago over the County's plan to tear down two houses next to the firehouse Rafael and Estela Hevia did not say much, but their presence in one of the houses commanded attention. They were old and wished not to move again.

Late last year, before the wreckers could cause debris, Mr. Hevia died. Mrs. Hevia must move in the next few months, but only next door. The second of the houses was saved and is being fitted with new interior walls and plumbing at the County's expense, part of Takoma Park's adjustment of the original plan.

Later this year, around Thanksgiving, a massive canvas tent will be pitched on the Junction parking lot. Heaters will be plugged into temporary outlets. The firefighters will operate from under the tent as a new firehouse is built. The fire trucks will go under the tent, set for takeoff, although the hook-and-ladder may be missing. In February the County fire chief insisted it be transferred to Silver Spring. The Mayor and Council members say they are resolute in opposition.

Oh, Glorious Day
Conny Mayer-Marks had no reason to doubt Jerry Parnecio would get his rights of American citizenship. Conny has an insider's perspective from her career with the State Department, and she and her husband Landis were sponsors for Jerry, the nanny who helped raise their children. Conny was optimistic enough two years ago to buy a commemorative brick for Jerry that she inscribed with the phrase "Am Cit 2005" guessing Jerry might be official by then.
As the case dragged, though, Conny felt qualms. Jerry's brick was laid into the front walkway at the community center last year with no word about his status.
Early this year Conny and Landis and their four kids made plans to take a day off for an official hearing with immigration officials in Baltimore. No summons to Baltimore ever arrived, but on February 21st a letter did. The next morning Conny sent an e-mail: "Yesterday, glorious yesterday, my nanny dude got his letter from the Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of American Citizenship and Immigration Services, a letter always, for some reason, opened with dread.  But voila! There was his green card, formally known as his I151 or permanent alien resident card. Jerry couldn't believe his stunned eyes."
Jerry will now take his card into the world and leave Conny and family after nearly ten years of employment. Conny says, "So many people comment that I'm crazy for doing this because I've lost my nanny. I point out that indentured servants of olden days owed less time."
Footnote: Commemorative bricks are still being sold through the Takoma Foundation at www.takomafoundation.org.

Mary Moves On

Mary Stover

After two good-news years as the Takoma Foundation president Mary Stover has resigned. With Mary in charge the Foundation raised more than $175,000 for the community center and other worthy causes, and she put the autumn Oldies Dance onto Takoma Park's calendar of events.
Mary is also leaving her day job as executive director of the Main Street program in Old Takoma. She is taking a top position with the American Friends Service Committee in Baltimore.

Unwelcome at the ER

Adventist hospital officials are not without an answer. They will build an "urgent care" facility in the Long Branch area, next to the Giant parking lot. They also have donated funds to CASA for use in the Langley Park area, and have added Gustavo Torres to their board of directors for further consulting.
But the edgy question came into the open in February when chief executives of three rival hospitals, Holly Cross, Suburban and Montgomery General, suggested the County should try to stop the Adventists from leaving. With breathtaking candor the Holy Cross president, Kevin Sexton, declared his hospital cannot afford to deal with more of the "people who fall between the cracks." A full review will soon get underway, lasting at least a year, perhaps much longer.

Musical City, USA
On a February evening the gang from Takoma Park waved to each other across an audience resplendent in beaded gowns and beaded denim and gathered for the awarding of Wammies by the Washington Area Music Association. The moment was high. It got higher.

Dave Eisner, the House of Musical Traditions guru, and Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, stalwarts of the folk festival and street festival, won bigtime Wammies (executive of the year and artists of the year), but they weren't half the parade of Takoma Park winners:

• Lisa Moscatiello (five awards)--best female vocalist, best group (Lisa & the Space Dots), best recording ("Trouble from the Start") and best album in Contemporary Folk and best producer in Electronica (Arthur Loves Plastic)
• Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer (four awards--artists of the year and best vocalists, duo and instrumentalists, Children's Music
• Dave Eisner (two awards)--executive of the year and best live sound engineer
•   Esther Haynes (two awards)--best vocalist, Big Band & Swing and best vocalist, Jazz
• Maggie Coulter--manager of the year, for her husband's rock-and-rollers (Billy Coulter Band)
• Mark Noone--best male vocalist, Rock
• Mark Noone and Jake Flack of The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours- best group, Rock
• Ruth Logsdon--best vocalist, County
• Ron Holloway--best group, Jazz (Ron Holloway Group)
• Sue Matthieu--est recording ("American Music for Two Guitars"), Classical
• Dede Wyland--best vocalist, Bluegrass
• Carey Creed--best vocalist (tie), Gospel & Inspirational
• Ira Gitlin--best instrumentalist, Country
• Azalea City--record company of the year

A Festival for Maple Avenue?
As an idea man, Terry Seamens is on a winning streak of at least one. The distinctly hometown flair of the ribbon-cutting for the community center in December - long strips of blue and white wound through the crowd and snipped on cue with plastic scissors into souvenir pieces, one per customer - started with a light popping in Terry's head. Furthermore, to give him proper credit, he was the only one eligible to wear all three of the colored buttons handed out at the event: a yellow for organizer, a green for political dignitary (the Ward Four Council rep) and a blue for featured artist whose drawing was one of 50 selected for exhibit.

Ward 4 Councilmember Terry Seamens

Now Terry is launching another social idea. It would take place outside the community center and down the block on Maple Ave. In his still-forming vision there would be a festive day of picnic food, hand-clapping music and a market of crafts with no applied style ("a full range, from the pros to the little old ladies with crocheted napkin holders") to draw a mingling crowd from all quarters of town but especially from the high-rises right on the street.
His wife Joyce, in touch happily with her time growing up here, told Terry how Takoma Park used to set aside a summer afternoon each year for bareheaded kids with big breakfast grins funning through sack races and carnival games. Discontinued around 1965, that old-fashioned family occasion was held the Fourth of July, after the parade, but Terry has not yet picked a date for the new festival.
He is seeking like-minded volunteers and can be reached at 301-565-0190 or tjseamens@aol.com.

What's in a name?
In Old Takoma, with its stage-set facades, the name of a store still expresses the proprietor. After Jan Schwartz left town last year and turned over her gift store to Kathy Brooks, a good friend, Kathy waited a while to take down the "Finewares" sign Jan put up a quarter-century ago. But now Kathy has replaced it with her own "American Craft" sign.
There is no special story behind the new name except it is one Kathy likes. She continues to carry handmade plates, bowls and mugs in ceramic and glass, as before, and will soon add "some new and exciting items" as well.

Testing your Takoma IQ
The promotional leaflet that Bruce Baker asked his daughter Kiimara to create for the Takoma Foundation, which Bruce serves as treasurer, was perfect for a precocious teenager. Try to Stump Adults with Questions About their Own Town. Indeed, tfew of the townspeople who have attempted Kiimara’s test, based on the latest census data, have produced excellent scores. Two examples:
1. What percentage of the population in Takoma Park lives below the poverty line, i.e. $17,000 per year for a family of four?
a) 3%    b) 9%    c)12%    d) 24%   
2. What percentage of these families has at least one adult working at a job all year long?
a) 10-29%    b) 30-49%    c) 50%-69%    d) at least 70%   

Click for answers.

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