January, 2007 |
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In 2006 six members of Takoma Park’s political class, in most cases labeled as underdogs or greenhorns or both, won office to positions that now take them beyond our borders. In so doing, they achieved a number of firsts.
Peter Franchot became the first of our own elected to statewide office. George Leventhal and Marc Elrich, as separate campaigners, became the first duo from here elected at-large to the Montgomery County Council. Heather Mizeur was the first woman from Takoma Park elected to the state legislature. Jamie Raskin was the first city resident elected to the state senate in several decades. Chris Barclay was the first African-American from Takoma Park to take a seat on the county school board. And Valerie Ervin, although not a city resident, became the first woman and first African-American to represent our district on the county council.
The Six Winners:
Photo: Jeff Lautenberger |
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Peter Franchot
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Peter Franchot, Comptroller, State of Maryland. Small-town politicians do not set out platters of sandwiches and beer on ice and preside over month after month of skull sessions for a range of party activists and free-thinkers, not unless something big is in the works.
But for Peter to take from the myriad of deliberations throughout 2005 at his Sycamore Avenue house the improbable idea that his next political opponent should be William Donald Schaefer, probably Maryland’s best known Democrat, a two-term governor who seemed to have established a lifetime gig for himself in the state comptroller’s office?
Starry-eyed ambition, or just plain folly?
To make matters worse, a third candidate, Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens, filed in the comptroller’s race just before the deadline, diluting the new-vs.-old case Peter was trying to make.
Unabashed by conventional pessimism Peter, our delegate in the General Assembly for 20 years and a former Takoma Soccer coach, invested $750,000 of his savings in his campaign. “People want to vote for an optimist,” he said to friends who felt he ought to concede. “And, okay, it helps if you delude yourself a bit.”
Mr. Schaefer and Ms. Owens treated Peter as the odd man out and went at each other with name-calling tirades that gained them unfavorable headlines. Peter, able to speak sharply himself but also self-deprecating and charitable, looked a statesman. The Post and The Baltimore Sun endorsed him.
Still, for most of Primary Night, the running tab at the bottom of the TV screens listed only the Schaefer and Owens vote totals. Peter went to bed not knowing he had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in state history.
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Photos by Julie Wiatt except where noted |
Jamie Raskin |
Jamie Raskin, State Senate, District 20. In the dead of winter, on the front porch of his Holly Avenue home, Jamie announced he was challenging the 30-year incumbent Ida Ruben in the Democratic primary.
Soon afterward he was visited by a state party official, who asked, “Do you think Ida is getting too old?”
“No,” was Jamie’s reply, “I’m getting too old.”
At age 43, Jamie represents a generation of voters with an enthusiasm for their own turn that surely helped his landslide victory. Also helpful: Jamie hoofed the length of the district and appeared with such off-mainstream luminaries as Cindy Sheehan, Jim Hightower, Jesse Jackson Jr. and a former Black Panther formerly on Death Row.
But Jamie, a first-class constitutional scholar, author, talk-show guest, pro bono lawyer and Takoma Soccer coordinator, was a star in his own right. Who else could have drawn a standing-room-only crowd to Mayorga to listen to local writers read stanzas from their works?
Heather Mizeur, General Assembly, District 20. Early in the year Bill Kaplan, the political impresario who handles election affairs for political hall-of-famer Sheila Hixson, phoned Heather and invited her to meet Sheila over dinner at his house. The word got out: Better take Heather seriously and don’t be fooled by her youth.
It also got out that John Kerry had put off flying home to Boston one Thursday evening to throw Heather a 33rd birthday party and raise about $20 grand.
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Valerie Ervin (left) and Heather Mizeur. |
Heather was Kerry’s go-to aide on health care, and had things turned out differently in 2004 no doubt she would have spent last year employed at the White House rather than running for office herself.
In a year-long campaign Heather and her spouse Deborah, a pair of striking figures married off-the-books by a priest on the banks of the Chesapeake, hosted regular picnics and let volunteers have the roam of their big Maple Avenue house. In the primary, in a field of six, Heather, who had served one term on the City Council, finished first.
Marc Elrich, County Council, At-large. On a May morning Marc sat on his backyard deck above Sligo Creek and debated whether to run a campaign that would take him full across the county. Although his campaign manager, Dale Tibbitts, sat with him, Marc’s debate was mainly with himself.
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Marc Elrich |
Marc swatted at mayflies ascending from a dead stump. He let his coffee cool several degrees. He did not leave his seat.
For him to win votes in the affluent parts of the county would not be easy for someone who is inclined to remind the “haves” about the “have-nots.” Marc had tried before and lost. To limit his campaign to the local district encompassing Takoma Park and Silver Spring would be a lot easier, but it would mean running against his political soul-mate Valerie Ervin.
By the end of the morning Marc had decided on the gentlemanly thing. He ran at-large, and he won, easily.
George Leventhal, County Council, At-large. The Gazette endorsed all the incumbents except George, calling him an “ineffective, divisive leader.” The Post endorsed George but wasn’t much kinder.
On the day of the September primary George visited with poll workers at Takoma Park Middle and, in a reflective mood, wondered how much the two newspapers had damaged his chances. “I don’t think I’m that bad a guy, but clearly they have problems with me,” he mused.
If George did anything differently in 2006 from 2002, when both papers championed him, it was expressing regrets about the tactics of the “End Gridlock” slate that advocated for the ICC expressway last time. George had been one of the slate members, but he now disavowed the nastiness they had sunk into. The Gazette and Post editorial writers likely didn’t care about his disavowal, but perhaps they were worried he might also harbor doubts about the big roads they favor.
In any event, George finished first in the primary, ahead of all incumbents and all challengers.
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Chris Barclay |
Chris Barclay, Board of Education, District Four. In June, at Valerie Ervin’s formal declaration for the County Council on the front steps of Old Blair, a heavyset man moved lithely about with a digital camera, dropping now and then to one knee.
This was Chris Barclay, by all appearances merely the campaign photographer. He looked far simpler than his resume – PTA leader, Takoma Foundation president, NAACP activist, Takoma Soccer coordinator, Takoma Park Recreation Committee member and, as the father of three daughters in the public schools, someone who has attained wisdom in the capricious and sometimes wily nature of the school system.
In November, after Valerie was elected to the Council and relinquished her position on the Board of Education, Chris applied to take her place. So did 19 others active in local school politics. The whittling down was up to the seven members already on the school board. On December 9th Chris was chosen in the first round of balloting.
The next day he was hugged and brought up to the podium during a political shindig at McGinty’s. “No more hanging out with the crowd,” someone kidded him. “You’re primetime now.”
A 7th who might have been. The toasts at McGinty’s were bittersweet for Takoma Park’s Tom Perez. He was feted for his state attorney general campaign that left him with neither victory nor defeat, ending short of Election Day when Maryland’s supreme court disqualified him.
Although Tom had proved himself in the higher reaches of the law while with the Clinton Justice Department, he did not sit for the Maryland bar exam until a few years ago, and on this technicality the appellate judges ruled in August, just weeks before the primary, that he did not meet the constitutional definition of an attorney general.
At the time Tom, the father of three and a Takoma Soccer coach, was in a tightly contested three-way race that may well have gone his way had he been allowed to continue.
The first Hispanic-American elected to the County Council, a surprise victory in 2002 against a heavily favored opponent, Tom has a Kennedyesque quality – he worked for Ted on the Hill – and his political future is probably not much diminished by last year’s turn of events. “The Lord works in mysterious ways,” he said philosophically at McGinty’s.
Change takes a while coming to a town not accustomed to it
For all the talk about the changing face of Takoma Park our town at the end of 2006 very closely resembled our town at the beginning of 2006. Still, we did make some gains and suffer some losses, even as almost everything stayed the same.
Museum & archives. On the afternoon of December 10th Lorraine Pearsall and Sabrina Baron, the guiding lights of Historic Takoma, showed off the old Barcelona Nut Factory in the Takoma Junction to a party of guests. After many years of random and fruitless scheming for a place that could be both a museum and archives for Takoma Park’s treasured relics and official records Lorraine and Sabrina raised $520,000 in state and county grants, enough to purchase the high-walled, tin-ceilinged factory that had been sitting empty.
Another fundraising mission for a year or more of refurbishing is next. Eileen Sobeck, who signed on as the historical society’s treasurer after losing the Ward Two race for City Council in 2005, collected only a few checks at the party, but this was a time for eating cookies and lifting a glass of wine.
“I have to pinch myself, but, yes, we have a home,” said Lorraine.
Community center & gym. The June opening of a dance studio, a game room and a teen lounge finished off the second phase of the revamping of our civic center, for which planning began in 1999. The first phase opened at the end of 2005. Belly dancing, poetry readings and schoolwork via computer are now a routine, along with bold exhibitions of oil paintings and other renderings that come straight from the creative juices of local artists, hang for several weeks on the center walls and then are taken down, sometimes into the hands of a purchaser, as during an art tour and auction on December 16th.
Yet to be finished at the center are renovations to the auditorium, the installation of a second elevator and construction of a gym. It’s likely the auditorium and elevator will have their own opening in 2007, and it’s possible the gym will be assigned to a professional designer, but the cost estimates for a gym received late in the year from a professional evaluator, $5.4-to-8.1 million, are considerably larger than anticipated.
On December 11th the City Council directed that a special mailing be sent out to alert city residents to a forum and a public hearing about the gym, to be held in February.
Fire station. The tear-down and rebuild of the obsolete station for Takoma Park’s firefighters and their trucks, scheduled to start this past fall, was postponed until the spring. The remodeling of a civilian house two doors away was completed, though, and Estela Hevia took occupancy in November. The house she had been living in, next door to the fire station, will be demolished to make way for a bigger station. While this makeover is going on the firefighters will operate from under a massive tent in the parking lot at Takoma Junction.
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Award-winning Magic Carpet window |
New in Old Takoma. In May, Roz Grigsby, unassumingly vivacious, took on the role of advancing and making advances in the aesthetic, cultural and commercial cause of Old Takoma. One example: a contest for the best storefront display over the winter holidays, which brought out the finest homespun glitz this side of Fifth Avenue, and was won by Magic Carpet.
Roz manages the business association and the Main Street program, and some of the shops in her purview are also new – Takoma Park Bikes (repairs for flat tires, bent rims, untrustworthy brakes), Fair Trade (soccer balls and sports apparel, all manufactured without child labor or poverty-equivalent wages), Madame X (bar collectibles, out-of-print books, jewelry, retro accessories).
Major closings. The Taliano’s pizzeria and beer joint in Old Takoma stopped doing business in the spring, largely because the proprietors lost interest. The Toys ‘R’ Us store that had been an anchor in the Langley Park shopping center made its last sale on New Year’s Eve, apparently for lack of customers.
Hospital. For Takoma Park’s largest employer, Washington Adventist Hospital, a plan to build a 21st-century hospital on new quarters outside town is at a standstill. Unable to fit a full modernization onto their 13-acre campus at Carroll and Flower Avenues, hospital officials in 2005 announced a desire to leave here, but they have been stymied getting approval for a site to the north in Silver Spring because that area is already serviced by Holy Cross.
Condos. Of four proposals for condos in Old Takoma – on Penske’s rental trailers lot, in the L-shaped property that includes the old Taliano’s and Sangha, at the Metro station, and behind CVS – only one proceeded forward in 2006. Two are stalled, and the fourth was canceled.
The Penske’s building was bulldozed and hauled away, and a sales trailer hung with a woodsy, mural-like canvas now sits on the lot. Construction is supposed to start in the spring for four stories of condos, to be known as Ecco Park, with a glass-and-stone facade and an assortment of “green” features. The first floor is reserved for retail stores.
Retail and perhaps a restaurant (where Taliano’s used to be) are now planned for the “L” space connecting Carroll and Westmoreland Avenues, more or less the status quo. Local developer Bruce Levin, who took over the project in October after buying the rights from ICG/Takoma, says he wants to do minor modifications rather than put up more housing.
The Metro project would fill in a grassy, tree-lined area with about 90 condos, but it remains caught in a long grind of meetings and hearings at which numerous criticisms have been raised. One criticism is that no room is being allotted for stores.
A Harris Teeter grocery had been part of the condo project adjacent to CVS, but the company pulled out in February, and the project is on hold.
Librarian. Karen MacPherson was hired in July as Takoma Park’s new children’s librarian, not that she is a new face. Karen is familiar as a soccer mom from Holly Avenue and as the creator of exquisite essays, news features and book reviews, often with a children’s theme. She took the place of the lovingly kitschy Jillian Hershberger, who departed for Santa Fe.
Public Works director. Daryl Braithwaite, another soccer mom who lives here, was put in charge of the public works department in January. Daryl started out 20 years ago as the recycling coordinator. Earlier this decade her husband, Will Shafer, was the head guy at public works, but he now sells real estate.
Arborist. Todd Bolton, an enthusiast for trees and dancing, replaced Brett Linkletter as the city arborist in September. After five years of trying to strike a Takoma Park balance between saving old trees and planting new ones, Brett left for a job with the county.
Police chief. Cindy Creamer, who joined our police force right out of high school and became the first woman to lead it, moved on to a job at WSSC in July. A new chief is expected to be named in January.
Odds & Ends
Grammy nomination. Hambo in the Snow, an album of traditional and traditional-sounding Scandinavian tunes from Takoma Park’s Azalea City Recordings, made the finals for the 2007 Grammy Awards. Charlie Pilzer, who serves on the City’s Arts and Humanities Commission, played bass and accordion in a trio with Andrea Hoag and Loretta Kelley, both on fiddle and vocals. Andrea composed a few original renditions that seem to emanate from the wind-boxes of antiquity. The Grammy category is Best Traditional World Music.
Political crime. Takoma Park author-activist Mike Tidwell organized two Sixties-style demonstrations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Silver Spring to call attention to the Bush Administration’s disregard for climate change.
The first, in August, was a legally sanctioned sit-in at which the names of Katrina victims were read aloud. The second, in October, was a made-for-TV act of civil disobedience. One of Mike’s interns, Paul Burman, and veteran protestor Ted Glick climbed onto a ledge 25 feet over NOAA’s front doors and unfurled a banner, “Bush: Let NOAA Tell the Truth!”º They were arrested, and in December they were punished with three-figure fines.
More murders than ever before
Five people died from violence in Takoma Park in 2006, the most ever in a town where even one murder a year ranks out of the ordinary. Four of the five cases were solved almost immediately, and it appears that all assailants were from outside the city, as were two of the victims.
James Saloma, 62, March 2nd. Mr. Saloma’s heart gave out while chasing an intruder from his family’s residence in the 7100 block of Maple Avenue. Mr. Saloma and his wife Jennifer, a teacher who served on the City Council during the Sam Abbott era, were awakened in their second-floor bedroom about 3 a. m. by 18-year-old Daymon Lindsey as he rummaged for items to steal. Mr. Saloma, whose daughter also was in the house, was struck by a piece of wood in a confrontation with the young burglar, who then ran to the first floor. Running in pursuit Mr. Saloma collapsed and died of a heart attack near the front door. Mr. Lindsey, who had been living on Tewkesbury Place in the District, was captured by Takoma Park police about two blocks from the Saloma home. He remains in custody, charged as an adult with first degree homicide, assault and burglary.
Victor Dao, 66, May 15th. A native of Vietnam who came to the U. S. two decades ago, made his living as a bus driver and taught new Vietnamese immigrants to write and speak in English, Mr. Dao was robbed by two men in ski masks and then shot in the back at close range. Mr. Dao lived long enough to tell police that at about 10 p.m. he had been accosted while carrying a bag of groceries toward his apartment on Flower Avenue, near Piney Branch Road. He surrendered his valuables and lay face down in the driveway but was shot anyway. Before escaping in a dark-colored late-model SUV Mr. Dao’s killers fired other shots at pedestrians who started to come to his rescue. The next day a surveillance camera recorded the faces of three men as they used Mr. Dao’s bank card at an ATM in Landover, but no suspects have been identified, and no one has been arrested.
Lemar Grant, 20, June 10th. Another street stickup that went bad is how police characterized the death by gunshot killing of Mr. Grant, of Silver Spring. About 11 p.m., as Mr. Grant and a friend were returning to their parked car in the 700 block of Ethan Allen Avenue, a man holding a gun stepped in their path and asked for money. Perhaps out of panic the man started to shoot before his victims could comply. Mr. Jovel was killed on the spot; his friend, although wounded, was able to give Takoma Park officers a description of the mugger and the direction of his flight. They found 19-year-old Calvin Roy Davison, of Silver Spring, hiding nearby. He was arrested and charged with one count of murder, attempted murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, first-degree assault and armed robbery.
Luis R. Jovel, 27, September 1st. Shortly after midnight Mr. Jovel was walking in the Takoma quadrant of Langley Park when three men jumped from a car and began beating him. He was still being kicked and pummeled with fists when police officers, responding to a “911” call, arrived. They blocked in the car and grabbed one of the three men, 27-year-old Jose Danis Ramos of Silver Spring. One of the others, 22-year-old Nelson Noel Ventura of Hyattsville, was arrested a few days later. Mr. Jovel, a resident of Silver Spring, died from his injuries, and the two men in detention are charged with first-degree homicide. In attacking Mr. Jovel they were acting on an agenda related to the gang MS13, according to authorities.
Terhas Araia, 29, November 29th. Johann Martin Yarborough is accused of waiting with premeditation for Ms. Araia to return home late in the evening from her job at Whole Foods. Although Ms. Araia had broken off their brief romance he wouldn’t leave her alone. The police say he ambushed her at the entrance to the Deauville Apartments on Maple Avenue and smashed a hammer into her chest with such ferocity she died a few hours later in a hospital. Ms. Araia, born in Eritrea, attended Blair in the 1990’s and was living with her parents to save money so she could afford a place for herself and her two young daughters. Friends called her “Skinny Teri.” Police found the murder weapon and arrested the 35-year-old Yarborough at his residence on Kearney Street in the District. He has a record of other violent crimes and is being held without bail.
Candidates vie for Ward 5 City Council seat vacated by Elrich
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Candidates for Ward 5 run-off Eric Hensal (left) and Reuben Snipper |
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These two candidates are campaigning for the January 30 special election. Their statements will be online at the Takoma Voice website, www.takoma.com. The third candidate, Alex Zeese, told the Voice he was withdrawing from the election.
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