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Coincidentally, only a week earlier the city’s Emergency Preparedness Committee presented a report to the city. It is a good thing that the tornado did not tear up more of Takoma Park, because it is not ready for a large-scale disaster, according to the committee. They are still discussing how to communicate with residents if there should be one. Among the possible means are siren signals (though they city would have to buy new sirens, having sold the one the fire department had), and emergency radio receivers. The receivers are inexpensive, they said, and are standard household equipment in places such as Florida where hurricanes or tornadoes are frequent occurrences.

Other discussions at the April 21 city council meeting have been well covered elsewhere, particularly the bottled water ban. Yes, to the smirks of those who like a good chortle at Takoma Park’s expense, the city has banned the purchase of bottled water by the city government (not residents). Despite the perfectly sensible grounds that bottled water is considerably more wasteful and not necessarily better for you than tap water, the media seems to think this a nutty act equal to declaring ourselves a nuclear free zone.

The media largely ignored the council’s discussion about a (yet another) resolution against the sale of the Metro commons to a land developer. Citizens jumped all over a statement included in the draft resolution that seemed to undermine the city’s position - offering a compromise solution if the sale were approved. City attorney Sue Silber defended the clause, saying she wanted to cover all the contingencies, but the citizens still urged the council to hold a firm, consistent position against the sale.

At the more recent April 28th meeting, the council was treated to a PowerPoint presentation (insert standard rant against PowerPoint presentations here) showing the proposed addition and changes to the Takoma Park Elementary School and lot.

Your Gilbert is appalled. We understand the need to expand the school, but the plan is to build out onto the playing field. The current “annex,” the obvious space to use, is to be demolished for - get this - a bus lane. Why? Because the combined bus and parental drop-off and pickup traffic is so bad there need to be separate entrances for buses and cars. The side of the steep hill is to be cut off like a strip-mined West Virginia mountain to make a flatter surface for the bus lane. This will require the axing of all the trees and other plants on what is currently a pleasant, green slope. It also means a huge retaining wall will be necessary. Neighbors are understandably concerned with what that will look like.

It was astonishing how much the design revolves around automobile needs. This, mind you, is for an elementary school, which means that most of the students live within a mile. Yet the use of automobiles and buses is so heavy that it drives (so to speak) the school design.

No, the budget process hasn't QUITE begun, this was just the preview of the city manager's proposed budget. As she pointed out to the council, the budget process is one of its most vital functions. Your Gilbert agrees, but like certain other vital functions we each perform, usually in private, it is not one we like to dwell upon. We certainly don't get very excited about it.

Still, there is a certain fascination as city manager Barbara Matthews outlined the important parts of the upcoming discussion. In fact, Your Gilbert's gently closing eyelids abruptly widened in shock, because there in plain black and white (well, more like dark blue text on a light blue background) is the most appalling example of pointless waste and excess we have ever seen.

"Maintenance of City infrastructure and fleet."

We're paying for a FLEET? The city doesn't even have a waterfront - unless you count its section of the Sligo Creek, which barely has room to float a rowboat.

No wonder city taxes are so high! Takoma Park has its own navy!

The crucial question (posed by councilmember Doug Barry) is, does this threaten the safety or well-being of any Takoma Park resident?

Er, . . . . no. came the answer (in essence) from Chief Ronald Ricucci

So, what’s the big deal about the TP Police Department losing its accreditation?

It was Topic Number One at the April 7 City Council meeting, The mayor brought it, and the chief, up first thing during the Council Comment segment. The chief told a long story about it. The short version is that due to the transition between chiefs, the transition between employees whose job it is to track accreditation issues, the addition of criteria by the accreditation agency, and the TPPD’s discovery of those additional criteria too late to fully meet them, they decided to opt out of accreditation this year.

Doubtless, these explanations and apologies will have no effect on the nattering nabobs of negativity on the Takoma Voice community discussion list where this issue first publicly erupted. There, fewer than a half-dozen list-members, frequent critics of the city and police force, have been working themselves into a state of high alarm about this.

Your Gilbert yawns and moves on.

If you want to get alarmed about something, Dear Readers, get alarmed by how much council meeting time is taken up interviewing potential members of citizen’s committees. Why is it necessary to bring these volunteer citizens before the council? The same thing happens every time. The potential committee members are introduced by a current committee member, the councilmembers ask “why do you want to do this?”, the applicant tells them how long she or he has lived in the city, how his or her children benefitted from living here but now they are older so she or he has more time to volunteer, what his or her work or interest is that qualifies her or him for the committee, how tickled pink she, he, or it is to live in this wonderful city and how “I just want to give something back.”

Then the council has to tell them how wonderful they are for volunteering and how valuable the (insert name here) committee is to the community because of all the work it does on the (insert a list of committee accomplishments here). At which point the currently serving committee members remind the council of any accomplishments they left out.

Really, all the council needs to ask is two questions: “Are you breathing?” and “Do you expect to continue breathing for a year or so more?” This could be done in writing - on a VERY SIMPLE form. Nobody would have to get all dressed up to appear before the council (hmmm, the goddess-motif dress, the tie-dyed t-shirt, or the pants-suit?), and nobody would have to memorize those lists of committee accomplishments.

Speaking of the police, Your Gilbert noted a Gazette article reporting that a 31 year old Sliver Spring resident, a Montgomery County substitute teacher, died in police custody after being tasered. He was arrested for walking on the side of an interstate highway and resisting arrest.

You may recall, Dear Readers, that the Takoma Park Police Department received the council’s permission to purchase (with grant money) enough tasers to fully arm the force. You may also recall Your Gilbert’s post on the matter in which we quoted Amnesty International, “The degree of tolerable risk involving Tasers, as with all weapons and restraint devices, must be weighed against the threat posed. It is self-evident that Tasers are less injurious than firearms where officers are confronted with a serious threat that could escalate to deadly force. However, the vast majority of people who have died after being struck by Tasers have been unarmed men who did not pose a threat of death or serious injury when they were electro-shocked. In many cases, they did not appear to have posed any significant threat at all”.

-Your Gilbert

Rummage through those giant brains of yours and pull out some brilliant ideas! A resident posed a problem to the city council at its March 24th meeting. A stay-at-home mom, she would like to drop by her friends’ houses or Jequie Park* and NOT get a ticket for parking in a permit-only zone. These zones are primarily to keep out commuter parkers, she said, so wouldn’t it make sense to allow city residents from other neighborhoods to park there for 2-3 hours?

She was following up on a letter to the council. In her letter she made a couple of suggestions: 1) the city make parking stickers available to city residents, and 2) that drivers leave an indicator on their dashboard showing what time they parked so that police could allow a 2-3 hour parking period.

Snipper said he felt this was too “ad hoc,” that it would be up to people to call, pick up a permit, or otherwise make an extra effort that parents of small children (the people he felt would be most in need of this) would not have the extra time, energy, or brain cells required to perform.

Certainly, a resident's phone-call to the police may be the easiest way to deal with visitors in a permit-parking zone, but it won't solve the problem of parking around Jequie Park.

Councilmember Josh Wright suggested having scratch-tickets that visitors place in their car window, as is done in New Haven, Connecticut, he said. He speculated that the internet might facilitate a solution, perhaps parking permits that could be accessed online and printed at home.

The mayor ended the discussion by dumping the problem onto the staff, asking them to come back with suggestions.

So, help the overburdened staff, Dear Readers. What is your idea? The best solution will be a “little-or-no” one. Little or no expense to the city, little or no staff or police time, and little or no effort for residents.

An internet-based solution seems obvious, but keep in mind that not everyone has internet access.

In other city council news, the council took a break from meeting this week, saving their stamina for twice-weekly budget meetings later this spring. They’ve been enjoying (in a very broad sense of the word) a series of citizen committee interviews (“So, you want to serve on this committee. Well, the requirements are pretty strict - can you breathe?”) and the like.

Councilmember Seamens tried to stir things up by mentioning that Takoma Park is no longer on the environmental cutting edge along with such cities as Raleigh, NC which, ahem, recently banned garbage disposals. So, why don’t WE do that, huh? Ya wanna? C’mon, you guys, it’ll be fun!