Good Afternoon Ward 1,
Last night was the City’s Nomination Caucus. Thank you everyone who came out to take part and to watch, especially State Senator Will Smith. A special thank you to Birchie Seiffert and Jeremy Heikus for taking time away from your families to come out to nominate me.
I hope everyone enjoyed watching the presidential debate last night. I watched it at Busboys and Poets, which was filled with laughter and audible gasps. I highly recommend for the next debate, that is if VP Harris is able to convince Trump to take her up on the offer.
I’ll attend the Takoma Park Pie contest as a judge this Sunday. I, self indulgently, encourage you to enter.
Laurel Avenue Closure
In June, we had a presentation on the Laurel Avenue Traffic Study. The study showed that the most significant impact a closure to the southbound lane of Laurel Avenue would be on the intersection of Eastern Ave/Willow St./Carroll Ave. It makes the recommendation that a roundabout be installed. That intersection is already experiencing failure at times without the closure of southbound Laurel Ave. I think we should start engaging with DC on addressing that intersection; however, DC is experiencing higher levels of pedestrian fatalities now than when it started keeping that metric, so they have other priorities over this traffic issue.
When talking to residents I have heard more in favor of closing southbound Laurel Ave than those against, however, I have heard many of those against the closure ask, “could we close it on the weekends?” as a compromise. One of the arguments against this compromise is that the plan to close both sides of Laurel Avenue would be to create a true public space that has been hardscaped and landscaped for public enjoyment. This is not just a project to support the businesses but to support the community. While I would prefer a more permanent space with a more enjoyable atmosphere than a temporary space would allow, I am confident that the number of people who support the closure will increase after enjoying the weekend space. At this time I support a weekend closure rather than a permanent one.
City Council Meeting Agenda - Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Comment in person or via Zoom*
1. Speed Hump Request for Westmoreland Avenue between Elm/Walnut and 1st Avenue and between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue
2. Traffic Calming in Hillwood Manor Gardens
These two requests were made before the new administrative regulations were put into place for traffic calming requests. Though I do not favor the previous process that was used for this request, I respect the time that the residents dedicated to making this request and I will support them with my vote.
My guess is that this will be the most interesting and longest discussion tonight. This discussion should help Council and Staff decide on what possible LIDC projects we will budget for in the FY2026 Budget, which was included in a resolution on July 25th as follows: “ Develop a plan for funding additional projects identified by the LIDC study, including potential adjustments to stormwater fees to support this expansion.”
VOTING SESSION
As I stated last week:
The City Council will vote to adopt the Montgomery County Hazard Mitigation Plan. I think it is worth noting that the Takoma Park Emergency Preparedness Manager helped to develop this plan. I will vote in favor of adopting it.
WORK SESSION
Same as I stated above, this request was received before the changes to the traffic calming request procedure, but I will still respect the request and support it.
We had 14 applications for 11 positions. We reappointed the 6 applicants from last year in order to have some members with previous knowledge and really their applications were great. It was a very hard decision because the applicants we were choosing from were extremely impressive. It was difficult to eliminate anyone and we hope that the applicants that weren’t selected will consider applying again.
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