Takoma Junction Task Force Holds First Public Outreach Meeting

The Takoma Junction Task Force Tuesday night held the first of what could be as many as 20 fact-finding meetings with Junction-area residents that could go almost to when the task force’s recommendations are submitted to the Takoma Park City Council.

About 20 people attended the meeting that was held at the Takoma Park, Silver Spring Co-op, at 201 Ethan Allen Ave. “This is the first one of a series of meeting with people who are directly involved with the junction,” said Kay Daniels-Cohen, task force member. “This particular meeting is with people who live within two to three blocks in all directions,” she said, adding, “As we evolve, we’re including all the citizen’s associations that are surrounding the junction, which is almost all the citizen’s associations in Takoma Park.”

That will mean from between 10 and 20 meetings will be held, with the “first round of meetings” concluded by June, said Megan Gallagher, task force member. Once round one is complete, “round two” of meetings will start being scheduled, and those are expected to run through the summer of 2011.

The Task Force was asked by the City Council to come up with recommendations that relate to possible new use for that city-owned lot, which also includes the wooded lot behind that parking lot, said Roger Schlegel, the task force member who is overseeing the outreach effort. “The immediate impetus for this task force is that the city has been sitting on this property for a number of years now” and a decision on the use of that property needs to be made, he said.

However, “at the same time, that (the lot) could be part of some broader re-vitalization of this business district, we were asked to consider anything that might make it a more useful place,” Schlegel said. Therefore, The task force’s recommendations “are only going to be as good as the input that we get,” Schlegel said.

Of course, junction area residents are all familiar with the traffic issues, he said.

“The junction is the gateway to a miserable stretch of pedestrian experience, from there, all they way down to Old Town Takoma Park,” said Marty Fitzpatrick.

“Just getting across the street has always been a problem. It’s always been hazardous,” said Roland Weiss.

“There doesn’t seem to be an adequate friendly buffer between the businesses and Carol Avenue,” Schlegel said.

“There really isn’t. You walk along the sidewalk by those businesses and there’s no sense of wanting to linger,” said Chris Whitaker.

“There’s a sense of not feeling comfortable as a pedestrian,” Schlegel said.

In the area of residents’ use of the junction, most attendees said they very rarely used junction facilities, with an attendee saying, “I go through the junction as little as I can. I try to avoid it as much as I can.”

However, Roland Weiss said, “I use the co-op. It’s extremely useful to do all of our shopping here, and not to go to Silver Spring to get stuff.”

And resident Jayne Holt said she walks through the junction at least once a day, and that she hates crossing the junction intersection.