Takoma Junction Task Force Schedules Public Outreach Meeting at TPSS Co-op

The Takoma Junction Task Force is reaching out to Junction-area residents inviting them to a meeting scheduled for Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. being held at the Takoma Park, Silver Spring Co-op, 201 Ethan Allen Ave.

“For us, it will be a trial run on an outreach meeting,” said Roger Schlegel, the task force member who is overseeing the outreach effort. “We see it as an important route to get to know people, and at a later point, maybe we’ll be going to them with the emerging recommendations and see how they feel about those,” he said. “The main goal (of the effort) is to establish a relationship with anyone who chooses to get a relationship going,”

In order to get the word out on the meeting, the task force is distributing flyers announcing the meeting and have delivered about 200 “in every direction from the junction,” Schlegel said. In addition to the date, time and place, the flyers say:

“The purpose of this meeting is to inform you of the work of the task force, now underway, and to seek your input. As a nearby neighbor of the Junction, you have ideas, perspectives, preferences and concerns that the task force needs to hear early in its process of exploring possible recommendations of the City Council. It just might be that you could be the catalyst for the development of a recommendation that really makes a positive difference to Takoma Junction, its neighbors and our city as a whole."

“We (the task force) have a vision of a Junction that blends harmoniously with adjacent residential neighborhoods; encourages motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists to slow down, park, relax and shop; encourages sustainable commercial opportunities and provides convenience to local consumers; serves as a cultural meeting-point for old and young in a diverse community; and functions adequately as a link within the local road and transit networks. At this meeting, we will briefly summarize the work in progress of our task force. Then we will ask for your ideas, organized around these broad questions:

• As a neighbor in ‘stone’s throw’ distance, how do you feel about the vision for the Junction that is articulated above?
• How do you currently use the Junction?
• How does your proximity to the Junction affect you in other ways?
• What would you like to see more of at the Junction?
• What would you like to see less of?
• Do you have specific ideas or concepts for improvements that could be made?
• What sorts of changes would cause you concern?

Junction area residents who cannot attend, but who want to provide input, can send responses to the task force members who have included their e-mail addresses and phone numbers on the flyers “so we can keep people in the loop,” Schlegel said. In addition, a second flyer is going to be distributed, he added.