The City of Takoma Park was one of ten Maryland municipalities honored at the Sustainable Maryland Awards Ceremony at the Maryland Municipal League’s annual Fall Conference held in Annapolis on Friday, September 12.
The City of Takoma Park is this year’s Sustainable Maryland “Sustainability Champion”, achieving 405 points on their application, more than any other municipality this year.
The City has long been recognized as an incubator of progressive policies and planning, and it demonstrated this leadership in its application this year. The City was the 2014 Sustainability Champion, amassing an impressive 405 points worth of Actions:
“Takoma Park is very happy to have obtained our Sustainable Maryland certification,” said Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams. “We have continued to establish initiatives such as our widespread composting program. We’ve recently hired our first sustainability coordinator, and we hope that this will lead us to attain even higher levels of certification.”
To achieve Sustainable Maryland Certified status, municipalities are required to form a Green Team comprised of local residents, community leaders, municipal staff and officials; complete a variety sustainability-related Actions worth a total of at least 150 points (including two mandatory actions and two of six priority actions), and submit the appropriate documentation as evidence that the Sustainable Maryland Certified requirements have been satisfied.
The 10 municipalities to achieve Sustainable Maryland Certified status this year include:
According to Mike Hunninghake, Program Manager for Sustainable Maryland, “These awards are a testament to the passion and dedication of volunteers, municipal staff and elected officials to lighten our collective imprint on the Earth, restore the natural world, and plan together to create a better tomorrow for our children and their children.”
Joanne Throwe, Director of the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland at College Park, congratulated the certified towns: “These newly certified Sustainable Maryland municipalities have demonstrated, each in their own unique ways, their commitment to strengthening the social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainability in their towns and cities. I commend their elected officials, municipal staff, and of course the passionate volunteers of their Green Teams for their efforts to shine a guiding light on the path forward for all of Maryland’s communities to a brighter, more sustainable future.”
For information about the City of Takoma Park’s sustainability initiatives, please contact Daryl Braithwaite, Public Works Director, 301-891-7615, darylb@takomagov.org
Sustainable Maryland Certified Municipalities as of 2014 (3rd full year of the program):
About Sustainable Maryland:
Sustainable Maryland is an initiative of the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland that is designed to support Maryland’s 157 municipalities as they look for cost-effective and strategic ways to protect their natural assets and revitalize their communities. Using best practices in resource areas like water, energy, planning, health, food, and economy, a municipality can earn points toward sustainability certification.
Sustainable Maryland offers a customizable menu of concrete actions, allowing communities to select initiatives that best fit their specific needs. This free and voluntary program, with the support of the Maryland Municipal League, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Town Creek Foundation, helps communities choose a direction for their greening efforts; complete their chosen actions with help from program tools, trainings, expert guidance, and other resources; and be recognized statewide for their accomplishments.
For more information about Sustainable Maryland: www.sustainablemaryland.com