City gets $360,000 from state for gym

Money also approved for Thunderbolts’ baseball field

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

More than 220 groups from across the state asked for almost $140 million in assistance from the General Assembly last month, and a lucky few in Takoma Park made the cut.

Among them is the City of Takoma Park, which asked for $1 million toward a gymnasium to complete the Community Center on Maple Avenue. Instead, lawmakers gave the city $360,000, for which the city must find matching funds.

State Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring and Del. Peter V.R. Franchot (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park sponsored the city’s funding request in Annapolis.

‘‘We’re delighted to see this support for our Community Center and the gym, and we’re very appreciative of Sen. Ruben and Del. Franchot for advocating for the funds,” said Suzanne Ludlow, Takoma Park’s community and government liaison.

Ludlow can’t say yet where the city’s match for the grant will come from: ‘‘We’re looking at funds that Washington Adventist Hospital has pledged to assist [with building the gymnasium], and I’m certain that we’ll need to use some of our operating funds.”

Lawmakers said they had to make difficult decisions about what projects to fund this year through what are known as state bond bills, and in the end, each chamber of the General Assembly only approved $15 million for the projects.

‘‘It’s obvious by the fact that we did fight hard for the money that we feel as though the Community Center is a focal point for the whole community,” Ruben said. ‘‘So we went to bat for it; we have all along.”

The entire delegation from District 20, she said, including Franchot and Dels. Sheila Ellis Hixson (D) and Gareth E. Murray (D), both of Silver Spring, backed the city’s request, though the House was only able to secure $250,000, with an additional $110,000 from the Senate.

‘‘I am thrilled for Takoma Park, as so are delegates Franchot, Hixson and Murray,” Ruben said. ‘‘We worked hard to make sure everybody got what they needed.”

Two other city groups received money through bond bills: Historic Takoma, which received grants totaling $210,000 from the House of Delegates and the Senate, and the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts, a summertime collegiate baseball team whose home opener at the Montgomery Blair High School baseball stadium is scheduled 7 p.m. June 10.

T-bolts board member Ed Sharp said the team hopes to use its $50,000 grant, approved through the House of Delegates, to install a permanent sound system and a new scoreboard, along with some new protective screening and fencing.

‘‘There are several projects that we have in mind,” Sharp said. ‘‘The ability to accomplish all — or even more — of them will depend on how much they cost.”

Franchot, who sponsored all three of Takoma Park’s funded bond bill requests in the House, said the groups did an impressive job of lobbying the state.

‘‘If you look at what other districts got around the state, District 20 probably got more for these small projects than any other district,” he said.