This is a friendly, relaxed list for the Takoma Park neighborhood in Washington DC. Everyone is welcome, but messages should be related to neighborhood concerns or topics being discussed by residents. Commercial messages are not welcome. New members are moderated to reduce spam. Replies go to the whole list, so be careful of thank you's and me too's that should go to individuals, not the list.

Attachments are automatically removed from postings so please paste all info into the body of a message. If you are sending an announcement about an event or a new program, please send one short announcement and refer people to a phone number or website for more information. Repeated postings about the same program are not acceptable; please set up your own list so interested parties can subscribe.

Please identify yourself in your postings. We like to know who's writing.

History: The list was started in February, 1997 after a neighborhood crime wave. 10-20 people contributed funds to purchase software that Glenn Kowalski used to host the list on a Mac in his home office, using a dial-up connection. As his business grew the connection was updated and he also designed a website.

The list quickly became invaluable for organizing potlucks, town planning, the formation of the neighborhood association, children's play groups; communicating with government officials and police officers; and information on home renovations and service providers of all kinds. In May of 2003, the list had more than 352 subscribers and Glenn, who had also moved to Silver Spring, asked for relief. Sharon Villines transferred the list to YahooGroups where by 2006 it had grown to over 1000 subscribers.

Richard Holzsager serves as backup Moderator and even took over for almost a year to give Sharon a break. Rich also now hosts the TakomaDC website at http://www.takomadc.info which contains much more information about the neighborhood.