Editing Takoma Park, Maryland (section)

===Late 20th and early 21st century===
Before 1995, the eastern boundary of the city of Takoma Park was in [[Prince George's County, Maryland|Prince George's County]], Maryland, causing the community to be divided across two counties and the [[Takoma, Washington, D.C.|Maryland/D.C. line]] (where the original downtown area is located). For several years, Takoma Park lobbied the State of Maryland for legislation allowing county boundaries to be adjusted. The State finally agreed to this change, with the stipulation that cross-county municipalities would no longer be allowed; the new municipal boundary would forever remain within the county of its choosing. In August 1995, after passage of the law, the city held a public referendum asking registered voters living in three Prince George's County neighborhoods north of [[Maryland Route 650|New Hampshire Avenue]] whether they wanted to be annexed to the city of Takoma Park. There was a majority of votes, 219 out of 313, in favor of annexation to the city.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://takomaparkmd.gov/news/city-election-information/results-of-past-elections/|title = Results of Past Elections &#124; City of Takoma Park}}</ref>

In November 1995, the state-sponsored referendum was held asking whether the portions of the city in Prince George's County should be annexed to Montgomery County, or vice versa. The majority of votes in the referendum were in favor of unification of the entire city in Montgomery County.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Montgomery |first=David |date=November 8, 1995 |title=In a Montgomery State of Mind, Takoma Park Votes to Unify |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/11/08/in-a-montgomery-state-of-mind-takoma-park-votes-to-unify/bd270af4-661b-43ef-b0d5-6b4c51dfe4ae/ |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226235545/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/11/08/in-a-montgomery-state-of-mind-takoma-park-votes-to-unify/bd270af4-661b-43ef-b0d5-6b4c51dfe4ae/ |archive-date=February 26, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Following subsequent approval by both counties' councils and the [[Maryland General Assembly]], the county line was moved to include the entire city into Montgomery County (including territory in Prince George's County newly annexed by the city) on July 1, 1997.<ref name="census">{{Cite web |title=Substantial Changes to Counties and County Equivalent Entities: 1970-Present |url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/ctychng.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506234535/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/ctychng.html |archive-date=May 6, 2009 |access-date=August 8, 2009 |publisher=Census Bureau |df=mdy-all}}</ref> This process became known as Unification.<ref>{{Cite web |title=10-year retrospective on Unification |url=http://www.historictakoma.org/voice/Unification0707.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803070919/http://www.historictakoma.org/voice/Unification0707.pdf |archive-date=August 3, 2014 |access-date=February 23, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 1981, Takoma Park passed the [[Rent stabilization]] Law, which limits the rent increase to a percentage set by the city and applies to all individual condominium units and multi-family rental facilities. This led to Takoma Park featuring some of the lowest rents in the D.C. region while similarly discouraging new multi-family housing construction, as evidenced by the lack of any new development in the city after the law passed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pagnucco, Adam |date=2024-09-04 |title=City Report Reveals Devastating Toll of Takoma Park Rent Control |url=https://montgomeryperspective.com/2023/03/24/city-report-reveals-devastating-toll-of-takoma-park-rent-control/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230404145854/https://montgomeryperspective.com/2023/03/24/city-report-reveals-devastating-toll-of-takoma-park-rent-control// |archive-date=April 4, 2023 |access-date=September 4, 2024 |website=Montgomery Perspective|language=en-US}}</ref>

The city experienced substantial [[gentrification]] in the 1990s and early 2000s (decade), with many houses containing apartments converted back into single-family homes. This process was encouraged by an [[M-NCPPC]] "phase back", effectively eliminating scattered-site multifamily housing and implementing [[single-use zoning]] in a majority of city neighborhoods. Nearly half of the city's population are tenants, 47.2% according to the [[Census Bureau]]'s 2019 population estimate,<ref>{{Cite web |title=QuickFacts, Takoma Park city, Maryland|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/takomaparkcitymaryland}}</ref> many of whom live in a cluster of high-rise and mid-rise apartment buildings surrounding [[Sligo Creek]], which cuts a deep valley through the community.

The City Council adopted the Takoma Park Safe Grow Act of 2013,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-08-12 |title=Safe Grow Act of 2013 |url=https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/ordinances/2013/ordinance-2013-28.pdf |access-date=2021-05-04 |language=en-US}}</ref> which went into effect March 1, 2014,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Safe Grow |url=https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/police/neighborhood-services/safegrow/ |access-date=2021-05-04 |language=en-US}}</ref> and bans synthetic pesticides and requires [[organic lawn management]] on all city lands.

In 2018, the City of Takoma Park proposed renaming streets that were named after [[general officer|general]]s who fought on either side in the [[United States Civil War]], namely [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]] Avenue, [[Robert E. Lee|Lee]] Avenue, [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman]] Avenue, [[Philip Sheridan|Sheridan]] Avenue, and [[Stonewall Jackson|Jackson]] Avenue, though by 2024, no action had been taken.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uliano, Dick |date=2018-01-30 |title=Takoma Park residents debate renaming of streets named after Civil War generals |url=https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2018/01/takoma-park-streets-civil-war-generals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202015601/https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2018/01/takoma-park-streets-civil-war-generals/ |archive-date=February 2, 2018 |access-date=February 1, 2018 |website=WTOP-FM |df=mdy-all}}</ref>