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UMD, Residents to Host Good Neighbor Day

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and local residents are invited to join the community for Good Neighbor Day, a partnership between our university, the City of College Park and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

The group will clean up various spaces we share to make them safer and more beautiful. After spending the morning working in groups, volunteers will head to the College Park Community Center at noon for a celebration lunch.

Saturday, March 31, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. M-NCPPC College Park Community Center, 5051 Pierce Ave.

Sign up at www.goodneighborday.umd.edu.

Is FBI Moving Near College Park?

FBI - J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C. (credit: Wikipedia)

For months and years, talks have been around to build a mixed use development (MUD) in the north core of Greenbelt Metroland project, located on the other side of train tracks near north College Park. The development would consist of hotels, town houses and shopping centers.

However, in recent weeks, that plan seems to be getting replaced by the another plan to develop FBI’s headquarters at the proposed site.

According to this Greenbelt Review article, the Greenbelt City Council discussed this topic in their February 2 work session. The firm who is pitching the idea of FBI relocation is saying that the move is good for Greenbelt (and possibly for College Park), because it will attract several thousand federal employees to the area, boosting its economy. The Greenbelt Council seems not too excited though.

Talks of relocating the FBI has been brewing since at least 2010, when Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) obtained funding for a study on that question. Per this report, The Government Accountability Office issued a report to Congress on November 8, 2011, stating that relocating the FBI headquarters from the J. Edgar Hoover Building in DC to another transit-accessible location in the region was both the cheapest and quickest option to allow the FBI to consolidate its workforce and maintain operational security.

The issue will be certainly a topic of discussion at tonight’s Greenbelt Sector Plan meeting at the Spring Hill Lake Elementary School.

Council Supports Land Acquisition for Purple Line Project

Purple line through Campus Drive (ReThink College Park)

In last night’s meeting,  the Council supported MD state bills SB 807 and HB 1155, which would exempt an individual from the Maryland income tax for a payment by the State Highway Administration (SHA) for the acquisition of a portion of an individual’s property taken as the result of a state transportation project.

Currently, individuals whose entire properties are acquired by SHA through condemnation proceedings are eligible for a one-time capital gains or income tax exclusion (up to $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers) on the purchase of new property whereas partial acquisitions are not.

Under current law, individuals who have a portion of their property acquired by SHA are issued compensation for said property and required to pay income taxes on this compensation by filing a form 1099.

This bill would seek to bring into balance the disparity between individuals who have a portion of their property acquired by SHA for a transportation related project and individuals who have their entire property acquired.

While this bill would apply to all SHA transportation related projects throughout the state, it would be well served to particularly address pertinent transportation issues related to Base Realignment and Construction (BRAC), the Purple Line in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, the Red Line in the Baltimore area and other miscellaneous acquisitions.

Over 340 land acquisitions – a majority of which are partial – are already planned for Purple Line development alone. As such, it can be reasonably assumed that with the development of the proposed Purple Line route, a number of Prince George’s County, Baltimore City and Montgomery County families and businesses may benefit from this legislation – should it pass into law.

Additionally, a proposed amendment to the bill would expand SB 807 to include all state partial land acquisitions, not only those which are transportation related.

Council to Amend Ethics Rules for City Officials

Ethics laws

In tonight’s meeting, the Council will introduce an ordinance enacting a new ethics code to comply with State mandated requirements. The State Ethics Commission has recently reviewed the City’s ordinance.

The City’s ethics rules allow City employees or elected officials to receive gifts of tickets or free admission to attend a charitable, cultural or political event, and gifts of tickets or free admission to attend intercollegiate sporting events extended by the sponsor of the event to an elected City official or employee, when the sponsor is another governmental agency or unit of the state of Maryland, including the University of Maryland; and the City official or employee is attending with consent from the City Council as part of an effort to maintain governmental relations.

While the Ethics Commission is okay with this provision, they directed that the City remove professional sports tickets from this exempt category. The remaining amendments include clarifications of the definition of a business interest, that a financial disclosure statement must be corrected if there are errors or omissions, and the reporting period and necessity of filing a financial disclosure statement by appointed officials.

The Ordinance also makes some timing changes to the reporting requirements around City election. The Ethics Commission is required to review candidate financial disclosure forms and respond within three days if the form is incomplete. Also, the change would authorize the Clerk is authorize to receive documents for the Ethics Commission, much as she is for the Board of Supervisors of Elections.

UMD Student Threatens to Kill “Enough” at College Park Campus

Alexander Song

Our thanks go to to the University of Maryland Police for averting a major disaster, which may have  put the lives of many students in danger.

The University of Maryland Department of Public Safety is saying that that an individual posted comments of a threatening nature on the internet. The person posting the comments stated he had thoughts of committing an act of violence at the UMCP campus on Sunday, March 11, 2012.

The quote on the website(s) were “I will be on a shooting rampage tomorrow on campus”, “hopefully I kill enough people to make it to national news”, and “stay away from the Mall tomorrow at 1:30”.

University Police detectives researched the postings and obtained information leading to the identity of the person who wrote them. Investigators have cause to believe that Mr. Alexander Song, 19, of Fulton, MD, a current student at UMCP, posted the comments.

Detectives apprehended Mr. Song and determined that an emergency psychiatric evaluation was necessary. Accordingly, Mr. Song was taken to an area hospital for evaluation. Mr. Song was unarmed at the time of the arrest.

A warrant has been obtained charging Mr. Song, pictured, with a violation of Section 26-101 of Education Article. Song has been specifically charged with disturbing the orderly conduct of the activities, administration or classes of UMCP. This is a misdemeanor charge punishable by a fine not to exceed $2500.00 and/or imprisonment not to exceed six months in jail.

University Police detectives and patrol officers worked through the night to identify and apprehend Mr. Song. This incident was taken extremely seriously by this agency and all efforts were put forth to bring it to a speedy and safe resolution.

“I thank our troops for preventing these threats from being carried out” – Chief David B. Mitchell.

The University administration moved to immediately suspend Song’s student status at UMCP. He is no longer permitted on campus pending a review.

[Source: UMPDS  at www.umdps.umd.edu]

NCP Crime Stats: March 3 – March 8, 2012

Sector Plan Meeting to Discuss North Core Development, This Thursday

Greenbelt Sector Plan Map

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has scheduled three meetings in March and April on the Greenbelt Sector Plan that might be of interest to North College Park residents:

On Thursday, March 15, 2012, from 6:30-8:30 pm, there will be a meeting on the design of the North Core. This one is particularly important, because the North Core design may have a big impact on our neighborhood.

On Thursday, March 22, 2012, from 6:30-9:00 pm, there will be a meeting to discuss three conceptual alternatives for the Greenbelt Area Sector Plan.

On Thursday, April 19, 2012, from 6:30-9:00 pm, there will be a meeting to discuss the preferred alternative of the three alternatives discussed on March 22.

All three meetings will be held at Springhill Lake Elementary School, 6060 Springhill Drive.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Residents, Lehman Discuss Community Center and Traffic Safety in North College Park

Lehman speaks at NCPCA meeting yesterday, as Olson looks upon

County council members Mary Lehman and Eric Olson were at last night’s March monthly meeting to talk about upcoming County budget.

Much of the discussion, however was dominated by the improvements in north College Park, in particular, a proposed Community Center and safety on Rhode Island avenue.

On Community center, there have been some funds (about $5 million) allocated in the FY 2016 budget. Efforts have been underway to move that fund in an earlier fiscal year, however, given the status of economy and County’s fiscal health, there is no guarantee that this will happen.

In the mean time County and the City will work to use some other facilities in north College Park, such as Youth and Family Services (YFS), or Hollywood Elementary school as a possible location to host activities for residents. Some programs are already being organized for senior citizens at the YFS building.

Council member Woajhn and I will also meet with Ms. Lehman and the planning staff later this month to discuss these options.

Members also discussed pedestrian safety on Rhode Island avenue. They passed a motion asking the county to improve safety, possibly installing some yellow flashing lights at the crosswalks. Ms. Lehamn said she will speak to Public Works to explore these options.

Members passed another motion requesting the County to set aside some funds in the budget on installing environmentally friendly, low height street lights, similar to the one on Lackawanna Avenue.

Lehman and Olson to Discuss County Budget at NCPCA Meeting Tonight

NCPCA - It's Your Neighborhood Association

Today is the second Thursday of the month and thus is the day for north College Park Civic Association’s monthly meeting.

County Councilmembers Mary Lehman (District 1) and Eric Olson (District 3) will be on hand at tonight’s NCPCA meeting to discuss county budget list.

After the discussion, NCPCA members will later vote on Fiscal Year 2012 County budget priorities.

In addition to County budget discussion, members will discuss a few other issues related to north College Park. They include Public Safety Committee (by Donna Weene), update on Edgewood & Route 1 ( Bob Seward),  CSX Monitoring (Margaret Wood) , Greenbelt Metro Monitoring ( John Krouse) and Route 1 Reengineering Monitoring ( Margaret Wood).

At usual, the meeting will start at 7:30pm (at Davis Hall). County budget discussion will start at 8:30.

See you all tonight.

City Considers Forming a Committee to Run Farmer’s Market

Farmer's Market

In last night’s work session, Council discussed the formation of a committee to run the existing farmer’s market at the City Hall parking lot.

The City worked with the director of the Park and Planning farmer’s market at Wells Skating Rink, Miller Farms, to start a second farmer’s market in the City on Sunday mornings at City Hall.

This market will be starting up again in April. While having this farmer’s market in place has been a benefit to City residents and the City has gotten positive feedback about it, many residents have expressed interest in establishing a farmer’s market that is more focused on selling local produce.

The existing City Hall market includes vendors that sell food brought in from all over the country, and Miller Farms is not interested in changing that practice. City staff looked into how other cities run their farmer’s markets, and the markets in Greenbelt, Riverdale Park and Takoma Park are all run by volunteer committees, and in some cases administered by a paid staff person.

In order to put the effort into a running a market that sells local produce, the City would need either dedicated volunteers to put a lot of time into it or a paid staff person.

The Council discussed establishing a committee to look into these issues and consider options on how to pursue a farmer’s market more focused on local food vendors.

Group to Present Improving City’s Recycling Rate

Recycling bin

City’s Committee for a Better Environment (CBE) will be on hand to present ideas on how to improve recycling rate at tonight’s Council worksession.

Since the City began single-stream recycling in 2008, the rate of recycling has increased significantly, and now about 25% of the waste the City collects (by weight) is recycled.

This saves the City money, because we have to pay $59 per ton in tipping fees for landfill waste, and we receive about $2-3 for each ton recycled. Many residents still throw recyclable materials in their green trash bins, and many businesses and apartment buildings still don’t recycle at all.

The City’s Committee for a Better Environment has proposed the following ways to improve our recycling rate:

1) Gather information on resident participation in recycling programs and barriers to recycling. For example, conduct a survey about people’s awareness of recycling rules, how many people recycle and why they do or do not;

2) Gather information on business interest and participation in recycling and barriers to business participation. For example, meet with business owners and private haulers to determine why they do or do not participate in recycling programs and how the City can encourage participation;

3) Conduct community outrach program to encourage greater recycling. For example, publicly recognize businesses and property owners who increase their recycling and conduct targeted public education campaigns or help provide funds to defray the cost of starting commercial recycling programs;

4) Amend the City recycling code to update and strengthen the recycling rules to reflect current recycling practice.

The Council will discuss these ideas at tonight’s worksession at 8pm.

Council to Consider Changing Election Polling Hours

City election, 2011

At a worksession late after last year’s election, the Council expressed a desire to change the polling hours from 11:00 a.m.-8:00p.m. to 7:00a.m.- 8:00p.m in order to get more residents participate in City elections.

The estimated cost to implement this change will be provided as part of the Board of Election Supervisors’ study on the election process which is now underway.

Jack Robson, Chief, Board of Election Supervisors, also suggested some possible amendments to the City’s election laws for Council consideration. Changes to the Charter and to the City Code will be needed. The proposed changes are as follows:

(a) Shorten the 14 day correction grace period for all reports or at least for the Pre-election Campaign Finance Record (CFR), which is due 8 days before the election date.

(b) Make the last date for voter registration 28 days (instead of current 29 days) – exactly four weeks prior to Election Day. This will ensure that the deadline is not a County holiday. In 2011, this date fell on Columbus Day, which is a County holiday but not a City holiday.

(c) Make all filing deadline times consistent. Right now, some deadlines are 12 noon; some are 5:00p.m. The inconsistency can be confusing for candidates. The 5:00p.m. deadline for petitions and other paperwork that involves processing time is problematic for staff. BOES recommends to make uniform all submission deadlines at 4:00p.m.

In tomorrow’s worksession, Council will discuss these proposed changes. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

Shade Gardening Workshop

Gardening

Shade is not a four-letter word, says Janet Koles, professional landscaper. Join Janet and other gardeners for a discussion about types of shade plants and the benefits of shade.

Examples of plants that will tolerate shade and those that need shade will be the main focus but she’ll also share landscape tips and fun plant facts.

You, too, can have a made-in-the-shade garden.

The workshop will be organized by City’s Committee for a Better Environment on next Saturday, March 10, 10 a.m at College Park City Hall, Council Chambers, 2nd floor, 4500 Knox Road, College Park, 20740.

Cost and Registration: Free but registration is requested. Email janiso@erols.com or leave a message at 240-888-6972

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Bag Bill Wins Key Vote in MD House

Skip bag, Save the river

Prince George’s County’s House delegation voted Friday to approve a 5 cent countywide bag tax, advancing the legislation to a House committee, according to the Washington Times.

“The delegation voted 12-9 in favor of the proposal, which will now be heard by the House Environmental Matters Committee. The vote came as something of a surprise, after the proposal had previously received an “unfavorable” report from a six-member committee within the Prince George’s delegation.” - Times reports.

The bill now moves to the Environmental Matters Committee of the House, and then to the floor of the full House. For local bills like this one, those votes are usually a formality, as the current legislature prefers to support the counties’ wishes.

The county’s senators must also support the bill, but it passed easily last session and no senators are known to have changed their position, Greater Greater Washington’s Julie Lawson reports.

In the version of the bill passed by the delegation, grant partial property tax exemptions to some economic development projects. The owners of eligible projects would receive a partial waiver on the county real property tax and would instead make an annual payment to the county.

The amount of the payment would at least be equal to the sum of the taxes on the property before construction or rehabilitation began and 25 percent of what the new real property tax would have been, according to the bill.

The tax exemptions could last up to 15 years, and could not be applied to projects that involve gambling activities.

College Park City Council voted to support the bill last month.

Pollo A La Brasa, Johnny’s Carry Out and Blue Tech Cleaners Coming to Hollywood

The popular Rotisserie Chicken restaurant Pollo A La Brasa will replace former Video Plus store

Great news!

Three new businesses will be moving to Hollywood commercial district, per the February 2012 business beat.

The popular Rotisserie Chicken restaurant Pollo A La Brasa has signed a lease and will replace the former Video Plus store. As you know the chain store has branches in Beltsville and in Langley Park.

Johnny’s Carry Out store will start operating in the  old College Park Florist store (9823 Rhode Island), in the REI/MOM shopping plaza. They also have a store in Laurel.

A new dry cleaner Blue Tech Cleaners will open in the former dry cleaner store. as you have probably seen, teh new owner has been doing some remodeling work inside the store. They also have painted the exterior walls. You can find more about the store here.