Our polls cover three positions – County Council District 1, County’s State Attorney and Country Executive positions.

The food items were donated by the school’s community members as part of a Ramadan giving ritual called Zakat-ul-Fitr.  The Al-Huda School is a private Muslim school and thus the school’s community members mostly comprise of Muslim parents living in College Park and its surrounding areas. Established in 1995, Al-Huda School now covers Kindergarten through twelve grade.

Being Muslims, community members  have two celebrations in the year, known as Eid in Arabic, and one of these  Eids is celebrated after Ramadan, the month of fasting. Out of a concern to allow everyone to enjoy the celebration, this is where the Zakat-ul-Fitr comes into play. Amadu Kamara, one of the food drive organizers, comments, “The idea of this is  to share the joy of Eid with others who are less fortunate. It’s a very rewarding experience.”

This specific charity must be paid to the poor before the beginning of the Eid-al-Fitr prayer which is expected to be celebrated late this week. “This year we’ll be giving out to some 130 or more families in need in the Washington Metro areas. They live in all over the place – from Sterling Virginia to upper Baltimore City”, said Adil Faisal, another food drive organizer.

Dozens of the school’s community members spent much of last weekend packing the food boxes and driving them to the houses of needy families. “You must have two things – a car in good running condition and a GPS”- reads an announcement asking for volunteers. The list of these needy families is compiled mostly from their neighbors. To keep privacy of the recipients, the volunteers are only given the addresses of the recipients’ residences and asked to drop the food boxes at their door steps. 

Yesterday afternoon, I followed one group tasked to deliver 8 bags of food to a family living in a Laurel apartment.

“#11 has been delivered” – a text was sent to Faisal, once the bags were dropped at the apartment door.

[Also read: Thank you, Meals on Wheels]

About a year ago, the City paid a consulting firm called Sage Policy Group to study rent Control in the City’s residential areas. Titled “There Remains a Rational Basis for Rent Stabilzation in College Park“, the group concluded this in its final report “Rental conversion continues, homeownership is falling and rents are on the rise. Research indicates that stable homeownership is associated with numerous societal benefits and that to the extent that homeownership declines, communities are less well-positioned to enjoy those benefits.”

According to the report, the number of houses converted from residential to rental have gone up while the same figure has gone down in the PG county and in the state.

The City acted to get a hold of this. In April, it arranged two public hearings to get feedback from the residents. Later it voted down a plan to lift the rent control. Though the City passed the rent stabilation legislation in 2005, it never enforced those plans. A lawsuit by landlords against the City was holding off the City to take firm action on this legislation. In December 2008, a Prince George’s County Circuit Court ruling rejected the lawsuit by the landlords. But the landlords appealed the ruling.

Late last month, the court upheld the claims that the ordinance unfairly penalized them while placing no such restrictions on owners of student high-rises that, in many cases, charge more than the landlords.

This finally clears the City to go ahead in enforcing the law. The City is now searching for volunteers who can be part of 8 members rent stabilization board.

On September 3, 2010 at approximately 12:20 a.m., a homeowner in the 4900 block of Hollywood Road in College Park, Maryland heard a noise at the front door. The homeowner observed a suspect attempting to pry the door open. The suspect is described as a black male in his mid 20’s, wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and with red/blond dreadlocks. The suspect was last seen getting into a blue Cadillac CTS with DC tags before fleeing the scene.

Anyone with information about the suspect is urged to call Crime Solvers Callers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) where they can remain anonymous or text “PGPD plus your message” to CRIMES (274637) on your cell phone or go to http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/police/ and submit a tip online.

A day earlier, on September 2, 2010 at approximately 12:19 a.m., patrol officers responded the 9000 block of 48th Place in College Park, Maryland for a call of an attempt residential breaking and entering at the residence. When officers arrived, they observed the suspects attempting to pry open the door of the residence. The suspects saw the responding officers and fled the scene before they could make entry into the home. Both suspects were apprehended a short distance from the scene of the incident.

The suspects, 21 year-old Eric Todd Evans of the 3900 block of Winchester Lane in Bowie, Maryland and 20 year-old Steven Anthony Burroughs of the 9700 block 53rd Avenue in College Park, Maryland, were arrested and remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections.

I notice the second arrested guy [Steven Anthony Burroughs] lives on my street! Hope he’s the last bad guy living in our neighborhood!

Though I saw a few UMd students at the event, a very few local residents could be seen there. Nonetheless, I think it’s a good start on the City’s part to help bridge the gap between the City residents and the University.

I took a few pictures of the event, please enjoy.

The first of these two hearing was held in Rockville last Monday at 6pm for Pepco customers living in  Montgoemry county. The hearing lasted until past midnight. Residents waited as 24 elected officials spoke first, consuming about two hours of the more than six-hour hearing.

For the past two years, Pepco has been in the bottom 50 percent or 25 percent nationwide of utilities in terms of service interruptions, said William Gausman, the utility’s senior vice president for asset management and planning, during a hearing earlier this month before the Public Service Commission in Baltimore.

About 200 people filled the Montgomery County Council chamber, some shaking their heads in frustration as tales of the severe outages in the wealthy community were recounted.

The second hearingwill be held at 6 p.m. tonight at the Hallam Theatre at Prince George’s Community College on Largo Road in Largo.
 
“This is your chance to give them the facts.  Attend if you can — or send us your story if you can’t, and we’ll put it in the record. Maryland Public Service Commission’s  public hearing for Prince Georgians on PEPCO’s power failures.” -said 21st District Delegation, which includes Senator Jim Rosapepe, Delegate Barbara Frush, Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk and Delegate Ben Barnes.

Individuals will be able to sign up in person one-half hour before the hearing begins.  In order to ensure that everyone will be able to speak, the PSC requests that oral comments be limited to less than 5 minutes.

To do the damage control, on Friday, Pepco officials unveiled a website that customers can visit to monitor work progress and details of its reliability enhancement program. The website — http://www.pepco.com/energy/reliability/— will list work areas, status of the projects and timelines.

The College Park Day

Here is something exciting you can do with your school going children to help prepare for the event.

The event, is hosting a children’s poster contest.  Entitled “This is My Culture,” the contest asks College Park’s children to use pencil, crayon, and paint or pictures to show how they see their culture.  The poster can demonstrate the languages they speak, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the places they visit, etc.  If the child was born in a foreign country, or has ties to that country, he or she can also feature the culture of that country.

Prizes will be awarded in two classifications, grades 1-3 and grades 4-6, one for each school.

The deadline for submission is September 30th, 2010.  Once winning artists are selected, prizes will be selected at random.  Winning artists may receive certificates / trophies from the City of College Park, free admission to the College Park Aviation Museum, College Park Day souvenirs, books and more.

For more information, please visit the event’s home page here: http://www.collegeparkday.org/contests

Also, please feel free to download and share the event flyer with your neighbors. Here is the link:  poster_contest.pdf

Let’s fact it! The crosswalks in north College Park’s streets aren’t safe. There have been quite a few incidents on these streets that can be termed as ‘close calls’.

Say for example the crosswalk on Route 1 near Edgewood Road. First the crosswalk there isn’t marked properly. I’ve seen pedestrians often crossing the street running to the other end.

The same is true for the crosswalks on Rhode Island Avenue that stretches from Sunnyside to Rt193. This is the street where residents often cross between the east and the west side of the neighborhood.

The North College Park Citizens Association will discuss this continuing pedestrian hazards with the State Highway Administration (SHA) and the the County Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) in its upcoming September 9 meeting. Ever curious why two different entities are invited to discuss the crosswalk safety issues on our major streets? – because SHA and DPWT own / regulate Route 1 and Rhode Island Avenue respectively.

The details about the meting has been posted on NCPCA’s website http://myncpca.org .  Please mark your calendar.

Fred Smalls

 After Mary Lehman, Crystal Thompson and Sam Epps, I approached the fourth County Council primary candidate Fredrick Smalls, the four term council member of Laurel City Council.

In addition to answering my questions, he also added comments on his opponent Mary Lehman’s earlier response on a Laurel Church discrimination case. Please see that additional response at the end his interview.

As always, if you have further questions or comments on Mr. Small’s responses, please feel free to post them in the comment section at the end of the article.

I thank Mr. Smalls and other candidates for taking time from their busy campaign schedule and responding to interview questions.

(1) There are five council candidates running in this year’s council election for District 1. Why do you think you are the best candidate in this crowded race?

A) I have the experience to lead; a strong desire to move the County forward; and the ability to make things happen for District 1. For more than 15-years I have been involved as a civic and community leader.  I began that service as president of my homeowner association and PTA president.    My service to the community broadened when I was elected to the Laurel City Council where I have served four two-year terms; two years as council president.  I have supported all aspects of public safety and helped bring Laurel to the forefront with my support of the first Emergency Services Commission.  I understand the priority of full staffing and modern training to ensure first-rate public safety capabilities.

Additionally, my hands-on experience with a tax-payer supported budget gives me direct experience managing tax-payer dollars.  I know the difficulty in stretching the dollar.  It is important to note that the City of Laurel has survived the weak economy better than most – and without furloughs or layoffs. I feel my experience is in areas the County needs most:  budgeting, emergency services, land use planning, and general management will contribute greatly to the future success of District 1 and our County. 

(2) One of your opponent candidate Mary Lehman enjoys strong endorsements from MD Delegate Joscelin Pena-Melnyk and Councilman Tom Dernoga. Do you feel that your campaign is weakened by these endorsements?

No.  I have equally strong endorsements from 21^stDistrict Delegates Barbara Frush and Ben Barnes.  Additionally, I have been endorsed by the Washington Post, the Prince George’s County Gazette, the Prince George’s County Professional and Volunteer Firefighters, the Prince George’s County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89, the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association, and the African Leadership Empowerment Council.  All of these organizations understand my commitment to public service, my experience as an open, honest and hardworking municipal legislator and they support my vision and plan to move our county forward.

 (3) The City of College Park does not have a police service. The city residents pay nearly $1 million to hire 6 contract police officers (3 P/T and 3F/T)from the county, because the police service from the county’s regular police PGFD is not enough. If elected, what will you do offset such extra cost of law enforcement from local municipalities?

The real concern I have heard has been that residents feel they are paying the additional money and they are not getting the level of service they expect.  I will focus on improving communication so the police service College Park receives is more effective.   Additionally, I will work with the mayor and council to obtain Federal Homeland Security funding and use the money for additional officers.

I think the bottom line is residents and business owners want to see that the police service is effective and responsive.  If the level of service meets the needs of the community, people may not have serious issue with the cost.

(4) The current councilman Mr. Dernoga has been criticized by some for his strong stance against redevelopment in North College Park. The implementation of “form-based codes”  in the North College Park area, north of Greenbelt Road (Rt 193) has recently been blocked as part of Rt 1 sector plan. If elected, will you continue to support Mr. Dernoga’s position?

I am committed to community conscious development where the objective is to help make what lies ahead more satisfying for people living in the community. I bring 8-years of planning and zoning experience as a member of the Laurel Planning Commission.  As a commissioner I have been involved with many development and redevelopment projects and have always encouraged community input and listened to community concerns. 

I see form-based codes as one of the tools in a planning toolbox. The quality of development outcomes are dependent on the quality and objectives of the community plan that a code implements.  The US 1 Corridor Plan has very positive aspects and since it just went into effect in July I would like to give it a little time to see if it helps brings redevelopment to US 1 Corridor.

(5) Your opponent Crystal Thompson charges against you saying “Fred Smalls experience, as a city councilman, resulted in Laurel Mall and Main Street becoming run down ghost towns instead of vibrant areas that residents want to frequent.” Any comment?.

The Laurel Commons Mall is a very important project for the City of Laurel and the surrounding community.  The City has worked extensively with the Mall owners and their attorneys to assist in advancing the project.  For example, the City approved a TIF, tax increment financing,  a public financing method that is commonly used for redevelopment and community improvement projects in municipalities, to help the owner obtain needed bank financing.  Unfortunately the instability of the financial market has made it difficult for the project to move forward.  The City has and will continue to work to see this project completed as proposed.

The City has made several streetscape improvements to Main Street and will continue to work with the Laurel Board of Trade,  business and property owners to make Laurel’s Main Street a true destination stop.

______________________________________________________________

My comment re. Mary Lehman’s response to the following question – As a West Laurel resident you (along with Mr. Dernoga) strongly opposed the construction of an African American Church in your neighborhood. A Federal Judge later awarded the Church $3.7 million in a lawsuit against the county. Critics such as State’s attorney candidate Angela Alsobrooks cite this as a discrimination case. Do you regret your opposition in the case? Please explain.

First, if there were environmental concerns, those issues were addressed at the time of subdivision.  The church’s application was for a water/sewer category change and all of the requirements to attach to public water and sewer were met and there was no reason to deny the application.  It should be noted that the County Executive and the county’s Department of Environmental Resources recommended that the sewer service category for the property be changed so the proposed church could connect to existing public water and sewer lines. The County Council voted to approve the change, but later reconsidered the request and rejected it after receiving comments from councilman Dernoga.

There were statements made by the community groups in public hearings specifically saying that the community did not want this African American church coming into the community.  The Washington Post reports that “The lawsuit alleges that Dernoga acted because of pressure from constituents who “wanted to keep the perceived majority-African-American congregation” out of West Laurel. “

The Post adds, “The jury in federal court in Greenbelt that granted the multimillion-dollar award found that the county’s actions in barring the building of the sanctuary were motivated at least in part by discriminatory intent against a religious institution.”

The court correctly ruled that the actions of Chaiman Dernoga and the council was illegal and biased, and if Mary Lehman supports the county in their actions then her attitudes and motives speak for themselves. 

The reason for this delay is the approvals from the State and the County who own the roads where these cameras would be installed. For example, in north College Park, the plan for installing cameras on Rhode Island Avenue is awaiting approval from the Prince George’s County, which owns that street.

Earlier, despite concerns from some residents, the City approved the pan to install cameras. The City awarded a contract to OptoTraffic to install and maintain these cameras. The City also held public hearing on these cameras before approving the plan.

It’s still remained to be seen how long it will take for the County to approve these cameras. The current (outgoing) Co. Executive cancelled as many as 100 cameras around the school zone early this year, citing concerns from residents.

The City still needs to wait to hear if it can receive the state’s Open Space Fund grant before it can proceed with planning and construction.

“So it’s still unknown at this point when actual construction will start, or even when the design phase will start.  If the city receives the full amount for the grant, it will cover the full design of the project – whether it will cover the construction of the park depends on the design, but I believe the grant would at least cover most of it.  The design phase will involve input from the public, probably with a number of meetings to review and discuss the design, and review by both the NCPCA and the CBE” – wrote Patrick Wojahn in an email to me.

The NCPCA earlier voted to approve the concept of the park, provided the City gets back to its members during design phase of the park.

It looks like the city has taken some the suggestions given by some concerned residents. The park would include amenities such as edible plants and rain gardens to teach residents the importance of environmental friendliness per this Gazette report.

The UMd’s new police chief Dave Mitchell was the chief guest. Our current and former Mayors Andy Fellows and Steve Brayman were also there. Among others were 3 NCP council members, Patrick, Chris and Marcus Afzali. Also, our former NCPCA president Larry Bleau came with his wife Valerie Bleau, who live only a street away. There were also a dozen or so residents at the gathering.

Here are a few snaps I took, please enjoy.

Wallace D. Loh

The search is finally over – the University of Maryland has found a new president.

Dr. Wallace (Wally) Loh will replace Mr. Mote, who served as the UMd president for the past 12 years and will retire at the end of this month. UMd spent nearly 6 months in its search for Mr. Mote’s replacement. 400 candidates applied for the job, out of which 18 were interviewed. Dr. Loh came out to be lucky guy at the end.

So an appointment such as this after a lengthy and tough search must be a good news for our university town, right?

Perhaps so. I can feel a sense of optimism surrounding Mr. Loh’s appointment among City residents. Prior to coming to College Park, Mr. Loh served as the provost of Iowa University, where he is said to be very close to city residents there. That sounds like a good resume to lead a varsity that has deep rooted distrust among its neighbors towards it.

This also signals that in his new residence in College Park, Mr. Loh has a lot of heavy liftings to do. For a number of years, the University has been regarded by many of its neighbors as ‘one sided’, ‘unconcerned’ and even ‘arrogant’. Part of the reason, as many residents say, lies in the fact that the outgoing president Mr. Mote wasn’t quite ‘caring’ about what the residents have to say in the university affairs that also affect the native neighborhoods. Whatever the reasons are, simply put, many long time residents I’ve talked to, don’t trust UMd as a good neighbor.

Take for example the vandalism and destruction that the City’s downtown witnesses almost every year following major games. To many residents, behaviors such as these give our city black eyes to outsiders.

Then there are also issues of economic impact on the city’s taxpayers who think they often pay too much for UMd’s expansions. The UMd does pay the in Lieu of tax for such accusations, but residents think the city lose important tax base, which they think not as attractive as what could have been paid by commercial entities. The recent takeover of the old Washington Post plant just south of Greenbelt Rd is an example, residents argue.

The residents also have grievances on the matters of transportation and redevelopment of Rt 1 and its impact on the surrounding neighborhood. The purple line is another issue where residents think the UMd should take more residents’ input.

Dr. Loh’s international background can be good news for our city which is seeing changes in its ethnic compositions. Mr. Loh was born in China, grew up in Peru for some time before he migrated to the US with $200 before he fulfilled his American dream, as he said in an interview.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr. Loh has promised to listen more in the first days of his tenure. Does it mean we’ll get to see an UMd president in our neighborhood association meetings for the first time?

Thankfully, the City is doing its part in closing the rift. For the first time, it’s going to organize a Welcome back student day at the City Hall’s parking lot.  The upcoming College park Day will be another opportunity for bridging the gap between the city and the Varsity. I can already see a number of groups within the university are taking part in this event.

The growth and the survival of the university and the city are very much intertwined. And for that very reason, Mr. Loh has an unique opportunity to address these concerns and help build bridges between the two.

Please click on the red markers to find more about related crime incidents.

As always, let’s hope reports such as this will help us realize the importance of having a stronger public safety initiative in our city. Neighborhood Watch is one avenue that all residents can be part of. Please email me or a leave a comment below if you want to get involved.

http://collegepark.patch.com/articles/residents-petition-for-security-cameras-outside-greenbelt-metro-station

Lauren went out to speak with a Metro spokesperson who has this to say:

Steven Taubenkibel, a spokesperson for WMATA, said that while all stations have cameras inside, only some have cameras positioned at the entrances.

One such station is Columbia Heights in Washington D.C.  In this case, the cameras situated at the exterior of the station were actually paid for by the District of Columbia, not Metro, he said.

Taubenkibel could not comment in the cost of security cameras, or whether paying for them is an option for the city of College Park.

As the Patch article says, the petition has now been supported by the Maryland state Senator Jim Rosapepe,  MD Delegates Ben Barnes, Joseline Penamelnyk, Barbara Frush, and City council members Patrick, Chris and Marcus (Afzali). We thank them all.

In case you haven’t signed the petition, please do so soon – it shouldn’t take more than a minute. The more signature we get, is better. 

Again, here is the link to the online petition site: http://www.petitiononline.com/z1237654/petition.html

In my pursuit to find the best District 1 council candidate, I approached Sam Epps, a Laurel resident of 10 years, and best known for his involvement as a community organizer. Despite his busy schedule, Sam found time to answer a few questions I sent to him earlier. (Thanks Sam).

Sam Epps is the 3rd of the 5 candidates I’ve interviewed so far. Please see the interviews with other 2 candidates, Mary Lehman and Crystal Thompson here and here.

As always, if you have additional questions or comments, please post them at the end of the article.

(1) There are five council candidates running in this year’s council election for District 1. Why do you think you are the best candidate in this crowded race?

My years of experience working for nonprofits, government, and labor, where I have fought for social and economic justice on behalf of working men and women makes me the best candidate in this race.

I am running because our comunities can’t afford politics as usual in Prince George’s County. I am a honest leader who will fight for a government that is more transparent and responsive. I will represent all the neighborhoods in District 1, not just certain ones.
(2) Two of your opponent candidates Mary Lehman and Fred Smalls enjoy strong endorsements from well known political figures. Do you feel that your campaign is weakened by these endorsements? What do you say to those who’re skeptical about your experience to hold a public office?

I don’t feel my campaign is weaken by not having endorsements from political figures. What that should tell voters is that I am not “the establishment” candidate. My candidacy is about working families, and I am proud to have received strong endorsements from working men and women that are teachers, janitors, security officers, health care workers, transit workers, and laborers.

Endorsed by:
Prince George’s County Educational Association
1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers
Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 689
MD/DC State Council of SEIU
Metropolitian Washington Council, AFL-CIO

(3) The City of College Park residents pay nearly 1 million dollars to hire 6 contract police officers (3 P/T, 3 F/T) from the county, because the police service from the county’s regular police PGFD is not enough. If elected, what will you do to help offset such extra cost of law enforcement from local municipalities?

I will work with the next county executive and the fraternal order of police to:

1) Retain retiring officers that has reached their 20 years of service.

2) Increase the number of classes at the police academy.

3) Provide incentives to individuals to become police officers.

I believe these steps would be a starting point to helping to offet the extra cost of law enforcement on municipalities.
(4) The current councilman has been criticized by some for his strong stance against redevelopment in North College Park. The implementation of “form-based codes”  in the North College Park area, north of Greenbelt Road (Rt 193) has recently been blocked as part of Rt 1 sector plan. If elected, will you also support such position?

I believe developers should be held to these type of zoning codes for redevelopment. In addition to the “form based codes”, any development that I support must have a Community Benefits Agreement. The agreement with the community shall include 1) environmental standards 2) labor standards 3) adequate facilities standards.

Since time is very short between now and Tuesday, I’d recommend sending your voter registration form by overnight mail tomorrow early morning. Better  yet, make a trip to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections office, which is located at 16201 Trade Zone Avenue, Suite 108, Upper Marlboro. It will only take about half an hour to make the trip to Upper Marlboro office from College Park. The election office will be open extended hours on the deadline date, tomorrow, August 24th from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

You can download the voter registration form from here. Since all primaries will be on Democratic candidates, make sure you register with Democratic party affiliation. If you’re already registered and not sure your party affiliation, you can go to http://mdelections.org to check your registration details.

“Angela Alsobrooks is the best-qualified candidate in the race. It is that simple,” Ivey said. “I know what it takes to be an effective state’s attorney, and Angela has those qualities and more. I will vote for Angela and I encourage others to do the same.” said the popular State’s attorney. 

“We are one community, with the potential for greatness.” – said Alsobrooks commenting on this important endorsement. 

Two other former prosecutors in the race include Joseph Wright and police department inspector general Mark Spencer, who says Ivey’s endorsement of Alsobrooks is underwhelming. “He’s endorsing continued mediocrity in that office by endorsing my opponent,” says Spencer. 

Mr Ivey’s endorsement also bears bad news for the other candidate Joseph Wright, who serves as the assistant to Mr. Ivey.

Earlier, the Washington Post and the local Gazette also endorsed Angela Alsobrooks. “Smart, personable, direct and tough-minded, Ms. Alsobrooks would make a strong lobbyist for the state grants and increased county funding the prosecutor’s office badly needs, and an effective advocate for outreach and intervention programs. She has a firm handle on the county’s high rate of recidivism, domestic violence and gang activity, and a no-nonsense strategy to improve the quality and consistency of prosecutions.” – said the Post in its endorsement column. 

The Post’s endorsement also had an interesting twist for other candidates who did not get the paper’s blessings. Though candidates  Mark Spencer, Joseph Wright and Peggy Magee received mild criticism for not being qualified to rise upto Post’s standards, the fifth candidate Tom Dernoga received a rather harsh one. 

“He is simply not qualified to be the state’s attorney. Although he knows the county’s budget and land-use laws well, Mr. Dernoga has never worked as a prosecutor, nor even as a criminal defense lawyer; in fact, he hasn’t practiced law of any sort in almost a decade. Lacking that basic background and familiarity with criminal law, Mr. Dernoga has no business running a prosecutor’s office in one of Maryland’s biggest and most crime-ridden counties” – commented Post criticizing Mr. Dernoga. 

Despite Post’s harsh disapproval, Mr. Dernoga enjoys strong support in our part of the county, where he has been serving as a term-limited county councilman. A number of Mayor and  council members of municipalities in this part of the county have endorsed him. He has also led a poll in the early part of the campaign and has strong funds to go through the rest of the campaign.  

The Democratic primary election is scheduled on Sept 14. It’s too early to tell about the outcome of this election. 

[Source: Washington Post, Examiner, WAMU]

The email says that both Prince George’s County Police, and University of Maryland Department of Public Safety are now using www.Nixle.com to.

This is a great news, isn’t it? Getting to know the crime around one’s neighborhood is a good thing. It certainly helps us in staying more vigilant about the crime that goes in the neighborhood. And a constant vigilance in turn helps reduce crime as a whole.

In fact the PG police reported back late last year that they would start using Nixle for sending alerts on crime and other related info. I signed up then, but honestly speaking, I was disappointed by its service. First, there weren’t too many alerts I found  useful. Even if there were a few, they were more about public safety information, and not quite about the crime itself. The few crime info I recieved was mostly related to those happened in other part of the county. I cannot remember of any crime in my own neighborhood reported by Nixle.

I think the major problem with the service in relation to crime reporting in our area is the lack of live data feed. This is the data that goes to the Nixle server from the local police departments such as PGPD. The way currently this works is pretty much manual. We will only receive a Nixle alert when our police officers / captains manually report crime to Nixle. Our District 1 police Chief major Liberati told the other day he has used the system to report a few crime recently after he assumed his new position recently.

After using for several weeks last time, I stopped using it – the service was simply filling my inbox with information that I don’t really need. Yesterday’s announcement seems like indicating that some new changes are being introduced to the system. Or may be with a new police chief is in charge now, things will get better. With these hopes, I’ve reactivated my account again yesterday – to give Nixle another chance. We’ll see how it works this time.

Yesterday’s discussion on the Metro’s “not-so-responsible” brush cleanup has resulted in some good outcome.

Just to recap, Metro wanted to do the cleanup to improve public safety, however, it turned out it wasn’t quite exactly what the residents wanted. A more practical and effective approach to the safety situation would be to install surveillance cameras at the Metro entrance. Currently, Metro has cameras inside the tunnel (picture above), but not outside.

But then there was a sense of frustration. Everyone knew that cameras aren’t coming anytime soon, given the months and years we already have been waiting. Frustrated, one resident said: “Perhaps folks (Metro officials) [need] to recognize that we [residents] pay their salaries and they work for us.  Remember…its the squeaky wheel that gets the attention.  Our wheels have yet to squeak.”

Yes indeed, we ought to squeak our wheels to get the grease – aka attentions. Unless we raise our voices, we’ll probably have to wait for another assault or violent crime to happen to hear something again from them.

So here is what we did together to get that attention – we decided to have a camera petition drive to WMATA (Metro). We quickly put together an online petition on the petitononline.com.

Please see the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/z1237654/petition.html. Here is what the petition says:

To:  WMATA

We, the undersigned residents of north College Park are concerned about public safety in the area around the western entrance to the Greenbelt Metro station. The area has seen a number of frequent and often violent crimes such as assaults, thefts and muggings. Recently, a 15 year-old teenager was sexually assaulted by a lone perpetrator in broad daylight.

We believe that the only way to address such excessive crime in this area is to install surveillance cameras at the entrance of the Metro station and along the pathway that leads to the nearby neighborhood.

We ask WMATA to take immediate action to install these cameras at the suggested locations and make Metro riders from our neighborhood feel safe.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

We’re also planning to collect signatures from Metro riders during morning and afternoon rush hours at the Metro entrance. A number of volunteers have already signed up to volunteer in this petition drive. If you want to volunteer, please let me know.

So far the online petition drive is a success. Just in a day, some 48 residents have signed the petition (Thanks to each one of you!). More will certainly be signing up soon. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so – soon. Remember again, squeaky wheels get the most grease.

Here are a few comments from those who signed up the petition.

• A security camera outside of the Greenbelt Metro station along the path to Lackawanna Street is long overdue. Many people have been mugged or robbed along this path. This is the least that WMATA can do to help ensure the safety of its users along this path.
• This is long overdue. WMATA needs to demonstrate they care about the safety of their customers
• Safety Safety Safety … It’s all about Safety. Do the right thing and protect Metro customers.
• Security is an issue at this metro station, particularly when exciting the back path to the Hollywood neighborhood.
• This is safety issue for all Metro customers as well as residents of the neighborhood who do not use Metro. Thank you.
• Needed very badly
• Metro is once again behind the eight ball and deservedly so.
• Please Install Surveillance camera at greenbelt metro
• Considering the jurisdictional issues and difficulty of providing a consistent police presence, the installation of surveillance cameras on the west side of the station and along the pathway to Lackawanna Street is an appropriate way to improve safety for Metro riders and the local community.
• cameras and lighting must provide recorded views sharp enough to identify suspects along entire length of path on WMATA property
• Surveillance Cameras & Better Lightning Badly Needed @ Greenbelt Metro Station. What’s going to take? A Death? Please advise!
• Safety and security of the patrons should and must be one of the top service goals for metro.
• These cameras are obviously needed.
• This is an imperative that you get this done ASAP. Plus have someone monitoring the cameras and also install a set of alarm boxes that people may use along and at the end of the path.
• Your station exit is in a very dark area, and crime is rising here. Don’t be a part of the problem; show that you care about your riders. THANK YOU.

Can Metro hear these voices?