Aug
27
2021
This slogan has become so commonplace that many of us ignore it, but the most effective thing a resident can do to help prevent crime and assist police is to report suspicious and criminal activity to 9-1-1.As soon as any crime is discovered or when any suspicious activity is observed (i.e. someone
testing car and home doors to see if they are unlocked) call 9-1-1 to immediately report it.
When you SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. Call 9-1-1 immediately for Police-Fire-EMS assistance. Help prevent crime by locking car and home doors, and concealing valuables from sight.
[City of College Park]
Aug
26
2021
Stop by Al Huda School Friday to pick up free dinner for your child/children.
Aug
24
2021
Homeowners’ Property Tax Credit and Homestead Property Tax Credit Programs |
The Homeowners’ Property Tax Credit Program is for those with a household income of $60,000 or less. You must apply every year. All Prince Georgians who own a home in Prince George’s County as their primary residence are eligible for the Homestead Tax Credit. You only need to apply once. Check your status online here. |
Maryland and Prince George’s County Renters’ Tax Credit |
Renters’ Tax Credit is automatically applied to Prince Georgian’s who qualify for the State Renters’ Tax Credit.
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Aug
22
2021
As many of you are already aware, Prince George’s County has reinstated the indoor mask mandate due to the spread of the Delta variant. All residents and visitors over the age of 5 are required to wear masks, even if they are vaccinated. If you like to review the press release, click here.
Additionally, it is critically important that residents of Prince George’s County get vaccinated. If you have not been vaccinated yet, please do so to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. The Delta variant is more contagious and is incredibly dangerous to unvaccinated people. The best way to protect yourself and others from the Delta variant is to get vaccinated.
In order for our students to safely resume in-person learning, vaccination clinics are set up at schools throughout the County. You can find a location by clicking here.
[Source: CM Dernoga’s Office]
Aug
21
2021
If you were vaccinated at a Prince George’s County Health Department site and did not receive a CDC vaccination card and you would like one, please email COVID19_VaxCard@co.pg.md.us with your name, address, date of birth, contact information, and the date and location of your vaccination.
The Health Department will process the request and produce a vaccination card. It may take the Health Department several days to process the request, but once your vaccination card is ready, staff will follow up via email.
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Comments Off on Vaccinated, But Don’t Have the Card? Here is What You Can Do
Comments Off on Vaccinated, But Don’t Have the Card? Here is What You Can DoAug
19
2021
| Comments Off on COVID-19 Vaccine: Do You Need a 3rd Dose
Comments Off on COVID-19 Vaccine: Do You Need a 3rd DoseAug
18
2021
The next virtual community meeting for the Climate Action Plan will take place tomorrow, on August 19th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to provide your input to the Department of Environment to influence the focus on the County’s Climate Action Plan. Click the link here to watch recordings from the first two public meetings. To RSVP for the next meeting, click here. Hope to see you in attendance!
At this Community Meeting, attendees will take a deeper dive into the climate action recommendations, will learn about the expected greenhouse gas reductions of climate action recommendations introduced at the last meeting, and will have the opportunity to review and discuss the detailed blueprint recommendations being developed by the County.
There will be two breakout room sessions that will focus on a different blueprint recommendation (e.g., promoting renewable energy for residential and commercial buildings, enhancing residential green infrastructure and urban tree canopy programs, expanding county food scraps collection program, and developing equitable climate action education and outreach efforts.)
These blueprint recommendations will serve as the County’s roadmap for implementation, so if you have a personal passion or professional expertise, we want to hear from you!
| Comments Off on Tomorrow: Community Meeting on Climate Action Plan
Comments Off on Tomorrow: Community Meeting on Climate Action PlanAug
16
2021
WSSC Water is urging customers who are behind on their water and sewer bills to establish convenient payment plans before water service turnoffs resume. Turnoffs for delinquent commercial and government accounts resumed on August 1, and residential accounts will resume on September 13.
| Comments Off on WSSC Offers Assisstance to Residents with Water Bills
Comments Off on WSSC Offers Assisstance to Residents with Water BillsAug
15
2021
The City is planning its fall tree plantings. The program provides for street tree planting in the right-of-way area, which includes the grass strip between the curb and sidewalk. College Park residents interested in requesting a tree can contact Brenda Alexander at 240-487-3590 or horticulturist@collegeparkmd.
Trees in a College Park neighborhood park
| Comments Off on City Plans Fall Street Tree Plantings
Comments Off on City Plans Fall Street Tree PlantingsAug
13
2021
The 2021 Summer Reading Program was originally planned as a day camp that would provide in-person reading instruction to elementary school children from College Park. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the regular program is unable to operate this summer. In lieu of the day camp, the 2021 Summer Reading Program will continue to support children’s summer reading skills virtually instead by providing access to books in print and online.
To participate, you will need to register your child(ren) here. Participation is limited to students who reside within the City of College Park. Materials will be provided while supplies last between July 19 and August 6, 2021 and are on a first come, first serve basis. Proof of residency may be required. Support to participating students will be provided by Dr. Ayanna Baccus, Reading Specialist from the University of Maryland.
Each child will receive a Scholastic Summer Book Packet that includes 5-6 books, a journal, an activity sheet, a summer reading postcard, and colored pencils. Packets are packaged individually and organized by grade level, language (English or Spanish), and theme (fiction, informational, STEM, etc.). Additionally, individual EPIC book subscriptions for the remainder of the summer will be provided for each child. The EPIC books website is an online digital library of children’s picture books, trade books, and novels.
This program is made possible through partnership with Maryland National Capital Park and Planning (M-NCPPC). For more information, email families@collegeparkmd.gov.
Update (8/17/2021) The Summer Reading Program Packets are still available at this time and the City will continue promoting the program past the original time frame because we had additional reading packets left. On a first come first serve basis, elementary school residents may receive an online book library subscription and a packet of books and material for their grade level. We anticipate keeping the link open until this Friday.
If residents have questions they may contact families@
| Comments Off on Summer Reading Program to Continue this Week
Comments Off on Summer Reading Program to Continue this WeekAug
12
2021
| Comments Off on Free School Supplies, Backpacks Giveaway
Comments Off on Free School Supplies, Backpacks GiveawayAug
10
2021
We need your help – with ideas on how we can preserve and enhance College Park’s tree canopy.
Tonight, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed tree ordinance. The ordinance is being proposed to address the City’s declining number of tree stock that happened over recent years.
From 2009 to 2018, City’s tree canopy has gone down from 44% to 38%. Based on the declining rate, it’s estimated that the current canopy level is at 37%. This means the City has potentially lost about 43,000 trees between 2009 and now. A small fraction of this loss, unfortunately, was caused by developments (around 2% of total loss). The utility company Pepco also contributed to this loss (around 0.5%) due to their PSC-mandated tree clearance work.
Unfortunately, a vast majority of these losses occurred in the residential neighborhood as can be seen by the tree loss map presented in the 2019 Tree Canopy Assessment report.
Inaction to address the declining loss means the loss will continue and the City may potentially lose another 24,000 trees by 2025.
As part of the City’s 2021-2025 strategic plan, the City Council has set a goal to turn this declining rate of tree stock and add instead 18,000 trees (40% canopy) by 2025. With this goal in mind, the City Council has changed City’s Tree and Landscaping Board (TLB) to come up with a proposal to preserve and enhance City’s tree canopy in the future.
Among several recommendations, the TLB has asked the City to increase the funds for the existing Tree Canopy Enhancement Program (TCEP), and create a new fund called Tree Maintenance Fund (TMF), to help residents with costs associated with tree maintenance and assessment of trees on their properties. TLB also asked to run an intensive educational campaign among residents about the importance of tree preservation and planting and to create a tree registry.
The TLB has also recommended working with the County government to change the tree canopy-related development laws so that the developers must replant trees lost during developments and asked the City to lobby the County so that the residents can take rain check rebates for planting trees on their properties.
Additionally, the TLB studied tree ordinances in other local towns that faced similar issues with declining loss of trees and recommended a tree ordinance. This ordinance includes a proposal to include enforcement and penalties for removing trees greater than 36” in circumference (12” in diameter) or pruning more than 20% of a tree canopy without a permit. The permit program also asks to implement a tree replacement requirement for tree canopy protection policy.
The Council will hold a public hearing on this ordinance at tonight’s meeting, starting at 7:30 pm. If you cannot attend the meeting, please send your comments to the Mayor and Council at cpmc@collegeparkmd.gov before 5 pm today. The City Council will, however, will not vote on this topic tonight. Instead, we’ll have a brief discussion about the next step in the proposed ordinance.
| Comments Off on Please Let us know How we may Preserve and Enhance City’s Tree Canopy
Comments Off on Please Let us know How we may Preserve and Enhance City’s Tree CanopyAug
8
2021
Due to a continued rise in COVID-19 metrics, Prince George’s County will reinstitute an indoor public mask mandate beginning Sunday, August 8 at 5:00 PM. All residents and visitors over the age of 5 will be required to wear masks in all indoor public venues and businesses in Prince George’s County, even if they are fully vaccinated. If you have not been vaccinated, please do so as soon as possible to protect yourself and those around you: mypgc.us/COVIDVaccine
| Comments Off on Prince George’s County to Reinstitute Indoor Public Mask Mandate
Comments Off on Prince George’s County to Reinstitute Indoor Public Mask MandateAug
6
2021
Trees offer so many benefits to our community. Unfortunately, College Park’s tree canopy is going down at an alarming rate. Between 2009 and 2018, we lost about 37,000 trees in College Park. As part of the recent 5-years Strategic Plan, the City Council has decided to reverse this course and increase City’s tree canopy coverage from 38% (in 2018) to 40% in 2025. Please join your Councilmembers from District 1 and 4 this Sunday, at 4 pm for a community conversation on how, as a community, we can reach that goal and make College Park a healthy and attractive community in the future.
when: 4 pm, Sunday, August 8, 2021
Zoom link: https://b.link/CPTreeCanopyTownHall
Join by Phone: (301) 715 – 8592 Meeting ID: 841 0180 7618 Passcode: 126208
| Comments Off on Community Forum on Preserving and Enhancing Tree Canopy in College Park
Comments Off on Community Forum on Preserving and Enhancing Tree Canopy in College ParkAug
5
2021
At last night’s worksession, the College Park City Council kicked off a discussion about the decennial redistricting of College Park.
This year, the census redistricting data will be released in August and then in September, with different formats. In general, the redistricting process could involve the following steps, and could take 9 months:
(a) Discuss whether to re-apportion the districts and if so, developing the charge to the commission, and appoint the members
(b) Data review and public outreach to lead to the development of the number of redistricting proposals requested by the Mayor and Council.
(c) Presentation of options to the Mayor and Council.
(d) Public Hearings on some or all of the proposals.
(e) Selection of the redistricting plan and adoption of an ordinance.
(f) New Council district maps are drawn up.
The Council also discussed the possibility of changing the Council structure. Any change in the structure will need a charter change. The City Charter §C2-2, “Districts” says: “By enactment of an ordinance, the City of College Park shall apportion itself into four council districts. The City shall review its council districts not less than once every 10 years as soon as feasible after the decennial federal census figures are published. There shall be two Council members elected from each district. The qualified voters in each of the districts shall be entitled to vote for two candidates.”
[City of College Park]
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Comments Off on Council Discusses Decennial Redistricting