Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, show that 80% of COVID-19 fatalities are among adults 65 and older, and people with underlying medical conditions are also at the highest risk. This has made shelter-in-place orders particularly important for College Park’s seniors, some of whom are eligible for support from Meals on Wheels of College Park (MWCP).
During the pandemic, MWCP
By Philip Van Slooten
While the city has a small property tax cushion against a $2 million shortfall for Fiscal Year 2021, city officials agree things will worsen, particularly for local businesses, if University of Maryland (UMD) students aren’t able to return in the fall.
Council Member Fazlul Kabir
By SarahJean Harrison
The active volunteers of the Branchville Volunteer Fire Company and Rescue Squad (BVFC) include College Park residents, University of Maryland students, and off-duty firefighters and paramedics. Lillian Hallmark, ambulance driver and EMT, EMT Samaira “Sam” Stewart, and Boris Djiguemde, firefighter and EMT, and many others on their team, have continued to serve the city
during emergencies, despite their risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus every time they respond to a call.
BVFC’s bravery was on display when resident Katy Bernhard Gove was unable to help her mother up after she fell. “They arrived in 8 minutes from when her life alert dispatched them and had her up in 3!” Gove said, adding, “They were very thorough before entering the home, asking about everyone’s symptoms … and had on PPE.” BVFC
has successfully implemented social distancing guidelines while continuing to provide vital services.
College Park residents have answered the call to action during the pandemic in all sorts of unique ways. Take Todd Reitzel, for example. He said that his Christian faith called him to serve, and he began volunteering at the College Park Community Food Bank (CPCFB) last summer. Reitzel said that CPCFB normally
Aglobal pandemic makes for a difficult time to launch a local paper. And like the launch of the College Park Here & Now, everything is difficult at the moment.
Simple activities, from shopping for groceries to a stroll on the trail, have become a source of stress and anxiety. Schools are closed, and our homes have become hubs for survival.
Before the pandemic hit, I imagined writing this debut editorial from one of College Park’s hip gathering places. I pictured myself sitting in The Hall, inspired by the vitality of this new enterprise,
imagining the many ways the paper will be exploring the community we share. Instead, I’m writing this editorial right where I’ve sat for the last eight weeks: my dining room table. At this table, I have homeschooled my kids and tele-taught literature classes for my high school students. And now I am finding new ways to connect the stories of our city to the writers who can tell them.
If circumstances were different, this edition would have focused on the two topics that surveyed residents wanted to read about most: upcoming city events and local business. Then, all of sudden, those events were cancelled, and businesses began to close.
But this inaugural issue of your own community newspaper speaks to our city in the here and now, and is, first and foremost, a tribute to the people of College Park. I hope that their stories — stories of dedication, service and resilience — will comfort and inspire you.
We expect to launch on the web, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy holding these stories in your hands. May they serve as a reminder that there will always be a new page to turn.
And so, from my dining room table to yours. On behalf of the Hyattsville Community Newspaper Inc., its board, our associate editor Nancy Welch, our business manager Chris Currie, our advertis-
ing sales manager Brian Escobar, and our volunteer staff, I am humbled to bring you the College Park Here & Now. Explain your story idea or indicate your interest in writing by emailing Mark at Mark@hyattsvillelife.com and Nancy at Nancy@hyattsvillelife.com. If you are interested in advertising with us, email Chris at Chris@hyattsvillelife.com and Brian at Brian@hyattsvillelife.com.
Mark Goodson is the managing editor of the College Park Here & Now
Whether they’re making candles or concocting homemade hand sanitizer, the six housemates living on the outskirts of the University of Maryland (UMD) are keeping busy during this quarantine.
The residents, who come from around the world, are attempting to balance work, health and hobbies, all while maintaining social distancing guidelines.
Haoluan Wang, a doctoral student from Ningbo, China, is focusing on work and research, and is in frequent touch with his family in China. “They call me every single day to make sure I’m still alive,” Wang said.
Housemate Mario Lopez is from Chicago, Ill., and is pursuing a doctorate in chemistry. Lopez said that he is mostly concerned about the economic impacts of the pandemic in the United States. He spends
A community newspaper chronicling the here and now of College Park
Mailing address: PO Box 132, Hyattsville, MD 20781
The College Park Here & Now is published monthly by Hyattsville Community Newspaper, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Editors welcome reader input, tips, articles, letters, opinion pieces and photographs, which may be submitted using the mailing address above or the email addresses provided.
time researching stock market trends. “Maybe I should have went into finance in my undergrad,” Lopez said.
Lopez began making his own hand sanitizer from alcohol and aloe vera. He has been urging his housemates to stay at home and have groceries delivered weekly instead of going to the store.
Managing Editor Mark Goodson mark@hyattsvillelife.com
Associate Editor Nancy Welch nancy@hyattsvillelife.com
Layout & Design Editor Ashley Perks
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Writers & Contributors Kathy Bryant, Sydney Clark, James Harris, SarahJean Harrison, Alyssa Kraus, Julia Kyles, Eric Maring, Matt Menke, Eric Olson, Anjali Ravi
“If one person gets [the novel coronavirus] in the house, then everybody gets it in the house,” Lopez said. He often informs his roommates about the number of cases across the county. Wang said that he prefers getting his groceries at the store each week so he can select the produce he wants. He also said
Board of Directors
Joseph Gigliotti — President and General Counsel
Chris Currie — Vice President Reva Harris — Treasurer Rosanna Landis Weaver, Gretchen Brodtman, Debra Franklin, T. Carter Ross, Emily Strab Mark Goodson — Ex Officio
Maria D. James — Ex Officio
Circulation: Copies are distributed monthly by U.S. mail to every address in College Park. Additional copies are distributed to popular gathering spots around town.
Total circulation is 9,600.
CPH&N is a member of the National Newspaper Association.
going to the grocery store is cheaper than having food delivered.
Jacques De Beer, a doctoral student and South African native, said he’s spending time during the quarantine chatting on Skype with his family. He worries about them, he said, because his parents are in a high-risk category for fatality from due to COVID-19. His family had originally planned on visiting him in May and again in August, but they’ve cancelled their plans to keep everyone safe. De Beer said he thinks it could be up to a year before it is safe for him to visit his family.
Nika Jurov, a doctoral candidate in linguistics at UMD, was planning on going home to Celje, Slovenia in May. But global travel restrictions prompted her to return home earlier. She’s currently completing her doctoral work online from her fam-
ily’s home in Slovenia.
“I will be back as soon as they open the borders again,” Jurov said. “But [when that will be] is something that I just don’t know.” She added that quarantine restrictions and the isolation factor of online classes have been difficult for her due to the lack of social interaction. Jurov said, “We’re all doing it to help society, but I don’t think it’s psychologically healthy for anyone at all.”
For Joey Willi, a fire protection engineer from Peoria, Ill., the hardest part of adapting to stay-at-home orders has been managing work productivity at home. Willi, a UMD alumnus, has been keeping busy by making candles in mason jars and coffee mugs.
Willi plans to grow out his beard during quarantine as a “way to track how many days have gone by,” he said. He added that spending more time with his dog has been a real highlight of the quarantine.
Having a dog in the house has not been a highlight for Anouk Dieuleveut, though, as she’s allergic to them. Dieuleveut said that she almost never goes downstairs because Willi keeps his dog on the house’s lower level. Aside from having to cope with her dog allergy, Dieuleveut, a linguistics student pursuing her doctorate at the university, noted that having a house full of roommates has helped her cope with the stress of quarantine. She’s from Riom, France, and said that being away from family can be difficult.
“Having a virtual interaction, you don’t see the eyes of people. You don’t hear their real voice,” she said. “Having [people] around is so important.”
It’s a good thing she has housemates, and busy ones, at that.
COVID-19 began to hit the state hard in mid-March. In response, University of Maryland (UMD) President Wallace D. Loh launched virtual learning on March 30, and everyone in the UMD community has been working to find a way to finish out the year.
Many students have contacted the UMD Student Crisis Fund for financial assistance. Hafsa Siddiqi, media relations manager for the Office of Strategic Communications, wrote in a March 30 email that the university is receiving an average of “70 desperate requests a day, with a record 231 flooding the office on March 20.”
“As of April 3rd, we have received 1,580 applications related to needs from the CO-
VID-19 pandemic, and we have approved 979 awards, totaling $455,958,” Sarah Williamson, coordinator with the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, said.
According to Williamson, disbursing awards typically takes two to five business days. She reported that the number of requests has not affected disbursement time. Williamson also said that the amount of each award is based on the needs described in each student’s application.
On March 25, the fund launched a campaign seeking donations from UMD alumni, faculty, staff and other supporters. Williamson reported that this effort has raised more than $226,779.
Alisa Abadinsky, associate controller for the Office of Stu-dent Financial Services and Cashiering, said in an April 6 letter that the university would credit back a portion of student fees for the Spring 2020 semester, including “campus housing, board, parking permit and mandatory fees.” (Abadinsky’s letter is available at billpay. umd.edu.) Students have the option of receiving prorated credits as a refund or may apply them to a future term, according to Abadinsky.
Mary Ann Rankin, senior vice president and university provost, announced in a March 27 email that graduate courses offered this semester will be graded as satisfactory/fail by default unless a student opts to receive a letter grade. Undergraduates will receive a pass/fail grading.
Rankin sent a follow-up email on April 17 noting the website (app.testudo.umd.edu) where students can opt for letter grades for any of their courses.
In an April 20 email to the UMD community, Loh described the university’s three-part plan to honor 2020 graduates.
The university will host a virtual commencement ceremony on May 22 featuring an address by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and including remarks by graduating students. Spring 2020 graduates will also receive tickets to a home game (scheduled for Sept. 12). Finally, Spring 2020 graduates may participate in the winter commencement, which is scheduled to take place on Dec. 20.
Loh wrote that events for the fall semester “depend on decisions by state officials that the pandemic has abated sufficiently so that schools can be re-opened and large public gatherings can be held safely.”
Loh also announced that all graduates will receive care packages, which will include the official commencement program. Undergraduate seniors will also receive a cap and tassel.
Maiasia Grimes, a creative writing graduate student and teaching assistant, said that she is happy that UMD is crediting
fees to students.
“I was happier for the undergrads than I am for me because I don’t pay for room and board,” she said. “It’s good to know the school is caring for the students in that way.”
Grimes also said that she would like to see UMD promote its resources — the food pantry, the UMD Student Crisis Fund, the health center and counseling services — more aggressively.
Senior Venida Fagan is a behavioral and community health major and is on the UMD track team. Fagan said it was hard to accept that her final year on the team has been cut short because of COVID-19.
“I never got to finish it up and run that last race with my teammates,” she said.
She also said she lost a family member during the crisis, but due to travel restrictions and safety concerns, she and her family haven’t been able to gather for traditional mourning.
Fagan, however, remains hopeful.
“I know this won’t last forever, and that’s the silver lining of all of this,” she said. “I think this whole experience has reminded me to cherish every moment, because COVID-19 has shown us that everything can change so quickly.”
On April 28, Loh wrote in an email to the university community that UMD is planning for a gradual and “phased reopening of the physical campus after receiving guidance from the state.” Loh added that there isn’t yet a set date for when the campus will reopen. University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay Perman formed an advisory group to assist with reopening efforts.
Three task forces have been created to guide the university’s reopening: health and safety planning, fiscal planning, and human resources planning. Four additional work groups are being established to oversee moving forward with research, education, student life and university athletics.
On April 28, University of Maryland President Loh wrote in an email to the university community that UMD is planning for a gradual and “phased reopening of the physical campus after receiving guidance from the state.”A child visits a vacant campus to meet her favorite muppet. COURTESY OF MIRANDA GOODSON.
David Driskell was eighty-nine when he passed away on April 1, a victim of COVID-19. What a life for a young man from northeastern Georgia and western North Carolina, who went to Howard University without money to pay tuition and with little knowledge about how colleges operate. That he became an accomplished student was almost as impressive as his becoming a prominent artist.
David was living proof that you can do whatever you want if you want it badly enough and stay true to your goals.
David’s talent took him a long way. Obituaries will honor the details of his life, but I would like to focus on his life as an artist. I have no idea how many pieces of art David brought into being, but it was a large number. When I was dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, I heard David introduced as a black artist. He didn’t agree with such introductions,
though. He explained to me that it’s not that simple. He said that he was an artist and black, and that some of his themes focused on that experience. But many of his themes did not. I believe David was an American artist as much as he was an African American artist. He painted an American experience as much as he painted an African American experience. He made it clear to me, both directly and through his work, that being black was itself being American.
It was, I believe, painful to David to see the way he and his art were presented to the world. He was often described as a painter of the black experience. And while he was a black man in America, he worked hard to show that his experience was a natural and integrated element of the American experience. I think David’s ability to think of himself in an expansive way
allowed him to attract so many fans and followers. David was a magnet, and he drew human talent, including fellow artists, to College Park. He donated a significant amount of his work, as well as the works of other U. S. artists, to the university. These donations helped create the Driskell Center, which offers enrichment to students, faculty and guests from all walks of life. I am not an artist, but David taught me to appreciate the power of art. His work hangs on my walls as a reminder of that. His work and the legacy it represents are waiting for you, too. Even as David is no longer with us, the Driskell Center will live on as a tribute to his talent, to his warmth and generosity, and to his life. The university is fortunate to have enjoyed an artist so filled with sensitivity and sheer talent.
His passing is our loss, a grievous one. And while the center that bears David’s name is currently closed due to the same virus that took his life, it will reopen. And when it does, I encourage everybody to visit and learn about the man who meant so much to so many.
The Driskell Center is located at 1214 Cole Student Activities Building at the University of Maryland. While the center is closed, you can reach staff by email: DriskellCenter@UMD.edu.
Professor Harris specialized in German history and wrote two monographs, edited two collections and wrote several articles about Germany during the 19th century. He became Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities in 1997.
The COVID-19 public health emergency has required College Park’s business owners to make many changes to stay operational. And the experience of responding to the emergency has some businesses mulling permanent changes to the way they interact with customers and clients.
The epidemic impacted local fitness studios even before Gov. Larry Hogan issued the March 16 order requiring them to close.
Kelsey Starr, founder of Numi Yoga, voluntarily closed her studio as of March 14 and offered Numi’s first livestreamed classes on the evening of March 16.
“It is certainly a different experience, but I think the teachings of yoga can still move through words,” Starr says.
OpenBarre posted its first virtual class on March 18, says studio owner Lauren Filocco. However, she and other teachers at the studio started to record workout sessions a week and a half before Gov. Hogan’s order.
“It’s definitely presented some new challenges that we hadn’t hoped to have to deal with, but what can you do besides prepare and pivot as things change?” Filocco says.
OpenBarre now offers a combination of prerecorded classes to allow people to take sessions at their convenience, and livestreamed classes to “maintain the strong community we care so much about,” she says.
Posh Cycling and Fitness is another local studio that did not offer online classes before the March 16 order. Posh quickly pivoted, though, and has offered a variety of spinning and other workout classes since March 18.
And owner Mel Blain put a
new spin on her switch to online classes: “I decided to rent out my spinning bikes.”
The decision created additional challenges, though, as Blain had to retain a lawyer to draw up a contract and work out the logistics of delivering bikes in a way that minimized contact. The legal expense was worth it; Blain wanted to help her clients maintain their fitness goals and give them a way to enjoy themselves.
Psychotherapist and College Park resident Sheila Ishii says that her use of telemedicine, prior to the pandemic, was restricted to rare telephone appointments with established patients.
Ishii, who is the executive director of Ellicott City’s Metro Maryland Counseling Center, compares the stress of selecting and learning to use a video platform to the challenges of her early days as a licensed therapist. However, Ishii needed to sustain the work of her ongoing therapy groups. As she says, “This work can’t just stop and pick up again later.” She learned how to use the plat-
form with individual clients before she began using it with her groups.
It’s not a perfect substitute for face-to-face counseling, Ishii says. Lighting and audio connections can affect her ability to see changes in facial expressions or hear shifts in tone. But video telemedicine gives her clients a needed connection and sense of security.
“They ... are in desperate need of connection in this time of uncertainty. For that, I am very grateful for telemedicine via videoconferencing,” Ishii adds, noting that we all need connections, and now more than ever.
Maryland’s bicycle shops were deemed essential businesses, thanks to advocacy by state bicycle groups, says Laurie Lemieux, co-owner of Proteus Bicycles. Larry Black, founder of College Park Bicycles, says out-
door biking “is a perfect activity for physical distancing.”
But while local bike shops have been busier than usual, they’re not experiencing business as usual. Customers who bring bikes for repair must wipe them down and come pick them up as soon as they’re ready, Black says.
Lemieux, a retired nurse practitioner, has also implemented several protocols to protect
Proteus’s clients and employees, including a two-person limit on the number of customers allowed in the store.
“It’s a really weird business model when you’re trying to keep people out of the store,” Lemieux observes.
Bike shops are seeing an uptick in repairs, and more people have been scheduling test rides and shopping online. The rapid increase in online sales has meant that employees are spending more time managing the online inventory, Lemieux says.
While business owners wait for a return to a more normal way of life, some of the changes they have made during the pandemic may become permanent. Even after they reopen, fitness studios may continue to offer online classes, and Proteus is looking at ways to improve the interface between its online store and brickand-mortar store, Lemieux says.
Some changes will take place not just online but in the real world, too. Proteus was working on plans for a coffee bar before the pandemic. “It has stalled, but rest assured, we’ll have that going once this is over,” Lemieux says.
Of the many goals people have envisioned for College Park over the years, perhaps the most prevalent is that of a city teeming with thriving, independent businesses. In many ways, that’s the postcard image of a college town, be it Boulder or Burlington, Chapel Hill or Charlottesville, or the many other communities that come to mind when we think of great college towns. There are ample opportunities in these lively towns to walk, bike and stroll, pop in and out of small businesses, challenge your taste buds, experience live music, and appreciate art and the natural environment.
College Park has offered us all of these experiences for many years. In 2011, the city and university agreed on a new plan, the “2020 University District Vision,” that established a blueprint for shared progress.
The agreement focused on a number of goals, including improving walkability and bike access, establishing Baltimore Avenue as more of a “Main Street,” and working to increase public transportation.
It included strategies for more university employees to live locally and support the community, and for improvements to public safety and pre-K through 12 education. The 2020 Vision plan also promoted a more sustainable future.
Back in 2011, 63% of College Park businesses were independent. Like so many other university communities, College Park was dominated not by large, national retailers, but by small businesses and family-run establishments whose owners put years of sweat equity and financial risk into their own American dreams.
Back in 2011, the 2020 Vision plan sought to maintain the percentage of independent busi-
nesses in College Park for the next nine years. Now that we are in the year 2020, we have been assessing our progress.
Not only has College Park maintained its balance of small businesses, but, as it turns out, we set our sights too low. We have exceeded expectations, and the percentage of locally owned businesses in the city now stands at 67%.
This growth includes a wave of 50 new businesses that have opened since 2011, 75% of which are local, independent retailers and restaurants including: OpenBarre Studios, Numi Yoga, Posh Cycling and Fitness, The Board and Brew, NuVegan Café, Vigilante Coffee, Zhang’s Noodles, LaTao Hot Pot, Bagels and Grinds, Taqueria Habanero, The Hall — and many more.
They join the roster of College Park’s long-time small businesses like Stripe 3 Adidas, Proteus Bicycles, College Park Bicycles, Wood’s Flowers and Gifts, MOM’s Organic Market, The Bagel Place, and Smile Herb Shoppe. We are fortunate to have these, and so many more small businesses, in the city.
Yet for all this progress, College Park’s business community now faces its greatest threat.
As the novel coronavirus has spread, actions required to slow this pandemic have upended our familiar commerce. University
students have gone home, faculty and staff are working remotely, and nonessential businesses have had to close their doors.
Restaurants that traditionally enjoy their highest grossing months in the spring cannot serve sit-down meals, though many have remained open for takeout.
I’ve spoken with business owners who are distraught about having to lay off staff, who are going without income themselves and who are having to choose which bills to pay. They have inventory that is not producing income, and have to consider taking out loans as they face an uncertain future.
What can we do to help our College Park businesses? We cannot possibly replace all the sales they would have otherwise recorded. But we can help build a bridge by purchasing gift cards, ordering takeout, and supporting them in other ways.
Some businesses have pivoted so customers can make purchases online, and others have set up GoFundMe pages to support their staff.
The College Park City-University Partnership has compiled a list of our local businesses that includes restaurants that are still taking orders, and information about businesses offering gift cards and online purchasing is also included. The list is on our website at collegeparkpartnership.org.
Our community — indeed, our society as a whole — will experience change as we emerge from the pandemic. Some jobs may not come back, and some businesses may not survive.
For those who are able, now is a great time to join that yoga or fitness class from the place around the corner that’s taken their business online.
It would mean so much to the owners of our favorite restaurants if we order more carryout, and to hair salons if we purchase gift cards.
Our small business owners have collectively spent many decades making College Park a better place. Let’s support them now, so that someday — hopefully in the not-too-distant future, when things return to a new normal — the businesses that we love and that are unique to College Park will still be here. We can help keep the vitality of College Park alive, even if the streets and sidewalks this spring aren’t bustling with the activity we all treasure.
OlsonOur small business owners have collectively spent many decades making College Park a better place. Let’s support them now so that someday, the businesses we love will still be here.Many small businesses, including Potomac Pizza, have made an extra effort to service the city during this crisis. MARK GOODSON
On March 30, 2020, Governor Larry Hogan issued an executive order requiring all Marylanders to stayat-home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Since then, many residents have had to adjust to the new temporary normal of working and schooling from home, drastically limiting their contact with the outside world, wearing masks to grocery and other retail stores, and using online means to connect with friends and family. is e ort to lower the infection rate and to atten the curve of infections, while may seem di cult, is necessary to reduce the number of deaths and illnesses caused by this disease.
e City thanks its residents for their cooperation with all these new changes and their resiliency in the ght against COVID-19. We have also seen tremendous generosity with many residents volunteering and donating food and essential items to our more vulnerable members of the community. e College Park community spirit is strong and has
never been demonstrated so well as in the past weeks.
e City of College Park government has taken numerous actions to protect its residents and its sta in accordance with county and state mandates and guidance. With updated state and county orders coming weekly if not daily, the City has created a dedicated COVID-19 website at www.collegeparkmd.gov/covid19 with all the latest information and resources for our City residents. All City updates, notices, changes and more are on that website as are state and county updates, and lots of resources for small businesses, unemployed members of our community, and residents to volunteer or to patronize essential businesses that are still open.
For the latest City updates and information, please visit www.collegeparkmd.gov/covid19.
e City has closed all City buildings and facilities to the public. is
includes City playgrounds, tot lots, t lots, recreational facilities, and ball courts. Trails and parks are open. Residents are encouraged to use trails and parks as long as they follow social distancing guidelines of staying six feet away from others. Seniors Program activities, community meetings, and City events have been suspended until further notice. e City’s Memorial Day Tribute and e City’s 75th Anniversary Parade and Festival have been canceled. A virtual 75th Anniversary contest will be held. All Department of Youth, Family & Senior Services group meetings have been suspended, including the Lakeland STARs tutoring program, Hispanic Parent Support Group, and therapist-led school groups.
Please note notary services, as well as issuance of parking permits and animal licenses have been suspended until further notice.
Animal Control, exterior code enforcement, and City parking enforcement continues. Residents
may park for free in City maintained lots, metered City streets, and in the Downtown Parking Garage to support local businesses that are open.
Regular trash, recycling, bulk trash, and yard waste collection continues. Residents should call the Department of Public Works at 240-487-3590 or email publicworks@collegeparkmd. gov to schedule an appointment prior to putting their woody yard waste, brush, or bulk items out for collection. Bulk item drop-o s at Davis Hall have ended.
Compost self-service (customers shoveling their own product) has resumed. Compost costs $28 per cubic yard and wood mulch is $12 per cubic yard. Please call the Department of Public Works (o ce hours are 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.) prior to coming as availability may vary and to prepay by credit card. All customers must call ahead prior to entering the yard, wear a mask and
COVID-19 continued on next page...
follow social distancing guidelines. Deliveries are available on a limited basis and can be arranged for an additional fee; to request a delivery, visit www.collegeparkmd.gov/ compostdeliveryrequest.
For electronics and white goods collection, residents should call the Department of Public Works at 240487-3590 or email publicworks@ collegeparkmd.gov to schedule an appointment. Please note there is a charge of $20 per item for pickup. Up to three (3) electronic items may also be dropped o at Davis Hall for free Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. near the entrance of the front door to Davis Hall. Customers must ID for proof of residency.
Mayor and Council meetings will be held virtually until further notice. Visit the City’s website at www.collegeparkmd.gov/covid19 or www.collegeparkmd.gov/ councilmeetings for the updated link and call-in number to watch or provide public comment during the meeting.
Monthly City Board and Committee Meetings may be held virtually if needed. e committee chair should contact the City Clerk’s o ce at 240-487-3501 or
cityclerkoffice@collegeparkmd. gov for more information.
e following services can be conducted online, via email, and/or by phone: meetings or consultations with City sta , Department of Youth, Family & Senior Services case management and client meetings, application and processing for City building permits, variance and departures, homeownership grants, Business Assistance grants, and chain-link fence grants.
e following services can be conducted anytime online, or on Tuesdays and ursdays between 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. by phone (240-487-3509) with a credit card: parking ticket payments, personal property tax payments, refuse collection payments, payment for speed camera citations, CDMA and liquor license payments, occupancy permit payments (phone only), building permit payments (phone only), and payment of municipal infraction (phone only).
Please not that only credit card transactions and checks arriving by mail can be processed at this time. No cash transactions can be processed until further
notice. For any nance related questions including payment questions, please email nance@ collegeparkmd.gov or call 240-4873509.
City sta in all departments will continue to process and respond to email and phone calls remotely. For contact information for all departments, please visit the City’s website. Many of the City’s services can still be conducted online on our website or via phone.
rough this di cult time, we will work together and get through it. We appreciate the understanding and support of our Mayor and Council, sta and, residents.
For all COVID-19 related City information, please visit the City’s dedicated COVID-19 webpage at www.collegeparkmd.gov/covid19. ere you can nd a directory of open College Park businesses, as well as resources and information for residents and local businesses.
Please sign up for the City’s emails (www.collegeparkmd. gov/cpconnect) and follow the City’s Facebook (www.fb.com/ collegeparkmd) and Twitter (@ collegepark_md) for the latest and most up-to-date City news.
For a directory of College Park Businesses that are open during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit www.collegeparkmd.gov/covid19#openbusinesses.
More information about local resources and volunteer opportunities can also be found at www.collegeparkmd.gov/covid19.
In January 2020, the Mayor and Council adopted Ordinance 20O-01 which made changes to the collection of Bulk and Special Trash for the City of College Park. It prohibits placement of materials at properties that did not generate the materials; updates fees for collection and fees for Refuse, Recycling and Yard Waste receptacles; and updates penalties for violations.
Previously, residents could make appointments for bulk trash pickup and were only charged for tires ($4 per tire) and for appliance pickup ($35 per subsequent appliance pickup that contained refrigerant), although the rst appliance pickup per calendar year was free. Appliances that did not contain any refrigerant were picked up at no charge.
E ective May 1, 2020 and until further notice, there will be a $20 charge for all appliances, televisions and monitors. Other items such as furniture, mattresses (wrapped in plastic) and large bulky items, will be tracked but not charged for pickup.
Bulk and Special Trash will continue to be collected on ursdays and Fridays, so residents are encouraged to call early in the week to assure a date for pickup. Do not place items at the curb until you have scheduled an appointment. Appointments will be scheduled on a rst-call rst-serve basis.
Your items should be at the curb by 7 a.m. on your scheduled collection day. For more information and/ or to schedule an appointment, you can contact the Department of Public Works via email at publicworks@collegeparkmd.gov or by phone at 240-487-3590.
e City recently introduced its latest Budget Ordinance which incorporates the FY2021 Proposed Budgets for the City’s General Fund, Capital Projects Fund and Debt Service Fund to Mayor and Council. Here is a brief overview of the revised budget including changes from the March 28 budget worksession, provisions for impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, and other changes recommended by the City Manager. Public hearings on the proposed budget and the constant yield tax rate are scheduled for May 12, 2020.
e e ects of COVID-19 on businesses and local government are still unknown and trying to make projections is challenging as the widespread hits to various revenues and increased expenditures simply cannot be determined. However, with input from various resources, the City has attempted to do so with this budget. Revenue projections have been reduced by over $2 million - in FY2020 ($922,000 reduction) and FY2021 ($1,022,000 million). Additional contingency of $150,000 has been added to the FY2021 budget to bring the total to $250,000 to provide for possible relief e orts for the pandemic.
e total General Fund proposed budget, as originally presented in March, has been reduced by $1.85 million, from $23.32 million, to $21.47 million, primarily a result of providing for nancial e ects from COVID-19. is is comprised of $20,354,000 for departmental expenses, contingency and transfers for capital projects and debt service; and a transfer of $1,117,000 of fund balance in excess of the 25% retention goal to the CIP. Excluding the excess fund balance transfer, this is a decrease of $534,000 or 2.6% compared to the FY2020 budget.
Departmental expenditures have been reduced by $488,000; transfer to the Capital Project Fund has decreased by $1.1 million; and transfer to the Debt Service Fund has increased $900,000 to provide for payments on the new 2019 GO Bonds (for City Hall and Duvall Field).
e decreases in proposed departmental expenditures are attributable to a number of expense reductions in FY2021. Many of these reductions were from non-routine costs included
The average tax rate for municipalities in Prince George’s County is 57.46/$100. The following table shows the current rates of municipalities in Prince George’s County:
in the FY2020 budget (such as a 5-year Strategic Plan; Election costs; Inspection/Permitting Feasibility Study; and electronic les management costs) which are not required in FY2021 and a reduction in healthcare costs for FY2021. Proposed increases in salaries and wages for FY2021 for the most part were o set by the reduction of Tier 2 sick leave payouts that were completed in FY2020.
e General Fund, by City Code, has a retention goal of 25% of the next year’s expenditures of unassigned fund balance. Based on current projections the FY2020 unassigned fund balance would increase to 39% of FY2021 proposed expenditures, exceeding the retention goal.
e FY2021 budget proposes a transfer of the excess of unassigned fund balance in excess of the 25% retention requirement, calculated at $1.17 million. is number will change when nal numbers are known for FY2020, so the proposal recommends waiting to calculate the actual amount of the transfer after the completion of the FY2020 audit. e transfer would not exceed the $1.17 million in the proposed budget but could be less. e transfer is not proposed to be used for capital in FY2021 but to be available in future years when needed.
General Property Tax is the largest single source of revenue for the City – 50% of total revenue.
e State calculates a Constant Yield Tax Rate (CYTR) for every taxing authority in Maryland. at CYTR represents the Real Property Tax Rate for the next tax year (FY2021) that will generate
the same amount of revenue that was generated during the current tax year (FY2020). Typically, as assessments increase, the CYTR decreases. If the City sets a rate higher than the CYTR, even if it is the same rate as the prior year, it must be advertised with a public hearing. For FY2021, the City’s CYTR is $0.3148 per $100 of assessed value (31.48 cents).
e FY2021 proposed budget presents a balanced budget with a tax rate of $0.325 (32.5 cents), the current property tax rate. Due to large capital projects such as City Hall, Duvall Field, Hollywood Streetscape, the College Park Woods community meeting space, Complete Streets and sidewalk development, and a dog park, a decrease in the tax rate to the constant yield rate is not recommended.
Providing municipal services is a labor-intensive endeavor. Personnel costs are $11.75 million for FY2021, 64% of departmental expenditures, a 1.6% decrease compared to FY2020.
e decrease is due to the net e ect of increases for cost of living adjustments, merit increases, and certain position reclassi cations combined with decreases in healthcare costs and payouts for Tier 2 sick leave that were completed in FY2020.
FY2020 capital expenditure requests total $18.57 million, with the General Fund providing $2.05 million of that total and the remainder coming from State funds/grants, developer contributions and other sources.
e largest capital expenditure is for the construction of the new City Hall. In October 2019 the old City Hall was vacated in preparation of demolition. e new City Hall will be built on the existing site. City administrative o ces have been temporarily relocated to 8400 Baltimore Ave. until completion of the new building.
e majority of the City’s portion of the costs are being nanced by sale of the 2019 GO Public Improvement Bonds in October 2019, which provided $12.5 million for new City Hall and $5 million for Duvall Field renovations and improvements. e City also has $5.6 million set aside since 2012 (CIP Project #041003). Some of those funds have been used to purchase the Baltimore Avenue frontage property that will be part of the site and cover other preliminary costs such as relocation, planning and design.
Besides the $16.37 million 2019 GO Public Improvement Bonds, other City long-term debt includes the 2015 Parking Garage Bond, (balance of $5.56 million) and a $300,000 Community Legacy loan. Debt service of $560,000 on the Garage Bond and $150,000 for the Community Legacy loan will be paid from available reserves of the Debt Service Fund. e debt service for the 2019 GO Bond of $900,700 will be funded by a transfer from the General Fund to the Debt Service Fund.
CALENDAR (Virtual Meetings)
May 12 – Public Hearings on the Budget & Constant Yield Tax Rate
May 19 – Budget Worksession, if needed
May 26 – Adoption of Budget Ordinance
$18,500. at is how much money Prince George’s County loses out on for every resident that does not ll out a census questionnaire over a ten-year period. And that’s not everything; an accurate census count determines political representation at all levels of government, funding for schools and infrastructure and so much more for our community.
“College Park relies on an accurate count in the decennial census to ensure that we have the resources needed to serve our city’s growing population” says City of College Park Mayor Patrick L. Wojahn. “Our community is diverse and has a diverse range of needs, and as we partner with Prince George’s County, the State of Maryland and the federal government to serve that population, it is critical that we have a full understanding of its size and diversity.”
During times of crisis, census data is used to allocate emergency resources, map out needs of the community and plan for health care utilization. Without an accurate count, our community runs the risk of being underserved.
“More than ever we need to do everything we can to help these hard to count communities to be counted on this 2020 Census” says Gloria Aparicio Blackwell, Director of the O ce of Community Engagement at the University of Maryland, “we are all in this together!”
Ms. Blackwell also points out that it is no accident that zip codes in College Park and Prince George’s County experiencing increased death rates due to COVID-19 are the same ones that do not get their
Are you interested in, or have a background in, ecology, native plants, garden communities and nature? Is protecting pollinator populations important to you? Would you like to volunteer to serve your community?
A new committee is being formed to enhance community awareness of urban pollinators in the City of College Park.
e Committee will follow the guidelines established by Bee City USA to maintain the City’s a liation with this organization.
e Committee will:
• Celebrate National Pollinator Week in June, by holding educational events or installing or restoring pollinator habitats.
• Develop material about pollinator preservation for the City website.
• Create reports of pollinatorfriendly activities and accomplishments, native plant species list and recommended suppliers, and development of an integrated pest management plan.
• Install and maintain at
least one authorized Bee City USA street sign in a prominent location
• Develop and implement a pollinator-friendly habitat program and recommend improvements to City policies and practices as they relate to pollinator conservation.
• Renew Bee City USA certi cation annually by providing a report of the previous year’s activities and accomplishments.
• Create an annual work plan and submit a year end report of activities and accomplishments to the Mayor and Council.
e Committee will consist of no more than 9 members who either live or work in the City of College Park. A sta liaison from the Department of Public Works will support the Committee to accomplish the requirements of Bee City USA.
If you are interested in joining this new committee, please contact the City Clerk’s O ce at 240-487-3501 or cityclerko ce@ collegeparkmd.gov.
fair share of resources allocated through census data.
College Park has historically been undercounted in the census and will continue to lose out on resources if we all do not do our part and ll out the census form. In 2010, the response rate for College Park was only 49%, and as of publication currently is only 39.7%. One of the biggest challenges for College Park is counting the number of student households that live in o -campus housing says Terry Schum, the City’s Director
of Planning, Community & Economic Development. Like any other household, someone in the house needs to take responsibility for completing the census form including information from all roommates. e City’s Complete Count Committee is exploring ways to ensure that this happens and has student housing landlords among its membership. As a college town, the City runs a higher risk of being undercounted again so both City and State resources are being used for outreach e orts.
Just completing your census form (online, via mail or phone) is a way you can give back to your community and ensure College Park gets its fair share of resources for the next 10 years. Every resident, regardless of immigration status or tax ling status should be counted. College students who reside in the City during the normal school year should complete the form using their College Park address.
For more information about the City’s e orts in getting a complete count visit: collegeparkmd.gov/ census2020, to ll out your census go to my2020census.gov.
e City of College Park is updating its strategic plan and will hold a series of meetings with residents to obtain input on the development of this important road map for the City.
ese meetings will be held on Saturday June 6, June 20, and June 27. Due to COVID-19, the meetings will likely be held virtually. ere
will be nine sessions with up to eight participants in each onehour session. For residents unable to participate in the meetings, there will also be an opportunity to complete a brief survey. Please check the City website, Weekly Bulletin, College Park Connected, and the City’s social media pages for details on how to participate.
Join the City of College Park’s Committee for a Better Environment for this virtual twohour workshop, on May 30 from 10:00 a.m. until noon via Zoom Meetings.
Over the course of 5 years of rigorous scienti c research, Project Drawdown identi ed and modeled the 100 most substantive, already existing solutions for addressing global warming and revealed astounding news: that it is possible not just to slow global warming, but to actually reverse it by 2050.
e workshop material is provided by the Pachamama Alliance and includes video clips of Paul Hawken.
Registration is required and attendance is limited; the workshop starts promptly at 10 a.m. Register at https://projectdrawdowndmv. eventbrite.com.
For more information, contact: Todd Larsen, Chair of the College Park Committee for a Better Environment, toddlarsen_99@ yahoo.com
All information is current as of May 9.
Helpful websites
The Centers for Disease Control coronavirus website: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus
Maryland Department of Health: health.maryland.gov/ coronavirus
Prince George’s County Department of Health: health. mypgc.us/coronavirus
Hotlines
Prince George’s County Health Department Coronavirus Hotline (8 a.m. - 8 p.m.): 301.883.6627
Maryland’s Helpline is available 24 hours/7 days a week to callers in need of crisis intervention, risk assessment for suicide, homicide or overdose prevention, support, guidance, and information or linkage to community behavioral health providers. Call 211, option 1 or text the word HOME to 741741
Maryland Resources for Businesses and Employers: 410.767.6500
Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation: 301.583.4650
Employ Prince George’s Inc. COVID-19 Hourly Employee Relief Fund: www.employpg. org/covid19 or 301.618.8445
Food resources in the county: www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/3424/Food-Pantry-Locations or 301.909.6343
For updates on the City of College Park’s response to COVID-19 and a list of resources, go to www.collegeparkmd.gov/ covid19 or call 240.48.3500
College Park City-University Partnership: For information about local business support and resources, go to www. collegeparkpartnership.org
UMD’s Crisis Fund supports students in financial distress. To apply for aid, go to www. crisisfund.umd.edu/gethelp. html; to donate, go to www. crisisfund.umd.edu
Graduate students with questions can go to gradschool.umd.edu for guidance and FAQs
Fee credit information: Email billtalk@umd.edu
UMD Campus Food Pantry: campuspantry.umd.edu
For more about online education and connection opportunities, visit Alum Lance Goldman’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/
Meals on Wheels of the College Park Area: 301.474.1002
Prince George’s County food pantries (searchable map): www.princegeorgescountymd. gov/1679/Food-Assistance or call 301.909.6343
Rotary International has organized volunteers throughout the DMV to help individuals who are in need of groceries and/or medication but are unable to leave home. Call 240.781.6586 for more information.
Posh Cycling & Fitness. Free courses listed on Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pg/ poshcyclingandfitness
OpenBarre online courses. Streaming for $15/month. View the schedule and find out more at www.openbarrestudios.com/ online.
Numi Yoga. Courses through Zoom for a low drop-in fee. Find out more and sign up at www.numiyoga.com/schedule.
Orangetheory Fitness. Daily classes online at www.orangetheory.com/en-us/athome
Adult chair yoga for all bodies, all ages, all levels. Simple yoga movements to increase resilience, improve fitness and promote mindfulness; no experience necessary. Classes taught by Amalie Malochée, RYT 200, CPR-AED certified. $25 for 5 weekly sessions. For more information and to register, email yogiamalie@gmail.com
Prince George’s County Memorial Library System is offering a wide variety of online programs for children, teens and adults. For more information, go to www.pgcmls.info
College Park Arts Exchange is offering interactive arts opportunities online, including a creative writing class starting on Sat., May 16 at 10 a.m. and a book club meeting on May 19 from 7 - 8:30 p.m. For information and schedules visit cpae. org/arts
Join College Park’s own Eric Maring’s singalongs for children and livestreamed concerts (Saturdays at 9 p.m.) at maringmusic.com
To help make and donate masks, go to www.route1maskmatch.org and www.weneedmasks.org
By Kathy Bryant
Back in the 1960s, trails ran through the woods along the railroad tracks and the adjacent hidden wetland behind Columbia Avenue in Old Town. In recent years, the wetland became the Sentinel Swamp Sanctuary or “primordial swamp,” as some neighbors like to call it, and the neighboring property has become a tot lot and community garden.
One deceased resident, Emily Bryant, remembered that water always ran along the railroad tracks. She used to say that the water came when the railroad tracks were built in the 1800s. In recent years, the water has increased and now attracts gold crowned herons, blue herons, ducks, geese and frogs.
According to a member of the Audubon Society, this water was part of a wetland and the historic Hollywood magnolia bog that runs from Laurel down to Charles County. Many of the bogs in Prince George’s County have been destroyed by development, but this wetland in Old Town remains.
At some point, the wetland became a trash magnet. In 2015, now retired College Park Code Enforcement Officer Robert Cofske got a call from an upset Calvert Hills mother at the tot lot who thought all the trash at the wetland was a health hazard for her young child. Cofske took a personal interest in this and managed to add the cleanup to the project list for the annual Good Neighbor Day conducted by the University of Maryland and the City of College Park. He contacted Andrew Baldwin, Ph.D., Department of Environmental Science and Technology, who enlisted his senior capstone students to clean up the wetland, dig up invasive species and plant natives along the wetland’s edge.
During their first cleanup, the students pulled out a shopping cart, a mattress, a tent, and tons of red cups and bottles. Much of the trash had washed down College Avenue and into the swamp during rains. Those students came up with the designation Sentinel Swamp Sanctuary. They used the word sentinel because they hoped the property could be used as a site where the community could be involved in detecting long-term environmental changes. They chose the word sanctuary to emphasize its function as a refuge for plants and animals.
According to Dr. Baldwin, the property provides important ecosystem functions, including storing floodwater, improving water, and providing and protecting habitat. In a May 2015 site visit with Cofske, Baldwin wrote that the swamp held runoff water during storms. “The neighborhood east of Columbia Avenue slopes downward toward
the wetland, and Mr. Cofske noted that large volumes of runoff flow down into the wetland, much of it along College Avenue and Norwich. This also brings trash into the wetland. However, the water is then stored and slowly released or pumped to downstream streams (likely to be Paint Branch). By holding the water, the wetland is reducing flood water peak flows in Paint Branch, helping to reduce hazardous conditions and structural damage due to flooding.”
Wetlands can significantly improve water quality. In Dr. Baldwin’s words, “wetlands naturally improve water quality by trapping sediments and transforming or storing pollutants. The wetland is located in an area that receives sediments, nutrients, oils, metals, and other materials from the urbanized watershed upstream of it. Thus is it likely to play a significant role in removing some of those pollutants before water flows into streams and the Bay.”
Dr. Baldwin added that “The wetland is an open marsh habitat in the center containing low aquatic plants (possibly Ludwigia spp.) [water purslane], surrounded by taller marsh plants (reed canary grass) and then trees and shrubs in the upper buffer surrounding the wet parts.” He added that there is good “edge” habitat provided by the trees, and that the “wet center appears to be good habitat for water fowl and marsh birds like red-winged blackbird. Amphibians also are reported to use the wetland, and it is likely that reptiles, mammals, fish, and invertebrates are also present.
“Although currently an eyesore,” he wrote, “the wetland could be enhanced to become an attractive feature of the community” by the addition of “interpretative signs and boardwalks for birdwatching or botanizing. This would complement the community garden being set up and the tot lot next to the site.”
Ironically, Baldwin’s appreciation of the Sentinel Swamp Sanctuary’s features has not always been a popular point of view. Back in 1889, when John Oliver Johnson laid out the streets in Old Town for Johnson & Curriden’s Subdivision, he added a paper road extension of College Avenue to the railroad tracks. He also added a paper road that he named Amherst alongside the tracks, expecting at some point that houses might be built there. According to historian John Peter Thompson, Prince George’s Historic Preservation Commission chair, in the 1800s, “banks would have considered swamps unproductive, so they wouldn’t mind loaning money to pave over them. In the 19th century, a bog was just something to be drained because of cholera, malaria, and typhoid because they didn’t have vaccines. Cholera was a big problem in Prince George’s [County] in 1860.”
Thompson added that a railroad right of way would provide a clear path to connect roadways.
“It was a logical boundary road along the railroad tracks. Someone would have drained the bog wetlands for an economic reason. From an agricultural point of view, how do you turn land into productive use for food?” He wrote that the environmental movement in Maryland didn’t start until the 1840s.
Stay tuned to the Here & Now for more developments concerning Sentinel Swamp Sanctuary.
According to Dr. Baldwin, the Sentinel Swamp Sanctuary provides important ecosystem functions, including storing floodwater, improving water, and providing and protecting habitat.
University of Maryland (UMD) and Prince George’s County police responded to an April 18 shooting at an off-campus student housing complex, according to an alert issued through the UMD Alerts System. County police report that the victim was hospitalized in critical condition.
“We were called to an apartment in the 8700 block of Baltimore Avenue on Saturday at approximately 7:40 p.m.,” said Christina Cotterman, the Media Relations Division manager for the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD). “We discovered an adult male inside suffering from gunshot wounds.”
On the night of Feb. 22, 21-year-old Tori Saunder was chasing down a ShuttleUM bus near the Montgomery Hall bus stop when she tripped and fell into the road. The bus rolled over her left leg with both its front and back wheels.
Saunder, a senior computer science student at the University of Maryland (UMD), later described “the most intense pain [she had] ever felt … like there were a billion pins and needles” in her leg. She screamed for help.
UMD sophomore Daniel Williams witnessed the accident and heard Saunder screaming. He immediately called the police. “I thought I had just watched someone die,” Williams said in an interview. He stayed with Saunder and talked with the police once they were on the scene.
Vera Bzhilyanskaya was near Target when she heard Saunder’s screams. Bzhilyanskaya, a UMD junior and volunteer at the UMD Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center, used her sweater to apply a tourniquet above the area of injury.
The combined efforts of these students helped save Saunder’s life.
The EMT team arrived about five minutes after the police and transported Saunder to the MedStar Washington Hospital Center in D.C. She has undergone several surgeries to repair her leg, and her recovery has been difficult.
“I had to drop out of classes for the semester,” said Saunder. “I was in a lot of pain and taking a lot of painkillers, which impair your memory and concentration.” She will continue her education in the fall.
Currently, Saunder is staying with her family. Most of her pain is gone, and she is healing well. According to Saunder’s doctors, who are hopeful about her recovery, she can start putting partial weight on her leg next month.
Anjali RaviThe shooting took place at The Enclave, which is located less than a halfmile from the UMD campus. Management has yet to respond to phone and email requests for comment regarding the incident.
Campus police quickly handed the
in an emailed statement. “And I’m sure they’re doing all they can to investigate the incident at the Enclave and bring it to a resolution.”
He added that his prayers go out to the victim and his family, “and I will continue to hope for the safety of our community and all those who are working to keep us safe and healthy.”
Cotterman also stated that concerns for the victim and the community remain top police priorities.
“Our ultimate goal is to find the people who hurt this victim,” she said. “We will follow up with more information as soon as we make an arrest.”
Philip Van SlootenTO PPE DURING PANDEMIC
Personal protection equipment – PPE, for short – has become a household term since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country. And the University of Maryland (UMD) is doing its part to help meet the need for PPE in hospitals across the country.
Terrapin Works is the advanced manufacturing arm of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, explained Rick Blanton, director of technical operations at the school. Terrapin Works, a collection of more than a dozen labs, typically uses top-of-the-line equipment to provide high-tech support to the university’s faculty and students.
“We do have a design team that allows us to interact with outside companies and inventors,” Blanton noted.
Terrapin Works heard the call for PPE before spring break. Blanton said, “Because of our manufacturing capabilities, we started receiving requests for help [producing PPE] the first week of March.”
The call for help came right when Terrapin Works lost its undergraduate workforce due to the pandemic, though.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture considers farmers markets an essential business. Accordingly, the Hollywood Farmers Market (HFM) and the College Park Farmers Market at Paint Branch Parkway (CPFMPBP) opened on May 2, as scheduled. Each had restrictions in place to protect both vendors and customers.
HFM customers pre-ordered goods from vendors and drove through the parking lot at the Hollywood Shopping Center to pick their orders, which vendors placed directly into opened car trunks. These measures helped ensure that people maintained appropriate distancing as cars drove through.
case over to the county, according to Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas, the University of Maryland Police Department’s public information officer.
“The incident occurred in PGPD’s jurisdiction, and they are investigating the incident,” Hoaas said.
Cotterman stated county police are searching for multiple suspects, and investigators continue to work to determine what led to the shooting. She added that police are fairly certain this was an isolated incident.
“Preliminarily, it does not appear to be a random crime,” she said.
College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn noted that local law enforcement worked together, and quickly, to keep the community safe, even in the midst of a pandemic crisis.
“I appreciate the work that the Prince George’s County Police Department is doing to keep our community safe during this difficult time,” the mayor wrote
“At the same time that we lose 90% of our workforce, we started getting huge requests for PPE,” Blanton said. There was no question that Terrapin Works would leverage its capabilities to help, though. “We felt we had a moral, ethical and community requirement to fulfill this duty,” Blanton said. And there is a lot more to producing PPE than simply firing up the facility’s fleet of 3D printers. Terrapin Works collaborated with health care experts to ensure that their products would meet safety standards.
“Senior leadership have been scrambling to stay on top of all of the logistics and coordination,” Blanton said. When Terrapin Works ran out of the raw material for face shields, staff searched the state for more.
“Everything is happening so fast and [the situation is] so dynamic,” Blanton says. “Literally, we’ve been trying to do everything that we can.”
Julia KylesAt CPFMPB, vendors wore personal protective equipment and posted signs created by the Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation. The signs reminded shoppers about social distancing measures.
Both markets are currently open each Saturday. HFM orders placed online (www.hollywoodmarket.org) can be picked up at the Hollywood Shopping Center between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. CPFMPBP is located at 5211 Campus Drive, and is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Mark GoodsonThe Branchville Volunteer Fire Company and Rescue Squad (BVFC) responded to multiple reports of a fire in the 9300 block of 51st Avenue on May 2. According to the BVFC website, no firefighters were injured during the incident, and all occupants of the house were safely evacuated.
provides groceries to around 100 families every month, but in March, they distributed groceries to a record 190 families. This near-doubling in service speaks to a broad and deep need within the community brought on by the crisis.
When it was announced that schools were closed, Mae Biddulph was devastated. Her mother, College Park resident Brook Biddulph, said that Mae loves being in first grade at Hollywood Elementary School. Biddulph was concerned about the impact distance learning would have on her daughter. “I was afraid she would be sitting in front of a computer playing games all day,” Biddulph said, adding, “But I quickly realized that her teacher, Ms. Beasley, had been working hard with her team to help the students (and parents) transition almost seamlessly into virtual learning.”
Indeed, Allison Beasley made heroic attempts to keep her students engaged. She mailed postcards to students and held weekly meetings online so students could see their friends. “My classroom runs on love,” Beasley said. “Being away from [my] students has been the biggest challenge in this distance learning experience.”
Beasley has made heroic efforts to connect Mae’s interest in distance learning. “Ms. Beasley’s love for teaching and her students is still apparent despite the distance,” Biddulph said.
Amy Caruso, another local hero, is a pastor with the College Park United Methodist Church, where she has been working with young adults who are experiencing food insecurity, even as the food bank has dramatically increased its service. This
issue is especially personal to Caruso, as her grandmother experienced food shortages during the Great Depression.
Caruso enlisted the help of Angelica Dardon, a Guatemalan native and social influencer, and together they are helping a household of young adults access supplies during the quarantine. Ms. Caruso noted that she’s witnessing beauty in the midst of darkness and difficulty.
“The generosity of people in this community is flowing. We all have our part to play.”
These are just a few of the heroes who are making a difference in our community. There are many other ways to help, too. You can support local restaurants by ordering carryout, buying gift cards and tipping generously. You can help a local shelter by fostering a pet.
Or, like me, you can learn to make masks and donate them to serve people who are serving us.
Even though I am in quarantine just a few months out of chemotherapy, I wanted to do something to help. I enlisted my partner, David Staples, and we started making masks and gowns out of my overflowing stash of African fabrics. We partnered with The Masks Now Coalition (masksnow.org), a national grassroots initiative of some 10,000 volunteers who are making and distributing personal protective equipment. So far, we have made 25 gowns and 100 masks for friends, family and the nursing community. Our effort seems small, and our sewing is slow, but this is one way that we can both stay safe and feel like we are contributing. Everyone can find something to do.
College Park resident Todd Larsen has a broken elbow and can’t sew masks, but he wanted to help the Route 1 Mask Match initiative, (route1maskmatch.org). “Even with a broken elbow, I could reach out to people I know who do outreach to communities to recruit sewers,” Larsen said. “I’ve been doing that for the past couple of weeks.” Larsen said that they are still looking for more sewers.
If you’d like to share your own story about how you are contributing, giving back or paying forward, we want to hear from you. Share your stories with the CPH&N editors (mark@hyattsvillelife.com and nancy@hyattsvillelife.com). Stay safe, stay healthy and please stay home.
“The generosity of people in this community is flowing. We all have our part to play.”
Amy Caruso pastor at College Park United Methodist Church
(District 1) has examined the city’s projected revenue shortfall due to COVID-related losses to business income, and state and county revenues. Still, he sees College Park as being fortunate relative to some other communities, as the city has a strong property tax base to support it, at least in the short term.
Stuart Adams, a structural engineer experienced with disaster recovery, agreed. He explained that 50% of the city’s revenue comes from a commercial and residential property tax base set during a 2019 assessment. Property tax is reassessed once every three years.
Kabir said that the next fiscal year (beginning July 1) could be challenging if expenditures remain steady or rise while revenues continue to decline.
“Right now, we’re not worried because we are good with our cushion,” he said. “But three months from now, if things continue to slide into the late summer or early fall, then we’ll start thinking about mitigation measures.”
Such measures are already being discussed in other municipalities across the state and throughout the nation, particularly in those localities that are more dependent on an inflow of income tax revenue — revenue which will be impacted by rising unemployment and the delayed tax filing deadline (now July 15).
“The projected loss of $2 million includes losses in revenues from admissions and amusement tax, personal property tax, income tax, highway user tax, hotel/ motel tax, occupancy permits, parking meter revenue, garage pay station, and garage parking,” Kabir wrote. “It doesn’t, however, account for any impact on [the] City’s property tax revenue.”
This last point about College Park’s property tax revenue is critical. According to the city’s proposed 2021 budget report, 50% of the 2021 revenue will
come from general property taxes. The report also states that the 2.3% increase in revenue is partially attributable to the increase in assessed property values in 2019. Property values are only assessed every three years, so this level is locked in until 2023.
Mary Cook, who, with her husband, has been living in College Park for 20 years, is more concerned about what the 2019 assessments will mean for taxpayers.
“I saw empty homes in 2008,” she said, recalling the economic downturn 12 years ago. “A lot of neglect. Grass was high, and there were squatters in people’s homes. Things started to look run down.”
She doesn’t want to return to those times, and she’s concerned about so many people being out of work. She wants her neighbors to stay safe during the crisis, but she does fear the longterm impact on the community.
College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn and members of the city council share these concerns.
They met virtually on April 28 to discuss a number of issues.
“This is one of the reasons we are moving forward quickly with hiring an economic development manager,” said Wojahn. “What we want to do is help our residents and business owners navigate all of the different resources available through our website, while bolstering the services available to our community.”
Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) talked about the importance of commercial property tax revenue and the need to support the College Park business community, underscoring that businesses are critical to a stable economy. He echoed Mary Cook’s concern, encouraging residents to know that they “live in a community with a thriving city.”
“We have a lot of small businesses in our city who are hurting,” Rigg said. “And the longer our student residents aren’t living in College Park, the greater that pain becomes, and that
ripples through our city through entertainment, to restaurants and so forth. And, in the long run, that ripples back to students and their families being able to afford higher education. We’re not at the end of this story. We’re at the beginning.”
Rigg said that projects which were already in the pipeline to be funded when the pandemic hit will need to continue as planned.
Kabir agreed. “We already have the money allocated for these projects,” he said. “And we have to pay the interest anyway. It wouldn’t benefit anything to cut any ongoing projects. But it is not recommended to add any further debt either.”
Wojahn said that continuing to fund current city projects helps small businesses. But city officials all agreed that students are an important part of any recovery effort, and their presence, along with the city’s property tax cushion, may give College Park a significant advantage over other municipalities of similar size that will face similar post-pandemic challenges.
Greenbelt, for example, anticipates significantly reduced revenues. According to the Greenbelt News Review, the city manager’s goal is to “adjust city spending to protect current employees’ jobs.” Howard County, according to its website, is projecting a revenue loss of over $35 million due to major reductions in income and hotel taxes. The county is considering hiring freezes and cuts in capital projects.
But according to Councilmember Rigg, College Park is not anticipating having to take similar measures at this time. He stated that current projections indicate that the city will most likely see an 8% decrease in revenue, which is significantly less than the 14% anticipated by municipalities that are more dependent on income tax revenue. “We have enough money in our current accounts to absorb the deficit,” Rigg said.
We have envelopes for correspondence, work orders for the job, proposals for the quote, brochures for advertising, directories for the club, newsletters for the newsworthy, postcards for the announcement, posters for the event, tickets for the show, programs for the concert, menus for the hungry, and stickers for identification.
Free parking and a free cup of coffee!
But he noted that College Park would consider a hiring freeze before reducing existing staff or cutting services and programs.
Rigg added that it will be important for students to return in the fall, providing it is safe to do so. Pushing students’ return to January 2021 would also push the economic envelope.
Wojahn said that public safety must come first, and that the rest will have to be worked out over time.
“We still face a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “No one knows how
has doubled its client list. “Our normal client base was around 75 people,” said Lynn Topp, longtime volunteer and member of MWCP’s board of directors. “We have risen to 150 clients and receive calls from new ones every week.”
While demand for meals has increased, the organization’s number of volunteers has plummeted. Before the virus hit, the vast majority of MWCP volunteers were retirees. “Ninety percent of our volunteers have decided to stay at home until the danger passes,” Topp said, adding, “We understand.”
MWCP has scrambled to find and train new volunteers. According to Topp, the greatest challenge has been keeping volunteers and drivers safe. “We have been policing each other with reminders to move apart, change gloves, wash hands,” Topp said.
The organization has put other safety measures in place, too. Drivers now make contactless deliveries, placing bags outside clients’ homes. “We were fortunate to receive bags from County Council members Dannielle Glaros and Tom Dernoga that we disseminated to our clients,” wrote Lisa Ealley, MWCP board chair. “So the plan is that each senior is to hang the bag on their door knob every morning, and our delivery volunteers will put the food in the bag, knock loudly and then step back to be sure there is a distance between the client and the deliverer.”
If serving a growing clientele with a diminished volunteer base operating under unprecedented circumstances is not enough, MWCP is also short on supplies. “We find ourselves shopping on a daily basis for the things that we can’t purchase in large quantities or that our suppliers don’t carry,” Ealley said.
College Park resident Jim Hartsock, who has been involved with MWCP for more than 25 years, helps secure bread. He and his son, Brian, who is disabled, buy bread three times a week. Hartsock said that he has needed to buy more bread each trip. On a recent run Hartsock needed 50
long this is going to last, or what the new normal is going to look like as we come out of this. But we’re going to respond to this in the best way that we can, and we appreciate everyone’s flexibility.”
So until the crisis passes and the students return, Wojahn will continue to collect food from neighbors and take it to the Church of the Nazarene for those in need. And Mary Cook will continue to volunteer with Meals on Wheels to help everyone weather the crisis, if at a safe distance, but together.
loaves, but could only secure 40. “We would have gotten more,” he said, “but Aldi is almost out. I couldn’t take the last batch, so I cut down my order.”
Longtime clients are adapting to the new delivery routine. Mary Kallenberger said that MWCP service is more than just food delivery — it is a social event. “[Volunteers] become part of my family. Good friends.”
When asked what deliveries are like now, Kallenberger said, “Strange. Very strange. They got us a nice bag to hang on the door knob, but they have to wear masks and have gloves on.”
According to Topp, more than 90% of the new volunteers are not in a high-risk category for COVID-19 fatality. One such volunteer is Jenny Dillon. She began to volunteer at MWCP after she was furloughed from her position at the YMCA in Arnold.
Dillon said that the hardest part about preparing all those meals with an inexperienced staff is also what makes the experience so satisfying. “It’s been very interesting to see how everyone has been collaborating and relying on strengths,” Dillon said. She described how volunteers of different ages, sexes and demographics, and from all walks of life, have come together as a team. When asked how it all works, Dillon said, “People need to eat. We know the drivers are coming. That creates the urgency.” She added, “We’re winging it throughout the morning. But everyday at 11:15, there’s enough food.”
A banjo-playing neighbor in Calvert Hills reminded me recently that music has been with humans since the very beginning. Music, the great connector, is a celebration of what has always been.
Music has certainly always been an essential part of my life in College Park. For over two decades, I have spent every day of the year teaching, performing and sharing music in and around our area. So what to do in an era where being physically together is the ultimate thing we now need to avoid?
I am an early-childhood music educator. My approach to working with children has always been about face-to-face, very personal and meaningful interactions. We sing together and make music, clapping and stomping and tapping together.
The quarantine has pushed me into a different realm, and I’m now using virtual technology in my work. I find using a screen is a much flatter and often less personal experience, though. While it may give every participant the same auditory and visual input, young children need a more personal touch. They need to be nurtured in a physical sense. But connecting virtually has offered an unexpected silver lining to me and my music community, and I’m connecting to children, and their parents and grandparents in meaningful ways.
Three times a week, my musical sons and I have livestreamed “Sunshine Music Time” to share
our favorite traditional songs, teach about great composers like Scott Joplin, talk about all the instruments that we play, tell stories, and act silly, sad, delighted and fearless. We appreciate being able to connect and create community music, and parents enthusiastically talk about how our music is helping them. One parent summed up what so many of us are experiencing, writing, “I cannot thank you enough for your kindness and warmth during a time when we are all feeling so alone.”
My son Leo and I are using virtual technology to connect with an adult community of music lovers, too. We share tunes from some of our favorite artists and play songs we’ve written, and we do it all from my basement studio. I think we both appreciate the casual nature of this sort of live-streamed musical interaction — missing a chord or lyric is part of the fun and the lowkey experience that music gives us. Our gatherings pull in locals as well as folks from across the country, and even across the world, with everyone chatting, requesting tunes and having a great time. We even hosted a fundraiser for the University of Maryland’s Campus Pantry, and we raised upwards of $1,500. A friend of mine, a writer, said that this may be a moment for people to truly use the internet for its best intent: bonding people through enlightened exchanges. While I never imagined I’d be connecting with my music community in this way, I’ll take it, and I’ll relish the opportunity.
Mr. M livestreams sessions for young children and families every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4 p.m. Links to recent sessions are on his website, maringmusic.com. Eric and Leo Maring livestream for slightly older audiences every Saturday evening at 9 p.m. Do a simple search for Eric Maring on Youtube to hear previous episodes.
There are power saws in the morning and delivery trucks in the afternoon. At night we sleep hard, browse hard. We’re all up to something; you can feel it in the air. Lockdown combines the worst of Snowmageddon with the best of vacation: You can’t go anywhere, and room service is recommended. You’re not in meeting after meeting, and the best thing most of us can do for everyone else is to just stay home. Self-help gurus tell us to treat ourselves gently, that we’re suffering in ways we won’t fully understand for years to come. Have that glass of wine and allow your kid that extra bit of screen time. Just sleep in a little, would you? Pajamas are the new work casual. We often make life too difficult, it’s true, but some of us just want to get ... things … done.
You may know (or be) someone who can’t cotton to a quarantini, doesn’t have the need to Zoom anything. In College Park, you’re not alone.
When spring cleaning levels up to quaran-cleaning, Nan Roche on Amherst Street is right there. Nan used to have the kind of freezer that would deposit a pot roast on your foot when you went in for an ice cube. Looking for a positive, productive activity to distract from the stress of current events, she took on an epic reorganization.
Her system: proteins all visible on the door, a bin of just vegetables, a bin of just nuts, everything in boxes or stack-
able on one shelf, smushables like bread up high with the ice cubes, desserts all off in another spot. Everything now gets a dated tag and gets rotated.
Nan will sorely miss her French duck confit (three years old, a sad casualty), but she went from a well-stocked freezer that was so full she couldn’t find anything to one that has only exactly what she needs for any cuisine. She found a sense of fun in the sorting, and is off to her pantries and closets next.
Moira Abernethy, though, already had organization before COVID-19. Her Daughters of Rest group is a reboot of the ladies’ social group her mother formed with college friends in the 1940s. The current version numbers around 130 women from College Park and neighboring towns, who have all walked, cooked, skied, performed community service and taken bus trips with each other. Some members even ran, swam and biked a triathlon together.
This spring, Moira deftly turned the group toward an online, fitness-centered virus challenge that pits town against town on a Google Doc that collates the participants’ achievements and tabulates scores. Examples of scoring include 2 points for an aerobic or strength training activity, and 3 points for a self-care activity such as meditation or yoga. For the extraordinary performers and winners, Moira delivers hand-carved wooden figurines from her home workshop.
Moira’s focus on physical activity and building community has been made more difficult by isolation. Her use of the internet to continue the group’s work, even as its members are physically separated, is shining a light on how we all might interact more personally, albeit not in person.
And then there’s Anita Jewell on Fordham, who is off and running in her own way. Anita began making jewelry years ago, starting out with blue-themed pieces for the “something blue” in family weddings. But after several boutiques rejected her work, she gave up her dream of building a business.
This spring, a friend happened to spot a box of her necklaces and asked where they came from. When Anita told her she’d made them, the friend said, “You’ve got to be kidding me! These are amazing. You have to do something with these!”
So Anita took that advice, adding new techniques of bead wrapping and hand knotting to her crafting. Now she’s loading up on stock for an online store and is well on her way to launching a small home business.
There you have it, three entirely different, productive and positive ways our neighbors are making use of their time in lockdown. Yes, our opportunities vary with our circumstances. But no matter how big (or small) our projects and goals are, we all have an opportunity to reinvent a piece of our lives, and others’, too.