Meet the local artists behind transformer box art along trolley trail. P. 6
Kevin Cabrera’s unique journey to the College Park Aviation Museum. P.9
Meet the local artists behind transformer box art along trolley trail. P. 6
Kevin Cabrera’s unique journey to the College Park Aviation Museum. P.9
After months of work, the College Park Restorative Justice Steering Committee has presented their suggestions to the city council. At the Nov. 2 council worksession, the committee laid out their findings as well as a framework for establishing the city’s Restorative Justice Commission, which will be tasked with addressing harms done to the Lakeland community, a historically African American
A redistricting plan proposed by Prince George’s County Councilmember Mel Franklin passed 6 to 4 in a council meeting on Oct. 19. It was one of two such plans that the county council has recently considered.
Franklin’s plan redesignates portions of College Park from the county’s District 3 to District 1; the University of Maryland would remain in District 3. The plan would impact other
On Oct. 15, students and city residents gathered at the University of Maryland (UMD) to protest the university’s plans to clear a portion of Guilford Woods for the Western Gateway project, a development that would bring graduate student housing and town homes to this now-forested land.
In March 2019, the finance committee of the University
System of Maryland Board of Regents recommended that the university sell just over 9 acres of Guilford Woods to Gilbane Development Company for construction of private townhomes, and lease an additional 2 acres to build graduate student housing. Eleven acres of forested land would be cleared for the development; this sparked a movement known as Save Guilford Woods.
UMD President Darryll Pines, in an Oct. 7 University Senate Meeting, said that the efforts to save Guilford Woods were not based on science, but on emotion. Pines’ comments prompted Save Guilford Woods members to protest the university’s planned actions. Activists at the protest, on the campus’s McKeldin Mall, shared their concerns with the Here & Now Janet Gingold, a member of the Prince George’s Sierra
Club, believes the Western Gateway Project is just one example of a much larger issue in the county. “All over Prince George’s County, we’re cutting down trees, and we need more trees because we’re in a climate crisis, and people go from day to day without ever thinking about it,” Gingold said.
Lily Fountain, also a Prince George’s Sierra Club member, reacted to Pines’ comments.
Yet another College Park business has disappeared overnight.
The closure of Bagel Place reportedly stemmed from the landlord’s refusal to negotiate the lease. As University of Maryland students celebrated homecoming weekend, they were hardly happy about this news. Instead of filling campus with fight songs, they chanted obscenities aimed at the landlord, Curtis Property Investments. Bagel Place was an important third place where people spent time between home and work. It was a prime meet-and-eat location for generations of friends and family, university and city workers, and a multitude of university students who all but made the shop home.
While we don’t know who will assume the lease formerly held by Bagel Place, if trends hold, it may well be a corporate fran-
chise. More and more of College Park, in fact, is beginning to resemble College Park Plaza, where a number of national chains like Starbucks and Cold Stone Creamery now sit.
The corporate model of operations is antithetical to cultivating and sustaining a local economy. They favor profit, not patrons like you and me.
Curtis Investment Group Inc. is a holding company, not a traditional property management company. It relies on elevated market profits to cover the accrued debt from operational costs: outstanding loans, rents in arrears and maintenance costs. This model results in rents many small businesses simply cannot afford.
The economic conditions that supported Bagel Place — and so many other locally ownedbusinesses that our community once enjoyed — created an affordable and flexible leasing environment, one that acknowledges the value-added component of small familyowned businesses. Holding companies do not account for
this value; they only count in dollars and cents.
If we can’t stop this corporate shift, we’re going to have nothing in College Park except franchises. Developing too fast has its drawbacks: It prices out the locals. This irresponsible growth took Bagel Place from us; what’s next? Pho Thom? Northwest Chinese? There are current plans in play that would tear down those buildings and the apartments behind them for more mixed-use apartments.
Commercial College Park can’t lose more of these businesses. It should, instead, be encouraging locally owned businesses to sprout and flourish, else we become just another strip mall suburb.
Residents
Robert Craig Baum and Aaron Springer were longtime patrons of Bagel Place
You have in your hands the 17th edition of the College Park Here & Now
Managing Editor Mark Goodson mark@hyattsvillelife.com
A nationally-recognized 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 Streetcar Suburbs Publishing., 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. streetcarsuburbs.news
Associate Editor Nancy Welch
nancy@hyattsvillelife.com
Writers & Contributors Mary Cook, Robert Craig Baum, Nolan Clancy, Julia Kyles, Kelly Livingston, Hannah
Yes, our inaugural edition hit the stands almost a year and a half ago, in May 2020. And we are now coming to you as a nationally recognized community newspaper, having garnered a number of awards from the National Newspaper Association Foundation. Those awards have not gone to our heads, though; we still pound the pavement every day to bring you the news.
Harris, Maxine Gross Mark Goodson — Ex Officio
Some people thought we were bold, maybe even crazy, launching a newspaper when so many others were going under — and at the start of a pandemic, no less. But here we are, still reaching our readers every month.
We hope these pages bring you not only news but new ways to connect with the College Park community, too.
Streetcar Suburbs Publishing, the nonprofit behind the College Park Here & Now and our sister paper, the Hyattsville
Life & Times, has launched a fundraising campaign to ensure that these newspapers and our website can continue to serve residents along the Route 1 Corridor. To stay connected with you, though, we need your help.
Streetcar has partnered with NewsMatch, a grassroots organization that campaigns to support independent newspapers just like this one. If you donate now, NewsMatch will match your donation, dollar for dollar, up to $1,000, total.
We want to keep the presses running. We want to continue to challenge our writers, both the seasoned volunteers and our university interns who are getting their first taste of print journalism. But printing and postage are expensive, so we are turning to you for help. We hope you’ll join us in our quest to keep Streetcar’s newspapers alive and well.
You can donate by scanning the QR code to the left or by visiting our website: streetcarsuburbs.news/donate
you donate now, NewsMatch will match your donation, making every dollar have double the impact!
The new College Park City Hall is well on its way to being open for business. One of the first steps to completion is finding retailers to fill four spaces on the first floor of the building.
On Oct. 12, the city council unanimously approved the use of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to support the opening of Shop Made in Maryland, the first business to hold a retail spot in the new building. The one-time grant approved by the council will be used to help Shop Made in Maryland build out the retail space before moving in. Occupants of the other three retail spaces have not yet been announced.
Shop Made in Maryland is a sister of Shop Made in D.C., a group of stores that sell products made exclusively by artists and makers in the District.
“The retail world is not an easy world to find unique retailers. Our team knew we needed to find something that captured and reflected our shared values, and demonstrated an exciting vision of the City of College Park,” said Ken Ulman, president of Margrave Strategies, a consulting firm based in Columbia. Ulman is responsible for finding retailers to fill the city hall spaces.
This first Shop Made in Maryland store will feature products from artisans throughout the state, and with a particular focus on Prince George’s County and College Park. Shop Made aims to support artists and makers by giving them space to show their work and the opportunity to build a customer base. Shop Made splits revenue evenly with vendors, and the company pays income taxes and fees, allowing vendors to fully profit from their sales.
“We like to label ourselves as a modern retail incubator. We provide a place to showcase talent ... We provide business assistance so they can become more profitable in what they are doing, from packaging to pricing and all the other things,” said Stacey Price, co-founder and CEO of Shop Made in D.C. Price, along with co-founder Michael Babin, opened the first Shop Made in D.C. in 2017. There are now three main Shop Made in D.C. stores; the are in Georgetown, at The Wharf, in Southwest D.C., and at Union Market. Three smaller shops are at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, The Roost, a food hall in Southeast
Washington, and the Canopy by Hilton Washington, at Embassy Row. The stores offer some 5,000 products crafted by more than 200 local artisans. And College Park’s store is not the first affiliate; Shop Made In
Virginia, is set to open in Alexandria in November 2021.
Price said it will take six months to curate products for the new store. The D.C. stores have a waitlist of makers and artists, many of whom are from Maryland.
“We are super excited to be able to provide them some sort of access to the market,” said Price.
Shop Made in D.C. sponsors classes and seminars with an entrepreneurial focus for
their vendors. They also host workshops for customers, and the College Park location will offer a lively roster of activities to the community. And like the first D.C. location, College Park’s Shop Made will have a coffee bar, thanks to partnership with Cameo Coffee.
“One of the main things that we realized was essential to who we are from a mission standpoint was that cafe. The cafe in our original establishment helped us create community,” said Price.
The area immediately around the new city hall is evolving quickly. Construction on the outdoor public plaza wrapped in October, and Ledo’s, on Knox Road, right across the street from the new city hall, reopened in late September under new ownership.
“It [the public plaza] will be a gathering point that when people think about College Park, they will think of that public space and the events they’ve attended there,” said Mayor Patrick Wojahn in an election forum hosted by the Here & Now in October.
Construction of the new city hall started in February 2020, and the building is set to open late this year.
On Oct. 24, College Park residents gathered in the Berwyn neighborhood to remember the life of Tom Johnson, a resident and dedicated member of the community who passed away in July 2020.
Johnson was very active in the AA community, was an advocate for social justice and was PTA president at his children’s school, Hollywood Elementary. He was also the field director for McKayla Wilkes’ state congressional campaign.
Wilkes’ campaign team organized the event to honor Johnson on the day before what would have been his 36th birthday.
Dash Yeatts-Lonske, Wilkes’ campaign manager, spoke about his hopes for the event. “Our hopes are really just to remember Tom. It was really tough when he passed, in July of 2020 … we couldn’t do anything in person … So we’re really here because we want to celebrate him and celebrate what he meant to us, celebrate what he meant to our community ... and we thought today would be a great day to do it, because tomorrow is his birthday.”
Yeatts-Lonske also spoke about his memories of Johnson: “For me the first thing that comes to mind is his energy. Tom was 100% go at all times, high energy, very good, friendly energy. He could really bring you in, even if he had just met you.”
Tom’s parents, Cathy and Edward Johnson, talked about what they hoped people would take away from the event. “We really appreciate all the love that Tom’s friends have expressed for him in all of the places they interacted with him … there’s a huge range, from PTA to Alcoholics Anonymous, to social justice, racial
tice and McKayla’s campaign … We hope that they’ll continue to make the world a better place,” Cathy Johnson said.
Edward Johnson remembered Tom’s drive to care and help others. “I think some of it came from the church we were members of,” he said. Cathy Johnson added that their church upholds “the worth and dignity of every human being,” and that their son’s life reflected this belief.
Mayor Patrick Wojahn spoke about Johnson’s impact in the community, “Tom really lived a life of service, and he really felt passionately about the things he got involved with, the variety of things he was involved with. I hope people … are inspired by [his life of service] and are moved to get involved in the community, to work to make a difference.”
Wojahn also spoke about the city’s naming Oct. 25th, Tom’s birthday, as Tom Johnson Day. “I think it’s a big deal. We don’t call days for a lot of people; it’s not something we do very often, so I hope people will remember him.”
During the event, people who knew Johnson shared fond memories of him. Members of McKayla Wilkes’ campaign, the Hollywood Elementary PTA and an anonymous recovery community all spoke about the impact that Tom had in their lives.
“Tom really lived a life of service, and he really felt passionately about the things he got involved with, the variety of things he was involved with. I hope people … are inspired by [his life of service] and are moved to get involved in the community, to work to make a difference.”
Mayor Patrick Wojahn
You won’t be able to smell the freshly baked Nantucket cranberry pie that Cheryl Harrington made during a Zoom session, but the senior citizens who participated in her virtual cooking demo hosted by Corridor Conversations now have all the inspiration they need to try making their own.
Corridor Conversations is a monthly series collaboratively hosted by Hyattsville Aging in Place (HAP), Helping Hands University Park, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, the City of College Park and Explorations on Aging College Park. These virtual events bring together senior citizens living in communities along the Route 1 Corridor.
“What we wanted to do was to bring the people, the culture, the excitement, the creativity of Route 1 to the people of the area,” said Lisa Walker, chair of HAP’s board.
Events and organizations like these all share the goal of improving the quality of life for seniors.
Many of the city’s seniors hope to age in place in homes they may have lived in for years.
Many of these seniors believe that the city could do more to accommodate their needs.
“When you can no longer drive, then it is difficult to age in place, due to lack of walkable grocery stores and walkable medical facilities,” said Miriam Bader, College Park’s senior city planner.
College Park is applying to become a member of AARP’s Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities, which is an affiliate of the World Health Organization’s global network that’s working to prepare cities for increasing numbers of older residents. To join the network, College Park must create an action plan that addresses issues of aging within the community. A team of consultants from the University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute is leading development of the plan. The team’s work is being funded by the Prince George’s County Planning Department.
“We want to help College Park
become an even more agefriendly community than it already is,” said Agnes Artemel, president of Artemel & Associates Inc. The firm, which is a subconsultant on the project, specializes in revitalizing aging commercial corridors.
On Oct. 18, members of the
consulting team, led by Artemel, held a focus group for residents to discuss the city’s current support for seniors and what they want to see included in the action plan.
Prior to the meeting, the College Park Seniors Committee identified what they felt the plan should focus on. Their list included transportation, housing, social activities, communication and
information, health services, and community support.
The county’s planning board approved the proposal for creating the action plan on May 13, and the consulting team is currently conducting research as the basis for drafting the plan. According to the Prince George’s County Planning Department website, publication of the plan is tentatively scheduled for summer 2022.
The Rhode Island Avenue
Trolley Trail offers a scenic walking and biking adventure, and well away from the noise of Route 1. Four longtime city residents, Marina Dullnig, Lena Dullnig, Kathy Everett and Gina Tomko, have been beautifying the trail by painting transformer boxes along the path.
Marina Dullnig, who has lived in College Park for more than 30 years, has been painting over the town’s graffiti for a long time, using paint donated by her neighbors, including Tomko. Dullnig was painting one of the transformer boxes a solid color, covering some graffiti, when Everett suggested they decorate it with art, instead.
Dullnig and Everett started discussing this project in the middle of May, and the four of them painted the first box in early June. They each painted a different part of the box, completing the project in a few hours. Lena Dullnig, who recently graduated from Montgomery College with a degree in graphic design, painted two birds on the box, inspired by a pet bird she once had. Tomko painted the sun and the moon, a design she chose after seeing it on a T-shirt.
“I think what’s cool about walking along this bike path is that no matter what direction you’re coming from, you’re hit with this color,” Everett said.
They painted their second
box in early October, drawing inspiration from Wassily Kandinsky’s piece, “Color Study.”
They added culturally current phrases — Black Lives Matter, Trans Lives Matter and Love is Love — all testaments to the welcoming atmosphere of the Berwyn neighborhood.
“This neighborhood is amazing because everyone is so close,” said Tomko. “We all know each other and help each other out.”
Moving forward, they plan to paint another transformer box along the trail in Lakeland. In the 1800s and the early 1900s, this neighborhood was home to a tight-knit African American community that was later displaced in the 1970s, when the City of College Park undertook what they deemed an urban renewal project, Everett said. The city promised to provide new homes to these displaced residents, but failed to live up to that promise. Many of these families, some of whom had lived in Lakeland for generations, were never able to return.
Mayor Patrick Wojahn and the College Park City Council have recognized and apologized for the city’s actions against these families, and recently established a committee to bring restorative justice to Lakeland. And that transformer box along the trail in Lakeland? Everett said they will paint a tribute to the community’s history “to honor them and show them love.”
In late October, the first two of several storm drain painting awareness projects were completed within the City!
The City’s Committee for a Better Environment (CBE) partnered with the College Park Arts Exchange to spread environmental awareness about native Anacostia River animal species which can be negatively impacted by what goes down storm drains.
The art highlights what goes in our storm drains then go into our nearby waterways--Indian Creek, Paint Branch, and the northeast Branch of the Anacostia River. So any trash (and other pollution) on the street that gets into the drain--by rain water, wind, etc. unfortunately winds up in the waterways which hurt wildlife.
Entitled “Only Rain in the Drain,” this collaborative project will feature several murals of various
animal species including River Otters (which are making a comeback!) and the Blue Heron.
The otter mural (pictured below), painted by Chrissy Wilkin, can be found in Old Town, just north of
Calvert Road and the Trolley Trail. The second mural (pictured above), painted by HK Beall, is at the intersection of Berwyn Road and the trolley trail and features blue herons. According to the Anacostia Watershed Society, the
blue heron is a species in need of conservation.
Let’s do our part to help our local fauna by keeping grass, leaves, trash, pollutants, and other things out of our storm drains!
The City of College Park is very excited to announce the opening of our brand-new City Hall on December 6, 2021. Located at 7401 Baltimore Avenue (between Knox Road and Lehigh Road), City Hall makes its presence with a beautiful Council Chambers overlooking a large plaza; community meeting spaces, and retail areas.
This is the first collaborative space of its kind, housing City Hall offices and retail on the first two floors and University of Maryland offices on the top two floors.
The City had been exploring locations and options for a new City Hall for many years, and after selecting the site in 2014, started discussions with the University to combine adjoining properties and construct a shared building and plaza fronting Baltimore Avenue.
The building is expected to achieve a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. For more information about our City Hall project, please visit www. collegeparkmd.gov/cityhall.
City departments of Administration (including the Office of the City Manager, City Clerk, Communications & Events, Economic Development, and Information Technology), Finance, Human Resources, Public Services (including Code Enforcement
and Parking), and Planning and Community Development will move into the new City Hall in early December.
City phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same, but please note our new mailing address of 7401 Baltimore Avenue Suite 201, College Park, MD, 20740. City Hall hours will also remain the
same; offices are open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.
A ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony will be held in midDecember. Please look for more information about the move and the ceremony on our website at www.collegeparkmd.gov, in the Weekly Bulletin, and on social media.
The City’s curbside leaf collection has begun. Look for signs posted in your neighborhood for collection dates. A schedule will also be posted on our website at www. collegeparkmd.gov/curbsideleaf.
To stay on schedule, leaf trucks will not return to collect leaves once they have already been through your street. However, each area of the City is scheduled to be serviced at least four times during this period, so there are multiple opportunities for collection.
Additionally, the vacuum hoses are not able to reach around cars or other obstructions; make sure that piles of leaves are accessible from the street.
• Bagging is not necessary during leaf collection with vacuums. Grass can be included in your leaf piles, but no vines or woody trimmings).
• Rake leaves to the curb away from cars and storm drains. Do not put them in the street.
• Remove vines or woody yard waste, tree limbs, rocks, trash, and other debris from leaves to be collected. These items can damage the equipment and cause delays.
• Leaf vacuuming only occurs in the fall/early winter.
zoom.us/j/96168994626
Please join City Elected Officials, Police, Department of Public Services staff, and your neighbors from all around the City, for an informative monthly community meeting.
This meeting takes place every second Monday of the month via zoom.
This community meeting will discuss City-wide crime statistics, recent incidents of public interest, neighborhood watch tips, and special public safety related topics.
Join
To better understand the ongoing needs of residents and businesses and to provide maximum transparency, we are seeking input from those who live and work within the City. The survey closes on November 19, 2021 at 11:59 pm.
The American Rescue Plan will
revenue due to the COVID-19 emergency; and
• To make investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.
• Serve the hardest hit communities and families including investments in
Tuesday, November 30, 2021 7:00 p.m. Zoom meeting
Join City of College Park staff and elected officials to learn about the purposes of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), eligible uses of the funds, and provide your comments on City needs to be addressed. Please
Making College Park a More
Thursday, November 11 is Veterans Day. On Veterans Day, we thank and honor all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces during peace and wartime.
This year in lieu of an in-person gathering to commemorate the holiday, the City will post signs around College Park. We encourage our residents to fly the
American flag.
Take your photo or a selfie with the Veterans Day Signs and tag them with yours or our social media accounts (Facebook & Instagram: @collegeparkmd, Twitter: @ collegepark_md). We may even share your photos on the City’s website and social media!
All City offices are closed on Thursday, November 11th for Veterans Day. Special collections will only occur on Friday, November 12.
City offices are also closed on Thursday & Friday, November 25 - 26 for the Thanksgiving holiday; therefore, no special collections will occur during this holiday week.
Through participation in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities, the City of College Park will:
• Support age-friendly policies, practices and programming in outdoor spaces and recreation, housing, transportation, social participation and inclusion, civic participation, and community support.
• Convene a work group of stakeholders to oversee these efforts and commit to continuous improvement.
• Engage the community, particularly older persons, in a community livability assessment process and inventory.
• Adopt an Age-Friendly Action Plan that includes goals and strategies for addressing the livability initiative areas of
1. Housing,
2. Transportation,
3. Social Participation,
4. Communication and Information, and
5. Health Services and Community Support.
• Implement, evaluate, and track the progress of the Action Plan.
Since June, the City’s Seniors Committee and various departments have been working with a consultant gathering information from residents through stakeholder meetings and other means.
More announcements and information about the program and next steps will be coming soon. Stay tuned to the City’s website for any updates!
From the City’s Seniors Committee
Holy Redeemer Harvest Bazaar. Beginning on Nov. 12, Holy Redeemer will host games, serve meals, light bonfires and more! The weekend culminates with the annual yard sale at Fealy Hall on Sunday, Nov. 14. For more information, go to parish. holy-redeemer.org
Escape from Planet COVID. Join local artist-of-all-trades Robert Baum for a guided reflection on time spent in isolation during the pandemic. Virtual sessions on Nov. 12 and 19 from 6:45 to 9:00 p.m. In person sessions at the Old Parish House on Dec. 2 and Dec. 9 from 6:45 to 9 p.m. Free; donations welcome. For more information, email info@cpae.org
St. Martin’s Day Lantern Festival. Make German paper lanterns and join neighbors in an outdoor twilight walk. Nov. 14 from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Free. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church For more information, go to cpae.org
Zoom Book Club. Need a creative outlet for quiet time at home? The College Park Arts Exchange invites you to discuss Toni Morrison’s The Source of SelfRegard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Mediations on Nov. 16, and Nell Irvin Painter’s A Memoir of Starting Over on Dec. 21. Free. RSVP by emailing info@cpae.org
Plein Air Painting. Join the College Park Arts Exchange for a free outdoor painting event on Nov. 16 and Dec. 19 in Guilford Woods from 9 a.m. to noon. Bring your own supplies. To register, email info@cpae.org
Brazilian Choro Lecture Series. Free lecture series exploring this classic Brazilian musical tradition. Nov. 19 and Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. at the Old Parish House. Free. For more information, email info@ cpae.org
Learn Brazilian Samba. Workshops on Brazilian drumming and dance, brought to you by the College Park Arts Exchange. Nov. 20 and Dec. 11, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Old Parish House. Free.
Design and Land Your Own Space Rover. Visit the College Park Aviation Museum and experience a simulation of the Mars rover. Free with museum admission: adults $5, seniors $4, children $2; children one and under free. Nov. 24 from 1 to 2 p.m. 1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr.
Santa Flies In! Watch Santa land at the College Park Aviation Museum on Dec. 4. Themed craft stations, photos with Santa. Admission $5 per person. Time to be announced. To register for photos and for more information, email Jamie.Jones@pgparks.com
Christmas Tree Lighting. Lakeland Civic Association’s annual tree lighting will usher in the spirit of the season with hot chocolate and carolling! Sunday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. at the corner of Rhode Island Ave. and Navahoe St.
College Park Community Library Book Club. Discuss The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx, on Dec. 14. 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the College Park Church of the Nazarene. For more information, email Carol Munn at donkinc@ msn.com
Free Arts Program. The College Park Community Library’s free arts program on the 1st Tuesday of each month, starting Dec. 7, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the College Park Church of the Nazarene, 9704 Rhode Island Ave.
ONGOING
November is National Novel Writing Month. Melissa Sites, of the College Park Arts Exchange, will lead virtual sessions throughout the month, with a celebration scheduled for Dec. 16. For more information and to register, go to cpae.org
Wednesday Tap Dance Workshops. Free virtual tap workshop with instructor Elizabeth Gardner every Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m. For more information and to register, email info@cpae.org.
Friday Dance Workshops. Join instructor Karen Stewart, of Jessie’s Soul Line Dancers, every Friday from 10 to 11 a.m. for stepby-step instruction and dance along to soul, gospel and pop music. For more information, go to cpae.org
e Hall CP. From open mic nights, to wine-down Wednesdays, to live music concerts, The Hall CP has a packed November calendar. For the latest information, go to thehallcp.com/events
Seasonal Nutrition Information. The University of Maryland Extension, Prince George’s County, offers a variety of virtual and in-person programs about seasonal topics, including food preservation for the winter and holiday meal webinars. For more information, go to extension. umd.edu/news-events/events
OpenBarre. Between Nov. 1 and 14, OpenBarre College Park will match any package you purchase, offering you that same package to give to a friend as a gift. Don’t miss this opportunity! For more information or to sign up, go to openbarrestudios.com
College Park Community Library Story Time. Story time with Micki Freeny. Bring a blanket to the courtyard of the College Park Church of the Nazarene, 9704 Rhode Island Ave. Wednesdays from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m.
Free Produce Delivery Every ird ursday. Email contact information (your name, street address, email and phone) by the third Monday of the month to participate There will be a central pickup location between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Brought to you by Community Connect Calvert Hills. For more information, call 301.864.5267 or email connectporfavor@gmail.com
Free Lyft Rides for Medicare Recipients. Community Connect Calvert Hills would like residents to know that you can receive a free Lyft ride to medical appointments by contacting your health care provider or Medicare. For assistance with this or if you have any questions call Community Connect Calvert Hills at 301.864.5267 or email communityconnectvalverthills@ gmail.com
Support College Park’s Senior Citizens. Meals on Wheels College Park needs licensed drivers, and all are welcome to volunteer for flexible slots on weekday mornings. Fill out an application at mealsonwheelsofcollegepark. org or call 202.669.6297.
Hollywood Farmers Market. Located in the parking lot of the Hollywood Shopping Center, the market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Last day for the market is Nov. 20.
College Park Farmers Market at Paint Branch Parkway. Fill your season with local selections from farm stands, local vendors and more. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 5211 Campus Dr. Last day for the market is Nov. 20.
Yarrow Civic Association. Membership is free. For more information, email Wendy Kelley at wendybird85@yahoo.com
College Park Estates Civic Association. For more information, email Ray Ranker at rayranker@ gmail.com
West College Park Citizens Association. Membership is open to all residents of West College Park over age 18. For more information, email Suchitra Balachandran at cp_woods@ yahoo.com
Berwyn District Civic Association. The BDCA’s monthly meeting will be on Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and on each third Thursday of the month after that. To register, email president@myberwyn.org
North College Park Community Association. The next meeting will be on Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be both virtual and in-person at 5051 Branchville Rd. For more information, email ncpcivic@gmail.com or go to www.myncpca.org
Lakeland Civic Association. For meeting and registration information, email lakelandcivic@ gmail.com
Old Town College Park Civic Association. For more information and to add your name to the listserv, email Kathy Bryant at kdbryant20740@gmail.com
Calvert Hills Citizens Association. For more information, go to https://calverthills.weebly.com or email the board at calverthillscitizensassn@ gmail.com
• Offering days, evenings, weekends, drop in and on call care.
• We provide an outstanding environment for your child to thrive
As the U.S. grapples with a coin shortage brought on by markedly less in-person shopping during the pandemic, College Park has largely been spared.
The College Park McDonald’s is one of the few local stores that’s been impacted by the shortage. General manager Torronda Brown said McDonald’s used to receive more than 500 coins per week — until they suddenly received a markedly diminished supply, and without warning.
“I don’t think we’ve been able to get over $500 in just quarters every week. And we haven’t been able to do that since July,” Brown said. “Sometimes we didn’t even get coins at all, and it’s not just this particular location.”
Brown reported that employees sometimes bring jugs of coins to work so they can give out change. The store has also put up signs informing customers about the shortage.
Prince George’s County has asked businesses to round to the nearest dollar or encourage shoppers to use credit or debit cards because of the shortage. But College Park businesses haven’t been pushed to adapt too much because so many customers, and especially college students, already use credit cards and digital payment apps,
several businesses said.
Ken Castle, manager of Blaze Pizza, said he saw the effect of the shortage first hand, though, at some local stores.
“I was going to the grocery store in July, when I first started noticing where there was no
coins,” Castle said, “and some places weren’t accepting cash at all at that point.”
But Castle confirmed that he and other College Park business owners have not been particularly impacted by the shortage.
“Cash has kind of taken the back-
stream of what happened 10 years ago,” he said. “There is no video. You can’t find it.”
seat in the last 20 years,” he said.
Castle also noted that using credit cards and apps makes transactions easier and faster. For students on the University of Maryland’s (UMD) busy campus, carrying less cash may be safer, too.
Bart Hipple, the assistant director of communications for the UMD Department of Dining Services, said that the coin shortage is having only a minor impact on the cafes and convenience stores on campus.
“During the pandemic, we had signs up that said, ‘Please give exact change because there’s a coin shortage,’ but there hasn’t been any real impact, so we took the signs down.”
Hipple confirmed that students rarely use cash, paying instead with credit cards or apps that debit their university accounts. He even suggested that the pandemic might push cash to the brink of extinction.
“Since your parents were little, we all knew money was dirty, and you wash your hands,” he said. “Now it’s even more so.”
Alex Turner, a sophomore majoring in communications at UMD, said she was at Dunkin’ Donuts when she first heard about the coin shortage. She used to frequently pay with cash but stopped because it had become inconvenient.
“Now if I bring cash, it’s for an emergency — it’s become sort of a last resort,” she said.
If College Park’s marketplace is evidence of our future, coin shortages may soon be a thing of the past.
boundaries across the county, as well.
Franklin presented his proposed map after nearly a week of public outrage in the College Park community, headlined by a protest on Oct. 18 at the new College Park City Hall courtyard during which participants called on the county council to revise an earlier version of the redistricting map. That map was introduced by Councilmember Derrick Leon Davis (District 6) on Oct. 14.
Davis’ map placed the entirety of College Park, including the university, in District 1. The county council approved Davis’ map, also with a vote of 6 to 4, though some councilmembers expressed concerns about transparency, specifically that College Park’s elected leaders and the city’s residents were unaware of the proposed map prior to the meeting.
“With regard to the City of College Park, they’re blindsided,” Councilmember Thomas Dernoga (District 3) said in a virtual meeting on Oct. 21.
Franklin said his experience serving on the county council through the 2011 redistricting process gave him a unique vantage point on current proceedings.
“This process is far more transparent than it was 10 years ago. There is no live
Davis’ map proposal came as a surprise to four councilmembers, according to statements from Dernoga and Councilmember Dannielle M. Glaros (District 3).
The College Park City Council called an emergency meeting on Oct. 18 to discuss Davis’ map, and city councilmembers encouraged the Prince George’s County Council to keep the city split between Districts 1 and 3, which allows the city to have two representatives on the county council. If the city is redesignated in a single district, it will have only one representative on the county council.
“I think the City of College Park has done very well ... having two representatives on the [county] council that represented its interests, albeit from slightly different perspectives,” said College Park City Councilmember John Rigg (District 3).
Franklin said his proposed map reflects increasing diversity in the county and also remedies the separation between the University of Maryland and the university’s Discovery District that Davis’ map proposed. The Discovery District is a growing public-private research hub located approximately one mile southwest of the university.
Franklin’s map directly impacts the current campaign of Eric Olson, who is run-
ning to assume, in 2022, the District 3 county council seat currently held by Glaros. This map places Olson’s residence in District 1, a change that could force him to run against Dernoga, according to a statement from Olson’s campaign.
“My neighborhood is now surrounded, on three and a half sides, by District 3,” Olson said. Franklin’s map places a number of College Park neighborhoods — including Olson’s Calvert Hills neighborhood, along with Berwyn, Lakeland and Old Town — in District 1.
Olson was also critical of the proceedings of the meeting on Oct. 14, during which Davis’ proposed map, the first to redesignate Olson’s residence to District 1, was presented.
“It was one of the worst displays of a public meeting that I’ve ever seen,” Olson said.
“It was completely appalling.”
Olson confirmed that he is continuing to campaign for the District 3 county council seat, despite the fact that both new map proposals place his residence in District 1. In order to file as a county council candidate, you must be a registered voter and a resident of the district for which you are filing.
The maps presented by Davis and Franklin passed the county council along the same lines, with the 6 votes in favor from Davis, Franklin, Council Chair Calvin Hawkins, Councilmember Todd Turner
(District 4), Councilmember Sydney Harrison (District 9) and Council Vice-Chair Deni Taveras (District 2).
Dernoga, Glaros, Councilmember Jolene Ivey (District 5) and Councilmember Monique Anderson-Walker (District 8) voted against both maps, while Rodney Streeter (District 7) was absent from both votes for medical reasons.
A public hearing will be held on Nov. 16 for the county council to hear from residents before deciding on a final redistricting map. The council’s decision is due by Nov. 30.
Franklin said the final vote will be between the two plans now on the table or a third plan that was submitted on Sept. 1 by the Prince George’s County Redistricting Commission.
The county’s commission was led by Rev. James J. Robinson, of Tree of Life Christian Ministries, and included Dr. Charlene Mickens Dukes, former president of Prince George’s County Community College, and David C. Harrington, president of Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce.
The commission was formed to create a map that would lead to the fewest changes possible, according to the commission’s introductory letter. The commission’s plan proposed few changes, with College Park remaining split between Districts 1 and 3.
Any changes would take effect with the 2022 election cycle.
Kevin Cabrera’s journey from being a student studying business management in California to director of the College Park Aviation Museum was not a direct flight.
“Aviation was not my field of expertise. I would consider myself a public historian, oral historian, a cultural historian. My experience was leading a museum, setting vision, setting mission and reaching those goals,” Cabrera said. “When I saw the job opening at the College Park Aviation Museum, what really intrigued me was the history of the place. Who wouldn’t want to work next to the oldest operating airport in the world?”
He accepted the job in May 2020, and then the pandemic struck.
“It was definitely a huge shock. I had accepted the position and was planning to start at the museum in April. And then March hits, and everything kind of shut down,” Cabrera recalled. He started in May of last year and did his initial training vir-
tually, from California, before moving east that June.
Because the museum was closed, Cabrera couldn’t observe normal day-to-day operations or easily connect with colleagues and local schools.
“The hardest was not being able to see the community,” he said.
Cabrera could familiarize himself with the museum, though. He was allowed to enter the building and went in every day.
“It was [a] challenging time but allowed me to see the museum, to start to plan, to see some of the things we could possibly do, look at some of the exhibits that we currently had and make some little changes that were easy to do,” he noted. The museum reopened to the public in March 2021.
Cabrera had spent time in this area, but relocating to College Park held some surprises. “When we moved out here, I was in shock and awe of all the nature. All the trails, all the parks, all the trees, all the greenery,” he said. Cabrera enjoys running and bicycling.
But how did a student who was majoring in business management become a museum director? Cabrera first changed majors, a step that took him back to his early interest in history. But while history was his favorite subject, Cabrera didn’t enjoy school and described himself as an average student.
When he started working on projects related to California’s history, Cabrera realized how highly personal and alive it can be. One of his projects, in particular, focused on the experience of Mexican students integrating into California’s white-only schools in the 1940s, after 20 years of being excluded from them.
“To see you had these students who were Mexican, but segregated, I felt like that really connected to the work I was doing at the history room,” Ca-
brera said. His work involved collecting and preserving the oral histories of local Latino, Vietnamese and African-American communities, people who typically aren’t depicted in U.S. museums, Cabrera noted. He felt a personal connection to the desegregation exhibit. “For me, being a Mexican American, having a Latino background — that was the first time I saw an exhibit that connected to me.”
Cabrera also worked on a project exploring the cultural and social life of African Americans in California’s Orange County, from the 1920s to the 1990s, and the experience was meaningful for him. ”With oral histories, you’re getting [an account] from that person’s point of view. And that’s why I really enjoy doing oral history. That’s what I really enjoyed about working with and doing history that is considered more modern. You can still have those in-person conversations,” Cabrera said.
Cabrera’s work landed him a job as an educator at the Heritage Museum of Orange County. He went on to become interim director in 2015, then permanent director, a position he held for five years.
Then he learned that an aviation museum on the other side of the country was looking for a new director. He applied for the job and was soon booking a flight. He landed safely, and now it’s the museum that’s taking off.
“One of the things that we do share at the museum is how much innovation has occurred in aviation,” Cabrera said, adding that he wants the museum to spark visitors’ curiosity and
inspire them to dig deeper.
He’s considering creating a design studio where museum visitors could learn how to create a pre-flight checklist, design their own airplane and even explore piloting. He hopes that such offerings would attract students at any level who are interested in engineering, technology and aviation.
Cabrera is also invested in partnerships; he noted that he wants to “build a much deeper relationship with our surrounding communities … and surrounding neighborhoods. I’m very big on bringing in communities.”
Increasing diversity in the museum profession is another area Cabrera feels strongly about, and he would like to help minority students envision themselves as curators, archivists, educators and museum directors. “From a personal standpoint, it’s something that is very important to me. I feel like there’s a lot of lack of diversity in the museum profession. When I became a director, I was kind of taken aback when I went to a meeting, and I was the only minority.”
Cabrera also wants students to know that there’s more to life than grades. “Just because you might not do well in high school or middle school, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to do well in something else,” he said, speaking from his personal experience.
Cabrera’s path to College Park is helping him innovate how history is taught at College Park’s beloved landmark — the oldest continuously operating airport in the world.
Doris Davis will be sorely missed by those who knew her. She slipped away peacefully on Oct. 13, 2021.
Doris and her husband, Tom, were childhood sweethearts; they were always at each other’s side. This year, they celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary. They were proud parents of two sons, Patrick and Michael.
Doris and Tom moved to the city 53 years ago and for more than 50 of those years were involved in neighborhood, civic and municipal affairs. Many may remember Doris from her participation in the College Park Veterans Memorial Committee. She was a staunch supporter of military veterans and chaired the committee for 15 years, running a tight ship. Under her supervision, veterans from all military branches were remembered on Memorial Day and Veterans Day in a touching fashion.
Not to be forgotten, Doris was an integral part of the College Park 50th anniversary committee, in 1997. As
neighborhood in College Park.
Per the committee’s recommendation, the 15 to 21 member commission’s work would take place over six years, with each city-appointed member serving a two-year term.
Lakeland was established in 1890. At that time, “The African Americans that came to Lakeland came from various locations in the state of Maryland and beyond,” committee member Violetta Sharp-Jones explained during the work session. “And we can say through our research, and our oral histories, that they all were on the move to look for a better place to raise their families.”
The committee’s report included several recommendations for commission activities over a potential six-year timeline; some of these recommendations are seeking and facilitating community engagement, holding truth-telling events, publishing a recorded history of harm, naming new and renaming old city features and establishing a memorial space.
“There are a lot of folks in the College Park community that may not be aware of this history,” Mayor Patrick Wojahn said. “We’re doing what we can to get the word out, to get a better understanding of what happened with the urban renewal process.”
a resident of the Hollywood neighborhood, she joined the North College Park Citizens Association and served as treasurer. In 2019, she and Tom received the city’s Jack Perry Award, celebrating their service to the community. Doris, a kind and giving person, will be remembered not only for her contributions to College Park but so much more.
The community was located close to Paint Branch and Indian Creek, an area that struggled with frequent flooding. According to the steering committee’s report, by 1961, a substantial number of homes were not up to the housing standards of the time. Lakelanders sought flood remediation from the City of College Park, which received federal funding to address the issue. In 1970, the city implemented the Lakeland Urban Renewal Plan.
The resulting plan, the committee report says, “resulted in the
destruction of ⅔ of the Lakeland community displacing more than 100 families.”
“If you go back and look at the history of Lakeland, there are several instances where folks felt that movements by the City of College Park were simply processes that would lead to them losing their land,” committee chair Maxine Gross said in a June interview with the College Park Here & Now “That’s the primary opposition that folks had to urban renewal ... they thought that it was a ploy to take their land.”
He explained that the establishment of the commission will give people the chance to talk about what happened and, “make clear that there was real harm caused to families, caused to the community, caused to people as a result of what happened here.”
Councilmembers agreed at the work session that the steering committee’s efforts demonstrate the need for the Restorative Justice Commission. Following the work session, city staff will put together a resolution to formally establish the six-year commission.
Mayor Wojahn requested that the resolution be brought before the council as soon as possible.
Councilmembers agreed at the work session that the steering committee’s efforts demonstrate the need for the Restorative Justice Commission.
“This university has tremendous reach. Across the state, people care about this issue. We have thousands of signatures from the student petition, the Sierra Club petition ... hundreds of faculty on campus have signed a petition, and to call your own faculty ‘emotional’ and ‘not scientific,’ I don’t think that’s appropriate … The way to solve a problem is to bring in the people who know how to do it,” she said.
Stuart Adams, a city resident and former president of the Calvert Hills Citizens Association, shared his concerns, too: “You look at the Southern Gateway project, you look at the city hall, you look at all these different developments that are happening around us, and they are done with a truly collaborative, community-focused approach. This project really was sole sourced to one developer, who owns some land in a certain location, and we’re sacrificing our wooded, sustainable forest for a project that’s really not doing what it’s intended to do.”
Maryland State Senator Paul Pinsky spoke about his concerns to the university’ plans, “There are times when projects are needed for the public good, but let’s look at this project. Three hundred units for a need of 4 or 5 or 7,000 graduate houses… There’s a lot of graduate housing that is needed … but what is the trade-off? One of the trade-offs is building eight private homes virtually on the campus, and as someone who’s on this campus a fair amount, that doesn’t sit well with me. I think we need to minimize the privatizing of our public university.”
Protestors marched from McKeldin Library to the university’s administration building, where the crowd chanted slogans in opposition to the Western Gateway Project — Stop the chop, President Pines, save the pines and We say no way to the Western Gateway.
On Oct. 21, during a studentheld forum, College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn expressed his support for the Western Gateway Project, “The city, historically has been in support of it, because we have long needed affordable grad student housing and really our first opportunity in several decades, that we have to get that.”
On Oct. 28, in a letter to graduate students and campus leadership, the university announced its plan to temporarily halt the Western Gateway Project. Instead, the university
intends to focus on another development prospect: Old Leonardtown. “The university will pause current planning on the Western Gateway development to continue to listen, learn and adapt plans to address the critical need for graduate housing. The administration will continue to study this area to address environmental concerns related to the proposed development. This builds on the university’s stated commitment to achieve a Net-Zero Carbon Neutral campus by 2025,” the letter said.
Lee Poston, of the Save Guilford Woods movement, released a statement on Oct. 29 in response to the university’s letter: “We support graduate housing solutions and smart growth developments that are transit oriented, minimize climate impacts, preserve biodiversity, and include robust stormwater management. For these reasons, we strongly support the University’s new plan to provide much needed graduate housing through true infill redevelopment at the Old Leonardtown site on the UMD campus, an alternative long promoted by Guilford Woods advocates.”
As the university shifts gears and focus, Guilford Woods appears to have at least a temporary reprieve. We owe a debt of gratitude to the local activists, residents and students alike, who rose to protect these wooded acres that bring nature into the heart of College Park.
Finding bubble tea in College Park is easy; deciding which of the city’s many shops to go to may be harder. Möge Tee hopes to make that decision easier, though, by bringing fresh products, and unique flavors and toppings to the College Park bubble tea scene.
“A lot of different boba places use syrup or powder, but we actually use fresh fruit that is freshly cut, measured and blended with freshly brewed tea,” said Sylvia Kim, owner of College Park’s Möge Tee. The parent company operates in more than 380 locations; the College Park store, at 8150 Baltimore Avenue, is the first in Maryland. Kim, who loves bubble tea, decided to purchase the franchise because she believes that the Möge Tee product is outstanding. When she ordered the dragon fruit tea at another Möge Tee location, she expected it to be like all the other bubble tea she’d ever had but was pleasantly surprised to find she was wrong.
“When I had it, I was blown away by how light everything tasted — it just went down in one gulp,” she said.
Before opening Möge Tee, Kim was a stayat-home mom; she had never planned to own her own franchise. With no experience but a lot of interest, Kim reached out by email to corporate Möge Tee, not knowing if she was even going to get a response.
“During COVID[-19], when everything was kind of [at a] standstill, everyone had more time on their hands. So, I emailed them, and they actually wrote back, and that’s how my journey started last year,” said Kim.
After about a year of preparations, Kim launched the store with a soft opening on Sept. 18, and Möge Tee became an instant hit.
“I think it’s definitely popular because everybody tastes the freshness. Like I said before, a lot of people are used to the heavy sugar, the syrup, and the powder base, and then when they come, they may be a little surprised — they may think it’s a little on the light side, but that’s because it’s fresh,” she said. “Everything we have, even our toppings, our cheese foam that we are known for — none of them are purchased. We actually make everything in-house.” Just like Kim, her customers are also blown away by Möge Tee’s products.
“I think the best thing about them is that they use real fruit and real tea to make this sort of fruit tea that nowhere else really has,” said Evan Ni, a senior at the University of Maryland. “It’s the bubble tea place that is the most different from the other bubble tea places that are around here; it’s higher quality and has more variations.”
“I’m very proud of what I serve,” said Kim. And whether you are a bubble tea aficionado or first-time patron, Kim is ready and willing to serve you, too.
Our top priorities for this year are beating COVID and getting Maryland back to work Our post-recovery agenda includes climate change, smart growth, health equity, expanded PreK, and higher incomes for working people
We appreciate the opportunity to represent the 21st District and to serve you. To learn more about what we've been working on and our priorities going forward, visit our website.
We look forward to keeping in touch over the coming months!
Many thanks, Mary, Ben, Joseline, and Jim