3 councilmembers announce they will not run again
By SHARON O’MALLEY
Three of the College Park City Council’s eight members have said they will not seek re-election in November.
Both councilmembers who represent District 2, Llatetra Brown Esters and Susan Whitney, announced on July 30 that they will leave the council in December when their terms expire.
Four-term Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) notified voters on Aug. 4 that he will not run for office again this year.
Rigg, who has advocated for four-year terms for the mayor and councilmembers instead of two-year stints as city law requires, said in an email to “friends and neighbors” that he “want[s] to place a much higher priority on … family events, see my friends and neighbors more often
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and spend time on personal pursuits. I have determined that running for council every other autumn is a trade-off that I am no longer willing to accept.”
The position of mayor and the seats of all eight councilmembers are up for election in November. Candidates have until Sept. 12 to register with the city.
Whitney and Esters also pointed to increasing obligations to family and their
full-time jobs as reasons for giving up their seats.
District 2 includes the communities of Berwyn, Branchville, Lakeland and Oak Springs.
Esters, who lives in Oak Springs, won her seat in a 2020 special election. She said her recent promotion to associate vice president for student success and
Report outlines harms to Lakeland
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Restorative justice advocates gathered in College Park’s Lakeland neighborhood July 20 to present a report urging the city to help the community improve education, transportation and housing.
Speakers recommended free college tuition, public transportation passes and compensation for homes lost during urban renewal in the 1960s and ’70s.
“It hasn’t just been about us going to archives, us looking up public records,” said Charkera
Ervin, legal and policy director for the African American Redress Network (AARN), which conducted much of the research. “It’s been about talking to people who experienced the harm, people who live in Lakeland, people who knew exactly what was going on.”
Approximately three dozen Lakeland residents and supporters gathered to hear the report’s findings, which the speakers also presented to the College Park City Council on July 8. The report, compiled by
District 2 City Councilmembers Llatetra Brown Esters, left, and Susan Whitney have said they will not run for re-election in November. PHOTOS BY GIUSEPPE LOPICCOLO
Council urges legislation against rent price-setting
By MADI EADES
The deputy student liaison to the College Park City Council on Aug. 6 urged the council to adopt an ordinance banning software that she said allows apartment developers to collude on rent prices to keep them high.
Amira Abujuma’s statement at the council meeting came in response to a request by Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) that the city send a letter to state legislators supporting possible legislative action against RealPage and other software companies that offer price-setting features based on algorithms. The council agreed to send that letter to the 21st District delegation and to discuss potential further action at a future meeting.
“Housing in College Park is not a luxury. It’s a necessity,” said Abujuma, a junior computer engineering and public policy major at the University of Maryland (UMD). “Access to affordable housing is essential,
and RealPage is a threat to that.”
Three companies with local properties—Greystar Management Services, Bozzuto Management Co. and UDR Inc. (United Dominion Realty Trust)—and RealPage have been involved in lawsuits at the state and federal level.
Rigg said he brought the issue to the dais after residents in his district and a former UMD Student Government Association officer brought it to his attention.
The three companies own or manage seven apartment complexes in the area: The Varsity College Park, Union on Knox, Atworth, Monument Village at College Park, Domain and Aster in College Park, and Pilot House in Riverdale Park.
Abujuma described these apartment buildings as some of the city’s “largest and most influential properties” and called the use of RealPage “devastating … for the thousands of students who call College Park home.”
The average price of rent in College Park is 16% higher than the national average, at $1,894 per month, according to data from Apartments.com.
“It’s showing us that when prices are coordinated and inflated by monopolistic algorithms, our residents, students, workers and families will struggle to pay the high rent prices,” Abujuma said.
Councilmember Maria Mackie (District 4) suggested finding a way for the city to inform renters about how developers set rents for apartment complexes in the area.
And Rigg said people should understand that just a few landlords own large apartment complexes in the city, and several of them own multiple properties, increasing the “odd[s] of collusion and upward price pressure.”
Abujuma emphasized that the city has the authority to ban the software, and that a handful of other municipalities, includ-
ing San Francisco, Seattle and Philadelphia, have passed ordinances to prohibit landlords from using algorithmic rentsetting software like RealPage.
“We do have the authority to do the same,” Abujuma said.
“The council has the authority to pass ordinances in the interest of public welfare, including measures to protect renters, limit monopolistic behavior and ensure a fair housing market.”
Councilmember Ray Ranker (District 3) agreed.
Students to form city advisory council
By LILLIAN GLAROS
In an effort to get University of Maryland (UMD) students more involved with the city, the two student liaisons to the College Park City Council are creating a Student Liaison Advisory Council.
Deputy Student Liaison Amira Abujuma said she and Student Liaison Nick DiSpirito hope to attract 15 to 20 students to participate on the advisory council.
“There are a lot of people who have … said, ‘We want to get
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involved, but we have no idea how we can,’” Abujuma, a rising junior majoring in public policy and computer engineering, said.
The advisory council will give undergraduate students the opportunity to offer input on proposed city policies and help the liaisons understand diverse student perspectives, Abujuma said.
DiSpirito said he wants to get students involved with topics they are interested in.
“If we’re giving them avenues
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The advisory council will give undergraduate students the opportunity to offer input on proposed city policies.
Business Manager Catie Currie
Executive Director Kit Slack
Board of Directors
President: Marta McLellan Ross
Vice President & General Counsel: Michael Walls
Treasurer: Joe Murchison
Secretary: Melanie Dzwonchyk
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to work on stuff and things that they are interested in, things that they are receiving an education in,” DiSpirito said, “that is the way we get people civically engaged, and that’s the way we create a city where we can all work together collectively to improve the lives for everyone.”
DiSpirito and Abujuma attend city council meetings, serve as representatives of the student body and offer input to the council on issues affecting students. The new advisory council will help the liaisons be more productive, DiSpirito, a rising junior majoring in public policy, added.
Three committees will make up the advisory council: social media, event planning and policy, each with a committee head, the liaisons said.
The policy committee will help the liaisons with research while the event planning committee will organize voter registration drives and get-togethers aimed at increasing student civic engagement, DiSpirito said.
College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said he supports the effort to form a student advisory council, noting it could help
Abujuma suggested the city could take action besides banning the software entirely, like establishing data-sharing standards to prevent anti-competitive collaboration, but she advocated for the ban.
The city is licensed to use RealPage for market analysis, much like other municipalities, Rigg said.
A complete ban on the use of the software could be hard for the city to monitor because developers can look at rent prices in surrounding areas that did not ban the software and set prices accordingly, he added.
“Sometimes … great ideas in Annapolis take five years to … pass,” Ranker said. “Are we willing to just sit and wait for something on other levels when there might be very good options to take locally?”
address the divide between students and permanent residents of the city.
Abujuma agreed the advisory council could help bridge the gap between students and College Park residents. By having students work on goals that benefit the community, the advisory council will show residents that students care about the city, she said.
“We want to make sure that it’s making College Park better, and while we do have a focus on students, we know that anything that we’re working towards is going to help the community entirely,” Abujuma said.
Among the advisory council’s initial goals are increasing opportunities for student internships with the city and passing an early lease ordinance, DiSpirito said.
An early lease ordinance would prevent landlords from pressuring tenants into resigning their leases before they have had a chance to set their academic schedules or explore alternative housing.
DiSpirito said that ordinance would benefit all renters in College Park, not just students.
Students can find a link to apply for a spot on the new council on the Student Government Association’s Instagram.
Union on Knox is one of seven local apartment complexes owned by developers accused of colluding when setting rent prices.
KATELYNN WINEBRENNER
City considers stricter parking enforcement
By SHARON O’MALLEY
Facing growing parking shortages in some neighborhoods, the College Park City Council is weighing whether to hire more enforcement officers, cut the number of permits per household in neighborhoods that require them and start charging residents to park on their streets.
The city issues up to five free permits per household in permit-required neighborhoods. Several councilmembers, speaking at their Aug. 6 meeting, suggested reducing that to three.
“For the past several years, we’ve had development in College Park, quite a bit,” Parking Enforcement Manager Jim Miller told the council. “That affects finding parking on the street.”
The solution, he said, “boils down to residential permit parking. It’s a matter of how that restricted parking is utilized.”
Some neighborhoods with larger yards where most homes have driveways do not require permits, while denser areas with more rentals may need them, Miller said. “It’s not a common fix across the board,” he said.
Councilmember Susan Whitney (District 2) said permits and fees will work only if enforced. She suggested extending the hours of enforcement and offering incentives to one-car households.
“We want people who need their cars to be able to park them, and we want people who can get by with one car, we want to encourage them to do that,” she said.
Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) warned that requiring permits in new areas would not be popular.
ie (District 4) agreed.
“Nobody likes permit parking,” she said, noting, “We need to realize this is a quality-of-life issue. It’s a safety issue. If we don’t do something about that, it’s bad on us.”
Mackie and others supported parking permit fees, while Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1) said he is “vehemently against” charging taxpayers to park in front of their homes.
Other ideas included issuing a limited number of free permits and charging for extras. Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell urged coordination with the University of Maryland, and Mackie said residents should be consulted before the council changes the rules.
“We need to move a little slow,” agreed Mayor Fazlul Kabir, who asked city staff to prepare talking points for another worksession.
Miller noted that many neighborhoods, especially in north College Park, were built in the 1950s and ’60s with narrow streets and few driveways. Over time, more residents and more cars have led to overcrowding. Free permits, he said, contribute to the problem.
“In my experience, permit parking is one of those things that appeals to the rational side of a councilmember’s brain but isn’t warmly received by neighbors, even in neighborhoods that have parking problems,” he said.
Councilmember Maria Mack-
I n v e s t i n g i n t h e U n i v e r s i t
C u t t i n g f u n d s f o r h e a l t h i n s u r a n c e , s t u d e n t l o a n s , a n d l o c a l s c h o o l s A n d m u c h m o r e
e r , w e n e e d t o s t a y s t r o n g . P l e a s e j o i n u s ! F i r i n g f e d e r a l e m p l o y e e s a n d c o n t r a c t o r s C l o s i n g f e d e r a l a g e n c i e s
Charging for parking permits or limiting the number the city issues could reduce overcrowding on some city streets, city councilmembers say. ADOBE STOCK PHOTO
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Our calendar includes many events and meetings sponsored by the City of College Park and local nonprofits, including arts organizations and performance venues, occurring between Aug.13 and Sept.10. For additional events and meetings organized by the city, see the College Park Post newsletter in this paper’s centerfold. Find more local events all month long in our new continuously updated online calendar, streetcarsuburbs.news/events.
Please send notices of events taking place between Sept.13 and Oct.15 to jalen@streetcarsuburbs.news by Sept.1.
AUG. 13
Yoga
A gentle flow yoga class for all levels that focuses on building strength, flexibility, and balance through movement synced with the breath. $10. 7-8 p.m. Old Parish House (4711 Knox Rd.). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/5dftrh9v. Repeats every Wednesday.
AUG. 14
Family Game Night, Calvert Hills Neighborhood Come for an evening of fun. Bring your family or meet your friends to enjoy lawn games, fun challenges, giveaways and more. Free. 6-8 p.m. Calvert Hills Playground & Athletic Field (4601 Calvert Rd.). For more information https:// tinyurl.com/4nppvecp.
Senior Social Events
Seniors can use this event as an opportunity to engage in mentally and physically active programs, socialize and meet new friends. Join fellow seniors for socializing, light refreshments and community games. Free. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. College Park Woods Clubhouse (3545 Marlbrough Way). To RSVP, call 240-487-3614. For more info visit: https://tinyurl. com/yuykc9zc.
AUG. 15
Yoga in the Park
Learn basic moves to strengthen your body, increase flexibility and free your mind. Ages 13 & up. Register at pgparksdirect. com. Free. 9:30 a.m. Lake Artemesia Park (8200 55th Ave.). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/zx2wzcpu.
Friday Senior Social
Seniors can use this event as an opportunity to engage in mentally and physically active programs, socialize and meet new friends. Join fellow seniors for socializing, light refreshments and community games. Free. 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Branchville Volunteer Fire Company (4905 Branchville Rd.). To RSVP, call 240-487-3614. For more info visit: https://tinyurl.com/yuykc9zc. Repeats on Aug. 22 and Aug. 29.
AUG. 16
Cub Corner
Explore the evolution of flight from slow-moving hot-air balloons to supersonic jet engines and faster-than-sound flight. Also has a reading of “Dragon Post” by Emma Yarlett. $5.10:30-11:30 a.m. College Park Aviation Museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr.). For more information visit https:// tinyurl.com/22a9wjbt.
Christian Afro Beats Dance Class
Enjoy an uplifting afternoon filled with community, connection, praise and Afrobeat dance. For all, whether you’re a seasoned dancer or just want to move and have fun. Free. 1-3 p.m. (8270 Alumni Dr.). For more information visit https:// tinyurl.com/34bufvb4.
UMD Memorial Chapel Open House
Tour the Chapel spaces to see if the location is right for your next event. Free. Noon-2 p.m. (7744 Regents Dr.). For more information visit https:// tinyurl.com/2vt8awn9.
AUG. 17
DIY Popsicles & Pastilles in College Park
Learn to make your own frozen treats and herbs. $50. 9:30-11:30 a.m. Vital Traditions Acupuncture (4912 Berwyn Rd.). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/4n24xtzm.
AUG. 19
College Park Arts Exchange
- Art Club
Spend your evening creating art with neighbors. Bring your own art project and materials. This is not an art class, but each meeting will begin with a group warmup. Adults only. Free. 7:30-9 p.m. Old Parish House (4711 Knox Rd.). For more information visit https://tinyurl. com/478zjxbv.
AUG. 23
Saturday Steam Hour
Come to this hands-on activity table where creativity takes flight. Perfect for budding engineers and aviation enthusiasts, this interactive program allows visitors to design and build their own creations. Free with museum admission. 10:30-11:30 a.m. College Park Aviation Museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr.). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/ypa95w47.
AUG. 24
Lakeside Loop 5k and 10k
Race on a paved trail through the woods, around the outside of a runway, over creeks and finally around the outskirts of Lake Artemesia. 5k: $30, 10k: $45. Prices increase by $5 if registering day of. 10k: 7:45 a.m. 5k: 8 a.m., Lake Artemisia (5211 Campus Dr.). For more information visit https://tinyurl. com/4ryms3vn.
AUG. 30
Runaway Rhythms: Seth Kibel & The Kleztet
light refreshments will be available for purchase. Free with museum admission. College Park Aviation Museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr.). Noon-1 p.m. For more information visit https://tinyurl. com/mscufavm.
SEPT. 3
Senior Advisory Committee Karaoke and Sing Along Come and enjoy a musical activity to boost health as well as create a sense of community with this singalong. Free. 10 a.m.-noon. College Park Woods Clubhouse (3545 Marlbrough Way). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/2s3b7ve5.
SEPT. 9
College Park Arts Exchange - Art Club
Spend your evening creating art with neighbors. Bring your own art project and materials. This is not an art class, but each meeting will begin with a group warmup. Adults only. Free.7:30-9 p.m. Old Parish House (4711 Knox Rd.). For more information visit https:// tinyurl.com/478zjxbv.
Changes in Transportation
In this event of homeschool families, learn about the history of aviation transportation. Kids :$2, adults: $4. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. College Park Aviation Museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr.). For more information visit https:// tinyurl.com/2xyk3hhz.
SEPT. 10
MORE INFORMATION: www.pgcasa.org
301-209-0491
volunteer@pgcasa.org
Get your feet tapping during this installment of the summer courtyard concert series with the award-winning Seth Kibel Quartet as they perform Klezmer, Yiddish theater, Yiddish folksong, as well as a smattering of jazz and swing! Picnics, picnic blankets and lawn chairs are welcome, and
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (8270 Alumni Dr.). Repeats through the 16th. For more information visit https:// tinyurl.com/mry8zx9x.
REPEATING
Story Time for Children Storytelling session geared to infants and older. Free. Every Wednesday. 9:30-10 a.m. College Park American Legion (9704 Rhode Island Ave.). For more information email: bokays100@juno.com.
College Park Community Library Book Club
Meets on the second Thursday of each month, 7-8:30 p.m. at the College Park Community Library, Church of the Nazarene (9407 Rhode Island Ave.).
Aug. 14 – Death at the Morning House by Maureen Johnson
Sept.11 – A Passage to India by E.M Forster
Line Dance
Jessie’s Soul Line Dancers offers a class with step-by-step instruction, and students then perform dances to soul, gospel and pop music. Free. Every Friday from 10-11 a.m. Zoom. For more information and the registration link email: info@ cpae.org.
College Park Farmer’s Market
Buy fresh produce and meet local vendors. Free. Saturdays. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Paint Branch Parkway (5211 Campus Dr.). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/2p9w8ddx.
Hollywood Farmers Market
Featuring local produce and crafts. Free. Every Saturday through November. 10 a.m.2 p.m. at Hollywood Shopping Center (9803 Rhode Island Ave.). For more information visit https://tinyurl.com/ ue4euu27.
NEIGHBORHOOD
ASSOCIATION MEETINGS
North College Park Civic Association
Next Now Fest 2025
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s annual NextNOW Fest is a multi-day arts festival featuring performances and other experiences by intriguing, inventive artists from around the country and the University of Maryland campus. Free. Noon. The
Second Thursday of the month. 7:30-9 p.m. Davis Hall (9217 51st Ave.). For more information email: NCPCivic@ gmail.com.
Berwyn District Civic Association
BDCA meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month. 7:30 p.m. For more information email: bdcaboard@myberwyn.org.
Work on Calvert Hills flood project to begin
By RHIANNON EVANS
Construction on the Calvert Hills flood mitigation project is scheduled to start in mid-August and finish in 2028.
The construction, which comes after more than a decade of planning, brings some relief to frustrated residents, according to Daniel Oates, president of the Calvert Hills Citizens Association.
“It’s going to be a tough couple of years, but I think it’s going to be worth it,” College Park City Councilmember John Rigg (District 3), who lives in Calvert Hills, said.
The project aims to ease severe and chronic flooding in the city’s Calvert Hills neighborhood, located near the University of Maryland, which has led to sewage backups and water in basements, according to Rigg, whose car floated away in 2020 during a heavy rainstorm.
The first phase of the four-part project will be primarily centralized near Calvert Park, Bowdoin Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue. Construction is set to start in August and will be completed by January 2027. During that time, Calvert Park will be used to store equipment and construction vehicles.
The second phase will begin in October 2026 and last until March 2028, Frank Galosi, the project manager within the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment (DOE), explained at a community preconstruction meeting on July 29. Construction during this phase will be along Guilford Drive between Knox Road and Baltimore
Avenue, Galosi said.
“During construction, unfortunately, [the park] will be off-limits,” College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said. “However, part of the project’s requirement, the plan is that, once the [underground] reservoirs are built, the contractors will be restoring the field completely up to the previous standard, which is before the construction started.”
DOE will work with Sagres Construction Corp. and the city to limit the negative impact of construction on the residents, Reno Brown, the construction project coordinator, said at the meeting. The construction team will install equipment to monitor noise and vibration levels and will gauge cracks in the ground before, during and after construction, Brown said.
“It’s going to be loud; that’s the nature of the work,” Jeff De-
Han, associate director of DOE’s stormwater management division, said. “I’ve had construction up and around my house; it’s inconvenient. But it’s probably getting a benefit out of the noise, community betterment, right?”
Brown also warned residents about the potential impact on local traffic and parking and assured them they will receive a 48-hour notice of any lane closures and parking relocations. Construction won’t interfere with traffic during morning and evening rush hours and will
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return to normal by the end of each business day, Brown said.
Additionally, any residents who need to relocate their cars can park in Zones 6 or 7.
“We’ll work with College Park to accommodate [residents] as the project goes along,” Brown said.
Even with an end in sight, some residents are frustrated with the delays, Oates said.
“I think people are excited that the project is going forward,” Oates said. “That said, you know, there’s been a lot of promises over many years, so we’ll see when shovels are in the ground.”
Kabir said the delays are mostly due to issues with funding the project.
“It’s not a city project, even though the city is intimately involved with the [DOE],” Kabir said. “These are the kind of things that take time because it’s not a small project.”
DOE plans to create a web portal and post monthly project updates. While several residents who attended the meeting asked about future community outreach meetings, Brown said DOE has not scheduled any.
“This project has been on the fast track; it’s been moving pretty fast,” Brown said at the meeting. “I assure you, we’re just trying to get it done so that we can alleviate the issue that you’re having there in your community.”
Rainwater pooled as high as four feet in some Calvert Hills neighborhoods during a severe storm in 2020. COURTESY OF JOHN RIGG
NEWS BRIEFS
VISIT STREETCARSUBURBS.NEWS FOR MORE
National winner. College Park Here & Now won four awards in the National Newspaper Foundation’s 2025 Better Newspaper Editorial Contest.
The monthly print publication took home two third-place prizes and two honorable mentions, one of them for general excellence.
One judge noted of the newspaper, which works with multiple interns each semester from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism: “What a great newspaper for journalism students to cut their teeth in reporting. With what is displayed in this newspaper, journalism is in good hands for future generations!”
Intern Adelia McGuire and Managing Editor Sharon O’Malley shared a third-place prize for Best Business Story for a summer 2024 piece on the creative ways College Park businesses attract customers during the summer, when students are away on break.
Former Associate Editor Sam Gauntt won a third-place award for a story about lead in the drinking water at the area’s public schools.
O’Malley also earned an honorable mention for a story about the 100th anniversary of the Branchville Volunteer Fire Co. Streetcar Suburbs Publishing, the nonprofit organization that publishes College Park Here &
Now, won 11 awards for its three publications, including Hyattsville Life & Times and The Laurel Independent
Non-stop. The College Park City Council on Aug. 6 adopted an ordinance making it illegal to park or stop in a bike lane, even for deliveries.
The law, which takes effect on Aug. 27, will apply only to cityowned streets and not to those under state control, such as Baltimore Avenue.
The change to the city code came in response to complaints from bicyclists about cars and delivery trucks blocking bike lanes, creating unsafe conditions, according to College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir.
Just a taste. The city may hold its Taste of College Park event twice a year in the future, according to the co-founders of Flave, an app that partnered with the city for the July 21–27 promotion.
Co-founders Derek Battle and Jal Irani called the restaurant week a success, measuring it by the volume of diners who participated and the results of a survey sent to the restaurants that were involved.
“Ideally, we’d like to run them even when the University of Maryland is on break—so summer and winter break—and re-
ally engage the community to get them to come out and support the local restaurants,” Irani said.
Flave saw a 380% increase in posts from within College Park during the event, 20% of them from users who live in the District, Irani said.
“Not only did we engage the community, it looks like people from other metropolitan areas came to participate in College Park restaurant week as well,” Irani said.
Battle added that the app will operate year-round in the city, offering smaller promotions to diners outside of the two main events. Diners upload photos of their meals to the app in exchange for points to use during future visits to restaurants.
“It’s just not a twice-a-year type of thing for what we’re doing,” Battle said. “You know, that’s restaurant week, but we’re definitely going to be building on other fun stuff to drive traffic.”
Running for office? Residents who want to run for mayor or for a seat on the College Park City Council have until Sept. 12 to register as candidates.
The city holds elections for mayor and city council members every other year. The next election will be held Nov. 4.
The position of mayor and all eight city council seats are up
for election this year. The incumbents in three of the seats—two from District 2 and one from District 3—have announced they will not seek re-election. Voters in each district elect two councilmembers.
Candidates for city council must collect signatures from 25 registered voters who live in their districts. Those wishing to run for mayor must collect 20 signatures from qualified voters in each of the four council districts.
See related story on Page 1.
Renters’ rights. A law that took effect July 1 could change how renters in College Park and across Maryland understand their rights.
The law requires landlords to attach the eight-page Maryland Tenants’ Bill of Rights to every residential lease. The document spells out what renters are entitled to under state and federal law—covering evictions, rent increases, security deposits and more.
For College Park’s studentheavy rental market, this could mean fewer surprises and more protections for tenants navigating off-campus housing. Although the new law does not create new rights, it consolidates existing ones into a single, easyto-read form, available in 18 languages. Previously, renters had to sift through laws and leases to
understand their protections.
Also new: Maryland has created an Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs, which will update the Bill of Rights annually and help tenants and landlords understand the rules.
The law builds on the 2024 Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act, which capped security deposits and expanded eviction protections.
Off the list. The U.S. Department of Justice has removed College Park, Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland from its list of sanctuary jurisdictions.
No Maryland cities—including Hyattsville and Takoma Park, whose city councils have publicly declared their jurisdictions as sanctuary cities—are on the revised list. Baltimore County is the only Maryland jurisdiction that remains.
In an Aug. 5 press release, Justice said it had identified jurisdictions on the list “as having policies, laws or regulations that impede enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
The original list, published May 29, included 500 jurisdictions nationwide—among them eight counties and 10 cities in Maryland, as well as the state itself. Maryland cities on that list included Annapolis, Baltimore, Cheverly, College Park, Edmonston, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Mount Rainier, Rockville and Takoma Park.
At the time, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to deny federal funding to jurisdictions on the list.
College Park officials have not declared the city a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Free kittens. College Park is waiving fees for all pets adopted from the city’s animal shelter in August.
The city is participating in the Maryland 3,000 Adoption Challenge, which aims to place 3,000 pets in forever homes statewide by the end of the month.
To make an appointment with College Park Animal Control, email animalcontrol@collegeparkmd.gov.
The Prince George’s County Animal Services Facility & Adoption Center, at 3750 Brown Station Road in Upper Marlboro, is also participating.
COURTESY OF UNSPLASH
COLLEGE PARK POST
AUGUST 2025
2025 General Election
The City of College Park will hold its General Election for the offices of Mayor and Council on Tuesday, November 4, 2025
The City of College Park will hold its General Election for the offices of Mayor and eight District Councilmembers (2 from each district) on Tuesday, November 4, 2025:
ELECTION DAY VOTING:
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
City Hall, Community Room, 7401 Baltimore Avenue 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
EARLY VOTING:
Sunday, November 2, 2025
Davis Hall, 9214 51st Avenue 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
CANDIDATE INFORMATION:
Residents interested in running for elected office must be a citizen of the United States, a current registered voter in the City, and must have been domiciled in the City for at least one year immediately preceding the date of qualification. At the time of taking office, which will be December 2, 2025, the elected official must be at least 18 years old. The Mayor must continuously reside in the City during their term, and each Councilmember must continuously reside in their respective district during their term. Terms are for two years. A Candidate Guide with information and forms to run for office is available from www. collegeparkmd.gov/elections; or make an appointment with the City Clerk (240-487-3501) to pick up a hard copy of the Guide. Candidacy petitions and other required forms are due by 4:00 p.m. on September 12, 2025.
VOTER REGISTRATION
• If you are already registered to vote with the Prince George’s County Board of Elections at your current City address, you are ready to vote in this election.
• If you have moved or changed your name since you registered, update your
Voter Registration. Call the Prince George’s County Board of Elections at 301-341-7300, or visit www.elections.state. md.us
• If you are new to the City, please complete a Voter Registration application on line at https://voterservices. elections.maryland.gov/ OnlineVoterRegistration/ InstructionsStep1
DO YOU PREFER TO VOTE BY MAIL? ARE YOU ON THE STATE’S PERMANENT VOTE BY MAIL LIST?
The State of Maryland now has a permanent Vote By Mail list for anyone who always wants to receive and vote a mail-in ballot. Once you are on the state’s list, we will send you a mail-in ballot for each City election you are eligible to vote in. You won’t have to submit an application for each election. To sign up, please visit the Maryland Board of Elections at: https:// voterservices.elections.maryland. gov/onlinemailinrequest/ InstructionsStep1.
VOTE 16
Thanks to a new Charter Resolution by the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park, all residents aged 16 and older who are registered with the Prince George’s County Board of Elections are now eligible to vote in College Park elections. Note: You can only vote in College Park elections if you live within the City limits. To vote, you must:
• Be at least 16 years old on Election Day
• Live within the City of College Park
• Be registered with the Maryland Board of Elections
Register online or learn more at elections.maryland.gov. It expands voting rights and empowers more young residents to shape the future of their city. Visit:collegeparkmd.gov/elections.
September 19, 2025 | 5-7:30pm
College Park woods clubhouse 3545 marlbrough way Learn more at collegeparkmd.gov/bailamos
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the City of College Park with live music from La Rumbera Mayor Band, dancing, and food!
¡Celebre el Mes de la Herencia Hispana con la Ciudad de College Park con música en vivo de La Rumbera Mayor Band, baile y comida!
Age-Friendly College Park Adopt Your New Furry Best Friend
Discover your local public library
The Prince George’s County Memorial Library System has resources for everyone. With a free library card you can use a computer, access the internet, make copies, scan documents, or search for a job. And yes, you can still borrow a book!
Library services are designed to cater to diverse needs: access a computer laptop rental program, passport services, large print books, and curbside pickup. You can also access free Wi-Fi from the library parking lot!
Can’t make it in person? No problem. Your library card gives you online access to the library’s collection, including audiobooks, E-books, movies, television shows and music.
CLASSES: The Hyattsville branch library (6530 Adelphi Rd, 301-9854690) offers a variety of on-site classes and programs, including Storytime, homework help, video games, English, Spanish and French conversation classes, citizenship classes, and senior computing classes.
There are also tutorials on learning over 100 languages, or courses taught by top professors from The Great Courses Library Collection.
SERVICES:
Passport services - Available by appointment at the Greenbelt library (11 Crescent Road) – call 301-345-5800, or visit Passport Services - Prince George’s County Memorial Library System .
Print/Fax/Scan – All PGCMLS branches have printers available for public use. The cost per page is $0.15, but the first 10 pages are free.
All branches also have scanners for public use. Some branches (Hyattsville is the closest) have fax machines as well.
SENIOR SMARTRIP® CARD
–Senior citizens aged 65+ may obtain a WMATA Senior SmarTrip® card at five library branches (closest are Hyattsville and Greenbelt). This card offers discounted fares on Metrobus, Metrorail and regional buses that accept SmarTrip. The card is available at no cost but requires a valid government issued photo ID. This card has no monetary value. To add value, you must use a fare card machine at any Metrorail station or a bus fare box that accepts SmarTrip®.
IMMIGRATION RESOURCES:
Visit the library’s Immigrant Proud page Immigrant Proud - Prince George’s County Memorial Library System for a variety of resources.
RESOURCES FOR KIDS:
• Borrow a Playaway Launchpad tablet for children ages 3-5.
• Books from Birth Program: A program designed to get books into the hands of every young child in the county. A free book is sent every month by mail to children under the age of 5. Braille and audiobook options are available as well.
Contact Books-From-Birth@ pgcmls.info or call 240-4555451.
For more information about the Prince George’s County library system, visit https://www.pgcmls. info, email askalibrarian@pgcmls. info , or stop by your local branch.
Brought to you by Age Friendly College Park, part of the AARP Age Friendly Communities network. The Age Friendly College Park initiative is sponsored by the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park, and coordinated by the Department of Youth, Family and Senior Services and the City’s Senior Advisory Committee. For more information or to volunteer, please contact agefriendlycommunity@ collegeparkmd.gov.
Pet adoption fees waived through August 31
This month, the City will be participating in the Maryland 3000 challenge to help find homes for at least 3,000 homeless shelter animals across the state.
Find your new best friend and get adoption fees waived through August 31!
All adoption procedures and approvals will still be conducted.
All animals will be vaccinated, microchipped, spayed or neutured and ready to find a new home!
Discover animals who are available for adoption in College Park at www.petfinder.com and adopt your new furry best friend today!
Learn more about pet ownership in the City of College Park at collegeparkmd.gov/pets.
City Announcements & Events Yard Waste Reminders
More information: www.collegeparkmd.gov
LABOR DAY CLOSURE
All City offices will be closed on Monday, September 1 in observation of Labor Day. Refuse and recycling will occur one day later than normal during the holiday week:
• Monday collections will occur on Tuesday, September 2
• Tuesday collections will occur on Wednesday, September 3
• Wednesday collections will occur Thursday, September 4
Special collections will only occur on Friday, September 5, of this holiday week. You must call 240487-3590 or email publicworks@ collegeparkmd.gov to schedule a pickup before setting your items out to the curb.
PUBLIC SAFETY MEETING
September 8 | 7PM - 8:30PM | Zoom
Stay safe and stay informed! The Public Services Department is hosting their next hybrid public safety meeting to share important safety tips and hear from local public safety officials. Join us inperson in the City Hall Community Room (7401 Baltimore Avenue College Park, MD 20740) or via zoom.Register at collegeparkmd. gov/publisafetymeeting.
BAILAMOS
SEPTEMBER 19 | 5PM
College Park Woods Clubhouse (3545 Marlbrough Way)
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! This lively event brings the community together to honor the rich traditions and contributions of Hispanic and Latino cultures. Enjoy live music from La Rumbera Mayor Band while dancing and savoring authentic cuisine from food vendors. Community exhibitors will share local resources, and there will be inflatables and crafts for kids. Dance to the rhythm and take part in this celebration of community pride!
COLLEGE PARK DAY VENDOR & EXHIBITORS
Applications for vendors and exhibitors are now being accepted for College Park Day 2025, held on Saturday October 18, 2025, at the Aviation Museum and Airport.
• Food/Drink vendors: collegeparkmd.gov/ cpdfoodvendor.
• Community Exhibitors: collegeparkmd.gov/ cpdexhibitor.
• Arts & Craft Vendors: collegeparkmd.gov/ cpdartsvendor.
Learn more at collegeparkmd.gov/yardwaste
Soft yard waste and woody brush are processed independently into two different end products; therefore, these materials should be prepared separately for collection and further processing.
Soft yard waste (grass, leaves, flowers, weeds and soft clippings that are less than ½” in diameter) is picked up year-round on your regularly scheduled collection day.
Woody yard waste (branches, shrubs, brush, and small logs) small bundles are collected on the same day as your regularly scheduled collection day, larger amounts are collected year-round on Thursday and Friday by appointment.
Please email publicworks@ collegeparkmd.gov or call 240487-3590 to schedule a collection.
• No loose brush, branches or yard waste.
• Do not use plastic bags, or the city-issued refuse or recycling carts.
• Do not mix lumber, trash, dirt, rocks, or other unacceptable items with yard waste.
PREPARATION
:
• Bundle and tie with biodegradable material, use
paper yard waste bags, the beige yard waste cart, or personal reusable containers* for either type of sourceseparated material. *Personal containers must have a yellow city yard waste sticker; free stickers are available at DPW.
• Separate soft material from woody material. Place each type of source-separated material in a separate container.
• Bundles of woody material must be no more than 4 feet long and comprised of individual branches up to 4 inches in diameter.
• Individual bundles must not exceed 2 feet in diameter or weigh more than 50 pounds and must be tied with biodegradable material.
• Logs must be cut into 12inch sections and no more than 12 inches in diameter. A maximum of 25 logs will be collected at a scheduled pick up.
• Place at the curb by 7:00 am
• Material that is oversized and requires the use of a crane will be charged at a cost of $100 per collection, per hour
• Material improperly set out for collection will not be collected. A door hanger error notice will be left informing you of the problem.
Federal closures, layoffs will affect College Park
By OLIVER MACK
The Trump administration’s efforts to shrink and relocate large swaths of the federal government could have an outsize impact on College Park, local officials told College Park Here & Now.
The latest casualty is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), which announced July 24 that the 115-year-old center will vacate its 6,500-acre campus and relocate more than 800 workers as part of a broader effort to move U.S. Department of Agriculture employees out of the Washington area.
The FBI said July 1 it would not move its headquarters to Greenbelt as planned and will instead relocate to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in the District, three blocks away from its current home at the J. Edgar Hoover Building.
Meanwhile, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt is slated to lose at least several hundred employees. And earlier this year,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecasting center, located on the edge of College Park in the Discovery District, was targeted for closure as the agency laid off more than 1,000 workers nationwide.
“I think this will be a double whammy,” College Park Director of Economic Development Michael Williams said. “These agencies are closed down, and that means there are no conferences, not many visitors coming in and out of the area to do business at those particular agencies that have been shuttered.”
In a statement to College Park Here & Now, a U.S. Department of Agriculture representative wrote that BARC employees will be relocated to new hub locations across the country because of the high cost of living in the Washington area and the lack of proximity to farmers and others in agriculture-related industries.
“These are well-established research facilities,” College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said. “I can
We’re in Your Neighborhood
see the genuine concerns about [federal employees’] jobs and the local economy and the overall negative impact.”
Kabir and the mayors of Berwyn Heights, Greenbelt and New Carrollton sent a letter July 28 to U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, seeking legislative action that would prevent closing or downsizing the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.
“BARC is a major economic driver for Prince George’s County and surrounding communities, supporting not only its federal workforce but also local businesses, service industries and housing markets,” the officials said in the letter. “Relocating these positions will lead to job losses, reduced tax revenue and disruption for thousands of families who depend on BARC.”
In addition, Kabir has asked College Park residents to object to the BARC closure by emailing reorganization@usda.gov by the Aug. 26 deadline for comments.
Local and state leaders have also expressed disappointment in the FBI’s decision not to move its headquarters to a Greenbelt site chosen by the General Services Administration in 2023.
“This has been frustrating for many of us,” Williams said. “We have been hoping that they will be coming and that will help revitalize our communities, bringing new businesses and improving the real estate market. … Looks like that is not going to happen, at least for now.”
Van Hollen wrote in a July 18 news release that “the fight is not over” and said he will continue working to bring the FBI head-
quarters to Greenbelt.
Williams said he expects ripple effects of the closures and layoffs to hit the city’s economy by early fall, affecting everything from housing to retail to city services.
In addition, the city’s hospitality industry could suffer a major blow, Williams said.
Kabir said he has been working with the College Park City Council and the mayors of nearby cities to determine how best to manage the federal changes. He said the city has an emergency assistance fund that laidoff federal workers and contractors can apply for.
The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center is the latest local casualty of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.
JALEN WADE
City considers rebates for security cameras
By OLIVER MACK
The College Park City Council is considering a program to help residents pay for outdoor security cameras.
At a July 8 worksession, councilmembers discussed the potential value of the cameras to police during investigations of crimes like theft, vandalism and carjackings.
“This is an effort from the residents to act as a force multiplier through the help of the city and just increase the overall eyes helping to protect our city,”
Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1), who championed the measure, said at the meeting.
The city might offer partial refunds of up to $250 to residents for the cost of installing security cameras on their property. Popular options for at-home
security include video cameras made by Ring, which can be incorporated into a doorbell or installed on their own. The city would not restrict the refunds to specific brands.
The discussion stemmed from resident concerns about crime and was inspired by similar programs in their early stages in Montgomery County and the District, Hernandez said at the meeting.
If approved, the council would allocate $15,000 to cover about 60 resident rebates as part of a temporary pilot program.
Applicants would need to register online and install cameras that meet several technical specifications.
Residential security cameras have proven helpful to police in some jurisdictions because they capture video of porch pirates—people who steal pack-
ages—and can record faces and identifying marks like tattoos on passersby and car thieves, for example.
Councilmembers debated whether asking residents to share security video with police would invade their privacy.
the council determine whether the cameras are performing as expected.
Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) questioned whether the city should pay for purchases residents might already plan to make. He also noted that some residents might not realize they have to pay not only for the camera but also for installation and data storage fees.
“I’d love to hear other communities’ experience of this,” Rigg said. “How did it actually promote greater adoption of this technology or greater knowledge of this technology among law enforcement? … I’m a little skeptical.”
Councilmember Susan Whitney (District 2) said any plan should include a provision stating the city would not require participants to share their footage with law enforcement.
Hernandez said rolling the program out as a pilot will help
Still, Hernandez noted, “The intention of this program is to help address the safety concerns of the residents. A way to help address some of the crime that’s happening across the city is to be able to provide a source of evidence, both for the homeowner’s peace of mind, but also for being able to prosecute those crimes.”
Councilmembers said the program, if adopted, could expand to include businesses.
The city might help residents pay for outdoor security cameras with the hope that the footage might help police solve crimes. COURTESY OF RING
UMD students work as interns on Key Bridge rebuild project
By IJEOMA OPARA
Three University of Maryland (UMD) engineering students are working as interns this summer to help rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed into the Patapsco River in 2024 when a cargo ship ran into it.
Sarah Ikonomi, 19, and Mila Brkic, 20, are part of the project’s construction team and Jordan Bentivenga, 20, works on the structures and geotechnical team. The trio is stationed at the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) in Hanover, where they spend their days reviewing pre-construction documents and work plans. Their internships end in August.
“Because I used the Key Bridge often growing up, I have a lot of fun memories of it,” Brkic, whose family lives less than five miles
from the bridge, said. “Knowing that an internship was available for me to work on the Key Bridge, I felt really passionate about it.”
Although she was in College Park the day the bridge collapsed, her family lives close enough that the impact of the March 26, 2024, incident disrupted their sleep.
According to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board in May 2024, seven road maintenance workers and an inspector were on the bridge at the time the cargo ship collided with it. While the inspector escaped unharmed, the workers fell into the river, where six of them died.
MDTA Deputy Director of Project Development Jason Stolicny said the organization brought students onto the project after the Maryland Higher
Education Commission urged the Maryland Department of Transportation to set up a program to offer hands-on experience to college students in the state. Interns from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins University are also working on the project.
“This was a nice opportunity to take a step back, look at the landscape of what is the next phase of engineers that are coming up in Maryland and really extend that opportunity for them to get exposure to the engineering and design, and review what it takes to get a project of this scale built,” Stolicny told College Park Here & Now.
Veronica Perrigan, director of UMD’s Engineering Career Services, said 75 UMD students sent in applications for the program
and reviewers forwarded nine to the MDTA for consideration.
Ikonomi, a rising junior, said the desire to see the behindthe-scenes design process of such a large project drove her to apply for the internship.
“Even while applying, I knew that it would be a once-in-alifetime opportunity to work on something to this scale,”
Ikonomi said.
Stolicny said the students will take part in field work when reconstruction begins later this month.
“Working in the field is so different from working in a classroom,” Bentivenga said of her experience so far. “There are so many things you just can’t learn at a desk in a lecture.”
National Night Out brings residents, law enforcement together
By RHIANNON EVANS
College Park residents met police officers and city officials on Aug. 5 at a National Night Out event designed to focus on public safety and foster a safer community.
The city invited residents to gather at the College Park Woods Clubhouse, located at 3545 Marlbrough Way, to meet officers from the University of Maryland Police Department, the Metro Transit Police Department and the Prince George’s County Police Department, as well as leaders of community organizations like the College Park Lions Club and the College Park Woods Neighborhood Watch.
“The whole goal of National Night Out is to get the community connected with the law enforcement who try to keep us safe,” College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said.
National Night Out occurs on the first Tuesday of August every year in communities across the country. The National Night Out organization encourages block parties, festivals, cookouts and other community events.
The city has participated in National Night Out for more than a decade, according to the city’s communications and events manager, Ryna Quiñones.
“Our mission always is to build those partnerships and engage with all community members,” University of Maryland Police Capt. August Kenner said of the department’s goal for the gathering.
The College Park Woods Neighborhood Watch has similar goals, according to Rex Powell, the organization’s coordinator, who noted that when neighbors know each other, communities are safer.
“An event like this is more community building,” said Powell, who explained that the more neighbors each resident knows and trusts, the more community members will look out for each other.
The gathering, which featured snacks, music and a bounce house for kids, attracted a diverse crowd of dozens, including retirees, couples with young children and new residents.
“That’s something that we are so proud of here in College Park,” Kabir said. “The diversity of different backgrounds: age, ethnic backgrounds of the different people from different cultures. … And you also have students and long-term residents coming together as one community, one College Park.”
Ginger Whitaker and Mike Marks have attended National Night Out every year
for the past four, since their son was a baby. Both said they appreciate the chance to build stronger bonds with their community.
“It just makes you feel safer to know who’s actually working down there at the fire station, or who’s sitting in the police car around the corner,” Whitaker, who lives in the city’s Hollywood neighborhood, said. “You know that it’s somebody you might recognize or somebody that you know is actually nice. It helps a lot. I think it goes a long way.”
Catholic University graduate student
Alexis Howlett said she attended National Night Out to get to know her neighbors and familiarize herself with the area after recently moving from Utah into a basement apartment in the College Park Woods neighborhood.
“I’ve lived in smaller areas that should have these communities, but I was never a part of those; I was always too busy,” Howlett said. “But I was inspired by [my landlords, so] I plan on coming to more events. I think it says a lot about the fact that there is such a significant turnout.”
For the second year in a row, National Night Out was a single event in one location instead of multiple gatherings in individual neighborhoods as in the past.
“This year’s choice was based on the availability of a city-owned facility with sufficient outdoor space to host such a gathering,” Sharon Fletcher, executive assistant for the Department of Public Services, said.
“Reducing the number of locations also relieved the stress on staffing resources of the multiple agencies that supported the event,” Fletcher said.
Three University of Maryland students are working as summer interns on the Francis Scott Key Bridge reconstruction project. From left to right: Jordan Bentivenga, Mila Brkic, Sarah Ikonomi. COURTESY OF MARYLAND TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir (in tie) talks with residents during National Night Out on Aug. 4.
RHIANNON EVANS
Museum attendance rebounds
By JALEN WADE
The College Park Aviation Museum welcomed approximately 32,000 guests a year over the last two years, nearly matching the 38,000 who visited each year prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
To encourage that momentum, museum administrators are leveraging their partnerships with the City of College Park and local businesses to attract more visitors.
“For a few years now, revenue sources have been lower, especially during the pandemic, and so organizations realize that they can do more when they’re partnering with others,” according to John McCaskill, the museum’s public program manager. Every year, the museum, which is a part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, hosts a number of events both on its own and with local partners. Nadine Boksma-
ti-Fattouh, the museum’s director, said the priority of these events is to make the museum more visible and to create a space for the community.
“Our intent was to have people come here and feel that they belong in this space, whether they’re aviation enthusiasts or not,” Boksmati-Fattouh said. “We started, you know, looking into our audiences and who are the people who come here and who are the people who don’t come here, and accordingly, we
revised our programming to attract more people from the community. At the end, our objective is to serve the community.”
Still, Boksmati-Fattouh said museum staff focuses more on quality events rather than on the quantity of attendees and curates the events so they will appeal to audiences interested in aviation. To that end, the museum hosts annual Girls in Aviation and Latinas in Aviation events, for example.
In addition, the museum is
the site of events designed to appeal to wide audiences, like College Park Day, scheduled for Oct. 18 this year, and a familyfriendly College Park Aviation Community Day in May.
Boksmati-Fattouh said common collaborators with the museum are its next-door neighbor, the College Park Airport, and the University of Maryland, local businesses, other museums and the Hyattsville Branch Library.
Other partners are Women in Aviation, Riverdale Park Arts, the Prince George’s County Historical Society, the Berwyn Ballet School and the College Park Arts Exchange. Most events have an aviation theme and feature concerts, tours, speeches, ice cream or another crowd-pleaser.
While the museum is primarily paid for through taxes, BoksmatiFattouh said these partnerships, along with grants and admission fees for events, contribute to maintaining operations.
In addition, local groups and schools often invite museum employees to come out and make presentations. For example, a museum speaker made a presentation at DuVal High School in Lanham, which has an aerospace engineering program.
Boksmati-Fattouh said she is formalizing an outreach program to engage more Prince George’s County public schools with the museum.
McCaskill said the events reach people who either knew about the museum but never visited or didn’t realize it existed.
Aside from events, McCaskill said the museum attracts visitors who want to view its historical collections, including the Wright Model B, one of the first planes used by the U.S. government for military aviation.
The museum also houses an interactive flight simulator and historic aviation artifacts.
“There is a divide between a lot of the visitors we get,” Luke Perez, curator of collections for the museum, said. “Some are just kind of community folks who visit us because we’re a local museum. They don’t necessarily have an interest in aviation. And then there are other people who are hardcore aviation enthusiasts.”
Boksmati-Fattouh said the museum also engages in research.
“We’re also here to serve our community as a museum, but also a larger park and recreation facility,” Kimberly Schwartz, the education manager for the museum, said. “So education plays a role in that. … We want to create a safe, informal education space for people in the community, whether it’s STEM or something a little bit more accessible.”
Young visitors to the College Park Aviation Museum engage in a painting project during an event honoring Latinas in aviation (left) and mingle during Community Day. COURTESY OF COLLEGE PARK AVIATION MUSEUM
LAKELAND
AARN and the Braxton Institute with input from Lakelanders, community groups and institutions, details the history and impact of urban renewal on Lakeland. It focuses on four pillars aligned with the United Nations vision for sustainable urban communities: learning, housing, connectivity and nature.
The city hired AARN and Braxton in December to assist the College Park Restorative Justice Commission with historical research and policy recommendations. Urban renewal efforts demolished 104 of Lakeland’s 150 homes.
The report, “Restorative Justice for Lakeland: A Report of Historical Harms, Contemporary Impacts and Policies for Redress,” is part of an ongoing city effort to restore the community.
“Lakeland has a different look and a different feel,” Keith Webster, a commission member and descendant of one of Lakeland’s original property owners, said. “Let’s resurrect the spirit of Lakeland, the Lakeland that we once knew.”
At the event, Ervin said displacement during urban renewal caused generational wealth loss.
Kayla Edwards-Scott, a contributing researcher, noted that since then, average Lakeland home values might have risen 1.76% annually. Spread across displaced families, the loss totals millions, Edwards-Scott said.
The report urges the city to cover the gap between what homeowners were paid and the market value at the time. Ervin said some families received as little as $1 for property worth more than $20,000.
Webster added that without urban renewal, “instead of losing two-thirds of our communi-
COUNCIL
dean of students at the University of Baltimore came with more responsibility, leaving her less time to focus on her parttime city council job.
Plus, she said, spending more time with older family members and her friends is “the way I want to carve out my life right now.”
“Life is so fleeting,” she said. “You get so busy that you look up and they’ve gotten worse or they’re not here anymore.”
“We as Lakelanders have work to do that is up to us now, to continue this fight, to continue this journey.”
Violetta Sharps Jones fifth-generation Lakelander
Whitney, who lives in Berwyn and joined the council in 2021, works full time as a business and operations program manager at the University of Maryland. She said work and family responsibilities have left her unable to give the council the necessary level of commitment.
“I’m very careful when I decide what I’m going to commit myself to,” she said, “because if I’m going to do something, I am all in. I can’t do half of things.”
College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said the trio will be missed.
ing things that feel important,” Kabir said, “which is important because we shouldn’t be always saying, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ It’s important to sometimes say ‘no.’”
The mayor said the city will miss the dedication Whitney and Esters have shown for the cause of restorative justice for College Park’s Lakeland community, which is in their district.
And he called the pair, which has worked as a team, “very easy to work with. They always listen. They’re very nice. … Every time I needed something … they always tried to help, even if sometimes they didn’t agree.”
“Being able to advocate and support [Lakeland] for a number of things, I’m proud of that.”
And she named as a major accomplishment the approval of a flashing pedestrian beacon at the intersection of Greenbelt Road and Rhode Island Avenue.
“To me, that is a big deal,” she said. “People crossing and navigating roadways in this community that we want to be walkable … making sure there’s a level of safety at this area is key.”
ty, we would have expanded by 200-plus percent. … Incoming persons would have become family.”
Recommendations include documenting displaced homeowners and their descendants to determine compensation eligibility and encourage them to return to the community; creating a “Lakeland Pass” for free or reduced public transit; adding Metrobuses and Shuttle-UM routes; offering University of Maryland scholarships to qualified residents; and improving local schools.
Audience member Violetta Sharps Jones, a fifth-generation Lakelander, said that even after moving away in the mid-1970s, Lakeland remains her home.
“I hope that is the spirit that we move forward with this report and know that we as Lakelanders have work to do that is up to us now, to continue this fight, to continue this journey,”
Sharps Jones, vice president of the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, said.
Councilmember Susan Whitney (District 2), whose district includes Lakeland, said the report gives the city direction, but the power to push the council to act lies in the community, “where it needs to be.”
“I’d say this will be a loss, on one hand, for the council as a body because we will be losing their experience and the values they have brought,” Kabir said. “On the other hand, this also gives an opportunity for residents who want to run. … If the same people keep running, those who are interested, they don’t get a chance. It’s very hard to run against incumbents.”
Kabir pointed to Rigg’s “passion for the community.”
“He is truly a community leader,” the mayor said of Rigg, who joined the council in 2017. “The people who elected him love him.”
Plus, Kabir said, Rigg’s candid contributions to council discussions add a unique perspective.
“He’s not afraid of saying oppos-
Whitney said she is most proud of the work she has done on behalf of Lakeland. She also pointed to her efforts to make child care more accessible and affordable in the city; to help pass an ordinance that makes it illegal for drivers to stop or park in bike lanes on city-owned streets; and to her partnership with Esters.
“That really worked for the residents, and it worked for us, too,” she said.
Esters also pointed to the relationships she forged with Lakeland residents.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s been a level of distrust for the city [in] this community,” she said of Lakeland, which lost 104 of its 150 homes to urban renewal in the 1960s and ’70s.
Rigg noted that one of his earliest accomplishments remains most important to him: the opening of the University of Maryland Child Development Center on Calvert Road.
The day care center operates in the building that housed the historic Calvert Road School for 50 years starting in the 1920s but stood vacant for at least a decade.
In his letter announcing his plans, Rigg urged the newly elected council to change the terms of the mayor and council to four years.
He pointed out that College Park voters in 2023 expressed interest in switching to fouryear terms for elected officials, a move Rigg said would “continue a common-sense approach to alleviating the substantial personal burden imposed by our current system of elections every other year.”
Paint Branch Elementary School is one of three public schools Lakeland children attend. A reparations report calls for improvements to those schools.
JALEN WADE
City Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) will not run for re-election in November, leaving his seat after eight years. PHOTO BY GIUSEPPE LOPICCOLO
County denies liquor license
By RHIANNON EVANS
Prince George’s County licensing commissioners sided with College Park officials and residents and voted July 9 to deny a local liquor store’s application to reopen next to ZIPS Cleaners on Baltimore Avenue.
The Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners cited the store’s proposed location, at 7207 Baltimore Ave., near the University of Maryland (UMD) Child Development Center, in a motion to deny the application.
The board voted 4-0 against the application. Vice Chair Armando Camacho abstained from voting, saying he was absent from the initial hearing on June 24.
“This is unequivocally the wrong location, and the city council stands in unified opposition to it,” College Park City Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) said at the June 24 hearing.
College Park Liquors previously operated at the Campus Village Shoppes before the strip mall shut down in 2023 to make way for a student housing complex. The Class A beer, wine and liquor license transfer would have allowed the establishment to reopen in a new location under the new ownership of Joshua Patel and Rajkumar Patel.
The proposed location, near Trader Joe’s, is 700 feet from the day care center and less than 200 feet from the Calvert Hills Playground and Athletic Field, according to
Rigg. The city council voted unanimously at its June 10 meeting to send a letter of opposition to the county commissioners regarding the license transfer application.
“This is a wonderful community, a historic community that’s very well established, very family-oriented,” Mayor Fazlul Kabir testified at the June 24 hearing. “And the community has voiced very strong opposition and concerns about the introduction of a full-service liquor store so close to the Calvert Hills playground and the University of Maryland Child Development Center.”
One of the new owners, Rajkumar Patel, said he and Joshua Patel planned to reopen the liquor store as an upscale “first-class establishment” that would “not disturb the
peace and quiet of the neighborhood.”
Joshua Patel said during the June 24 hearing that he wants to work with the community and the city to foster a good relationship.
“We do not want those most vulnerable to be attacked or to be at risk,” Joshua Patel said.
During the meeting, however, Calvert Hills Citizens Association President Daniel Oates alleged that Joshua Patel was previously a licensee of a liquor store in Baltimore that was fined in 2022 for selling alcohol to a minor.
According to Baltimore City documents, the city’s Board of Liquor License Commissioners found that Main Street Bar &
I
Liquors, where Joshua Patel held a liquor license, sold alcohol to a minor on Jan. 6, 2022, and fined the business $1,500.
During the June 24 meeting, Patel claimed he did not recall any underage violations while he was a licensee and said the offense occurred during a transition period while he was transferring the license to a new owner.
“That is when we were handing over the license, and with whatever delay with the Baltimore City court systems, we had, like, a sub-kind of management agreement while that license was being transferred, so I think my name is indeed attached,” Patel said.
“While I was running the store, we did our best to make sure there was no underage drinking,” Patel added.
Neither of the new College Park Liquors owners responded to College Park Here & Now’s request for a comment on the allegations or about the outcome of the hearing.
Catherine Hui, the store’s previous secretary and treasurer, declined to comment on the outcome of the hearing. Kabir said College Park officials are open to working with the new owners to find a “more suitable” location to reopen the business.
“We want to make it clear, the city of College Park welcomes new business,” Kabir said. “We always do. We have a very strong, dedicated, robust Economic Development Department that will be very happy to work with the applicant to identify a more suitable location elsewhere in the city that aligns better with our long-term vision and community standards.”
The county has denied College Park Liquors’ application to transfer its liquor license to a new location near Trader Joe’s. Shown, the proposed storefront has a “for lease” sign in the window.
RHIANNON EVANS