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PG County
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY
Prince George’s $1.2B Public School Construction Project Approved by Council
By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
With final negotiations set to transpire on a $1.2 billion public-private partnership (P3) project, some residents and education advocates offered some recommendations for Prince George’s County officials to incorporate into the contract.
A few of the proposed measures sent to County Council and public school officials include: preference given to contractors who hire returning citizens, or those formerly incarcerated; a minimum penalty of 15 percent of total cost of the project for missing set dates for completion; and a minimum of 40 percent of all total contracted workforce must be Prince George’s county residents.
“If those things are not in the contract, then Prince George’s County are raked over the coals and no one has any excuse for that,” Janna Parker, an education advocate of Temple Hills, said Saturday, Oct. 24.
Parker and others with the Keep PGCPS Public Coalition are part of a group that expressed concerns P3 project funding, specific project details and what the conditions will be when children return to school, especially amid a global pandemic.
But the school board still nearly voted unanimously on Oct. 21 to build six schools using the P3 model.
The majority Black jurisdiction will be the site of the first effort in the nation to use a public private partnership to build public schools.
“I am so proud to be at this point where we’re going to be stepping out in front of the crowd and being looked upon as trend setters on building new schools quicker,” said Sonya Williams (District 9), one of 11 school board members to approve the plan. “This is not the end of this issue. This is the beginning.”
Before any dirt gets shoveled and bricks laid down, final contract negotiations will take place for the private companies to maintain each school for a 30-year period.
Because up to three months of negotiations are scheduled with some discussions held closed doors, that’s one of several reasons board member Raaheela Ahmed (District 5) voted against the project.
“That’s kind of concerning for me,” she said. “With a deal this big and understanding the risks, this is what’s important to me and I think that’s where some controversy lies.”
Board member David Murray (District 1) abstained.
The board already chose Fengate Capital Management, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and Gilbane Development Co., based in Providence, R.I., to lead and manage the project. Stantec, an architecture firm with offices in northwest D.C. and Laurel, Md., is chief architect, and Honeywell of Charlotte, N.C. is services provider.
Five of the six buildings are not only middle schools, but are sited inside the Beltway.
About 8,000 students are slated to SCHOOL Page 14
Prince George’s Chamber
Holds Awards Gala By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
Prince George’s Chamber hosted its annual awards gala virtually Friday, Oct. 23. Among the guest speakers was James Brown, legendary broadcaster, host of “The NFL Today” on CBS and a former DeMatha High School basketball standout. The chamber awards went to “those who have assisted with the maintenance and restoration of our county during this pandemic,” the chamber said.
FSC First and Industrial Bank was singled out with the Financial Relief of the Year award. The Small Business of the Year award went to Portera Rehabilitation. “Hero of the Year” to Doctors Community Health System; “Lifetime Achievement Educator of the Year” went to Charlene Dukes, former president of Prince George’s Community College; and “Chamber Hall of Fame” was awarded to County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. WI
The Prince George’s County Department of Housing Community Development Announces its Emergency Rental Assistance Relaunch
Development (DHCD) is now offering relief to landlords on behalf of renters experiencing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic through its second Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program.
Landlords submit your application by 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 10, 2020! Funds are limited, so apply now. Funds will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Landlords/Owners of multi-family, single-family, condominium and cooperative properties with a valid County rental license are eligible to apply.
Landlords must complete an on-line application and submit the following documents on behalf of all eligible delinquent tenants:
Application Rental Assistance Agreement IRS Form W-9 Owner Losses Report Rent Ledger Property Deed Rental Lease (1st and signature page) Agent or Management Agreement (between the Owner and the Agent) PGC Electronic Funds Transfer Form Tenant Self-Certification of Eligibility and Annual Income Form Client Information Authorization Rental License (issued by the County for the property)
Tenants must meet the following requirements:
Have a valid lease agreement in their name. Income eligible families whose annual income does not exceed 80% of the area median income, as determined by HUD, and adjusted for household size. The household has COVID-19 triggering event.
Program opens Tuesday, October 27, 2020
For detailed information about the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, visit the DHCD website: https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/908/Housing-Community-Development
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY
Police Abuse, Misconduct by School Resource Officers to be Focus of Hearings
By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
Two police reform hearings are scheduled for the same day Thursday, Oct. 29.
The first one scheduled at 4 p.m. is to review virtual testimony from advocates and the family of William Green, who reached a $20 million settlement agreement with Prince George’s County after a police officer killed him Jan. 27. The session is part of the police reform work group established by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
“There is not a stadium big enough in Maryland to put all the young Black men in that has been assaulted by PGPD,” said Dawn Dalton of Upper Marlboro, whose son was a victim of an assault by Prince George’s police about 10 years ago. “We keep testifying and keep testifying in front of this person and that person.
“It is an insult to our intelligence to continue to have us do the same thing,” she said. “It is dismissive. It is disrespectful to have people retraumatize themselves. It’s ridiculous.”
Dalton is likely to participate in a 6 p.m. that symposium same day on police reform. It is to be a virtual discussion hosted by The Maryland Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability and Baltimore Afro author and journalist Sean Yoes at the event labeled to discuss “what real police reform looks like for Maryland.”
In Prince George’s, some advocates say change should start at the top with a focus on interim Police Chief Hector Velez.
Kema Hutchinson-Harris of Clinton said Velez remains part of the wrongdoing documented in a lawsuit filed in December 2018 by Black and Latino officers alleging racial and retaliatory practices within the police department.
A nearly 100-page document written by Michael E. Graham, a 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, comes as a part the suit that highlights more than 6,800 use-of-force incidents occurred in the department between 2016 and 2019. About 86 percent happened against Black civilians and 8 percent against Latinos, according to the report.
As a co-founder of Community Justice, Hutchinson-Harris endured a two-year legal battle when police charged her son for attempted murder and other charges. A jury acquitted him in May 2019.
“He’s a part of the abuse,” she said about Velez. “To allow 6,800 use-offorce complaints to happen and do nothing? That’s a smack in our face.”
Meanwhile, the work group created by Alsobrooks isn’t going to discuss or assess any pending lawsuits.
However, it will review police department policies and procedures to provide recommendations for any changes to Alsobrooks by Dec. 4.
The panel also considered the issue of the continued use of county police
5 A Prince George’s County police reform task force continues to review polices and procedures in the police department. (FILE: William J. Ford/The Washington Informer)
officers as school resource officers, (SRO) during a three- hour meeting Oct. 22.
Barry Stanton, chief operation officer with the county public school system, summarized four distinct roles of school resource officers based on state training: educator, emergency manager, informal counselor and law enforcement.
“Hopefully they’re creating relationships with our students…to ensure that the students know that they’re not just there to be police officers and the role of law enforcement officers.”
The issue is to be an extension of consideration of the 33 Prince George’s, Bowie, Greenbelt and Hyattsville department police officers assigned to high schools.
Aarti Sidhu and Megan Berger, attorneys who help chair the Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline, have represented students suspended and expelled from schools. “Discipline becomes outsourced to law enforcement and it really shouldn’t be. Discipline should remain in the school with teachers and administrators and educators,” she said. “We shouldn’t be criminalizing age-appropriate behavior.”
WI
STAY SAFE. VOTE EARLY.
Confirm your voting location ahead of time; official locations have changed due to COVID-19 safety precautions.
Vote Early Monday, October 26–Monday, November 2
7am–8pm
Stay safe and avoid the lines; vote in-person at an early vote center near you.
oct 26nov 2 Vote on election day tuesday, november 3
7am–8pm
Vote in-person at a vote center near you.
nov 3
Find an early vote center, Election Day vote center, or official election drop box near you: ELECTIONS.MARYLAND.GOV/2020
If you are voting by mail, return your completed ballot to a drop box by 8pm on November 3 or postmark by November 3.
