College Park

College Park considers financing options for new City Hall

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At its Feb. 19, 2019, worksession, College Park City Council will discuss financing options for its planned $12.5 million City Hall. 

Most of College Park’s recent capital projects, except for the Knox Road parking garage, have been fully funded the year of the project, a pay-go system. But a large, multi-million-dollar project such as its new city hall is not suited for such financing. For one, it would cost nearly $14 million in one year for this project. Such an outlay would eat up most of the city’s budget in a given year.

An African-American woman, Angela Alsobrooks, stands holding a microphone infront of a sign reading "Angela Alsobrooks for County Executive."
News

Alsobrooks says mystery poll is hers; Talks marijuana legalization, PGPD lawsuit

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Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ political committee is responsible for a phone poll asking detailed questions about local policy issues, including legalizing recreational marijuana and the relocation of the Washington Redskins. Route 1 Reporter first learned of the poll in late January. In addition to policy-oriented questions, it also asked several questions designed to assess the respondents’ feelings about Alsobrooks herself. Multiple phone calls, emails, text messages and other attempts by Route 1 Reporter to contact Alsobrooks’ office for comment on the poll were met with silence. But Alsobrooks could not stay silent on the matter on the Kojo Nnamdi Show’s Local Politics Hour on WAMU this past Friday, Feb.

A white, middle-aged man with a thin beard stands smiling in front of a brick wall. He is wearing a white button-up shirt, no tie, and a dark blazer.
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Early Hyattsville Council hopeful launches campaign

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Hyattsville appears to have its first City Council candidate in one Danny Schaible, who has activated a campaign to represent Ward Two. Schaible is a landscape architect with the National Park service. He has more recently made his mark in the city’s political discourse on development matters, becoming a prominent activist opposed to a proposal to build homes on the site of the abandoned Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission headquarters and parking lot near Magruder Park. He’s also known for purchasing and distributing around town 200 trilingual signs reading “No Matter Where You Are From, We’re Glad You Are Our Neighbor,” according to the Hyattsville Life & Times. Over the weekend, Schaible began to share campaign literature on newly-minted Facebook page, Danny for Hyattsville.

College Park

College Park adds campus polling place, early voting for city elections

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In College Park’s political discourse, the move was somewhat controversial. As in any small town with a college, there is a vocal segment of the city’s civic sphere that disdains or fears student involvement in city politics; who argue the civic priorities of land-owning residents should take precedence over those of a more-transient student population.

Berwyn Heights
A middle-aged African American man, wearing a brown jacket with a grey sweater and blue shirt, sits at a wood-paneled dais, gesturing as he speaks. Above and behind him, a sign reads "Greenbelt." Infront of him, a placard reads “Emmet V. Jordan, Mayor” To the left of him sits a younger African-American man wearing a dark shirt, infront of a placard reading “Colin A. Byrd, Councilmember”. To the right, an older white woman sits, wearing a matching red blazer and necklace, her nameplate reads “Judith F. Davis, Mayor Pro-Tem.”

Beltway Plaza redevelopment gets ‘conditional’ support of Greenbelt Council

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Greenbelt City Council voted to conditionally support a conceptual redevelopment proposal for Beltway Plaza Mall. The action took place at its Feb. 11, 2019, meeting. While the mall’s owners, Bethesda-based Quantum Cos. hailed the move, there’s still a chance Greenbelt could end up opposing the conceptual site plan if city officials and the mall’s owners fail to agree on conditions set down during the meeting.

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A group of five older, white adults, (two women, three men) around a table in conversation. On the table are pictures, diagrams and other papers. Behind them, an African American woman looks their way.

Magruder Park redesign concepts move ahead

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What does the future hold for Magruder Park? Hyattsville residents had another chance to weigh in on a proposal to redesign the park at a “listening session” held Feb. 7, 2019. Judging by the response, the dozen-or-so attendees at the event seemed broadly receptive to many elements of the conceptual redesign plans. “I am encouraged.