Route 1 Reporter (https://route1reporter.com/category/news/brentwood/page/2/)
Brentwood Mayor Rocio Treminio-Lopez will likely hold onto her seat, but the small town has a competitive field for four Town Council seats up for grabs. Meanwhile, as the filing deadline to run for office in Mount Rainier comes to a close, several candidates have expressed an interest in running.
A judge’s ruling clears the way for the Mount Rainier Volunteer Fire Department to return to active, independent service as the Bunker Hill Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company. Where that happens, however, could be another story. A ruling issued Feb. 21, 2019 by Prince George’s County Circuit Court Judge John Davey settles a contentious lawsuit brought by former members of the Mount Rainier Volunteer Fire Department against Prince George’s County fire and rescue officials and the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department. “The Bunker Hill Volunteer Fire And Rescue Co.
Yale Avenue apartments fetch big price from bankrupt developer; Brentwood industrial owner adds to holdings.
Prime Rhode Island Avenue lots in North Brentwood has been sold to a prominent D.C. commercial real estate investor. According to state property records, several lots near 4550 Rhode Island Ave. in North Brentwood, including an abandoned vintage plumbing store, traded hands last month. The purchase, when combined with a neighboring property purchased in 2013, now leaves the developer with nearly 30,000 square feet of assembled properties fronting a rapidly-redeveloping Rhode Island Avenue corridor. In a transaction recorded Dec.
Brentwood’s five-person Town Council is down one member. Despite a requirement in the town’s charter to fill the seat within 120 days, Town Council wants to keep the seat vacant until the May 2019 municipal election. At the Jan. 16, 2019, Brentwood Town Council meeting, Mayor Rocio Treminio-Lopez announced long-time Councilor Gina Morlan had resigned her seat, though the matter was apparently contentious. “This was a very difficult and time-consuming decision,” Treminio-Lopez said during the meeting as she prepared to read a statement.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments from Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department President William Broadus. Several months after the trial ended, the nature of the crimes alleged to have been committed by Steven King have been revealed. King pled guilty in September to charges of embezzlement from the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department, where formerly served as president of the volunteer squad. The new details were disclosed in an interview with Denise Roberts, spokesperson for the Prince George’s County’s Office of the State’s Attorney. “Basically, he was living at the Fire Department, he was president of the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department and he used company credit cards for personal expenses,” said Roberts.
A lawsuit challenging the consolidation of the volunteer fire departments operating out of the Bunker Hill Fire Station continues to move ahead. This week, lawyers for both sides will be in court for a hearing on pending pre-trail disputes and motions, set for Nov. 20, 2018, in Upper Marlboro. According to a scheduling order issued by presiding judge John Davey, the pre-trial phase of the suit is expected to end by Jan. 30, 2019.
Studio 3807, the new 147-unit mixed-use apartment complex that’s been under construction at – appropriately – 3807 Rhode Island Avenue, is about to have its grand opening this coming Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. Before this weekend’s grand-opening festivities, members of the Brentwood Area Business Association were privy to a meeting and tour of the nearly-complete facility. Route 1 Reporter got to tag along and explore the new apartment complex, a bright yellow, white and gray building. To put it briefly: this place is swanky.
Is the Gateway Arts District helping local artists? Anecdotally, the answer seems to be “yes.” Over the past 20 years, a number of arts organizations in the Gateway Arts District have sprung into life and created new visibility for the local arts industry along Prince George’s County’s southern Route 1 corridor. For instance, the Hyattsville Arts & Ales festival, formerly the Hyattsville Arts Festival, has grown dramatically, spanning multiple city blocks in downtown Hyattsville and attracting thousands of arts-oriented revelers to the corridor. But numbers to back up these anecdotes are hard to come by, or – worse – very fuzzy. The Gateway Arts District can informally refer to two things.
The Bunker Hill Fire Station was built in 2004 to house three volunteer fire departments, consolidating the Brentwood, Mount Rainier and Cottage City volunteer squads under one roof and supplementing its services with professional county fire and rescue personnel from one centralized location. But today – through a mix of county volunteer fire department oversight policies and cliquish infighting between volunteer fire squads working in close quarters – only one volunteer fire department remains active at Bunker Hill: the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department. To the casual observer, it may not seem like much has changed. Fire and emergency medical vehicles bearing the livery of Bunker Hill’s three founding volunteer fire associations still respond to calls as needed, but they are operated by either volunteers from Brentwood or county staff personnel. “We have basically been put out of business by the county,” said Mount Rainier Volunteer Fire Department president John Mutchler in a July 2018 interview.