Route 1 Reporter (https://route1reporter.com/page/2/)
Monica Goldson will likely continue to lead Prince George’s County Public Schools. Goldson had served as PGCPS’ interim CEO for the past 11 months since former CEO Kevin Maxwell, selected by former County Executive Rushern Baker, resigned in the wake of financial and grade-fixing scandals. Goldson has worked at PGCPS for 28 years, rising through the ranks from teacher to Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning to Chief Operating Officer to interim CEO to her new appointment. Goldson is also a native Prince Georgian and an alumni of PGCPS, which County Executive Angela Alsobrooks noted in a speech announcing the nomination.
Kamal Nashid, who lived on Goodloes Promise Drive in Bowie, was jogging across Church Road near Farview Vista Drive when an unidentified motorist struck Nashid as he jogged across Church Road’s southbound lanes. According to Prince George’s County Police, Nashid was in the crosswalk and had already traveled across one full lane when he was struck.
College Park City Council voted to conditionally support plans for a proposed 450-unit apartment building near the city’s Metro Station. But citing disagreement with developers over proposed development concessions, Council also declined to consider an economic development tax credit application builder Gilbane Development Corp. sought from city officials.
The matter now heads before the Prince George’s County Planning Board at its June 13 meeting.
At its June 11 meeting, College Park City Council will consider detailed site plans and a tax credit for a proposed 450-unit market-rate apartment building next to the city’s Metro station.
In an April 29 meeting of the Purple Line Community Advisory Team (CAT), project officials explained construction progress to residents of Riverdale, Riverdale Park, Glenridge, and New Carrollton. Construction ramped up last year in these Prince George’s communities, where the County’s first light rail transit stops will be placed.
Hyattsville Mayor Candace Hollingsworth has won a second term at the center of the dais, handily overcoming a challenge from local political upstart Angela Kenny by a vote of 1,243 to 201. Hollingsworth said she wanted to address concerns raised by her opponent during the campaign. “There’s definitely something that Ms. Kenny spoke to, and I want to honor that because I think it’s worthwhile,” said Hollingsworth. “That’s why people throw their hats into the ring, because they feel that there is something not being met, or there’s a need that’s not being served. As a city, it is our responsibility to cover what those things are and adopt it as part of our mission and objective is over the next few years.”
Hyattsville’s most-contested district, a three-way race for Ward Two, Danny Schaible bested challengers Emily Strab and Robert Poisson in a campaign overshadowed by neighborhood development angst centered on a controversial proposal to redevelop the abandoned WSSC headquarters.
The biggest Route 1 municipality with a May 2019 election is Hyattsville, and what an election it is. For the first time in recent memory, races for each ward and the Mayor’s seat are competitive. Incumbent Mayor Candace Hollingsworth is running against life-long Hyattsvillian Angela Kenny. Hollingsworth has run something of a stealth campaign, it seems, with relatively little expenses. Her platform, at least in the lone debate, rested upon her resumé leading Hyattsville City Council throughout her first term while pledging to advance a results-oriented policy agenda focused on community equity.
Incumbent Mount Rainier City Councilor Celina Benitez has decisively won a four-year term, holding on to her seat in the Gateway City’s Ward One she first won two years ago. Benitez defeated rival Charnette Robinson by a vote of 281 to 109, according to unofficial results. While the final numbers could change due to potentially-outstanding absentee ballots, there are too few such ballots outstanding to change the final result, according to Mount Rainier election officials. “I’m definitely happy the community came out. It was an election where there with only Council members, so sometimes you tendto feel people will not come out, especially when there’s not a Federal election,” said Benitez in an interview after the votes were counted.
As Mount Rainier City Council prepares tonight to consider legislation that would cut property tax rates for single-family homes while raising them for multi-family dwellings, one thing has become a matter of fact for Route 1 Reporter: two of the most-prominent justifications for such a scheme are based on unexamined conjecture. At best, they are mere hypotheses.
Route 1 Reporter is tracking elections in Mount Rainier, Brentwood, North Brentwood and Riverdale Park today, as voters in municipalities across Maryland head to the polls in the culmination of the spring local election season. Many of Monday’s inner-Route 1 races are all-but decided. Incumbents are running unopposed for North Brentwood’s Mayor and Council seat II. Only one race is competitive in Riverdale Park. In Brentwood, incumbent Mayor Rocio Treminio-Lopez is unopposed.
In a controversial proposal to cut the tax rate for single-family homes in Mount Rainier and raise taxes for apartments, city officials have argued the change is needed to pay for police services they believe are used more-frequently in the city’s densely-built apartment complexes. There’s just one problem: that’s not true.
Parents at a heavily-Hispanic elementary school in Mount Rainier are angry after a permission slip for a fourth-grade field trip to the White House required students to provide proof of citizenship if they wanted to attend.
Mount Rainier, Brentwood and Hyattsville aren’t the only cities in Prince George’s County’s Route 1 corridor holding elections in May.
To fund a tax cut for owners of single-family homes and commercial properties, Mount Rainier City Council wants to raise taxes on apartments and industrial properties.