Comments on: East Campus Update http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/ Helping imagine a great college town for a great university Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:10:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Andrew Mulry http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/comment-page-1/#comment-107468 Andrew Mulry Tue, 20 May 2008 02:23:33 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/#comment-107468 The debate concerning the East Campus Development has recently heated up, with developers handing estimates and proposals to both city and university officials for initial planning. This comes at an interesting time for the city and the University, as the “housing crisis” has begun to affect more and more students. After reading over several of the proposals, a lot of interesting questions have come to the forefront. First, the developers have projected that the total number of units will be somewhere around 2,000. Although that seems like a large number, take into account the rising numbers of students desperately searching for housing in College Park. Also, nearly 150 units in the plan are for graduate students. Mixing undergraduate with graduate students seems like a bad idea. Furthermore, they have projected the price of these units to be somewhere between $650 and $900 dollars. Although the prices in College Park have been steadily rising, perhaps now is the time to create student housing with a “rent control” twist? Projects like the University View and Park side Apartments have given students a first hand experience on how expensive College Park can be. If this development plan stays true to the claim that it will list the units at “market price”, who’s to say that the rent there won’t quickly reach $1,000? Another question I have concerning the amount of units the developers have projected is why they don’t cut some of the excess (i.e. movie theaters and such) and add more units. Although it would be nice for east campus to have a more student friendly feel, the first priority of this project should be to develop as much as housing as possible. Other retail considerations, such as a Whole Foods store is a great idea, because there is such a lack of accessibility to grocery stores in the immediate area. Adding more restaurants will only add a few more choices to the nearly endless list we already choose from. As a student of legal drinking age, adding restaurants instead of bars seems like it will only add to the monotony of the already redundant College Park nightlife. Lastly, the fact that developers are trying to incorporate all these different green standards is an interesting twist. I like the idea of promoting green building and design downtown, I don’t agree with it at the cost of more expensive housing. LEED standards, especially the silver rating, are extremely impressive, and extremely expensive to implement. For anyone that has lived in a college sponsored apartment or dorm, investing money in a building that will undoubtedly be run down and in need of repair seems like a waste of money. All in all, the east campus development project is an interesting and intriguing possibility. I would love to see more housing, and more “retail” experiences downtown, but not at the expense of more costly living. The housing crisis should be our number one concern. The University of Maryland has a strong and undeniable link to the City of College Park. Running students out of the area because of lack of living space is not only unfair, but bad business for the university. The debate concerning the East Campus Development has recently heated up, with developers handing estimates and proposals to both city and university officials for initial planning. This comes at an interesting time for the city and the University, as the “housing crisis” has begun to affect more and more students. After reading over several of the proposals, a lot of interesting questions have come to the forefront. First, the developers have projected that the total number of units will be somewhere around 2,000. Although that seems like a large number, take into account the rising numbers of students desperately searching for housing in College Park. Also, nearly 150 units in the plan are for graduate students. Mixing undergraduate with graduate students seems like a bad idea. Furthermore, they have projected the price of these units to be somewhere between $650 and $900 dollars. Although the prices in College Park have been steadily rising, perhaps now is the time to create student housing with a “rent control” twist? Projects like the University View and Park side Apartments have given students a first hand experience on how expensive College Park can be. If this development plan stays true to the claim that it will list the units at “market price”, who’s to say that the rent there won’t quickly reach $1,000?

Another question I have concerning the amount of units the developers have projected is why they don’t cut some of the excess (i.e. movie theaters and such) and add more units. Although it would be nice for east campus to have a more student friendly feel, the first priority of this project should be to develop as much as housing as possible. Other retail considerations, such as a Whole Foods store is a great idea, because there is such a lack of accessibility to grocery stores in the immediate area. Adding more restaurants will only add a few more choices to the nearly endless list we already choose from. As a student of legal drinking age, adding restaurants instead of bars seems like it will only add to the monotony of the already redundant College Park nightlife.

Lastly, the fact that developers are trying to incorporate all these different green standards is an interesting twist. I like the idea of promoting green building and design downtown, I don’t agree with it at the cost of more expensive housing. LEED standards, especially the silver rating, are extremely impressive, and extremely expensive to implement. For anyone that has lived in a college sponsored apartment or dorm, investing money in a building that will undoubtedly be run down and in need of repair seems like a waste of money.

All in all, the east campus development project is an interesting and intriguing possibility. I would love to see more housing, and more “retail” experiences downtown, but not at the expense of more costly living. The housing crisis should be our number one concern. The University of Maryland has a strong and undeniable link to the City of College Park. Running students out of the area because of lack of living space is not only unfair, but bad business for the university.

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]]> By: Brian Peisach http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/comment-page-1/#comment-105481 Brian Peisach Sun, 11 May 2008 18:11:48 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/#comment-105481 The inefficient use of space currently in the East Campus region of College Park wastes a great location. An area in walking distance for on campus students, off camp students, and College Park residents should be the center stone of the town, yet it has been reduced to a bus lot, warehouse and abandoned greenhouse. So why has nothing be done? The plans have been drawn, the meetings have taken place, why has the East Campus development not been implemented yet? Understandably there are issues of traffic, funding, and politics; but all these blockades seem manageable. Ideas have been formulated to relieve traffic and parking when East Campus becomes fully developed. The flow from old town College Park to the new East Campus can be controlled with additional turn lanes, convenient parking garages, and safer walk paths. With the addition of the purple line issues of traffic could be easily avoided moving traffic congestion away from route 1. Although purple line is ideally a great solution, overall I am opposed to the purple line because of the amount of time, construction, and money that will be placed into a project that does not need to replace a system that is already working efficiently. Funding for the East Campus development is probably the most difficult issue currently debated. Although it seems with the number of residents and students in the area that would be utilizing the new retail area every day any investment debt from the city, corporations, university, or state would be repaid in few years. The most debated issues seem to have the best solutions; yet East Campus is still not in construction so there must be other reasons why residents, students, and state/city officials oppose the East Campus development. Are they afraid of gentrification? The idea that with the new development the old hometown feeling of downtown College Park will be eliminated and forced out because of the huge corporations that will be moving in down the street. Also what will happen with the homes and historic university buildings that will need to be demolished in order to build that new grocery store or movie theater? Where will those people go and are we willing for force them out for our own convenience? Another issue they may be subconsciously feeling is cultural appropriation. Once these large businesses such as Chipotle, Burger King, Radio Shack, AMC Theaters, and Dick’s Sporting Goods move in across from campus will we lose our identity as a college town? The integration of large corporations will brand the town of College Park and possibly lose the identity of a small friendly college town that will never be able the be retrieved. Once the town takes the image of a commercial mini mall how will mom and pop stores that have been around for decades which we all love survive? The large corporations will take the image downtown College Park has created and make an advertising ploy out of it. Downtown College Park has absorbed student culture and has created a very homely feel for students. The image of College Park as a college town needs to be preserved, when these businesses move in across the street it needs to be clear they are not affiliated with our University to avoid the corporate labeling and cultural appropriation. Clearly by the way I have delivered this message I am strongly in favor of East Campus Development, but I also believe issues beyond the logistics of building the area need to be taken into account. Remember, the identity of College Park and its’ University need to be protected from corporate marketing schemes and cultural appropriation. Also the residents and historical buildings must also be taken care of before demolition because once it is gone it will never come back. Hopefully East Campus Development will being soon, and when it does it will not be soon enough. The inefficient use of space currently in the East Campus region of College Park wastes a great location. An area in walking distance for on campus students, off camp students, and College Park residents should be the center stone of the town, yet it has been reduced to a bus lot, warehouse and abandoned greenhouse. So why has nothing be done? The plans have been drawn, the meetings have taken place, why has the East Campus development not been implemented yet? Understandably there are issues of traffic, funding, and politics; but all these blockades seem manageable. Ideas have been formulated to relieve traffic and parking when East Campus becomes fully developed. The flow from old town College Park to the new East Campus can be controlled with additional turn lanes, convenient parking garages, and safer walk paths. With the addition of the purple line issues of traffic could be easily avoided moving traffic congestion away from route 1. Although purple line is ideally a great solution, overall I am opposed to the purple line because of the amount of time, construction, and money that will be placed into a project that does not need to replace a system that is already working efficiently. Funding for the East Campus development is probably the most difficult issue currently debated. Although it seems with the number of residents and students in the area that would be utilizing the new retail area every day any investment debt from the city, corporations, university, or state would be repaid in few years. The most debated issues seem to have the best solutions; yet East Campus is still not in construction so there must be other reasons why residents, students, and state/city officials oppose the East Campus development.
Are they afraid of gentrification? The idea that with the new development the old hometown feeling of downtown College Park will be eliminated and forced out because of the huge corporations that will be moving in down the street. Also what will happen with the homes and historic university buildings that will need to be demolished in order to build that new grocery store or movie theater? Where will those people go and are we willing for force them out for our own convenience?
Another issue they may be subconsciously feeling is cultural appropriation. Once these large businesses such as Chipotle, Burger King, Radio Shack, AMC Theaters, and Dick’s Sporting Goods move in across from campus will we lose our identity as a college town? The integration of large corporations will brand the town of College Park and possibly lose the identity of a small friendly college town that will never be able the be retrieved. Once the town takes the image of a commercial mini mall how will mom and pop stores that have been around for decades which we all love survive? The large corporations will take the image downtown College Park has created and make an advertising ploy out of it. Downtown College Park has absorbed student culture and has created a very homely feel for students. The image of College Park as a college town needs to be preserved, when these businesses move in across the street it needs to be clear they are not affiliated with our University to avoid the corporate labeling and cultural appropriation.
Clearly by the way I have delivered this message I am strongly in favor of East Campus Development, but I also believe issues beyond the logistics of building the area need to be taken into account. Remember, the identity of College Park and its’ University need to be protected from corporate marketing schemes and cultural appropriation. Also the residents and historical buildings must also be taken care of before demolition because once it is gone it will never come back. Hopefully East Campus Development will being soon, and when it does it will not be soon enough.

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]]> By: joe dexter http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/comment-page-1/#comment-51746 joe dexter Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:08:39 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/#comment-51746 Diamondback editorial on the Purple Line: http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2007/10/24/Opinion/The-Color.Purple-3051133-page2.shtml Note also that the next MTA College Park Focus group will be held on Monday October 29th at 7 PM in the UM Visitor Center conference room. Diamondback editorial on the Purple Line:

http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2007/10/24/Opinion/The-Color.Purple-3051133-page2.shtml

Note also that the next MTA College Park Focus group will be held on Monday October 29th at 7 PM in the UM Visitor Center conference room.

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]]> By: Shawn http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/comment-page-1/#comment-51568 Shawn Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:37:31 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/#comment-51568 Hey Rob, how did the meeting go? I'm anxiously awaiting your report on how things went! Hey Rob, how did the meeting go? I’m anxiously awaiting your report on how things went!

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]]> By: joe dexter http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/comment-page-1/#comment-51454 joe dexter Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:13:12 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/491/#comment-51454 A purple line crossing Rt 1 will either need to be grade separated or it will be dysfunctional - too many complex turning movements. Additional, if a stop is located further east on Pain Branch Parkway, ridership will be reduced. Ridership drops for every 5 minute walk added to people trying to reach a major destination. The proposed location is more than 5 minutes from Rt. 1 and from the office component of the project. A purple line crossing Rt 1 will either need to be grade separated or it will be dysfunctional – too many complex turning movements. Additional, if a stop is located further east on Pain Branch Parkway, ridership will be reduced. Ridership drops for every 5 minute walk added to people trying to reach a major destination. The proposed location is more than 5 minutes from Rt. 1 and from the office component of the project.

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