Funding Problems for East Campus
December 2nd, 2009 | by Clay Gump | Published in East Campus
Is Shuttle UM moving or not?
The Diamondback is reporting that the Maryland General Assembly is wavering on committing relocation money for East Campus in the wake of FP-Argo pulling out of the project. (See East Campus Gets Its Own Stimulus Package for background information)
State Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s) said the university will face a tough sell lobbying for additional East Campus funding since FP-Argo pulled out, raising questions about the future of a project officials still tout as essential to transforming College Park’s dingy image.
While university officials have said they will buy FP-Argo’s East Campus site plan and build it piece-by-piece with multiple developers, Rosapepe said members of the General Assembly will need to see concrete information before they commit money to the project with the state facing a $2 billion deficit.
“Given the immense fiscal pressures on the state right now, I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure to cut the bulk of state spending where there isn’t a pressing need,” he said.
The University is going to have its work cut out for them if they intend to build this in a piecemeal fashion. City councilmembers are understandably concerned about how the University plans on moving forward.
“We needed more information before Foulger-Pratt/Argo pulled out, and we need more information now,” he said. “We’ll certainly want to have a bigger picture with what’s going to happen to East Campus before we sign off on the $5 million or anything else.”
District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin agreed.
“The university has got to explain how they’ll handle it — the ball’s sort of in their court,” Catlin said.
