Rethink College Park

Welcome to Collecting College Park, a new weekly feature here at Rethink College Park. On Friday mornings, you can expect to see this weekly news roundup of stories relevant to development, planning, transportation, and quality of life around the city and the campus.

With the gubernatorial election this past Tuesday, it’s been a slow news week. Items of note, however, include:

• O’Malley victorious: Incumbent governor O’Malley took down Diamondback-endorsed challenger Bob Ehrlich. College Park also saw a high student voter turnout.
• County revokes Thirsty Turtle’s liquor license (Diamondback, Patch):”The bar’s ability to serve alcohol may be suspended as soon as Nov. 23 after the board investigates further and submits a written notice of its decision to the bar’s owners, Alan Wanuck and Tom Hall. The deliberation, which began at about 7:30 p.m. last night, was held to review a Sept. 23 incident in which two student police aides were instructed to attempt to get past Turtle’s bouncers equipped with only their real, underage state driver’s licenses and cash for cover. They were allowed in and served beer once inside. A plainclothes University Police officer then promptly confiscated the two beers, which were used as evidence in yesterday’s hearing.” More at Patch.
• Looking to Loh (Diamondback): The university’s new president, Wallace Loh, began his term on Monday. The Diamondback’s editorial board says: ”Loh has been silent on the issue of underage drinking and the controversy surrounding the bars in downtown College Park, despite having a history of cracking down on underage drinking at the University of Iowa. This issue, which was ignited when four men, three of whom were students, were stabbed following an altercation at Thirsty Turtle, has left University Police Chief David Mitchell, city officials and the SGA calling on Prince George’s County to revoke Turtle’s liquor license. Additionally, Loh’s stance on issues such as the Promoting Responsible Action in Medical Emergencies protocol remain a mystery.”
• Council holds off at-large seats (Patch): “Mayor Andrew Fellows first proposed the new structure at Oct. 5′s council meeting. His tentative plan consisted of replacing the current system of four districts each represented by two council members, with five districts each represented by one council member, and adding three at-large seats….However, council members decided Wednesday that it was best not to rush the process. Councilman Bob Catlin (Dist. 2) said that given the short window between now and the election next November, the better approach would be to establish a redistricting commission to analyze the new census data, due out this spring, and take it from there.

That’s it for this Friday! If you’ve got tips, suggestions, or pointers for next week’s edition of Collecting College Park, leave them in the comments or email Alex at lxdlnbc@gmail.com.