Rethink College Park

See this letter of support from Smart Growth America for the proposed Book Exchange Redevelopment: –>9/3/2010 Letter from Smart Growth America to College Park Mayor and City Council.

In 2006, roughly 23% of the single-family homes in College Park were rental units. In Old Town (the area bounded by Route 1, Paint Branch Pkwy, Calvert Rd and the Metro tracks) about 3 in 4 houses are rented (red and blue dots above). This is according to a detailed GIS study conducted by Eric [...]

Please mark your calendars for Monday, September 27th 7:30 PM City Hall Council Chambers A small committee of Old Town residents was set up to speak with the developer of the proposed Book Exchange Housing Project. That committee consists of Steve Brayman (former Mayor), Stephanie Stullich (city councilwoman for the area), Bob Schnabel (Stullich’s Husband), Chris [...]

A letter we got our hands on from UMD VP of Administrative Affairs to District 3 County Councilman Eric Olson indicates that UMD supports the Book Exchange Redevelopment Plan. In the past, UMD’s support has been a make or break for student housing projects in the city. The letter, dated August 25th, doesn’t specifically cite [...]

“We need to create a housing balance and start attracting redevelopment that will help spur a greater variety of restaurants, stores and housing for professionals, graduate students, as well as undergraduates.” ~ Eric Olson, Dist. 3 County Councilman “When it comes to development, it’s important to have a balance. At this point, we’ve done so [...]

“My initial reaction is that they’re not going to be able to build student housing at this site,” he said. “I think that the space could be better used.” ~ Eric Olson, Dist. 3 County Councilman Back in July, the Diamondback had an article talking about development plans to turn the Book Exchange lot into [...]

The views in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of Rethink College Park or its other contributors. Election season is upon us. Because of term limits, 5 of the 9 Prince George’s county councilmember seats and the county executive’s spot are incumbent-less and up for grabs. While the general election isn’t till November, winning [...]

Back in June, we speculated that UMD and the City of College Park would reapply with Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER competitive grant program. Back in February, we noted that the MWCOG did not win the $10 million for bikeshare expansion that it had applied for through a federal stimulus [...]