Winter is fading, and summer will be here soon, so the city has launched its annual Summer Camp Scholarship Program. College Park Youth (rising K-12) are eligible to apply for a maximum scholarship of $400 per student. Go to collegeparkmd.gov to learn more, or click here to apply.

Since adults need fun, too, the Mayor and Council have proposed bringing social sports leagues to the city and want to know what residents would enjoy. Are you a master at bocce ball, or maybe kickball is more your speed? Please complete the Adult Social Sports Survey on the city website before March 13^th.

WETA’s Signature Dish has featured Northwest Chinese! Owner Hua Wang selected the spicy beef rou jia mo as her “signature dish”, calling it a “Chinese burger.” Watch here: https://weta.org/watch/shows/signature-dish/flavors-china.

The Mayor and Council continue work on a rental assistance grants pilot program. The subcommittee is making revisions and will present its report on March 19th.

On March 5^th, Council voted to form a Vacant and Blighted Property Tax Committee. The committee will be comprised of one resident nominated by each district and three by the Mayor, with a request from SGA Student Liaison Dhruvak Mirani and Deputy Liaison Gannon Sprinkle that one of the Mayor’s appointments be a student. It will start its work by employing best practices from other jurisdictions to define vacant and blighted properties, then will move to identifying properties that meet those criteria; evaluating whether a higher tax rate would incentivize property owners to make desired changes, and suggesting a program that might include a higher tax rate, penalties, or incentives to effect positive change. Bob Catlin is District 2’s appointment. 

On March 19, a Joint Public Hearing will come before the Planning Board and County Council. It will cover two resolutions. The first will be a Text Amendment that changes some terms to comply with the new Master Plan and create and define a new term- Neighborhood Focus Area.  The creation of the Neighborhood Focus Area will help support the rezoning of the Berwyn Commercial Area. The second resolution is for the actual rezoning of the Berwyn Commercial Area from CGO (General Commercial and Office) to CN (Neighborhood Commercial).

The Mayor and Council’s all-day FY2025 budget work session is scheduled for March 23. We have been told that next year’s budget will be leaner than recent years, which were bolstered by ARPA dollars. Consequently, representatives have been asked not to put forward special projects for their districts. We have instead emphasized follow-through on the Ruatan sidewalk and Roanoke Place Open Space, and maintaining the Business Attraction and Retention grants. In addition, we will discuss the possibility of the City funding Spanish translation of Mayor and Council articles in publications such as this one. 

As the weather continues to warm, we look forward to seeing you on the Trolley Trail!