Meeting Minutes—September 12, 2024
North College Park Community Association (NCPCA)
Attendees:
In Person:
David Alicea; Jacob Hernandez; Alan Hew; Fazlul Kabir; Melissa Peterson; Todd Reitzel; Brian Roan; Cora Roan; David Turley; Brendan Wray
Online (names written as they appear in chat):
TKTKT
Minutes Taken By:
Brian J. Roan, Secretary
Call to Order
President David Alicea read the consent to record and called the meeting to order. He read the agenda and solicited approval of the agenda. Secretary Brian J. Roan motioned to approve the agenda and David Turley seconded. The motion carried.
Minutes
Treasurer Melissa Peterson motioned to approve the minutes from the September meeting. Director Brendan Wray seconded and the motion carried by vote.
President’s Report
President Alicea welcomed the assembly back and reiterated the 2024-2025 vision of the NCPCA. He solicited a media director to handle social media and other communications.
Vice President’s
Vice President Kam Clary was absent.
Treasurer’s Report
SECU checking account: $1,846.17
SECU savings account: $335.14
Treasurer Peterson ran through the current account values and opened the floor to approve the expenditure of $159.90 for a one year Zoom membership. Director Wray put forward the motion and it was seconded by Todd Reitzel. The motion carried by vote. Treasurer Peterson then also plugged the coming Good Neighbor Day on Saturday October 26 where she would lead the painting of a Little Free Library.
Secretary’s Report
Secretary Roan asked that members identify themselves when speaking and enter their names in the Zoom chat if they were remote.
Development Committee Director Report
Director Wray gave updates on the Hollywood sidewalk, the 51st Ave/Huron St. sidewalk, Sunnyside sidewalk repairs. He also gave an update on the PG County meeting held in September regarding possible zoning changes to the Route 1 commercial districts. He encouraged people to engage with the process and attend the community charrette taking place from October 23-26:
Chinese Bible Church.
Wednesday October 23, 6–8pm
Thursday October 24, 6–8pm
Saturday October 26, 11am–1pm
Councilmember Alan Hew encouraged everyone to attend and make their voices heard. This is a chance for the community to give feedback on potential changes to zoning and guide the future of development. The charrettes will be bilingual.
More information is available at www.pgplan.org/centralus1study and the survey is also still available.
Events Committee Update
Director Mary Roop was on vacation and President Alicea made announcements. The farmers market is still taking place on Saturdays from 10am–2pm. There will be a community tree decorating event on Saturday October 26 from 1–4PM at the scrub pine. There will be a Friday Night Lights event celebrating the University of Maryland game on Friday October 11, 4–7pm at city hall. Maryland fans are encouraged to wear black. Good Neighbor Day will take place on Saturday October 26, 8:30am around the city. Interested parties can browse projects and sign up at oce.umd.edu/good-neighbor-day.
Greenbelt/Branchville Fire Station Dicussion
Michael Hughs, the Branchville chief, spoke about the situation regarding local fire stations and possible staffing changes. All firehouses had career staff until volunteers faded away because of the volume of calls. President fire chief has not been fostering cohesion in the county and has not aided the situation with the volunteers. In summer of 2002 staff was taken away and then brought back, but they will not be coming back. Reports claim that numbers do not support more staff in the area. According to Mr. Hughes, Branchville is 100% volunteer and does not have the resources to continue in that way. Due to movement of staff, there is no way to cover day and nights. New members cannot be onboarded fast enough. Nine ambulance drivers and aid people have been lost since April, 50 in the past five years. This is natural attrition. Volunteerism is down coast to coast. Chief Green, the county fire chief, took four companies out of service—with no explanation of where they are going. Greenbelt has not had a crew since July. This stems from a training mandate that was instated which has caused an inability to staff due to lack of training courses. They are attempting to build up a driver corps but there is a pinch of manpower to provide coverage and the coverage changes day by day. There was no crew at Branchville on the day the house on Wichita Ave. burned. Chief Hughs comes down from Westminster to man the house. He said that they are not being listened to and their concerns are not being met in good faith. No updates have come from command.
Todd Reitzel asked if county council members had been involved in these discussions. They have been. Chief Hughs noted that there was not a volunteer force in the ways there used to be. There are 4,000 calls a year. According to him, Branchville and Berwyn Heights will not be getting their crews back. Mayor Fazlul Kabir thanked the guests for their time and explanation. He then noted the ways in which the city of College Park has attempted to block this action.
The conversation opened for questions and resulted in some of the following information:
- Career firefighters were being moved ostensibly to cover mandatory overtime and fill in gaps in staffing caused by attrition and low enrollment.
- Requests by the city for data on response times have been stonewalled by fire chief.
- Attempts may have been made to get information via public records request but been defeated.
- There is supposed ot be an October announcement related to the future of firehouse staffing but no date for the announcement has been set yet.
In relation to how people can help, Chief Hughs noted that volunteers are needed: administrative positions exist for those worried about physicals.
Contact county council. Community meetings.
Townhall meeting at Beltsville Fire House on Tuesday October 15.
Councilmember Jacob Hernandez reported on incidents of extreme length of response that Chief Green has said there will be an investigation.
Unscheduled Motions and Announcements
There were no motions to discuss.
Todd Reitzel noted that there will be a turkey drive at the College Park Food Bank. Friday November 15 and Friday November 22 they will accept frozen chickens, turkeys, and chicken breast. Treasurer Peterson noted that we will be doing a canned food drive for the November meeting.
CM Hew mentioned that there is a chance to learn how to become a party of interest on development matters. He invited the NCPCA to invite a demonstration so residents could do that to keep more informed regarding development. He also plugged PGAtlas.com and invited NCPCA to request an explainer. Stop sign cameras have been placed and are tabulating the ratio of stop sign runners at key locations. This is a part of the attempt to change how people drive and interact with roads. The council will be taking comment.
Director Wray asked where the potential revenue would go from these cameras. Installation and running them is free, $17–$19 of $40 ticket would go to vendor. Most of the rest would go to a police resource to look at footage. The remainer would go to public safety.
CM Hernandez noted the coming of Ross Dress for Less. He then brought up the importance of the charrette coming up. He also met with County Councilmember Dernoga about the possibility of a car wash. He also plugged Good Neighbor Day, October 26. He is planning a district meeting in the months to come and would like to do a training session on the Homestead Tax credit. A child was struck outside of Parkdale High School.
Treasurer Peterson: The Hollywood Elementary School is looking for volunteers for their Trunk or Treat on October 30 from 4:30–6:30PM.
Call to Adjourn
Secretary Roan motioned to adjourn. CM Hernandez seconded. The motion passed by.