Student candidate gets mayor’s support in College Park

Monday, Jan. 15, 2007

College Park Mayor Stephen Brayman endorsed District 4 candidate and University of Maryland student Nicolas Aragon just days before the city’s special election.

Late last week, Brayman released a letter endorsing Aragon for Tuesday’s election in which seven candidates will vie for two empty council seats.

A University of Maryland student has never served on the College Park City Council, although several have run in the city’s history.

In the endorsement letter, Brayman said he was impressed by Aragon’s knowledge of the city’s neighborhood preservation efforts, which include bringing affordable housing to College Park so neighborhoods are not overrun with students.

At a District 4 candidates forum, ‘‘[Aragon] proved to have a good grasp of local issues, the correct position on District Four's concerns and a determined strategy to bring support to the City's initiatives in Annapolis,” Brayman said. ‘‘While I remain committed to working with the winner of Tuesday's election, Nick has earned my respect and my endorsement of his candidacy for City Council.”

Aragon, 24, a senior at the university, said the endorsement showed an effort on behalf of College Park to reach out to university officials.

‘‘I think [Brayman] saw me as the one who can kind of bridge the divide between the university and the city and reach out to all portions of the city,” he said. ‘‘I think a lot of people might have seen my candidacy as a stunt at first ... and this certainly provides legitimacy.”