UMD students, city activists aim to fill empty council seats

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006

by Dennis Carter

Staff Writer

University of Maryland student Nick Aragon will run against North College Park activist Mary Cook in the District 4 race, while student David Daddio, who runs a Web site dedicated to College Park development, will compete with Old Town Civic Association President Stephanie Stullich for the District 3 opening. The seats were vacated by Councilwoman Joseline Pena-Melnyk’s (Dist. 4) departure to Annapolis as a District 21 delegate and Councilman Eric Olson’s (Dist. 3) election to the County Council.

Cook, an academic advisor at Prince George’s Community College, co-chair for the city’s Committee for a Better Environment (CBE) and a member of the North College Park Citizens Association (NCPCA), has lived in the city for more than five years.

Cook helped lead the charge against the Autoville bypass road that threatened to cut through her Cherry Hill neighborhood in 2004, potentially displacing homes and businesses. Plans for the bypass were ditched in late 2004.

She also played a part in fighting nearby Shoppers Food Warehouse when the store sought a beer and wine license last year. After hearings before the county liquor board, the license was granted.

‘‘I think I could bring real passion to the council,” she said. ‘‘I love College Park and I love its neighborhoods.”

Cook pointed to Route 1 traffic problems and continued development along the corridor as top priorities for the city.

Cook, 50, said that the city council should continue to push incoming developers to meet with civic associations, although she credited the current council for being proactive on that front.

‘‘[Developers] have to work more closely with the residents so they get projects that they are satisfied with along with the residents,” she said.

Aragon, a senior government and politics major at the university, lives in College Park Woods in West College Park. District 4 encompasses the western side of the city and a small section of North College Park.

Aragon said he has talked with several city leaders, including West College Park Citizens Association President Suchitra Balachandran, Pena-Melnyk and Councilman Robert Catlin (Dist. 2) this fall as he measures his chances in the Jan. 16 special election.

‘‘Being a student, I think that there will always be a perception that this is a stunt,” said Aragon, 24, who grew up in Montgomery County and has lived in College Park for three years. ‘‘To some degree, it’s about how comfortable people can be with someone younger [representing them on the council]. ... I don’t want to do this unless the community [would be accepting].”

Aragon said College Park’s recent development of apartments has provided more living space for students, but high rent prices have kept many students in neighborhoods, where some residents have complained of late-night parties.

‘‘Students live in the neighborhoods because there is a lack of affordable apartment housing,” he said.

Stullich, 45, a College Park resident for 12 years, said she supports the city’s plans to move City Hall, making room for condos at the downtown location.

‘‘It could really be a catalyst for redevelopment in downtown College Park,” she said, adding that she did not support the relocation of City Hall to the Friends Community School location, approved by the council last spring.

‘‘Schools are very important to neighborhoods,” Stullich said.

As the council continues to study the possibility of a citywide police force, Stullich said it would be important to provide coverage for the entire city, even if the majority of crime occurs in downtown College Park, a part of District 3.

‘‘I think it is essential that a police force is serving every part of the city,” she said. ‘‘It wouldn’t be called a District 3 police force.”

Daddio, 21, a native of Columbia, Md. who helps run ‘‘Rethink College Park,” a Web site that tracks redevelopment talks at the university and in College Park, said he would focus on the city’s effort to bring new development to the Route 1 corridor, particularly the downtown area.

Daddio said incoming mix-use development on Route 1 could make College Park a burgeoning residential and commercial force in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.

‘‘All the indicators are there — huge housing demand, woefully lacking retail options and a rapidly expanding economic engine [the university],” he said, pointing out the University View apartments and the incoming Northgate apartment complex.

Daddio, a senior environmental science and policy major, said the city council could benefit from the member who could bridge the gap and improve sometimes-contentious city-university relations.

‘‘Any minor infringement by one against the other always gets blown up into some huge issue and the same predictable arguments comes out of the same predictable people,” Daddio said. If dialogue is improved, ‘‘we’ll find that everyone basically has the same goals, just a disagreement on how to act on them,” referring to improving traffic flow on Route 1, among other issues.

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.