Diamondback Investigates CP Housing Predicament
December 8th, 2006 | by Rob Goodspeed | Published in General College Park, Housing | 11 Comments
The Diamondback published today the last installment of a three-part series examining the issue of student housing in College Park. We encourage you to check out the articles if you have not already — they are an excellent investigation into some of the causes of the current housing crunch. We hope the articles serve as a reminder to University and city leaders alike that the only long-term solution is new student housing both on and off campus.
Part 1: Squeezed in Squalor
Part 2: Access Denied
Part 3: Graduate Gripes
Op-Ed: Beds not bunk: The city and Board of Regents should stop discouraging student-friendly housing and start giving us what we need – more options.
December 8th, 2006 at 7:53 pm (#)
I just find it astounding that the city does not do more to help out the student body, I just guess they dont realize that nearly the entire economy is student driven, and that without it, this town would be the next Hyattsville, or other slumland on route one, making the College Park they have now look like heaven.
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December 11th, 2006 at 11:09 am (#)
Kyle, I don’t know where you are getting your information about Hyattsville, but you could not be more wrong. Hyattsville has a rich and varied housing stock, a diverse population and a responsive, forward-looking government. While College Park residents do enjoy enviable access to multiple fast-food options, here in Hyattsville I can walk to the Metro, two full-selection grocery stores, Target, Macys, and several parks. The simple fact that there is over $1 billion (yes. $1 billion) in new residential and commercial construction going on here, including two town center-style projects, shows that Hyattsville has already achieved the kind of revitalization that is still a vague and desperate dream in College Park.
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December 11th, 2006 at 11:41 am (#)
I agree that residents of Hyattsville has access to a lot of things we here in CP don’t. Still I’d say that there is well over $1 billion in planned investments in CP, including the East Campus Development Initiative and several other projects which this site reports on.
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December 11th, 2006 at 12:23 pm (#)
David, it’s no secret that many parts of PG county are overdue for major development. If indeed there are plans for College Park, that’s great. The rising tide lifts all boats, and so on.
What I’m compelled to point out, though, is that for any community revitalization plan to be successful, it requires long-term investment and commitment on the part of its residents. This is always going to be a problem for college towns, due to the graduation-induced population turnover. College Park has the additional burden of being perceived as a poor investment due to the unfortunate tendancies of its students to destroy other people’s stuff in riots following basketball games.
Rather than labeling Hyattsville a “slumland,” I think there are lessons that College Park residents could learn from the steps Hyattsville has taken to improve things. Obviously, I’m biased, but I’m not uninformed: I rented a house in College Park for three years before buying a house in Hyattsville.
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December 11th, 2006 at 1:45 pm (#)
I also take exception with the characterization that the entire economy of College Park is student-driven. The economy is UMD-driven. The university is the area’s largest employer and purchaser of services. I’m not certain of the numbers, there must be close to 10,000 faculty and staff (never mind outside vendors and contractors) necessary to keep the campus operating.
I’ve never been a UMD student, but the entitlement that I sense in the students’ comments here and other student forums is disturbing. It is the College Park property owners and Maryland taxpayers who will largely fund any new construction, as well as the continued operations of the university. Most of us do this willingly because we recognize that improving our environment and providing public education are worth what we get in return – responsible, educated and happy members of our community.
Much of the bashing and blustering that UMD students do about College Park is simply immature venting. Occasionally, it opens a useful dialogue. To ensure that students’ concerns are given the legitimate attention they deserve, it would serve them well to reconsider the attitude of “college student as customer who is always right.” We grown-ups tend to roll our eyes when they start in on that old chestnut. Then we wait for them to leave the room so we can get on with the real business. After all, they’ll be gone in four years, and we’ll still be here.
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December 11th, 2006 at 4:03 pm (#)
College Park is stymied by small eyesore commercial parcels which are profitable for the business owner who typically leases the property from an out of town owner.
No one is motivated to improve the City by leaving unless they get rich in the process. The lack of motivated business and property owners to move on scares away many developers who can’t be certain of success in the end.
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December 11th, 2006 at 6:14 pm (#)
It’s interesting to object to the statement that “the entire economy of College Park is student-driven. The economy is UMD-driven.”
It’s a moot distinction since the student body is the sine qua non of any university. The very existence of a university is predicated on its student body and that which is beneficial to the student body is beneficial to the university and vice-versa.
However, students are not the only people dissatisfied with College Park. I had one professor who described the city as the worst college town. Another professor told me that she commutes from DC because College Park lacks cultural activities and venues conducive to casual intellectual discourse (cafés, specifically). Developers have said that the prevalent dilapidation lining Route 1 does not befit the quality university we have here. University officials themselves admit that the town hurts the University’s image and quality of life (of course, the University is hardly blameless, either).
Much of the student venting is justified and there are some clear ways in which students contribute economically. Property values here appreciate strongly because of the existence of students. Students do not require costly services like public grade schooling and thus do not place as much a burden on the county as do families with school-age children. The high rents students pay boost housing assessments; the property tax revenue, correlative to assessment values, is the primary source of funding for the costly public grade schools the students don’t even use.
Even still, College Park has massive potential and the best redevelopment would appeal to the interests of students and long-term residents; the interests of these two groups intersect more often than we may think.
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December 11th, 2006 at 11:54 pm (#)
It is highly doubtful that student rioting (however dumb it might be) is dampening the city’s development potential. I’ll reproduce here my favorite part of your comment:
“”it would serve them well to reconsider the attitude of “college student as customer who is always right.” We grown-ups tend to roll our eyes when they start in on that old chestnut. Then we wait for them to leave the room so we can get on with the real business. After all, they’ll be gone in four years, and we’ll still be here.”"
Yes, students are gone in four years but they are replaced but what other than more students! Many other College Towns are not burdened by their highly transient populations. I would argue that if UMD hadn’t been a commuter school for about 140 years of its existence we might have some decent amenities within walking distance.
Indeed, some people actually like living in College Towns (as do some people like living in College Park). I think if you read into this site further you’ll see that we’ve taken a truly long term view of development in CP. If this website isn’t a constructive dialogue then I don’t know what is. People who comment might take one extreme view or another, but I think anyone can plainly see who is overreacting and taking predictable stances and who has a reasoned approach to the subject.
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December 12th, 2006 at 12:56 am (#)
Eric’s comments on the financial and economic impact of the University and the student population on the City needs some sorting out. Unfortunately, currently and in the past the impact leans to the negative. However, in the future, things look much brighter (or else I wouldn’t be here).
Schools are a County function, not funded by the City. So any savings that accrue go to the County. Non apartment family home property values, at least for property tax purposes are not noticeably increased by high rents as rental income is not considered by the state’s property appraisers.
In the last assessment update in January 2004, the Knox Box valuations fell (while throughout the rest of the City valuations generally increased by 30-50%). Run down properties are assessed very conservatively. About 40-45% of the City tax base is exempt from property tax, an extraordinarily large amount.
The City’s income tax collections, and “car tax” revenue are also well below what one would expect.
The City receives no sales tax, so businesses can generate hugh profits, with no trickle down to the City.
Parking tickets are a positive of course, revenue wise, but the cost of parking enforcement consumes about 70% of the revenue.
With the future likely including a City sponsored parking garage, we will likely be weaned off of tickets as a source of funding for the City government.
In the long run the future is bright, though I am increasingly worried about the widespread lack of concern about the need for some urgent improvement.
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December 12th, 2006 at 2:44 am (#)
In the fall semester of 1998 the university experienced its worst housing shortage to date. Freshmen were being housing in the hotels along Route 1, a situation that got coverage in the Washington Post. I wrote a term paper about the housing shortage, its historical roots, and proposed solutions in the form of rezoning.
The paper is online at: http://ljaurbach.com/collegepark.html
I thought it was obsolete after various housing complexes were built on and off campus during 1999-2004. But the percentage of underclassmen requesting on campus housing has continued to climb. Now the university doesn’t even bother to rent hotel rooms for the freshman overflow and the Washington Post doesn’t bother to cover the housing shortage.
Today I’m much less sanguine that mere rezoning will accomplish the goal of increased student housing in CP. Fully elaborated visions and plans are needed, which is exactly the strategy East Campus has been taking. In addition, political leadership and support is required, and I congratulate David Daddio for stepping up and running for office. Finally, there must be broad political support from CP residents, especially landowners.
If Hyattsville can put up a 17-story student housing tower with no major adverse impacts, I’m not so sure what CP landowners and officials are worried about. Riots and Animal Houses are things to keep an eye on, but other college towns manage to build great environments that aren’t torn apart by students; CP can do it too.
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December 13th, 2006 at 9:46 pm (#)
I can’t believe a professor said that College Park was the worst college town. First of all, it depends what your idea of a college town is. I think most people would agree that a place like Bloomington, IN (IU), or Anne Arbor are the “ideal types”. But I can think of many that are much less of the “ideal type” then College Park is. Columbus, OH, home of The Ohio State University with the highest student enrollement (50,000+) in the nation, doesn’t have the same college-town feel of College Park. Yes, it’s bigger, there’s more stores, bars and stuff like that, but OSU campus area just transitions into overall city of Columbus (700,000+, 15th biggest in the nation). While furter away from downtown, Michigan State in East Lansing is similar to OSU. You know your in the campus area, but it doesn’t have that “ideal” feel of Bloomington. And then you have places like DC where the college town atmosphere seems non-existent.
To sum it up, it’s all relative. If I had to rate college towns I’ve been to, CP would be somewhere in the middle. Either way, the professor’s comment was pretty dumb.
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