County Executive, City Councils Share Roundtable Discussion

Council members from Greenbelt, New Carrollton, College Park and the Town of Berwyn Heights met Wednesday evening in College Park over issues of mutual concern facing Prince George’s County. Widening the Baltimore-Washington Parkway drove much of the discussion, as well as a visit by the county executive, Rushern L. Baker III, who talked ethics and the economy for about 90 minutes with the four-cities coalition.

“Clearly in terms of the emphasis on this administration is economic development,” said Baker, isolating potential investments primarily around the county’s metro stations. “If we do not grow our tax base then we’re going to be in real trouble, and for far too long we relied on residential property taxes.”

“Right now we’re taking a lot of hits. And half of them are not good hits,” he later stated. “We need something that says Prince George’s County is about something other than what you read on the front page of the newspaper. And so we need projects that will do that, that will say, ‘This really is a new day; It’s not just the election of new people in office.’”

Baker’s comments trailed a recent and scathing editorial in the Washington Post concerning the need for ethics reform in the county, which Greenbelt Mayor Judith Davis broached during the discussion.

“I think everyone probably saw, to our chagrin, The Washington Post editorial, ‘Draining the Swamp in Prince George’s.’ We know that you are trying very hard to do that, to drain the swamp,” she said, offering Baker a formal letter of support.

“I mean, you have set up the Accountability, Compliance and Integrity Advisory Board. You have tried to put forth some state legislation,” she went on. “And then we hear from the news that some, maybe more than some of the county council, are kind of fighting you on this legislation.”

“How are things going?” Davis later asked. “Is the swamp drained yet?”

Baker responded by emphasizing the need to set a new example in the county, to “demonstrate in a very real way that we’re different from what people think and what people have seen.”

Baker also talked about the education budget, which, under Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.'s proposed plan, would eliminate some 1,100 teachers and various programs.

“The superintendent has made some cuts in terms of personnel,” Baker said. “I’ve asked him to not furlough teachers, and he’s agreed to not do that. Now, of course, that means you’ve got to fire some people,” he said.

“I’d like to look at a way of maybe we can make it so he (Hite) is able to choose, keep some of the best and brightest teachers here, and avoid the first hired, first fired (approach),” Baker said, offering up early retirement incentives as way to accomplish that.

Prior to Baker’s appearance, several other issues were broached, but few produced much discussion beyond updates and clarifications. Those included the future demand for a charter school in Greenbelt, and a proposal to relocate the Narragansett Stream at the Greenbelt Metro station. Few, if any, supported the relocation, while the charter school may take a few more years to materialize.

Several council members also expressed opposition to widening the Washington-Baltimore parkway, including Greenbelt Councilman Rodney Roberts.

“They (Congressman Dutch Ruppersburger, District 2) want to go to one lane in both directions from 695 down to Route 50,” he said. “But what we’d really like to do is not just have a study of widening the highway but a study of other modes of transportation that can take place or provide a mix of transportation.”

“There’s no doubt there’s a problem right now with traffic there. But even if they widen it one lane in each direction all it takes  is one fender bender to create traffic jams,” he said, expressing an interest in expanding metro lines.