During the May 27 Greenbelt City Council meeting council affirmed its commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), approved funds for the creation of a master plan for Indian Creek Park and for the installation of a bike rack near the Co-op Supermarket, and received a briefing on the county’s transit plan.
Commitment to DEI
Councilmember Jenni Pompi introduced a resolution for second reading and approval that affirms council’s commitment to DEI. Council voted in favor of the resolution with Councilmembers Rodney Roberts and Silke Pope opposing and Mayor Emmett Jordan abstaining.
There was heated disagreement between Jordan and Roberts when Roberts attempted to explain his vote. Roberts said that the city does not have real DEI but a façade because the city manager empowers a group of city employees to attack citizens. Jordan ruled Roberts out of order and Councilmember Kristen Weaver stated that under council rules councilmembers are not allowed to raise personal matters in this meeting (see News Review stories of November 7 and December 19, 2024). Roberts felt his right to speak was being stymied and Pope supported his right to speak. Nonetheless, the mayor ruled Roberts out of order.
There was some concern about making the city a target for federal retaliation. Jordan pointed out that we are living in a time of strong retribution where we are seeing programs cut and employees losing their jobs because of their support for DEI. Pope agreed. She felt council needed to be careful about “… what we do and how we do it because our responsibility is to all of the citizens.”
Councilmember Danielle McKinney asked, “If not now … when? We are simply validating what we believe and what we have been doing.”
Master Plan
By a vote of 6 to 1, with Roberts opposing, council approved a $32,600 contract with Mahan Rykiel to develop a master plan for the Greenbelt Station Indian Creek Park. Terri Hruby, director of Planning and Community Development, described the process and how it would include a public workshop plus a stakeholder worksession.
Transit Vision Plan
Jaime Fearer, assistant director of Planning, briefed council on the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation’s (DPW&T) Transit Vision Plan (TVP) which is the primary component of DPW&T’s Transit Transformation process that creates a roadmap for improving the county’s transit service and infrastructure (see pgc-transit-transformation-princegeorges.hub.arcgis.com).
Fearer had several concerns regarding the Transit Vision Plan including the lack of a bike share station at the Metro, how local planning staff are not explicitly included in some TVP goals, lack of notices regarding changes to TheBus Route 11, how accompanying technical reports to the plan are not available, yet public comments are due June 13 (comments can be emailed to pgctransit@co.pg.md.us) and the poor communication surrounding the TVP.
All councilmembers voted to write a letter to county transit officials expressing the above concerns.
Elimination of TheBus Route 11
According to TheBus Summer 2025 schedule TheBus Route 11 will be discontinued on June 30 (see https://tinyurl.com/2497zh8u). On that date current users of that route may use Metrobus P21 which will run every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday and once an hour on the weekend.
Installation of Bike Rack
All councilmembers voted to expedite the installation of a bike rack at Roosevelt Center, adjacent to the Co-op Supermarket. This was raised by Jordan in response to a resident’s petition after a barrier that had been used as a bike rack was removed, which reduced the number of spaces for bikes to be secured.
Hruby said city staff are working on a plan to figure out how many bike racks could be installed in the area and believes the effort is consistent with actions taken by the Advisory Planning Board.
Legislative Action Requests
Jordan spoke to three Legislative Action Requests (LAR) but wanted to temper expectations that these requests would be funded. The three requests recommended are (i) Juvenile justice reform, (ii) Regulating online streaming services and (iii) Taxing social media companies and using those funds for youth mental health programs. All of council voted in favor to move forward with these LARs.
Proclamations
Jordan read two proclamations. The first names the month of May as Older Americans Month and urges all residents to take time to honor older adults, enrich their lives and continue building a community that values aging. The second proclamation declares the week of June 6 to 12 to be National Gun Violence Awareness Week and encourages residents to expand efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human lives. This proclamation was accepted by Moms Demand Action, an organization dedicated to reducing gun violence in the U.S. (see wearorange.org to learn more and find out how to participate).
