City Council Nails Down Some ARPA Spending Priorities
At its August 8 regular meeting, the Greenbelt City Council approved the first set of expenditures for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds the city received. In response to a petition from Public Works employees, council deferred action on premium pay for city employees until August 29. Council also rejected a contract for monument […]
Apartments, Other Parts of Town Faced Flooding on August 10
Flooding again hit Greenbelt on Wednesday, August 10, as rain pelted the city, leaving as much as three inches of water in an hour, according to the National Weather Service. Greenbelt Police tweeted a warning to residents: “Do not travel through flooded roadways – even shallow water can quickly disable a vehicle.” Flood waters were […]
ERHS Grad Comes Full Circle And Returns as New Principal
Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS) welcomes ERHS graduate Dr. Portia Barnes as its new principal. Barnes said she is “excited to continue in the Roosevelt Way, building on tenets of Respect, Integrity and Responsibility.” “I am overjoyed to be back home,” Barnes said. “When I walked the halls during my high school journey, I would […]
Mail Carrier Cesar Delivers Mail, Good Cheer on his Route
When I asked Cesar Oregon if I could accompany him on his mail route for a story for the Greenbelt News Review, he answered immediately in the affirmative. “We are going to walk really fast and we’re going to pat all the dogs,” he promised. As I was definitely capable of doing one of those […]
The Smells of Summer Camp: YOGOs Get Non-stop Action
Most Camp YOGO mornings begin with an adolescent chorus of “Smells like summer!” in response to a semi-rhetorical questioning of “Smell that, YOGOs?” While it may be impossible to describe the exact smells of summer or fully quantify their effects, the enthusiasm that fills this group of more than 30 campers on a daily basis […]
Parking Regulations Drive Council to Debate Revisions
Greenbelt City Council met on Monday, August 1, to discuss parking, trails and various public safety issues in the Greenbelt Station area. Tina Kumar, property manager, and Valencia Perry, assistant property manager, for Verde apartments at Greenbelt Station answered questions from council. Verde has 302 apartment units at 97 percent occupancy and amenities including a […]
Space Foundation Celebrates Greenbelt’s Innovative Fischer
James (Jim) Fischer, a 50-year resident of Greenbelt, was recently lauded during the induction of Beowulf Computing into the Space Foundation’s Hall of Fame. Fischer, who worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from 1974 to 2014, is the co-creator of the Beowulf computing cluster concept originally developed at Goddard as part of research into […]
New GES Head Joel Nelson Has Been in Greenbelt Before
New Greenbelt Elementary School Principal Joel Nelson is pleased to return to working in Greenbelt. “Prior to seeking my master’s degree,” he said, “I was a substitute teacher at Greenbelt Elementary when it first opened. A few years later, my eldest daughter took theater classes here.” A graduate of the University of Maryland and Howard […]
Invasive Water Chestnut Found In Maryland at Greenbelt Lake
An app for mobile devices called Seek, from iNaturalist, is “a social network for sharing biodiversity information,” according to the app’s description. Its purpose is two-fold. It can be used to identify plants, animals, insects and other species. Users take photos and see what species the app suggests. The scientific community can glean valuable data […]
Camp Pine Tree’s Magic Returns
The sounds of summer have almost fully returned to the Greenbelt Youth Center after two years of non-traditional summer camp due to the Coronavirus pandemic. After a virtual format in 2020 and a half-day camp last year, Camp Pine Tree campers are enjoying their first full camp days since the summer of 2019. The only […]