City Council Worksession Preview: May 3

The College Park City council will convene for its twice-monthly worksession on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Meetings and worksessions are held in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, located at 4500 Knox Rd.

Proposal for an AT&T Cell Phone Monopole at the Odessa Outlets

The council will discuss whether they support the installation of a cell phone monopole (not to be confused with a cell phone tower) that AT&T hopes to erect at White Park at the end of Odessa Road. A contingent of north College Park residents attended last month's North College Park Citizens Association meeting to for the monopole, citing its lack of aesthetic appeal as the reason for their opposition. 

Penn Text Book Buy Back Request

Penn Text, a company that buys used books from students, wants to set up temporary shop on College Avenue from May 11 to 19. City Code requires that vendors acquire a permit before selling goods in a public space, however, there is no law in place preventing vendors from buying goods themselves.

The council has the option of passing an emergency ordinance preventing Penn Text from doing business in College Park, particularly if it feels that such a venture could hurt local establishments like and , both of which are located within the same block that Penn Text hopes to park its van.

FY 2011 Community Service Grants

The city has allocated $15,000 of grant money to be distributed among a handful of community service organizations around the city, with $2500 being the maximum that any single organization can receive. A council subcommittee made the following recommendations based on a 20 point scale, taking into account such factors as organization structure, funding impact and need statement:

Hollywood Elementary School for Family Instructional Nights: $1,900 (of $2,100 requested)

Paint Branch Elementary School to support students attending Nankai University Elementary School educational summit in Tianjin, China - $1,900 (of $1,950 requested)

National Museum of Language, Inc. for exhibit improvement and development - $2,000 (of $2,500 requested)

Lakeland Community Heritage Project for Lakeland Heritage Weekend - $2,300 (of $2,500 requested)

American Legion Auxiliary, College Park Unit 217 for Scholarships for Miss College Park pageant participants - $1,000 (of $2,500 requested)

Pregnancy Aid Centers for their food pantry program - $2,400 (of $2,500 requested)

Strides Operations, Inc., for job readiness and placement - $0 (of $1,200 requested) (due to concerns about use of past funding)

Boy Scout Troop 298 for leadership education for young men - $1,000 (of $2,500 requested) --Cub Scout Troop 298 to subsidize the cub scout program - $1,000 (of $2,500 requested)

Daughter for the Day, Inc. for senior citizen assistance - $0 (of $2,500 requested) (due to concerns about a lack of a College Park connection)

Robert Boone for a community garden in North College Park - $1,000 (of $2,000 requested), contingent upon securing a 501(c)(3) organization for collaboration, as this is a general requirement of the grant program

Consolidation and Integration of Bus Schedules

College Park has lots of buses, which is great if you can figure out when they're coming and going. Unfortunately, trying to keep the the schedules of Shuttle-UM, TheBus and the Commuter Connect-a-Ride bus straight can be complicated business. On Tuesday, the city will discuss consolidating scheduling information so commuters can better plan ahead.

Review of Public Comments to FY 2012 Action Plan

As the subject line says, the council will be reviewing comments from the public regarding the FY 2012 Action Plan. More to come on this subject on Wednesday.