The Sept. 16 edition of The Diamondback’s staff editorial brought up the problems with College Park’s potentially uncontested mayoral race (Andy Fellows is the only candidate to date) but did not mention the current student efforts to shape the city’s November elections. UMD for Clean Energy, the student group I’m part of, is currently engaging the city council in a conversation about the future of College Park.
“Green for College Park” looks to mobilize many students to vote in the city council elections in less than two months for candidates who support green policies. The group has already met with three city council members, current Mayor Stephen Brayman and the lone mayoral candidate Fellows to vet their green-minded ideas across the table. This is working to create a mandate for current and future city council members, because, after all, they must address other concerns besides 3 a.m. noise violations and boisterous students on Route 1 on Thirsty Thursday.
Despite the many requests my group is making in their campaign platform, we are prioritizing one idea: the creation of an energy efficiency loan fund, which is a pool of money up for loan at a low interest rate that would finance energy-efficient upgrades and home improvements for residents of College Park. Borrowers could then repay the loan fund through property tax assessments in increments roughly equal to their energy savings and reap the savings once they have paid back the loan. Annapolis city and Montgomery County have already established similar initiatives.
In addition, Portland, Ore., has a similar program, and New York is using $112 million in public money for the loan fund financing mechanism to leverage private funds for a recently passed statewide $5 billion energy efficiency effort.
To further the discussion of bringing this policy to College Park, District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn invited the CEO of Edison-Wright, the company that finances homeowner loans in Annapolis, to a city council work session last Wednesday. UMD for Clean Energy, along with students from Sigma Kappa, Sigma Delta Tau and Students for a Democratic Society, not only had a presence at the session, but UMD for Clean Energy Campaign Coordinator Matt Dernoga (who is also a Diamondback columnist and the son of Prince George’s County District 1 Councilman Thomas Dernoga) was also invited to the table to express his ideas on the loan fund policy. Dernoga touched on how this policy would help energy auditing and energy retrofitting companies in Prince George’s County that would make the improvements.
There was also talk about considering the implementation of “white roofs.” In contrast to dark roofs, which absorb as much as 90 percent of the sun’s energy, white roofs absorb as little as 10 or 15 percent.
Moreover, regardless of what policy the city council finds most appropriate, university students are putting pressure on our local legislators to take action on a host of green policy proposals. We intend to engage all of the candidates in the election about the direction of College Park, including Fellows, so we have a seat at the table afterwards.
Kenny Frankel is the media director for the student group UMD for Clean Energy. He can be reached at kfrankel88 at gmail dot com.
