We have been a track stuck on repeat for the past few months, continually commenting on the dire state of student housing on and off the campus. Yet every time we’re ready to let the issue sit on the shelf, we’re dragged back in. The latest developments on housing are depressing and represent a not-so-subtle and quite important shift from mere political stonewalling of student housing to financial ransom.
Last week, the Maryland General Assembly heard a bill that would largely eliminate a current fee waiver-zone for areas that lie more than 1.5 miles away from the campus. The one-time fee runs at $7,700 for each apartment in a planned development. For the long-planned and long-delayed Mazza complex aimed at graduate students, the fee would be more than $1.8 million, hardly an insignificant figure. This bill, at best, is a legislated increase in rents at newly constructed properties, and at worst, terminates developer interest in constructing student housing in College Park.
Unsurprisingly, the College Park City Council, in a continuation of its drive to keep students (who also happen to be their constituents) out of the city neighborhoods, is in support of the bill. But even more disappointing is the fact that this bill is supported by our newly elected state Sen. Jim Rosapepe. We sincerely hope Rosapepe’s campaign promise to support student interests did not expire when he was voted into office.
There’s a silver lining in all of this. Rethinkcollegepark.net, a blog geared toward exploring development issues around College Park, has begun assuming a vocal activist role in development. Students willing to actually go out on a limb and declare a public position are at a premium, and Rethinkcollegepark.net has publicized its views on the fee-waiver zone and other issues far more vehemently and effectively than elected student organizations. We sincerely hope it continues its rise in readership, respectability and activism.
But this is a small victory for students in the face of a increasingly desperate crisis. Students are in a miserable position – we’re either regarded as a quick buck or lepers to be kept out of neighborhoods. The fee-waiver elimination is just more salt in already gaping wounds.
