As reported yesterday by The Diamondback’s Brady Holt, College Park Mayor Stephen Brayman suggested last week that a bar be included in the university’s proposed East Campus development near Route 1 and Paint Branch Parkway. Brayman argued that another bar option would alleviate crowds downtown, force the bars there to better their image and, in doing so, help developers fulfill their promise that East Campus will help the city.
Brayman nailed it with this one. Downtown College Park is essentially the only nightlife destination for students who don’t want to stray too far from the campus. If a bar were to open in the East Campus development, the horrendous crowds downtown would indeed be alleviated, and students would have one more option in a college town that currently pales in comparison to other college towns in terms of bar options.
What’s more, a bar could increase the attractiveness of the development in the eyes of everyone, not just students. People who go out for movies, music shows or dinner often enjoy having a few drinks before or after. A bar would add to the development’s nighttime draw for a large number of residents in College Park, where about 40 percent of the population, according to 2000 Census data, is between the ages of 20 and 34.
Unfortunately, university Vice President for Administrative Affairs Doug Duncan said he would oppose an East Campus bar, saying that while there will be restaurants in the development with liquor licenses, they will not be designed primarily as drinking venues. Both Duncan and East Campus’s developers have expressed a desire that the development be an attractive destination for the permanent residents of College Park, not just for students, and they seem to consider a bar to be an attraction primarily for students. Developer Bryant Foulger said, “We have said all along that this is not a University of Maryland project. It’s a College Park community project,” as if a bar couldn’t fit into the latter.
These arguments hold no weight whatsoever. First, if this project is indeed a “College Park community project,” why not more thoughtfully consider a bar suggestion from the leader of that community, Mayor Brayman? Are all of the development’s attractions going to close before area residents might want to have a cocktail or two? Is it rational to think area residents who are drawn to the development because of the proposed Birchmere music hall wouldn’t want to have a drink or two at an upscale bar before or after attending a show? Since when are college students the only people who go to bars?
There is no need for another Thirsty Turtle in the East Campus development plans, and Brayman’s suggestion that a bar be included in the plans need not be taken as a suggestion that there should be a college-type bar at all. What about an upscale bar that residents would enjoy, out-of-town visitors would remember and students could treasure as a place to go on a special night out? Duncan’s flat opposition to a bar leaves no room for discussions that involve the university on the type of bars that could suit the tastes and desires of the development’s entire clientele.
While it is absolutely the right idea to have East Campus cater to the entire College Park community and even to put an emphasis on permanent residents, it shouldn’t be forgotten that students are a part of the community as well. With that in mind, ask students what they’d want to see in East Campus and their No. 1 request may very well be a bar.
Any argument that implies students would be the only residents of College Park interested in going to a bar in the East Campus area can be dismantled with one look into bars such as Town Hall, E.J.’s Landing or Hard Times Cafe. And, even if a bar would be a student-driven addition, so what? We live here too.
