Metro
Ever since university President Wallace Loh took office in 2010, this editorial board has encouraged nearly every development or renovation proposed to improve the area surrounding the campus. We have supported developing East Campus, erecting Oakland and Prince Frederick halls and redeveloping the Maryland Book Exchange, and we have conditionally supported Knox Village and other initiatives.
We hope to see College Park turn around as Hyattsville has in the past few years, and we already have seen improvements. New, attractive dorms have improved the beauty of the campus and made space for Freshmen Connection students, which will allow them greater connection with the campus community.
Yet another project is in the works, this one near the city’s Metro station, with county officials looking for developers to design a transit-oriented community set to include lodging, residential, retail and office spaces.
There are not yet any specifics in place for the development, but it is located in an area that university officials have not yet addressed. This is somewhat understandable, as the location is a bit removed from the campus, but it is close enough that it can improve the university community’s aesthetics. The proposed area is within walking distance of the Green Line and the Purple Line, once the latter is built. It also would service the M Square Research Park and the College Park Airport, along with students and faculty from the university.
This Metro station is not the only one set to have communities built up around it. There are plans in place for University Town Center development at the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station and the potential FBI headquarters in Greenbelt. With so many similar projects receiving positive buzz, our Metro area’s proposed development is bound to yield positive results.
The new proposal promises to help the local economy, as people will be attracted toward businesses, hopefully stimulating economic growth.
This editorial board still has some reservations, though. It is difficult, however, to fully endorse an idea that could have detrimental impacts on the community.
Communities surrounding Metro stations continue to face high crime rates. From 2008 to 2012, crimes such as aggravated assault, arson, burglary, homicide, larceny, motor vehicle theft, rape and robbery along the rail line not only increased substantially but also far outranked crimes in parking lots, buses and other transportation-related locations, according to the Metro Transit Police Department Five-Year Crime Report.
These facts are concerning. And according to an article on The Source, a transportation news website, crime rates in areas surrounding Metro transit stations surpass the rates of crime along the rails.
Crime rates won’t necessarily rise if this development near our Metro station comes to fruition, but we need to discuss preventative measures in the planning process. Especially with crime rates declining in our campus community, we shouldn’t make moves that could risk raising that rate.
If the necessary precautions such as security and safety measures are put in place, this project could attract a much-needed demographic to the area to improve the quality of life in this city. As the community aims to provide a place for professionals working in the area or commuting to Washington, it could place College Park on the map as a viable place to live for people other than college students. But for that to happen, the community can’t lose sight of the city’s safety goals, or professionals and commuters undoubtedly will avoid the place, rendering the project worthless.
