The weight of the now seemingly ubiquitous crime coverage in The Diamondback has thankfully shifted more from the acts of violence themselves to reports on preventative measures undertaken by local officials and police forces. It's obvious the crime is being treated with the utmost seriousness and urgency, with police enhancing downtown patrols and blanketing local bars. Unfortunately, simply elevating police levels remains a stop-gap measure, regardless of short-term success. The city must consider redevelopment a prime priority if it is truly committed to a sustainable solution to College Park's ills.
While a citywide police force in College Park is certainly a laudable goal, it's even more important to create an environment attractive to investment, allowing the city to be infused with businesses, homes and, by extension, tax dollars - the real social and economic underpinnings that serve as sustainable suppressers to crime.
The city has recognized this on a certain level - recently, it has taken the proactive moves of buying up properties and marking spaces for parking garages, condos and retail. But this alone is too timid of a move. The city can only do so much. It needs to call in help from businesses that are understandably eager to capitalize on the opportunities College Park presents.
When developers have presented proposals for development, they were often met with rejection from the College Park City Council, whose priorities, though understandably not the same as developers, are inappropriately vague.
The council must create a friendlier environment by streamlining its development process. Without making it clear exactly what sort of properties under exactly what sort of guidelines it is looking for, the council will continue its unnecessarily low batting average for successful development proposals.
The city has announced plans for developing a "form-based" code intending to do exactly this, and the sooner they can successfully implement the code, the better.
Until the city and developers can get on the same page, College Park will continue to hemorrhage opportunity with each passing day. And as a result, the city will continue to suffer from heightened levels of crime, underappreciated businesses and worrisome housing conditions - all negative effects of a downtown nowhere near its potential.
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