E-News in Brief – May 4, 2017

An Update from Councilman Mel Franklin

E-News in Brief for Community Leaders                                                                                                                      

Bringing Better Retail to Prince George’s County

In spite of our recent momentum and successes like Tanger Outlets, Whole Foods, Nordstrom Rack, Wegmans, Brandywine Crossing, Dave & Busters, and MGM National Harbor, one of the most common concerns that people have had for many years is about attracting higher quality retail to Prince George’s County.  While our local government can do many things, making high end retailers and restaurants go where we want them to go is not one of them.  Those are private sector business decisions.  The best we can do is create an economic and planning environment that encourages business and job creation, recognizing that we share a region with competing jurisdictions with among the highest median incomes in the world.  Nonetheless, we continue to work hard on this issue and initiated a retail study to get a better sense of why retailers were attracted to certain areas.

Two Biggest Findings:

-Prince George’s County has a disparity between where above-average household density is located and where median-household incomes are high.

-The County’s prime retail locations must compete with the Baltimore-Washington region’s super prime locations with higher population densities and some of the highest incomes and education levels in the United States.

Here is the full retail study report for your viewing: https://tinyurl.com/pgc-retail-study

May 8 Final County Council Budget Hearing on the Proposed County Operating and Capital Budgets, incl. the School System

The Prince George’s County Council will hold its final budget public hearing on Monday, May 8 at 7:00 p.m., County Administration Bldg, 14741 Governor Oden Bowie Dr., Upper Marlboro, MD 20772, 1st Fl. Hearing Room, for the County Executive’s Proposed Operating and Capital Budgets for County Government and the Prince George’s County Public Schools.  Citizens are encouraged to participate in the Council budget review process. To speak before the Council, sign up online at http://pgccouncil.us/458/Public-Hearing-Notices-Sign-Up-to-Speak or contact the Clerk of the Council during normal business hours at 301.952.3600.

For the Prince George’s County Proposed Operating Budget, go here: http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/2722/2018-Fiscal-Year-Proposed-Budget

For the Prince George’s County Proposed Capital Budget, go here: http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/2723/2018-Fiscal-Year-Proposed-CIP-Budget

From Crime Data to Government Spending, Explore “Data Prince George’s”

From Wash. Post: “Data from the Prince George’s County government became easier to access … after the county relaunched a website that gives the public the power to probe, download and search data sets about everything from building permits to crime.”

For DataPrinceGeorge’s, go here: https://data.princegeorgescountymd.gov/

For the Wash. Post story, go here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/open-data-portal-encourages-residents-to-analyze-their-government/2017/03/06/ff82b40a-0288-11e7-b1e9-a05d3c21f7cf_story.html?utm_term=.c8509549ae98

Council Member Deni Taveras Hosts a Take Pride Festival and Community Award Ceremony

From the County Council: Join Council Member Deni Taveras of District 2 for the Take Pride Festival and Community Award Ceremony co-sponsored by The Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation and the Prince George’s County Public Schools on Saturday, May 13, 2017 from  12:00 noon to 4:00 PM. Northwestern High School, 7000 Adelphi Road, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782.

For more info: http://pgccouncil.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=246

Please Join Your Neighbors and Take the Once-a-Week Trash Feedback Survey: https://www.melfranklin.net/councilman-mel-franklin-launches-once-a-week-trash-feedback-survey/

Prince George’s County Family & Friends Day is August 27, 2017, 3PM-6PM, Show Place Arena, 14900 Pennsylvania Ave., Upper Marlboro, MD 20772: Please stay tuned for more details about this annual countywide festival.

For more info, go to

Website: www.melfranklin.net/news/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/friendsofmelfranklin

Twitter: www.twitter.com/melrfranklin