City Council Work Session Preview

Tonight's city council work session looks like a doozy. Here's a breakdown of what you can expect to hear about if you attend, or, for those sitting this one out, what you can expect to read about in Patch in the coming days:

Annual Police Presentation: Officers from PGPD, University Police, Park and Planning Police and Metro Police will be delivering their annual presentation on crime statistics for the year thus far.

Use of the Calvert Road School: The Calvert Road School - the former site of the Friends Community School - has been vacant for some time. Residents are concerned that allowing it to fall into disrepair will invite vandalism and other unsavory activity to the area. The question on the table tonight is what should be done with it.

Discussion of Issues Related to City Elections: There are a number of items related to elections, from voting hours to campaigning regulations. In addition to this, Councilman Afzali (Dist. 4) has asked that the city lower the age at which candidates may run for city council from 21 to 18.

Discussion of Renewal of Memorandum of Understanding with UMD Department of Transportation Services for Resident Ridership of the Shuttle-UM: Though the shuttle is typically reserved for students, for the last two years the city has been paying to enable residents to use the shuttle as well. This year, however, the university is raising the price from $5000 to $10,000 for the use of the shuttle. The council will discuss whether to continue paying for this service.