By Apurva Mahajan
The special election for the new College Park mayor will take place on Saturday, May 6 at City Hall from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The candidate who wins will serve as mayor until the regular election in November for both the council and mayor.
Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name below.
Bryan Haddad
Bryan Haddad is a political newcomer running on a single-issue platform to strengthen existing city code in order to enforce stronger punishments and higher fines for illegally modified and noisy vehicles that are not up to city code requirements.
Haddad graduated from the University of Maryland in 2010 and owns the Bamboo Eater, a retail smoke shop in northern College Park.
Over a year ago, Haddad spoke to the College Park City Council about improving the laws and city code regarding illegally modified vehicles and mentioned possible solutions like sound cameras and signage, which was later implemented.
“The signs don’t even reference the laws. They don’t reference penalties. You know, it’s just a finger wag,” Haddad said. “It was kind of a relatively valueless gesture. And then I came up with this idea of using code enforcement for things that were visually obvious, and I think it has a lot of weight, so I’m trying to get people to take it seriously.”
According to Haddad, vehicles that are illegally modified like cars with full window tint, vehicles that have the wrong size tires and cars without license plates or with mismatched license plates are harmful to the community because they can protect criminal identity.
Haddad envisions that the enforcement for illegal modifications will be passed in stages, one violation at a time. He said the tickets for modifications could be similar to parking tickets, where code enforcement takes a picture of the violation and leaves a ticket on the car’s windshield. People would also be able to dispute the violation if they wanted to, Haddad said.
“I believe the issue I’m running on is important. And I think it’s going to be easy,” Haddad said. “We already have code enforcement. They already drive around and write tickets for visually obvious things. These laws are already on the books from Maryland state for visual inspection.”
Although he is running for a single issue, Haddad is also in favor of implementing a vacancy tax on the companies that own apartment buildings and leave large portions of the buildings empty without losing profits. A vacancy tax would create a financial penalty for letting properties sit empty for long periods of time, and would put pressure on companies to charge lower rates for rent, he said.
“The number one thing I bring to the table is decisive action. A lot of city council is being a bit nervous to move forward. There’s a lot of ‘Oh, we can’t do anything,’ or ‘Oh, we need the state to do that,’” Haddad said. “That was the answer I got for loud and heavily modified vehicles. And now I’ve come forward with this idea, and no one has told me we can’t do it.”
Fazlul Kabir
Fazlul Kabir, a six-term council member who has represented District 1 since 2011, is the longest continuously serving member of the city council.
Kabir started the city’s largest event, College Park Day, in 2010, a year before he was elected as a council member. While on the city council, Kabir also started a community garden, built three parks, started an online tutoring program for K-12 students, secured $25 million to build a College Park community center and restarted the College Park parade among numerous other projects.
According to Kabir, the most pressing issue facing College Park in the short term is a lack of trust in the leadership following former Mayor Patrick Wojahn’s indictment on 80 child pornography charges in March.
“It is important that we work with the community very closely with them to rebuild that trust, and that can happen through transparency, building trust, and transparency,” Kabir said.
Kabir said he wants to work for more affordable housing for university students, especially because he wants them to stay in College Park even after graduating. He has been exploring the possibility of increasing the tax rates for big developers of student housing and apartment complexes and using the tax revenue to subsidize students’ rent.
Connecting with students at this university and having more open communication is something Kabir wants to work on. He hopes to plan large events where students and residents can come together and work on projects to help the community, he said.
“That connection isn’t there, which is unfortunate,” Kabir said. “This is my passion. I’d like to expand that to all of the city of College Park, all the districts in College Park.”
Transparency is something that has Kabir stressed since even before he was even a council member.
In 2009, he started his blog, Kabir Cares, where he provides information to residents about the issues that are set to appear before the council, how the council voted and the reasoning behind its decisions. The blog also includes information about upcoming events and development projects happening in the city.
“I am a hyper-local person,” Kabir said. “Being on the city council, listening, being a part of the discussion and the work sessions that are within that helps me to to understand the kind of overall features of any issues.”
Kabir started the first monthly community and police meeting, where police officers can meet and talk to residents. Kabir has advocated for more funding for crime prevention in the past, which led to more full-time police officers.
“[There are] so many facets of this issue, including improving walkability, safety,” Kabir said. “Building new sidewalks, wide sidewalks and building sites by clients. This is all part of public safety.”
To support College Park’s economic development, Kabir said he is in favor of initiatives that will incentivize business owners to not only come to College Park but to stay there.
“The opportunities out there … will expand our tax base and also create new jobs along the campus near the College Park Metro,” Kabir said.
Kate Kennedy
Kate Kennedy has represented District 1 on the council since 2017 and is focusing on affordable housing, environmental sustainability, education and small business development as part of her platform.
During her time on the council, Kennedy established a $15 million housing trust that aims to help lower income families own single-family homes sooner and keep a healthy ratio of renters and homeowners within neighborhoods. Kennedy was the chair of the committee, wrote the initial business plan, raised $3 million from the council and raised the business plan to the state and federal level, garnering additional monetary support.
“The housing project, what that’s showing is that I have a track record of getting things done and moving things forward, right, bringing people together with a big idea and moving that idea for a big solution,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said that besides the housing trust, she has ideas for other affordable housing developments, like helping supplement the cost of some students’ rent.
Although the city does not have much say over education as Prince George’s County controls the education system, Kennedy said she wants to create a “unified PTA” where parents can come together as a community, especially as there are only two public district schools in the city.
“[I’m] trying to find a way to bring everybody together so that when people go off to middle schools and high schools in other towns, we’re still sort of unified as one voice to help both parents navigate the school system and also advocate to the county and state level,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy supports giving more funding to police, but also wants to implement crime prevention methods that are not based on law enforcement, like improved lighting at night, more cameras and educating residents on how to be safer.
Attracting small businesses to set up in areas of College Park that have cheaper rent will help develop the economy in College Park, Kennedy said. She plans on using the Purple Line’s projected 2026 opening to further improve economic development.
“The positive is the Purple Line coming through,” Kennedy said. “I’m excited about that sort of leveraging that [using] that to bring other more stuff in.”
Denise Mitchell
Denise Mitchell is the current mayor pro tem of College Park since Wojahn resigned in March. She has lived in College Park since 1975 and was elected to the city council in 2009, serving for six years as mayor pro tem.
In 2015, Mitchell ran for mayor but lost to Wojahn. After one term off due to her campaign for mayor, she returned to the council in 2017.
Mitchell is president of the Maryland Municipal League, is on the National League of Cities, is part of the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and is Vice-Chair for the College Park City-University Partnership Education Committee.
Mitchell has started initiatives such as creating a youth council and the Aging in Place Task Force that aims to hear recommendations about helping senior citizens remain in their homes.
By working with the council, Maryland General Assembly and the University of Maryland, Mitchell plans on creating economic development by providing tax credits for long-term residents.
Featured Image: College Park City Hall on May 3, 2023. Photo by Apurva Mahajan.