Breaking News

At-Large Council Members act to strip new Council Majority of zoning powers 

Council members Calvin Hawkins & Mel Franklin are at it again, seeking to protect their own political power and developers interests over the community. This past Tuesday, Council Chair Hawkins and Council Member Franklin presented two bills they hope will prevent the incoming Council Majority from enacting positive, community-centered zoning legislation or hearing most zoning cases. 

Their bill, CB-91-2022 will amend the new Zoning Ordinance rules for enacting developer friendly amendments to the Zoning Ordinance so as to require a Supermajority vote (8 votes) instead of the longstanding simple majority (6 votes). Hawkins and Franklin, in collaboration with other Council Members, have adopted countless friendly amendments to the Zoning Ordinance based on a simple majority vote. Now, they want to change the rules for an incoming Council Majority that they know will be accountable to the community instead of developers. 

CB-92-2022 will amend the new Zoning Ordinance to prohibit the County Council from choosing to hear zoning and site plan cases from the Planning Board and Zoning Hearing Examiner. For decades, zoning hearings have been a vehicle for the community to express their concerns. If enacted, there will be no hearings for the community, and only appeals will come before the council in limited circumstances. Developers have long wanted to eliminate public hearings to avoid accountability.

In another anti-democratic move regularly used by Hawkins and Franklin, CB-91-2022 & CB-92-2022 are being rushed through the legislative process to avoid public awareness and scrutiny. ALL Zoning Bills must be "Introduced" by Tuesday, September 20th. These bills were presented Tuesday and have to be heard by the "PHED Committee", next week. The September 15th Committee meeting was announced 5 minutes before COB on Friday last, giving only 7 days notice for major land use policy changes that will dramatically harm citizen rights. This committee's members include current Council Members Mel Franklin, Calvin Hawkins, Todd Turner, Sydney Harrison. Many of this group of Council Members have a track record of trying to enact legislation that favors special interests groups over community stakeholders, always without community input, sometimes illegally as recent history has shown. The lack of notice undermines the community’s ability to plan to speak out against these bills.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO TAKE ACTION: 

Progressive Maryland & PG Changemakers are working together to get the word out to the community so that we can stand up to these members, and let them know we oppose Council Bills 91 & 92 that seek to, once again, silence the voice and usurp the will of the voters by using our system of democracy to cater to developers and their own political power instead of their constituents.  

• Sign up to testify or send comment 

• Sign the petition

• Send an email to our County Council members

Make sure your voice is heard!  Add your voice by signing the petition, send an email to your council members, and/or SIGN UP TO TESTIFY IN PERSON OR SEND IN COMMENT IN OPPOSITION OF CB-91 & CB-92 BY 3 P.M. EDT TOMORROW, SEPTEMBER 14TH AT 3 P.M. Share these actions with friends and through your networks and ask them to pass them along. If the fight against illegal redistricting taught us anything, it is that when enough of us stand up together in solidarity and demand that our elected representatives do what's in the best interest of the people of this County, we WIN!

In Solidarity, 

The Progressive Maryland & PG Changemakers Teams

“The current council is making sly legislative moves, planning on the fact that people are not paying attention,” said Devane Wright of Progressive Maryland.

Battle for the Soul of Prince George’s County: Council Elections

We WON the Battle for the Soul of Prince George’s County: Council Elections, but as you can see by the newest breaking news on zoning issues in the County, there is still much work to be done. Congrats to incoming County Council Members Eric Olson (District 3), Wala Blegay (District 6), Krystal Oriadha (District 7), and Edward Burroughs III (District 8) and their teams. 

A special thanks goes out to our members, allied orgs, and countless concerned citizens across our great County for getting involved and sharing in the work of electing a Council that is accountable to The People! We are much more powerful than special political and big money interests when we work together! Check out this Washington Post article by Daniel Wu that highlights our endorsed-candidate's victories!

Progressive Prince George’s: Official Chapter Reboot

We’re re-organizing the official chapter of Progressive Maryland in Prince George’s County! There are countless allied orgs and individuals all over the County doing work in conjunction with Progressive Maryland to move the place we call home toward a better, more equitable place to live, work and go to school. Some current issues/areas of work include but are not limited to:

• Returning Citizens 
• Police Accountability Board  
• Education/Community Schools
• Legislative/Co-governing 

We’ll be planning to call the Chapter back together soon after the Gubernatorial Election so stay tuned and sign up to receive our newsletter so you don’t miss out! We will be calling a general meeting, pointing people toward their area of interest, and getting some organizer trainings on the calendar soon so be on the lookout for future communications.

Interested in doing some local work with us? Have some ideas or a project you are working on that needs power-building behind it? Please complete and submit the Chapter Member Interest Form.