by John McNamara - Bowie Blade News
About 50 Bowie residents are unhappy with the decisions of the city's government, and they're planing to do something about it.
A group calling itself "Bowie Citizens for Accountable Government" has been meeting for several weeks to plot strategy. The group wants to collect enough signatures to force a recall election targeting City Council members Diane Polangin (District 2), Jimmy Marcos (at-large) and Mayor G. Frederick Robinson.
Members of the group expects to begin knocking on doors later this month to collect signatures. They also plan to launch a website in the next few weeks.
"The group was not just formed for this recall initiative," said Larry Swank, one of the members of the group. "There's going to be a long-term monitoring of what's going on and we'll have a home base for people to come who have concerns. This is just one activity that this group is going to initiate."
According to the city charter, voters may file a petition with the city clerk for the recall of any council member or mayor with six months or more remaining in his or her term.
The last citywide election was in 2015. For the first time, the mayor and council members were elected to four-year terms, meaning that the next citywide election wouldn't be until 2019.
Bowie council approves Marketplace apartments
A special recall election will be held if 25 percent of the registered voters within the district of the affected council member or within the city for at-large council members (like Marcos) or the mayor have signed a petition within 30 days of its filing.
According to the charter, the special election will take place within 30 days of the certification of the signatures.
"I've been hearing they were going to do this," Robinson said. "I understand people being upset ... Obviously, it stems from the people who disagreed with us on the Marketplace (apartments). I'm confident we made the right decision."
County board OK's preliminary plan for Marketplace apartments
Robinson contends that the city couldn't afford to let the old Marketplace shopping center deteriorate any further because it would have hurt the rest of the Route 450 retail corridor that forms the heart of Bowie. Getting Berman Enterprises, a Rockville-based developer, to revitalize the shopping center also meant allowing apartments on the property — which the zoning of the site allows.
Residents contended that the complex is too large — even scaled down from the initial plan for 300 units to the current 225.
"I can understand they're very upset," Marcos said. "I truly believe we did what was in the best interests of the city. I've done everything I can to help our community — I was born and raised here. I don't feel I've ever done anything to hurt it."
Polangin declined to comment. "They're going to do what they're going to do," she said.
In a 4-3 vote earlier this year, the council approved a 225-unit apartment complex to accompany the new Marketplace shopping center that opened last fall. The vote angered many residents, who cited concerns over traffic, potential crime and the adverse affect an apartment complex's presence could have on the value of nearby homes.
Robinson, Marcos and Polangin all voted in favor of the apartments. So did council member Courtney Glass. The shopping center and the future apartments are in District 2, Polangin's district.
Swank, meanwhile, owns a house on Scarlett Lane and the new complex will sit just beyond his backyard fence.
"That (apartment vote) started a lot of this," Swank said. "There's a swell. A lot of people that have joined this (group) are concerned about other development. We just think they are a little off-base and not responsive to citizens' concerns and that's why this initiative has taken place."
Residents have also been vocal in their objection to the Melford development near Routes 50 & 301, which will add 1,700 more housing units (apartments and townhomes) to the city's residential inventory. Plans for a 400-home development near Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Route 450 also drew heated opposition at public hearings.
Swank says the citizens group has a core of about 50 members and plans to recruit more volunteers in the days ahead. To initiate a recall election for Polangin in District 2, the group will need to collect about 2,700 signatures on their petition – one-fourth of the registered voters in the district.
A petition opposing the Marketplace apartments that residents turned into the city included 900 signatures – about one-third of the total needed to set the wheels in motion for a recall election.
Reaching that benchmark for Robinson and Marcos will be more difficult, Swank acknowledged. Since they both hold citywide offices, the citizens group would need to collect about 11,000 signatures, or one-third of the city's 43,000 registered voters.
He said that the group will find out early on if there's enough support to bring about a recall election involving Robinson and Marcos.
"Getting 12,000 (signatures) is a lot bigger number than the few thousand we need for the district," he said. "We'll see how it goes. We're going to go with what we've got and learn from what we do."
