The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Follow the money

November 12, 2021 at 4:36 p.m. EST
University of Maryland students march on campus in College Park, Md., on Oct. 15 to protest a planned development that will bring affordable graduate student housing to campus but destroy about a thousand trees.
University of Maryland students march on campus in College Park, Md., on Oct. 15 to protest a planned development that will bring affordable graduate student housing to campus but destroy about a thousand trees. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

The Nov. 7 Local Opinions essay by University of Maryland at College Park professors, “U-Md. should preserve its urban forest,” did not include the fact that the university has acres of impermeable parking lots that could be condensed to a garage to accommodate housing, as well as large areas of useless grass abutting Route 1, where housing would conform with buildings in both directions. 

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The need for more housing is perplexing, though, considering the hundreds of new and under-construction condominiums and townhouses in College Park and Riverdale. Perhaps the answer would be revealed by following the money — clearly not the environment. 

Jayson Amster, University Park

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