Greenbelt, Maryland: Difference between revisions
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==Government== |
==Government== |
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In June 2008, the [[ |
In June 2008, the [[The Gazette (Maryland)|Gazette newspaper of Maryland]] reported that the [[United States Department of Justice]] opened an investigation into the possibility that Greenbelt’s [[at-large]] election system violates [[Voting_Rights_Act#Section_2|section 2]] of the [[Voting Rights Act]] by effectively blocking minority representation on the [[city council]]. Despite a racially diverse population, no minorities have been elected to the Greenbelt city council in more than 70 years, according to an [[ACLU]] spokesperson quoted in the article. Greenbelt is the only one of the five largest cities in Prince George's County that selects council members exclusively through at-large elections.<ref>{{Citation |
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Revision as of 11:58, 23 July 2008
Greenbelt, Maryland | |
|---|---|
 Roosevelt Center typifies the Art Deco style used during the original construction of Greenbelt. | |
 Seal | |
 Location in Maryland | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maryland |
| County | Prince George's |
| Incorporated | 1937 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Judith F. Davis (D) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6.0 sq mi (15.6 km2) |
| • Land | 6.0 sq mi (15.5 km2) |
| • Water | 0.04 sq mi (0.1 km2) 0.50% |
| Elevation | 157 ft (48 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 21,456 |
| • Density | 3,586.6/sq mi (1,385.3/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (Eastern) |
| ZIP codes | 20768, 20770, 20771 |
| Area code(s) | 301 and 240 |
| FIPS code | 24-34775 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0597493 |
| Website | www.greenbeltmd.gov |
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Contained within today's City of Greenbelt is the historic, planned community now known locally as "Old Greenbelt" and designated as the Greenbelt Historic District. Greenbelt's population was 21,456 at the 2000 census.
History
Old Greenbelt was settled in 1937 as a public cooperative community (one of many public works projects referred to by Woody Guthrie as "an experiment in American socialism"[1]) in the New Deal Era. The concept was at the same time both eminently practical and idealistically utopian: the federal government would foster an "ideal" self-sufficient cooperative community that would also ease the pressing housing shortage near the nation's capital. Construction of the new town would also create jobs and thus help stimulate the national economic recovery following the Great Depression.
Greenbelt, which provided affordable housing for federal government workers, was one of three "green" towns planned in 1935 by Rexford Guy Tugwell, head of the United States Resettlement Administration, under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. (The two other green towns are Greendale, Wisconsin (near Milwaukee) and Greenhills, Ohio (near Cincinnati). A fourth green town, Roosevelt, New Jersey (originally called Homestead), was planned but was not fully developed on the same large scale as Greenbelt. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, helped Tugwell lay out the town on a site that had formerly consisted largely of tobacco fields. Eleanor Roosevelt also was heavily involved in the first cooperative community designed by the federal government in the New Deal Era, Arthurdale, West Virginia, which sought to better the lives of impoverished laborers by enabling them to create a self-sufficient, and relatively prosperous, cooperative community. Cooperatives in Greenbelt include the Greenbelt News Review, Greenbelt Consumers Coop grocery store, the New Deal Cafe, and the cooperative forming the downtown core of original housing, Greenbelt Homes Incorporated (GHI).[2]
The architectural planning of Greenbelt was innovative, but no less so than the social engineering involved in this federal government project.
Bordering Areas
Geography and Highlights
Greenbelt is located at 39°0′2″N 76°53′18″W / 39.00056°N 76.88833°WInvalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (39.000460, -76.888325)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.0 square miles (15.6 km²), of which, 6.0 square miles (15.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.50%) is water.
Greenbelt's ZIP codes are 20768, 20770, and 20771.
Greenbelt Road is a portion of State Highway 193, a highway connecting several suburban towns, with links to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and to the nation's capital.
The Goddard Space Flight Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is located there, as is Greenbelt Park.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 21,456 people, 9,368 households, and 4,965 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,586.6 people per square mile (1,385.3/km²). There were 10,180 housing units at an average density of 1,701.7/sq mi (657.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 39.74% White, 41.35% African American, 0.23% Native American, 12.05% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 3.11% from other races, and 3.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.45% of the population.
There were 9,368 households out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.1% were married couples living together, 15.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.0% were non-families. 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.9% under the age of 18, 12.5% from 18 to 24, 39.1% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,328, and the median income for a family was $55,671. Males had a median income of $39,133 versus $35,885 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,236. About 6.0% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.7% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
Government
In June 2008, the Gazette newspaper of Maryland reported that the United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into the possibility that Greenbelt’s at-large election system violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by effectively blocking minority representation on the city council. Despite a racially diverse population, no minorities have been elected to the Greenbelt city council in more than 70 years, according to an ACLU spokesperson quoted in the article. Greenbelt is the only one of the five largest cities in Prince George's County that selects council members exclusively through at-large elections.[3]
Education
Greenbelt is served by Prince George's County Public Schools.
The city is served by four elementary schools:
- Greenbelt Elementary School (Greenbelt)
- Magnolia Elementary School (unincorporated Prince George's County, Lanham address)
- Springhill Lake Elementary School (Greenbelt) and
- Saint Hugh's Parochial School
All of Greenbelt is served by Greenbelt Middle School and Eleanor Roosevelt High School, a highly-rated magnet school; both schools are in the city.
Transportation
Two major highways pass through and have interchanges in Greenbelt: I-95 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. In addition, Greenbelt is served by the Greenbelt Metro Station, which is the northern terminus of the Green Line of the Washington Metro system and along the Camden line of the MARC Train, using the original Baltimore and Ohio Railroad track route between Washington and Baltimore.
Footnotes
- ^ Hampton, Wayne. Guerilla Minstrels: John Lennon, Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan (Knoxville, 1986), 131.
- ^ Halpern, Sue (May/June 2002), "New Deal City", Mother Jones, retrieved 2007-07-07
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ McGill, Natalie (June 5, 2008), "Probe of election system begins", Maryland Gazette, retrieved 2008-07-17
See also
Further reading
- Cathy D. Knepper (2001). Greenbelt, Maryland: A Living Legacy of the New Deal (Creating the North American Landscape). The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6490-9.
- Mary Lou Williamson (editor) (1987). Greenbelt: History of a New Town, 1937-1987. The Donning Company. ISBN 0-89865-607-9.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help)
External links
- Greenbelt city government website
- Greenbelt community website
- Greenbelt Arts Center
- Greenbelt Homes Incorporated cooperative
- Greenbelt Museum
- Virtual Greenbelt at the University of Maryland, College Park
- Historic Greenbelt buildings from the New Deal
- Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department
