By JALEN WADE
PHOTO CREDIT Jalen Wade
Mayors should put people over party, College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said at an Oct.10 symposium about civility and democracy.
Kabir shared the podium with Galena, Maryland, Mayor John Carroll, who agreed that, “You are running for your backyard. You’re running for issues that are in your community. You’re not a D, you’re not an R, you’re not an anything. You’re a citizen and a resident in your community.”
The panel, moderated by Raymond Rodriguez of the University of Maryland’s (UMD) School of Public Policy, was part of a day-long “Living Democracy” symposium on campus.
“We have community members on both sides, so, like, on the extreme left, extreme right, in the middle, you know, red, blue and purple,” Kabir said on a panel called “Fostering Civility in the Public Square.”
The expectation of local voters, Kabir said, is that mayors and other government officials will serve them on local issues, regardless of party affiliation.
“I’m not really serving any specific group or any political party in the nation, and rather, I do care about the community. I think that’s the message I get from the community, which is good to hear sometime,” Kabir said.
“You’re not doing it to have the power to be powerful, to be a king, right?” Kabir said. “I mean, you are doing it to serve the people. You are no one but the public servant.”
The key to earning the trust of the community, Kabir said, is engaging residents.
“The major thing I think we should be doing in … having more transparency to the community is to have more engagement … in a small city like us, even though we are not very small,” Kabir said.
Kabir started a daily blog in 2009 before he became a member of the College Park City Council in 2011 and mayor in 2023.
“That actually helped me in connecting with the residents and being more transparent about the city government,” Kabir said. “You don’t see any national politics or even county politics in that, and that’s the way, I think, I have earned the trust of the community.”
Carroll said social media helps Galena officials stay in touch with the community. The mayor also said he engages with residents daily when he goes to a restaurant, stops at a gas station or shops at the grocery store.
“We live in that community as well,” Carroll said. “We pay those fees just the same. We pay the taxes just the same, but you’ve got to walk the walk if you’re going to talk the talk. So that’s the big thing for me.”
Kabir, who grew up in Bangladesh, pointed to the importance of communicating with all residents, even if they do not speak English.
“I know the pain and some of the communication gap that the immigrant community, especially the Hispanic community … they are facing,” Kabir said. “Oftentimes, I have seen that there’s a tension between long-time residents and this immigrant community.”
The mayor said the city has hired bilingual staff members, is translating social media posts into Spanish and hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in September.
“So there are a couple of things … just to close the gap and not to make them feel that they are left alone,” Kabir said. “They’re part of our community, and they’re a very important part of the community.”
Carroll agreed, saying he has met with mayors and city councils all over the state and the same question comes up each time: “How do we get these folks, these people, to engage with us?”
