Hospital problems plagued Prince George’s County in 2007

Ongoing health care debate loomed as police department, development continued to grow

Politically, the top order of business in 2007 was the financially troubled Prince George’s hospital system, which, as in past years, appeared to repeatedly come to the brink of closing.

State officials are hoping to solve the local health care crisis for good in the next legislative session this January, but the issue has spun on the political treadmill for the past 12 months.

The General Assembly addressed the issue in a special session late last year and approved spending $50 million to stabilize the troubled county health system as long as the County Council, County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and the state come to an agreement on a long-term solution.

The hospital system, which serves 180,000 patients annually, has suffered financially because of a large number of uninsured patients. The system includes three major medical centers in Bowie, Laurel and Cheverly and is managed by Dimensions Healthcare Corp.

Though the county has been in discussions with the state for a deal to have Maryland take over the system, council members rejected an offer last spring over concerns about cost. The county then came in to offer a 15-month financial pledge to keep the hospital from closing.

But the problems for Dimensions were far from over. Just two months into the commitment, Johnson began withholding the money when Dimensions board members refused his demands to resign. The decision prompted a series of court actions and last ditch cost-cutting moves as Dimensions tried to recover the money and stay open. When a new chairman was elected to lead Dimensions, the feud was put to rest.

And then there was Keith Washington. The former police officer and deputy director of Prince George’s homeland security has long been a controversial figure. But in January, Washington shocked the county when he shot two furniture deliverymen, one fatally, in his Accokeek home.

Washington claimed self-defense throughout the six-month investigation and was eventually indicted on 12 counts, including second-degree murder, in late July. By that time, Washington had already been charged with another offense for allegedly pointing a gun at a real estate appraiser who came to his door in April. His murder trial is currently set for February 2008.

County officials also came under fire this year for the way the National Harbor grant fund was administered. The money, donated by the developer of the 300-acre National Harbor project in Oxon Hill, was supposed to go to community groups, but was criticized for being disorganized and politically motivated.

The county, responding to the criticism, swiftly transferred control of the fund from a seven-member committee of residents to the Prince George’s Community Foundation, which revamped the program.

Amid the overhaul, State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh apparently pushed forward with an investigation into the program under the seven-member committee.

The county homicide rate surpassed the 134 killings in 2006 in the final weeks of December, police officials said, but crime fell in almost every other category in 2007. Officials also made new commitments to work with Washington police on shared cross-border crime issues like gun trafficking.

The county’s police department staffing topped 1,500 in August, marking a historic benchmark in the county’s nationwide recruiting push. Plus the county cut the ribbon on its new public safety training building in Lanham in July, ending months of shuttling recruits between buildings that were either too small or riddled with health hazards.

On the development front, construction at National Harbor made strides in 2007 and is expected to open by April. The landmark is already billed as the new jewel of the Washington region, designed to attract convention goers and tourists from around the country to Prince George’s.

And construction on the Woodmore Towne Centre, which will be anchored by the upscale grocery store Wegmans, was approved to start early this spring despite an appeal to the project filed by a union representative over last summer. The appeal was shot down in September, and the project is set to open in 2009.

Meanwhile, commercial development continues at the county’s Metro stations and throughout Prince George’s, even as residents struggle through a housing market slump that seems to be as protracted and intense as the real estate boom that preceded it.

At times, county houses were sitting on the market in 2007 four times longer than they were in 2005.

Some experts said home sales should start to pick up again in spring 2008, but warn that foreclosures from the sub-prime market crash will likely continue through 2010.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.