RIDING HIGH Local high school places in Quidditch World Cup. PAGE 3
Local toy drive has become a tradition by Scarlett Salem
Many people spend the holiday season searching high and low to find the perfect gifts for family and friends. But for some, it’s about being able to afford any gifts at all for their loved ones. Longtime Hyattsville resident Ruth Ann Frazier understands this. That’s why she has carried on the tradition so beloved to her late husband, Sonny, of giving toys to area children at an annual Christmas party. It all started in the Frazier living room in the 1980s, when the couple’s grandchildren were young. After a neighbor handmade a Santa costume for Sonny to wear at their holiday gathering, they began inviting children whose families had fallen on hard times. “Sonny loved Christmas and he loved kids,” recalled Frazier. Having grown up with a sister who had Down syndrome, he soon had the idea to add children with developmental challenges to the guest list as well. “We did this out of the house as a mom-and-pop thing. Sonny
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit # 43 Easton, MD 21601
TOYS continued on page 11
A GUIDE TO LOCAL VOLUNTEERING
FROM LIVING TO GIVING
A look at area groups that could use your help over the holidays — and beyond. PAGE 11
How to care for a living Christmas tree — and where to donate it afterwards. PAGE 4
Hyattsville Life&Times
Vol. 8 No. 12
Hyattsville’s Community Newspaper
Thomas Roszkowski launches his skateboard over an obstacle at the Melrose Skate Park. PHOTO BY WILLIAM JENNE
University Hills faces sidewalk skirmish Some residents oppose city’s plan for roads by Paula Minaert
A project of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the new amenity is part of the 3.4-acre park at Rhode Island Avenue and 41st Place, near the city’s southern border. It’s on the Northwest Branch Trail, overlooking the Anacostia River. The course of undulating concrete and sweeping ramps looks like it would be right at home in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden. But these flourishes — with names like “tailwhip,” “flared pyramid,” “bent penny” and “hubba” — aren’t just for show. The biggest attraction, said Wimer, is likely to be something called a “dragon-wing quarter-pipe,”
The city of Hyattsville puts a lot of work into repairing and improving its streets. But sometimes people don’t want their streets improved in the way the city proposes. A preliminary feasibility report for the University Hills neighborhood has met with vocal opposition and petitions against it from some of its residents. The report contains plans for road repairs, traffic calming and various stormwater management efforts. But the main sticking point for its opponents is sidewalks. There are few sidewalks in University Hills and the proposed design calls for installing them, following the city’s 2007 policy that all streets have them. “The city has policies to do with accessibility and safe routes for kids to school. No child should get hit or a disabled person or a senior who has trouble walking…they have the right to be able to move through our community in a safe manner,” said Mayor Marc Tartaro. But University Hills resident (and treasurer of the neighborhood’s civic association) Jim Menasian said, “I’ve heard this myth, that if they build sidewalks it’ll
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SIDEWALKS continued on page 12
HANG ON...
Here comes Hyattsville’s skate park by Susie Currie
Hyattsville Life & Times PO Box 132 Hyattsville, MD 20781
December 2011
The last of the concrete has dried at Hyattsville’s newest attraction, Melrose Skate Park. And although there is still work to be done before it officially opens — putting in a basketball half-court, installing a bike rack and benches, landscaping — that’s enough for some younger residents. Designed for beginner-to-intermediate skateboarders, the course can also handle “bikes, scooters, just about anything they want to ride,” said construction superintendent Don Wimer of American Ramp Company. The Missouri-based company, which bills itself as “the world’s largest skate park provider,” also installed Mount Rainier’s skate park in 2009.
Included: The December 14, 2011 Issue of The Hyattsville Reporter — See Center Section