SEASONAL SELECTIONS
LIBRARY HOURS SHORTENED
SOLAR PANELS AND ENERGY COSTS
Got relatives coming in for a visit? Our guide to holiday happenings in the area will help keep them entertained. PAGE 3
Budget cuts shorten Prince George's County library hours and residents are unhappy with the change. PAGE 4
Miss Floribunda explains how solar panels can be used to reduce energy costs in homes. PAGE 8
Residents prepare for changes to trash day by Paula Minaert The city’s year-long pilot program to reduce trash pickup service from twice a week to once a week is scheduled to begin Jan. 4. But at press time, city staff was still working on an ordinance that would amend the city code to support the program. Revision efforts have been going on for some time, with both city staff and the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee offering recommendations. The last ordinance draft available to the Life & Times was the ninth version. Committee chair Nina Faye said, “Code Enforcement staff discovered that there was nothing in the code mandating when trash cans could be put out for collection. The committee, tasked with suggesting solutions, proposed that [it be] no earlier than 4 p.m. the afternoon before pickup day. As there are a number of small and oddly shaped lots in town, the committee also proposed that Toters could be stored behind the front property line of a home [instead of behind the home].” But she added that there were many changes made to the health and sanitation portion of the code, and the committee had problems with some of them. Faye sees the most pressing problem as “the definition of hazardous waste and the lack of
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit # 43 Easton, MD 21601
TRASH continued on page 11
Hyattsville Life&Times
Vol. 6 No. 12
Hyattsville’s Community Newspaper
Santa's got a brand new badge by Kyle M. Jones
PHOTOS BY CATIE CURRIE Above: Santa's lap does double duty for Aashinia Dickens and A Lina Roberts-Way during the city's annual Breakfast with Santa, L on Dec. 5. Left: Drake Cartwright takes his turn on Santa's lap. o
Santa breakfast
with
HEARD AROUND HYATTSVILLE HL&T asked, “Will you do your holiday shopping in Hyattsville?"
Hyattsville Life & Times PO Box 132 Hyattsville, MD 20781
December 2009
“Yes. I'm going to try to do at least 80 percent of my shopping here.“ — Erica Riggio
“Some of it. I go to Bowie, Bethesda and here.” — Helen Knowles
“A little bit. We do more online.” — Dan Myers
“Yes, but I go to the stores in Columbia, too.” — Piyali Kundu
The holiday season brings a lot of dreams for children, many featuring toys, presents and Santa Claus. For several local kids, the Maryland Association of School Resource Officers (MASRO) will make a few of those dreams come true through the Santa with a Badge program. On Dec. 19, police officers from Hyattsville and other area forces will take needy children shopping at The Mall at Prince George’s. Each child partners with an officer, who drives them to the mall from the Hyattsville police department with lights flashing and sirens blaring. There, Santa greets each SANTA continued on page 10
Community discusses plans for expanded Hyatt Park by Kyle M. Jones On Dec. 3, Hyattsville residents gathered to discuss possible improvements to Hyatt Park and the newly acquired historic house and grounds adjacent to the park, north of Hamilton Street across from the Safeway supermarket. The property had been home to Jack and Jill Nursery School for 67 years. In 2008, owners Jim and Susan Quisenberry closed the school and put the property on the market. The MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) PARK continued on page 10
Included: The December 9, 2009 Issue of The Hyattsville Reporter — See Center Section