Thank you to the many of you who reached out to your city council representatives last month and advocated for Hyattsville to hold our funding steady this year, rather than cut it 30% as originally proposed. Our city council was unanimous in its support for us at an April 21 council meeting last month,
thanks to your strong advocacy.
Saturday, May 3, was World Free Press Day, established by the United Nations over 30 years ago to remind us that a free press is essential to a functioning and ethical society and is a critical force for the public good. That focus feels more
essential than ever in our area as attacks against the press increase and funding for public media is threatened.
Contracts in cities we serve, as well as a county grant we receive to deliver to some unincorporated areas, have been under threat this
Hyattsville Life & Times is published monthly by Streetcar Suburbs Publishing Inc., a 501(c) (3) nonprofit corporation. Editors welcome reader input, tips, articles, letters, opinion pieces and photographs, which may be submitted using the
Business Manager Catie Currie catie@streetcarsuburbs.news
Advertising Sales Manager Miranda Goodson
Executive Director Kit Slack
Board of Directors
President: Marta McLellan Ross
Vice President & General Counsel: Michael Walls
Treasurer: Joe Murchison
Secretary: Melanie Dzwonchyk Bette Dickerson, Nora Eidelman, Joseph Gigliotti, Maxine Gross, Merrill Hartson, T. Carter Ross, Stephanie Stullich Ex Officios: Katie V. Jones, Griffin Limerick, Sharon O’Malley, Kit Slack
spring, as budgets tighten in the new political environment. We are asking you to stand up for a free press and hyperlocal news today.
Please become a monthly sustaining donor to our local news organization, so we can withstand budget constraints that threaten our contracts with local governments, and remain accountable to you for the news that connects you with your neighbors and keeps
BRIEFS
metal worker who lives in Prince George’s County, on March 12, and transferred him to a prison in El Salvador on March 15. He remains imprisoned in El Salvador. Abrego Garcia has never been charged with or convicted of any crime, though he was denied bond in an immigration hearing, in part because a Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) officer said Abrego Garcia was a gang member. That officer, Ivan Mendez, was suspended for an unrelated issue shortly after completing a gang field interview sheet accusing Abrego Garcia of MS-13 membership. Mendez later pled guilty to trading confidential information to a sex worker in exchange for sex acts.
On April 10, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court said the Trump administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. The Trump administration initially conceded in court filings that Abrego Garcia had been deported in error in violation of a 2019 judge’s order, which said he could not be deported to El Salvador because of risk to his life there.
At the April 21 city council meeting, Councilmember Joanne Waszczak (Ward 1) asked whether the city kept gang field interview sheets. HPD Chief Jarod Towers said the HPD does not use or have access to the PGPD’s gang interview sheets or related database. He said the HPD does conduct field interviews and keeps records of them. Waszczak said she had worked in gang prevention in the past, and cautioned against making records of unverified claims about gang membership.
you informed about local government.
Your monthly gift helps keep hyperlocal news coming to every home in Hyattsville. If 200 new donors start giving $20 a month in May, we will be insulated against potential changes in city funding, and able to pay reporters for the core local coverage you rely on.
Give today at StreetcarSuburbs.News/donate.
Kit Slack is the executive director of Streetcar Suburbs Publishing, which puts out the Life & Times
SNOW CRANE COMING TO ARTS DISTRICT
Local chef Takeshi Nishiwaka has announced that his Japanese-inspired ice cream shop, Snow Crane, will be coming to Hyattsville Canvas Apartments in the Arts District.
The build-out for Snow Crane’s 1,305-square-foot space, at 53349 Baltimore Avenue, will begin in summer 2025, according to a company press release, and the shop’s first brick-and-mortar location will open later this year.
Nishiwaka grew up in Japan and has worked as a chef in DMV area restaurants for nearly two decades, including the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner and Lincoln in Logan Circle. According to the press release, Snow Crane’s shop will offer “a minimalist, high-quality menu of rotating hyper-seasonal Japanese ice cream flavors, paired with a curated selection of teas.”
Snow Crane’s ice cream has been featured at the Gateway Farmers Market and at private and pop-up events.
At an April 28 promotional event, Nishiwaka said, “Today isn’t just about signing a lease [at Canvas]. It’s about building something meaningful with our community — from craftsmanship to culture, one scoop at a time.”
Canvas (formerly Armory Apartments) is a mixed-use development project with 285 rental apartments along with 30,000 square feet of retail space and a 680-car garage, according to the developer Urban Investment Partner’s website. It’s now also an official home of the Japanese ramen chain Akira Ramen & Izakaya, which held a soft opening in April.
CORRECTION
Our April editorial stated that the city had spent $80,000 on a new police drone. The expense was proposed but not approved, and has since been removed from budget planning documents.
‘Open the doors’: How the Route 1 Corridor found its spark
By JADE TRAN
Before the vivacious murals and the cozy clutter of Busboys and Poets, or even a Yes! Organic Market, Route 1 in Hyattsville wasn’t known for much at the turn of the century. Think flickering neon signs and sprawling parking lots with nowhere to go.
Enter Mike Franklin, a toy seller, and Peter A. Shapiro, a political organizer who cut his teeth in labor organizing and the Rainbow Coalition — two unlikely characters in what became a decades-long transformation of one of Prince George’s County’s most iconic, and arguably artsiest, corridors.
Mike Franklin didn’t move to Hyattsville in 1988 with grandiose plans to become a neighborhood business owner. He was just tired of commuting in heavy traffic to sell his wares. He worked in the toy business, had a family, and stumbled upon a The Washington Post listing in 1991 for an old hardware
store on Route 1. He bought it for $150,000, building and contents included, and started selling general store items, as well as his collection of toys.
Meanwhile, in Brentwood, Shapiro, a self-proclaimed “lefty community-organizer type” who served on the Brentwood Town Council from 1993 to 1995 and later on the Prince George’s County Council from 1998 to 2004, was eyeing the same overlooked stretch of road with bigger plans. After moving to the area only a year after Franklin, he quickly dove headfirst into the rigor of local planning efforts, looking to use art and culture as a machine for revitalization. One of his biggest pushes — spearheading the Gateway Arts District, which, according to Hyattsville Aging in Place (HAP) treasurer Lisa Walker, helped funnel in $500 million in new investments along Route 1.
“There was pretty much nothing here,” Franklin said during April’s Corridor Conversations
virtual talk, sponsored by a coalition of local neighborhood “villages,” including HAP, Helping Hands University Park, Neighbors Helping Neighbors College Park, and Explorations on Aging.
Walker said the title of the session, “There at the Beginning,” applied to both Franklin and Shapiro, who were present at the start of Route 1’s modern revival, during the era of Tesst Electronics, De’s Deli and rows of used car dealerships and repair shops.
In 1992, the Franklins opened a restaurant with vintage tables, hung artwork and the lingering scent of old hardware supplies left over from Hyattsville Hardware Store. Oh, and they named it Franklins.
At a time when Route 1’s Hyattsville end was still more of a punchline than a trendy destination, Shapiro and Franklin began working in tandem, one through planning policy, the other through beer and expansion. Through a chance meet-
ing in the early ‘90s, Shapiro sat next to a “hippy guy” in a citizens’ advisory committee meeting for Planning Area 68, he said, and the pair sparked a friendship and allyship that’s lasted around 30 years.
“Almost right away, Mike is saying, ‘Yeah, I got this idea for a little restaurant,’” Shapiro said. “I had the absolute pleasure of sort of living vicariously through him as he went through this whole joy and disaster of a process that’s brought it up to where it is now.”
Years before businesses like Busboys and Poets and Yes! Organic sprouted, local leaders from nearby areas gathered to figure out how to brand and revive the growing corridor. At one meeting, someone tossed out an idea that stuck: With all the artists around, why not just call it an arts district?
Organizers from Brentwood, North Brentwood and Mount Rainier, a tri-town coalition led by former Mount Rainier Mayor Fred Sissine, formed the Mount Rainier Community Development Corporation, focused on neighborhood revitalization. The group sought to involve someone from the outskirts of the city and asked Shapiro to help, eventually turning their vision, in 2001, into what is now
known as the Gateway Arts District. According to Shapiro, it was no small feat in a region long divided by segregation history and carved-out racial lines.
As their official “coming-out party,” the tri-town coalition hosted an Arts District Summit in 1998 or 1999, Shapiro said, bringing in national players like nonprofit real estate developer Artspace. Soon, the up-andcoming district was buzzing with live-workspaces for artists — 47 units, across the traffic circle from what’s now Pennyroyal Station in Mount Rainier. Franklin took the gamble too, opening a brewery inside his restaurant with a third-position $500,000 loan.
But success has a cost, Franklin reminded the Corridor Conversations attendees. With real estate now far removed from the ‘90s, Shapiro said it’s harder to build anything, and harder still for artists to afford to live in Hyattsville.
“Prices [on the corridor] will have priced out the kind of funkiness that we all kind of settled here for in the first place,” Franklin said. “And that’s kind of like a natural evolution, it’s kind of hard to stop.”
Twenty years later, this Hyattsville corridor is barely recSEE HISTORY ON 8
It's slime time for Maryland
By RICK BORCHELT
Readers of a certain age will likely remember Steve McQueen’s first starring role in “The Blob” as a teen crusader trying to warn oblivious villagers in bucolic Phoenixville, Pa., of impending danger from space. The 1958 movie’s main character isn’t McQueen, though — it’s a supersized intruder that hitched a ride on a meteorite that oozes across Phoenixville and absorbs people, growing larger as it does. Luckily, Steve and his friends find the alien’s Achilles’ heel (if said blob actually had a heel) — freezing temperatures — and Earth gets a reprieve from being subsumed by the ever-growing blob by shipping the amorphous menace to an Arctic ice field.
Working in my garden last week brought “The Blob” to mind: A neon-yellow blob of my own had sprung up overnight on the wood chip pile after our last rain. Every time I turned my back, it seemed to grow larger, ending up about a foot long and equally wide by the next day. A few days later, the slimy yellow mess had turned hard and cracked open to expose a black mass inside.
Similar yellow, tan or cream blobs are turning up in gardens, lawns and decaying mulch across the region as the weather turns warm. But we can give a more specific name to this alienlooking creature than simply the blob — it’s the dog vomit slime mold, Fuligo septica
Dog vomit slime mold is just one of about 60 slime mold spe-
It’s time to
cies found in Maryland, all members of the puzzling taxonomic class Myxgrastia (sometimes also called Myxomycetes). Red raspberry slime (Tubifera ferruginosa), chocolate tubes slime (Stemonitis splendens), wolf’s milk (Lygogala epidendrum) and tapioca slime (Brefeldia maxima) are some of the fanciful names for other slime molds of Maryland.
Most slime molds are microscopic, but some — the plasmodia slime molds, including dog vomit slime mold — are created when swarming masses of individual cells give up their solo lives for communal life. They coalesce to form one big bag of cytoplasm, which is essentially a single, giant cell. That’s the faux dog vomit I saw creeping over the compost.
When conditions turn unfavorable for this gelatinous mass, the slime mold forms tiny, drought-resistant spore capsules that can survive freezing, drying and other environmental indignities. One of the world’s thousand or so species of slime mold survives easily in the Sonoran Desert; others inhabit the high Arctic and the Antarctic (so much for the final solution for “The Blob”!).
Slime molds start their lives as free-living amoebae, single-celled organisms that can change shape and move across their microscopic landscapes by
extending and retracting “feet” formed by the flexible cell wall. In response to certain chemical signals, these amoebae come together in a slime mold version of a rave concert to fuse into a gooey sac containing thousands of individual cell nuclei — a mass that behaves like a single organism. This is the life stage that gives the group its common name of slime mold; they are slimy and sticky to the touch.
In this stage, the slime crawls over its habitat, engulfing and devouring microorganisms like bacteria and yeast, algae and other organic matter in its path. The slime mold flows around potential food, then dissolves the cell wall around its intended din-
THE CITY OF HYATTSVILLE
The Hyattsville Reporter
Election Day is May 13!
Election Day is May 13! This is your opportunity to make your voice heard and help decide who will represent you and your neighbors on the City Council. If you’ve lived in Hyattsville for at least 30 days and are 16 or older, be sure to cast your vote by 8 p.m. on Election Day!
In-person voting will take place at the City Building, 4310 Gallatin Street, from 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Election Day. Vote-by-mail ballots must be submitted to a City election drop box by 8 p.m. Drop box locations:
• Hyattsville City Building, 4310 Gallatin Street
• Hyattsville Branch Library, 6530 Adelphi Road
• Heurich Park, 2900 Nicholson Street
Same-day voter registration, accessible polling stations, and Spanish-language assistance will be available for all voters. Learn more: hyattsville.org/vote.
City ballots can only be deposited in City drop boxes, NOT County ones, and vice versa. City ballots feature the official City seal and a Bobbi the Ballot sticker. Spot the differences below!
¡El Día de las Elecciones es el 13 de mayo!
¡El día de las elecciones es el 13 de mayo! Esta es tu oportunidad para hacer escuchar tu voz y ayudar a decidir quién te representará a ti y a tus vecinos en el Concejo Municipal ¡Si has vivido en Hyattsville durante al menos 30 días y tienes 16 años o más, emitir su voto antes de las 8 p.m. el día de la elección!
La votación en persona se llevará a cabo en el Edificio Municipal, 4310 Gallatin Street, de 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. en el Día de las Elecciones. Las boletas por correo deben ser depositadas en una caja de votación de la ciudad antes de las 8 p.m.
Ubicaciones de las cajas de votación:
• Edificio Municipal de Hyattsville, 4310 Gallatin Street
• Biblioteca Sucursal de Hyattsville, 6530 Adelphi Road
• Parque Heurich, 2900 Nicholson Street
Se ofrecerá registro de votantes el mismo día, estaciones de votación accesibles y asistencia en español para todos los votantes. Más información: hyattsville.org/vote.
Las boletas municipales solo se pueden depositar en los buzones municipales, NO en las del condado, y viceversa. Las boletas de la Ciudad tienen el sello oficial de Hyattsville y una calcomanía de Bobbi la Boleta. ¡Mira abajo para ver las diferencias!
Hyattsville turned 139! We celebrated with music, food, games & the epic raising of the new City flag! | ¡Hyattsville cumplió 139 años! Lo celebramos con música, comida, juegos ¡y el izado de la nueva bandera de la Ciudad!
CALENDAR | CALENDARIO
FREE ZUMBA CLASSES
Mondays & Wednesdays, 45 PM at the City Building!
SEATED EXERCISES
Older adults can join on Wednesdays, 10 - 11 AM. at the City Building. Register: 301-985-5000 or seniors@ hyattsville.org.
SENIORS ON THE GO
Older adults are invited on special trips! Join us May 8 for a Brookside Garden tour and May 22 for a cookout at Driskell Park. Register at hyattsville.org/seniors or call (301) 985-5000.
NIGHT OWLS
Drop off your little one(s) in grades K-5 at the Driskell Park Rec Center from 6 - 9 PM on May 9! Kids participate in fun activities while you get a night out! hyattsville.org/nightowls.
OPEN STUDIOS TOUR
Explore local art at the 2025 Gateway Open Studios Tour on Saturday, May 10, from Noon–5 PM.! Visit artists’ studios in Hyattsville, Brentwood, and more. Free, self-guided tour. Details: gatewaycdc.org/ost2025.
STANFORD STREET
COMMUNITY MEETING
Join DPW on May 14 at 6 PM near Stanford & Adelphi to discuss traffic concerns and share ideas for improving safety. hyattsville.org/calendar.
BIKE TO WORK DAY
Stop by Driskell Park on May 15 from 6:30–8:30 AM for refreshments, bike support, and a visit from Hyattsville Police. hyattsville.org/calendar.
BOARD GAMES WITH LADIES & GENTS
Join us for Board Games with Ladies & Gents on May 15, 10–11:30 AM! Hyattsville residents can request a ride. Register at hyattsville.org/ seniors or call (301) 985-5000.
NARCAN TRAININGS
Learn to recognize an opioid overdose and safely administer NARCAN. Sessions are offered in English at the City Building, 4310 Gallatin St., & Spanish at St Matthew’s Church, 5901 36th Ave on May 15 at 6 PM. (7 PM for Spanish). An English sesssion is available on May 16 at 10AM. Details: hyattsville.org/ calendar.
CARE PARTNER SUPPORT GROUP
Join the City’s care partner support group on May 16 & 30, 9 - 10:30 AM at the City Building. Register: hyattsville. org/calendar.
EARLY DISMISSAL CAMP
K–5 students can join Day Camp at Driskell Park on May 16, 10:30AM–5:30PM, after PGCPS early dismissal. Register: hyattsville.org/ minicamp.
INVASIVE REMOVAL
Help remove invasive plants from 38th Ave Park from 10 AM - 2 PM on May 17! RVSP to environment@hyattsville.org.
HISTORIC HOUSE TOUR
Explore Hyattsville’s historic homes on the HPA House Tour, May 18 from 1–5 p.m.! Tickets available at Franklin’s, Wills Decorating, or the City Building day-of. Details: hpahyattsville.org.
LUNCH & LEARN: HORTICULTURE
Hyattsville seniors are invited to a free horticulture workshop on May 19, 11 AM - 1 PM, at 4310 Gallatin St. Enjoy lunch and learn about local gardening! Register at hyattsville.org/seniors or call (301) 985-5000. Transportation available.
FREE PRODUCE
A free produce distribution is taking place on May 20, First United Methodist Church, 6201 Belcrest Rd. starting at noon.
DEPT. PUBLIC WORKS OPEN HOUSE
Join us for a DPW Open House on May 22, from 12–3 PM at 4637 Arundel Pl! All are welcome! Enjoy games, explore our trucks, grab light refreshments, and celebrate Public Works Week with us! hyattsville.org/calendar.
CERT MEETING
Learn how to support emergency responders during disasters at the Gateway District CERT training on May 21, 6:30–8:30 PM, at the City Building. All are welcome! hyattsville.org/cert.
INTERFAITH
COMMUNITY
CONVERSATION
Participate in an Interfaith Community Cultural Conversation on May 29, from 6:30–8:30 PM at the City Building. hyattsville.org/ calendar.
DIAPER DISTRIBUTION
FREE diaper distribution on May 30 at the City Building at 9:30 - 11 AM. Proof of the child’s date of birth is required. hyattsville.org/calendar.
UNIVERSITY PARK MEADOW DAY
Celebrate Meadow Day on May 31, 9–11 AM (rain date June 1), at the UP Wildflower Meadow on Adelphi Rd! Enjoy the 10 AM Pollinator Parade, hands-on activities, and a native plant giveaway. RSVP: hyattsville.org/calendar.
CLASES GRATUITAS DE ZUMBA
Lunes y miércoles, 4 - 5 PM en el Edificio Municipal!
EJERCICIOS SENTADOS
Los adultos mayores pueden unirse los miércoles, 10 - 11 AM. en el Edificio Municipal. Inscríbase: 301-985-5000 o seniors@hyattsville.org.
PASEOS PARA
ADULTOS MAYORES
¡Adultos mayores están invitados a paseos especiales! Únase el 8 de mayo para visitar el Jardín Brookside y el 22 de mayo para una comida al aire libre en el Parque Driskell. Regístrese en hyattsville.org/seniors o llame al (301) 985-5000.
BÚHOS NOCTURNOS
¡Deje a su(s) pequeño(s) en los grados K-5 en el Driskell Park Rec Center de 6 - 9 PM el 9 de mayo! Los niños participarán en actividades mientras tienes una noche libre. hyattsville.org/nightowls.
TOUR DE ESTUDIOS ABIERTOS
¡Explora el arte local en el Tour de Estudios Abiertos 2025 Gateway el 10 de mayo desde el mediodía - 5 PM! Visita los estudios de artistas de Hyattsville y otros lugares. Más información: gatewaycdc.org/ ost2025.
REUNIÓN: STANFORD
STREET
Únase al Dept. de Obras
Públicas el 14 de mayo a las 6 PM cerca de Stanford & Adelphi para discutir las preocupaciones del tráfico y compartir ideas para mejorar hyattsville.org/calendar.
DÍA DE IR EN BICICLETA AL TRABAJO
Pásate por Driskell Park el 15 de mayo de 6:30 - 8:30 AM. Tome un refrigerio, apoye a los ciclistas y salude a la Policía de Hyattsville. hyattsville.org/calendar.
JUEGOS DE MESA CON DAMAS Y CABALLEROS
¡Únase a nosotros para los Juegos de Mesa con Damas y Caballeros el 15 de mayo de 10 - 11:30 AM! Inscríbase: hyattsville.org/seniors o llame al (301) 985-5000.
ENTRENAMIENTOS DE NARCAN
Aprenda a reconocer una sobredosis de opioides y a administrar NARCAN de forma segura. Las sesiones se ofrecen en Inglés en el Edificio Municipal, 4310 Gallatin St., y en español en la Iglesia de San Mateo, 5901 36th Ave el 15 de mayo a las 6 PM (7 PM para español) , y de nuevo en Inglés el 16 de mayo a las 10AM. hyattsville. org/calendar.
GRUPO DE APOYO
PARA CUIDADORES
Únase al grupo de apoyo a socios de cuidados de la ciudad los días 16 y 30 de mayo, de 9 - 10:30 AM en el Edificio Municipal. Inscríbase: hyattsville.org/calendar.
CAMPAMENTO DE SALIDA TEMPRANA
K-5 estudiantes pueden unirse a un Dia de Campamento en Driskell Park el 16 de mayo, 10:30AM5:30PM, después de la salida temprana de PGCPS. hyattsville.org/minicamp.
REMOCIÓN DE VIDES
¡Ayude a remover plantas invasivas de 38th Ave Park de 10 AM - 2 PM el 17 de mayo! RVSP a environment@ hyattsville.org.
TOUR DE CASAS HISTÓRICAS
Explora las casas históricas
de Hyattsville el 18 de mayo de 1 - 5 PM. Entradas disponibles en Franklin’s, Wills Decorating o en el Edificio Municipal. Más información: hpahyattsville.org.
ALMUERZO Y APRENDIZAJE: HORTICULTURA
Los adultos mayores de Hyattsville están invitados a un taller gratuito de horticultura el 19 de mayo, de 11 AM - 1 PM, en el Edificio Municipal. Disfrute del almuerzo y aprenda sobre jardinería local. Inscríbase en hyattsville.org/seniors o llame al (301) 985-5000.
ALIMENTOS GRATIS
Distribución gratuita de productos se llevará a cabo el 20 de mayo, Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida, 6201 Belcrest Rd. en mediodia.
¡DEPT.
OBRAS PÚBLICAS: PUERTAS ABIERTAS!
Venga el 22 de mayo, de 12-3 PM en 4637 Arundel Pl! ¡Todos son bienvenidos! Disfrute de juegos, explore nuestros camiones, tome un refrigerio y celebre la Semana de Obras Públicas. hyattsville.org/calendar.
REUNION CERT
Aprenda como responder en caso de emergencia en la Reunion CERT del Distrito Gateway el 21 de Mayo, 6:30-8:30 PM, en el Edificio Municipal. Todos bienvenidos! hyattsville.org/cert.
CONVERSACIÓN COMUNITARIA
¡Conversación Cultural Comunitaria el 29 de mayo, de 6:30 - 8:30 PM en el Edificio Municipal! hyattsville. org/calendar.
DISTRIBUCIÓN DE PAÑALES
Distribución gratuita de pañales el 30 de mayo en el Edificio Municipal de 9:30 - 11 AM. Se requiere prueba de la fecha de nacimiento del niño. hyattsville.org/calendar.
DíA DE LA PRADERA
Celebra el Día de la Pradera el 31 de mayo, de 9 - 11 AM (fecha de lluvia el 1 de junio), en la Pradera UP Wildflower en Adelphi Rd. Disfrute del desfile de polinizadores a las 10 AM, y actividades y sorteo de plantas autóctonas. hyattsville.org/calendar.
HIGHLIGHTS | LO DESTACADO
ognizable as the one filled with tire shops and auto stores. But the bones remain — local and homegrown, sustained by a belief in community-led growth, and by a few very stubborn dreamers.
Franklin is still dreaming. He’s now opening an ice cream parlor to add to his conglomerate of assets. Shapiro, now chair of the county's planning board, is still pushing for development that honors the community's historical roots.
Even for HAP treasurer Walker, the story of Route 1 continues to unfold.
“I learned a lot about the history, which I thought I was there at the beginning, as well, but I guess I wasn’t,” she said, reflecting on the event.
April’s Corridor Conversations session wasn’t just a look back. It was a blueprint for how a half-formed vision, some policy and a really good sandwich can collide and transform a town brimming with untapped potential.
Jade Tran is an undergraduate journalism student at the University of Maryland.
RAISE THE FLAG HIGH
REWILDING
ner and simply absorbs it. These slime molds can move quickly for a microorganism (more than an inch an hour). Some slime molds can be as large as a square meter; a sizable tapioca slime mold can weigh more than 40 pounds.
When environmental conditions change, in hours or days or weeks, the blob transforms from its creeping phase (the plasmodium) into a spore-producing phase (the sporangium). The blob dries out and either bursts open to release spores directly, or grows spore capsules on top of short stalks that split open. The spores can be carried by the wind or splashed around by rain droplets to new habitats. Some are even transported by slime mold flies and small beetles that specialize in eating slime molds.
Dog vomit slime mold, Fuligo, has a pretty cosmopolitan distribution across temperate regions of the world, as its many vernacular names can attest. In Finland, it’s called “paranovi” — butter of the familiar spirit — in the old belief that it was used by witches to spoil milk. In Dutch, it’s “hekensboter” (witch’s but-
ter), and in Lavtian, “ragansviests” (witch’s butter) or “raganu splaviens” (witch’s spit).
Whatever they’re called, slime molds are one of Earth’s most ancient lineages of life. Recent DNA research suggests that the common ancestor of all slime molds may have evolved a billion or more years ago, hundreds of millions of years before what we think of as true plants. Only algae and bacteria would have been on the menu for these ancient slime molds.
There’s no need to worry that the dog vomit slime mold on your garden mulch is going to eat your garden, much less you or your pets or your town. It will quickly run its course and decompose. Hosing it down will only spread it, and replacing your mulch is, at best, a temporary solution. Let it be, and enjoy the brief color and curiosity that slime mold adds to your yard.
Rick Borchelt is a local naturalist and science writer who writes and teaches about natural history, gardening and the environment. Reach him with questions about this column at rborchelt@gmail.com.
The City of Hyattsville showed off its new flag design at the city's 139th anniversary festival April 26, held at Driskell Park. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF HYATTSVILLE
Stop treating your soil like dirt
Dear Miss Floribunda,
Last year I had earthworms in my garden, and this year I don’t. My family and I moved into a house with a backyard veggie patch, and I decided to put in some tomato and bean plants, and we enjoyed them. When I spaded the ground to put some plants in this year, I didn’t see any worms, and because my next-door neighbor who helped me last year had told me they were very good to have, this worried me.
I went next door to ask my neighbor if she could spare me some of her worms. She actually refused, saying I must have done something wrong for my earthworms to have gone away. I asked her to take a look at the dirt they were in. She noticed some dried-up orange and lemon peels and had a fit. She’s the one who told me I shouldn’t throw coffee grounds and fruit peels in the garbage, but put them in my garden. Now she tells me I was supposed to compost them first and not just toss them on the ground. She said worms don’t like something that’s in orange peels.
I am a working mother with small children and am really too busy to go to the trouble to make a compost pile. Also, I don’t like to get down and dirty when I make fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemonade for my family. Should I just go back to putting the orange and lemon peels in the garbage? Would the worms return?
Worried about Worms on Webster Street
Dear Worried,
What you should be worried about is the state of the soil in your garden, rather than just the worms — whose absence is only
a symptom. The soil that you have termed “dirt” is not the fluff that you see in your dustpan. It is a complex network of microorganisms derived from minerals, gases and organic matter that pulsates with a dynamic — but fragile — life of its own.
Excessive soil acidity or alkalinity could harm not only worms, but many fungi, bacteria, protozoa and other microbes as well.
Dr. Agronomosky, my trusted soil expert, advises you to have your soil tested to find this out. He adds that a soil test will also indicate what essential minerals might be lacking, as well as what possible contaminants might be present. The University of Maryland Extension program has a list of soil testing laboratories where you can send samples of your soil. The website additionally advises you on how to prepare the samples.
You don’t say whether or not you have used inorganic chemical fertilizers during the past year. Even if you measured properly and did no direct harm to your soil, they are not your best choice. You still would do much better to add plenty of organic matter to make your soil healthy and friable. I’m not sure you are aware of just why worms are important, but their purpose is to
loosen soil and process organic matter through their digestive system as they move through the earth. If the soil is compacted and hard, too hot if unmulched in summer, or is full of inhospitable chemicals, earthworms cannot survive. Compost is essential for good soil tilth, as well as for well-balanced plant nutrition and beneficial microbial activity.
If you don't have time to make a compost pile, surely you can take time to distribute prepared compost. If you put your yard and kitchen waste, including citrus peels, into the green bins provided by the City of Hyattsville for collection every Monday, it will be made into Leafgro Gold compost. (Visit menv.com/service/food-wastecomposting — and see recent “Science of the City” columns — for more details about food waste composting in Maryland). You can then purchase this compost marketed under the name of Leafgro Gold and — wearing gloves to keep your hands clean — spread it on your garden. Worms will love it and return without invitation. There will be no formal meeting of the Hyattsville Horticultural Society (HHS) until June. In lieu of a May meeting, the
HHS has agreed to bring clippings from members' gardens to make flower arrangements for a Hyattsville Aging in Place event at Friendship Arms apartments on 42nd Avenue.
Miss Floribunda writes about gardening for the Life & Times. Email her at Floribundav@gmail. com.
descriptions of funding sources.
During a Nov. 4, 2024, city council meeting, the city’s auditor mentioned that other cities receive regular updates during the year on how expenses are matching up with the budget, not currently a practice in Hyattsville.
What else has the city done in response to critiques?
On Jan. 13, the city council voted to create a new permanent audit committee with members who are professionals in municipal finance and related fields.
As of press time, appointments to that committee were on the agenda for the city council's May 5 meeting. Candidates included Candace Bacchus Hollingsworth (former Hyattsville mayor), Stanislaw Rzeznik, Glenn Robelen, Daniel Lange (a certified public accountant) and Nancy Hammond.
During the April 7 city council meeting, staff shared plans to hire a grant writer to help increase revenue, as well as additional staff for the finance department, including a deputy budget director and a half-time intern.
The initial FY 2026 budget that staff proposed April 7 was $32 million, rather than $33 million.
On April 21, the council added back $1 million — $800,000 of which was for five positions in the public works department, including positions supporting trash pickup and vehicle and building maintenance.
The finance department has recently published a proposal to eliminate retiree medical benefits for dependents of the city’s retirees. Staff says that would bring the city’s payments for retiree medical benefits down about 40% in the coming fiscal year, a savings of less than $200,000 in FY 2026. The proposal is also on the agenda for the May 5 city council meeting, as this paper was going to press.
How can I find out more?
The city’s finance department website has links to all the information about the budget that has been released so far, as well as to the prior year’s budgets and completed audits.
You can search our website, StreetcarSuburbs.News, for our articles about Hyattsville’s finances over the years, including a discussion of retiree benefits from 2013, 2014 advocacy for a property tax increase, and a piece on the city's loss of its bond rating in 2022.
On May 19, at 7 p.m., the council will meet, virtually, to read the proposed budget. On June 2, at noon, they plan to meet to approve it.
Disclosure: The Life & Times gained $15,000 from the April 21 council budget amendment, which means that our funding for the coming fiscal year would be the same as for the current one. Thanks to everyone who advocated for your hometown newspaper! Advertising in our newspaper costs Hyattsville $44,000 this year, much less than it costs the city to independently print and mail their newsletter, The Hyattsville Reporter
MICHA H EL E I HAE
RED ONION
years, in 2012, Harkavy announced that he was shuttering Red Onion for good. He even went so far as to send an email announcement to his customers, thanking them for their patronage. Washington City Paper ran the announcement like an obituary. In an interview with The Washington Post in 2022, Harkavy chalked it up to an “existential crisis.”
“When you work somewhere else, you get a steady paycheck; you don’t have to think about the other elements of running a business,” Harkavy said. “But when you’re the one who’s in charge, it’s a lot of pressure.”
But the record-heads protested. Vinyl is a clunky, physical manifestation of an otherwise ephemeral medium. Customers
ANGELONI GELO
FOR CITY COUNCIL WARD
wanted a brick-and-mortar location, not a flea market pop-up or a mail-order service, as Harkavy had proposed. The outcry was, in Harkavy’s words, “really sweet.” He decided that maybe he just needed to change up something every couple of years — the inventory, the layout, the location. In 2015, he moved the store to U Street — “a nice, above-ground location.” Then, four years later, he moved again — this time, home to Hyattsville.
“I figure, we live here; this spot is great; let’s just get out of D.C.,” Harkavy said. “I didn’t really feel the need to have a store there and have a store here, so I was just like, ‘Smell you later.’”
This article has been cut for space. To read the full story and learn about Red Onion's time in Hyattsville, visit StreetcarSuburbs.News.
Red Onion Records has an eclectic collection of music to purchase. GRIFFIN LIMERICK
