THE GAZETTE
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TRASH
Continued from Page A-1 just not enough,” he said. “I think the Town Council should address [the issue] and find some way in the budget to find another trash pickup.” However, simply switching back to twice a week is problematic because the town currently hasacontractwithitstrashpickup service provider, Allied Waste Services of Washington, Moss said.
BIRDS
Continued from Page A-1 replace the smaller sign and better alert drivers to the fowl issue in the neighborhood, said Bill Bailey, superintendent of parks and facilities for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. He said one 18-inch by 18-inch sign will be posted each way on Oxford Drive, and he
The contract does not end until summer 2015. “There’s no one solution that’s going to fit everyone,” he said. “Even if we go twice a week there is still the problem of [high amounts of trash]. However, we do realize that for some families, once a week may not be enough.” The Town Council proposed an eight-week pilot program March 4 where eight residents would use 96-gallon trash cans, or “Toters,” which officials say could
help combat animal invasion. Currently, community members use trash cans anywhere from 30 to 46-gallons, Moss said. Big enough to accommodate a person roughly 5 feet tall and approximately 120 pounds, the Toters could help withstand against harsh weather conditions and hold large amounts of trash. Carlyncia Peck, 46, who has lived in town for 28 years, said she values the efforts proposed by the council and would like the com-
munity to join together instead of harboring a single-perspective outlook. “I appreciate the fact that our leadershipofthemayorandcouncil, along with their great staff, is taking an in-depth approach at addressing an issue like this,” Peck said. “We are awaiting the results of the pilot program, but trust that we will continue to work together tobringthistoasuitablesolution.”
hopes to get them up by June 20. “[People] just don’t see the sign.” Bailey said. “It’s just a matter of just bringing driver awareness that there are ducks that cross the street. Watch your surroundings and take care of your wildlife.” Some residents say they wished the wildlife was more careful of their surroundings as well. “There’s nothing but geese
droppings down this [path],” said neighborhood resident Tyler Shank, 23, on June 11 as he walked his dog near the lake. “I constantly see them crossing the road and flying over.” Sridevi Umesh, 50, who lives in the neighborhood, said she sometimes sees geese crossing the road on the opposite side of the lake from Oxford Drive, with cars waiting behind them. “It’s really a mess for the
drivers to drive around,” said Umesh, who was out for a walk around the lake on June 11. “It’s nice to see them in the lake, but sometimes it disturbs the people around.” That’s where Towson-based Geese Police of Maryland comes in, said Mike Lhotsky, director of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Lhotsky said Geese Police brings border collies to herd the geese and keep
Thursday, June 19, 2014 lr
Trash set out for pickup on Tuesday night on Tilden Road in Bladensburg. TOM FEDOR/ THE GAZETTE
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them away from the pathways near the lake and Granville Gude Park & Lakehouse. “We just noticed that the paths around the park and some of those areas just had an awful lot of droppings,” Lhotsky said. “The dogs use a herding method to herd the geese and the geese fly to a different location.” Rich LaPorta, president of Geese Police, whose company has been coming to the lake for about 10 years, said the flock in
Laurel has been reduced from about 300 to about 30 within that time period. He said he used to visit the lake several times per day, but lately he has found that one morning visit will suffice. “The geese pretty much know us now,” LaPorta said. “If they’re on the grass, we can have them out of there in one or two minutes.”
FRAUD
mation of approximately 40 million Target shoppers had been stolen. Mathews said police received well over 100 reports of fraud, stemming from people using credit or debit cards at the store in May, but that reports have tapered off in recent days. “The Co-op was very quick to stop accepting charges,” Mathews said, once reports started being filed. Due to the scope of the thefts, with stolen information being used both in-state and all across the country, the Secret Service has become involved, Mathews said. While the Secret Service is best known for providing protection to the President and Vice President of the United States, it also investigates counterfeit currency and credit and debit card fraud, according to its website.
Continued from Page A-1 George Mathews. Jack Patterson of Greenbelt said he’s switched to paying cash for his purchases at the store. “We usually pay by credit card, but I didn’t this time because of the identity theft issue,” Patterson said. Patterson said he and his wife were victims of credit card fraud a few months back, and ever since then, have tried to be careful. “We have a credit monitoring service, and we keep a close eye on our account, because of the previous event,” Patterson said. Jennifer Crowley, a Bowie resident who works in Greenbelt, said she pays with cash as often as possible, ever since the December announcement that the credit and debit card infor-
FLOOD
Continued from Page A-1 Transportation, said the flood resulted from a large amount of rainfall within a short time period. “When you get that much rain, it doesn’t have to time absorb into the ground,” Terry said. “It causes flash floods.” Residents on 59th Avenue — which officials say suffered the brunt of the flood — were still unsure what caused the water to surge so rapidly and who, if anyone, would help them pay for cleanup and damage to their property. Several residents reached at home said they did not have flood insurance. Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, who has been coordinating with county and state agencies, said he was not sure what caused the flood. “The storm drain where we had the most acute problem two days ago is not a storm drain that functions properly all the time,” Calvo said. Calvo said he hopes to set up a fund where the community can make contributions to help residents pay for expenses resulting from the flood. In the meantime, he said the city has waived trash pickup fees and
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“Diverse housing is welcome, but a student ghetto that decreases home values and forces out families who love their communities and their homes is not,” she said. “The city’s first responsibility belongs to the families who live here.” The community of property owners in College Park welcomed the council’s vote. “I think this is an exciting step — that the council is willing to partner with us moving forward in a positive way,” said Lisa Miller, president of the Prince George’s County Property Owners Association. Miller said most of the properties owned by the association’s 150 members are in College Park. The property owners have been engaging with residents and trying to improve quality of life issues for the past two years and they plan to continue the
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janfenson-comeau@ gazette.net restrictions. Bret Galyean, 30, who lives up the street on 59th Avenue, said he has not seen anything like the June 10 flood in the 10 years he has lived in the neighborhood. He said he will still need to replace some property. “It was a river,” said Galyean, who shot a video of the flood and posted it online. “Six to 10 inches of water in the street, just rushing down.” Gina Robson, 46, who lives on the same street, said the sliding doors in her basement held up fairly well to the rising water outside, but she still ended up with about four inches of water in her basement. She estimates the damaged furniture and cleanup will cost her up to $10,000 and she has filed a claim with her insurance company. Ruiz, who estimated the flood will cost at least $20,000 between fixing the walls and flooring in the basement and replacing several rooms’ worth of furniture, clothing and electronics, said he has been through this before. After a flood in 2008, Ruiz said he had to pay about $10,000 to take out the carpet in his basement and fix walls damaged by water. “And maybe that drain in the street is not enough,” he said. apopovici@gazette.net work, she said. “This step makes people realize that this partnership is two-ways and makes [property owners] want to do even more,” Miller said. Resident Kathy Bryant, who spoke about frequent loud parties hosted by her college student neighbors, said she was disappointed the council allowed the ordinance to sunset, but she plans to work with property owner association members to improve the situation in the neighborhood. “Rent stabilization is just one tool that we feel like we have to try to hold landlords accountable for their houses and their students,” she said. Earlier, Bryant told the council about a recent party that lasted all day, with music playing so loudly it gave her a headache. “Some days it’s unbearable, the noise,” she said. “This year has been extremely difficult.” apopovici@gazette.net