hyattsville life & times december 2008 issue

by Paula Minaert

H ow has Hyattsville — espe-cially development in the city — been affected by the

recent financial upset? Mayor William Gardiner talked

about the city’s finances: “Real property tax is the city’s largest source of revenue,” he said. “Ac-cording to [Prince George’s] coun-ty’s treasury department, we should get about $9 million in tax revenue in FY 09. When new properties are developed, that brings in income. In the upcoming fiscal year, we’ll see some revenue from the Post Proper-ties Project [an apartment develop-ment across from Home Depot] and from Mosaic at Metro, and possibly from some retail activity at Univer-sity Town Center. And when the city annexed the area that includes the Mall at Prince George’s, we agreed that the mall’s taxes would be phased in over five years. So in FY10, they’ll pay more taxes.”

State and county funding, on the other hand, form a small portion of the city’s budget – less than $1 mil-lion out of an operating budget of $15 million and a capital budget of $5 million, Gardiner said.

Gardiner also said that the City Council, at its Nov. 17 meeting, ap-proved a contract with an efficiency consultant to perform an efficiency review. The work will begin in Jan-uary 09.

“Going into this recession, I think it’s important to consider several things,” Gardiner said. “First, if past trends continue, we’ll continue to be buffered more than some regions due to our proximity to [Wash-ington,] D.C. Second, the city’s fi-nances will be buffered because real property tax revenue doesn’t fluc-tuate as much as state and county revenue. Third, if the city focuses on investment and improving the qual-ity of life for residents — such as our

by Anke Bettina Irgang

S kyrocketing salt prices caused by higher transpor-tation costs and depleted

supplies are forcing many com-munities around the country to cut back on road salt supplies for the coming winter. Howev-er, Hyattsville and other Prince George’s County communities will likely have sufficient amounts of salt to keep roads ice-free this winter, officials say.

“We are aware of the difficul-ties many areas are facing, so the city has taken steps to ensure we have sufficient supplies,” said City Administrator Elaine Murphy.

These steps include purchas-ing magnesium-chloride based deicer, which can be mixed with road salt so that less actual salt is needed to keep roads safe and ice-free.

Like other communities, Hyattsville will be spending more

on this year’s supply of road salt. Rates have increased by 18 per-cent.

“We paid our contractor, Mid-Atlantic Salt, LLC, $61 per ton of salt last year. This year the price is $72 per ton,” Murphy said.

While the county reported that its current contract price for road salt is $71, the county’s supplier, International Salt Company, LLC, has also raised prices by $11 per ton in the past year. The county is responsible for deicing 5,000 miles of rural and residential road-ways that are not part of incorpo-rated municipalities, according to Susan Hubbard, spokeswoman for the county’s department of public works.

“Depending on the severity of the weather, we use approxi-mately 25,000 tons of salt per winter,” Hubbard said. Consider-ing this year’s price increase, the

by Maren Wright

M elodies bounce across the red stained wood floors in the form of jumping tod-

dlers, as Audrey Engdahl strums her guitar for a morning Kidsongs class.

On this Wednesday morning at Rhode Island Reds Café, music spilled over like the eggs on the ba-gel sandwich.

Two-year-old Kai Howarth was still at the table with a breakfast Danish when the music started. His mom, Krista Atteberry, said she liked the location and the convenience of being able to grab some breakfast before the class.

“Here at the community café, I can get my coffee and he can get his juice box,” Atteberry said.

By the time Engdahl had pulled out the box of music makers, Kai had jumped into the action. Each child took two shakers, one to keep and one to offer to the grown-up they had brought along.

“The essential thing I’m bringing through these classes is demonstrat-

ing that music is alive—something they can do, something they help create,” Engdahl said.

She’s known as Miss Audrey to her young fans.

Engdahl has taught music classes for eight years. She has taught at public schools and currently teaches at the Lowell School in Washington, D.C. Her “ImagineThat” CD, pro-duced with her husband, Rick, won a Parent’s Choice award in 2007.

“The song is such a great vehicle for the imagination,” Engdahl said. “It takes you wherever you want to visit.”

A train bridge is visible from the window of Rhode Island Reds Café. Engdahl takes cues from the surroundings and sings a classic song about a freight train, but in her vari-ation the train goes wherever the kids want to go.

“She takes requests and plays off their comments,” Atteberry said, sharing an example of how Engdahl started into a song about the sun when it was mentioned by a child.

Vol. 5 No. 12 Hyattsville’s Community Newspaper December 2008

Hyattsville Life &

Tim

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Box 132

Hyattsville, M

D 20781

PRSR

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Easton, M

D21601

Included: The December 10, 2008 Issue of The Hyattsville Reporter—See Center Section

MELODY continued on page 10

SALT continued on page 10CRISIS continued on page 10

County requires furlough to boost bottom lineby Allie Benjamin

P rince George's County is facing its worst bud-get outlook in the past

two decades, and last week County Executive Jack B. Johnson met with county council members to discuss the budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, which is pro-jected at $70 million.

While it has been said that the meeting was “secret since it was held behind closed doors” James Keary, spokesman for Johnson, said that the meeting was not subterranean, but rath-er kept private so that leaders were able to speak freely. Keary said he was told that many citi-zens felt this way

“Every year there is a meet-ing with members of the del-egation about upcoming ses-sions because the county has to submit bills or give notice that they are working on some-thing,” said Keary.

On a national scale, budget problems have been growing worse over the past two or three months, Keary said. In order to refrain from using reserves, the county has been adjusting bud-get numbers almost daily to stay on top of finances, he added.

FURLOUGH continued on page 11

Salt prices increase, city to pay more this winter

Audrey Engdahl strums her guitar for a morning Kidsongs class last month at Rhode Island Reds café on Route 1.

Making melody

Hyattsville has ups, downs during economic crisis

HappyHolidaysHyattsville!

Hyattsville Life&Times | December 2008


A community newspaper chronicling the

life and times of Hyattsville

Mailing address: PO Box 132, Hyattsville, MD 20781

Hyattsville Life & Times is pub-lished monthly by Hyattsville Community Newspaper, Inc., a 501c(3) nonprofit corporation. In-terested reporters should send their e-mail addresses to the editor to be reminded of deadlines and re-ceive internal news. Articles and news submitted may be edited. The dead-line is the last week of the month for the following month’s issue. Letters to the editor and opinions are encour-aged. For all e-mail correspondence with HL&T: news, features, tips, adver-tising and business write to [email protected]. To submit articles, letters to the editor, etc. , e-mail [email protected]. For inquiries re advertising rates or to submit ad copy please email to [email protected].

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Writers & Contribtors:Colleen AistisJohn Aquilino

Keith BlackburnSteve Clements

Michael MartucciHugh Turley

Board of Directors:Christopher Currie Matthew McKnight

Tim Hunt Bert Kapinus

Sarah Nemeth

Circulation: Copies are distributed monthly by U.S. Mail to every address in Hyattsville. Additional copies are dis-tributed to libraries, selected business-es, community centers and churches in the city. Total circulation is 7,500.

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by Allie Benjamin

C harles Russell “couldn’t be happier” about accepting the position of principal at St.

Mark the Evangelist Catholic School on Adelphi Road. Russell, who has always aspired to become a princi-pal, accepted the position on July 1.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to have the responsibility to be able to affect hundreds of young people, and it’s something I’m excited to tackle,” he said.

Russell, former assistant princi-pal at St. Jane De Chantal School in Bethesda, came to St. Mark’s with the goal of increasing enrollment and re-turning the school to its position as one of the premier schools in the area, and already projections for next year’s enrollment are on the upswing.

“He is a very positive person and he loves Catholic education and since he feels that getting an education at a catholic school is so great for students he is working very hard to develop new marketing programs and new in-structional courses, such as Latin and vocabulary, to help increase enroll-ment as well as provide the most well rounded learning environment for students,” said Lynn Farrell, assistant principal at St. Mark’s.

After growing up in Yardley, Pa., Russell attended George Washington University, where he studied business administration and political science. Then he continued his studies at St. John’s University in New York,

where he received a Master’s Degree in academic administration.

Once his education was com-plete, Russell began working in the education field. He initially was the rowing coach at George Washington University and Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda. Prior to being St. Jane’s assistant principal for a year, Russell was an eighth-grade teacher.

“Mr. Russell is the fifth or sixth principal I have worked with and he really makes everyone feel more pro-fessional throughout the day,” Farrell said. “He makes us [the faculty] feel like we are really in a profession rath-er than just being in a job.”

St. Mark’s Principal Charles Russell has added Latin classes to the school’s curriculum since he began his tenure at the school in July.

St.Marks principal settles into role

CLARIFICATIONAn article in the November issue of the Hyattsville Life & Times included

a photograph of City Councilman Carlos Lizanne (Ward 4). While Lizanne was involved in council dialogue on the matter of absenteeism among the group, he was not cited as being frequently absent. The photograph was not intended to be included with that article.

by Hannah Fuller

I t starts out at my mommy’s and we play outside. Then we open two presents each, my brother and me.

We eat a delicious dinner, then go to our rooms to play and get ready for bed.

We get a good night’s sleep and in the morning in Christmas Eve.

We all eat a good breakfast and then me and my brother go outside to play.

When we come back inside we wrap up in blan-kets, warm up and drink hot chocolate.

Everybody gets ready to go to my Papa’s house. It takes about an hour.

After that we get in our car and drive up to my Papa’s house.

My brother and I are anxious. We finally get there.We all get out of the car and go inside. My aunt is

there too.We exchange hugs and kisses and then calm down.

We talk and then … silence.Me and my brother give our Papa our cards. We

made them two weeks ago.We give them our presents, then we get to open

one present each. Cool!After that we clean up and go to my great-aunt and

great-uncle’s house. There we say hello and sit and talk to everyone.

After that we eat a super yummy meal. After about 45 minutes we separate presents and open them.

Good presents!After we open them we eat snacks. Then we hang

out and play. We pack up our presents and drive back to Papa’s house, unpack our stuff and get ready for bed.

Me and my brother get to open our pajamas. We are so lucky!

We try them on, then we eat ice cream and watch TV. At about 9:30 we get tucked into bed.

Me and my brother can’t go to sleep. In the morn-ing we have to wake up our mom. And then we have to wait for everyone else. We get up at 7:30 and ev-erybody else sleeps until 10 o’clock. My Papa makes sure everyone gets up early because he knows we are anxious.

When everyone is up we sort our presents. Wow! Then my mom grabs her phone and my aunt grabs her camera. Pictures!

When we open all our presents, Papa cooks a won-derful breakfast. We help.

When we are finished eating, we play with our toys and thank everyone again.

After we help clean up, it’s a sad goodbye, but we’ll do it again next year. Bye!

As we pile into the car, we drive away, we see Papa waving goodbye. We do too.

The End.

About the author: Hannah Fuller is eight years old. She lives in New York. She has a cat and a brother. She wrote tons of other books. And she is in third-grade.

My Christmas, true story


by Cassie Botage

W hile it's usually rare to see diners scoop up food with their hands at an eatery, at

Shagga Coffee and Restaurant it is a common sight.

The Ethiopian restaurant and cof-fee bar, which until two months ago was the Hyattsville Donut Connec-tion, is drawing a diverse crowd to its U.S. Route 1 location. Owners Adanu and Kelel Lenu are encour-aging customers to eat their cuisine without utensils.

"It's Ethiopian tradition for us to eat all traditional food by hand," said Tadeyos Abelissa, a Prince George’s County cab driver who emigrated from Ethiopia in 2005. "It's easy. It's nice to be able to do that here. I’m here at every lunch."

The atmosphere of Shagga is a unique mix of Ethiopian culture and coffee shop Americana. The overhead menu lists lattes and white chocolate mochas as well as firfir beef stew and kinche, two tradition-al Ethiopian foods. On one side of the cash register is a display of fresh muffins, while to the right is a case of handmade sambusas, the Ethio-pian equivalent of a Chinese egg roll. The sounds of classic rock from overhead speakers combine with conversations in African tongues.

Adanu Lenu, a native Ethiopian who moved to the U.S. in the early 90s, said business is steady and he has already attracted some loyal custom-ers. He credits his wife’s homemade recipes and the restaurant’s location as reasons for its popularity.

"Not only do Ethiopian people come here, but also American peo-ple," Lenu said. "They used to have to go to Silver Spring to get Ethio-pian food but they said it was too busy and there was bad parking so they really like us here."

Sylvia Lett, Temple Hills resident and University of Maryland alumna,

said she was delighted when Shagga opened because of the fresh food that’s offered.

"I don't have a gallbladder any-more so my stomach is very sensi-tive and I can't eat the average fast food like McDonald’s," Lett said. "[Shagga's] prices are affordable and they cook their food fresh so I can go home and eat it and I don't get sick. I come almost once a week."

University Park resident Ross Altman said the coffee attracted him to Shagga.

"I come almost every day and sometimes even twice on Sundays," Altman said. "The coffee is the best part. It perks me up and the owners are very personable and Adanu and Kelel treat me royally and always greet me with a smile. They keep the place nice and clean and they keep good hours."

Altman said he enjoys the food as well but cannot bring himself to eat with his fingers.

"The sambusas are out of this world,” he said. “If you get them right after [Kelel] makes them they're even better. I don't like to eat with my hands. Seeing two grown men eating with their hands disgusts me so they give me a fork."

Lenu said he does not view area Starbucks as competition because his restaurant has more to offer than a commercial chain.

"We feature Ethiopian Cafe Pronto coffee that has gotten good feedback from customers and even moved some people from Starbucks to us," he said. “We have food, drinks, coffee and that makes us dif-ferent because we have ethnic food that you can’t get at chains.”

And Lenu’s outlook goes hand-in-hand with the meaning of his res-taurant’s name. Shagga, in Amharic, means good or better than another.

“When you compare any two items that are the same, the better one is shagga,” he said. “Better coffee.”

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Kelem Lemu, owner of Shagga Restaurant on Route 1, welcomes cus-tomers to her establishment. Shagga offers Ethiopian food, pastries and coffee.

by Lauren Cohen

A proposed safety and educa-tion program for seniors could provide elderly resi-

dents in Hyattsville with a stronger sense of security.

Lt. Gary Blakes, of the Hyattsville Police Department, introduced the program, known as Triad, to the City Council at its Oct. 6 meeting. Triad is designed to create a safer environ-ment for the elderly through the joint efforts of seniors and police. The multifaceted program provides both educational and social features for seniors.

City Councilwoman Ruth Ann Frazier (Ward 5), a strong supporter of Triad, said it would educate se-niors on topics such as driver safety, elder abuse and preparing for di-sasters. Blakes pointed out that the program would improve officers’ abilities to monitor seniors, while creating day trips to get seniors out of their houses and phone trees so

that they can call and check in with each other.

“I think it’s a need, or a require-ment, to meet the needs of our older residents,” Blakes said.

Frazier first heard about the pro-gram, which she said is also supported by Hyattsville Chief of Police Douglas Holland, from Prince George’s Coun-ty Councilman Will Campos’ (D-Dist. 2) office. She then approached Blakes about the program.

“I am a senior so that made it even more enticing to me,” Frazier said.

Triad was first developed by the American Association of Retired Persons, the International Associa-tion of Chiefs of Police and the Na-tional Sheriffs’ Association, accord-ing to the Web site for the National Association of Triads, Inc.

The feature of Triad that caught Frazier’s attention was the Seniors and Law Enforcement Together Council. SALT “is a group of com-munity representatives …who come together to design and implement

programs and activities intended to make seniors in the community saf-er,” according to the Triad Web site.

“If we could get that off the ground then we can certainly ex-pand,” Frazier said.

While not immediately aware of the exact amount, she said the cost to fund the program will be small with most money used to produce flyers and other publicity. She said the money will come from funds available in the city budget.

Although Blakes said he does not think senior citizens are “a major target” for crime, Frazier said she thinks they are more susceptible.

“Think about it, if you were a criminal and you saw a young, vi-vacious person walking down the street, and an elderly person, who would you go after?” Frazier asked.

Currently, Frazier said she is focused on getting the program started.

“[Blakes is] ready to hit the ground running and so am I,” Fra-zier said.

TRIAD: a stronger sense of security


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by Allie Benjamin

“A story to tell, a story to hear, of a moose who wants to fly, with Santa’s

reindeer.” This holiday season, for the second year in a row, Moosel-toe — a new musical — will return “by popular demand” to the Pub-lick Playhouse in Cheverly, accord-ing to box office representatives. Mooseltoe, known as the “moose with a dream,” sings alongside his friends—penguins, snowman and even St. Nick—to share with chil-dren and families the lesson of the power of believing in oneself and that anything is possible.

“Last year’s performance at the Publick Theater was such a hit that the managing director for the the-ater wanted to bring the show back for twice the number of perfor-mances we did there last year,” said Terry Kippenberger, co-producer and sales agent for the tour.

“One of the local elementary

schools has a very large group of 330 children coming this year,” said Suzi Hoffman, public relations di-rector for the Playhouse. The show's website offers a downloadable list of study guide questions for children to discuss after seeing the play to re-inforce the important lessons.

This year Mooseltoe will be shown in two days of back-to-back matinee performances.

The play is narrated by NBC's Al Roker, and among the cast of 16, all of whom sing and dance in furry 12-foot costumes, is the voice of Chris-topher Plummer and other Broad-way and Hollywood celebrities.

A few years ago a toy store, which sold the Mooseltoe doll, contacted Jim Semmelman, stage manager for The Today Show, asking him to write a story to accompany the doll and he then came up with the idea to turn the story into a musical — well, a moosical, actually.

The play was originally per-formed for underprivileged chil-

dren to provide them with an idea of what theater is, said Semmelman, who not only wrote the story and lyrics but also directs, choreographs and co-produces the production.

“The actors are enchanting, the costumes are not at all threatening, and the show really gives a great message about developing self-confi-dence and friendship. It is just a very heartwarming story,” said Hoffman.

Costumes were designed by Ran-dy Carafagno, who also built many of the costumes for The Lion King on Broadway.

Throughout the one-hour perfor-mance, viewers experience along with Mooseltoe the journey of following one’s dream. They ultimately get to see what great rewards are offered for patience, persistence and passion.

“Right now the president elect is the best example of this, anything is possible,” said Semmelman, who cur-rently is working on another chil-dren's musical to pass along similar valuable lessons to young children.

Mooseltoe–a new moosical

Submitted photo.

by Cassie Botage

As the countdown to the holi-day season begins and shop-pers search for the perfect

presents, the Hyattsville Alterna-tive Gift Fair has become a unique venue for meaningful and personal gifts.

The fair, which is in its second year, features local, national and in-ternational charities that shoppers can make donations to in honor of family and friends.

Fair coordinator J. McCray said alternative gifts are becoming in-creasingly popular because buyers know where their money is going and they're supporting a good cause. Buyers can personalize their gifts by choosing charities that relate to the people on their shopping list, he said.

"Basically, a lot of people have turned away from the more con-sumer part of the holidays and in-stead are buying a service or ob-ject for someone in need," he said. "We're an all-volunteer organization so we don't really have an overhead. All of the money donated goes to

the charity."McCray said he expects about

nine charities to be at the fair and each will offer several pricing op-tions.

"An organization may have a $10 or $15 donation and then you can see what that's for," he said. "We have a range of gifts so you can do a smaller gift if that's what you had in mind, but you can also get a sub-stantial gift."

McCray gave the example of a lo-cal charity that was at the fair last year called Trips for Kids, which organizes bike rides for at-risk chil-dren in the Hyattsville area.

"A $10 gift last year would buy a bike safety helmet for a child and $35 would pay for food for 10 chil-dren during a bike outing."

Amy Neugebauer, charity co-ordinator and Hyattsville resident, said she hopes to feature more local charities this year.

“You don't always know what non-profits are working in your neighborhood and we wanted to highlight them,” she said.

This year the gift fair will include live music, a bake sale, kids’ activi-

ties and a raffle, all of which McCray hopes will persuade more residents to attend and ultimately raise more money.

"We set a higher goal for us this year," McCray said. "Last year we raised $4,000, but this year we're setting a goal of $8,000 and we're hoping the live music and kids’ ac-tivities will draw people out."

Ed Burck, an artist from Univer-sity Park, donated one of his kiln-formed platters for the raffle.

“I, for years, have used Alternative Gifts International for gifts during the holidays,” he said. “I’m hoping my piece will raise some money that goes to the groups that Alternative Gifts supports.”

Co-sponsored by Hyattsville Nurturing Moms, Hyattsville Orga-nization for a Positive Environment (HOPE) and EYA, the Hyattsville Alternative Gift Fair is one of sev-eral December fairs in the Washing-ton area sponsored by Alternative Gifts of Greater Washington, Inc. The Hyattsville fair is scheduled for Dec. 13 at the Lustine Showroom on Baltimore Avenue. For more in-formation visit www.aggw.org.

Hyattsville fair offers meaningful gifts

Hyattsville Life&Times | December 2008 Page HR1

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Hyattsville Life&Times | December 2008 Page 7

Dear Miss Floribunda,

My family loves fresh figs and I have been trying to grow a fig tree for some time now, with two failed attempts. The first was an unknown variety (possibly not fully cold-hardy for zone 7) and upon reflection, I suspect it got too much wind. The second one came from a local nursery labeled cold-hardy in Maryland but didn't make it through last winter. My research shows that a variety called Brown Turkey has survived in Maryland. Before I make another attempt I wonder if you could provide some advice.

Figless on Farragut Street

Dear Figless,

There is an even more cold-har-dy variety of fig called Celeste (aka Malta) and it is not only more cold-hardy than Brown Turkey but it has a richer flavor. However, Aunt Sioux has had success with just the com-mon variety, and the key may be location. You mentioned "too much wind." A fig tree in this area should be in a place sheltered from wind, while still getting plenty of sun. Aunt Sioux's tree faces west, and is not far from her house walls. While fig trees do get big, and have an ex-tensive root system, the roots are

shallow and fine so they should not harm the foundation of your house. Fig roots can also be pruned.

Another consideration is soil tilth. The fig must have light, well-drained soil in order to thrive. Our heavy clay, when frozen, acts like concrete boots on the delicate roots of this tree. Add sand, gypsum and compost to the soil when you first plant the tree, and Aunt Sioux al-ways rakes leaves around it in the fall to mulch it well for winter. Aunt Sioux asks me to tell you that if you do this your greatest concern will not be winter survival so much as harvesting fruit in summer before the squirrels and raccoons do. She suggests picking fruit twice a day, first in early morning before the squirrels are active and then in the evening before the raccoons come out. At peak season the fruit ripens from hour to hour.

As a rule of thumb, whenever you consider planting any non-native plant think about the climate and soil conditions of its native land. The fig comes from the Mediterranean region, where the soil is light and there is lots of sun. It doesn't need very rich soil, though it's a good idea to fertilize it while it's fruiting. How-

ever, if you hope for your tree to sur-vive the winter you must not fertilize it after August. It must be completely dormant by the first hard frost.

If you'd like to meet Aunt Sioux, as well as other members of the Hyattsville Horticultural Society, please come to our next meeting at 10 a.m. on Dec. 20. We meet at City Hall, 4310 Gallatin St., in the first floor meeting room. Please arrive promptly because we may relocate for a holiday party.

Miss Floribunda is the collected wisdom of the Hyattsville Horticultural Society compiled and edited by Victoria Hille.

CoMMenTARy AnD oPInIon on HISToRy & PolITICS

Confidence menby Hugh Turley

A “wise guy” is a person who will borrow $5 from you with no intention of paying you

back, and the next time you meet he will ask to borrow another $5. The person who is confident he’ll be repaid is a “chump.”

During the first presidential de-bate Barack Obama said, “Bin Laden is still out there.” He said we have to stay focused on al Qaeda: “They are now operating in 60 countries.”

Haven’t we heard this before?President Bush, addressing a joint

session of Congress, said, “There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.”

On the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Donald Rumsfeld said, “Let there be no doubt about it that al Qaeda is in at least 60 countries.”

Dick Cheney also warned, “There is a terrorist underworld out there, spread among more than 60 countries.”

And this is Condoleezza Rice speaking: “I would just remind the American people that it took a while for al Qaeda to become the organization that it is; it took a while for them to lodge themselves in 60 countries.”

No one has ever named the 60 countries. Where did President-elect Obama get the number 60? Why

not 53 or 71? The President-elect is on the same page as the current administration.

The Bush administration has launched attacks in Pakistan and President-elect Obama favors more.

“We’ve got to deal with Pakistan, because al Qaeda and the Taliban have safe havens in Pakistan,” Obama said. “And until we do, Americans here at home are not going to be safe.”

No one is asking how much this will cost, in every sense of the word.

Where is the promised “change”?Real change would be arresting

and prosecuting the individuals re-sponsible for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq on false pre-tenses and the killing of thousands of innocent Iraqi people and the destruction of their property. Some high-level torturers should be held accountable, but no one really ex-pects justice to be done. Instead of justice, the change will be in ap-pearance, a new face and fluency in English.

In 1993, during the renewal of the Independent Counsel statute, Sena-tor William Cohen argued, “The appearance of justice being done is equally important as justice having been done.”

That statement is false. True justice is more than the appearance of justice.

What Cohen really meant and later

said was, “The appearance of justice is just as important as justice itself, in terms of maintaining public confidence.”

The key word is “confidence.” Any wise guy knows “con” is slang for “con-fidence.” The “con man” swindles his victim after gaining his confidence.

Investment scams have robbed Americans of billions of dollars of their savings. Pensions, jobs and homes are being destroyed. The confidence men running Wall Street, Washington, and the media will not be brought to justice. The public will be conned once more.

It makes no difference whether immorality or incompetence caused Citigroup to lose billions with risky investments. Either way, no one was accountable. Paulson, with Obama’s appointees Robert Rubin (a Citigroup board member) and Timothy Geith-ner, all agreed that Citigroup would be given a $300 billion federal guarantee.

The newsmen promoting confi-dence in the new Obama admin-istration also delivered the old ad-ministration eight years ago. Then, the media reported President-elect Bush’s strength was his simplicity, and they praised the experience of his new cabinet, calling Rumsfeld an “elder statesman.”

As Groucho Marx said, “Integrity is everything. If you can fake integ-rity you’ve really got it made.”

MissFloribunda

The Celeste (Malta) fig is a small to medium pear-shaped fruit, violet-colored when ripe, with good flavor.

Hugh’sNews

Hyattsville Life&Times | December 2008Page 8

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by Allie Benjamin

o ver the past two years the Hyattsville Mayor William Gardiner and City Admin-

istrator Elaine Murphy have met with BB&T officials to discuss the future of the Hamilton Street bank branch space. The branch will soon be moving to a new location on East-West Highway.

The building has presented an op-portunity for the city to acquire the space and on Nov. 15 Ward 5 coun-cil members held a public meeting to offer the chance for residents to provide comments on this possible acquisition.

While the city has mentioned plans to use the space as a charter school, community members who attended the meeting unanimously were opposed to this idea. About ten residents attended.

“It was a diverse group yet ev-eryone agreed, which shocked me, that they wanted to use the building as a community center to service both senior citizens and youths,” said Councilwoman Nicole Hinds, (Ward 5).

Some residents offered ideas for a service that would allow seniors and youths to interact in a program to-gether, said Hinds.

Prior to the neighborhood meet-ing the city offered usage ideas for the public to consider.

“The city could attract users to the building which would help de-fray costs while offering music, art or culinary programs, services for seniors and youth, or similar organi-zations that benefit the community,” according to the public notice for the meeting.

No one who attended the meet-ing was opposed to the idea of the acquisition.

Hinds said citizens that she has heard from have nothing against renting out parts of the building to nonprofits, as long as the rest of the building is used for community ser-vices.

The city has not yet had any “se-rious conversations” about what to do with the space, yet since a de-cision must be made by the end of the year, Hinds and Councilwoman Ruth Ann Frazier (also of Ward 5), wanted to get a feel for what the community wants so this informa-tion can be presented to other of-ficials in future discussions.

“The meeting went very well,” Hinds said. “It was very good to get feedback.”

While no official meeting has been held among the city yet to discuss the acquisition, an economic analysis, condition report and ap-praisal of the property have already been conducted.

“It is important for council mem-bers to really speak up on issues

they either support or oppose so I hope this happens with the debate of the BB&T building,” said Coun-cilman Mark Matulef (Ward 2) to other council members at a Nov. 17 council meeting.

Consultants are currently prepar-ing a presentation of further infor-mation regarding acquisition details. The presentation is planned for ear-ly December.

Use of old BB&T space still unresolved

by Sharmina Manandhar

T he homicide case of Pe-dro Luis Hernandez is still active and under in-

vestigation, police said.“There is no new informa-

tion at this time,” Det. John K. Collins from the Prince George’s Police Department said. “We are working on some small leads and continuing with our investigation.”

The 20-year-old Hyattsville man was found with a gunshot wound lying in a street outside his house near Gallatin Street

Murder investigation continues

MURDER continued on page 9


by Valerie Bonk

Hyattsville residents may soon have a reason to go hiking close to home in search of

hidden treasure as geocaching, an increasingly popular sport around the world, is officially welcomed in Prince George’s County. The Hyattsville City Council decided on Oct. 6 to participate in the Mary-land Municipal League Geocache Trail, agreeing to create and main-tain Hyattsville’s own Geocache for tourists and locals to discover.

“To date, 76 cities and towns have committed to participating in the geocache trail, which will debut the first week in January,” said Linda Bur-rell, MML’s manager for educational and member relations in Annapolis.

The purpose of the trail is to pro-mote awareness of Maryland’s cit-ies and towns. It taps into the rap-idly growing high-tech tourist trade popular with all ages, according to an information sheet that MML sent out to the municipalities. Any-one with a hand-held GPS can par-ticipate in geocache tourism. To start taking part in the MML Geocache Trail, simply access the official geo-cache Web site —www.geocache.com—go to the MML account and download or manually enter the map coordinates for each cache on the trail. After loading the coordinates from the website and onto your GPS, you can head out to find the hidden treasures.

Geocaching was founded eight years ago as a way to celebrate Presi-dent Bill Clinton’s decision to un-scramble the Global Positioning Sys-

tem for civilian use. Previously, the satellite navigation system was used strictly for military operations.

The hidden treasures called geo-caches are small sandwich box-size containers containing a paper log and pencil for you to record your visit, as well as small coins or toys for trading.

Today there are more than a half-million active geocaches hid-den worldwide. Jennifer Colvin of Hyattsville, an avid cacher with two years experience, believes that geo-caching is a great way to get out-doors and learn new things about your community.

“You would be amazed how many of these little treasures are hid-den, sometimes in plain view, at local points of interest,” she said. “A huge part of the fun is learning about plac-es you never knew existed. It's really the thrill of the hunt, not the cache itself that matters.”

Many cachers find that geocach-ing is the perfect way to become fa-miliar with an unknown area.

“I like the hobby because it lets you see out-of-the-way places that I would have otherwise missed,” said Achille Broennimann, a three-year veteran of the sport. “Foreign countries are especially interesting to cache in. Your GPS can be your tour guide.”

The City of Hyattsville is work-ing with MML and the Maryland Geocaching Society to locate an appropriate place for the municipal-ity’s geocache. Starting in January, the coordinates for the special cache in Hyattsville can be added to a GPS and the local adventure begins.

‘Caching’ inTreasure hunting now sport in Hyattsville

and 42nd Ave. by a Prince George’s County police officer on a routine patrol in October. He was pro-nounced dead on scene.

Police also said that no new ad-ditional information was obtained from the interviews with the neigh-bors.

In a community meeting hosted by Hyattsville Police Department a week after the homicide, some resi-dents had raised concern that the neighbors who said they might have heard something the night of the homicide had not been interviewed by police yet. Residents had also expressed concern that the crime occurred so close to the police de-partment.

Hernandez was a graduate of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., police said.

Principal David S. Stofa said that he was not at liberty to release in-formation about Hernandez or value (value was the word he used) statements about his time there.

“I will agree that it was indeed a tragic loss and that Pedro was loved by his friends, classmates and the

adults with whom he came in con-tact,” Stofa said.

Also according to police, Her-nandez was a student at Mount St. Mary’s College and was employed at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

Police also said that they have learned that Hernandez liked music and thought about being a manager of local music talents.

Hernandez’s family declined to comment.

Concerns about the safety issue in the community also prompted an agreement among the residents at the meeting for the need for a neighborhood watch program in the community.

According to Hyattsville Police Chief Douglas K. Holland, a follow-up meeting was held about two weeks later and was attended by 25-30 residents.

“We have two volunteers from that meeting who agreed to be lead-ers to work with the department to organize the neighborhood watch,” Holland said.

A candle-light vigil in memory of Hernandez was held at Hyattsville’s King Memorial Park in October.

MURDER continued from page 8


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[email protected].

county faces additional costs of at least $275,000.

In addition to meeting its own needs, Hyattsville also provides road salt for a number of smaller commu-nities in the area, including Brent-wood and Edmonston. The city has entered into a contractual obliga-tion with its supplier to buy an ad-ditional 600 tons of salt in order to meet the anticipated needs of these communities.

Riverdale Park is one of many small communities in the Hyatts-ville area that rely on other towns for their salt supply.

“We get most of our salt from College Park, but we’ve also con-

tacted Hyattsville, in case supplies run short,” said Leonard Addison, the town’s director of public works. “I also think that if there’s a problem with supplies, the state would tem-porarily allow the use of sand and other abrasives.”

Addison said salt prices have been climbing steadily for several years.

“It’s the same as with fuel. I’ve never seen salt prices this high,” he said.

In spite of high prices, Hyattsville city officials are confident.

“We obviously can’t predict how bad this winter is going to be, but we believe that at this time our salt sup-plies are sufficient,” Murphy said.

The classes are a blend of story time and music class. Engdahl said she loves the responses of the chil-dren, and tries to stay attuned to their energy level.

On Wednesday she started slow, inviting the hesitant children into the activity. When the bouncing energy of the children had peaked and be-gun to scatter, she introduced a struc-tured music activity, like the shakers.

At this second class meeting, seven children had gathered in the café, all between the ages of one and three. The need to fit the Kidsongs class time around the morning nap schedule of her young participants had Engdahl looking for the perfect location.

“Angelisa Hawes at the Book Nook [Bookstore] recommended the Rhode Island Reds Café,” Eng-dahl said, when the 11 a.m. open-

ing of the bookstore conflicted with morning nap time.

Engdahl brought a large carpet to roll across the wood floors for the morning class and makes herself at home at Rhode Island Reds. Resi-dent Chris Brophy opened the bak-ery and café about two months ago.

When Engdahl approached him about holding a morning music class at the café, Brophy opened his doors. “I have this open invitation to make it a cultural space,” Brophy said.

With morning sun filtering through the window and the café filled with music and laughter, the community is already taking advan-tage of Brophy’s offer.

The last class in this session is to-day, but the melodious mixture of childhood enthusiasm with com-munity spirit will linger.

Check for new classes forming by visiting Engdahl’s Web site at www.rickandaudrey.com.

MELODY continued from page 1

SALT continued from page 1

streets, parks, and attracting amenities — we will be well positioned when we emerge from the recession.”

Other people involved in the city’s development tended to sound this same theme – that although the economy is experiencing a down-turn, Hyattsville is well situated to stand up to market changes.

“Hyattsville is more affordable than downtown or other suburban locations,” said Catherine Timko, spokesperson for University Town Center, the 56-acre commercial/residential project next to the Mall at Prince George’s. “The cost to do business here is lower than in oth-er places. In the last three months, three restaurants have opened — Gifford’s, the Soup Man, and Old Dominion — and we just signed a lease with the infamous Chef Geoff, whose new restaurant concept will be opened by year end. And the Washington Metropolitan Author-ity [Metro] just signed a lease. It’s moving its customer services and disability services operations here, from Montgomery County.”

Aakash Thakkar is vice president for development at EYA, the resi-dential/retail project on U.S. Route 1 that has retail and live-work space and housing.

“Things are difficult now in this macroeconomic climate,” he said. “Retailers are slower to commit to projects.”

But EYA hasn’t had any tenants withdraw, and has leased about 50 percent of the space on the proposed space on the east side of Route 1.

“We’re looking forward to starting construction early next year,” Thak-kar said. “It will be some large retail spaces—coffee shops, hair salons and so on. Busboys and Poets and Tara Thai [restaurants] are coming.”

An overall look was provided by Stuart Eisenberg, executive director of the Hyattsville Community De-velopment Corporation.

“The downturn is affecting the city in different ways,” he said. “We won’t feel a revenue shortfall for a couple of years. Our housing prices haven’t collapsed. The housing mar-ket has slowed, but houses are still selling. Some new home sales have slowed, though.

“Developers are seeing their in-vestors assessing their projects, be-cause of the tight credit. So there may be hard times for developers who are in the middle of their proj-ects or who’ve just finished them. They’ll have to find ways to hold on through this cycle, but at the same time, there’s still confidence that this region is a good investment.”

Eisenberg added a further opti-mistic note – he said that figures for 2005-08 show that daytime employ-ment in the primary market area, centered in Hyattsville, increased by 30 percent in the last three years, and household income in the area increased by 10 percent.

CRISIS continued from page 1


One of the county’s biggest cuts to save money in FY 2008 is to force county employees to take 10 days of unpaid leave. If revenue alternatives are not implemented soon, this same cut may have to occur next year, FY 09, as well.

“Only $20 million has actually been saved through furloughs and other ongoing budget cuts, yet these decisions are designed to have no im-pact on actual services since people now are taking furlough leave rather

than annual leave,” said Keary. To stay within budget the county

has acknowledged that they can-not spend more than they receive and that projections must be made monthly rather than for the entire fiscal year, said Keary.

When looking to resolve the coun-ty tax deficit, three important steps must be considered, said Brad Frome, legislative aide to County Council-man Will Campos (D-Dist. 2).

“Traditionally we first look to eliminate vacant positions. Then the next step is to have a hiring freeze for everything except public safety.

Then the last step which we hope-fully try not to take, and have not yet taken, is to eliminate filled posi-tions,” he said.

It has been reported in the Wash-ington Post that “participants [of the meeting] said Johnson asked for sug-gestions on how to boost revenue and implored lawmakers not to cut state aid to the county and worsen the budget.”

State lawmakers and county council members were present at the meeting.

“It's really important this year that we know we have to live within a budget,” said Keary.

FURLOUGH continued from page 1

by Karen Anderson

o n Jan. 14, Michael Cron, a 28-year fan of Three Broth-ers Italian Restaurant and

the corporation’s former director of operations, opened a franchise of the restaurant at University Town Center in a near “fifty-fifty” part-nership with his wife, Carol. Their younger son, David, 24, serves as the restaurant’s general manager af-ter working at the Greenbelt Three Brothers since the age of 14.

Michael Cron said building the restaurant has “been on the draw-ing board” since 2005 when Mario Repole, one of the three original brothers for which the restaurant is named, approached him about the opportunity.

“Our dream is that Michael and I would run [the restaurant] for 10 or 12 years and David would stay with the company,” and eventually buy it from them to run himself, Carol Cron said.

Michael Cron is the managing partner in charge of operational de-cisions, while Carol manages business development and marketing for the restaurant. She is also coordinator for the department of marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

The Crons’ restaurant serves

about 350 customers daily, employs 27 full-time and part-time employ-ees, and as a “a fast casual concept,” offers menu meal items ranging from $2.09 to $13.95. It also offers a weekday breakfast in addition to the daily lunch and dinner menu.

David Cron, a 2006 graduate of the University of Maryland in Col-lege Park, said he had hoped the development at University Town Center – including shops, housing, restaurants and a movie theatre – would “offer more to the commu-nity right here in their backyard.”

Still, Carol Cron said that the cus-tomer base at the Hyattsville loca-tion has been slow.

“[It is] unfortunately... not what we were expecting,” she said.

Although it is located in a de-veloping area, the Crons’ restaurant opened in a year where 53 percent of likely voters in Maryland report-ed they were eating out less than the previous year, according to a 2008 poll by Gonzales Research & Mar-keting Strategies.

“Some people say the restaurant business is sort of recession proof, well it is to a point,” Carol Cron said. “[But] we hadn’t really antici-pated some of the economic chal-lenges.”

In addition to an increase of 20- to 30 percent in construction costs

due to rising costs of shipping and of building supplies, raw food costs for ingredients also rose dramatically in the past six months.

The price of flour nearly tripled, jumping from $11 per 50-pound bag to almost $30 for the same quantity during this six month time, Michael Cron said.

During an average week, the res-taurant uses 12 to 15 bags of flour, he said.

Simultaneously, the price of cheese rose from $1.98 per pound to $2.40, which becomes a dramatic difference because the restaurant can use up to 1,000 pounds in a week.

“You can’t list pizza at a market price,” Michael Cron said. “It’s not like lobster tail.”

Still, he said he raised prices only once during this time “just to offset the increase in raw food costs.”

Husband and wife both stress the priority of maintaining their prod-uct’s standards.

“People will forgive you if you raise price, but not if you cut the quality and the quantity,” Michael Cron said.

Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., Michael Cron is a 30-year resident of University Park, the community in which his wife and sons were raised. The family’s older son, Pfc. Jonathan Cron, is stationed in Baghdad.

Family makes a go of ‘good, fast Italian’ at UTC

David, Michael and Carol Cron operate their family's franchise of Three Brothers Italian Restaurant at Hyattsville's University Town Center.


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hyattsville life & times december 2008 issue

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