Farewell, Hyattsville

Tuesday, Oct. 15 will be my last day working for Hyattsville Patch. It has been an honor to cover my hometown over the last year-and-a-half. Unfortunately, Patch is going through a reorganization right now, one which I am not a part of. 

Luckily, I have already landed a new job at the Austin Business Journal in Austin, TX, where I will serve as its web editor. 

It is with bittersweet emotion that I undertake this migration. I grew up in Hyattsville and College Park, and I have a deep affection for my native environs. I have seen great things sprout along Prince George's County's Route 1 corridor, and I will miss the opportunity to cover and experience the further transformation of Prince George's inner-suburban ring.

I also believe strongly in the value and necessity of incisive local journalism, and I hope that my reporting has helped to better connect this community with its government and with each other. 

Hyattsville Patch will not fade into the night. Patch is reviewing alternatives for some of its sites including this one. Rest assured that you will be able to continue using your Patch.

If I have one parting message for my readers in Hyattsville, it is this: more residents need to take an active role in the governance of this city. Our national politics are filled with heady debates over the role of government in our lives, but at the local level, the arena of government which most directly affects us, there is a palpable disinterest among the vast majority of voters in the direction of their city. This manifests itself as chronically low turnouts at municipal elections, sparse attendance at city meetings, and difficulties finding candidates to run for local elected office. 

If our nation's increasingly fractious political debates can be said to indicate a failure of our civic structures, it is a failure which I see happening from the local level up. 

But I also see hope in Hyattsville, and in other cities, that new ways to communicate with our neighbors will incubate a greater sense of civic responsibility and action. On message boards, listservs and local news websites like Patch, I see a town which is increasingly getting involved in and discussing local issues of importance in ways that respect the principles of open dialogue and civility. I hope that this continues. 

Again, it has been a sincere pleasure to report on Hyattsville. I'll miss you all.