Budget, Speed Cams, Redistricting on Agenda

Redistricting, speed cameras and an expansion of Hyattsville's historic district are among some of the notable items up for consideration at tonight's City Council meeting. Read the full agenda and council packet, attached as a PDF to this article. 

Redistricting

Basically, the city's has returned with revised redistricting plans drawn up after receiving feedback from the public following the

The revisions mainly do two things. First, they eliminate options which would have redistricted multiple sitting council members out of their elected wards. Second, they put forth two proposals which change the structure of the City Council itself.  

Hyattsville currently has 10 city council members and a mayor split between five wards. With 11 members total, Hyattsville has the second largest city council in Maryland, following Baltimore. 

It will be interesting to see how Hyattsville's City Council members respond to the two new plans which would change the number of political wards in the city. 

These revisions were motivated in part by comments from some City Council members, namely Councilor Shani Warner (Ward 2) and Councilor Candace Hollingsworth (Ward 1).

Speed Cameras

The Hyattsville City Council will also consider a and hire staff to oversee the robotic traffic cops. 

City officials have been considering implementing a speed camera program for at least a year. 

The program would be run by the Hyattsville City Police Department. The cameras will only snap your photo if it catches you traveling more than 12mph above the speed limit. 

The police propose four cameras to be located on the westbound 3300 block of East West Highway, the northbound 5900 block of Ager Road, the westbound 3700 block of East West Highway and the southbound 7000 block of Adelphi Road. 

The police also propose six additional secondary sites for the portable camera units to be located; the northbound 4900 block of Rhode Island Avenue, the eastbound 3300 block of East West Highway, the southbound 5800 block of Baltimore Avenue, the northbound 5900 block of Ager Road and the northbound 5400 block of Baltimore Avenue.

Historic District Expansion

Look for more on this later today. In the meantime, here's the brief: 

The Hyattsville Community Development Corporation is looking to expand the city's historic district. Such an expansion would allow more city property owners to to apply for historic house rehabilitation tax credits. The Hyattsville CDC is seeking the blessing of the City Council before it applies for grant funding to expand the historic district. 

Public Hearing

The Hyattsville City Council convenes for a public hearing on the next year's operating and capital budget at 7:30 p.m. The council meeting begins afterwards at 8 p.m. Both meetings take place in the Hyattsville Municipal Building and will be broadcast on Hyattsville Community Television, Comcast channel 71 or Verizon channel 12.

As usual, Hyattsville Patch Local Editor Michael Theis will be on hand liveblogging through it all. Liveblog begins when the meetings do.