No Quorum Stalls Hyattsville Sidewalk Plans

Without enough City Council members to do anything else, meeting to determine future of University Hills streetscape project becomes a public hearing.

It was supposed to be a meeting where the Hyattsville City Council could arrive at a consensus on how to proceed with the University Hills Green Streets project. But the city council was unable to move forward on the issue because there were not enough council members present to legally conduct city business. Only five city council members attended last night's meeting. Mayor Marc Tartaro, Councilor Eric Wingard (Ward 1), Councilor Ruth Ann Frazier (Ward 5), Councilor Paula Perry (Ward 4) and Councilor Carlos Lizanne (Ward 4) were absent, not counting the council vacancy created by the resignation of former Councilor Nicole Hinds Mofor (Ward 5) earlier this year. According to the city charter, there must be at least six of the 11 members …

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Council Focuses on University Hills Streets

The only topic scheduled for discussion at tonight's Hyattsville City Council meeting is the University Hills Green Streets project.

The Hyattsville City Council will be meeting tonight to discuss how to proceed on the University Hills Green Streets Project, a proposed overhaul of the University Hills streetscape which could add new pavement, sidewalks and storm water drainage improvements throughout the northern Hyattsville neighborhood. The meeting will feature a public comment period, followed by a council discussion on the matter. Headed to the meeting? Brush up on the history of the project by browsing through Hyattsville Patch's recent coverage of the University Hills streetscape debate.

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Hyattsville Council Considers Special Meeting for UH Sidewalks

Mayor Marc Tartaro proposes special work session to discuss street improvements in University Hills.

The Hyattsville City Council will consider holding a special work session on Monday, March 25, to discuss a proposed overhaul of the University Hills streetscape.  The streets project, which has proven controversial among some residents who are opposed to sidewalks on their blocks, was tentatively slated for discussion at the March 18 council meeting. But Mayor Marc Tartaro's motion asking for the special work session said that the delay would allow more time for council deliberations and more time for additional comments from residents.  Hyattsville's elected leaders are tasked with determining the scope of the proposed project. A key hurdle to overcome is which streets in the neighborhood will be getting sidewalks.  But the project, if …

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Editor's Notebook

Tartaro: "Minimum" Sidewalk Vision Not Final Plan

Mayor says his "minimum point of departure" for University Hills sidewalks was a rhetorical device.

Hyattsville Mayor Marc Tartaro wants to make one thing clear: a description, offered by him during last Monday's meeting of the Hyattsville City Council of the minimum sidewalk network he'd like to see in University Hills, is in no way his final proposal for pedestrian pathways through the neighborhood. In a Sunday evening phone call to Hyattsville Patch editor Michael Theis, and through city spokesperson Abby Sandel on Monday, Tartaro reiterated that his "minimum point of departure" for University Hills sidewalks, as he described it during last Monday's meeting, was intended as a starting point for discussions as the city council prepares to make a decision on how to proceed with the neighborhood streetscape overhaul. He said a map …

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Scot Brown

8:13 am on Tuesday, March 12, 2013

OMG enough already... will someone be a leader? Make a decision and follow through with it. It's not that hard. We've been going around in circles for year already. That is plenty of time. If people have not spoken up by now then they have missed the chance. Build the things already and move on to the next topic.   more ›

Editor's Notebook

Mapping Support for Sidewalks in University Hills

Survey data released by the city of Hyattsville breaks down support for sidewalks on a block by block basis.

Hey Hyattsville! I want to reassure you that I an still alive, though I spent the second half of last week recovering from a fever. Unfortunately, my self imposed quarantine meant that I missed a much anticipated city meeting which reviewed the results of the University Hills sidewalk survey.  While I couldn't report on the he-said-she-said aspects of the meeting, city officials did make the survey response data public. From that data, a portion of which gauged the neighborhood's receptiveness to sidewalks on a street by street level, we can plot on a map the areas of University Hills where sidewalk opposition is stronger and weaker.  That's exactly what I did above. The greener the area means a dominant percentage of survey respondents on…

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Hyattsville to Release Results of UH Sidewalk Survey

Survey designed to gauge reception for sidewalk, street improvements in University Hills.

Hyattsville officials are set to release the results of a detailed survey which asked University Hills residents for feedback about a planned rehabilitation of the streetscape throughout the city's northern neighborhood. The city will review the results of the community survey at a meeting scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Adelphi Road. During the meeting, officials will also present a revised project schedule and other updates. The University Hills streetscape overhaul has been met with vocal opposition from some neighborhood residents, who voiced their concerns at a series of contentious community meetings held this past September.  Since those meetings, neighborhood residents have …

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Council Accepts Anti-Sidewalk Petitions

More than two-dozen residents of University Hills put pen to paper opposing new sidewalks in their neighborhood.

Does the University Hills neighborhood need new sidewalks? More than two-dozen residents of the northern Hyattsville neighborhood don't think so.  On Monday night, the Hyattsville City Council accepted a series of petitions from University Hills residents opposed to the installation of new sidewalks on their streets.  Last week, city officials held a series of contentious community meetings to review preliminary design proposals for an overhaul of the University Hills streetscape. The project, dubbed "University Hills Green Streets", calls for the installation of sidewalks throughout the neighborhood. The anti-sidewalk petitions contain the signatures of 26 residents in 20 households living on four different blocks in University Hills.  …

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