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UNSOLVED MURDER Vigil marks 20th anniversary of teen’s death. A-5
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DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Thursday, March 26, 2015
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Residents: Fix won’t drive them from homes Piscataway Drive reconstruction follows May 2014 slope failure n
BY
DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
Despite facing six months without vehicular access to their homes, Piscataway Hills residents say they’ll stay put while a main road through their community is repaired and strengthened. Prince George’s County officials told residents Wednesday evening that the reconstruction of 1,750 feet of Piscataway Drive is expected to begin in the late spring and last until the late fall, depending on the weather and right-of-way acquisition. But the road work and slope repair, which will require the use of an 18-foot-wide crane, will block the road to both cars and pedestrians for the duration of the project, officials said. Residents who have been able to return home said they plan to stay there during construction, and will walk through each other’s yards after parking farther down Piscataway Drive. A slope failure May 4 damaged water and sewer lines and caused a section of the road to collapse, causing many residents to be temporarily evacuated and some, who lived in houses on top of the slope, to leave their homes permanently. The county is negotiating the purchase of six uninhabitable homes, officials said.
Workshop, contest aimed at making community greener n
DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
Bowie’s Green Team wanted to talk water: where it comes from, where it goes, and how to use less of it. But there weren’t many people there to listen. Turnout at the workshop, which drew eight people to Bowie City Hall was disappointing, said Jamie
Opponents say measure should be brought to referendum vote BY JAMIE
Letter from retailer claimed Planning Board took action months before actual vote BY
DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
Bowie-area residents and members of the Prince George’s County Planning Board were upset that a letter from Walmart to the community made false claims about the board’s action, but officials still voted to move the project forward. The retailer wants to put a new location at the Duvall Village Shopping Center, and after initially approving the project last year the board was asked by the District Council in September to reconsider some aspects of the plan. The Planning Board chastised
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TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Daisy McClelland and other Piscataway Hills residents are concerned about the si-month estimate for reinforcement work in an area where a 2014 landslide occurred along Piscataway Drive in Fort Washington, which will completely shut down the road to vehicle and pedestrian traffic, isolating the residences. “It makes grocery shopping interesting,” said Kevin Simpson, who lives in one of 22 homes in the community that are still occupied. Simpson said he and his wife plan
Vavra, chair of the group’s executive committee. “It’s something we have to work on,” she said. Scheduling conflicts kept the workshop from being held on a weekend, which would have drawn a larger group, she said. Previous workshops held by the group, such as one last year on reducing pesticide and herbicide use in lawn care, have drawn upwards of 30 people, Vavra said. But the volunteer group, founded in 2011, remains focused on promoting sustainability in
the retailer for a Nov. 13 letter to community members, which suggested that the board had already re-approved the project. “The District Council remanded (or sent back) the project to the Planning Board for further review. Following the remand, the Planning Board found there was no legal justification for the remand and will be considering next steps,” Walmart Community Affairs Director Nina Albert wrote in the letter. But at that time, the board had made no such finding. The Nov. 13 letter was brought to the board’s attention at the March 19 meeting by Jennifer Dwyer, who lives near the shopping center and has helped organize community opposition to
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ANFENSON-COMEAU STAFF WRITER
to stay for the duration if possible. Simpson’s neighbor, Daisy McClelland, said she would “absolutely” stay in her house and that most, if not all, of her neighbors
planned to do the same. County officials, however, would prefer that residents didn’t
See SLOPE, Page A-7
Bowie, and April is going to be busy. They’re sponsoring an Earth Day concert and student art show at the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts on April 18, and participating in the fifth annual Bowie Green Expo — hosted by the Bowie Lions Club — which showcase various green products and services. The team is also hoping to engage more residents next month by appealing to the city’s competitive spirit. In April, cities all over the country can participate in My Water
Pledge, a friendly competition to see which communities can conserve the most water, said Kristin Larson, the city’s sustainability planner and staff liaison to the Green Team. The city of Bowie is taking part, and residents can sign up online and pledge to take various steps to conserve water, Larson said at the workshop. “It’s a way to take what we learned here today and put it into action,” Larson said.
See WATER, Page A-7
Despite false claims, Walmart project moves forward n
Opposition mounts to proposed tax increase n
Bowie group dives in with water conservation BY
SPORTS: Bowie’s track teams looking for toughness to win state titles. B-1
See WALMART, Page A-7
DANIEL LEADERMAN/THE GAZETTE
Jennifer Dwyer is one of many Bowie-area residents who oppose putting a Walmart store in the Duvall Village shopping center.
TAKING IT PERSONALLY Students search inward for inspiration at the 2015 Prince George’s Area Science Fair.
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Volume 18, No. 9, Two sections, 20 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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Fort Washington resident Earl O’Neal said he is enraged by County Executive Rushern L. Baker’s proposed 15 percent tax increase to fund a $133 million county increase in the school system budget. “There is no doubt that there is great need in Prince George’s County. But money is not going to fix what is wrong with our schools,” O’Neal said during Monday’s County Council meeting. Thirteen people spoke out against the tax increase, and no one spoke in favor. Approximately 45 people were in attendance. Baker is proposing raising residential and commercial property taxes approximately 15 percent to fund a large increase in education spending by the county. He is also proposing increasing the telecommunications tax from 8 percent to 12 percent. Approximately $127.9 million would be raised to go towards the county school system’s request of $117.5 million in addition to the $15.5 million maintenance of effort increase required under state law. Maryland state law requires school systems to maintain as a minimum, the per pupil funding amount in the previous year, referred to as maintenance of effort. Should the tax increase go into effect, Prince George’s would have one of the highest residential
See TAX, Page A-6
Colonial picnic pitched for Upper Marlboro n
Darnall’s Chance event among ideas to fill Marlborough Day void BY
DANIEL LEADERMAN STAFF WRITER
With the once-annual Marlborough Day festival now just a memory, Susan Reidy is launching a new celebration of Upper Marlboro she hopes will put more focus on the town’s rich Colonial history. The director of the Darnall’s Chance House Museum is organizing a “Colonial picnic” June 13 that she says will feature militia re-enactments, blacksmithing and gunsmith demonstrations, Colonial music, an 18th-century-style tightrope walker and period science displays. Reidy hopes to make the picnic an annual tradition that could grow every year, she said. The museum, located in the former home of Lettice Lee — a woman who lived in Upper Marlboro in the mid-18th century and died in 1776 — has been restored to reflect the period when Lee lived there and places a special emphasis on the lives of women of that time. The picnic comes at a time when the Upper Marlboro community is looking for events to replace Marlborough Day, a celebration that used to occur every year and featured local crafts, food and
See PICNIC, Page A-6