Week In Review

A multiple shooting about 200 feet outside Hyattsville at the intersection of Queens Chapel and Chillum roads capped off this week.

According to county police spokesman Cpl. Evan Baxter county police were approaching a vehicle they had pulled over in a parking lot in front of the CVS at Queens Chillum Shopping Center. The suspect inside the car opened fire on the officers, who then returned fire.

One police officer was shot and is in stable condition. A suspect was shot, but Baxter said he could not confirm the person's condition. No one had died as of about 9:30 p.m. Saturday night.

Robert J. King Memorial Park is temporarily closed due to diesel contamination. Upon investigation, the city found that a fountain at Robert J. King Memorial Park on Gallatin Street was contaminated with a substance that appeared to be diesel. A Hazmat truck was called and the fountain was pumped out, Purvis said.

Land in the park must be remediated due to the contamination, but there is no danger to the drinking water of those living immediately around the park, Purvis said, adding that he's unsure when the park will be reopened.

On Friday, writer and filmmaker Tanecia Britt brought forth her weekly column about life in and around Hyattsville.

“ I’m rather enjoying the time to myself to focus on upcoming projects. While in the midst of my editorial crunch I decided to take a ride to one of my favorite places to get seafood in the Hyattsville area—El Dorado Seafood. This place sits nestled in an overcrowded small shopping center on Ager Road.”

Governor Martin O’Malley declared a State of Emergency in Maryland Thursday because of the potential flooding. This declaration calls the Maryland National Guard to active service and gives emergency operations access to state resources when needed.

Patch reported that Mayor William Gardiner and the City Council on Monday voted in favor of increasing mayoral and council pay after the May 2013 city election.

This was the first reading of the motion, which would up the pay for the mayor—Gardiner is not running for re-election this year—to $7,600 in 2013 and $7,800 in 2014. For council members, the pay would increase to $5,000 in 2013 and then to $5,200 in 2014.

We kicked off our series of videos about how to go green in Hyattsville with a short film of local environmentalist Jim Groves talking about corn stoves. Watch for more of these to come soon!

On Tuesday we reported that the on March 7 went through the motions of a second reading on a policy to amend the city code to allow for speed cameras to be set up and to establish school zones in or near Hyattsville. The cameras would operate from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and would only take photos of cars traveling 12 or more miles over the speed limit.

Next week look for articles about the coming real property tax rate, a how to video about getting an engraved dog tag for Fido and the thoughts of locals about proposed cuts to the state school budget.