Historic trail gets green light

Council votes in favor of creating tour; some say money could be better spent

The trail will run only in Wards 1 and 2 and will cost the city more than $24,000, though no funds were appropriated for it Monday.

The City Council Monday night passed a motion to create the trail in an 8-3 vote with council members Mary Elwood, Paula Perry and Ruth Ann Frazier dissenting.

Perry is concerned the city is appropriating funds for a luxury instead of using it to enhance infrastructure.

‘‘Where’s the money gonna come from? In my opinion we have to stop [spending money on] things that could wait,” she said. ‘‘We need to really stop and take a look at the priorities of the city.”

‘‘I think we need to increase our police force and stop talking about walking tours,” resident Linn Taylor told the council at its Jan. 16 meeting.

The walking tour is one of 10 Priority Physical Improvements in Hyattsville’s Community Legacy Revitalization Plan that the City Council adopted in 2004. The Hyattsville Legacy Trails Task Force also was created in 2004 as a means for residents, staff and council members to form plausible standards for the project.

The council originally charged the task force to create a walk that would boost civic marketing efforts and heritage and create interest to preserve Hyattsville’s landmarks.

It will include signs directing walkers to landmarks, landscaping, wider sidewalks, benches and information kiosks.

Councilman Christopher Currie (Ward 2), the council’s task force liaison, said the path would promote community cohesiveness and help diffuse crime by showing that residents have pride in their city.

Costs for the trail would be spread over several years. Costs for lighting and crosswalk upgrades, and for landscaping have not been determined but could be worked into separate city programs.

Ward 3 resident Matthew McKnight sees the walking tour as a great benefit to the city and a deterrent to crime.

‘‘I’m all for it,” he said, adding the cost of a police officer’s annual salary is more than what the project will cost.

He is comfortable with the trail not running past his house because plans for future trail extensions include other wards.

‘‘Some of those [council members] are ... saying this plan is leaving out Wards 3, 4 and 5,” he said. ‘‘Well, I’m sorry, but where did they think a tour of historic buildings through Hyattsville was going to go?”

McKnight, who tracks crime in the city, said better lighting and wider sidewalks would draw people out of their homes and be a natural crime deterrent.

Perry has a more empirical view, saying the city should check its priorities.

‘‘This walking tour generates no funds but it has recurring costs,” she said. ‘‘If the city had the money, I wouldn’t have a problem with [it]. But at this point in time, we have people hollering that they want their streets re-paved and we have other infrastructure needs.”

The tour is expected to open in 2009, Currie said.

E-mail Sarah Nemeth at snemeth@gazette.net.