Alsobrooks to Have Smooth Transition to Prince George's Exec

(Click on the image for Tracee Wilkins' News4 report)

Which Grocery Stores Offer the Best Prices and Quality?

(Click on the image for the Washington Consumers' Checkbook summary)

Note: The summary is available to all but the individual store ratings require a subscription. Copies of Washington Consumers' Checkbook are available in local libraries.

Checkbook surveys consumers and evaluates the quality and prices of local service providers and products. Subscriptions help to fund this valuable source of unbiased information.

Complaints about noise from Washington-area airports skyrocket

(Click on the image for Lori Aratani's Washington Post report)

• Complaints about noise from flights at the Washington region’s three major airports more than doubled last year, according to statistics compiled by the agencies that manage the facilities.
• Residents filed more than 96,000 noise complaints linked to flights at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall, Reagan National and Dulles International airports in 2017 — more than double the number filed the previous year.
• In a shift from previous years, the majority of complaints about National — roughly 31,000 — came from residents in Maryland. In previous years, D.C. residents, particularly in Northwest Washington, had been the most vocal about aircraft noise. The largest number of complaints came from people living in the Maryland communities of Accokeek, Bethesda, Potomac and Rockville.
• [How to Submit an Aircraft Noise Complaint for Reagan National]

Kindness Contagion

(Click on the image for Jamil Zaki's Scientific American article)

Conformity gets a bad rap, and it often deserves one. People abuse drugs, deface national parks, and spend $150,000 on tote bags after seeing others do so. Peer pressure doesn’t have to be all bad, though. People parrot each other’s voting, healthy eating, and environmental conservation efforts, too. They also “catch” cooperation and generosity from others. Tell someone that his neighbors donated to a charity, and that person will boost his own giving, even a year later. Such good conformity appears promising, but also narrow. Prior experiments, for instance, focus almost exclusively on people who observe others engage in a particular positive action (say, recycling) and later imitate that same action.
In a set of new studies, my colleagues and I highlight a broader flavor of positive conformity. We find that people imitate not only the particulars of positive actions, but also the spirit underlying them. This implies is that kindness itself is contagious, and that that it can cascade across people, taking on new forms along the way. To be a potent social force, positive conformity requires such flexibility. Not everyone can afford to donate to charity or spend weeks on a service trip to Haiti. Witnessing largesse in others, then, could inhibit would-be do-gooders who feel that they can’t measure up. Our work suggests that an individual’s kindness can nonetheless trigger people to spread positivity in other ways.

Here’s What Crystal City Will Look Like After Amazon Arrives

(Click on the image for  Marisa M. Kashino's Washingtonian report)

Planning for Snow

(Click on the image for the full briefing)

• Primary and Collector Roads – plowed during snowfall, treated only if needed during snowfall.
• Residential Roads – plowed after snowfall ends.
       Secondary Roads – plowed first
       Cul-de-sacs and Dead Ends – plowed last
• Park off the road if at all possible, on narrow roads - park on the even side, never park on a snow emergency route.
• Clear driveways, hydrants, mailboxes and sidewalks after plowing is completed.
• Remove hoses from outside spigots and drain interior pipes leading to the spigots.
• Be very careful with space heaters.
• Be prepared for power outages (does your sump pump have a battery backup?).
• Be prepared for water main breaks (WSSC reports 819 breaks in January alone).
• Look out for vulnerable neighbors.

Maryland Homeowners Surprised by $40,000 Flood Cleanup Bill

(Click on the image for Susan Hogan's News4 report)

"After flash flooding swept through Frederick, Maryland, in May, homeowners hired a company to clean up the damage, but they said they weren’t kept up to date about the cost of the cleanup and they were shocked when the bill came to more than $40,000."

Don't Get Bitten by Pet Insurance

(Click on the image for the Washington Consumers' Checkbook report)

To assess the true value of pet insurance, we gathered premium quotes from nine plans, obtained price data showing what veterinarians actually charge for hundreds of services, and interviewed executives from nine leading insurers. We worked with the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine to develop a reasonable basket of vet services for our model pets: Woof, a medium-size male mixed-breed dog; and Kitty, a male mixed-breed cat. We then conducted an in-depth cost/benefit analysis of the nine plans.

Passing of Margaret Blewitt

Dear Neighbors,
We are sad to report the passing of Margaret Blewitt, a long-time resident of Willow Wind Circle. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.

From the Kalas Funeral Home website:
Margaret Hayden Blewitt of Fort Washington, Maryland. Born in Bronx, New York June 25, 1931. Passed away in her sleep from respiratory failure on November 2, 2018 at the age of four score and seven (87) years. Married Don Blewitt February 13, 1954. Mother of 6 children. Grandmother of 12. Followed by a career as a Bank Executive. Retired in 1999. Lived her remaining years and died as she wished at her home of 44 years in Fort Washington, Maryland..
Preceded by Parents John Hayden and Margaret Stapleton Hayden of the Bronx. Brother John Hayden of Bronx. Husband Donald Joseph Blewitt of the Bronx. Brothers and Sisters–in-law, Roy and Gloria Blewitt , Bill and Ginny Schlotman, Eileen Hayden and Joan Blewitt Peterson.
Succeeded by Sons Russ of Delaware, Don of Virginia, and Ted of Virginia. Daughters Jeanne of New York, Pam of Maryland and Deb of Maryland. 12 Grandchildren Mandy, Lauren, Matt, Robbie, Patrick, Skyler, Kellie, Chris, Tori, Drew, Madison and Bailey. 7 Great Grandchildren One surviving Brother in law, Joel Peterson of South Carolina, 21 Nieces and Nephews, well over 40 of their beloved Spouses, Great Nieces and Nephews .
Viewing at Kalas Funeral Home in Oxon Hill, MD. Friday November 9, 2018. 2-4 pm. and 6-8 pm.
Funeral Mass at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Piscataway, Maryland. Saturday November 10, 2018 at 11 am.

Dr. Haitham Hijazi, Director of the Prince George’s County Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement, Retires

The Status of Retail and What the County Is Doing to Improve It (from Sep 2016)

(Click on the image for the briefing)

• Too many shopping centers (241) in county and too many are strip/convenience or neighborhood type.
• Too much inventory suppresses rent and encourages "Mom & Pop" stores to move to better centers.
• Lower-end stores at better centers discourage higher-end shoppers from shopping there and higher-end stores from moving there.
• The lack of higher-end retail causes consumers to spend $1.4 billion annually out of the county. That's the cost of MGM National Harbor!
• Response from local officials: Retail location decisions are made by private enterprise, not government. Fort Washington has the demand and the income but not the population density to attract higher-end retail.