Hyattsville's Ward 4 Gets First Candidate

Residents of Hyattsville's Ward 4 finally have a city council candidate for this spring's municipal elections. 

According to City Clerk Laura Reams, Ward 4 resident Edouard Haba has officially filed to run for the seat currently held by long time Councilor Carlos Lizanne (Ward 4). Lizanne announced that he would not be seeking re-election in the spring, ending a 10 year career on the city council. 

Haba's filing means that there will be at least one city council candidate on the ballot for each of the five wards. 

With less than 11 days left for candidates to file for this year's biennial city council elections, some city residents were becoming anxious at the prospect of a completely uncontested seat in Ward 4. 

More than half of Hyattsville's City Council seats are up for election, with one from each ward, plus an additional seat up for election created by the resignation of former Councilor Nicole Hinds Mofor (Ward 4). The election will be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. 

Councilor Shani Warner (Ward 2) lit up the city's various listservs over the weekend with an impassioned plea for more people to throw their hat into the ring. 

"If you're holding back, hoping to free ride on someone else's initiative, someone more qualified, someone who's lived here longer, someone who represents a community that you know is missing from the conversation, someone who'd do a better job than you think you can do, I understand that too," wrote Warner. "Unfortunately, you might be waiting a long time for that person to show up."

Haba's filing is a developing story. 

News of the filing came late in the day, and filing documents were not immediately available to be reviewed. However, the documents will be made available to the media prior to tonight's city council meeting. 

Check back for updates as new information is learned. 

Interested in who else has registered to run so far? Check out the Hyattsville Patch Campaign Filing Countdown Calendar.