Hyattsville’s 2021 election season is here, and with 20 candidates running for five ward seats and the mayor’s office, it may be the biggest election the city has ever seen. All week long, Route 1 Reporter will be introducing you to as many of the candidates as possible in a series of video interviews. Over the past week, Route1Reporter has interviewed 15 of the 20 candidates running. Today, we unveil the interviews with the only candidate running in Ward Four, incumbent City Councilor Edouard Haba, whose interview is below.
In these interviews, each candidate was asked six questions. The questions were not shared with the candidates beforehand. The questions are also fairly broad, providing candidates an opportunity to introduce themselves and describe their approach to local government policymaking.
Hyattsville’s election season concludes May 11, 2021.
Theis:
Hello. My name is Michael Theis editor and publisher of route one, reporter.com. I’m here today with Ward Four city councilor, Edouard Haba, the only candidate running in ward four in all. Hyattsville has 20 candidates running for five ward seats and the mayor’s office. This interview and others are intended to be a broad introduction to the candidates and their approach to local government policy and policymaking. Let’s begin. Council member Haba. How are you doing today?
Haba:
I’m good, Michael, thank you for having me here. It’s an honor.
Theis:
Excellent. An honor? First question. Tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you do and how did you come to live in Hyattsville?
Haba:
Professionally I am a mediator. I do family mediation at DC superior court. And I’m also a dad of three young boys. Uh, eight and five, Edie and Walter, and my wife and I moved to Hyattsville in 2009 from D.C., when were, you know, planning to start a family. So that’s how we ended up in Hyattsville.
Theis:
Okay. Second question. You are, you’re an incumbent, you’re running for reelection. Why are you running for Hyattsville City Council
Haba:
I’m running because I believe we need to continue to build on the progress that we have achieved so far. Hyattsville is definitely a good place to leave but we need to continue to maintain that momentum. We should not lower our guards. There is a lot of development coming to the city, but we need to find a way to make it sustainable development to continue to build a city that is welcoming to everyone, that maintains its diversity both racially, economically, professionally so that everyone can feel at home in Hyattsville; So building that welcoming city for children and for those who are coming new to Hyattsville, just the way we found it. So maintaining the legacy, and helping also our seniors to continue to age in place, it would be a good idea. So that’s, what’s keeps me, I don’t want you to continue to run for city council and make that change and impact.
Theis:
Okay. Then third question. What is the most pressing issue facing Hyattsville right now and what policies would you pursue to address it?
Haba:
So, as I was mentioning earlier there is a lot of development coming into the city, so making sure that those developments are also mindful of the fabric that we have in Hyattsville. So still continuing to be able to maintain that diversity. So that’s why one of the policies that I would be interested in working on and we have studied previously is making sure that housing affordability is kept in Hyattsville, that people are not priced out of Hyattsville and that we maintain our, you know, I guess, unique fabric of diversity. So that’s really something that we’ll be focusing on for the next four years.
Theis:
Okay. Fourth question. What is a unique skill or perspective you would bring to the job? And normally in this question with the other candidates, I add if elected we’ll get into that bit later, because you are running unopposed, but what’s a unique skill or perspective you would bring to this job?
Haba:
Well we with all the humility. I think my unique strength would be my ability to listen and also to keep an open mind on issues. I’m not someone who thinks that my way’s the only way. I always approach things with an open mind. I’m willing to listen and learn and being able to find that common ground or middle ground that we can work within and move forward.
Theis:
My fifth question here: Almost all of the city council races this year are competitive. You are the one race that is running unopposed. Why should people vote for you anyways?
Haba:
Well, yes, I’m Running unopposed. But I will tell people that although I am running unopposed. I’m not sitting at home enjoying my days. I’m still going out there on the weekend meeting residents, because I believe is not just about the title we ran for office because we wanted to make impact. And those impact can be made only if we listen to residents, we learn what are the concerns and what we need to work on. So that’s why I’m still out there meeting residents, talking to them, trying to find out exactly what are the things that we need to still continue to work on. So it’s always uh, a privilege as you can for me to be out there and to meet race and you, my neighbors.
Theis:
Excellent. Um, the last question, many hot button issues in our national political discourse are at their heart local issues. And these are things such as policing, education policy or debates over renaming landmarks and parks. How do you identify politically in a national context, such as Democratic, Republican, progressive conservative, or any other term, and how do those values inform the policies you would pursue here in Hyattsville?
Haba:
If I want to use the label I’m a Democrata at core at the same time, again, as I was saying, my approach is always to keep an open mind. So even with those who are on the progressive side or on the conservative side of the Democratic party, or even those who are from the Republican party, I’m always open to hearing and talking and working things out because at the end of the day, whatever is decided is going to impact everyone it’s not going to – it’s not just going to impact Democrat or Republican. It’s going to impact everyone. So I’m open and listening.
Theis:
Excellent. Well Councilor Haba, I’d like to thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me. Uh, at this point I don’t have any further questions to everyone watching along home on route one, reporter.com. Thank you for following along. And if you live in Hyattsville, get out there and vote on May 11th. Have a good day, everybody.
Haba:
Thank you.