Ward 3 Dems Fiddle while....

A recent action by the Ward 3 Dems is highlighted in Greater Greater Washington. Not surprising that this organization becomes increasingly irrelevant, even to voters in the Ward who supported Republican Patrick Mara in the recent At-Large special election.

At-Large Candidate Suggests a Challenge to Cheh

Tim Craid of the Washington Post reports on a failed back room deal that would have ANC3E member Frumin drop out of the At-Large Council race to garner support for a potential challenge to Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh.

According to the article, Frumin rebuffed the overtures and desire to challenge the incumbent next year.

CPCA Hosts Candidate Forum

The Cleveland Park Citizens Association held a forum for the At-Large Council candidates this past Thursday. The election is on Tuesday April 23, at the regular precinct polling places. One Cleveland Park Listserv contributor offered this review:



I want to commend the Cleveland Park Citizens' Association and moderator Mark
Plotkin for an entertaining and informative candidates' forum this past
Thursday. Interest in Tuesday's special election for an at-large DC City
Council seat was very high --about 150-- which speaks highly of the civic
mindedness of our neighborhood. I found the forum extremely revelatory of the
candidates' positions and character, but as I was leaving, I heard many people
say that they still didn't know who to vote for. So I want to offer my take on
the event and the candidates.

There seemed to me two candidates present who reflected the generally
centrist-liberal politics and community activism of Cleveland Park-- Democrats
Matthew Frumin and Elissa Silverman. Mr. Frumin offered a positive, uplifting
view of the future of DC as a growing, populous area with more than adequate
resources to solve our remaining problems. He embodies a local politician in
the best sense of the word: someone who talks to all citizens and brings them
together to find common, consensus solutions to sticky issues. Ms.
Silverman-surprisingly-struck me as negative, wanting to criticize opposing
groups and council members rather than bringing them together.

Statehood Green party candidate Perry Redd was engaging, articulate and very
funny. He attracted the most applause and laughter of all the candidates at the
forum, and has generated widespread support among all the candidates for his
party's core issues of DC budget autonomy and statehood. But his positions
struck me as significantly to the left of those of most of the people in this
community, particularly that calling for a DC minimum wage of $14 per hour.

Democrat Paul Zukerberg is campaigning on the single issue of marijuana
decriminalization, and has also generated widespread support for this issue both
among his fellow candidates and according to a recent automated phone poll. But
he appeared much less well informed and competent than the other candidates to
address the other issues that are more central to DC's future.

Based on what I heard Thursday, I have real concerns about Republican Patrick
Mara. Even as just a member of the State Board of Education, a body with very
limited responsibilities and authority, he seems to be a professional politician
with no other means of income or support. He seemed unable to provide a
straight answer to many questions, dancing around issues ranging from the
meaning of his party affiliation to whether restaurants should provide their
employees with paid sick leave. I left concerned that --even before joining the
Council-- Mr. Mara was beholden to special interests that remained undefined.
Reports in the Washington Post that he may have tried to sell his contributors'
list only add to that concern.

Interim City Council member and Democrat Anita Bonds was absent from the forum
but not from the conversation. It was reported that Ms. Bonds has failed to
participate in any candidates' forums or special events since her controversial
April 8 appearance on the Kojo Nnamdi show, in which she intimated that black
voters should support her because she was black. Ms. Bonds' voice also seems
notably absent from Council discussions in the several months that she has been
on the Council. It appears she may not be cut out for the rough, tumble and
constituent contact of city politics.


The Vote is April 23rd.

Park Van Ness

Greater Greater Washington reports on the BF Saul redevelopment proposal for Van Ness Square. Dubbed Park Van Ness, this mixed-use development would replace the surface parking lot and commercial building which straddles the east side of Connecticut Avenue adjacent to Soapstone Creek.

Pepco Upgrades in the Area

From ANC 3F:

Pepco is working hard to provide safe and reliable electrical service to our valued customers and to support the needs of our region. As a part of this commitment, we will be upgrading existing infrastructure in areas near Friendship Heights.

Pepco has a three-phase project scheduled to start in your community in the next few weeks (Phase 1). This project involves:

Upgrading three primary lines (higher-voltage feeder lines that carry power to about 1,100 customers in a specific area) to more than triple their capacity, from 4 kilovolt (kV) to 13 kV

Alleviating load from the Harrison Substation by transferring three 4 kV feeders to the Oliver Substation. This work is similar to other 4 kV conversion projects completed throughout the District of Columbia.

We have enclosed a map that outlines the areas in your community that will be affected by this work. Portions of Phase 1 will occur in ANC 3F, Phase 2 and 3 are not in ANC 3F.

Phase 1

In the first phase of this project, we will construct a new 13 kV feeder to allow the transfer of the three 4 kV Harrison Substation feeders to the Van Ness Substation. On the attached map, the pink line shows the location of this new feeder. Pepco will use an existing underground conduit to install about 7,000 feet of new cable. By using an existing conduit, we’ll minimize the area we have to excavate. We also will install one new cable pole on 41st St. N.W., just north of Fesseden Street. This pole will be the transition point between the underground cable installed in phase 1 and the overhead 13 kV feeders discussed in phase 2. Finally, we will construct a new manhole to house equipment near the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Fesseden Street N.W. We expect to start this phase in two weeks and take about six to eight weeks.

Phase 2

In the second phase, we will convert three 4 kV feeders to 13 kV and remove the 4kV infrastructure. On the map, the green line outlines this work. To convert the feeders, we will set a new 13kV pole line next to the existing 4 kV pole line. Once the new poles are in place and the pole hardware is mounted, we will install the overhead 13 kV lines and connect them to the 13 kV underground feeder that was extended from the Van Ness Substation. After we energize the new lines, we will remove the existing 4 kV infrastructure. We will need to trim trees to be able to install the new lines. Our arborist is meeting with the District Department of Transportation’s Urban Forestry Administration to identify which trees might need to be pruned or removed, and we will share a list of those trees with the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. We expect to start work in April on this phase, which is expected to take about six to nine months to complete. Field inspections may require changes to work locations. We will provide an update should this occur.

Phase 3

The last phase will be to transfer three 4 kV feeder lines from the Harrison Substation to the Oliver Substation. This work is shown on the map with the light blue line. We will construct new conduits and manholes to house the new cables between these two substations. We expect to start work on this phase in June, and it will take six to nine months.

We at Pepco are committed to keep you updated throughout this project. We’ll dedicate a page on our pepco.com website to provide project details, including work locations, hours, and impacts on parking and traffic. We’ll perform the work as efficiently as possible. Please note that we’ll have to finish work on specific cable sections before moving to a new section, so residents should not expect to see our crews in one location for the entire phase. We would be happy to present these plans to you at an ANC meeting. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please contact us. This information will also be provided to other impacted Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.

Zoning Commission Approves Babes

On January 14th, the Zoning Commission unanimously approved the proposal to develope the Babes site in Tenleytown without parking.

In exchange, the neighborhood will receive amenities such as additional car and bike sharing facilities, streetscape improvements and costly undergrounding of utilities.

ANC 3E had previously supported the proposal unanimously.

Exciting New Project in Glover Park

Urban Turf covers a new development in Glover Park. As long as the hardware store stays, it's all good!

Zoning Rewrite Presentation

The DC Office of Planning will host the Ward 3 forum for the zoning rewrite 6:30pm, Wilson High School, 3950 Chesapeake Street NW.

Much has been written on the Chevy Chase Listserv about a few main proposals:

- to eliminate parking minimums in transit zones
- to allows for corner stores and markets
- to allow renters to live in garden apartments and accessory dwelling units.

You can read more about these proposals on the DC Office of Planning website and blog.