Sunday, September 18, 2016

Hearst Heats Up

The DC Department of General Services recently held a public meeting to discuss the renovation of the Hearst Recreation Center on 37th Street between Cleveland Park and North Cleveland Park - or Wakefield, depending on what you want to call the NoQue area.

At the meeting, DGS shared a presentation with 3 options, all of which included an outdoor swimming pool. This would be a very exciting development for residents in the area, many of whom have been asking the city for an outdoor pool in upper NW for decades.

Of course, the regular fears and complaints are present: the pool is too small to be useful, the pool is too large and takes away other park amenities, traffic, parking, maintenance - you name it, they are all re-hashed from any proposals that suggest change in the area.

There is a supporter petition and website.

There is an opposition website as well, but if you support a great public amenity, stay tuned for an official DGS survey, coming out shortly.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Hearst Recreation Center Public Meeting

The Department of General Services (DGS) has selected Cox Graee + Spack as the Architectural Firm to work with DGS, the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and the community to develop concept designs for the modernization of Hearst Park.

The first community meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10, 2016 @ 7:00 pm. The meeting will be held at Hearst Elementary School located at 3950 37th Street NW in the school’s gymnasium.

The goal of the meeting is to:

1. Introduce the DGS and DPR project team members,
2. Introduce the AE firm team members,
3. To provide an overview of the project including information about the proposed pool,
4. To provide next steps for the project and
5. To answer any questions residents have about the project.

Monday, June 08, 2015

Discussion over a Diverter

From Greater Greater Washington in Friendship Heights.

Friday, June 06, 2014

An Outdoor Pool for Ward 3 Survey

As posted to the Cleveland Park Listserv:

Did you know Ward 3 is the only ward without an outdoor swimming pool?


You may have read the recent article in the NW Current where Councilmember Cheh was quoted as having identified or secured funds necessary to bring an outdoor pool to Ward 3. It is important that residents of the Ward show strong support for this effort. As such, a quick survey was created to show this support.


Let’s make this a reality. The time is indeed now! Action today will mean our community could have a usable outdoor pool by summer of 2016, so there’s no time to waste.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Zoning Comission Coming to Ward 3 on Feb 11

In response to suggestions that the DC Office of Planning and the DC Office of Zoning have no had enough public input into the proposed zoning rewrite, the Zoning Commission has decided to take their show on the road. The Ward 3 event will take place on February 11 at Wilson High School, 6:00 PM. Those who have already testified in person are not supposed to be able to testify again. As such, this is an important opportunity for new voices to be heard.

The city is expected to grow by 100,000 to 200,000 new residents in the coming decades. If you think the roads are already choked and parking is already difficult, then the way to grow the population without the negative impacts that an auto-centric lifestyle bring is to support the Office of Planning proposals.

Please come out to Wilson on February 11th and let the Zoning Commission know that you support a sustainable and resilient District of Columbia.

For more information, please The DC Zoning Update and some additional resources.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Cleveland Park Service Road Survey

A Cleveland Park resident took it upon himself to establish a survey regarding the Service Road between Macomb and Ordway Streets at Connecticut Avenue in the Cleveland Park commercial district. Here are the results:


500 opinions are registered! 60% of these were residents of Cleveland Park. A few highlights from the data:



A majority of our community would like to see the service lane changed. 56% of Cleveland Park residents, and 55% of the sample overall, are looking for something other than the status quo when it comes to the CP service lane.


Among people who support the status quo, the Flex Space was their preferred second choice by a wide margin.


Among those supporting a full restoration of the sidewalk, a partial extension was, by far, their second choice.


- Keep Service Lane (Option 1) 44%

- Restore Sidewalk (Option 4) 30%

- Partial Sidewalk Extension (Option 3) 15%

- Flex Space (Option 2) 10%



There were very significant demographic difference on this issue within the community, primarily on age. Among CP residents 18-44, 77% want to see something done with the service lane. Among CP residents 45+, 60% want to see the service lane remain unchanged.


Similarly, there were big differences by the type of housing one has. Two-thirds (67%) of those living in a multi-unit building want the service lane changed. 56% of those living in single family houses would like to keep the status quo.


This sample has 52% of CP respondents living in multi-unit buildings. This is not even close to being representative of the neighborhood. There are approximately 1100 houses in CP compared to 1900 condo units. That doesn’t count apartments. Just provide some perspective, Quebec House alone has nearly 900 units. Newark St, from Connecticut Ave to Wisconsin, has 82 homes.



87% of CP residents walk to the CP strip, and 47% drive (yes, many do both). When asked their primary mode of transportation to the businesses on the CP strip, 70% of CP residents said they primarily walk, while 26% said they primarily drive.


70% of those who primarily walk to the strip would like to see the service lane changed. 86% of those who primarily drive to the strip would not like to see the service lane changed.


The raw results can be found at a public dropbox.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Your Future Tenleytown

From Ward 3 Vision:

Neighborhoods across DC are changing in ways not imaginable even a decade ago. New housing developments are popping up all over the Logan Circle area, Shaw, NOMA and other downtown areas; new restaurants open weekly; bike lanes, Cars-2-Go and other new transit modes abound. We even have Union Market – DC’s aspiring answer to robust city markets like Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.

And then there’s Tenleytown – the staid, grey lady. Home to very desirable residential neighborhoods but bounded by the at-best uninspiring Wisconsin Avenue retail corridor. Why hasn’t Tenleytown experienced the same renaissance as other parts of the city? More importantly, what are the opportunities for its future?

Ward 3 Vision, a group of local citizens who can imagine our neighborhoods as even better urban places – more walkable, sustainable, and vibrant – is sponsoring a “Tenleytown Visioning Workshop” and invites interested neighbors and citizens to discuss these questions and more. The workshop will be held on 9 November 2013 at American University’s Nebraska Hall (one of its new residence halls, adjacent to the Katzen Center), beginning at 9am, and will bring together denizens of Tenleytown and surrounding neighborhoods to share your vision, hopes and blue-sky dreams for Tenleytown.

Click here to register.