DDOT Livability Study

Please join us to discuss your neighborhood’s transportation safety and quality of life.




From the DC Department of Transportation:


When: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: The Methodist Home of DC, 4901 Connecticut Avenue NW

How: Accessible from Metrobus routes L1, L2, L4, and M4

3/4 mile from Van Ness-UDC and Tenleytown-AU Metro stations

Limited off-street parking available; we encourage carpooling and alternative travel modes


We want to hear from you!

The District of Department of Transportation (DDOT) is hosting a public meeting for the Rock Creek West II Livability Study. At this meeting, you will hear about the study and have an opportunity to talk about your streets and let us know what works and doesn’t work. Your feedback on specific issues and hot spots will help determine the focus and recommendations of this study, which will be discussed in future meetings.



About the study

DDOT Livability Studies will take a “big picture” look at our street network and identify concrete actions to increase transportation safety and options. For more information about the study, please visit the site after June 4, 2010.

Chevy Chase ANC About Face?

According to the Northwest Current, the Chevy Chase ANC (3/4 G) has approved a request from the residents of the 5100 block of Chevy Chase Parkway for speed humps. The Katie Pierce article suggests that DDOT recommended 3 humps for the block, but that the Commission decided to lend its expertise to the traffic planning realm by suggesting fewer humps than DDOT recommended.

This is not uncommon for this ANC after Military Road and Morrison Street.

The question presents, what is different about the request from Chevy Chase Parkway residents, that the ANC supported a safer street, but not for Morrison Street, which shares the characteristic of being on the block feeding Connecticut Avenue adjacent to a busier street (McKinley for Morrison, Fessenden and Nebraska for Chevy Chase Parkway)? Both sets of residents claimed speeding cars, not traffic volumes as the reason for the traffic calming measure. Both sets of residents relied on DDOT policy, which favors the residents in all cases related to speed humps. Has this ANC softened on the issue?

American University: Long Range Plan

Neil Flanagan covers the long range plans for The American University. Preliminary drawing show development to the south of Nebraska Avenue between Ward Circle and New Mexico Avenue, and the relocation of the Law School from the Spring Valley commercial strip to the former Immaculata Campus on Tenley Circle.

Will this be another case of the infamous "Tenleytown NIMBYs" fighting in-whole another opportunity to remake the community, or will cooler heads prevail to reshape the University and the entire stretch of Wisconsin Avenue from Van Ness to Tenleytown?

Mayoral Face-off: June 10th

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray have agreed to participate in a Neighborhoods Mayoral Forum in Ward 3 on Thursday, June 10 at 7:30 PM at St. Columba's Episcopal Church, 4201 Albemarle Street NW. All residents of the community are invited to attend. The forum is sponsored by the Ward Three Democratic Committee and the Federation of Citizens Associations of the District of Columbia. A mayoral straw poll also will be held that evening.

CPCA: An Update

Many may recall the contested campaign and election last year between the Unity Slate and the Reform Slate for the leadership of the Cleveland Park Citizen's Association. The Unity Slate won, ostensibly because of the endorsement and support of the previous leadership in the form of direct campaigning by former board members and interested members, and rides to the polling place for selected voters.

According to sources, after the better part of 9 months, there has been little to no progress in many of the promises made by the Unity Slate to provide open discussion and rule making for the organization. The conditions are so dire that one long time Cleveland Park resident and community archivist has decided not to run for an office this spring.

Part of the rationalization is that Many people have told me that I am wasting my time with what is really a club for 30-50 home owners on Newark and surrounding streets that get to play with the dues of almost a thousand others and pretend to represent all of Cleveland Park.

This has been a wasted opportunity for an activist community to show the District of Columbia how good governance can prevail in a small neighborhood setting. It is certainly chilling for the prospects of an organization that will certainly try to speak for the community again in the future.

DC Mud on Walgreens

The Walgreen's invasion of Ward 3 and the District has begun. The new store in the former Yenching Palace site in Cleveland Park appears to be open for business. However, the Van Ness store may require some more thought according to DC Metro Urban Diary.

It certainly seems like a lost opportunity not to maximize the site across the street from the Van Ness Metro.

GDS Go-Go

Controversy has been festering over an event the Georgetown Day School recently hosted at its upper school in Tenleytown. The school held a Go-Go concert, a common and annual occurrence among GDS and its peers.

In response to community questions, ANC Commissioner Jonathan Bender posted this response from GDS Head Peter Branch:

The Go-Go event at GDS on May 1 did not create 'a disturbance.' We are aware of two separate mugging incidents which occurred off campus and were perpetrated by individuals with a prior record upon students who were on their way to the dance. However, it is as provocative to categorize the Go-Go which the students sought to attend as "associated with a number of criminal acts" as it would be to blame the Kennedy Center if you were to be assaulted on your way to see the Washington Ballet.

We do not notify the police in advance of the daily calendar of GDS, nor of every dance. As it happens, notification was given in advance in this case. During the dance, the Fire Marshall's Office certified this event as in compliance with all fire codes, including occupancy capacity. The number of our security staff, including police officers and GDS security, and the number of chaperons were as usual for a dance of this size. Even before the dance began, additional police support was enlisted by our security staff.

I am sorry you have been so misinformed regarding this event. I hope you will convey these facts to anyone still confused about the evening.

Members of the community were sufficiently outraged for calling into question the safety and preparation implemented (or not) by GDS.

Commissioner Bender has shared a follow-up from the Metropolitan Police Department:

we will be serving this school today with a letter and bill for mass MPD services that had to be pulled from 3 different police districts that night - there was no coordination or notification to MPD on this event - also they charged a fee and dont possess a public hall permit --

over 300-400 youth had to be turned away from the front by the Fire Dept due to overcrowding ..we had a youth beaten and robbed for his gogo ticket as well ... this was totally a public safety threat... no regard to community around them.. very irresponsible on behalf of the organizers.