E6 Line - WMATA Town Hall

From WMATA in consideration of the proposed elimination of the E6 bus line through upper NW Washington, there are a series of Town Halls:



We are tuning in to you to help us make important decisions about Metro's future.

For the first time ever, Metro will host combined Open Houses and Town Hall Meetings prior to its official Public Hearings. Metro staff members will be available at Open Houses for one-on-one conversations about Metro service and programs. Town Hall Meetings will give you an opportunity to talk about the future of the system with Metro leaders, including members of the Metro Board of Directors. During the Public
Hearings, Metro will take formal testimony on the following options under consideration for the FY12 budget:

o Increasing the Metrorail train wait times on weekends

o Eliminating the Metrobus E6, K1 and N8 lines

o Restructuring the Metrobus M4, V7, V8, 70 and 71 lines

o Eliminating the 50¢ discount on certain Anacostia bus routes, resulting in MetroAccess fare increase, and modification of the Anacostia station bus transfer discount program

The Open Houses will be from 5:30-6:00 p.m. followed by the Town Hall Meetings/Q&A from 6:00-6:45 p.m. The Public Hearings will start at 6:45 p.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 17

St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church
4125 Fessenden St, NW
Washington, DC
Metrorail stop: Friendship Heights

Future of Politics and Prose Uncertain

The Washington Post reports that the owners of the fabled NW icon Politics and Prose are exploring options regarding the sale of their store.

This could have a huge impact on the greater Chevy Chase community.

Triangle Lot Redux

The fate of the triangle lot in Chevy Chase, DC is still up in the air. As previously
noted a local developer bought the lot with the intention of building a house within the back portions of a number of other houses in the community. The BZA rejected the application leaving its use in the air. Now however, the daughter of the developer is seeking clients for her new dog-walking business, proposing to use the lot as a dog run. The Washington Post covered the story.

Fenty Announces Tenley-Janney Team

From the Washington Post's DC Wire Blog:

Fenty has chosen a developer from among three teams who responded to a request for proposals issued in 2007. The three are LCOR Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company with offices in Bethesda; Roadside Development, a D.C. firm whose projects include redeveloping the historic O Street Market; and the See Forever Foundation, in partnership with UniDev.

The developer will build 120 to 130 housing units--apartments or condominiums--above a new library, (Eric) Scott said. Most of the units will be market-rate, but some will be subsidized as "workforce" housing for low- to middle-income residents.

Scott said the project will use some of the land behind the library, but leave most of the schoolyard intact. He said some of the profit from the project will go to modernizing Janney, and emphasized that the development team will work with city and library officials to "minimize any library construction start delay."

And here is the Press release:



Fenty Announces Development Partner for Tenley/Janney Site
Project will include workforce housing and financial support for school modernization

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on Thursday announced the District has selected LCOR as its development partner for the 3.6 acre Tenley Library/Janney Elementary School development site.

“We’ve got a real opportunity to leverage this site to help pay for the cost of improving Janney Elementary, enhance the existing open space and add both market-rate and workforce housing – all atop a Metro station,” Mayor Fenty said. “LCOR is a highly capable developer. They know how to make public-private partnerships work.”

The District selected LCOR after issuing a competitive solicitation last fall. Three development teams responded to the solicitation. The teams were evaluated on vision, financial capacity and past performance.

LCOR has proposed building between 120 and 130 units of housing – primarily above the future Tenley library and a portion of the land that lies between the library and Janney Elementary. LCOR will work closely with the District of Columbia Public Library to ensure a quality integrated structure that will provide a vibrant, mixed-use learning and living environment that will produce an architecturally engaging, LEED certified project.

LCOR will collaborate with DCPL to ensure that any delay to the Library’s construction start will be minimized. LCOR will also work closely with the Janney Elementary School community to ensure that the Janney’s needs are met. This selection presents the opportunity to provide a tremendous financial benefit to Janney Elementary School by using a portion of the proceeds of the deal to support Janney’s modernization. The project will not result in a net loss of green space for Janney.

Keeping with the Administrations commitment to affordable housing, the project will also provide the opportunity to add workforce housing to the Tenley Friendship neighborhood.

In the coming weeks, the District and LCOR will work closely with community stakeholders such as the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the St. Ann’s community to produce a project that creates a benefit for all involved.

###

Bolded emphasis on some of the benefits for the city to go this route.

Drive Through Pharmacy?

The Greater Greater Washington Blog mentions a proposal for a drive-through pharmacy in Van Ness:

Not another drive-thru: Walgreens is planning to build on a former gas station at Veazey and Connecticut, right by the Van Ness stop, reports reader Steve. The somewhat-good news: they're seeking a variance to build only 27 parking spaces instead of 40 (it should be even fewer). The less-good news: Walgreens gets to keep all the curb cuts the gas station had, and so they're building a drive-through. We should not be building drive-throughs in urban areas, especially not next to Metro stations.


More on this later.

Giant "Set Down" scheduled for July 28th

The announced schedule for the Cleveland Park Giant PUD had the "Set Down" hearing scheduled for July 14th. However, when the calender showed no such date, rumors circulated regarding the status of the project. All is well for proponents however, as the Office of Planning has circulated the following announcement:

OP has worked with the developer and their team on this project for some time. In order to ensure the greatest potential for a successful case, there are a few outstanding issues that we are still working together to resolve. We mutually agreed that the revisions would not be complete in time for the July 14 Zoning Commission meeting, but have arranged for it to be placed on the special Zoning Commission meeting of July 28. This special meeting should not delay the case from its predicted schedule for a public hearing.

DDOT Scraps the Pedestrian Signal

Pedestrian Master Plan.
Rising Fuel Prices.
Walkable Urban Environments.

One would think in a time of a more pedestrian friendly city that the Mayor envisions, a novel pedestrian signal would be a desired means by which to encourage pedestrian activity. Indeed, such was the case since March 2007 in Chevy Chase DC. DDOT implemented a pedestrian activated signal that brought all traffic to a stop to provide the most cover possible for pedestrians in the heart of the Chevy Chase commercial corridor.

The city is in the process of receiving public feedback on a $13 Million Pedestrian Master Plan and in the face of these broader pressures, DDOT announced at Monday's ANC 3/4G meeting the elimination of the pedestrian signal. The only metrics provided by DDOT was the anecdotal "number of near-misses" at the intersection. Doesn't every intersection have near misses?

This intersection has an unblemished record where pedestrian safety and vehicular accidents are concerned. There haven't been any reported incidents associated with the signal. That's right, not one.

One would think that with record pedestrian fatalities and injuries in 2007, DDOT would be crowing about the success of this engineering solution.

But, as is the case with most district agencies, the "Costanza" approach is taken.

While the light was not perfect -- drivers would sometimes stack during peak pedestrian activity -- it seems that honing and testing would be in order to perfect the engineering, signage and programming associated with the intersection.

Instead? Let's revert to the same old driver-centric solutions.

Bravo DDOT!

Now the Benches at Politics and Prose

DCist picks up the continuing saga of ANC 3F 04 Commissioner Frank Winstead.

Ft. Reno update

From the Office of Mary Cheh:

The National Park Service has informed our office that soil and handheld testing has confirmed that there are NOT dangerous levels of arsenic at Fort Reno Park. The National Park Service, along with Federal and District partners, is preparing a press release to announce the results of the arsenic testing. Our office expects the National Park Service to open the majority of the park by the end of the week; however, during the testing, one small area tested positive for lead. That area will remain closed until the lead has been removed. Health officials have informed us that the lead levels are low enough that there is no health risk even if people or dogs did inadvertently play in that area.

Commissioner Winstead Strikes Again

Marc Fisher of the Washington Post reports on the latest antics of ANC 3F Commissioner Frank Winstead. Recall that Mr. Winstead recently requested that Comet remove the Ping-Pong table from the public space in front of its pizza joint. Now, he has asked that the chairs and benches in front of the Marvelous Market be removed.

So much for vibrant streetscape and activity on Connecticut Avenue. Hopefully both establishments will file for the necessary permits to get these amenities restored to the Forest Hills strip.

Marc Fisher on Ping Pong

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher weighs in on the evil Ping Pong table at Comet.

Much to Worry About in Forest Hills

Almost a year ago, ANC 3F Commissioner videotaped patron's of Comet Pizza playing ping-pong on the sidewalk in front of the establishment. In a recent ANC 3F meeting, the issue of public space usage was raised by Winstead. He was quoted in the Northwest Current as saying,

""I think this pingpong table in public space is a safety hazard and I want to see it gone."

Comments on the Tenleytown Listserv are fairly supportive of having the table in public space. Said one contributor:

I would love to see a venue for ping pong in our Tenleytown business district--our whole block on Alton Place is crazy about ping pong. A neighbor has set up a table in his yard, and it's a great way to get people of all ages and genders together.

and another:

We loved the ping-pong table -- both when we were playing on it and when we passed others doing so.

and finally:


I live down the street from the Comet, and I actually LOVED the idea of the ping pong table outside. It made the sidewalk look lively and it was great to see people engaged in having good clean fun! I did not feel that it blocked the side walk. I was actually looking forward to summer and going there to play ping pong myself. I am really surprised that this has been an 'issue'. Don't we have more important things in our neighborhood to worry about? I hope they reverse this decision.

PS: I would love to hear from ANC commissioner, Frank Winstead, why he felt the ping pong table was such a blight in our neighborhood street scape, and why he expended so much energy to fight the ping pong table. Am I missing something?

How long will it take for Comet to apply for a proper license so the table can be reintroduced to the streetscape?

Tenley Library Update

As posted to the Tenleytown Listserv:

From: Edward Cowan

Construction of a new Tenley-Friendship branch of the DC Public Library has been severed from the proposed remodeling of the Janney Elementary School. As a result, it looks like ground-breaking for the new library will occur in late summer or autumn, with March 2010 a target date for opening the building to the public.

The Tenley branch was closed as antiquated and in need of replacement at the end of 2004. An initial design for a new branch, although paid for by DC Public Library, was rejected, one reason that the replacement process has dragged on so long.

Now, the Public Library's director, Ginnie Cooper, her staff and their architects are working on a new design and are optimistic that the building will be finished about two years from now. Allow some weeks for installing books, computers and materials and an opening towards the end of March looks possible, DCPL reckons.

Cooper and senior members of the Library's Board of Trustees and staff met with the deputy mayor for economic development and planning, Neil Albert, in mid-January. Cooper brought with her the chairman of the board, John W. Hill, and Richard H. Levy, chairman of the DCPL construction committee. As Albert knew, both men are well connected politically.

Albert, reminded of community frustration with the Tenley branch's being closed so long, agreed to sever the library from the Janney project so that it could be rebuilt with less delay. Albert's office had left open such a split in its request for bids, although it also contemplated—and was thought to lean towards—joint development, as originally proposed by the Roadside Development group.

The library sits on the southwest corner of Albemarle Street and Wisconsin Avenue NW. The school is its immediate neighbor to the west, on Albemarle Street. Roadside contemplated layering condo units on top of the library, with parking under the Janney soccer field.

That entangled the library project in many issues, such as "affordable" housing units, underground parking and shrinkage or relocation of the soccer field. Inevitably, some neighbors, including Saint Ann's Church, voiced objections.

Sorting all that out could take a couple of years, delaying construction of the new library. Such delay now seems to be avoided. Eric Scott, a project manager for Neil Albert, posted on the Web on Monday a declaration that any proposal for Janney must contemplate "independent development of the Friendship Library site. Any proposal that include[s] a development program that integrates the Library within the larger redevelopment footprint will no longer be considered responsive." (See http://tenley-janney.blogspot.com.)

The Public Library expects to finish the design by May. It is already looking for a construction manager, preparatory to inviting bids. It announced in December that it expected ground-breaking to occur in September. Officials said that could occur as early as August, or might slip to October.

The budget for the branch is $14,500,000, including books, equipment and materials. "We think that it is sufficient," Cooper said, "to build the library that we want to give the community."


These responses say it all:

"shortsighted, sad, anti-community building, waste of an opportunity."

and

"This community had such a wonderful opportunity to provide our people a great library and our children and improved school on a fast timetable with more capital than either project could accomplish along.
...
I have two children who, unfortunately, will now be forced to attend a school without enough space for its students and crumbling infrastructure. What even more depressing for me and other families in this community, is that our kids will graduate before they'll be able to check a book out of the library."

Another Pedestrian -------- Struck

The horrific news was posted on the Cleveland Park listserv that for the third time in recent months, a pedestrian was struck and killed in the Ward. I believe this is number 27 for the City -- an unacceptable condition.

(EDIT: Pedestrian was struck, treated and released from the hospital)

To help address the issue, Councilmember Mary Cheh recently announced legislation to beef up fines for drivers failing to yield to pedestrians:

My office is preparing a bill for the next legislative session that will amend the current laws and substantially increase these fines. In particular, failure to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, currently a $50 dollar fine, will carry a $500 penalty..

This is all fine and good, but an increased fine doesn't help change the behavior or activity of drivers, and is surely no comfort to those who have lost loved ones in such a tragic way. DDOT recently unveiled a draft of their Master Pedestrian Plan. In Ward 3, the study looked at Wisconsin Avenue from the Cathedral to Western Avenue. The study suggests no fewer than 4 "Pedestrian Signals" along the corridor. I am not sure how this hardware is defined, but DDOT is testing a signal at Morrison and Connecticut which has proven successful in making an intersection safe for pedestrian crossings. At a recent ANC 3/4G Meeting, DDOT indicated that the signal has shown to be successful in that there have not been any pedestrian incidents since the signals implementation in March, 2007.

The ANC (of which 2 Commissioners live on an adjoining street) have been adament that the signal be transformed to a regular red-yellow-green light because of "confusion" at the intersection (nevermind that the signal was requested by the ANC under the banner of Pedestrian Safety). DDOT however seems to feel that for now, the testing should continue, albeit with some potential adjustments.

Given the risk that pedestrians are facing in city streets, it is probably high time to ensure that signals like this are implemented city wide poste-haste.

Cheh to introduce new Pedestrian Safety Law

According to local blog DCist, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh will be submitting legislation to stiffen penalities for failure to yield to pedestrians.

Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) is hoping to change that. Cheh's office has announced that tomorrow she will introduce legislation that would mandate a ten-fold increase in fines for failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. The legislation would also include installing better signage at District crosswalks stating that pedestrians have the right of way and listing the potential fine, which would be $500.

This is a great first step to a coordinated pedestrian safety plan for the city, but there is so much more to do.

City Paper covers local Listserv incident

The City Paper shed light on a recent posting from Cleveland Park resident Bonnie Roskas on the local Pacel Plus store on the commercial strip.

ANC 3E Special Meeting on Commerce Bank

From Chair Amy McVey:

Saturday, October 20, 9 am, Lisner Home, 5425 Western Avenue, NW

ANC 3E will convene a special meeting to discuss and possibly vote on the Public Space Permit Application for driveways and curb-cuts for the Commerce Bank on Wisconsin Avenue. We have invited and are expecting a DDOT engineer to attend so the community can get our technical traffic questions answered.

As you may know, we have requested an engineer be available at our two previous meetings but thus far, DDOT has not permitted one to be present. ANC 3E is working with Councilmember Cheh to arrange for a member of DDOT's engineering team to be at our meeting on Saturday.

The traffic engineers who first reviewed the plans recommended that the the request to develop this site as a drive-through bank be denied for various reasons such as compromising the existing service and emergency uses of the alleyway, the impact of adding several hundred vehicles into the small site affecting refuse collection, residential access and most seriously, emergency vehicle access.

DDOT issued a statment that "although the proposed use of the public alleyway for patron access could have some impact to the public access with elevated levels of daily traffic that may create some difficulty to the service and emergency vehicle access within the alley, and queuing into the alleyway, we have no objection to this application."

As the attorney for Commerce Bank and DDOT's Ken Laden acknowledged at our last meeting, there have been changes to the site plans which were originally submitted to DCRA and upon which the building permits were approved and issued in August. We have asked the Commerce bank attorney and DDOT for a copy of the most recent plans (7th DDOT submission)to be delivered to the ANC prior to the meeting as well as a copy be delivered to DCRA for a re-review by the Office of Zoning to ensure compliance with zoning regulations. This re- review is required when there are changes made subsequent to the
issuance of the building permit as has occurred in this case.

Parking debates on Listservs

Maybe it is the summer doldrums, or maybe it is the lack of concentrated parking issues when many people are at the beach, but for some reason, parking seems to be a hot topic in both Cleveland Park and Friendship Heights.

In Cleveland Park, the issue seems to stem around residential versus commuter parking in zoned areas, given the proximity of the Metro. Residents are being creative in possible solutions including the creation of sub-zones, alteration of the duration of allowable time, or the creation of visitor passes.

On the Tenleytown Listserv, residents share a similar fate, but are also concerned with the folks are are using the surface parking to shop at Mazza Gallery and other retail along Wisconsin Avenue. The concern is that while there is plenty of available parking, it is dramatically underutilized, according to a recent Friendship Heights Traffic Study(PDF):

Mazza Gallery - 850 Garage Parking Spaces
Weekday AM 20% Utilization
Weekday PM 30% Utilization
Saturday 40% Utilization

Chevy Chase Pavilion - 675 Garage Parking Spaces
Weekday AM 60% Utilization
Weekday PM 80% Utilization
Saturday 50% Utilization

5225 Wisconsin (Bambule/Elizabeth Arden) - 235 Garage Parking Spaces
Weekday AM 80% Utilization
Weekday PM 80% Utilization
Saturday 20% Utilization.

On contributor complained that the existing parking structures are underground and "creepy". This combined with the expense (as compared to public lots in Bethesda, MD) prompted calls for a municipal parking garage in Friendship Heights.

For a group of people who have consistently opposed new development, partially on the basis of traffic issues in the community, this is an odd request. As noted by one commentor:

You believe that the city should spend money acquiring a piece of property and then spending 30 Million plus on a parking garage (and also preclude generating any future property or sales taxes from the lot) so someone can drive...and have cheap, convenient and essentially subsidized parking?

So the question isn't whether there is adaquate parking because there clearly is but whether the public sector should spend money to make parking, and hence driving, easier?

But the same folks who are clamoring for a parking garage are the same people who routinely are complaining about traffic which is clearly contradictory unless you intend to beam the cars into the garage somehow?

It will be interesting to see if the ANC's and City Council pick this issue up again. The last time proved to be too difficult to arrive at any conclusions for best practices going forward.

Fisher on Pools

After yesterday's entry about the demolition of the Wilson Pool, there is follow up in the form of a RawFisher blog post about Ward 3 Pools, or lack thereof.

Tenleytown Sees a New Restuarant on the Horizon

A posting from the proprietor of the replacement for the Dancing Crab on 41st Street in Tenleytown announced the coming Lounge:

First of all our business will not be called "41st Street Lounge" and it will not be a nightclub...However, the style and
atmosphere of the restaurant will be different from all the others in Tenleytown. The Restaurant will have a more modern look and more relaxed feel. Many of you enjoy going out to eat, right? Ok, so you go out to eat. You finish your dinner and then what? At our establishment we want you to linger and the design of the place will encourage you to do so. That is where the word "lounge" comes into play. Our goal is to create a place where customers can "make an evening of it" and not just another place where you eat and feel as though you are being rushed out the door and then left to your own devices. We hope to be open around the beginning of 2008.


The post came in reponse to some misconceptions surrounding the new place, including fear of late night noise and traffic as well as parking concerns.

Others were quick to point out the need and benefits of such additions to the neighborhood. One member of the listserv provided interesting and refreshing insight into the benefits of new additions to the community:

Tenleytown is far behind its neigboring communities in terms of the amount and quality of amenities a community with such diverse, affluent and cosmopolitan residents as ours should have. Our retail has many dingy and lackluster spots (e.g., multiple mattress stores...), our dining options are limited and primarily low-end, nightlife opportunities are even more limited than dining AND we have far too many empty storefronts. Whole Foods and the Best Buy complex are great but once you've got your organic wheat-free muffins and your printer cartridges fully stocked, for many other needs/wants a lot of folks will find themselves leaving our neighborhood for better choices elsewhere...