Movement on Klingle Road

The Examiner is reporting that Mayor Fenty and Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham have earmarked $2 Million for infrastructure preparations in advance of an $11 Million rebuild of the east-west connection through Rock Creek Park.

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh is supportive of the status quo, maintaining the bucolic form of the short stretch from the parkway to Woodley Road.

Proponents of the road include residents of Mt. Pleasant and Adam Morgan who prefer a more direct route to points west. Others include certain Cleveland Park residents who suggest that the chronic vehicular back-ups on Porter Street are more environmentally damaging than simply rebuilding and maintaining the road.

This will be interesting to follow going forward.

Woe is Me, ANC

DC Watch, the city-wide political discussion is often filled with interesting tidbits of information about the inner workings of the halls of the Wilson Building. This week's installment has an entry from ANC 3E Commissioner Anne Sullivan:

On March 18, I testified at Chairman Gray’s Public Hearing Roundtable on ANCs on behalf of the ANC 3E. A common complaint that was heard on all nights of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission testimonies was that the ANCs are not given “great weight.” I illustrated how this phenomenon occurred recently in ANC 3E when public land and development rights to part of the elementary school land and part of the library had been put up for sale over the objections of the ANC, and none of the resolutions passed by the ANC regarding this sale had been given any weight. I discussed that the land was being sold without the government’s going through proper evaluations and determinations (according to the DC Code) that the land was not needed for public use and could be spared to sell off to a developer.

I talked about Councilmember Cheh’s role in all of this, and I stand by everything in my testimony. The main part of my testimony begins around hour mark 1:50:00 of this video: http://www.octt.dc.gov/services/on_demand_video/channel13/March2008/03_18_08_COWLEG_4.asx, but the questioning by Council Member Cheh (Ward 3) begins at hour mark 2:01:40. I believe the councilmember exhibits outrageous behavior. I hope that standards of conduct are established in Council Chambers to prevent this type of abuse in the future.

So Commissioner Sullivan is firmly standing behind her allegations against Councilmember Cheh.

And now, the ANC 3E supporters are following a Clinton-esque repetition of the outrage:

The bullying here reminds me of the bullying Commissioner Sullivan
experienced from CM Cheh. It's virtually content-free and designed to
cow someone with inconvenient/damaging facts into silence, rather than
to bring new and more reliable facts to light.

Irony here?

ANC makes an Issue of Public Hearing

The City Council recently held its oversight hearings on ANCs. ANC 3F Commissioner Frank Winstead took the opportunity to post a portion or the proceedings on YouTube. As part of the video, Winstead made the following observation:

Councilmember Cheh unleashed her vast repertoire of lawyerly oral attacks upon Sullivan. Cheh sent a message to Commissioner Sullivan, ANC 3E and all the communities of Ward 3. What happens in the backroom of Suite 108, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, the DC Council Offices of Mary Cheh is of no concern to the public.

The implication, of course is that ANC3E (with the concurrance of Frank Winstead) has some sort of "smoking gun" implicating Councilmember Cheh and Roadside Development in the oft-discussed Tenley-Janney PPP.

(Side note: This is the same ANC Commissioner with the public tagline "I’m Frank Winstead reminding you to help control the criminal population spay/neuter your lawyer today".)

The announcement by Winstead on the Tenleytown Listserv was met with some interesting comments:

As someone who was in fact cross examined by my SMD ANC rep at a
zoning hearing last Spring and was told in writing by another that
perhaps I should move to another neighborhood since I disagreed with
her I have no sympathy whatsoever for a member of an ANC that has
over the years taken umbrage at anyone who disagrees with them
despite presiding over meetings with an average attendance of about
20 people.

If you are going to put something in writing with such flimsy
evidence, especially unsubstantiated allegations that imply improper
behavior, you had better be prepared to answer questions about your
allegations.

As they say if you can't stand the heat you should get out of the
kitchen.

Good for CM Cheh for standing up for herself - she was elected by an
overwhelming majority of this Ward despite a vigorous campaign of
opposition from the small group of anti-growth activists who
dominate public meetings in our community and I hope she will
continue to appropriately assert that she does in fact represent
this community and forcefully push back against and the scurrilous
behavior of these same naysayers.

and

the ANC publicized its "causes for concern" document here, the
ANC engaged in what could charitably be called "amateur
lawyerlyness." An observer with a more jaundiced eye would call it --
were the target not a public official -- libel. It is hardly
surprising that the target of the misleading statements, a real
lawyer as it happens, took the author to task."

Marc Fisher on Wilson High School

Yay to the parents and neighbors of Wilson High School in northwest Washington, who are refusing to let the D.C. school system ignore concerns about a wave of violence that has hit the school since the city transferred dozens of students from the juvenile justice system and alternative schools into Wilson. With some new ninth graders now as old as 16 or 17 because they'd been left back several times, the school is suffering from a series of incidents in which older students have been harassing or assaulting younger students. Chancellor Michelle Rhee acknowledged the problem at a community meeting this week, and now the challenge to the system is to move out those kids who cannot behave decently and assure a safe environment for the great majority of students who are there to learn.

Another Pedestrian Struck on Connecticut Avenu

NBC 4 is reporting a hit and run at Connecticut Avenue and Nebraska Avenue this morning. The elderly woman struck has suffered life-threatening injuries.

UPDATE: The elderly pedestrian was killed in this incident according to updated reports on NBC4.com.

Biz Journal update on PPP

Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Business Journal reports on the Tenley-Janney PPP>.

Kennedy Warren Rent Strike Ends

According to Jackie Spinner of the Washington Post, the rent strike, in place since June at the Kennedy-Warren in Cleveland Park, has ended.

Fisher on the PPP

A recent Blog entry by Washington Post Columnist Marc Fisher covers the Tenley-Janney PPP.

A small excerpt"

The city's late move raises questions about whether it has any intention of upgrading the Tenley Metro area or of following up on the Tony Williams administration's drive to lure more residents to the city.

Nor does this move bode well for the ability and determination of Mayor Adrian Fenty's government to stand up to small but loud groups of neighborhood activists who know they can block almost any effort to expand the city's tax base and provide better retail and other services.

Ward 3 for Obama

Ward 3 voters showed their numbers in the 2008 Presidential Primaries. With both the Democrat and republican delegates at stake, the numbers were as follows:

18,569 total votes (46.05 of the total registered voters in the ward)

Obama 10,268
Clinton 6,127
Other Dems 195

McCain 1,411 (62%)

More on the Disentigration of the PPP

As a follow-on to the discussion on the Tenleytown Listserv regarding the alteration to the RFP released by the city for the redevelopment of the Tenley Library parcel, documents were uploaded to the Listserv archives (a PDF link) by the ANC Special Committee.

The contributor noted the following observation about Councilmember Cheh's actions:


For the record, let me say that CM Cheh's stance on this project has been clear from the beginning, that I think her stance is based on ideology, and that I think she's entitled to take positions at odds with those of most of her constituents (just as most of her constituents are entitled to vote her out next election if they feel she's done that too often).

A simple reminder about the 2006 election in which Mary Cheh led a field of 9 candidates through every precinct in the Ward. A refresher from the 2006 Democratic Primary:


Precinct 30 (Janney School Polling Place)
Cheh 38.34% (240 votes)
Strauss 16.45 (103 votes)
Wiss 13.26 (83 votes)

Precinct 31 (St. Columba's Polling Place)
Cheh 36.13 (396 votes)
Rice 16.33 (179 votes)
Strauss 13.50 (148 votes)
Wiss 12.23 (134 votes)

Precinct 33 (Murch Polling Place)
Cheh 42.64% (498 votes)
Wiss 15.57% (183 votes)
Strauss 11.64% (136 votes)

And the 2006 General Election:

Precinct 30 (Janney Polling Place)
Cheh 509 66%
Conroy 255 33%

Precinct 31 (St Columba's Polling Place)
Cheh 927 70%
Conroy 387 30%

Precinct 33 (Murch Polling Place)
Cheh 1028 75%
Conroy 316 23%


One poster has summarized accordingly:

I do know that she won two bitterly-contested elections in which some of your confreres made the Akridge project a central issue. In fact, if I recall correctly, she won in every precinct in Ward 3, including the ones in our neighborhood. One might forgive her for believing that she had heard the community's voice on the subject.

The people had spoken, and yet ANC3E and its "Special Committee" have managed to subvert the will of the people in the name of keeping the library project on track. Given the success of the temporary library, why not go for a situation where there could be a better, new library, an accelerated Janney renovation AND a revitalization of the Tenley commerical district? This would be a far-sighted result, one that requires progressive thinking.

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."

DDOT to try Pilot Visitor Parking in Ward 3

From ANC 3C:

DDOT is planning to meet with Ward 3 ANCs (at Feb. 19 ANC 3C public meeting) to discuss implementing a one-year pilot program in the ward. The pilot would provide residents on RPP streets one visitor parking pass to be used at any time, but presumably when parking restrictions are in effect and a visitor intends to stay beyond the 2-hour time limit. This pilot would replace the current program that allows residents in RPP zones to secure 2-3 week passes from the police station for a particular vehicle that will be parking beyond the 2-hour time limit.

The pilot would restrict the use of the pass to the relevant ANC boundaries. Residents on non-RPP blocks would not be eligible to participate in the program. Residents who needed more than one pass could secure a one-day pass from the police station. Use of the pass outside the relevant ANC boundaries would be ignored by parking enforcement and the applicable parking rules would be enforced.

This pilot is only for visitors to the ward and neighborhood and it doesn't
change the RPP rules for residents, ie., need for sticker on resident's
vehicle. The pilot also would not exempt vehicles parked for 30 consecutive
days from registration, inspection, and other DC rules applied to out of state vehicles.

The ANCs will hear the presentation on February 19th at Second District MPD, 7:30 PM

CPCA Pedestrian Safety Meeting

Recent urgent comments about pedestrian safety on the CP listserv prompted the Cleveland Park Citizens Association to make it the subject of our February 7 meeting at the CP Library (6:30 pm). DDOT has big plans for safety initiatives and Mary Cheh has introduced legislation to increase fines for violating crosswalks. But these solutions take time. Are there things we can do now? Here's your chance to find out what's in the works and to raise specific local issues with transportation planning and enforcement officials. Our speakers include: Mary Cheh, Ward 3 councilmember; George Branyan, DDOT Pedestrian Safety Coordinator; Jeff Jennings, DDOT Ward 3 Liaison; Andy Solberg, Commander, 2D MPD; and David Baker, Officer, 2D MPD.

Palisades Park Update

A recent announcement for an upcoming Palisades Citizens Association meeting mentioned as a primary discussion point the entrance to the Palisades Park:

This meeting will feature a discussion of design ideas for the Palisades Park entrance (and other neighborhood issues of concern) with Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council member Mary Cheh, and Department of Parks and Recreation Director Clark Ray.

Also, for those who have not received a copy of the newsletter, I am attaching a
link to the PCA website ( www.palisadesdc.org ), which features an excellent article by Mark Binsted on what can be done with the entrance to Palisades Park. In it, he updates everyone on DC¢s efforts to come up with a design, and discusses various options that have been discussed in the past as a way to jumpstart ideas and comment.

The post on the PCA Listserv prompted a few comments:

Now that we have more space why not have a one way u-shaped road going in and out of the parking area in a continuous loop and make room for more parking? Surely all this could be engineered with enough green space, planting, and built in traffic control to assure appropriate speed as well as lovely views, so that neighbors will not have to look at a parking lot. The temporary driveway built for the construction work shows the possibilities. There would seem to be plenty of room for better access, more parking, and some kind of square-like space.

I'm not sure I see the likely use of a basically empty, large green square on the Sherier Place side, since usually parents and grand parents want to be near where their children are, which will be up by the playground. Perhaps there is another group of park users who have been under-served by what we have now, who do not want to be near the play ground or the ball fields or the rec center, or out behind the rec center looking over to Virginia. It seems to be intended by the designers as a gathering place but I'm not sure there is a lot of demand for gathering there. The empty lot we have always had there (next to the torn down house) has always been used simply as a pass through to the recreational areas. If there is a group, perhaps older residents who do not want to go up the slight hill, perhaps the gathering space could be reduced somewhat so as to accommodate more other users of the park as well as improved traffic flow.

I can imagine that the large empty green squares so loved by the designer of the designs in the newsletter might be used, but I can also imagine that they wouldn't be used all that much, or wouldn't need to be quite so large to accommodate those who might use them. It's hard to know, but the parking would certainly be used, since the cars are already there most weekends.



Another option:

The main group of users that is actually underserved sometimes and potentially underserved at others is people wanting to use the park as recreational green space. While the improvements to the park are lovely, professional, and raise the standard of what constitutes a neighborhood park to new heights, one thing that is missing is space for general recreation. This might include children older than playground age playing soccer or football, but not in one of the leagues that seem to be able to and desire reserve the green space at a higher frequency than before. One of reasons parking has become an issue is that the park improvements have increased out of neighborhood traffic as our park is now a true city park, rather than a neighborhood park. It is desirable by all organized recreation groups and community use appears to be more difficult. While there are ways that the entrance can be improved to facilitate multiuse (benches on the sides, shrubbery to block parking, etc.,) it would be wonderful to increase the amount of open space that can be used on an adhoc basis. Has the idea of moving the parking lot closer to Sherrier, lining it with Leyland Cyprus (to hide it from residents), and then having the current parking used as open green space (two small for organized leagues, but just the right size for kids pickup) been considered?

Now that there is a wide open space in that area, it will be interesting what design and use ideas are floated and implemented.

Obama Rocks Ward 3

12,000 people tried to cram into Bender Arena at American University this morning to catch first hand the endorsement of Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) by the Kennedy clan. Some of the sites and sounds were eloquently captured by MetroBlogger Tom Bridge. The local angle was also captured by Washington Post metro reporters.

Chat with Cheh

This Saturday, January 26, Councilmember Mary Cheh will hold the first
in series of community events called "Chat with Cheh." Ward 3
residents are invited to Politics and Prose between 11:00 am and 1:00
pm to have coffee and talk with the Councilmember.

Wilson Ice Hockey

A great story and means to support the Wilson Tigers
Ice Hockey team.

Check out OnFrozenBlog for the whole story

"McKenzie coached, raised funds and fought for this team from its inception five years ago. But he never had the opportunity to coach Hill in high school or witness his team complete its historic transformation from private to public. Eleven months ago, at the age of 53, he died unexpectedly from pneumonia.

His death appeared to jeopardize the team's future. McKenzie had done so much to keep it alive, many wondered how it could survive without him."

Consider supporting this great, and very local cause.

Pedestrian Safety Town Hall

As prevously announced, Council Member Mary Cheh will be hosting a community town hall forum on pedestrian safety tomorrow, January 19, at the Second District
Police Station. The program will begin at 10:00 a.m. and conclude at noon.

Panelists will include the Director of the Department of Transportation, Emeka Moneme; the Director of Safety Programs for the Federal Highway Administration, Elizabeth Alicandri; the Executive Director of the Washington Area Bicycle Association, Eric Gilliland; the Policy Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Cheryl Cort; the Project Manager for Toole Design Group, Colleen
Mitchell; MPD Second District Commander Andrew Solberg; MPD Assistant Chief and founder of the Multi-Agency Targeted Traffic Safety Sessions, Patrick Burke; and Traffic Officer for the Second District of the MPD, Anthony McElwee.

More on the Pedestrian Signal

A recent piece on NewsChannel8 aired some of the opinions regarding the Pedestrian Signal at Morrison Street and Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase. Spurred on by calls from the ANC Chair to oppose the signal. Fellow Commissioner Samantha Nolan, a public and pedesrtrian safety advocate in her own right made an appeal for support of the signal, arguing:

I do not believe a standard light will provide any safety to pedestrians at this intersection, and may lead to our first pedestrian death at this location. The accidents that have occurred at this intersection in the past prior to this new light's installation, were caused when cars and pedestrians were in the same place at the same time. That is what will happen when a green light tells cars on Morrison Street to go, and when the walk sign tells pedestrians to walk across Connecticut Avenue. Cars turning South or North onto Connecticut Avenue will run into pedestrians walking across Connecticut Avenue.

The currrent light has some problems that can be fine tuned, but the one thing it does not permit is for vehicles to go while pedestrians are walking. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater comes to mind here. The light is good and has done what it was made to do. It has problems that can be fixed with better lighting, signage, education and timing. DDOT's engineers are best at correcting those problems. We should wait and see what the study shows, and listen to what DDOT engineers have to offer as fixes for the current light, and not make demands that could cause more harm than good to our pedestrians.

While some posts on the listserv support the majority of the ANC, others suggest that simply removing the signal would be appropriate. One poster noted that if there were other signals like it in the city, it wouldn't be such a pariah. That is, of course, the point of this signal, to be a pilot for review and refinement for the city standard. This signal was installed as a pilot program to test a variation on a signal used in other cities, including Bethesda, Maryland.

Finally, one listserv contributor noted the possible impact that the ANC solution might cause:

Adding a third traditional three-color signal in such a short stretch of Connecticut Avenue may lead to major backups on Connecticut Avenue and overflow of commuters into side streets.

This poster cites Military Road as a recent example of ANC 3/4G traffic expertise. In that case, the ANC urged DDOT to reduce the main 4 lane arterial across the northernmost part of the District to two lanes, causing massive backups and significant cut-through traffic. Since its reconfiguration back to pre-2006 standards, the backups and cut-through traffic has subsided.

Pedestrian safety advocates from around the region have expressed concern that should the District abandon this pilot program, it will set pedestrian safety advances back for some time.

Tenley PPP RFP Garners 3 Responses

Per a DC Press release:


(Washington, DC) Three development teams responded to a District-issued solicitation to redevelop the 3.6 acre Tenley-Friendship/Janney Elementary school site in Northwest Washington.

“The Tenley site is a great opportunity to achieve some of our most important public policy goals: Building better schools, creating affordable housing and encouraging development at transit stations and along major transportation corridors,” said Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Neil O. Albert. “We are excited about the responses to this solicitation as we are just beginning to take a closer look at the proposals.

The proposals were submitted by development teams led by:

LCOR
Roadside Development & Smoot Construction
See Forever Foundation, partnered with UniDev, LLC

The development site, at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Albemarle Street, includes the former 15,000-square-foot Tenley library, which has been demolished, and the Janney School, which is slated for expansion.
The solicitation asked bidders to provide their vision for the site as well as explain how they would work with school and library officials to incorporate the respective uses.

While the deputy mayor’s office is still reviewing the proposals, the bidders generally offered proposals that focused on housing—ranging from about 120 to 170 units. Respondent teams also offered plans for incorporating the new library and for expanding and improving the elementary school.

The District anticipates inviting teams to present at a public meeting to be scheduled in February, at which time the teams would present their proposals to the community. The District anticipates selecting a development partner by the end of February.