New Proposal for Babes in Tenleytown

DC Metro Urban Diary provides and update for the Babes Billiard site at Wisconsin and Brandywine Street in the heart of Tenleytown. According to the article, the property owner will now seek a 6 story structure via the PUD process.

Woodley Park McMansions

Lydia DePillis updates the new houses at Garfield and 29th Place in Woodley Park.

NW Current: Threat of razing sparks outcry on Jocelyn

The July 6, 2011 edition of the NW Current has an article entitled "Threat of razing sparks outcry on Jocelyn". The Brady Holt piece describes the efforts of residents in the vicinity of 3901 Jocelyn Street who are opposing the raze permit submitted by developers earlier this summer upon purchasing the 10,000+ lot and house.

Recall the effort in 2007 by Historic Chevy Chase DC to create a historic district in anticipation of the neighborhood centennial. The effort proved to be too controversial and the application was never formally submitted to the Historic Preservation Office.

During the debate, one Historic District supporter suggested or better, warned about a coming "tipping point" in local neighborhood economics:

Rampant teardowns are triggered when a neighborhood reaches a tipping point on land economics. In our neighborhood (20015), the average price for an existing home is about $900,000. As a developer, I have calculated that when a homebuilder can reasonably expect to get about $1,800,000 for a new McMansion, he could afford to pay $900,000 for an existing historic house as if it were a vacant, buildable lot. As recent sale prices on the upper end demonstrate, we are getting dangerously close to this tipping point. And once we hit the tipping point, there is no going back, as has been seen by the rapid demolition of homes in places like residential Bethesda. It is worth setting up protections now, before we reach that point, rather than trying to fix it retroactively.

Given the number of new houses and teardowns on Jenifer Street, Nevada Avenue and Tennyson Street, these words from 2007 seem more prescient than ever.

Zoning Commission Approves UDC Plan

The Zoning Commission has approved the UDC Campus Plan (case 11-02) and construction of a new LEED Platinum student center. This will be a major step forward for the University Campus and the Van Ness area.

Next up? American University.

Welcome Back, Woodley Park

In a stunning reversal, the City Council approved a late amendment to the Redistricting Bill bringing precinct 136 back to Ward 3. The area, generally east of Connecticut Avenue between Devonshire Place and Calvert Street had been in Ward 1.

More on the Cleveland Park Service Lane

The petition for the removal of the service lane in Cleveland Park is drawing attention from The City Paper and GreaterGreaterWashington (see comments).

What are your thoughts?

City Paper: Ft. Reno Schedule

The City Paper has provided the early schedule for the Ft. Reno concert series.

Service Lane in Cleveland Park

A petition was posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv recently in response to discussion regarding the "service lane" on the east side of Connecticut Avenue between Macomb and Newark Streets in Cleveland Park.

The lane was created during the early "automobile era" when planners assumed that the provision of auto facilities would create a business-friendly environment. Cleveland Park is home to an early example of the auto-centric strip mall.

Petition organizers suggest that restoring the broad sidewalk will enhance the pedestrian experience, provide more lively streetscape in the form of outdoor seating for restaurants and enable the many neighborhood visitors to enjoy the commercial strip without being crammed into a pedestrian facility that is at many times of the day inadequate for demand.

Opponents suggest the retail and service businesses along the strip would not be able to survive without the necessary parking, or in the alternative, that a reconfiguration would push more vehicles into the residential areas.

What do you think?

Municipal Bonds and Ward 3

A resident has shared a correspondence from Mary Cheh on the passage of a tax on Municipal Bonds. As the Councilmember notes, this retroactive action affects seniors living on fixed incomes and ward 3 residents disproportionately:



I’m sorry, I am reading your emails, but I’ve been inundated of late, as you might imagine. I was opposed to this tax but accepted it because (1) we are now the only jurisdiction to offer an exemption on out-of-state bonds and, contrary to the past, the District offers a wider array of its own tax-exempt bonds, and (2) it was linked to a promise that the extra revenues we anticipate in the balance of this year would be used to eliminate the retroactive effect, thereby grandfathering in bonds purchased before October 2011.

Regrettably, Councilmember Tommy Wells and others introduced an amendment that took away the promise to grandfather the tax exemption and instead use future revenues to pay for other programs. And, in an instance of rank politics, that group of Councilmembers secured their necessary seventh vote for the amendment from Councilmember Vincent Orange by promising him that he could use a half-a-million dollars of the expected revenues for the Lincoln Theater and Emancipation Day Festivities. I think that that action was unprincipled and unraveled an arrangement that was previously fair.

There is also an underlying issue of fairness here. In tax year 2008, there were 19,917 taxpayers that had reported some tax-exempt interest. Of those, 70% lived in Ward 3. There are many retired people--a great many of them in Ward 3--who rely on the interest of these bonds as part of their retirement plans. I have spoken to Chairman Brown and impressed upon him the urgency of having that amendment reconsidered, and he tells me he is attempting to do that for the second and final vote. So we'll see.



Given the state of the Council and Government leadership at this time, this hardly feels like a fair action to those who have saved, rather than those who are squandering city resources on pet projects or for private gain. Perhaps the Council and Executive Branch ought to ensure the financial house and safety systems on taxpayer monies are sound before burdening District Seniors with a retroactive tax.

A Review of the AU Campus Plan

Here is one person's take on the American University Campus Plan.

Ward 3 Schools Vie for Baseball Title

Congratulations to Sidwell Friends for capturing the Congressional Bank DC Baseball classic after edging St. Albans, Maret and Wilson en route to victory.

Wilson High School should also be congratulated for taking its 19th DCIAA Baseball Trophy.

Post: Ward 3 Flower Thief on the Loose

Lori Aratani of the Washington Post reports on the wily flower bandit of Ward 3.

Traffic Demonstration at American University

This alert and the related irony speaks for itself:



TRAFFIC IMPACT DEMONSTRATION


A coalition of neighbors surrounding American University will be gathering together this Thursday morning, May 26th from 8:30 am to 9:00 am to walk around Ward Circle, crossing Massachusetts and Nebraska Avenues several times to physically demonstrate the impact 600 or 700 students will have on traffic, if AU puts the number of beds it wants on the Nebraska Avenue parking lot.


Almost 21,000 vehicles use Mass. Ave. daily and about 24,500 use Nebraska. And yet, AU's flawed traffic study, which they are presenting to the Zoning Office to get approval for their beds, claims that adding to the pedestrian traffic load will have no impact on traffic at the circle.


Help us show the city AU is wrong.


If we can get a large number of residents to walk around the circle several times, wearing buttons that say "Stop the AU Campus Plan" and have a couple more stationed on the sidewalk with signs that say "AU Plan Causes Gridlock" "Honk if You Hate Gridlock" and put large "Stop the AU Campus Plan" in the center of the Circle, our case will be self evident. Everyone will see firsthand the traffic gridlock and noise pollution that will result if AU gets its way.


We need your commitment now. Join with your friends and neighbors to really do something to get our plight noticed and have a little fun. We're not just paying lawyers to make studied arguments. We're standing up for ourselves and using
our feet to fight for our neighborhoods!

We're meeting just inside the gate of Westover Place, in the front courtyard of 4300 Massachusetts Ave, behind the guardhouse at 8:30 Pick up your buttons and those of you who want signs can get them. Then we'll go up to the Circle and cross the street.


The guard at the gate will be alerted. Secret Code is "Stop AU". There are several guest parking spaces behind the Mass. Ave. wall which will work if we all carpool.

Census 2010 - No Proposed Changes to Ward 3

The Council Sub-Committee charged with redistricting has issued draft recommendations. Currently there is no suggestion to alter the borders of Ward 3.

The proposal is subject to full Council review and community input, with final adoption later in June.

Panera to Tenleytown

The Prince of Petworth blog has credited an acute reader with news that Panera is going to occupy the infill space at the NE corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Albamarle Street.

While this had been rumored for a while, the confirmation of the placards is helpful.

City Paper: Cheh Investigates the Mayor

A recent Loose Lips column about Mary Cheh and the Executive Office investigations.

1953 Wisconsin Ave. Giant Advertisement

Courtesy of "DCRez" in the DCist commnts section.

Developments on Wisconsin Avenue

The Washington Post has two storied related to grocery stores on Wisconsin Avenue:

Jonathan O'Connell updates the latest on the Tenleytown Safeway. According to reports, Safeway has moved forward with a mixed-use development, but is still working with immediate neighbors on details.

Meanwhile, Lori Aranti provides provides details on the latest in the Giant redevelopment in Cleveland Park. It appears as if final arrangements are being made to commence construction despite the ongoing appeal by some local residents.

More on Streetcars

Recent discussion on the Tenleytown Listserv has revisited the idea of a Wisconsin Avenue Streetcar. These exchanges prompted a post on Greater Greater Washington rehashing many of the same arguments, pro and con regarding the streetcar system and the implementation of the system specifically in upper Northwest DC.

Former ANC 3E Commissioner Carolyn Sherman suggests that instead of Wisconsin Avenue, Connecticut Avenue ought to be studied:


Let's revisit for a minute the option of putting the streetcar, if there is to be one, on Connecticut rather than Wisconsin. Remember that from Van Ness on up--and it's a long way to Chevy Chase Circle--residents have no access to Metro, and many fewer buses. That area includes much of Chevy Chase, Forest Hills, and many other neighborhoods. Residents there tend to drive, with the understandable excuse that there's no easy mass transit. Suppose there's a streetcar every few minutes that takes all those workers, etc., straight down Conn to the K St corridor and beyond. Isn't that route just as needed and likely to have heavy usage as the route taking people who live along Wisconsin over to Benning Road? AU and GU have their own bus systems, and DHS will have its own too. Wisconsin is already filled with mass transit options. And consider the fact that if, as one poster says, "a big reason for a Wisconsin Avenue streetcar is to create demand for high density in-fill development along the corridor,"isn't that another reason to go for Connecticut Ave? There's much more room for infill along upper Connecticut. Think of all the possibilities for infill from Chevy Chase Circle on down to Van Ness. There are blocks and blocks of low- and medium-rise buildings. Imagine that whole area mirroring the development along Wisconsin and Western. How vibrant that area could become, with all the revenue for the city coming in.

Why does it need to be a choice? Both streets had streetcar lines in previous eras (see map for post consolidation era layout). Connecticut Avenue was developed by the Chevy Chase Land Company, and the development patterns on that road were created specifically for the Streetcar. Ms. Sherman is correct that connecting downtown to Chevy Chase Circle and beyond by Streetcar is a good idea. However, this should not be done instead of Wisconsin Avenue, but in addition.

Connecting Rosslyn and Georgetown to Tenleytown, Friendship Heights, and extending up to NIH and Rockville was part of a system in the 20th Century. Similarly, connecting downtown to Chevy Chase and Chevy Chase Lake and beyond via Connecticut Avenue is a good idea. There is no reason why these shouldn’t be part of the long term plans for the region.

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