Klingle "Valley": The Next Step

Greater Greater Washington covers the next step for Klingle Valley, how to implement the bike path, and at what cost.

There will be a public meeting:

Wednesday, June 23, 2010,
6:00-6:30 PM (Open House)
6:30-8:00 PM (presentation and Comments)

National Zoo's Visitor Center Auditorium
3001 Connecticut Avenue, NW (Red Line to Woodley Park-Zoo)

Ward 3 Dems Straw Poll Released

From the Ward 3 Dems:


DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Council Chairman Vince Gray finished in a near dead heat in a straw poll of Ward 3 Democratic voters with Gray narrowly defeating Fenty by six votes. The straw poll was held last week, but the nearly 400 ballots were counted tonight after all voters were first certified as meeting eligibility criteria. The straw poll was conducted by the Ward Three Democratic Committee.

In the final straw poll tabulation, Gray received 174 votes to Fenty’s 168. Leo Alexander received four votes. Eleven voters indicated they were undecided. 27 ballots were disqualified.

Additionally, the Ward Three Democratic Committee voted formally this evening to officially endorse Councilmember Kwame Brown for DC Council Chairman. In order to win an official Committee endorsement, a candidate had to win at least 75 percent of the total vote. The Committee also voted to endorse Councilmember Mary Cheh for reelection as Ward 3 Councilmember and Shadow Representative Mike Panetta for reelection as the U.S. (Shadow) Representative.

ANC Commissioner Doug Sloan surprised many by falling just short of winning the Committee’s endorsement over incumbent Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Sloan won 65 percent of the vote. Norton won only 30 percent of the vote.

The Committee did not endorse any candidate in the Mayoral race, but Gray won just over 60 percent of the vote. Councilmember Phil Mendelson led his challengers in the vote for Councilmember-at-large with 60 percent of the vote, but also fell short of the threshold required to win an official endorsement. U.S. Senate (Shadow) Senator Michael Brown proved the spoiler winning 22 percent of the vote. Clark Ray won 15 percent of the vote.

Mayoral Candidate Forum Review

The Washington Informer provides an additional review of the recent Ward 3 Dems Mayoral Forum.

DDOT and Bikeshare

Courtesy of Greater Greater Washington DDOT has unveiled the opportunity for residents and potential users to suggest locations for an expanded Bikeshare program.

Wouldn't Bikeshare be a great addition to Ward 3?

Reno School Saved?

According to the City Paper the Reno School in Tenleytown will receive close to $1 Million in city monies to help stabilize the structure.

The Reno School received landmark designation recently from the Historic Preservation Review Board after the Tenleytown Historical Society submitted an application. The structure served as the school for the African American enclave, Reno City, which was in the Tenleytown area in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The development was cleared out to make room for the Alice Deal and Woodrow Wilson schools. Councilmember Mary Cheh was able to get the City Council to reprogram the monies after savings were found in another area.

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.

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.

Cheh Proposes Soda Tax

DCist reports on a $.01/ounce soda tax proposed by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh.

Macomb Playground Needs Your Help

From R.O.M.P:

If you appreciate Macomb Park, and/or just want to do some community volunteering, please drop by the park next Saturday (May 1) any time between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. We're thrilled with the restoration of the gazebo and hope to spruce up the rest of the park as well: raking, pruning, cleaning, and some painting and planting as well!

Bring your work gloves and your green thumbs. Folks from the DC Department of Parks and Recreation will be on hand, and it would be great to reciprocate with an equal or greater turnout from the community.

All are welcome!

Ward 3 Crime Forum

Given recent concerns about crime in Ward 3, Mary Cheh is convening a town hall meeting Monday, April 26th, 7:30pm, at St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Tenleytown(4201 Albemarle Street NW). At the town hall, we will receive updates from MPD, National Park Police, and WMATA Transit Police. Several ANC Commissioners will be also be in attendance. I hope to see you there.

Drinking Water Emergency

From WASA, the water in NW Washington currently has elevated levels of chlorine and should not be consumed.


****UPDATED****

The UPDATED boundaries of the area in question are indicated below.
* West Boundary: Western Avenue, NW
* North Boundary: River Road, NW
* East Boundary: Connecticut Avenue, NW
* South Boundary Nebraska Avenue, NW
Updated Map:
http://www.dcwasa.com/news/listings/chlorine_map.pdf

Updated Press Release:
http://www.dcwasa.com/news/listings/press_release444.cfm


_________________________________________________________________________________
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority is advising
customers in a specific area of Northwest not to use water until further notice
because of a higher-than-normal chlorine concentration.

The boundaries of the area in question are indicated below.

West Boundary: MacArthur Boulevard, NW
North Boundary: Western Avenue and Eastern Avenue, NW
East Boundary: Amtrak railroad
South Boundary (east side of Rock Creek): Upshur Street, NW
South Boundary (west side of Rock Creek): Calvert Street to Observatory Circle to W Street

The spike happened early this morning at DC WASA's unmanned Fort Reno facility when it was offline for routine maintenance disinfection. At 7:30 this morning, operators at the DC WASA Bryant Street Pump Station identified a drop in the reservoir at Fort Reno, which indicated the possibility of a chlorine spike. DC WASA immediately dispatched staff to confirm a higher-than-normal chlorine concentration in the water, which they determined had happened at approximately 5 a.m.

Customers who used water with excess chlorine may have noticed taste and odor problems. While unlikely, the chlorine may also cause a reaction in individuals with sensitive skin. Anyone who observes such a reaction should contact a physician.

DC WASA notified the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region III immediately upon learning of the chlorine spike. Water-quality crews are monitoring the system across the entire affected area and will advise the public when the water supply has returned to normal. Our staff is also assessing the causes of the problem.

Wilson Teacher Abducted, Released by Student

In an amazing twist of chance and circumstance, a Wilson teacher was allegedly abducted by a Wilson student late on Saturday, according to an account in the Washington Post.

Overlay in Play?

The City Paper covers a community meeting held on April 14th in Woodley Park. The topic on hand is the restrictive overlay which exists in 4 communities in the District (three of which are in Ward 3). At issue are the number of restaurants in a commercial strip.

Opponents of the overlay suggest that it is time for its repeal in order to revitalize neighborhood centers.

Boston U expands Woodley Presence

DC Metro Urban Diary is reporting that Boston University will lease the residences currently under construction atop the Debonair Cleaners establishment in the heart of Woodley Park.

Originally slated as condominiums, this is a smart move by BU to provide much needed housing for its students who are studying and interning in the District.