DUP -- 02/09/2011

Page 1

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Serving Dupont Circle, Kalorama & Logan Circle

THE DUPONT CURRENT

Vol. IX, No. 36

To change trees, Watergate will pay

STRIKE A POSE

■ Parks: Deal would address

concerns about building views

By ELIZABETH WIENER Current Staff Writer

The young row of sycamores along Rock Creek Parkway near the Watergate could be replaced by shorter trees of the same family, or could be left to grow. That’s the somewhat murky upshot of a debate

that has roiled the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Park Service and a group of Watergate residents over the past few months. Planning commissioners last Thursday asked the Park Service to consider replacing the sycamores with shorter trees — but only if Watergate residents foot the bill for moving the saplings and buying and planting new trees. Otherwise, the row of just under a dozen young

American sycamores, planted in 2009, will remain. Some residents of the Watergate complex have been pushing for removal of the American sycamores, arguing that the trees could eventually grow to 100 feet, blocking their views of the Potomac River and lowering property values at the upscale co-op complex. Park Service officials, caught by surprise at the intensity of the comSee Watergate/Page 5

14th Street development hits hurdle By KATIE PEARCE Current Staff Writer

Bill Petros/The Current

Organizers of the 2011 Monte Carlo Night at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the West End hoped to raise $500,000 for Children’s National Medical Center. Proceeds of the event, held by the D.C. real estate community, will go to capital improvements.

Developer Giorgio Furioso’s latest plan for a vacant spot on 14th Street NW passed through the Historic Preservation Review Board but now faces the obstacle of resistant neighbors. Furioso, with architect Eric Colbert, has planned a six-story contemporary office and retail complex at 1515-1525 14th St., next door to the Studio Theatre. The development will take over a vacant lot and extend above an existing historic building, a former auto showroom now occupied by Posto Restaurant and Hemphill Gallery. Furioso, who has owned the property for more than five years, has proposed a number of different ideas for the site, including a condominium project and a luxury hotel. His most recent plan, for a glass-clad office and retail See 14th Street/Page 18

Bill Petros/Current File Photo

Neighbors are concerned that developer Giorgio Furioso’s office and retail project could create parking problems in Logan Circle.

Dupont mansion to host mentor group

University police will get invite on off-campus calls

By ELIZABETH WIENER

■ Safety: Protocol sets policy

Current Staff Writer

The Zients Family Foundation is restoring a grand Romanesque mansion at 2025 Massachusetts Ave. in Dupont Circle to house its offices and an unusual program that mentors disadvantaged high school students, providing them with year-round paid internships and job training. Founded by Jeffrey Zients, now deputy director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, the foundation would occupy the upper floors of the 1885 house, which now sits vacant. The Urban Alliance, a nonprofit that Zients and his wife, Mary, helped found, would use the bottom two floors for its training and mentoring programs, according to plans presented to the Historic Preservation Review Board last week.

NEWS ■ New contract could improve city tree care. Page 3. ■ Congo adjusts plans for 16th Street embassy. Page 4.

for student-related incidents

By CAROL BUCKLEY Current Staff Writer

Bill Petros/The Current

The Zients Family Foundation and Urban Alliance will share space in the Dupont Circle house. Those plans include restoring the ornate masonry front of the house and reconfiguring the rear, which backs up on Q Street, to provide a welcoming entrance for the students. Currently, the rear of the building includes a later addition that is not attractive, and the See Mansion/Page 5

PA S S A G E S ■ Chocolate tour adds new loop in time for Valentine’s Day. Page 13. ■ A local matchmaker reveals her methods. Page 13.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued an internal order last week strengthening the role of university police in calls for service to off-campus locations linked to D.C. universities. The general order directs Metropolitan Police Department officers, when responding to calls to a “campus-affiliated location offcampus (e.g. fraternity house, off-

EVENTS ■ Washington Ballet goes rock ’n’ roll. Page 23. ■ Levine School of Music displays abstract works. Page 23 .

campus housing),” to invite campus police to respond to the site as well. The order does not extend university police jurisdiction beyond campus confines, clarified Thomasine Johnson, director of public safety at Catholic University. She served as chair of a committee within the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area that helped hammer out the order. The new directive reflects existing practice at Catholic University, said Johnson. When 5th District police respond to a location offSee Police/Page 7

INDEX Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/4 Dupont Circle Citizen/11 Exhibits/23 In Your Neighborhood/10 Opinion/8

Passages/13 Police Report/6 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/19 Service Directory/25 Theater/23 Week Ahead/3


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