Dp 05 18 2016

Page 1

The Dupont Current

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Vol. XIV, No. 51

Serving Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Adams Morgan & Logan Circle

Council revises mayor’s shelter plan

MELLOW TUNES

■ Homelessness: Bowser

fears delay in construction

By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

The D.C. Council yesterday overhauled Mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan to replace the D.C. General homeless shelter, giving initial approval to a new plan to relocate a number of the proposed

family shelters to city-owned land and taking cost-cutting measures. Engineered by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, the approved plan would build all of the seven new shelters on land owned by the District government, rather than leasing most of the facilities back from developers as Bowser proposed originally. The chairman and mayor fought over the details Tuesday, with Bowser administration officials arguing that the

changes will set back their 2018 target year to close D.C. General. Mendelson blasted the mayor’s handling of her plan’s rollout, saying her administration spread “misinformation” and didn’t respond to “repeated and continual requests” for more project details. The chairman said that his plan would “speed up the acquisition, design and construction process” of the shelters and that he See Homeless/Page 21

‘Cap park’ project advances in Dupont By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

The Fillmore Arts Center hosted its 11th annual art show and concert on Friday night. The event featured work by Fillmore students who attend five local elementary schools, including Ross and Marie Reed.

Neighborhood leaders and residents in Dupont Circle have long been hoping for a park to cover the tunnel space between the circle and Q Street, above that underground section of Connecticut Avenue NW. As of last week, city agencies say the project has progressed to the next stage. The formal feasibility study for the “cap park” that began in August concluded earlier this month with favorable results, D.C. Department of Transportation program manager Rick Kenney told residents at last Wednesday’s meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B (Dupont Circle). Consultant Joyce Tsepas of the construction group AECon described the tentative design as a “deck plaza” that offers “flexible, programmable space for the community to use.” See Park/Page 5

Brian Kapur/Current file photo

The section of Connecticut Avenue NW beyond the Q Street overpass shown here may be decked over to become a public plaza space.

GWU due to renovate Corcoran this summer

New plans for WIS building still face neighbors’ criticism

By MARK LIEBERMAN

■ Cleveland Park: School

Current Staff Writer

George Washington University is moving forward on plans to make the most of its 2014 acquisition of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, with major renovations scheduled for this summer and beyond to the building that houses what is now the university’s Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. The Corcoran’s Flagg Building, at 500 17th St. NW, will undergo extensive infrastructural repairs this summer, school director Sanjit Sethi said in an interview. Construction crews will pay particular attention to accessibility and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the electricity, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning systems, Sethi said. Individual upgrades to those features have been made over the last century, but

hopes to add science center Brian Kapur/Current file photo

The building at 500 17th St. NW is scheduled for major interior renovations during summer break.

this renovation marks the most comprehensive upgrade plan yet, Sethi said. Work will be completed on every floor of the building, with other projects including the removal of an antiquated freight elevator, refinement of the entrance on New York Avenue and restoration of the historic oak doors at the building’s 17th Street entrance — the latter thanks to a “generous gift” from See Corcoran/Page 16

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Plans for a new academic building and underground parking garage on the Washington International School campus in Cleveland Park hit another snag Monday night, when neighborhood leaders and community members raised numerous concerns and frustrations about building height, landscaping and historic preservation.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C (Cleveland Park, Massachusetts Avenue Heights, Woodley Park) voted unanimously to oppose the school’s latest Historic Preservation Review Board application for the project, saying the proposal “negatively affects key features of the landmark and is thus incompatible with the preservation and protection of the landmark.” Commissioners and community members said they’re willing to work with the school on mutually agreeable plans but concluded that these plans don’t meet that standard. See Tregaron/Page 18

NEWS

EVENTS

PASSAGES

INDEX

Spring Valley cleanup

‘Our View From Here’

‘Labyrinth Journeys’

Calendar/22 Classifieds/30 District Digest/4 Dupont Circle Citizen/13 Exhibits/23 In Your Neighborhood/20

Some homeowners push for testing priority for homes due to go on the market / Page 3

Hirshhorn debuts site-specific wall drawing by local artist from Mount Pleasant / Page 23

Filmmaker explores the benefits of local labyrinths in documentary premiering this month / Page 15

Opinion/10 Police Report/6 Real Estate/17 School Dispatches/8 Service Directory/28 Week Ahead/2

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