The Dupont Current
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Doubts linger with Fillmore arts program
Roadside drops plan for project at Grimke
EARLY SHOPPERS
■ Development: Company
concluded deal wasn’t viable
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Last week’s announcement that funding through the Fillmore Arts Center program has been extended through the 2017-18 school year heartened many local activists and elected officials. But for families at elementary schools in Georgetown and Adams Morgan, work remains to be done. The Fillmore program, based out of Hardy Middle School, currently provides weekly art instruction to students at five Northwest elementary schools — an arrangement that proponents say provides more diverse amenities and better facilities than in-house instruction. D.C. Public Schools has repeatedly threatened to terminate the program citing cost concerns, but Mayor Muriel Bowser announced last Tuesday that Fillmore was staying for at least another year — for three of its schools: Key, Ross and Stoddert elementaries. However, students at HydeAddison and Marie Reed elemenSee Fillmore/Page 5
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
As recently as last month, the team working on the long-awaited redevelopment of the vacant Grimke School site in the U Street neighborhood assured residents the project was on track, despite concerns that progress had stagnated. The community got a shock Monday morning, though, when the Office of the Deputy Mayor
for Planning and Economic Development announced that it had reached a mutual agreement with Roadside Development and Sorg Architects to part ways on the project, leaving the D.C. Councilapproved plan for the site unfulfilled. Though developers and city officials did not offer specific details on why the deal fell apart, Roadside founding principal Richard Lake indicated that the city’s vision for executing the project didn’t fall in line with what his firm considered a financially viable path. See Grimke/Page 14
Reduced Guy Mason hours draw community pushback ■ Recreation: Potters decry
Brian Kapur/The Current
Heurich House hosted its annual “Christkindlmarkt!” over the weekend. The event featured locally made goods from over 40 vendors and tours of the seasonally decorated Dupont Circle mansion of German brewer Christian Heurich.
elimination of Sunday access By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
Disputed hotel sign shines on in West End By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Various D.C. neighborhoods have tales of ferocious development battles, where zoning cases wind their way through years of acrimony. In the Foggy Bottom/ West End area, most such tales are related to George Washington University, which has redeveloped large swaths of the neighborhood. But the latest battle is about a single sign at a hotel. The owners of the Hilton Garden Inn at 2201 M St. NW won approval to construct the new hotel in 2012, and it opened in 2014. The construction had won support from key community stakeholders, though they were
Vol. XV, No. 28
Serving Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Adams Morgan & Logan Circle
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Hilton Garden Inn needs city approval for its roof-level sign.
adamant about signage: The new hotel should not have a lit sign high above the ground, which they said would shine into nearby condominium windows and overly commercialize the area. But the hotel’s original owners
concluded that the zoning approval nonetheless contained a loophole allowing for such a sign. As the hotel was opening in 2014, they installed internally lit “Hilton Garden Inn” lettering just below the 10th-story roof facing 22nd Street. And that’s when the fight started — one that continues to this day. In the latest step, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A (Foggy Bottom, West End) recently opposed the hotel’s latest effort to retain the sign. “This community has spent a significant amount of time and a significant amount of money to enforce a portion of the [zoning] order that they’d wanted from the See Hotel/Page 5
Guy Mason Recreation Center users want the city to reverse recent scheduling cuts, particularly given the changes’ effect on a popular pottery program. Community members met with representatives of city agencies last Tuesday to propose that the 3600 Calvert St. NW center once again remain open until 10 p.m. weekdays, while cutting back programming hours earlier in the day to free up staff members running the facility. They also pressed for restoring hours on Sunday, when the center is now closed. The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation argues that the center’s new hours, instated last month — from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday — were necessary because union rules had caused scheduling conflicts with staff members. The agency also noted that until the change, Guy Mason was the only recreation center in
Brian Kapur/The Current
Officials say the center’s hours should match citywide norms.
the city open on Sundays. The center’s former hours were from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Jackie Blumenthal, chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B (Glover Park, Cathedral Heights), said the center is largely used by adults, particularly through the pottery program. Pottery classes are held on weeknights, and open pottery workshop hours had been on Sundays. “It has the best-used and most popular pottery program in the city, and it’s open for anybody in the District,” Blumenthal told The Current. “But the users are all adults, and they work all day. See Hours/Page 14
NEWS
HOLIDAYS
EVENTS
INDEX
Rose Park trail
Georgetown GLOW
‘Aluminosity’
Calendar/24 Classifieds/34 District Digest/2 Dupont Circle Citizen/9 Getting Around/22 In Your Neighborhood/8
Georgetown cyclists to receive long-sought wider, smoother path next year / Page 3
Annual event expands with more artists, locations and days in its third year / Page 15
Exhibit to open showcasing new technologies for using aluminum in artwork / Page 25
Opinion/6 Police Report/4 Real Estate/13 School Dispatches/11 Service Directory/32 Week Ahead/3
Tips? Contact us at newsdesk@currentnewspapers.com