Fb 04 13 2016

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The Foggy BoTTom CurrenT

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Circulator audits fault bus safety

Overnight work at old Post site still draws ire

OpENING DAy

■ Development: Neighbors

fighting regulatory exception

By BRADy HOLT Current Staff Writer

With its cheery red buses following straightforward routes and simple schedules, the DC Circulator system has won consistent admiration from District residents. But D.C. Department of Transportation director Leif Dormsjo warns that there’s trouble below the surface. “There had been a blissful ignorance about Circulator for some time, that it was this great, wonderful thing and we just needed to expand it and expand it,” Dormsjo told D.C. Council members Friday. “It was as good as apple pie. We were eating a lot of pie, and we weren’t gaining any weight.” Indeed, it was too good to last. Dormsjo appeared before the council’s transportation committee shortly after WTOP radio revealed embarrassing audits commissioned by the Transportation Department, which found glaring safety and maintenance lapses in Circulator buses. Also at the hearing, Dormsjo said his agency has no capacity to implement planned expansions of the Circulator network that would have brought the buses to the Washington National Cathedral and the Southwest waterfront. The first of the two audits looked at the Circulator buses in August 2015, finding an “exceptionally high” average of 22 defects per bus — a figure that included an average of 2.9 critical safety defects per bus, which the audit deemed “unacceptable by any standard.” A bus with even one such safety defect should immediately be pulled from service until it’s repaired, according to the audit, and 40 of 42 Circulator buses inspected had at least one such flaw. In addition to the safety flaws, the audit concluded that many buses were being poorly maintained and that not one was kept See Circulator/Page 26

Vol. X, No. 18

Serving Foggy Bottom & the West End

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

The Foggy Bottom FreshFarm Market opened for the season last Wednesday near 24th and I streets NW. The farmers market offers traditional fruits and vegetables along with plants, baked goods, meats, flatbread and paella.

The demolition of the former Washington Post building at 1150 15th St. NW began in January, but residents of the nearby Presidential Cooperative haven’t given up on their battle against after-hours work at the site, filing a court appeal to oppose the latest permit. Presidential resident and co-op board president Mike Fasano has been engaged in a lengthy backand-forth with the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs since the winter over a permit that allows demolition to proceed 24 hours a day, excluding Sundays and holidays. Developer Carr Properties is razing the old Post building to make way for a new complex that will house the headquarters for Fannie Mae. D.C. law normally prohibits construction between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. except in situations when not completing work during those hours would present a threat to public safety. The regulatory

Brian Kapur/The Current

The former Washington post site at 1150 15th St. NW will house the Fannie Mae headquarters.

agency has argued that this project meets those qualifications, but Fasano and his fellow co-op residents disagree. An administrative law judge in March vacated the initial permit based on a technicality. That permit allowed for 90 days of demolition work, double the legally permitted duration. Shortly after, the regulatory affairs department issued an identical permit for a 45-day period. Now Fasano and his lawyers See Demolition/Page 18

Shelter plans face continued backlash from neighbors By CUNEyT DIL

Current Correspondent

As Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration moved plans for citywide family homeless shelters into a second stage of community design review, many Northwest residents have remained opposed to key elements of the proposal to replace D.C. General. The Bowser administration presented design renderings for the seven shelters across the city at individual community meetings in the past week. The Ward 3 shelter, planned for 2619 Wisconsin Ave. NW, would be three stories and feature a gabled roof with a facade meant to blend in with surrounding brick houses. The meetings were meant to gather feedback on the designs, but critics complained they were premature and scheduled with little notice to the public. At the Ward 3 meeting last Tuesday, about 60 residents staged a walkout

Rendering courtesy of the D.C. government

D.C. officials say the Ward 3 shelter’s design blends in with nearby single-family homes.

25 minutes into the event, after the Massachusetts Avenue Heights Citizens Association president called the 38-unit facility “entirely unacceptable” to the neighborhood. Meanwhile, in Ward 1 Monday night, protesters unfurled a banner and interrupted the meeting on the proposed facility at 2105-2107

10th St. NW. That facility will include a renovation of the former Morning Bright Church and construction of a new six-story structure to hold 29 families. “We object to the closed process that created this site,” one protester told Polly Donaldson, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development. Chief among the concerns for opponents remains Bowser’s decision to swiftly forge ahead with the plan in order to replace D.C. General with seven smaller family shelters by 2018. Instead of discussing aesthetic features of the shelter buildings, many residents want to revisit the site selection process, and they question the high prices of the shelters, which the city in most wards will lease from developers. In Ward 1, protesters claim the city will pay above-market rates to the Sorg Architects firm. City estimates put the yearly operational cost See Shelter/Page 18

DISTRICT DIGEST

NEWS

SHERWOOD

INDEX

Fire safety fundraisers

Fighting for Fillmore

Peek into the shadows

Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/6 Exhibits/21 Foggy Bottom News/11 Getting Around/26

Georgetown community pays tribute to victim of 2004 blaze by trying to save others / Page 6

Northwest parents want more than a one-year reprieve for arts program at five schools / Page 3

We’ll soon see previously sealed documents related to the infamous Gray ‘shadow campaign’ / Page 8

In Your Neighborhood/10 Opinion/8 Police Report/4 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/14 Service Directory/27

Tips? Contact us at newsdesk@currentnewspapers.com


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