The Foggy BoTTom CurrenT
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Council adds more money for education
Circulator bus eyed for cuts, extensions to lines
MUSEUM WALK
■ Transit: Georgetown aims
to protect Wisconsin service
■ Budget: Streetcar funding
for K St. extension reduced
By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
This year’s budget process was less heated than in previous years, D.C. Council members agree. But big points of contention still arose before the council approved the fiscal year 2018 budget last Tuesday, including a dispute over tax cuts and the last-minute defunding of a Ward 2 streetcar extension. The council’s unanimously approved budget plan goes through a mandated second vote on June 13. The most vigorous fight last week concerned the tax cuts set to take effect next January for businesses and estates. At-large Council member David Grosso sought to delay those cuts in favor of more funding for schools, early childhood facilities and rapid rehousing for recently released prisoners. At-large member Elissa Silverman and Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau voted in favor of his amendment, while Ward 8 Council member Trayon White supported delaying the estate tax cut only. But without broader support, Grosso’s efforts failed. Still, for schools, the council’s approved budget reflects a notable bump from the mayor’s originally proposed 1.5 percent increase for the annual per-pupil funding for D.C. Public Schools. Advocacy groups had called for an increase of between 2 and 4 percent; the council ultimately settled on 3. Grosso told The Current, though, that he’d hoped the tax cut delay would allow for a 3.5 percent increase, in line with an initial recommendation from D.C.’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education. “I was hoping to get to the recommended line, but my colleagues obviously didn’t support me,” Grosso said. See Budget/Page 15
Vol. XI, No. 26
Serving Foggy Bottom & the West End
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Dupont Kalorama Museums Consortium held the 34th annual Museum Walk Weekend. A variety of activities and tours took place at the Society of the Cincinnati’s Anderson House (shown), Dumbarton House, the Phillips Collection, the President Woodrow Wilson House and the National Museum of American Jewish Military History.
A series of changes under consideration for the DC Circulator bus network would affect two Northwest lines — eliminating Wisconsin Avenue service north of M Street NW, and running for the first time along U Street NW to Howard University. The D.C. Department of Transportation is currently surveying residents online and near some bus routes on these changes, as well as on proposals affecting lines outside of Northwest and on the possibility of enhancements to the Circulator bus fleet. The popular Circulator service is intended as a user-friendly complement to Metrobus, with $1 fares and reliable 10-minute headways for six simple routes serving high-demand locations. The new proposals come from the latest transit development plan by the Transportation Department, an effort every three years to review existing lines and the potential for
Brian Kapur/Current file photo
The Dupont Circle-GeorgetownRosslyn line would reach U Street and Howard University.
new ones. If the new Circulator changes receive enough public support, they would go into effect in spring 2018. The first proposal in Northwest would affect the Union StationGeorgetown line of the Circulator, which in Georgetown currently travels from the waterfront up the Wisconsin Avenue hill to a turnaround at Whitehaven Parkway NW. As proposed, the buses would instead turn right on M Street and return downtown, avoiding the northern section of Georgetown’s commercial area. The Transportation Department says this change will improve the buses’ reliability by avoiding a high-traffic stretch that can lead to See Circulator/Page 5
Prospect residents wary of condo plan’s construction impact By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
While a five-story condo project next to the “Exorcist Steps” in Georgetown trudged through the design review process last week, neighbors described a potential horror scenario that construction could bring: a landslide for homes directly uphill. Half a dozen residents who own homes on Prospect Street, directly above the planned condo development at 3601-3607 M St. NW, say excavation work could disrupt the foundation of the steep hill that offers homes expansive views of the Potomac River and the Key Bridge. They raised the same concern about a previous, similar project at the site, which was approved but ultimately shelved. Robert Neubauer of Neubauer Consulting Engineers wrote in a 2014 letter to Prospect Street neighbors that much of the surrounding
Brian Kapur/The Current
Altus Realty Partners’ planned condo project would replace the Key Bridge Exxon station.
area was built on top of fill soil, and as a result is “extremely susceptible to vibrations.” He believes excavation at the site, currently an Exxon station, is a “precarious situation.” “Removing the soil at the base of the steep slope, say, to install an underground parking garage, runs a significant risk of the slope soil failing,” Neubauer wrote.
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E (Georgetown, Burleith) voted 6-0 last Tuesday to criticize the project’s design as well as its potential impact on Prospect Street homes. Developers of the site, led by Altus Realty Partners — which acquired the site in fall 2016 from EastBanc and retained the original project team’s architect — pushed back against concerns of the project’s impact to homes on Prospect Street and its design. The proposed building features a glassy exterior with light gray brick, designed by Amar Sen of the New York-based Handel Architects. The project team hopes to break ground in 2018 and plans to work with Prospect residents to address their concerns, according to Al Troup of Altus. The project requires no zoning relief, but like all projects in the neighborhood, it does need Old Georgetown Board approval. See Condos/Page 26
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