Fb 10 21 2015

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Serving Foggy Bottom & the West End

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Vol. IX, No. 46

The Foggy BoTTom CurrenT

Agency weighing Dupont ‘cap park’

PUPPET MASTER

■ Recreation: Open space

eyed atop Connecticut Ave. By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

There’s a hole at the heart of Dupont Circle, on Connecticut Avenue NW between the circle and Q Street. Drivers headed south on Connecticut dip under the circle through a small tunnel before emerging out the other side. Ideas have been circulating for years on better ways to use that open space, but momentum picked up this July, when the D.C. Department of Transportation launched a formal study on the matter. The agency’s seven-month feasibility

study is looking into creating a “cap park” — essentially, a deck over the space created by the gap on Connecticut Avenue, fit for visitors to roam with plenty of space for events. D.C. Department of Transportation representative Richard Kenney presented an update on the study’s early findings at last Wednesday’s Dupont Circle advisory neighborhood commission meeting. Kenney said one of the challenges will be reconciling the interests of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, the D.C. Historic Preservation Office and other organizations that have a stake in the site. “As you could imagine, these entities have concerns that they

Brian Kapur/The Current

A park would cover part of the Connecticut Avenue underpass.

want to make sure are respected,” Kenney said. “The good news is overall, the feeling was that a deckover and the creation of new public space north of Dupont Circle would See Dupont/Page 17

Georgetown drops app over racial issues Post last week, a disproportionate number of the reports circulated on the GroupMe app were warning of AfricanAmericans deemed “suspicious” by retail personnel. National reaction to The Post’s coverage painted Georgetown as an affluent white community that’s unwelcoming to minorities. After initially defending the program, the BID decided over the weekend to withdraw it. “While the app has been effective in deterring shoplifting, the news stories and the dialogue that followed have brought up legitimate concerns about the use of the app and its potential to wrongfully identify shoppers as shoplifters,” BID CEO Joe Sternlieb said in a written statement Sunday night. “The overriding goal of our retail community is to ensure that everyone who visits Georgetown feels welcomed, comfortable, safe, and that their civil rights and individual dignity are protected and See GroupMe/Page 5

By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

The George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum held an “Arts for Families” program Saturday afternoon. The event featured a Central Asian puppet performance by Crescent Moon Karagoz Shadow Puppet Theater.

The GroupMe messenger app is gone from Georgetown, withdrawn by a local business group in the face of withering media coverage that highlighted allegations of racial profiling. The smartphone application — which the Georgetown Business Improvement District began using in the neighborhood last year — allowed real-time conversations among businesses, residents and police officers, intended to instantly alert the entire community to a live crime threat. Metropolitan Police Department officials, business owners and community members lauded it as a clever use of technology to respond to high shoplifting rates and other public safety concerns. But problems emerged. As first reported by The Georgetowner in August and then by The Washington

Kalorama Park project slated to begin next week after delays By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Long-delayed renovations to Kalorama Park will begin next week, the D.C. Department of General Services announced yesterday afternoon. In an email to community members, the agency’s Jackie Stanley wrote that temporary construction fencing will go up on Saturday and work will begin sometime in the next week. The project is slated to wrap up in January, weather permitting. This phase of the project — originally

NEWS

scheduled to begin in June — includes refurbishing the playground, making stormwater management improvements, replacing the hardscape plaza with permeable pavement, installing erosion control measures and revising the landscaping, according to Stanley. General Services Department spokesperson Kenny Diggs said in an interview yesterday evening that the delays were due to permitting issues; he denied rumors that the agency had redesigned the park’s stormwater management system. Advisory neighborhood commissioner Ted Guthrie, whose single-member district includes

EXHIBITS

Local film festival puts spotlight on immigration issues — Page 3

Freer and Sackler to feature art from 17th-century Japan — Page 19

the park at 1875 Columbia Road NW, said he could never get an explanation for the delay over many months. (Diggs said the agency sent out emailed updates at least monthly, but he was unable to provide them before The Current’s deadline.) In an email after yesterday’s announcement, Guthrie again criticized the department’s transparency. “Glad to hear that they’ve finally let the community know their new schedule. I look forward to hearing what they’ll be doing,” he wrote. The project is proceeding despite a pending See Kalorama/Page 5

SHERWOOD

‘FreshPAC’ funds renew concerns about pay-to-play — Page 8

Brian Kapur/The Current

Residents have said the park’s playground is in poor condition. The project is also intended to improve drainage at the site.

INDEX Calendar/18 Classifieds/25 District Digest/4 Exhibits/19 Foggy Bottom News/11 In Your Neighborhood/16

Opinion/8 Police Report/6 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/10 Service Directory/23 Week Ahead/3

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