The GeorGeTown CurrenT
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Vol. XXV, No. 44
Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
TUDOR PLACE BICENTENNIAL
Latest Ward 3 shelter plan debated ■ Homeless: Many residents
objecting to police station site By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
A new D.C. Council plan to relocate a proposed family homeless shelter in Ward 3 rankled the mayor when it was first announced a few weeks ago. But she wasn’t the only one with concerns.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh and D.C. Department of Human Services director Laura Zeilinger fielded a diverse range of questions and criticisms about the shelter plan at a community meeting last Thursday. More than 250 residents attended the contentious meeting, often erupting into applause or boos at the testimony from the government officials. Two weeks ago, Mendelson put
forward a citywide homeless shelter plan that looked markedly different from the one proposed by the mayor in February. Mendelson and the council want to install Ward 3’s on the city-owned site of the 2nd District Police Headquarters, 3320 Idaho Ave. NW, rather than housing it on leased private property at 2619 Wisconsin Ave. NW as Mayor Muriel Bowser had requested. See Shelter/Page 13
Audit details cost overruns at Ellington By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Photo by James R. Brantley Photography
Marcia Mayo, chair of last week’s Tudor Place Garden Party, joins the Marquis de Lafayette to welcome guests to the annual event in Georgetown last Wednesday. This year’s festivities were part of the 2016 bicentennial celebrations at Tudor Place, one of the city’s oldest historic estates.
A 2015 report from the D.C. auditor looked into why the Duke Ellington School of the Arts modernization project had gone $107 million over its allotted $78 million budget. A new auditor report released yesterday added new details, linking the budget woes to a failure of city agencies to consult with the D.C. Council. The report notes that agencies considered two alternative sites for creating a modernized facility for Ellington before deciding to keep the arts magnet school at its existing Burleith location — where, according to the latest schedule, the renovation will wrap up in time for the upcoming school year. Both the Ellington Field, three blocks from the school at 38th and R streets NW, and the Logan School, at 215 G St. NE near Union Station, came up as possible See Ellington/Page 18
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts has seen the costs of its modernization balloon repeatedly after the project got underway.
Costlier parking meter rates are now in effect
At-large challengers seek to topple incumbent Orange
By MARK LIEBERMAN
■ Politics: White, Garber
Current Staff Writer
Parking meter fees have increased citywide as of today, but neighborhood leaders and residents across Northwest remain conflicted on the merits of the new rates. The D.C. Council approved a uniform rate of $2.30 per hour at all city meters last year, an increase of 30 cents in “premium demand” and commercial loading zones and of $1.55 in “normal demand” areas. The new standardized rate affects nearly 15,000 parking spaces, among them 1,700 up until now priced at 75 cents per hour, including those in Chevy Chase, Cleveland Park near Cathedral Commons, the Georgia Avenue NW corridor, the Palisades and Spring Valley. Most stakeholders interviewed for this article
level ‘pay-to-play’ accusations Brian Kapur/Current file photo
The D.C. Council last year decided to increase the hourly rate to $2.30 citywide to fund Metro.
agree that the increases won’t be devastating on a large scale and that $2.30 is not an unreasonable expense for an hour of parking on a crowded block. Some in downtown neighborhoods expect the increases to prevent overcrowding and manage the excess demand for spots. Others in upper Northwest expressed frustration that their spots now cost the same as the ones closer to the city’s center, where demand and traffic volume tends to be much higher. See Meters/Page 17
By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
D.C. Council at-large candidate David Garber was in a part of town last Wednesday that may be the closest thing to a political base he can count on. On tree-lined row-house streets where bicyclists zip home, blocks from the Shaw Metro stop, Garber palled around with friends he ran into and pitched himself to residents, many of whom are young newcomers to
the hot neighborhood or are raising families. Garber, along with fellow challenger Robert White, has come out hard against incumbent Vincent Orange, painting the veteran ■ WARD 4: council mem- Todd seeks to ber as tied to a retain council history of cor- seat. Page 7. ruption and pay-to-play politics on the D.C. Council. Garber is both a rookie to D.C. politics and also new to Shaw, moving in two years ago from Navy Yard, where he was an advisory neighSee Council/Page 7
NEWS
SPORTS
NEWS
INDEX
Board allows panels
Top dogs
Co-op program forms
Calendar/21 Classifieds/29 District Digest/4 Exhibits/21 In Your Neighborhood/20 Opinion/8
Preservation authorities say Dupont solar array doesn’t set broader precedent / Page 2
St. Albans baseball team wins DCSAA title after disappointment of losing out in IAC / Page 11
Local parents pull together to create a summer camp for their young children/ Page 3
Police Report/10 Real Estate/18 School Dispatches/14 Service Directory/27 Sports/11 Week Ahead/3
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