Gt 06 28 2017

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The GeorGeTown CurrenT

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Vol. XXVI, No. 47

Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park

Mount Zion Cemetery wins funding

ALL SHAKESPEARE

■ Preservation: Council

provides $200,000 for repairs

By GRACE BIRD

Current Correspondent

Amid the meticulous effort to preserve the historic Georgetown neighborhood, one of the nation’s oldest black cemeteries has been abandoned there for decades, disappearing amongst rubble and

overgrown weeds. But Mount Zion Cemetery, located at 26th Street and Mill Road NW, may at last see its fortunes reversed this year. Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans successfully pushed for the city’s budget to set aside $200,000 for cemetery repairs. The cemetery’s land was originally purchased by the Dumbarton United Methodist Church in 1808, functioning as an interracial cem-

etery. In the mid-18th century, white burials shifted to Oak Hill Cemetery next door, and the oldest black congregation in the country, the Mount Zion United Methodist Church, purchased the land and continued burials of African-Americans there until 1950. Mount Zion Church is still in possession of the land today. The cemetery, said to be a stop on the Underground Railroad, was See Cemetery/Page 5

Friendship Park reopening pushed back By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

The Fat and Greasy Citizens Brigade last week concluded its monthlong outdoor production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” with three actors taking on the Bard’s entire canon in 97 minutes.

The long-delayed reopening of Turtle Park has been postponed yet again — to the first week of August — to accommodate last-minute design changes, officials with the D.C. Department of General Services told the community last week. The park at 45th and Van Ness streets NW, formally known as Friendship Park, has been closed for the last two years for an $8 million renovation to the site’s outdoor areas and recreation center. The work was originally slated to be finished last fall, but the agency had to contend with the inconvenient locations of multiple pipes — one of which had to be relocated, and another that forced the new recreation center to be shifted on the site. Last Tuesday, the agency pushed back the reopening again. This time, according to Friends of FriendSee Friendship/Page 13

Brian Kapur/The Current

Renovations to the park and its recreation center are nearly complete but are facing a last-minute design change to the playground floor surface.

Shelter residents don’t share critics’ concerns

After budget cuts, streetcar debate on extension remains

Current Staff Writer

■ Transit: Some ANCs push

By MARK LIEBERMAN

Critics of the family homeless shelter planned for the 2nd District Police Headquarters site in Ward 3 have cited a number of concerns — some about how the site will affect the neighborhood, and others about whether the shelter will prove satisfactory for its residents. The former concerns are familiar to numerous development projects, generally boiling down to the juxtaposition of a tall building against nearby singlefamily homes. There were also complaints about a D.C. Council site-selection process that critics said allowed inadequate time for community input. But neighbors concerns’ for the shelter’s future residents are also numerous, if hypothetical. The shelter’s proximity to the police station at 3320 Idaho

for council to restore funding

By MARK LIEBERMAN Mark Lieberman/The Current

Jessica Odom, 28, has lived at the D.C. General family homeless shelter since April and hopes the replacement facilities will provide more services.

Ave. NW raises worries that families will feel like they’re being monitored. The dearth of affordable restaurants in the area could prove alienating to residents without substantial means. And the distance from the nearest Metro station might be inconvenient, especially for parents who need easy access to See Shelter/Page 10

Current Staff Writer

In the weeks following unexpected cuts to the DC Streetcar’s expansion budget — which the D.C. Council adopted earlier this month — some Ward 2 community leaders have begun criticizing the last-minute change. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson stripped more than $40 million from the $160 million that Mayor Muriel Bowser had

requested for the streetcar over the next six years. Much of that money would have funded extensions of the existing line eastward to the Benning Road Metro station and west along K Street NW into Georgetown. With reduced funding, the westward expansion faces particular peril. Mendelson argued that the current line — covering a 2.4mile stretch of H Street and Benning Road in Northeast — isn’t popular enough to justify an extension into Ward 2. But not all community leaders agree. Two Northwest advisory See Streetcar/Page 15

NEWS

SPORTS

CURRENTNEWSPAPERS.COM

INDEX

Restaurant closes

NBA-bound

Check out our new website, where you’ll find more of the communityoriented news, features and sports you read weekly in The Current.

Calendar/16 Classifieds/22 District Digest/4 Getting Around/15 In Your Neighborhood/12

Cleveland Park’s Nam Viet shuts down after 20 years as business slows / Page 3

Former Sidwell hoops star picked up by the Los Angeles Lakers in last week’s draft / Page 9

Opinion/6 Police Report/8 Real Estate/11 Service Directory/20 Sports/9

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