Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Vol. XXIV, No. 2
The Georgetown Current
Agency delays overhaul of solar rebates
DC CAS results show modest improvements
mural maker
■ Test scores: Some area
schools see dramatic gains
By KAT LUCERO Current Staff Writer
For several years, the D.C. Department of the Environment had been putting homeowners on a waiting list to receive city funds for installing solar panels. But the agency elected to replace the old program with a new set of incentives effective Aug. 11, this time covered by utility companies that pay into a fund in lieu of meeting solar energy requirements themselves. The problem: The $700,000 in this new fund couldn’t cover hundreds of previously wait-listed homeowners along with new applicants, so the Environment Department elected to offer it only for new solar installations — eliminating the waitlist. In response to the resulting outcry, the agency last week pledged to postpone the scheduled launch of the new program and create a 13-member committee to “form solutions on the issues that were raised,” deputy director Taresa Lawrence told The Current. See Solar/Page 26
By CHRIS KAIN Current Staff Writer
More students in D.C. Public Schools are proficient in reading and math than at any other time since the current D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System exams were introduced in 2006, D.C. officials announced last week. But even as officials hailed modest improvements in this spring’s DC CAS standardized test scores, the gains were not enough to draw
Agreement clears way for Ellington School project Brian Kapur/The Current
The Georgetown Gongoozlers project kicked off its monthly mural display last Friday with Nena Depaz’s artwork. The piece will remain on display outside the old entrance to the former Latham Hotel at 3000 M St. through Sept. 4.
By KAT LUCERO Current Staff Writer
NEWS
Brian Kapur/The Current
Construction could affect access to the C&O Canal in Georgetown and other nearby parks.
Georgetown plan that include a smaller tunnel than in the current proposal. The study area stretches along the Potomac River from George-
Dupont ANC member charged in assault of homeless man
Former Sidwell star returns home to play for Mystics
— Page 3
— Page 11
‘Skyview Terrace’ scaled back Current Staff Writer
town University past Haines Point to the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant — the areas that would be affected under various alternatives. DC Water’s revised proposal would avoid placing a tunnel beneath the Georgetown waterfront, relying instead on a combination of “green infrastructure” and sewer separation projects to avoid overflows in that area. In all, the study is looking at nine “combined sewer overflows” — the pipe openings where sewage spills into the waterway. They stretch along riverfront parkland from Foxhall Road south to the Lincoln Memorial. The proposed tunnel is one porSee Sewer/Page 12
SPOR TS
■ Modernization: Plans for
By KATIE PEARCE
Input sought on Potomac sewage measures Over the next several months, the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority will analyze a wide range of issues — from water quality to park operations — that will be affected by a proposed Potomac River tunnel project to control sewage overflows. The agency, also known as DC Water, is seeking public input through Aug. 31 on areas of focus for the project’s environmental impact statement, a study that’s required for the project to move forward. At a community presentation last Thursday, DC Water officials showed off revisions to the
the fanfare of last year’s growth, which had elicited remarks from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. And critics pointed to stagnant scores for at-risk and economically disadvantaged students since mayoral control and new teacher evaluation policies took hold in 2007 and 2008. Overall, the citywide results — comprising the D.C. Public Schools system and the District’s public charter schools — showed an increase in proficiency from 2013 of 1.4 percentage points in math and 0.4 percentage points in reading. This year, 54.5 percent of D.C. stuSee Scores/Page 16
An $82 million renovation of the acclaimed Duke Ellington School of the Arts is now set to launch, after various partners signed off on a community agreement last week. The agreement includes a vast reduction of uses for a rooftop “Skyview Terrace” that designers originally envisioned as an outdoor performance space with room for 800. In response to various community concerns, the revised concept allows for mainly classroom uses and an approximately 45-person capacity. Friday’s signing event, which drew Mayor Vincent Gray and other city officials, was a final step to allow the massive project to proceed. By fall 2016, the now-vacant arts school at 3500 R St. will be approximately 107,000 square feet larger, with a new 850-seat theater and an underground parking lot, among other new features and performance spaces.
Brian Kapur/The Current
Mayor Vincent Gray participated in Friday’s signing ceremony.
“We have been able to work to find what I think is an extraordinary solution,” Mayor Gray said of the community agreement, which he likened to the campus plan setting terms for the growth of Georgetown University. The Ellington agreement lays out various restrictions for the new outdoor rooftop terrace, prohibiting its use for rentals, fundraising, performances, assemblies or receptions. One rooftop element, a See Ellington/Page 16
INDEX
NEWS
Preservation board backs ‘micro’ units in Blagden Alley — Page 5
Calendar/18 Classifieds/25 District Digest/4 Exhibits/19 In Your Neighborhood/10 Opinion/8
Police Report/6 Real Estate/15 Service Directory/23 Sports/11 Theater/21 Week Ahead/3
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