Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Vol. XXIV, No. 11
The Georgetown Current
Council targets grocery covenants
statement marc h
■ Palisades: Bill addresses
future of MacArthur Safeway
By KATIE PEARCE Current Staff Writer
With the Palisades Safeway up for sale, the D.C. Council intervened yesterday to ensure that the 4865 MacArthur Blvd. site could continue to host a supermarket. Fearing Safeway might impose a
covenant to prohibit future grocery stores on that property — a common practice for national supermarkets selling their stores — the council unanimously passed emergency legislation Tuesday to prevent that possibility. Though triggered by the Palisades situation, the legislation has citywide impacts, making it unlawful for any grocery chain to apply restrictive covenants on future land use when it sells, leases or transfers
its property in the District. At-large Council member David Catania, who introduced the bill along with Ward 3’s Mary Cheh, criticized such covenants for placing “unreasonable strain on competition,” with “detrimental” impacts on surrounding communities. In the Palisades, that type of restriction would create a “food desert,” with “residents deprived of a grocery retailer within two miles,” See Council/Page 7
Lab celebrates upcoming new building By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
A Saturday evening march and rally to demand “Justice for Michael Brown and Police Reform in D.C.” started in Foggy Bottom and ended at 34th and M streets.
High school students at the Lab School of Washington face learning difficulties like dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that can make it challenging to follow a normal curriculum. But they also face the additional challenges of a cramped, aging school building, where former dormitories serve as classrooms and students regularly have to work in the hall. The school took a step toward addressing its facilities needs yesterday afternoon, hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for a new high school wing on its 4759 Reservoir Road campus. The school band performed as students in hard hats turned over dirt next to a small building that will be torn down to make way for a three-story, 30,000-square-foot facility, slated to open in early 2016. The new wing along Whitehaven Parkway — plus a new story added to an existing arts building on campus See Lab/Page 18
Brian Kapur/The Current
The Lab School held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for its new high school wing, which will help it ease a longtime space crunch.
Children’s theater set to launch in Georgetown
Agency unveils new options for K Street streetcar route
By KAT LUCERO
■ Transit: Configuration of
Current Staff Writer
As the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts prepares for its 40th anniversary next year, the Georgetownbased acting school is expanding its repertoire to young aspiring thespians. “Children’s theater is where a lot of actors start,” said the conservatory’s president, Ray Ficca. “We have the personnel and expertise, and the need for children’s entertainment that Georgetown has identified.” The new theater program will begin with a children’s company, in which kids ages 4 to 12 will act in productions put together by members of the conservatory. Classes — smaller in scale than the regular adult sessions — will start in June 2015. “We’re going to start off small. We’ll do public per-
NEWS
roadway remains undecided
Brian Kapur/The Current
Georgetown Lutheran Church is home to the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, which is preparing to add children’s offerings.
formances first and add the classes to that component,” said Ficca, a graduate of the conservatory who has been acting for 24 years, performing in more than 150 stage productions nationwide. The Citizens Association of Georgetown’s Pamla Moore, who recently announced the new development in See Theater/Page 18
SPOR TS
By KAT LUCERO Current Staff Writer
City transportation officials unveiled an updated proposal for a streetcar line from Georgetown to Union Station last week as the project gears up for the next phase of development. Two options are now under consideration for a 3.46-mile streetcar system from Wisconsin Avenue NW below the Whitehurst Freeway to
SHERWOOD
Incumbents face criticism at forum on statehood issues
St. John’s, Sidwell earn critical league wins on the gridiron
Obama endorsement of Bowser generates unexpected debate
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just past Union Station in Northeast — a diverse route that includes service lanes, federally owned parkland and downtown districts. The two alternatives take different approaches to K Street’s role in the transportation system. A draft environmental assessment of these two options — plus a third, required “no action” alternative — is slated to come out early next year. A second public meeting is planned for next month. The first option would require a major overhaul of the downtown stretch of K Street, carving out tranSee Streetcar/Page 16
INDEX Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/5 Exhibits/21 In Your Neighborhood/10 Opinion/8
Police Report/6 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/19 Service Directory/27 Sports/11 Theater/23
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