Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Vol. XXV, No. 19
The Georgetown Current
Zoo shouldn’t change hours, neighbors say
P Street residents blast slow water main work
SWEDISH CHRISTMAS
■ Infrastructure: DC Water
By KELSEY KNORP
blames contractor for delays
Current Correspondent
Neighbors to the National Zoo protested an upcoming change in hours last Wednesday, when Zoo director Dennis Kelly appeared before the Woodley Park Community Association to address complaints. The most contested of a series of changes is the opening time for the Zoo grounds, which is poised to shift from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. at the start of the new year. Many nearby residents described how early grounds access has become an integral part of their lifestyles. Despite substantial backlash, Kelly stood his ground, citing safety concerns as the primary reason for the shift. “We are the only zoo in America that opens its gates to the public when it’s dark,” he said. Beyond the lack of daylight, Kelly noted hazards posed to pedestrians by the “dozens” of vehicles that travel throughout the Zoo in the early morning hours to provide care to the animals and prepare the exhibits to open. “We haven’t had an incident with a vehicle yet, but almost every month the police report on their rounds, my keepers report that we have near-misses,” he said. For Myra Marshall, a Mount Pleasant resident and Friends of the National Zoo member, the Zoo is a sanctuary. She says she has walked through the grounds every morning, starting promptly at 6:15 a.m., for 20 years. “This is about our mental health, and not just our physical health,” she said. “The Zoo’s original enabling legislation was not just about animals. It was also about plants, it was also about a park, it was about recreation.” Other opponents argued that the risks posed to Zoo pedestrians aren’t as significant as those in other nearby areas like Rock Creek Park, and they said the Zoo could endanger pedestrians who will have to See Zoo/Page 5
NEWS
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
On Saturday the Swedish Women’s Educational Association hosted its annual Swedish Christmas Bazaar, which featured Swedish crystal, textiles, artwork, traditional food and more at the House of Sweden along the Georgetown waterfront.
— Page 7
Brian Kapur/The Current
After months of delays, DC Water says the road will be repaved by next Wednesday.
be cleared by Dec. 16. P Street between 26th and 28th streets NW is dotted with potholes, uneven paving and steel plates that clang when cars drive over them, Roache told The Current. Driving there poses a threat to vehicles, she said, and the noise from the plates disrupts neighbors at night. The project has posed other challenges to the neighborhood throughout the year as well, including a gas leak and a dispute over parking. The construction initially blocked parking on the street from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every weekday, until Roache successfully advocated for a shorter timeframe upon noticing that conSee Construction/Page 5
Sidwell campus consolidation yields concerns about traffic By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
As Sidwell Friends School prepares to relocate its lower grades from Bethesda to the current site of the Washington Home, many neighbors are worried about a twice-daily influx of cars onto neighborhood streets for pickup and drop-off of 300 or more students. The Washington Home, a nonprofit providing senior housing and hospice services, is located at 37th and Upton streets NW, just north of Sidwell’s middle and high school campus. Sidwell’s plan to use the existing Washington Home building and driveways would increase activity on these residential side streets, which neighbors say are already bursting with existing traffic from Sidwell and Hearst Elementary. “The situation today is untenable,” one resident told Sidwell officials at a community presentation Monday. “We really want you guys to come
SPOR TS
Jewish Community Center receives $6.5 million donation
When Georgetown advisory neighborhood commissioner Monica Roache heard that a water main replacement project was planned for P Street NW back in January, she wasn’t happy about the possible disruption to her street. She was reassured to hear it would be over by the summer. Now winter is just around the corner, and the project still isn’t done. At the neighborhood commission’s Nov. 30 meeting, Roache blasted representatives of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority — known as DC Water — for failing to provide concrete answers about the project delays. The representatives assured residents they are doing everything in their power to resolve the construction issues by Christmas. In a follow-up email to The Current on Tuesday, DC Water community manager Emanuel Briggs said the construction is expected to
Gonzaga rolls past H.D. Woodson to repeat in DCSAA — Page 9
Brian Kapur/Current file photo
Sidwell Friends would retain the Washington Home building and driveway for the lower school, which will relocate from Bethesda.
into the neighborhood, but by definition unless we do some kind of real fundamental changes, we’re going to make this situation worse.” The Washington Home reached an agreement in September to sell its 5.7-acre campus to Sidwell
HOLIDAYS
Segways offer novel way to take in D.C.’s many holiday sites — Page 17
for $32.5 million, and the nonprofit plans to close its facility in December 2016 to focus on providing in-home services. Sidwell will move its 295-student lower school from Bethesda to unite its grades on a single campus. The school also plans to replace two existing campus buildings with new space in the Washington Home building, which will be expanded with two new additions. Sidwell hopes to complete its project in time for the 2019-20 school year. The Quaker school has moved quickly toward securing the necessary Board of Zoning Adjustment approval, hoping to get sign-off in March. Through the zoning process, the board will review the impacts the expansion would have on the residential area. Chief among those impacts is traffic. “It looks like you’ve done an unbelievable job on everything else,” one resident said Monday, but he said Upton and 37th streets are too narrow to accomSee Sidwell/Page 15
INDEX Calendar/18 Classifieds/25 District Digest/3 Exhibits/19 In Your Neighborhood/14 Opinion/6
Police Report/4 Real Estate/13 School Dispatches/12 Service Directory/23 Sports/9 Week Ahead/3
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