The Northwest Current
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Vol. XLIX, No. 9
Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967
dance dance revolution
Pepco merger may not go forward ■ Utilities: Mayor, regulators
at odds over settlement terms
By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Exelon Corp. may abandon its long-fought, controversial effort to acquire regional utility company Pepco, with the D.C. Public Service Commission and Mayor Muriel Bowser finding themselves
at odds over the merger’s terms. The merger has been hotly debated in the District since it was first announced. Civic activists derided Exelon’s environmental record and questioned whether the District could effectively regulate a Chicago-based energy giant. Meanwhile the utility companies, the business community and eventually Bowser and most D.C. Council members said the merger would bring improved reliability
and financial benefits to the city and local ratepayers. But as of The Current’s deadline yesterday, the $6.8 billion deal was on the ropes, essentially due to a $25.6 million disagreement between city officials and one member of the District’s independent utility regulatory panel. Last fall, Bowser had negotiated a series of conditions with the utility companies, including the See Pepco/Page 5
Fillmore Arts again facing budget cuts By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
Brian Kapur/The Current
Students from CityDance’s Dream program performed at halftime of Monday’s Washington Wizards game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Verizon Center. Oyster-Adams Bilingual students were among more than 130 D.C. public school students in grades 3 through 12 to participate.
The communities of five Northwest elementary schools are scrambling to undo a nearly $600,000 budget cut to Fillmore Arts Center that would spell an end to the long-standing program. D.C. Public Schools says the city spends double the amount per pupil compared to other schools to continue the program, which serves 1,700 students from Key, Ross, Marie Reed, Hyde-Addison and Stoddert elementary schools. The students are bused every week to the arts center in Georgetown to take classes in arts, drama and music. Two dozen parents and school members huddled last Tuesday at a Friends of Fillmore meeting to strategize opposition. As of yesterday evening, over 1,000 people have signed a change.org petition calling for the program’s funds to be restored. And supporters See Fillmore/Page 9
Brian Kapur/The Current
D.C. Public Schools officials said they would rather fund arts programs in individual schools than bus students to the center at Hardy Middle.
City seeking input for Palisades Library redo
Zoning panel to air push for affordable housing reforms
By BRADY HOLT
■ Development: Proponents
Current Staff Writer
D.C. Public Library officials are preparing to unveil a concept for the modernized Palisades Library, which will retain the existing structure and footprint but thoroughly upgrade the interior and possibly relocate various functions. The 1964 building at 49th and V streets NW has generous space and a boxy shape that lends itself to many potential configurations, library officials said at a public meeting last Thursday. The $8.2 million modernization is scheduled to begin in late 2016, and the library would reopen about nine months later. Early plans a couple of years ago called for a far more expensive project that would have involved fully replacing the building. Officials now expect to make minor facade upgrades and replace the win-
seek to increase ‘IZ’ setasides Brian Kapur/The Current
The $8.2 million renovation will focus on the interior of the aging building at 49th and V streets NW. dows, but to generally leave the structure intact. The project will also include gutting and replacing the interior of the building, its furniture and most of its mechanical equipment. “We feel as though the city has given us a very appropriate amount of money to do what we need to do with this library,” David Saulter, the library system’s director of capital planning, told residents at See Library/Page 16
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Efforts to update the city’s inclusionary zoning regulations for affordable housing are inching forward, with a public zoning hearing set for tomorrow night. The Zoning Commission’s March 3 hearing will focus on measures to make more affordable units available to lower income levels in the District, as proposed by the local Coalition for Smarter
Growth and analyzed by the D.C. Office of Planning. The hearing — which continues a discussion that began Jan. 28 — comes after the Planning Office requested several postponements. Current inclusionary zoning, or “IZ,” regulations specify that 8 percent to 10 percent of a large multifamily development’s square footage must be set aside for affordable units. Existing regulations also allow developers to exceed density caps to provide more IZ units. Depending on the project and its location, most units are set aside for prospective resiSee Housing/Page 18
NEWS
SPORTS
SHERWOOD
INDEX
18 years of film
Earning their stripes
‘Allow extra time’
Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/4 Exhibits/21 In Your Neighborhood/26 Opinion/10
Organizers expand festival to feature broader selection of local, global movies / Page 2
Wilson’s girls basketball team knocked off Anacostia to win its first title since 1993 / Page 13
Riders won’t wait forever for Metro to sort out its host of operational issues / Page 10
Police Report/6 Real Estate/17 School Dispatches/12 Service Directory/27 Sports/13 Week Ahead/3
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