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Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Inside :

Vol. XLVIII, No. 36

The Northwest Current

Shorts festival showcases local artists

■ Education: Zoning board

to review sports center plans

Current Staff Writer

By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

A host of changes are in the works at St. John’s College High School. The Chevy Chase Catholic school is about to debut two renovated and expanded fine arts studios, it’s constructing a new performing arts facility, and it recently applied for city approvals for upgrades to an athletics building. St. John’s will need approval

Brian Kapur/The Current

On Friday morning Janney Elementary students stood on the top step of the Lincoln Memorial, where they recited their hopes and dreams for the new school year on the same spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The National Park Service event marked the launch of an initiative to get every fourth-grader in the country to visit a national park during the upcoming school year.

Current Staff Writer

When Gerald Anderson first met Susan Orlins in October 2013, he was working as a Street Sense vendor selling newspapers next to the Gallery Place Metro station. A year and a half later, you’ll still find Anderson selling papers outside the station, but now he’s a different man. Back then, he was homeless and addicted to cocaine. Now he’s a local celebrity who hasn’t touched drugs in more than a year and just published his first book, “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina.” The transformation occurred as a result of Anderson’s friendship with

SPOR TS

Photo courtesy of Susan Orlins

Susan Orlins and Gerald Anderson near the Gallery Place Metro stop Wesley Heights resident Orlins, a published author and former journalist who had just started working at the Street Sense nonprofit as a volunteer editor when Anderson came into her life.

National Cathedral graduate stars for Terps volleyball — Page 9

Exorcist Steps just one of several D.C. landmarks in films — Page CG4

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from the Board of Zoning Adjustment for the athletics project, for which it must demonstrate that the plans won’t adversely impact residential neighbors of the 2607 Military Road NW campus. The school filed its application Aug. 11. The athletics plan focuses on the tennis courts at the north end of the campus and an adjacent building that houses the Gallagher and Roth gymnasiums, which school officials say is undersized and outdated. School officials shared their vision earlier this summer with the Chevy Chase advisory neighborhood commission. See St. John’s/Page 35

Synthetic drug bust brings Petworth store’s departure general negotiates agreement By DEIRDRE BANNON Current Correspondent

Anderson, now 48, grew up in poverty in New Orleans. He dropped out of seventh grade and landed in juvenile detention for stealing small items with his brother by the age of 15. He spent almost all of the next two decades bouncing from prison to prison, even overlapping with his imprisoned father when he was 25. When he finally emerged from prison for good three weeks before Hurricane Katrina laid waste to his hometown, Anderson had nowhere but there to settle. As devastating as the storm was, it provided him with a new sense of purpose. He spent much of the hurricane and its aftermath in rescue mode, focusing on the most helpless individuals: a See Homeless/Page 5

COMMUNITY GUIDE

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■ Public safety: Attorney

Katrina survivor shares his story in new book By MARK LIEBERMAN

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St. John’s eyes upgrades to athletic, arts facilities

dream big

By MARK LIEBERMAN Cory Wilson’s D.C.-based production company, the Collaborative, was looking to tackle a fun project separate from its business goals of advocacy and advertising. On a whim, the Eastern Market resident asked his friend Frankie Abralind — a writer who spends some afternoons sitting on the National Mall crafting poems for anyone who passes by and talks to him — if he’d be interested in being the subject of a short documentary. One day of shooting later, the short film “Sitting on the Mall” was born. Some films that classify as “shorts” take even less time to create, with their brief shoots and tight editing sessions. Aaron Fisher shot his short documentary “Christylez Bacon” in under two hours. It was conceived as a promotional video featuring the D.C.-based rapper of the film’s title, who was in the process of collaborating on a stage project at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Later, Fisher See Films/Page 3

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Riyad Market in Petworth will vacate its storefront by Nov. 13, after reaching an agreement with the D.C. Office of the Attorney General in the wake of a synthetic drug bust last fall in which police seized 500 packets of the illegal substance. The agreement to vacate avoided an eviction trial that had been scheduled for Aug. 28 for the 800 Upshur St. market. “This is a big victory especially for this neighborhood and the 800 block of Upshur Street,” said assistant attorney general Michael Aniton, who’s been heading up the office’s efforts to crack down on synthetic drug sales. “It’s really been developing recently, and Riyad Market was hindering that progress because of certain activities taking place there — it was a negative mark on the block.” The eviction case was set to go before a judge, but ongoing negotiations among the Attorney General’s

SHERWOOD

Holiday weekend brings new visibility to ‘security theater’ — Page 4

Brian Kapur/The Current

Riyard Market will vacate its storefront by mid-November under the terms of an agreement to end eviction proceedings.

Office, the property owner’s attorney who initiated the eviction notice, and the business owners were successful in coming to an agreement to vacate. If Riyad Market fails to leave the property by Nov. 13, the property owner could file to force an eviction and a judge could notify the U.S. Marshal’s Office to remove the business. The District has seen a spike in synthetic drug use recently that the mayor and police chief have called an epidemic. In June, there were 439 See Market/Page 35

INDEX Calendar/6 Classifieds/38 District Digest/2 Exhibits/7 In Your Neighborhood/34

Opinion/4 Real Estate/33 Service Directory/36 Sports/9 Week Ahead/3

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