The NorThwesT CurreNT
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Circulator audits fault bus safety
Wesley Seminary may house AU undergrads
A buNCH Of ‘NuNSENSE’
■ Zoning: University likely
to miss campus plan deadline
by bRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
With its cheery red buses following straightforward routes and simple schedules, the DC Circulator system has won consistent admiration from District residents. But D.C. Department of Transportation director Leif Dormsjo warns that there’s trouble below the surface. “There had been a blissful ignorance about Circulator for some time, that it was this great, wonderful thing and we just needed to expand it and expand it,” Dormsjo told D.C. Council members Friday. “It was as good as apple pie. We were eating a lot of pie, and we weren’t gaining any weight.” Indeed, it was too good to last. Dormsjo appeared before the council’s transportation committee shortly after WTOP radio revealed embarrassing audits commissioned by the Transportation Department, which found glaring safety and maintenance lapses in Circulator buses. Also at the hearing, Dormsjo said his agency has no capacity to implement planned expansions of the Circulator network that would have brought the buses to the Washington National Cathedral and the Southwest waterfront. The first of the two audits looked at the Circulator buses in August 2015, finding an “exceptionally high” average of 22 defects per bus — a figure that included an average of 2.9 critical safety defects per bus, which the audit deemed “unacceptable by any standard.” A bus with even one such safety defect should immediately be pulled from service until it’s repaired, according to the audit, and 40 of 42 Circulator buses inspected had at least one such flaw. In addition to the safety flaws, the audit concluded that many buses were being poorly maintained and that not one was kept See Circulator/Page 26
Vol. XLIX, No. 15
Serving Chevy Chase, Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Crestwood, Petworth & 16th Street Heights
by MARK LIEbERMAN Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
St. John’s College High School presented its spring musical “Nunsense!” over the weekend. The play featured whimsical characters — and even puppetry — as members of the convent worked through several entertaining scenarios.
American University has asked to rent dormitory-style rooms from the neighboring Wesley Theological Seminary for up to 55 undergraduate upperclassmen next school year, and the seminary’s president said Monday he’s “inclined to sign” the lease. Meanwhile, up to 240 students at American might be spending the fall 2016 semester in the Berkshire Apartments if construction on the East Campus project doesn’t finish in time, the university’s Linda Argo told The Current on Tuesday, pending Zoning Commission approval. American has been scouting off-campus temporary housing locations since last month due to concerns that at least one of its three new East Campus residence halls won’t be open until October. Original targets called for all 590 beds at East Campus to be available at the start of this coming school year. Now, the university
Brian Kapur/The Current
East Campus likely won’t be ready in August as planned.
believes the largest building, with 279 beds, won’t be ready until October, and the other two, with a total of 311 beds, might not be finished in time for the start of the fall semester, either, Argo said. Should the construction not finish on time, the university hopes 295 of the 590 students would be accommodated in the two off-campus locations, and the other 295 would live in temporary triples in the university’s existing residence halls. Argo said students living in temporary housing would stay for a full semester even if construction wraps up mid-fall. The university will seek a minor modification to its campus See Campus/Page 5
Shelter plans face continued backlash from neighbors by CuNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
As Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration moved plans for citywide family homeless shelters into a second stage of community design review, many Northwest residents have remained opposed to key elements of the proposal to replace D.C. General. The Bowser administration presented design renderings for the seven shelters across the city at individual community meetings in the past week. The Ward 3 shelter, planned for 2619 Wisconsin Ave. NW, would be three stories and feature a gabled roof with a facade meant to blend in with surrounding brick houses. The meetings were meant to gather feedback on the designs, but critics complained they were premature and scheduled with little notice to the public. At the Ward 3 meeting last Tuesday, about 60 residents staged a walkout
Rendering courtesy of the D.C. government
D.C. officials say the Ward 3 shelter’s design blends in with nearby single-family homes.
25 minutes into the event, after the Massachusetts Avenue Heights Citizens Association president called the 38-unit facility “entirely unacceptable” to the neighborhood. Meanwhile, in Ward 1 Monday night, protesters unfurled a banner and interrupted the meeting on the proposed facility at 2105-2107
10th St. NW. That facility will include a renovation of the former Morning Bright Church and construction of a new six-story structure to hold 29 families. “We object to the closed process that created this site,” one protester told Polly Donaldson, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development. Chief among the concerns for opponents remains Bowser’s decision to swiftly forge ahead with the plan in order to replace D.C. General with seven smaller family shelters by 2018. Instead of discussing aesthetic features of the shelter buildings, many residents want to revisit the site selection process, and they question the high prices of the shelters, which the city in most wards will lease from developers. In Ward 1, protesters claim the city will pay above-market rates to the Sorg Architects firm. City estimates put the yearly operational cost See Shelter/Page 18
NEWS
SPORTS
SHERWOOD
INDEX
Fighting for Fillmore
Ready to roar
Peek into the shadows
Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/6 Exhibits/21 Getting Around/26 In Your Neighborhood/10
Northwest parents want more than a one-year reprieve for arts program at five schools / Page 3
Wilson’s softball team hopes to defend its DCIAA title and try for the state championship / Page 11
We’ll soon see previously sealed documents related to the infamous Gray ‘shadow campaign’ / Page 8
Opinion/8 Police Report/4 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/14 Service Directory/27 Sports/11
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