Nwe 06 08 2016

Page 1

The NorThwesT CurreNT

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Board preps for June 14 election day

Traffic signal tweaks aim to cut congestion

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS

■ Transportation: Latest

effort focuses on wards 3, 4

By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

The D.C. Board of Elections says it has new and faster ballot tabulation machines this year, and promises quicker returns on results during the night of the June 14 D.C. primary. Democratic voters next Tuesday will vote on their party’s ■ VOTERS nominee for GUIIDE: Profiles president. The and Q&A’s with D.C. Demo- council hopefuls. cratic Party Pullout. selected its delegates to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia on May 21 through a caucus. Of the city’s 46 delegates, 20 are pledged, which means they have to support candidates in proportion to the number of popular votes they received. The remaining 26 unpledged delegates — party leaders and elected officials — aren’t bound to support a particular candidate at the Democratic National Convention next month. Locally, there are five races for See Election/Page 14

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

The latest round of a multiphase optimization project for the District’s traffic signals swept across wards 3 and 4 on Friday, with community leaders largely in agreement that changes are needed but, in some cases, frustrated at the lack of concrete information from city agencies. The timing for more than 350 signals were upgraded on Friday,

Brian Kapur/The Current

Washington Wizards guard John Wall, center, received the 2016 NBA Cares Seasonlong Community Assist Award at Bright Beginnings Inc., a local charity that serves children whose families live in shelters and transitional housing. After receiving the award, he helped assemble baskets filled with toiletries for the families of Bright Beginnings.

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of GWU

The city grant will allow George Washington University to install rain barrels in the GroW garden.

announced last week that nine proposals from a total of 35 applicants citywide earned the first annual round of grants. In addition to the three projects in Northwest D.C., recipients include projects at the 8th Street

with the twin goals of reducing traffic congestion and improving pedestrian safety. The D.C. Department of Transportation says it has assembled data on vehicular and pedestrian patterns broken down by day of the week and time of day. Further adjustments to this round of signal changes could take place over the next few months as the agency takes stock of the optimization impacts. Last summer, the agency initiated a larger round of signal upgrades, with more than 650 signals in the downtown area affected. A year later, the Transportation See Signals/Page 16

Federal panel adopts draft guidelines for FBI parcel By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

RiverSmart program funds local green efforts Katrina Weinig of Forest Hills wants to see the Broad Branch stream restored and converted for community use. Steve Dryden of Mount Pleasant has been fighting since 2013 to preserve the woodlands of Rock Creek Park as a habitat for avian wildlife. George Washington University seeks a more frugal irrigation system for its network of community gardens. These environmental efforts have in common a recent influx of fund, thanks to the new RiverSmart Innovation Grant program from the D.C. Department of Energy & Environment. The agency

Vol. XLIX, No. 23

Serving Chevy Chase, Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Crestwood, Petworth & 16th Street Heights

Arts Park and the East Capitol Urban Farm in Northeast; at Sousa Middle School in Southeast; and three at the Anacostia Watershed in Southeast. Proposals for stormwater-related improvement projects that also contained an educational angle or community involvement earned top priority in the selection process, according to the agency’s Emily Rice. The agency accepted applications for 60 days — twice the length of a normal application process — in order to accommodate as many grant proposals as possible. A team of six staffers combed through each proposal and See Grants/Page 14

The site of the current FBI headquarters could become home to a 160-foot-tall mixed-use building that officials hope will revitalize one of the District’s most storied avenues, after a federal design panel approved draft guidelines for the site on Thursday. The U.S. General Services Administration has been working to consolidate and relocate the bureau to the suburbs, hoping to accomplish the move via a land swap that would have a developer taking over the J. Edgar Hoover Building at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The developer would be expected to follow National Capital Planning Commission guidelines, which the commission’s panel intends to finalize later this year to establish the size and shape of a redeveloped building and other urban design considerations. The goal for the 6.6-acre site, the largest on the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, is to “preserve civic and ceremonial function of the avenue” with a “highly visible” building, the

Photo courtesy of the FBI

The prominent Pennsylvania Avenue NW site of the Hoover Building would be redeveloped.

commission’s senior urban planner Diane Sullivan said at a meeting Thursday. The tall, high-density building would occupy the block north of D Street — which would be restored between 9th and 10th streets NW — and there would also be a plaza area on either side of D. Though the mixed-use development is at least five years from completion, downtown stakeholders are already weighing in on the prospects for revitalizing Pennsylvania Avenue. Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans told The Current he See FBI/Page 29

BUSINESS

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Tudor at 200

Calendar/30 Classifieds/38 District Digest/4 Exhibits/31 In Your Neighborhood/12 Opinion/8

Korean restaurant on Wisconsin Avenue NW is new MBA grad’s real-world lesson / Page 3

Georgetown Day runs past the competition to sweep the DCSAA track championships / Page 11

Historic Georgetown mansion celebrates its bicentennial with series of events / Page 25

Police Report/6 Real Estate/26 School Dispatches/7 Service Directory/36 Sports/11 Week Ahead/3

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