Nwe 06 28 2017

Page 1

The NorThwesT CurreNT

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Vol. L, No. 26

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

Georgia Eastern secures council vote

UKULELE LESSONS

■ Development: Project’s

alley closure faced pushback By GRACE BIRD

Current Correspondent

The controversial Georgia Eastern development near the Maryland line cleared another hurdle Tuesday, when the D.C. Council voted unanimously to close a public alley on the site

despite neighborhood concerns over the project’s transportation impacts. The Douglas Development project itself — five stories of apartments above a Harris Teeter supermarket, located at Georgia and Eastern avenues NW — has received widespread praise. But nearly 200 residents have signed a petition with concerns over safety and congestion issues that may be caused by the planned building’s

vehicular entrance on Kalmia Road NW, a narrow residential street at the project’s southern end. Two residents have filed D.C. Court of Appeals cases contesting the Zoning Commission’s approval of the project, raising particular concern over the entrance location. Although developers initially proposed the site entrance on Eastern Avenue, it was later moved to Kalmia because Douglas declined See Project/Page 5

Friendship Park reopening pushed back By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer

Brian Kapur/The Current

Tenleytown Main Street hosted performances throughout the neighborhood Wednesday as part of “Make Music DC,” a celebration of music in the nation’s capital. The event included an afternoon “Ukulele Learn ’n Play” program at the Tenley-Friendship Library presented by Middle C Music.

The long-delayed reopening of Turtle Park has been postponed yet again — to the first week of August — to accommodate last-minute design changes, officials with the D.C. Department of General Services told the community last week. The park at 45th and Van Ness streets NW, formally known as Friendship Park, has been closed for the last two years for an $8 million renovation to the site’s outdoor areas and recreation center. The work was originally slated to be finished last fall, but the agency had to contend with the inconvenient locations of multiple pipes — one of which had to be relocated, and another that forced the new recreation center to be shifted on the site. Last Tuesday, the agency pushed back the reopening again. This time, according to Friends of FriendSee Friendship/Page 13

Brian Kapur/The Current

Renovations to the park and its recreation center are nearly complete but are facing a last-minute design change to the playground floor surface.

Shelter residents don’t share critics’ concerns

After budget cuts, streetcar debate on extension remains

Current Staff Writer

■ Transit: Some ANCs push

By MARK LIEBERMAN

Critics of the family homeless shelter planned for the 2nd District Police Headquarters site in Ward 3 have cited a number of concerns — some about how the site will affect the neighborhood, and others about whether the shelter will prove satisfactory for its residents. The former concerns are familiar to numerous development projects, generally boiling down to the juxtaposition of a tall building against nearby singlefamily homes. There were also complaints about a D.C. Council site-selection process that critics said allowed inadequate time for community input. But neighbors concerns’ for the shelter’s future residents are also numerous, if hypothetical. The shelter’s proximity to the police station at 3320 Idaho

for council to restore funding

By MARK LIEBERMAN Mark Lieberman/The Current

Jessica Odom, 28, has lived at the D.C. General family homeless shelter since April and hopes the replacement facilities will provide more services.

Ave. NW raises worries that families will feel like they’re being monitored. The dearth of affordable restaurants in the area could prove alienating to residents without substantial means. And the distance from the nearest Metro station might be inconvenient, especially for parents who need easy access to See Shelter/Page 10

Current Staff Writer

In the weeks following unexpected cuts to the DC Streetcar’s expansion budget — which the D.C. Council adopted earlier this month — some Ward 2 community leaders have begun criticizing the last-minute change. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson stripped more than $40 million from the $160 million that Mayor Muriel Bowser had

requested for the streetcar over the next six years. Much of that money would have funded extensions of the existing line eastward to the Benning Road Metro station and west along K Street NW into Georgetown. With reduced funding, the westward expansion faces particular peril. Mendelson argued that the current line — covering a 2.4mile stretch of H Street and Benning Road in Northeast — isn’t popular enough to justify an extension into Ward 2. But not all community leaders agree. Two Northwest advisory See Streetcar/Page 15

NEWS

SPORTS

CURRENTNEWSPAPERS.COM

INDEX

Restaurant closes

NBA-bound

Check out our new website, where you’ll find more of the communityoriented news, features and sports you read weekly in The Current.

Calendar/16 Classifieds/22 District Digest/4 Getting Around/15 In Your Neighborhood/12

Cleveland Park’s Nam Viet shuts down after 20 years as business slows / Page 3

Former Sidwell hoops star picked up by the Los Angeles Lakers in last week’s draft / Page 9

Opinion/6 Police Report/8 Real Estate/11 Service Directory/20 Sports/9

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