Nwe 08 26 15

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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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

Vol. XLVIII, No. 34

The NorThwesT CurreNT

City work on Klingle Trail forges ahead

D.C. regulators reject Pepco-Exelon merger

BACK To FooTBALL

■ Utility: Commissioners say

deal isn’t in the public interest

By CUNEYT DIL

Current Correspondent

Gas line work is continuing on the old stretch of Klingle Road through Rock Creek Park, slated to reopen in December 2016 as a biking and hiking path, D.C. Department of Transportation officials said at a community meeting last week. Officials also described plans to install “green infrastructure” — permeable pavement, water retention areas and other features to capture water — in the Klingle Run watershed. The alley and street fixtures will retain more than 100,000 gallons of stormwater, according to the Transportation Department, decreasing stormwater runoff and pollution. That green infrastructure work will be a follow-up to creation of the Klingle Trail. When completed, the path will be a 0.7-mile connection between Cortland Place and Porter Street and a link to the Rock Creek multi-use trail. The $6 million project is outfitting the former road with new drainage and stormwater systems, lighting, trees and landscaping, benches, See Klingle/Page 10

By BRADY HoLT Current Staff Writer

District regulators have nixed the planned acquisition of Pepco by Exelon, with the Public Service Commission voting yesterday against the long-fought proposal. The companies were tasked with convincing the commission that the merger would be in “the public interest,” given Pepco’s status as the sole power distribution company in the District. Federal authorities and regulatory bodies in four states had already approved the $6.8 billion

Brian Kapur/The Current

The St. John’s College High School football team enjoyed its second scrimmage of the month at Fernandez Stadium on Saturday. The team’s new offensive scheme showed promise while the Cadets’ defense was stingy. See story, page 9.

Current Staff Writer

Bryan Bello’s film about a homeless street poet was originally only going to reach a few of his American University classmates. But when the graduate student wanted to get the inspiring story out to a broader audience, an impulse led him to Street Sense, a local newspaper and advocacy group that also provides a creative outlet for the local homeless community. From that grew a larger project: a co-op devoted to making a variety of films illuminating little-discussed aspects of the homeless experience. Founded in 2014, the eight-member group includes Street Sense vendors

NEWS

Courtesy of Shira Hereld

Filmmaker Sasha Williams and her daughter Eboni spent a year in the D.C. General shelter.

and now gets financial backing from the group. The Street Sense Filmmakers Cooperative debuted its first three

Belgian bar, bistro set to open this fall on Wisconsin Ave. — Page 3

St. John’s Cadets seek redemption on volleyball court — Page 9

■ Transportation: Hearing

By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer

films at an event earlier this year. Two more will premiere at a film festival tonight at Landmark’s E Street Cinema, featuring a postscreening Q&A moderated by Marita Golden, a literary activist from D.C. The process for conceiving all these films is the same: An artist comes to the co-op with an idea, and the filmmakers at the co-op figure out the best way to tell that story, usually involving hands-on work from the original artist. The films are often shot on iPhones with barebones equipment for shooting and editing. Until now, the cooperative has been entirely unfunded, save a small See Films/Page 3

SPoR TS

Metro floats possible cuts to several local bus routes scheduled for mid-September

D.C. film event sheds light on homelessness By MARK LIEBERMAN

takeover, but the District’s commission could potentially scuttle the deal. Despite one partial dissent, all three commissioners expressed concerns that Pepco would be subsumed into a nonresponsive Chicago-based bureaucracy that would be less accountable to local regulators. They also worried that Exelon’s focus on electricity generation would make it difficult for Pepco — solely a distribution company — to seek out environmentally friendly power options. Furthermore, they questioned some facts in Pepco and Exelon’s joint application, and criticized the companies for not working with the commission and the merger’s oppoSee Pepco/Page 5

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority posted a list of possible changes to its bus routes on its website last week, prompting concern from some residents about the impact to their commutes. If the proposed changes take effect, the N3 route from Friendship Heights to Foggy Bottom, which currently runs during rush hour in the morning and evening, will be eliminated. In its place, more N4 buses will run from Friendship Heights to Farragut Square. Meanwhile, the stretch of the 54 route from McPherson Square to L’Enfant Plaza would be eliminated, and the number of buses traveling between the 14th Street/Colorado Avenue intersection and the Takoma Metrorail station would increase. The number of riders on the portion of the 54 that might be eliminated is unsustainably low, according to the

SHERWooD

Panda twins breathe life into a summer filled with letdowns — Page 6

Brian Kapur/The Current

The 54 route along 14th Street would no longer run between McPherson Square and L’Enfant Plaza under one proposal.

Metro site, while the number of riders on the portion that would get a boost is unsustainably high. Also, the D1 rush-hour route would lose the section between Franklin Square and Federal Triangle, and the last ride of the day — currently scheduled to leave from Federal Triangle at 7:05 p.m. and arrive at the intersection of 39th and Calvert streets NW in Glover Park 38 minutes later — would be eliminated. The Metro site says both proposed cuts are the result of low riderSee Buses/Page 10

INDEX Calendar/12 Classifieds/18 District Digest/2 Exhibits/13 In Your Neighborhood/8 Opinion/6

Police Report/4 Real Estate/11 Service Directory/16 Sports/9 Theater/15 Week Ahead/3

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