ANC 4C July agenda

[from Joseph Martin, ANC 4C Chair]

Below are highlights of tonight's meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4C.

- 3910/3912 Georgia Avenue Commons update

- MPD - representative of unit that deals with domestic violence

- ANC letter pertaining to DDOT plan for New Hampshire Ave between Randolph and Shepherd Streets 

- Sweet Mango Cafe public space permit application for outside tables

- Small Grant Application from YOUR Community Center

- Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) Presentation

- ANC4C Beautification Project

- Stipulated alcoholic beverage license for Mocha Grounds (formerly Mocha Hut), 4706 14th St

 

ANC 4C meetings start at 6:30pm in the Patrol Services Bureau Building (formerly ROC North), 801 Shepherd Street NW.  ANC 4C meets on the second Tuesday of each month.

Comments

[Joe Martin]

Mr. Watson's comments reflect a misreading of the process.

ANC 4C supported a proposal now in effect and put forth by an immediate area resident who has no affiliation with any of the neighborhood churches.

Residents of the blocks immediately affected participated in a walk-through with DDOT's Anna Chamberlin and other DDOT professionals and ANC 4C Commissioners. The walk-through considered any of a number of arrangements to address parking and traffic concerns.

The end product provides legal parking for the three area churches near New Hampshire and Randolph only on Sundays between 7am and 2 pm (and during special events). In doing so, there is less of an incentive for church-goers to park in residential spaces (which would be legal on Sundays, in any case).

Anecdotally, many if not most of my immediate neighbors (around 4th and Varnum) are members of churches nearby. Some are quite up in the years and don't walk easily. It is not uncommon for me to see their adult children, driving cars with Maryland tags, picking up seniors in my neighborhood and taking them to church elsewhere in Petworth. I have noted, too, that I have been to funerals of neighbors at First Baptist, and I have been to seniors events where there were many members of First Baptist and other churches nearby who live in our Petworth neighborhoods. First Baptist is an institution with deep roots in our neighborhoods.

Back to the larger issue, DDOT's Anna Chamberlin is conducting a prelimary look at ways to accomodate additional parking - especially near Georgia Avenue.

The Georgia Avenue "Great Streets" program calls for angled-parking to be placed on 9th Street NW between Taylor and Webster, respecting the needs of Marshal's Funeral Home on the 4200 block of 9th. 9th Street NW will become one-way south of Upshur Street away from Upshur. It already is one-way north of Upshur. This will create more parking spaces for residents and visitors who plan to shop along the Georgia Avenue corridor in Petworth and visit friends in the neighborhood.

Please consider sending your suggestions to Anna Chamberlin at DDOT.

Anna Chamberlin, DDOT Ward 4 Planner: [email protected]

Joseph Martin
Executive Office of the Mayor
Mayor's Office of Community Relations and Services (MOCRS)
Outreach and Services Specialist - Ward 4
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Ste 211
Washington, DC 20004-3003
202-442-9509 desk
202-442-8150 main
202-340-7853 mobile
[email protected]

[Tim Watson]

On my way back from the gym, i once again noticed all those cars parked in the median in front of the 1st Baptist Church on NH. I am now aware that the ANC voted to "compromise" with the church and allow parking there on Sundays during certain times. UNFORTUNATELY, there was no compromise here as church goers ONLY parked there during those times. It's ridiculous how the ANC gave in to the Chuch's demands. I became even more infuriated when i observed that of the 40 cars parked in the median, 31 had license plates from Maryland. I fully applaud the ANC for giving Marylanders the right to park in the District legally, at the inconvenience of DC tax paying residents. Thanks ANC. You're doing a great job.

[Petworthonian]

Bill - Sorry! I wasn't shouting just was working on something with CAPS and didnt realize i was in caps until after I pressed "post."
:-)

[Steve]

The parking situation could be resolved at First Baptist Church is someone from that congregation , or those individuals with legitimate concerns over that congregation's parking could meet with Pastor Frank Tucker or Reverand Franklin Pryor, a compromise would help avoid a repetition of controversy several years ago in Shaw with Sunday morning parking.

[Bill]

WHY ARE WE SHOUTING??

[Petworthonian]

OK. SO WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH BANNING THE ILLEGAL PARKING ON NEW HAMPSHIRE AND RANDOLPH? IT HAS BEEN 6 MONTHS AND NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. THE PARKING IS DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL. MR. Martin, has there been any progression on this?

[AJS]

Thank you, Joe. Not just for working to come up with a solution to this particular issue, but for all the work you do on so many neighborhood issues. We are so very fortunate for your service at the helm of ANC 4C.

[Joseph Martin]

Anna Chamberlin, DDOT's Ward 4 planner, and I are exloring other options. I will be in touch with the people who told me they would like to be part of a parking task force. I am also asking First Baptist to assist with alternative parking solutions.

[Susan]

I wrote a letter to DDOT, Joe Martin, and Muriel Bowser also urging that the planted median be constructed as planned and to look for other options to accommodate church parking needs on Sunday morning. I agree with Bill's points...there are probably some other options that have not been explored (following suggestions explored in Shaw, etc.) that could resolve this issue without the need to change the street improvements planned.

[Joseph Martin]

In addition to communicating with quite a few people in the neighborhood, I will be asking DDOT and First Baptist for their creative thoughts.

Share your creative best, too. Thanks.

[Bill]

Joe, you and I are friends. While I was somewhere in the middle on this issue before, now I think this ANC move has to be revisited in some way.

The obvious bottom line - that many have stated here and on Prince of Petworth - is that it's one thing to have long-standing, unspoken non-enforcement of the church parking on Sunday mornings. It's quite another to block full implementation of a needed civic improvement/beautification on behalf of 20 cars (x-number from outside DC) to park one day a week for a couple hours. I mean, I realize it was meant as a sympathetic nod, but it simply can't be justified on any solid grounds.

Especially since, as I understand, the church hadn't even asked for an exception. It seems that with a little constructive energy - and input from the community - the parking issue could be mitigated some other way without too much trouble.

[Joe Martin]

The discussion about the traffic-island issue has been helpful.

[oliveskinnednica]

The contact form for Marc Fisher of the Washington Post is listed below:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/marc+fisher/

[Joe]

I have written to DDOT ([email protected]) and Counclmember Bowser ([email protected])
urging them to proceed with a tree-lined, safety median along the entire NH ave. corridor and suggest you do the same if you agree with this view.

[Joe Martin]

As changes come also to Georgia Avenue, we all might want to consider a model used in Shaw and Logan, a parking task force. It involved residents, merchants, churches and anyone else who wanted to weigh in on the range of parking issues. The group brought about some of the solutions in use there (angled parking, etc.) today.

[DCDave05]

If the church didn't ask for this 4C opposition letter, and considering the heightened controversy of church-related illegal parking in the Capitol Hill, Logan and other city neighborhoods, it might have been a wiser move to just let this issue work itself out. That is, legal street parking is not that scarce in Petworth, and surely the 20 or so cars that currently park illegally in the median on Sundays can be parked legally within a short walk of First Baptist. And perhaps the church could request its younger, healthier and more mobile congregants to leave all available legal parking spaces within one block of the church for the elderly and persons with disabilities.

[Bill]

MB, those are very good points. Perhaps it wouldn't take much effort by the church to come up with a plan to help those who would otherwise park in the median. Maybe instead of those twenty cars parking elsewhere on the side streets, which is less than ideal, some constructive ideas (like some of those raised here and over on PoP) could actually reduce the number of cars needing to park in the first place.

How about a Drive-A-Neighbor-To-Church program??? :) Half-kidding.

[Tim]

If these seniors cannot walk to church, surely they can talk to the other church members and possibly get a ride with one of them, just like we used to do with Mrs. Ada Bunn (yes, that really was her name) when my family would give her a ride to church - that's good Christian charity, right? Or they can take a cab. And if this churchs members are mostly in the 'burbs and they have to drive - maybe the church should consider moving near the flock (so to speak). I just can't see any reason, besides plain old preferential treatment, that these changes, that are way past due for this stretch of road, should not be completed. The purpose of these medians is not to just beautify the road but to slow down pedestrians or at least make them think twice before they jaywalk. Surely that is far more important than parking close to the church that a few attend.

[Bill]

Right, DDOT can ignore the ANC if they want, but they are trying to be flexible in meeting the desires of residents. It seems that those who attend ANC meetings have (so far) carried the day, not those who comment on blogs. That's not meant to be glib, it's just true. DDOT wanted to know - via the ANC - what the community wanted, and the commissioners and those in attendance let them know. There's a lot of different dynamics in play, more than I could fit here... But my sense is that the resolution probably reflected the wishes of many long-time residents, whether or not they actually attend First Baptist. Now I'm sure DDOT will get a flood of email input from those who want the full median. It will be interesting to see where things end up.

From a urbanistic point of view, I'm very in favor of the planted median. And I generally don't have much use for organized religion, personally. But it seems to me this a question of a strong by-the-book case (pro-median) versus a sympathetic exception that accommodates the large number of seniors in our area who truly can't walk several blocks to church.

It doesn't mean the rest of the median won't get built, and it doesn't mean the Randolph-Shepherd section will never be built. And it's not to meant to favor Petworth expats with MD tags who want to keep their parking perks, though that would be part of the outcome.

It just means we're willing to bend a little for the sake of our neighbors, even if we don't agree. I live near 5th and Taylor, next door to a very kind 80+ year old woman. If she attended First Baptist (I have no idea if she does), I can assure you she could not walk the three blocks without assistance. I wouldn't feel good asking her to just somehow deal with it.

[MB]

The solution for Seniors who can not walk to church should be shuttles and or carpools. The bus also stops right in front of the church on New Hampshire Avenue. I've noticed that many of the seniors on my block carpool with younger neighbors or family members to church. This provides them with service to the front door-they don't even have to walk from the median.

[Joe Martin]

Keep in mind that this is a process. ANC's are advisory. DDOT can entirely ignore any decision we make.

In the end, we need to look for solutions. Ward 4 has the largest number of seniors per capita. I know seniors who live in the neigborhood who do not have the physical ability to walk to neighborhood churches.

Please help us come up with a workable solution.

[MB]

I would urge all who do not agree with the action of the ANC to send an email supporting the construction of a median for the full length of NH Ave between Georgia Ave and Grant Circle to the director of DDOT- Emeka Moneme at [email protected] and to our Council Member Muriel Bowser. Politicians in this city are very quick to bow to presure from Church Groups, since they are often well established and well organized, so it is important that those of us with different view points advocate for our positions just as strongly.

[Bill]

[email protected]

[Kevin]

This thing is getting ugly over on the POP. I'm staying over here.

[Will]

Lisa-

Perhaps we can get in touch with Marc Fisher from the Post?

Anyone know how we can get in touch with him?