ANC 5A held its monthly public meeting on February 24, 2021. Commissioners present: Damion McDuffie, Sr. (5A01); Charles Lockett (5A02); Emily Singer Lucio – Secretary (5A03); Ronnie Edwards – Chair (5A05); Sandi Washington – Treasurer (5A07); Gordon Fletcher – Vice Chair (5A08)

(Just a note, I was multitasking a lot during this meeting, so I might have missed some things.)

ANC Business

Commissioner Lucio recommended vendor Eyeth Studios to update and maintain the ANC’s website. I did not quite get all of the costs associated with the contract down. It sounded like she said it would cost $60-80/hour to develop the site, $40/hour to help with the site once developed, and $100/year for web hosting. They anticipate costs of up to $1800 to develop the site and $40/year for assistance. But don’t quote me on those numbers.

Public Safety Report

Commissioner Fletcher said there will be an ANC 5A public safety meeting on March 18 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Anticipated guests include MPD Fourth District Commander Randy Griffin, Councilmember Robert White’s office, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie’s office, MPD 4th District Citizens Advisory Council Chair Judi Jones, and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Ward 5 liaison Kelly Jeong-Olson (invited). Commissioner Washington recommended inviting the Office of Neighborhood Safety & Engagement (ONSE). She noted ONSE representatives were at Commissioner McDuffie’s recent single member district (SMD) meeting that was focused on the increase in violent crime in the area and both she and Commissioner Lucio thought the ONSE staff provided useful information at that meeting.

Ward 5 Council Report

Silas Grant, Senior Advisor to Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, stated CM McDuffie is prioritizing funding for the ONSE office for a violence intteruption team in Riggs Park. CM McDuffie had a meeting with Interim DDOT Director Everett Lott about a number of issues in Ward 5. New Samaritan Baptist Church will be a vaccination site, partnering with Five Medicine and Learning Undefeated.

Some students have returned to the classroom at Dunbar and at McKinley Tech. The students are not receiving in-person instruction. They are doing individual instruction on their laptops with cohorts in a classroom with an adult present to assist students with connection or other issues. The students alternate the days in which they are in the classroom, and there is a cleaning day on Wednesdays.

Councilmember McDuffie sent a fiscal year 2022 budget priority letter to Mayor Bowser with a focus on racial equity and protecting legacy businesses. (Ed note: In addition to a request for a violence interruption team in Riggs Park, there are requests related to streetscape and Bertie Backus campus improvements). That letter will be refined based on the over 1,000 responses the councilmember’s office received to the Ward 5 budget survey. In reponse to a question about funding for community use of the closed Crummell School and recreation in Ivy City, Mr. Grant stated that CM McDuffie had a meeting with stakeholders and that Mayor Bowser and DC’s Department of General Services (DGS) will ultimately decide what to do with Crummell. In the interim, DC’s Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) is looking at transforming some of the black top to have temporary recreation. In addition, there is discussion about revitalizing a park around the corner from Crummell.

DDOT Agency Overview Presentation

View DDOT’s presentation here.

DDOT Ward 5 liaison Kelly Jeong-Olson shared an overview of how the agency operates. She stressed the importance of submitting 311 service requests before reaching out to the agency about issues. Also, certain items such as traffic safety requests (stop sign requests, speed hump requests, automated camera enforcement requests, and the like) require working with an ANC commissioner. You can follow DDOT’s paving work at http://www.ddot.dc.gov/pavedc.

Please complete DDOT’s MoveDC survey to give input on DC’s long-term transportation priorities by March 31, 2021. The survey is available at http://www.wemovedc.org.

In response to my question about the status of a sidewalk on the south side of Galloway Street NE between South Dakota Avenue and 4th Street NE, Ms. Jeong-Olson responded:

Sidewalk/trail on Galloway St, it’s NPS property but DDOT has a role in it: DDOT is in the process of transferring funding for design to the Federal Highway Administration, Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division (EFL). Additionally, FHWA/EFL is in the process of awarding the task order for design services to a consultant. The project scope continues to be a 10′ wide sidepath on the south side of Galloway Street NE between aproximately South Dakota Avenue NE to 4th St NE; street lighting has been added to the project limits.

The project is a little unique in that EFL is responisble for the design and construction. Here’s the general timeline we have as of now:

Preliminary Engineering – 12 months
Final Design – 5 months
Acquisition – 2 months
Construction – 8 months

A resident asked if something can be done about the speed bumps that are at the stop signs at Sargent Road and Emerson Street NE. When buses or large trucks drive over the bumps, his house and his neighbors’ houses shake. Ms. Jeong-Olsen noted the history of those speed bumps (they were installed several years ago after a child was killed by a driver while crossing the intersection) and noted that residents in other neighborhoods have asked DDOT about installing these bumps at intersections in their neighborhoods. In any case, DDOT will discuss the issue with residents.

Catholic University Nursing School Expansion

View Catholic University’s presentation here.

Catholic is expanding its nursing school. The expansion is part of the university’s approved campus master plan. Approval of each part of the plan is necessary as it gets implemented. A hearing will be held on April 19, 2021 (zoning case number 12-01D). Catholic representatives came prepared for usual questions about what local businesses the university is using for contracting. They also mentioned that Catholic has a scholarship for Ward 5 residents and there is also a Conway Scholars full-ride scholarship for first-year students at the nursing school. ANC Chair Edwards said the ANC would likely support Catholic, but the commissioners tabled the issue in order to review the documents more fully.

Miscellaneous

Commissioner Lucio stated she is working to address the runoff that has been a long-standing problem near South Dakota Avenue and Delafield Street NE. Also she mentioned that the cleaners and counseling center have left the strip mall there and that a pizza/gelato shop is interested in taking over those spaces, but it is still too early to know for sure if that will happen.