ANC 5A held its monthly public meeting on March 25, 2015. Below are highlights.

Education

At-large Councilmember David Grosso spoke about his work chairing the council’s education committee. A few priorities for him are providing wraparound services in schools, examining disciplinary practices, and making sure students get mental health services more quickly.  He mentioned a bill that will require the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to annually gather data on suspensions and expulsions.

He also highlighted a bill to seal the record of nonviolent marijuana offenders. The benefit of having a record sealed is that it will not have to be disclosed on employment applications asking about criminal history.

In response to a question, Grosso spoke about his support to build a new all-boys public school to be located east of the Anacostia River as part of the District’s Empowering Men of Color initiative. (An aside: DC Attorney General Karl Racine reportedly weighed in recently with no legal objection to a public all-boys school).

MBT

Jim Sebastian of DDOT provided a look at the preliminary design for extenstion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) between Brookland and Takoma. The commissioners raised concerns about public safety, particularly with respect to the narrow off-road section planned next to the trash transfer station. Sebastian noted DDOT welcomes comments about all aspects of the trail, including suggestions for lighting, security cameras, and a call box. More information about the trail is available on the project website. Comments may be sent to jim.sebastian@dc.gov.

Brookland/Edgewood livability study

DDOT is undertaking a six-month livability study for Brookland and Edgewood to increase safety and improve transportation connectivity and accessibility in the area. A tiny part of ANC 5A is in the study area. Those in ANC 5A who live close to the study area, but not within the boundaries of the study area, are still able to be part of the conversation to address concerns that any recommendations for the study area may have. There will be a public meeting on April 9, 2015, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, at Trinity Washington University Main Hall-O’Connor Auditorium (125 Michigan Avenue NE). For more information about the study and public meetings, visit the project website.

Totten Mews townhomes

Comstock Development and their counsel gave a brief presentation on Totten Mews, the planned townhome subdivision to be located near the Capital Area Food Bank and Emerson Park. They submitted a planned unit development (PUD) application and are in discussion with neighboring residents about community benefits. There was some back-and-forth about whether 6th Street will be opened up (as approved in the now expired PUD submitted by the previous landowner) and the perceived safety issue with having only one way in and one way out of the proposed development. Emerson Park and some nearby residents do not want the street opened because they do not want to deal with car traffic, while other nearby residents believe opening up the street will relieve traffic on other streets and allow a more direct route for people to reach their homes. The compromise included in the new PUD application is to open the street for bike and pedestrian access, but not vehicle access. For more information about the development, contact ANC 5A08 commissioner Angel Alston.

Miscellaneous items

The commissioners accepted the new grant procedures introduced by Commissioner Alston.

Councilmember McDuffie’s deputy chief of staff announced that arrests have been made for the recent robberies that took place on or near the MBT in Edgewood. He also mentioned that DC Water is hosting its annual ward town hall meetings during the month of April. The Ward 5 meeting will be April 9 at 6:30 pm at Noyes Education Campus (2725 10th Street NE).

The February 25, 2015, ANC 5A meeting was a long one.

• ANC business
• Police report
• Verizon
• ANC Budget
• Potomac Charter presentation
• Transition plan for CAPCS

The commission voted to approve the 2015 budget pending certain changes and agreed to post the budget to its website.

Police report

The commission decided to combine the PSA 405 meeting with the ANC meeting because people rarely attend PSA meetings. Lieutenant Michelle Ridlehoover attended with Officer Lucas. Lt. Ridlehoover mentioned the crew-related homicide on 12th Street and Emerson Street NE, but did not share too much information because the shooting was not random and involved suspects known to Fourth District police.

The officers also shared news of the new marijuana law in effect in the District. They did not pretend to know all of the nuances of the law and we will not either, but the big things to know from Lt. Ridlehoover: no retail buying or selling, no smoking in public, and definitely no smoking on federal property.  That includes Fort Totten and Fort Circle Parks.

One interesting point the officers raised when discussing burglaries in Brookland is that property managers of multi-unit buildings can share keys with officers so that they can patrol the building if there is concern about an outbreak in crime.

Verizon report

Mario Acosta-Velez, Director of Government Affairs for Verizon, attended to address the widespread phone outage that occurred in late 2014. He also shared that Verizon is in the middle of its 10 year, three-phase FIOS deployment plan. Deployment is based on central office service area. This neighborhood is served by the Brookland central office, with deployment scheduled for the final phase to be completed by 2019. He also noted that multi-unit buildings require a separate agreement. Even after FIOS service is deployed to an area, a resident in a multi-unit building cannot call Verizon for FIOS service unless that building has a FIOS agreement with Verizon. If residents have any issues they would like Verizon to address, he can assist at (202) 515-2580.

Introduction of Director of African-American Affairs

Rahman Branch, the newly appointed Director of African-American Affairs, introduced himself to the community. Branch is a former principal of Ballou High School. He shared that the purpose of this newly created office is to advocate on behalf of concerns of African-American residents in the District.  He highlighted the mayor’s budget transparency initiative, inviting residents to participate in the budget engagement forums.

Potomac Preparatory Public Charter School

Melody Giles, Parent Engagement Events Coordinator for Potomac Preparatory Public Charter School (4401 8th Street NE), invited commissioners to the school as part of the conditions for the school to obtain its new charter.  Giles shared that the school (formerly Potomac Lighthouse) has new management and changed its curriculum from arts and fusion to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math).

Report from Councilmember McDuffie’s Office

Councilmember McDuffie recently hired another constituent services coordinator, Wesley Dawson. For any concerns, he can be reached at (202) 727-8274 or wdawson@dccouncil.us.

Councilmember McDuffie’s Deputy Chief of Staff Ronan Gulstone shared a number of opportunities to testify before the council regarding metro safety issues.  Find out more on the councilmember’s website.

Gulstone also shared the transition plan for the Dorothy I Height Community Academy Public Charter School (CAPCS), which had its charter revoked by the DC Public Charter School Board. CAPCS has four schools, one located at 33 Riggs Road NE (Keene campus). According to a letter from the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME), DC Bilingual Public Charter School will relocate to the Keene campus and accept a limited number of Keene students. That announcement set off a protracted discussion of the District’s process for handling traditional public school buildings and charter schools and the perceived lack of communication to or consideration for the affected ANC. Commissioner Sandi Washington noted DC Bilingual was one of the charter schools vying for the Mamie D. Lee school building (110 Gallatin Street NE), which was awarded by the outgoing DME to Bridges and Briya Public Charter School in December 2014. ANC 5A formally opposed that selection. Gulstone stated Councilmember McDuffie has worked with the commission to have its concerns articulated to the DME.

Miscellaneous items

Arcadia Food will have a mobile market at Providence Hospital every Friday, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm, during the months of May to October to provide healthy food for residents at an affordable price.

The commissioners briefly mentioned that WMATA presented on the joint development proposal for the park-and-ride lot at Fort Totten metro station at ANC 5A’s executive committee meeting. Two proposals were submitted for the joint development; a developer will be selected soon.

ANC 5A held its holiday celebration on December 18 with a few items on the agenda:

• ANC 5A plans to draft a resolution opposing the selection of Bridges and Briya Public Charter School for the Mamie D. Lee school building.  ANC 5A sent a letter in support of a different school before the selection was announced. Commissioner Sandi Washington, in whose SMD the school sits, cited a few reasons for opposing the selection.  (1) The new school will serve 400 students.  The school also plans to partner with Mary’s Center to offer medical services. As a result, the commissioner believes there factors will be an increase in traffic and congestion.  (2) The operating hours for the new school will be 7:00 am – 10:00 pm because the school plans to offer nighttime GED classes. These hours raise public safety concerns for the commissioner. (3) It is unclear if Bridges and Briya plan to simply add on to the current school building or if they plan to tear down part or all of the building to build what Commissioner Washington says will be a five story building. In either case, the building will not look the same and the community expressed concern about how large the new building will be. (4) The school the ANC supported planned to serve special needs students, as Mamie D. Lee currently does. Bridges and Briya will not exclusively serve special needs students.

• Commissioner Angel Alston announced that she received the PUD documents from Comstock to build an additional 47 townhomes in North Michigan Park near Capital Area Food Bank.

• A board member of Potomac Lighthouse Public Charter School (4401 8th Street NE) reported on the management and personnel changes at the school.  He stated the changes resulted in the school going from a Tier 4 school to a Tier 2 school.