Monthly Archives: August 2023

CM Brooke Pinto, Chair of the City Council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee

Michelle Chappell, Legislative Lead for Moms Demand Action DC

Rev. Judie Shepherd-Gore Executive Director & Founder of InnerCity Collaborative CDC.

ANC6B Special Committee on Public Safety Hears CM Brooke Pinto on Crime

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 29, 2023

Monday night, ANC6B Public Safety Committee, chaired by Resident Member Lisa Matsumoto, held the latest in a series of meetings on crime in ANC6B.  Last night’s hearing featured CM Brooke Pinto, Chair of the City Council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee; Michelle Chappell, Legislative Lead for Moms Demand Action DC; and Rev. Judie Shepherd-Gore Executive Director & Founder of InnerCity Collaborative CDC.

CM Pinto:

Office of Unified Command (OUC) – 911.  Cited the recent District Dogs incident as an example of many stories of loss of life and tragedy which she ermed “unacceptable.”  Pinto pointed to an Emergency Transparency Bill for OUC which passed on July 11 which requires the office to track errors, the cause of errors, the number of employee shifts, the number of dropped and missed calls and the number of calls directed to other response teams.  Pinto says she is urging response agencies to step up hiring.  She said the Mayor did not sign the bill but it will go into effect for 90 days this week. 

Former ANC6B Commissioner Kelly Waud asked how Pinto will address retention of staff at OUC.  Pinto said she would seek solutions in pay, bonuses, part time employees, and pension access to make it more attractive for people to stay instead of retire.

Pinto said the Council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee has a five prong approach to reduce violence:

• Prevention
• Support MPD
• Ensure accountability
• End the cycle of violence
• Ensure collaboration and coordination among city agencies and federal partners

To some of those ends, other emergency crime bills passed in July would:

• Expand camera rebates
• Establish a new standards for strangulation and discharge of firearms in public
• Expand pretrial detention
• Make sure MPD can pursue vehicles in circumstances where public safety is at risk.

Pinto said she was also working to strengthen the Victims Protection Act and finding ways to support young people by increasing funding for after school activities.  She also pointed to an Eyes on the Street pilot program slated to start on October 1 in Downtown, Shaw, and Adams Morgan.  The program would provide Public Safety Program grants to commercial corridors to use as they see fit to address crime issues.

The Judiciary and Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing this fall on permanent versions of the bills.  Pinto also said the Committee would hold a Round Table at the end of Sept with Acting Chief of Police, Pamela Smith.

Michelle Chappell, Legislative Lead at DC Moms Demand Action:

Chappell provided background on the Moms Demand Action – a grassroots movement advocating for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.  The organization is nationwide, with chapters in all 50 states and hundreds of local groups within those chapters. 

She addressed MDA’s support for CM Robert White’s amendment to emergency legislation passed in July that requires tracing crime guns to the last known point of sale or loss.  This provides a way to hold gun stores who allow “straw purchases” – buyers who buy not for self but with the intention of reselling guns – accountable.  She said a small number of stores turn a blind eye to straw purchases. 

Chappell also pointed to some things not contemplated in the emergency legislation passed this summer but which came up in a community meeting she attended in Ward 5 as root causes of violence:

• Income inequality
• Lack of conflict resolution
• Food security
• The role of social media in escalating conflict 

Finally she cited a recent study in Brooklyn, NYC, which found that a primary motivator for youths carrying guns is fear of dying or fear of harm to family members.  She said she would not be surprised to find a similar result if a survey was taken in DC. https://momsdemandaction.org/about/

Rev. Judie Shepherd-Gore, Executive Director & Founder of InnerCity Collaborative CDC (ICCCDC):

InnerCity Collaborative CDC is a nonprofit that operates as a community development program focusing on assisting disadvantaged youth and families through mentoring, high risk strategic interventions, housing assistance, counseling, and other social service referrals.  It is supported by grants from Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and partners with city organization such as Credible Messengers, Cure the Streets, and the Safe Passage program among others, to provide administrative support and case work. 

ICCCDC also works to increase collaboration with MPD to create a new policy approach toward the community rather than the continuing an older adversarial model.  Shepherd-Gore is currently pressing for restoration in cuts in funding for the Safe Passage Program.  In response to a question from Special Committee Vice Chair Jody Kent Lavy, Shepherd-Gore said that Credible Messengers are paid $50,000 a year for high risk work often involving far more than a 40 hour work week.  InnerCity Collaborative employs a significant number of returning citizens who help do this work.  

Asked what the Special Committee could do to lend support, she replied – “have conversations like this.”  In addition, she listed some of the kinds of contributions such as clothing, shoes, and toiletries that would help InnerCity continue its work.   https://www.innercitycdc.org/about-us/our-leadership-team/

The Week Ahead…. Public Safety, Jazz, and Back to School Bike Ride

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 27, 2023

Saturday was Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid’s Back to School Bash and Youth Festival on Eastern Market’s Metro Plaza.  Serve Your City is a Washington, DC-based non-profit that serves as the Ward 6 hub for #DCMutualAid.  The event brings organization members, community partners, and community members together to celebrate the start of the new school year.  Students and their families have the opportunity to pick up a brand-new backpack filled with comprehensive school supplies and a digital device, learn about and sign-up for SYC/W6MA Tutoring and Youth Enrichment Programs, get assistance in filling out required paperwork for school and get required immunizations, including the COVID-19 vaccine.

SYC/W6MA and its partners gave out 2000 Adidas back packs with school supplies for those who had registered – and 500 of them contained laptops. 

SYC/W6MA volunteers Jahaira Mejia and Jewel Conrad were part of the distribution team.

Maurice Cook is the founder and Executive Director of Serve Your City and Lead Organizer with Ward 6 Mutual Aid.  Cook created SYC in 2009 and stepped up as leader with Ward 6 Mutual Aid when the pandemic struck in March 2020.  Since March 2020, SYC has served as the infrastructure hub for Ward 6 Mutual Aid, a partnership of more than three dozen organizations—many of them hyper-local, Black- or Brown-led groups—that came together to share resources and save lives after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the District.  Cook lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Jackie.  For more info, go here:  https://serveyourcitydc.org/

ANC6B Task Force on Southeast Library.  (Stock photo from July 30 meeting.)   

Southeast Library Update:  ANC6B’s Southeast Library Task Force met on Monday, August 21.  According to Chair David Sobelsohn, the meeting featured the insights of Robin Diener, director of the DC Library Renaissance Project and president of the Friends of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.  The group discussed the news that the library plans to close in November or December this year, has promised a community meeting six weeks before the closure, and has committed to provide library-book pick-up and drop-off services at Arthur Capper when the Southeast branch is closed for renovations.  

Nearby neighbors of the library were in attendance and reported on a recent meeting between library staff and the project construction company regarding issues which will arise during renovation.  Protecting the interests of the close-in neighbors was an important reason for the formation of our taskforce.  The library has scheduled another meeting with nearby neighbors for early September.

The Taskforce has scheduled the next meeting for 3:00pm on Sunday, September 10, at the library, 403 7th Street, SE.

Triple Candie’s latest “curatorial riddle” (Riddle # 18) is on display in the space in the front of the former Li’l Pub at 655 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. 

From the website:  “Founded in 2001, Triple Candie is a research-oriented, independent curatorial agency — run by two art historians — that produces exhibitions about art but largely devoid of it.  Its primary purpose since late 2005 has been to explore the possibilities of exhibition-making as a truly alternative, critical practice.”  For more see here:  http://www.triplecandie.org/

The Week Ahead…. Public Safety, Jazz, and Back to School Bike Ride

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 27, 2023

The Week Ahead…

Monday, August 28

ANC6B’s Special Committee on Public Safety holds a virtual meeting at 7:00pm.

For info on how to join the meeting, go here:  https://anc6b.org/

Among items on the draft agenda:

Presentations:  Guest speakers on violence intervention and public policy address gun violence and improving community safety. 

• Rev. Judie Shepherd, Inner City Collaborative Community Development Corporation
• Michelle Chappell, Moms Demand Action D.C.

Also on the agenda:

• Committee Updates
• Select date, identify agenda items, and determine location for September meeting

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

ANC6B’s Executive Committee holds a virtual meeting at 7:00pm.

For info on how to join the meeting, go here:  https://anc6b.org/

Agenda:

Setting the agenda for the September meeting of ANC6B.

Friday, September 1

Live Jazz at Eastern Market will resume performances after taking a break for August, 5:00pm – 6:30pm.

• First up to open the fall season:  The Capitol Hill Jazz.

Saturday, September 2

Hill Family Biking – Back to School Ride – 10:30am – 12:30pm

Location:  Maury Elementary Parking Lot on 12th Place, NE. 

For map, more info and Mobile eTickets go here:  https://bit.ly/47Srw9J

Agenda: 

• 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM – Bike Maintenance Help
• 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM – Community Ride
• 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – Watkins Splash Pad and Athletic Fields

Hill Family Biking rides to many of the DCPS schools on the Hill.  Either join at Maury Elementary at the start of the ride or hop on the ride at the school of your choice. Younger riders and their families are encouraged to join at Peabody Elementary (the halfway mark).  The ride will end at the Watkins splash pad and athletic fields to cool off after the ride and play some games.

If bikes need some TLC, please come 30 minutes early to get some assistance – bike maintenance tools will be available, with some experienced amateur bike mechanics on hand to assist.

The Week Ahead & Some Recent Photos

By Larry Janezich

Posted August 20, 2023

Update on Proposed Alley Closing behind the former Capitol Lounge.  ANC6B’s Planning and Zoning Committee’s Subcommittee on Alley and Street Closings met last Tuesday night.  According to Commissioner Jerry Sroufe, the Subcommittee discussed their interactions with CM Charles Allen where they learned that the CM had not yet heard from the Conservative Partnership Institute, the alley-closing applicants.  Since the alley closing will require approval by the City Council, and the closing is in Ward 6, it will fall to Allen to sponsor legislation to authorize the privatization of public space.  The subcommittee determined that additional efforts should be made to talk with residents who will be affected by the proposed closing.  In addition, plans are being made for a walk-through with the owners and Commissioners but no date was set.  A of the Subcommittee is planned for September to discuss possible community benefits to be sought in exchange for the potential transfer of public space to private hands. 

The current exhibition at the Renwick Gallery This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World employs traditional craft media including neon, fiber, metal, glass, and wood to ask questions about the relationship between craft and space and craft and time. One of the ways the exhibit is important is that it “highlights craft’s ability to spark essential conversations about race, gender and representation.” 

“This neon sign cycles through the statements “This present moment used to be the unimaginable future” and “This moment used to be the future” before turning off completely for a short time. The text is a quote by Stewart Brand, an American writer who is best known as the editor of the Whole Earth Catalogue.”

“Sculptor Alicia Eggert creates immersive experiences of time. This neon billboard casts a brilliant pink light throughout the Renwick’s Octagon Room, prompting us to become more present in this very moment. Eggert illuminates a quote by revolutionary futurist Stewart Brand, from his book The Clock of the Long Now (1999), a manifesto for living intentionally with a ten-thousand-year-old clock in mind. The pink is a call out to the Me Too movement of 2017, a once unimaginable social reckoning that empowered people to share past stories of sexual harassment and assault, demand accountability, and make possible safer conditions for all.”

Bisa Butler.  Don’t Tread on Me, God Damn, Let’s Go! – The Harlem Hellfighters

Pieced, appliquéd, and stuffed cotton, silk, wool, and velvet.

”In this monumental (11 foot) quilt, Butler brings to life the history and emotions of nine members of the 369^th Infantry Regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters, a segregated unit of the American Expeditionary Force in World War One.  Drawing from the wellsprings of African American quilting traditions…Butler pieced together dazzling textiles to connect this present moment to the past.”

“I look to their example to see for myself that the triumphs we experience today will outlast tyrants and that nothing can ever erase them—not time, not death. These protectors of our nation fought and put their very bodies and their lives on the line. My work is to continue to lift them up in history so they can be seen in public spaces, where their heroic sacrifices become part of the American quest to fight against oppression and for freedom.” —Bisa Butler

Here’s a link to a six-minute video of a Renwick curator talking about the piece:  https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/contemporary-craft-renwick-gallery

The Week Ahead…

Tuesday, August 22

ANC6A’s Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00pm. 

For info on how to join the meeting, go here:  https://anc6a.org/community-calendar/

Among items on the draft agenda:

• Discussion of application by The People’s Kitchen at 816 H Street, NE, First Floor for a Class C Restaurant License.
• Discussion of application of Bloom at 1402 H Street, NE, Suite C-1,for a Class C Tavern License.
• Discussion with Mr. Luke Casey regarding a request for the ANC’s support for a stipulated license for the re-opening of Dirty Water at 816 H Street, NE under new ownership.

ABCA Board hears ANC Protest of I Egg You Liquor License.  Last Wednesday the Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration wrapped up a seven hour(!) hearing on ANC6B’s protest of I Egg You’s application for a liquor license on Barracks Row at 417 8^th Street, SE.  I Egg You’s attorney, Andrew Klein, was successful in limiting the protest to the issue of trash and litter and excluding the issues of use of the alley by trash and delivery trucks and venting of odors by the restaurant.

The closing remarks by the opposing sides, tell you pretty much what the hearing was about. 

For Klein, the applicant’s attorney, the hearing was about I Egg You’s refusal to sign a Settlement Agreement providing for best practices regarding trash management and rodent control and requiring the restaurant to store trash indoors.  He said the applicants had offered assurances that if there are issues which arise from the operation of the restaurant, they would fix it.  The other issue the protestants raised was an overconcentration of restaurants on the block which create conditions that attract rodents.   Klein pointed to the blank record of complaints about the applicant’s other restaurants and asked the board to approve the request for a liquor license without conditions.

ANC6B Commissioner Chander Jayaraman, chair of the ANC’s ABCA Committee, said in closing remarks that the ANC Commissioners were elected to be the neighbors’ advocates and “if they say they want to protest, we’ll back them up.”   Jayaraman said that “We want the restaurant to be successful” and that he was heartened by pledges from owners that when problems occur, they will address them…”So often applicants make grand promises and don’t back them up.  Our job is to question every applicant.”  He said he wished that the ANC could have come to an agreement on how this could operate and hoped the owners will continue to be a partner and leader in trash management and rodent control issues.

Addressing trash and rodent control on Barracks Row has been a ten year effort of ANC6B.  Jayaraman was an early advocate of using liquor licenses to pressure Barracks Row restaurants doing new buildouts to provide for indoor trash storage and since then has been continuing advocate for the neighbors whose residences back up to the 8^th Street restaurants.  He told the ABCA board, “The ANC is not against the restaurant – we want to address the broader issue of trash management and rodent issues affecting the neighbors in their back yards.”

ABCA Chairman Donovan Anderson said the board would make a decision within 60 days. 

L-R Sgt. Fultz, Officer Miller, Officer Lewis, Tony Goodman, HSEMA at North Hall, Eastern Market, Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, Eastern Market and DGS sponsored a second Public Safety Meeting on Active Threat Response Training.  The briefing was presented by Sgt. Charles Fultz, Officers Miller and Lewis, and Tony Goodman, Legislative Affairs & Outreach Senior Program Manager, HSEMA.  After Officers Miller and Lewis presented a summary of basic actions that vendors inside and outside the Market can take to react to active threats, Sgt. Fultz assured the participants that MPD responds to community concerns to provide the resources the community needs.  He said his officers don’t mind being challenged – “they welcome that – they want to be where they’re needed.”  He said the citizens have the final say and that the citizens are more effective than they think.  Tony Goodman, Senior Program Manager for Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency concluded the program, explaining HSEMA’s role in coordinating agencies’ response to emergencies. 

In connection with the broader public safety effort, EMCAC is seeking volunteers for the newly created ad hoc Committee for Public Safety.  The committee will address public safety issues in and around Eastern Market.  General issues covered will include fire hazards, security of the market’s daily operations, threat alerts, public safety training, physical safety improvements and other related issues.  Contact Chuck Burger, EMCAC Chair, for additional information on how to join the committee: cburger@cbmove.com  or 202 258 5316.

Ebenezer Row Condo Development Troubles:  It’s not at all clear what’s happening at Ebenezer Row, the series of two bedroom condos on the 400 block of D Street, SE, being developed in partnership with the historic Ebenezer Methodist Church.   

Update: A reader informed CHC that the developer says that “the church’s lawyers were working on this because the Church owns the property so it was exempt from the taxes and the situation was an active dispute between the city and the church.”

Editor: Also see comment in comment section below.

Recently, a tax sale notice went up in front of one of the properties.

Last week, the city’s green several vacant property signs went up, seemingly applying to the row of properties under construction. 

On Saturday, a crew had resumed work on one of the properties, and the tax sale and vacant property signs were not longer evident.

Here’s the project looking east on D Street, SE.

And ICYMI, it appears that Popeyes will reopen in its previous location on Barracks Row. 

The Week Ahead & Some Photos from Last Week

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 13, 2023

One meeting on the Conservative Partnership Institute’s bid to close the alley behind the former Capitol Lounge, otherwise it looks pretty quiet.

Tuesday, August 15

ANC6B’s Planning and Zoning Subcommittee on Alley & Street Closings will hold an apparently virtual meeting at 7:00pm.     

Agenda:

Continue discussion on the application of the Conservative Partner Institute to close a portion of the alley behind the former Capitol Lounge on the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. 

Join Information: TBD

Here’s a rendering of the Folger Library following renovation.

Folger Library Delays Opening Until 2024

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 9, 2023

Today, Michael Witmore, Director, Folger Shakespeare Library, announced the Folger Library will extend the timeline for renovation and move the public opening – scheduled for November 17, 2023 – to a date in 2024.  The exact timing and details of the reopening celebrations will be shared before the end of the year. 

Witmore said that although construction continues every day and that much of the project has “come together beautifully…as with any project of this size and complexity, we have also encountered unforeseen hurdles.”

Construction is winding down in the areas surrounding the theater, and the Folger hopes to present the 2023-2024 Theatre season largely as planned.  Updated information about the season will be shared on the Folger website when tickets go on sale at the end of September. See here:  https://bit.ly/444sOLV  

Information about community tours and preview days will also be available when the Folger announces its new reopening date before the end of the year.

Crushing news from Barracks Row.  The Fridge is up for sale according to the signage on the building per Berkshire Hathaway.  The gallery and event space – a vision of owner and gallery director Alex Goldstein – was the offbeat center of artistic creativity on Barracks Row.  It was an art gallery for both emerging and established artists and was dedicated to making the arts accessible.  It also hosted concerts, from hip hop to jazz and folk.  Established in 2009, Goldstein broadened the gallery’s outreach to include art education for community youth. The gallery’s role in exhibiting art and serving as an event space was undercut by the pandemic from which it could not seem to recover. The venue’s Instagram account says “Our mission is to foster creativity and community dialogue by serving as a conduit for expression.”  Efforts to reach Goldstein were unsuccessful.  For more Fridge history, see here:  https://www.instagram.com/thefridgedc/?hl=en

EMCAC seeks volunteers for newly created ad hoc Committee for Public Safety.  The Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee is seeking volunteers to join the newly created Eastern Market Ad Hoc Committee for Public Safety.  The committee will address public safety issues in and around Eastern Market.  General issues covered will include fire hazards, security of the market’s daily operations, threat alerts, public safety training, physical safety improvements and other related issues.  Contact Chuck Burger, EMCAC Chair, for additional information on how to join the committee: cburger@cbmove.com or 202 258 5316. 

Growing like weeds (sorry).  Two more cannabis “gifting shops” just off Barracks Row join the three existing shops on the Row.  Organix at 719 D Street, SE…

And Flourish Gallery at 714 G Street, SE (rear of DCanter). 

Sala Thai – the new Thai/Japanese restaurant coming to the Park Kennedy apartment building in Hill East at 19th and C Streets, SE, hopes to open this coming week, only awaiting city permits.  The popular chain has three other outlets:  4020 Minnesota Avenue, NE, 2300 Washington Place, NE, and 4828 Cordell Avenue, in Bethesda.  Here’s a link to the menu at the Minnesota Avenue restaurant:  https://www.salathairisland.com/

Triple Candie’s latest “curatorial riddle” is on display in the front space of the former Li’l Pub at 655 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE.

The Quiet Week Ahead…& Some Photos + The Fridge Is Up for Sale

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 6, 2023

Thursday, September 10

ANC6A Commissioners and MPD Walk & Talk on H Street, NE, 6pm – 7:30pm.  Meet at 9^th and H Street, NE, for a chance to discuss issues and ideas related to the H Street corridor.

Friends of Southeast Library hold their monthly meeting at 5:30pm, Southeast Library, lower level.

Commander Colin Hall, MPD First District

Former Commander Tasha Bryant Promoted to Assistant Chief of Patrol Services South

The First District is home to the city’s business and political center.

A New Commander for the MPD’s 1^st District

By Larry Janezich

Posted August 3, 2023

MPD has announced the promotion of Inspector Colin Hall to Commander of the MPD First District.  He succeeds Commander Tasha Bryant who was promoted to Assistant Chief of Patrol Services South, which includes the First, Sixth, and Seventh police districts.  Both promotions were made in July 2023 by Acting Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith. 

Hall has 25 years of experience within the Metropolitan Police Department.  In a message to First District residents, Hall says:

“I would like to share with everyone that I was recently promoted to the Commander of the First District. ….In March I was promoted as an Inspector to the First District and after three months I was detailed back to the 7th District to assist the Commander in that District. I returned to 1D recently and shortly thereafter I received this promotion. I am very excited to be here, and I believe we will accomplish amazing things together in the First District! We have an outstanding, hardworking 1D team and we will always strive for excellence in all we do.

I began my career as a young officer in 1998 working in the First District. It was a great experience and I enjoyed making connections with the community and partners then, as I do now. During my 25 year MPD career I have been assigned to the Fifth District, the Firearms Registration Branch, The Security Officers Management Branch, Records Division, Central Cell Block, and the Second District. I was most recently assigned as a Sector Captain in the Seventh District where I led the city’s Homicide Reduction Partnership Program, and now my journey returns me to 1D.

My goal is to make the community feel safer, secure, and provide you with the knowledge that you have a partner in the Metropolitan Police Department. I look forward to meeting you all and getting to know you and working with you.

Please reach out to me anytime with concerns or questions anytime.”

Best Regards,

Colin Hall, Commander, First District

(202) 740-7633

colin.hall@dc.gov  

Twitter @DCPoliceDept

ANC6B Task Force on Southeast Library met Sunday afternoon. Commissioner David Sobelsohn is at center. Susan Sedgewick, representing Capitol Hill Village, is to his left. Commissioner Katie Durkit is in the right foreground.

SE Library Closure Delayed – Likely Until Fall

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 1, 2013

The ANC6B Taskforce on SE Library met last Sunday afternoon.  Commissioner David Sobelsohn, who chairs the committee, told the group that it appears DC Public Library will not meet its intention of closing SE Library this summer, given that Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan has indicated there will be six weeks’ notice before closure, and there has been no word yet.

The Task Force heard from Sobelsohn and Task Force member Susan Sedgewick regarding their testimony before the DC Public Library’s Board of Trustees on July 26, in support of interim services during the two-year renovation.   

In his testimony, Sobelsohn pressed the case for a more a robust facility for interim services during the closure of SE Library.  Although CM Charles Allen was successful in obtaining funding for an “interim services” facility – likely at Arthur Capper Recreational Center – it appears to be limited to part time access to a dozen or so computers, two technical support staff, and a copier.  Sobelsohn says this is inadequate.  From his statement to the DCPL trustees:

“My ANC urges the board of trustees to … provide a place near the Southeast branch for us to pick up and return library books; to keep that location open for a minimum number of days per week and hours per day; to provide a minimum number of computers and a printer, scanner, and copier at that location; to assign at least one regular library staff person to that location; and to open that location the day after it closes the Southeast branch, not months later.”

Task Force member Susan Sedgewick – who is a member of the board of Capitol Hill Village and represents some 400+ members – urged the trustees to consider the needs of older Capitol Hill residents who are unable to walk to NE Library which DCPL has suggested as an alternative location for those in need of library services.  She said, “All of us assumed the library system would provide some interim services so our SE library habit would be served.  We are amazed that is not the case.”  She added that in her research, she has discovered DCPL “Library by Mail” program that works under the disability services unit of DCPL.  This service, she said, could help older Capitol Hill residents and Sedgewick urged DCPL to prepare to serve the looming number of older adults in DC who will need special services to help them obtain books and to return them.  Her recommendations included:  streamline the way patrons using “Library by Mail” order books, develop a marketing plan that includes encouraging library staff to tell their patrons about the program, advertise the program as a service for older adults, and ensure adequate staff so to be responsive to request for titles. 

The Task Force also heard from several nearby residential neighbors who will be affected once construction starts on the renovation.  Those neighbors are in conversation with DCPL regarding providing access for construction workers which so far, apparently has not been resolved. 

Moving forward, Sobelsohn said he had a commitment to meet with staff of CM Trayon White who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs.  As such, he will be key to getting more funding to broaden interim services at Arthur Capper Recreational Center or any other location.

The Task Force has scheduled another meeting for August 21 at 7:00pm at Southeast Library.