DC is reportedly close to a deal with the Commanders to build a new stadium to replace RFK Stadium. The deal reportedly could cost DC taxpayers up to $1 billion in public funds for supporting infrastructure and associated financing costs – according to Council Chair Phil Mendelson. No Playground for Billionaires – an organization which opposes using public funds for a new stadium – is hosting a public forum at Hill Center on Tuesday, April 29. See below under “Capitol Hill Corner Would also like you to know about:” for more information.
Here are some photos of Saturday’s DPW Free Special Waste Collection Event at RFK Stadium Parking Lot Number 3. DPW organizes the event which brings together organizations which collect hazardous waste, recycle electronics, and shredded paper. The next scheduled Special Waste Collection Event is on Thursday, June 26, at 10:00am at the same location. For more information and to register for a timed entry, go here: https://bit.ly/3GjSlug
Drivers queued up on 22nd Street NE and turned right onto East Capitol to access Parking Lot #3. The timed entry made the line manageable and it moved quickly. After showing their DC driver’s license participants are directed to one or more of the three collection points where employees unload vehicles. The whole process takes around 30 minutes from the time you join the queue.
Electronics.
Hazardous waste.
Paper shredding.
Easter Sunday Morning near Eastern Market: Here’s a photo of café society on 7th Street SE, circa 10:30am.
The Week Ahead…
MONDAY April 21
ANC6D will hold a virtual meeting at 7:30pm.Note new time.
Government Announcements (Executive and Legislative Branch).
DDOT briefing on final design of approach bridges to 14th Street (informational).
Consent Agenda 1. Approve Amazon-AF Ride May 31, 2. March for Babies May 3.
ABC Matters
Shall the ANC comment on a Modification without a Hearing for 2121 1st Street?
Shall the ANC support developers’ request for a 2-year extension of PUD for 807 Maine?
SMD Updates
Chairperson’s Report
Capitol Hill Corner would also like you to know about:
Hill Center Event – Tuesday, April 29 – 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Forum on future of RFK Stadium sponsored by No Billionaires Playground’ Homes Not Stadiums.
No Billionaires Playground/Homes Not Stadiums” is holding a community forum (dinner provided) to hear from residents and experts on the economics behind an NFL stadium and to share a vision for how RFK could be developed to enrich the community.
Petition Supporting a Second Story for Rumsey Aquatic Center
CM Charles Allen is circulating a petition to garner support for a redesign of the proposed plans for a new Rumsey Aquatic Center that would include a second floor for a senior center and other amenities. Here’s a link to the councilmember’s website which has a link to the petition. https://www.charlesallenward6.com/
“Sign My Petition to DPR! Rumsey Pool Needs a Second Story – Rumsey Aquatic Center is a beloved community asset in the heart of Capitol Hill. It’s also one of the most heavily used Department of Parks and Recreation facilities in the District, and it’s sorely in need of modernization.”
Hill Center Event – Thursday, April 24 – 7:00pm – 9:00pm – $10.00 – In Person
Atlantic Journalist Yoni Applebaum Discusses his new Book STUCK in Conversation with New York Times Writer Binyamin Appelbaum
According to ANC6B Commissioner David Sobelsohn, the DC Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) today dismissed the application for a medical marijuana license by Aloha/Tobacco King at 539 8th Street, SE, the former location of La Vagna restaurant.
Sobelsohn reported that the applicants failed to show up at today’s ABCA Roll Call Hearing at which those protesting the license have an opportunity to explain their opposition. Opponents, on the other hand, did show up, and they included Sobelsohn, ANC Commissioners Sam Pastore and Anna Krebs, ANC6B’s ABCA Committee chair Ellen Opper-Weiner, and District Montessori director Anjelina Keating.
Sobelsohn said “Tobacco King’s application troubled not only my constituents who live close to that location, but also troubled several important nearby 7th Street, SE, institutions that have programs for children: the Montessori School, the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, & the Mormon Church. Our ANC had made very clear to the applicant that our community was united in opposing a cannabis retailer so close to our children. Thankfully, Tobacco King got the message. No one attended the hearing for Aloha/Tobacco King. As a result, ABCA dismissed the application. For the time being at least, we need not worry about a cannabis retailer so close to our children.”
Aloha was intended to be an upstairs cannabis retail space owned by Tobacco King, a tobacco/smoke shop on the first floor. There has been evidence that Tobacco King was dispensing cannabis in anticipation of receiving a license legalizing the operation. The application was been opposed at the ANC Committee level as well as by the full ANC since it would permit Aloha to operate as a dispensary within 400 feet of a school, which is banned by city statute.
Sunday morning, Congressional Cemetery sponsored its annual Cherry Blossom 5K. Some 900 runners participated in the run this year. All proceeds from the race go to furthering the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery’s non-profit mission, including environmental preservation. Here are some post-race photos from where the race started and finished near the center of the cemetery.
CHC asked Association interim Executive Director, A.J. Orlikoff to comment on the Cherry Blossom 5K: “We started doing this race last year for the first time because we just care so much about our environment … it’s just such a core part of our mission to be an urban oasis. It’s a place for people to come to be a part of nature and to get connected to an outdoor space and really bring back cemeteries to what they used to be – a place for people to gather. We were overwhelmed by the level of support we had – over 900 runners registered this year. Last year we had about 500 – so pretty much almost double.
The Yoshino blossoms have come and are mostly gone, but the Kwanzan cherry trees blossomed to celebrate the spring and framed the roads inside the cemetery.
Later, on Sunday afternoon, local author, historian and tour guide Robert Pohl led a tour of some of the cemetery’s known and one of its unknown gravesites. At a stop at J. Edgar Hoover’s grave, Pohl recounted Hoover’s birth in a house near Seward Square on Capitol Hill on the site of what is now Capitol Hill United Methodist Church. A stained glass window in the church is dedicated to him. After 11 years in the post, Hoover became instrumental in founding the FBI in June 1935, where he remained as director for an additional 37 years until his death in May 1972
Nearby is the grave of Hoover’s colleague and protégé Clyde Tolson. Tolson was the second-ranking official of the FBI from 1930 until 1972. After Hoover’s death in 1972, Tolson was acting director for a brief period until J. Patrick Gray became acting director. Tolson retired the following day and was succeeded by Mark Felt – who was later revealed to be the Deep Throat of the Watergate scandal, reportedly after later being passed over for the top FBI job.
Here’s a photo of the grave site of “Mayor Marion “Mayor for Life” Barry’s.
And here’s a photo of the federally-ordered unmarked grave of David Herold in the Herold family plot. Herold was the accomplice in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln who accompanied John Wilkes Booth on the latter’s 12 day attempt to reach Richmond following the assassination. Surrounded by federal troops in a Virginia tobacco barn, Herold surrendered, but Booth was killed. Herold was from a financially well off family who lived in a large house on the east side of what is now Barracks Row, near G Street. After his execution, the federal government officials released the body to the family for burial with the proviso that his grave would not marked.
The Week Ahead…
Monday, April 14
ANC6A Transportation & Public Space Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00pm.
Lincoln Park Task Force – 6A and 6B drafted a letter to DDOT requesting a traffic study of this area.
14th & A/Ames Streets – ANC 6A sent a letter to DDOT requesting traffic calming on this stretch of 14th Street NE.
500 and 600 blocks of 10/11/12/13th Streets. Issues with speeding cars down the hills on these blocks. 12th & E Streets NE is considered for “future consideration.”
New Business.
15th & Ames Place NE was part of Q3 prioritization and is under investigation by DDOT.
13th & Linden Streets NE is part of Q3 prioritization and is under investigation by DDOT.
Notice of intent: Installation of Residential Parking Permit zones on 200 and 500 blocks of 15th Street NE.
ANC6B April Parks & Public Spaces Taskforce will hold an in person meeting at 7:00pm.
This meeting will be held 700 Pennsylvania Ave SE; Second Floor (entry adjacent to Trader Joe’s).
1355-1359 H Street, NE. To combine five lots (2 facing H street NE, 3 facing alley) and convert to a retail and eating and drinking establishment use an existing, semi-detached, mixed use building. Special Exception: minimum vehicle parking requirements, rear yard requirements, eating and drinking establishment use requirements, and fast food establishment use requirements. Area Variance: The floor area ratio requirements.
New Business
917 Constitution Avenue, NE. To construct a second story addition to a detached garage, in the rear of an existing, attached, two-story plus cellar. Special Exception: lot occupancy requirements and accessory building expansion requirements
901 H Street, NE. Informational presentation for proposed fast casual restaurant.
Capitol Hill Corner would also like you to know about:
Hill Center Event. Tuesday, April 15. 7:00pm – 9:00pm. $20.00
Global Sounds on the Hill featuring Latin Music Sextet Las Guaracheras. Las Guaracheras is a powerful Latin Music sextet from Cali, Colombia that performs Afro-Caribbean rhythms such as salsa, as well as music from the Pacific region of Colombia. Their compositions and lyrics revolve around the re-vindication and recognition of the role of women in the music industry – especially in the Latin Music scene in Colombia – and seek to express the power and strength of women as sources of love, hope, resilience and creativity.
Folger Theater Event. Saturday, April 19. Starts at 11:00am. Free.
Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebration. Through performance, poetry, song, dance, scholarship, and history, the birthday celebration showcases the breadth of the Folger’s offerings as a cultural organization. The party to celebrate the playwright’s 461st year will kick off when the Folger opens at 11am on Saturday, April 19, and conclude that evening with the annual Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture, given this year by the Folger’s recently appointed director, Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper.
On Friday, ANC6B followed through on the commission’s unanimous vote last Tuesday to send a letter to the Directors of the DC Department of General Services (DGS) and the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), requesting a restart on the design of the Rumsey project.
The tone of the letter was more diplomatic than a letter from Eastern Market Main Street which characterized the designs put forward by DPR/DGS as “a disappointing lack of imagination and or understanding of the rare opportunity this redevelopment project offers the city.” See here: https://bit.ly/43A2b4Q
Here’s the full text of the ANC’s email:
April 11, 2025
Thennie Freeman, Director, DPR;
Delano Hunter, Director, DGS
Ward 6 Councilman, Charles Allen,
VIA EMAIL:thennie.freeman@dc.gov; delano.hunter@dc.gov; callen@dccouncil.gov
Re: Requesting a Restart for Rumsey Aquatic Center Rebuilding
This letter requests a restart in planning for the Rumsey Aquatic Center and explains
why a restart is necessary.
Most are familiar with the Sesame Street jingle: “One of these things is not like the others.” It is not hard to determine which proposal for the Rumsey Aquatic Center is different than the community-based proposals that preceded it. The one that is different is the one just introduced – without community consultation – on March 12. Rather than reflecting the RFP that was the basis for the generous design/build award, the current proposal goes its own direction and seeks to shoehorn a few small auxiliary rooms into the current, single story, pool space.
The difference between the RFP and the proposed project is as great as the difference between Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch: The RFP declares: “In addition to new and upgraded aquatic features, the project will aim to deliver community-based program spaces.” Implausibly, the current proposal does not propose to provide even the core items stipulated in the RFP:
senior center with tech lounge and other amenities;
large multipurpose/recreation room;
small to medium multipurpose/recreation rooms (note the plural).
At the March community meeting residents were presented with three “options”, none of which included the second floor which has been anticipated by the community, and which will be required to meet the specifications of the RFP. Not until the Q and A was the issue of a second floor addressed and then only because several residents specifically asked about its surprising omission from the plan.
Capitol Hill residents hold a variety of expectations for pool use. However, there is universal understanding that the rebuild of Rumsey is a once in a lifetime opportunity to add needed space resources for our built-up neighborhood that are unlikely to arise elsewhere.
Several fires set in the Hill East/Barney Circle neighborhoods in the last 30 days appear to be the work of a serial arsonist according to residents. The mostly-minor fires were clustered near Barney Circle and Lincoln Park. One fire was significant, destroying a construction trailer (above photo).
Residents say there have been several incidents over the past four weeks but most disturbing were three fires set in the early morning hours of Thursday, April 10. Those fires were set in the alley of the 1600 block of H Street SE and on Kentucky Avenue, SE near Lincoln Park. The most damaging was one in the 100 block of Kentucky Avenue SE which engulfed a construction trailer full of wood (see more on other locations below).
In addition to those locations, residents say there is evidence of a fire (scorched ground) along the RFK access road off Barney Circle/17th Street SE. Also, a resident of the 1600 block of H Street SE said leaves and debris in the alley of that block were set on fire within the past month.
One home owner called MPD to report that a security camera had recorded a suspected arsonist setting a trash can on fire in the alley of the 1600 block of H Street SE. In the process of filing a police report, the homeowner said that MPD officer called in the DCFD Fire Marshals who followed up and said they were aware of fires like this being lit around the neighborhood.
The homeowner emailed CM Charles Allen to make sure he was aware of the situation.
Asked for comment, Allen responded: “I appreciate the neighbors that brought this to my attention earlier today. Fortunately, no one was injured. I’ve connected with leaders at both MPD and FEMS this afternoon and I want neighbors to know that patrols will be on the lookout and the Fire Marshal is investigating fully. If anyone has security videos that might help ID the individual that set these fires, please share them with law enforcement or contact me directly.”
Here’s some additional information regarding the fires:
March 16, circa 9:00pm, alley of 700 block of Kentucky Avenue SE. Fence set on fire.
March 16, circa 9:00pm, alley of 700 block of Kentucky Avenue SE. Fence set on fire.
April 10, 3:56am, alley behind 1600 block of H Street SE. Trash can set on fire. No damage caused as the fire extinguished itself after about 3 minutes. Video footage captured, but due to angle it’s difficult to make out much about this person.
(No image available.)
April 10, circa 4:30am, 400 block Kentucky Ave SE. Trash left for bulk pickup in curb box was set on fire.
Thursday April 10, circa 4:40am. 100 block of Kentucky Avenue SE. Construction trailer set on fire.
Maman Joon’s Kitchen – Persian Kabob – Set to Open on Barracks Row
by Larry Janezich
Posted April 10, 2025
Friday night found Maman Joon Kitchen owner Kevin Ejtemai (at right) celebrating the pending opening of the third outlet of his restaurant chain, this one at 404 8th Street, SE, the former site of The Sweet Lobby. He has an outlet in Tenleytown and another in McLean.
In the kitchen, the grill was fired up for the first kabobs…
Staff packed them up…
and Ejtemai gave away free samples to passersby on Friday evening. He said he would probably continue offering samples tomorrow and hopes to formally open on Monday. Maman’s Kitchen – with no indoor seating – is carryout and catering only.
Here’s a look at part of the menu.
Comments Off on Persian Kabob Carryout Set to Open on Barracks Row
CM Charles Allen briefing ANC6B last night on the DC Budget.
CM Charles Allen on Monday morning in Spirit of Justice Park behind the Longworth House Office Building where FreeDC volunteers gathered before heading inside to lobby Members of Congress. On Allen’s left are LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 State Board of Education member and Jacque Patterson, President of the State Board of Education.
CM Allen Says City Faces Tough Economic Choices
by Larry Janezich
Posted April 9, 2025
Tuesday night, Council Member Charles Allen gave ANC6B a sobering report on the current economic situation facing the city.
The city is facing two pressure points: The inability of the US House of Representatives to fix their mistake in forgetting to authorize DC to spend $1 billion of its own to fund its operational budget for personnel and city services. (If DC just went ahead and spent the money which has not been authorized it would be breaking the law.) Second, the projected $1 billion shortfall in revenues over the next three years resulting from the thousands of residents who have lost their federal jobs and the economic fallout therefrom as the result of the administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.
With respect to the first pressure point, Allen says he does not foresee the House acting to fix their mistake before it leaves for a two week recess at the close of business on Thursday. Cuts in personnel and services will not start immediately but the undetermined date is fast approaching when the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will inform the Mayor that she has to start making cuts. The Mayor will have to submit a Supplemental Budget to the city council recommending those cuts. Allen says, “To cut $1 billion from a $17 billion budget will be devastating…it will mean furloughs, personnel cuts, cuts in city operations and bus and Metro service.” The police and fire departments will suffer hiring freezes – first responders could be furloughed. Public and charter schools will be subject to staff and operational cuts – an extreme example is that the school week could be cut to 3 or four days.
On Monday, Allen was part of the local advocacy group FreeDC’s call to action to lobby members of the House to pass the Senate-passed bill to fix the spending glitch which has been held for some three weeks at the Speaker’s desk. This means under House Rules, it will take a two-thirds vote of the House (288) to take it up for consideration, and a simple majority of the House to pass it. Though the bill has the support of the President and – reportedly – the chair of the House Appropriations Committee – it appears to be stalled by members of the Freedom Caucus. Some speculate that some House members want to place conditions on DC as part of an agreement to move the bill forward.
Allen’s team visited five Congressional offices. He said the Republican offices were polite but he did not detect a sense of urgency. He said he got a “warmer response from Democratic offices, but none of them felt like their hair was on fire about how this was a crushing and urgent problem”. By the end of the day, FreeDC volunteers had visited 283 members’ offices.
Regarding the second pressure point, Allen noted that the FY 2026 Budget process – which should have launched at the beginning of April – has not, because the Mayor is waiting on a resolution regarding the $1 billion being held up in the House which otherwise will have to be taken into consideration in the budget for the next fiscal year.
Assuming that gets resolved and the 2026 FY Budget process moves forward, it will have to take into account the CFO’s projection of $1 billion in lower revenue over the next three years resulting from a reduction in the federal workforce. That will amount to a cut of around $300 million in each of the next three fiscal years. Those cuts will come in the face of increasing costs. Allen said, “We are facing a difficult budgeting…..We will be reducing city services and I don’t like doing that….But if the budget is balanced on the most vulnerable it is not a budget I can support. There will be a reduction in services and benefits and every part of the city will have to be a part of what this tough moment will realize.”
On Wednesday, April 3, 1st Street and the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court were occupied by rival activists – supporters and opponents of Planned Parenthood. The Court was scheduled to hear a case on funding for Planned Parenthood. Here’s a photo of demonstrators supporting defunding Planned Parenthood.
Those supporting Planned Parenthood, shown here, appeared to outnumber those opposed by about 6 to 1. Later that day, AP reported that the Supreme Court appeared divided over whether states should be able to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
In June of 2022, CHC reported the closing for good of Congress Market at 421 East Capitol Street. The move came with the retirement of the owner. Now new life is being breathed back into the Market and a new owner told ANC6B Commissioner Jerry Sroufe that the store will reopen “soon.”
Shelves are being stocked, and it’s possible the store will open before it gets its liquor license – the ABCA placard says the hearing on the license application isn’t scheduled until June 9.
Stormy skies provided a backdrop for a photo op of the Southeast Library the last week of March.
Here’s another angle.
Here’s Triple Candies’ extension of last month’s installation featuring The Raft of the Medusa in the exhibit space of the former Li’l Pub, at 655 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. CHC has unpacked it for your convenience:
Moechella (lower left) is a DC concert series inspired by the Cochella Festival, which according to Wiki, is an annual music and arts festival held in Indio, California, in the Colorado Desert’s Coachella Valley. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures.
We. Construct. Marvels. Between. Monuments. (upper right) “An exhibition series held at the Portland Art Museum (2017 – 2019) encouraging audiences to think critically about how museums have traditionally granted access to art and knowledge, and what the future of the institution could look like.” Libby Werbel
La beauté est dans la rue. (lower right) “Beauty is in the Street” is a slogan from France, May of 1968. The poster depicts a young woman throwing a paving stone. Wiki.
The Week Ahead.
Highlights:
Monday – FreeDC volunteers lobby Congress on passage of bill to allow DC government funding for the rest of the fiscal year. (See “Capitol Hill Corner would also like you to know about:” below.)
Tuesday – CM Charles Allen is scheduled to brief ANC6B on the upcoming FY Budget.
Thursday – CM Charles Allen is scheduled to brief ANC6A on the upcoming FY Budget.
Monday, April 7
ANC6B Southeast Library Task Force will hold a hybrid meeting at 6:30pm.
The meeting will be held on the second floor of 700 Pennsylvania Ave., SE. Entrance is next door to Trader Joe’s.
Union Pub, Ethiopic Restaurant, Cane, Boiling Crab, Indigo, The 116 Club,
application renewals
Planning, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee (Mark Eckenwiler, Chair)
313 2nd Street NE. Historic Preservation Application of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church for concept approval, renovation and expansion of carriage house, razing two structures, landscaping.
Community Presentations DC Budget and other Ward 6 Topics of Interest
Councilmember Charles Allen.
Consent Agenda.
Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Committee.
Recommendation: ANC 6A take no action on the renewal application of a Class C restaurant license with entertainment and summer garden endorsements at Granville Moore’s, 1238 H Street, NE .
Recommendation: ANC 6A take no action on the application for a new Class C Restaurant license with extended holiday hours, carry out and delivery endorsements at Tapori, 600 H Street, NE.
Community Outreach.
Recommendation: ANC 6A approve the revisions to the ANC’s Grant Application form, including ANC 6A coversheet, project report form, and closeout form to conform with the OANC guidelines for applications.
Economic Development and Zoning (EDZ)
Recommendation: ANC 6A send a letter to BZA to support special exceptions to combine five lots (2 facing H Street NE, 3 facing alley) and convert to a retail and eating and drinking establishment use an existing, semi-detached, mixed use at 355-1359 H Street, NE.
Recommendation: ANC 6A send a letter to BZA to support a special exception to construct a second story addition to a detached garage, in the rear of an existing, attached, two-story plus cellar, principal dwelling unit in the RF-1 zone at 917 Constitution Avenue.
Capitol Hill Corner would also like you to know about:
Monday, April 7
FreeDC Sponsored Event: 9:30am – 3:30pm.
Meet at the Spirit of Justice Park (South side of Rayburn House Office Building) at South Capitol and C Streets, SE.
Teams will visit offices of Members of the US House of Representatives to urge passage of the DC Local Funds Act being held at the Speaker’s Desk since March 18. The Bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting action by the House. The Bill would authorize DC to spend its ownrevenues for the rest of the fiscal year. It includes funding for schools, first responders, Metro, buses, etc.
Global Sounds on the Hill featuring Ethiopian Funk with Afro-Zen Allstars. “Their music exists at the place where African musical tradition connects with Jazz & Jam.”
An Anti-Trump “Hands Off” rallies occurred in all 50 states on Saturday. The “Hands Off” rally on the National Mall was centered at the Sylvan Theater but much of the Mall and the grounds of the Washington Monument was occupied by demonstrators. At 2:00pm the rally was scheduled to end and the crowd had begun to thin a little. Organizers had said it might go a bit longer.
There were streams of departing participants lining up to board the Metro at the Smithsonian stop and on Independence Avenue hundreds of people were headed for the Metro. But there was a sea of people still on the grounds of the Washington Monument and speakers were still addressing the crowd.
The crowd in front of the Sylvan Theater was so dense that organizers were stationed to direct people pressing toward the stage that it was too crowded and asked people who were approaching the stage to go back the way they came and climb the hill toward the Monument for a view of the theater.
From the base of the Washington Monument, one could see that the crowd extended toward the Capitol Building.
The crowd was multi-generational and the mood was friendly as people seemed reassured by the willingness of such a large number of protesters to turn out – a crowd much larger than anticipated by organizers. Originally, the number of estimated attendees was 20,000 – projected from the number of responses to organizers’ request that participants register. Later, organizers said the number of attendees was five times the expected number. It was apparent from the large numbers of people still on the Mall at 2:00pm that the expected number had been vastly exceeded.
Some wore costumes – including Abe Lincoln and the Statue of Liberty – or carried protest signs and banners and flew the United States flag as a distress signal.
There were individuals, couples, families, and groups of friends. There were a few people with dogs and a few couples with infants in baby carriages. There were small individual demonstrations everywhere throughout the crowd. Here’s some video of one of them.
The Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee met in Eastern Market’s North Hall Tuesday night.
Eastern Market Main Street Blasts DPR on Rumsey Design
by Larry Janezich
Posted, April 4, 2025
Wednesday night at the monthly meeting of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC), Chair Chuck Burger provided an update on plans to insist that DPR reconsider the design for the Rumsey Center. Burger said it was his understanding that CM Charles Allen would sit down with DGS for a “heart to heart” discussion to press for a design more closely aligned with the requirements listed in the Request for Proposals for the project.
Those requirements reflected the community desires which were subsequently detailed in a strongly worded letter to the city from Eastern Market Main Street (EMMS). Dated March 28, it took to task the DC Department of Recreation’s proposed concepts for the redevelopment of the Rumsey Center. The letter was addressed to Mayor Bowser and City Administrator Donahue with copies to DPR, DGS, Council Chair Mendelson, and CM’s Allen, George, and White.
The letter, appearing over the signature of Mary Quillian Helms, President of the EMMS Board of Directors, stated in part:
“The planned renovation of the William H. Rumsey Aquatic Center…is an exciting opportunity to rejuvenate an extremely valuable community asset…. In 2022, engaged community members and stakeholders convened to propose important community considerations to include in this rare, once in a generation redesign….Those included having a second floor and activating the C Street and/or alley-facing sides of the redeveloped building.
Some of the key suggestions from community members and stakeholders were to provide a second floor that would house space for multiple uses such as a community senior care facility and partnership with a nonprofit provider and to utilize the street level space for small business incubators to facilitate local, small business growth as well as address security and life safety concerns along those corridors.
Our engaged community was very disappointed to see that none of the three concepts proposed by DPR…contained a second floor or the activation of C Street SE. The presented concept plans barely contained multipurpose space at all, with a marginal expansion of the pool itself.
That the initial concepts acknowledged none of the community’s suggestions shows a disappointing lack of imagination and or understanding of the rare opportunity this redevelopment project offers the city, Capitol Hill, and the Eastern Market community. We at Eastern Market Main Street strongly urge that DPR/DGS reconsider the concept plans, for the good of the community’s economic health, public safety, and public recreation.”
In the ensuing discussion it became clear that the city can likely expect additional similar letters from the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, ANC6B, CHAMPS, and possibly, Capitol Hill Village.
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 