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.
MPD 1st District’s Community Advisory Committee met Tuesday night.
MPD’s First District. Blue dots locate the U.S. Capitol and RFK Stadium, respectively.
Crime Report: MPD Commander Colin Hall Reports on District 1
by Larry Janezich
Posted April 3, 2025
MPD 1st District Commander Colin Hall delivered the monthly crime report to the 1st District’s Community Advisory Committee Tuesday night:
He cited several high profile arrests MPD made in the past few weeks.
The 2023 homicide at the Cru Nightclub in 1300 block of H Street, NE, was closed with two arrests.
The ongoing investigation of the flagrant shooting last October at 1900 One-half Street, SW near the Watermark Buzzard Point apartments resulted in a recent arrest. The incident involved adults and juveniles and the expenditure of nearly 100 rounds. Hall said other suspects are being sought. A stray bullet from this incident wounded a pedestrian on Potomac Avenue, SE.
A second arrest was made in Eastern High School shooting of a student last November, closing out the case.
He also reported :
We’re seeing a 31% decrease in violent crime in the first quarter across the city and a 35% decrease in violent crime in the 1st District – that’s over the 15% drop ending 2024.
We continue pushing down robberies – there was a 38% decline in the first quarter in the 1st District, on top of a 47% drop ending 2024.
We had 20 burglaries in the 1st District so far this year – that’s plus 3 over last year. We follow up after every burglary with our outreach team to talk to businesses about cameras and alarms.
We shut down a crew linked to 21 burglaries throughout the city.
Theft from autos is down but increasing with the warm weather.
We are still seeing thefts of unattended vehicles. That was a problem in the cold but we’re still seeing it in warm weather. We urge using wheel locks and air tags.
We’re seeing tire thefts throughout the city and urge residents to be alert and call MPD to report suspicious activity.
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The Capitol Hill Art League (CHAL) opens its annual Open Call Art Exhibition on April 1st at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW) located at 547 7th Street, S.E. The show will be on display in the CHAW Gallery, from April 1 to May 30, 2025.
There will be an opening reception from 5:30-7:00 pm, on Saturday, April 5, at CHAW, where juror Glenn Kessler will discuss the selected artist works and award cash prizes.
Glen Kessler is an internationally collected and awarded artist as well as the founder of The Compass Atelier in Rockville, MD, Compass Art Center in Kensington, MD, and inventor of The Painters Compass Color Wheel. He is a life-long teacher, having taught at Maryland Institute College of Art, George Washington University, George Mason University, and others. In 2013 he founded The Compass Atelier in order to teach a cohesive curriculum of artistic study of his own design.
This is the Art League’s annual Open Call show which seeks entries from artists throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area, West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. This year’s call has produced an impressive array of art interpreting the theme “Landscape”.
In addition to viewing the art in person at the Arts Workshop, the art is available online on the Capitol Hill Art League website. See here for details on artists and their works:
Congressional Cemetery held its Spring Fair on Sunday, March 30, featuring more than two dozen vendors, an Introduction to Green Burial in the Chapel, a tour of historical trees and grave sites, and a presentation on Equinox Gardening.
Vendors included HCC Gift Shop, Adopt-A-Plot at HCC, The Roving Hare, Republic Restoratives, Chippin Pet, From Here to Home Essentials, Catalyst Hot Dogs, Second Story Honey, Black Radish Handmade, The Witch Wife Crafts & Treasures, Open to Being, Green Garden Vintage, Earth-Worker, Hands Along the Nile, Rough Seas Productions, Slow Drip Refashions, Paloma Vintage Designs, Amaya Accessories, Amethyst Alchemist Art, One Seed Designs, D’Bohomama, Necos Boutique, Great Mothers Garden, Solutions, and Folger Theatre.
Congressional Cemetery Associate Lily Buerkle presented the introduction to green burial. It involves, no embalming, body shrouded or placed in a casket of natural material, no grave liner or vault, lowering by hand or by device, a natural marker or a traditional head stone. This is an alternative burial for those not wanting a typical American funeral. Those funerals are – according to National Geographic – responsible each year for felling 30 million board feet of casket wood, 90,000 tons of steel, 1.6 million tons of concrete for burial vaults and 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid. The average cost in the DMV area is around $2000 to $4000. Green burials are allowed in any plot in the cemetery which is the only cemetery in DC which offers green burials. A helpful resource is the Green Burial Council: https://www.greenburialcouncil.org/
Sharon Metcalf, also an Associate, conducted a tour of historical trees and sites of the cemetery. One of the stops on the tour was at the memorial for Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, dedicated on September 17, 2022. This is of the back of the Memorial.
And here’s a photo of the monument’s striking front, surmounted by a sculptured raven and skull, referencing Brady’s photo of Edgar Allen Poe and featuring a selection of Brady’s photos.
A photo of the stop at John Philip Sousa grave. Sousa, known as the March King, became U.S. Marine Band leader in 1880 and served in that position for 12 years. He wrote over 100 marches (including the “Washington Post” and “Stars and Stripes Forever”), 10 light operas, and other works. Bands from around the world come to play at his grave.
The Circle of Life Tree-henge. The Circle of Life is a recent installation of land art or earth art which celebrates nature’s perseverance. The site comprises a 60 foot circle of linden trees aligned with the points of a compass and serves as an observation site of the sun’s path during solstices and equinoxes. It celebrates and pays tribute the natural environment, invites meditation and reflection, and offers an opportunity to record those thoughts in a journal kept on site. It was created by a group of friends interested in Congressional Cemetery and green burial in partnership with Congressional Cemetery and a testimony to those who choose green burial as a simple and sustainable end to their existence. For more, go here: https://bit.ly/42c1D2O
The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery is a private nonprofit organization established in 1976 and dedicated to the restoration interpretation and management of Congressional Cemetery. It is a predominantly volunteer based organization relying on over 400 neighbors, history buffs, conservators, dog walkers, and armed forces personnel each year to help restore and maintain this national treasure. In 1979 Congressional Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became a National Historic Landmark in 2011. For info on joining the association or to make a donation to help their cemetery, email staff@congressionalcemetery.org or go here: www.congressionalcemetery.org
The Week Ahead….
Tuesday, April 1
MPD 1D Community Advisory Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 6:00pm.
304-308 K Street, NE. Revised application of 304, 306, 308 K Street, LLC for a special exception for the residential use of an alley lot and an area variance from the requirements for creation of a new alley record lot, and an area variance from the lot dimension requirements and subdivide an alley record lot into two record lots, and to construct two semi-detached, two story, principal dwelling units in the RF-1 zone.
313 2nd Street, NE. Historic Preservation Application of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church for concept approval for renovation and expansion of an existing carriage house, razing of two structures (the current Parish Center and a single-vehicle garage), and landscape alterations.
Thursday, April 3
ANC6B Planning and Zoning Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00pm.
DC Funding Bill Limbo as FreeDC Lobbies 379 Congressional Offices
by Larry Janezich
Posted March 26, 2025
Tuesday morning, almost 100 activists organized by FreeDC gathered outside the Rayburn House Office Building to hear FreeDC cofounder Alex Dodds’s instructions on how to lobby Members of Congress. The advocacy group is urging House Members to pass the DC Local Funds Act to restore DC’s ability to spend local money on local services for the rest of the fiscal year. Without this authority being restored, DC will be forced to reduce spending by over $1.1 billion over the next six months.
After receiving instructions and Member Office assignments, the activists – divided into teams of three – headed into the Cannon, Longworth, and Rayburn Buildings where they visited offices, left letters with the receptionist, and asked to speak to the Member or Chief of Staff. If neither was available, the visitors said they would wait until someone was available. The tactic for requesting a personal engagement and gathering contact info was often successful. At day’s end, 379 Congressional Offices had been visited. The FreeDC lobby effort is scheduled to continue today through 2:00pm on Thursday, with calls and visits to undecided Members.
The DC spending authority is routinely included in the funding bill which keeps the government running when the annual appropriation bills have not been passed (which is the case this year). The DC provision was apparently inadvertently omitted from the funding bill which passed Congress the week of March 11. The bill, without the DC provision, controversially passed the Senate with the help of 9 Democrats (including Minority Leader Schumer) plus Independent Senator Angus King who voted to cut off a filibuster against the bill. The funding bill then passed the Senate by a vote of 54 – 46, including support from Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Senator Angus King of Maine.
Schumer then immediately called up a “stand alone bill” to restore spending authority for DC, which passed unanimously and sent it to the House. The Senate bill is being “held at the desk” in the House while lawmakers decide how to proceed. It is uncertain when the House will take up the bill on the House floor, and lack of guidance from the Speaker’s Office, as well as the Office of Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, suggests that House Republicans may be considering attaching conditions on DC’s ability to spend the money. If any change is made to the Senate bill or if a new House Bill is passed, it would require further action by the Senate. President Trump supports the Senate bill as – reportedly – does House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole.
Currently at the Rubell Museum. American Vignettes: Symbols, Society, and Satire.
September 27th, 2024 – Fall, 2025. 65 I Street, SW. 11am – 5pm. You can probably find parking on a nearby side street.
American Vignettes: Symbols, Society, and Satire showcases nearly 100 artworks spanning painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and mixed media by over 40 emerging and established artists, all from the Rubells’ collection of more than 7,700 works of contemporary art. Here’s a selection of some pieces categorized as Symbols which address our and the artist’s relationship to flags, emblems, and slogans.
Piotr Uklanski. Untitled (American Eagle). Styrofoam. 79 X 118 in.
“In an untitled American Eagle Piotr Uklanski depicts the eagle used on the American quarter. The eagle is a symbol with layered implications, emblematic of the United States, Uklanski’s native Poland, and many other countries, while also being associated with the Nazi Party and later appropriated by Neo Nazis worldwide. In engaging with such imagery, the artist challenges viewers to recognize and reinterpret symbols across cultural codes, whether political or historical.”
Natalie Ball. Bang Bang. Elk hide, rabbit fur, oil stick, acrylic, charcoal, cotton and pine. 84 X 124 in.
“Bang Bang came from my solo exhibition in New York at Half gallery titled Bad Lucky Indian. … I was thinking through gesture, materiality, complex narratives, form, assemblage, but mostly humor. In the studio I was looking at the great seal of the United States and I started to think about what that seal and its eagle means to me, what it means for our history, and what it means to be a dual citizen: to be a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, of a sovereign nation, but also a citizen of the United States…..I wanted my own seal. The eagle and its symbolism have been appropriated historically. It has a significance in my culture too, and I wanted to bring that forward and honor it in a different way.
Sterling Ruby. Flag. Bleached and dyed fabric and elastic. 174 X 343 in.
Damian Ortega. Transportable Obelisk. Fiber glass with metal base and wheels. 236 1/8 x 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in.
“I am thrilled by the idea of a work that commemorates an imprecise moment, which could be associated with anything, just by the fact of moving the piece to one place or another. This work is a mobile print of reference. It is a point of departure but also a full stop, even though it could change its position.”
Vaugn Spann. Dark Days Bring New Hope (Never Forget). Polymer paint, pulp, mixed media, terry cloth, canvas on aluminum stretcher bars. 160 x 220 in.
“This painting centers around the idea of hope but also around the idea of gloom or even doom. Dark days bring New Hope (Never Forget) is from Flag series. The series is a postmodern idea of how we might take these symbols, our relationship to these icons, and splice new meanings into them. The totallity of the piece is about the idea of claiming space and holding on to that proximity to the flag to interpret it on my own. In the painting the flag is very dark; it’s a gloomy flag because there’s a lot of darkness and trauma we as a nation are perpetually working through.”
Glenn Lignon. Condition Report D. Iris print and iris print with serigraph, each 35 x 26 in.
“The text displayed on both panels of this diptych derives from protest placards from the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, specifically the Memphis sanitation workers strike in 1968. During this strike, over 1000 African American men went on strike for better pay and safer working conditions. Martin Luther King Junior went to Memphis to march with these workers and make speeches in support of their strike. He was assassinated in Memphis the following day. Ligon first created a painting of the protest placard in 1988, untitled (I Am A Man), which the print on the left directly mirrors. For the right panel, Ligon gave his painting to an art conservator to create a condition report with handwritten annotations, which was in turn made into a print. In addition to the historical depth of the text presented, Ligon allows the object to be reinterpreted in a new context.”
The Week Ahead….
Highlights:
Friday: CM Charles Allen holds community office hours at Quill & Crumb at the Folger Shakespeare Library (see below).
Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday: (See Free DC Events under “Capitol Hill Corner Would Also Like You To Know About” below)
Monday, March 24
ANC7D 7D01 Hold a Special Virtual Meeting to confirm election/voting details for filling Single Member District 7D01 seat at 6:30pm.
Discussion of the renewal of a Class C restaurant license with entertainment and summer garden endorsements at Granville Moore’s, 1238 H Street, NE.
Discussion of a new Class C Restaurant license with extended holiday hours, carry out and delivery endorsements at Tapori 600 H Street NE, located within ANC6C.
Discussion of the status of the application for a new medical cannabis license for Proper Exotic, 313 8th Street, NE.
Friday, March 28
CM Charles Allen holds community office hours at Quill & Crumb at the Folger Shakespeare Library from 4 to 5:30pm. RSVP here: http://charlesallenward6.com/calendar
Capitol Hill Corner Would Also Like You To Know About:
Free DC Event – Tuesday, March 25
Members of Congress Office Visits: Encourage House Reps to pass the DC Local Funds Act – 10:00am to 3:00pm .
Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Avenue Southwest, Washington, DC,
Memoirist Kat Chow Discusses Her Bestselling book Seeing Ghosts in Conversation with Jung Yun. Kat Chow is a reporter, teacher, writer and the author of Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir, named a Notable Book by The New York Times.
Sponsored by Hill Center Private Events. Local organizations will be present to share how you can help them meet their mission. Find the right fit for your talents as we build a better community.
The Week Ahead….6B Chair Steps Down & Some Photos from the Past Week
by Larry Janezich
Posted March 16, 2025
Edward Ryder 6B08 (right) resumes Chair of ANC6B as Chair Vince Mareino 6B07 (center) steps down, and Karen Hughes 6B09 (left) becomes Vice Chair.
Last week, at its regularly scheduled March meeting, ANC6B elected a new Chair and Vice Chair after Chairman Vince Mareino announced that he was stepping down after leading the ANC for two months because of professional and family obligations. Former Chair and current Vice Chair Edward Ryder agreed to resume the office and nominated Commissioner Karen Hughes to be Vice Chair. The nominations were agreed to by acclamation of the ANC.
On Monday, March 10, more than a thousand people representing DMV – DC, Maryland, and Virginia – rallied on the West Front of the Capitol to protest firing of government employees. Representative Jamie Raskin (D) MD spoke on the authoritarian approach to goverance. He ended his remarks with a quote from American Founding Father Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis: “Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered, but we’ve this saving consolation. The more difficult the struggle, the more glorious in the end will be our victory.”
This view gives a better sense of the crowd size.
Also on Tuesday, March 11, Free DC sponsored a community meeting in Northeast Library, following up on the social get together and celebration it sponsored at As You Are a week ago last Sunday. Keja Chattergee, former ANC6A Commissioner and one of the five co-founders of Free DC was the spokeswoman who encouraged attendees to join Free DC’s efforts in the following days to lobby Senators to vote against a Congressional funding bill that would limit DC budget spending to the 2024 Fiscal Year levels – resulting in a $1.1 billion reduction in spending for the next six months.
Here’s a wide shot of the crowd – more than 100 residents turned out for the meeting.
MTP says enforcing Metro fare evasion has helped reduce serious crime. Metro Transit Police Commander Aaron Donald told the First District Citizens Advisory Committee on March 4 that when DC decriminalized fare evasion, crime rates went up and “when they brought back criminalization and we started to enforce it crime rates immediately took a nose dive – we finished 2024 with a 33% decrease in part one (very serious) crimes. In 2023 we issued 7000 fare evasion tickets in DMV and closed out 2024 with about 17,000 fare evasion tickets. Through that we arrested more than 400 – not just for fare evasion alone – and recovered 81 guns – some thru fare evasion and some thru other police work. So we saw a drastic decrease in crime numbers – so far this year we’ve seen a 62% decrease in part one crimes compared to last year which also had a drastic decrease. Our Criminal Investigation Division did a study on those individuals arrested for very serious crimes – 97 % of those individuals failed to pay their fares.”
Update on Lobby Bar. Here’s a peek at the current buildout of The Lobby Bar. Owner Adam Shulman hopes to open in April and says his goal is for the 2000 square foot restaurant to be a gathering place for all, with 18 bar seats, booths, a communal table for larger parties, and a sidewalk patio. The menu will feature modern American cuisine while the beverage list will lean toward classic and creative cocktails. The restaurant is across the street from Eastern Market, at 224 7th Street, SE, the location of the former Boxcar Tavern.
The Week Ahead
Monday, March 17
ANC6A Transportation & Public Space Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00pm.
West Virginia Avenue NE. There is a pending signal installation to attempt to streamline the West Virginia Avenue, 8th & K Streets intersection which causes most of the queueing but a community member expressed continued concern.
Capitol Hill Sidewalk Safety Update. Scott Price from Capitol Hill Village will provide an update.
New Business.
Open Streets Capitol Hill. This is slated to occur on Saturday June 28, 2025 taking place mostly in ANC 6B but running through Lincoln Park.
DDOT Public Space Permit. This is a sidewalk application from Ben’s Chili Bowl at 1001 H Street NE.
ANC6B Parks & Public Spaces Committee will hold an IN PERSON ONLY Meeting at 7:00pm
The meeting will be on the second floor of 700 Pennsylvania (Conference Room #1).
Among items on the draft agenda:
Review and potential comment on the DPR presentation on RUMSEY ACQUATIC CENTER. What is too much? What is missing?
Review of the revised Mission Statement.
Possible discussion items:
Park Manager at Eastern Market Metro Plaza Park.
Missing sculptures at the Eastern Market Metro Park.
Physical improvements at Seward Square to increase activity there.
1355-1359 H Street, NE. Zoning Adjustment Application to combine five lots (2 facing H street NE, 3 facing alley) and convert to a retail and eating and drinking establishment,
New Business
917 Constitution Avenue, NE. Zoning Adjustment Application 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.
901 H Street, NE. Zoning Application. Informational presentation for proposed fast casual restaurant.
Capitol Hill Corner Would Also Like You to Know About
Tuesday, March 18 – 5 to 6:30pm/
Telephone Town Hall for the DC Federal Workforce.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is hosting this town hall, where residents can dial in to 833-408-1990. It will also be live-streamed at https://norton.house.gov/live.
Wednesday, March 19 – Northeast Library – 6:00pm.
Capitol Hill Restoration Society Board meeting.
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Chuck Gregory, a native Washingtonian, died in San Francisco on February 22 after a long struggle with cancer. He was 49. The son of Janice and Neal Gregory, Chuck was born at Georgetown Hospital on January 8, 1976, and grew up on Capitol Hill. His formal name was Chellis O’Neal Gregory III, but he was always known as Chuck.
A service of remembrance and a celebration of his life will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 1:30 pm on Sunday, March 30.
Chuck was an acolyte at St. Mark’s, a member of the Boy Scouts and a star soccer player for his Soccer on the Hill championship team. A lifelong interest in public policy and politics began during the summers when he was a page for the U.S. House of Representatives. He attended Peabody and John Easton Public Schools, St. Anselm’s Abbey School, and graduated from Edmond Burke High School.
He received a degree in communications and film from Tulane University, where he was a member of SAE fraternity. He worked as a desk editor in the Washington Bureau of ABC Television News, later joining the staff of the Vancouver International Film Festival in Canada, working in promotion and development. He met Akiko Kano – who became his wife – in Vancouver while they were both teaching English as a foreign language.
He earned a master’s degree in international relations at the University of British Columbia and was a development officer for UBC’s Sauder School of Business. Ten years ago, he moved to San Francisco as a development officer for Sutter Health, which operates 24 hospitals and over 200 clinics in Northern California.
Chuck had a dry wit and was always smiling. His fellow students and coworkers delighted in his storytelling talents. He had an uncanny ability to adopt the accents and mannerisms as he related tales from a wide variety of characters. He could imitate Louisiana Cajuns, Southerners, Texans, New Jersey mafia, Boston Irish and variety of other groups with comic accuracy.
In addition to his parents, Neal and Janice Gregory, Chuck is survived by his wife Akiko Kano and their 11-year-old daughter Sara Gregory of San Francisco; and two sisters, Jennifer Cross of Santa Cruz, CA, and Kate Stark of Scotts Valley, CA.
More than 100 residents turned out for Wednesday night’s community meeting on the Rumsey Renovation plans which was held in the North Hall of Eastern Market.
City Scales Back Rumsey Aquatic Center Plan
by Larry Janezich
Posted March 13, 2025
Thursday night, DPR and DGS presented design options for renovation of the Rumsey Aquatic Center which were substantially different from the more ambitious plans of CM Charles Allen, who secured additional funding for the project based on those plans.
The boost in $15 million in funds for the Rumsey renovation was intended to support a new second story with community amenities like a senior center with a tech lounge, a business incubator space, and an indoor fitness center. These were in addition to the DPR’s initial budget ($20 million) to expand and renovate the swimming pool which would occupy the first floor of the new building.
That’s not what the designers brought back to the community.
Instead, developers presented to the community three slightly different proposals, all of them without a build-out on the second floor, as well as a host of reasons why the original vision could not be realized. In addition to what they characterized as a limited overall budget of $35 million, the designers cited the cost of LEED/net zero certification as a significant constraint.
Here’s Allen’s reaction:
“Two years ago, I asked DPR and DGS leaders what it would cost to build a second floor to expand services and programs while modernizing Rumsey pool. They gave me an exact number, and I found that exact money – that’s the budget we have. It’s clear from tonight’s meeting there’s not enough space on one floor to meet the needs of the community here, and I’m frustrated how quickly they’re trying to walk away from the fully funded second floor. I will work to get them back on track and believe we will find a solution to deliver the generational project everyone wants.”
ANC6B Commissioner Jerry Sroufe, in whose single member district the Rumsey Center falls, said “if you only have three options and no second story that’s a bitter pill to swallow. I didn’t think they were very responsive to the concerns raised and I don’t think that the things they said they couldn’t do because of various restrictions are true. I am sure they could do things differently if they wanted to – exceptions can be made and they didn’t make any. I didn’t like any of the options in particular. It seems they wanted one story.”
Two polls taken during the meeting to which there were 66 respondents showed a clear preference for bigger and better pool space and fewer amenities. Regarding the possible amenities squeezed into the first floor – a hot tub, a yoga studio, and a fitness studio – a 40% plurality chose “none of the above.”
Roy Philips, a neighbor and frequent user of Rumsey Pool who attended last night’s meeting, said that “the presenters didn’t provide options that capture what the community is looking for. In building options they have lots of constraints …. Due to the constraints they said all they can do is build a new structure that is roughly the size and footprint as the current building. They can make the pool about 12 feet wider to accommodate 2 more swimming lanes. There were no options to extend the building into the plaza or with a second floor…It seems like they are focused on all the impediments rather than a vision of what the community really wants.”
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 