May 26, 2011 · 8:18 am

CHPSPO Prevails on School Decision Despite Committee Plan to Divide Ward Six

CHPsPO Prevails on School Decision Despite Committee Plan to Divide Ward Six

by Larry Janezich

On May 24, CHPSPO Voted to oppose dividing Ward Six at 17th Street and move Elliot-Hine and Eastern High into Ward 7.  The preliminary map released on Wednesday night shows a division of Ward Six at 17th but the retention of the two schools in Ward Six.  The CHPSPO position stated below was released early Wednesday. 

Vote Against the Proposal to Divide Wards 6 and 7 at 17th Street from Benning Road to Barney Circle

As members of the Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization (CHPSPO), we are voicing our extreme concern about the D.C. Council’s consideration of the proposal to divide Wards 6 and 7 at 17th Street from Benning Road to Barney Circle which would effectively move Eliot-Hine Middle School and Eastern High School from Ward 6 to Ward 7.

We are opposed to this move because of the impact it would have on our neighborhood cohesiveness and the community’s efforts to strengthen our neighborhood public schools.

CHPSPO started over six years ago, at a time when some Capitol Hill public elementary schools were bursting at the seams and others were woefully under-enrolled. A group of active parents from each school joined together to share common concerns and great accomplishments. It quickly became clear that our shared interests far exceeded any superficial differences.

CHPSPO has established a strong record of working to support our neighborhood’s schools. The School Libraries Project, a $2.4 million public/private partnership with the DC Public Schools that renovated eight public school libraries on Capitol Hill was CHPSPO’s first success at supporting our neighborhood schools. This was followed by efforts to start 3 and 4-year-old programs at our elementary schools, and most recently a proposal to strengthen the middle schools. DCPS has said they want to replicate the community-driven process started by CHPSPO in wards across the city.

With the success of our elementary and middle schools and the renovation of Eastern, the Ward 6 public schools are becoming the schools of choice for families in Ward 6. Currently, many of the Ward 6 elementary schools feed into Eliot-Hine Middle School and then to Eastern High School. Splitting up Ward 6 would create a misalignment between the school feeder patterns and the political oversight of the schools.

Building on the academic gains Eliot-Hine has achieved, under the leadership of Principal Willie Jackson, is the cornerstone of CHPSPO’s — now DCPS’s — Ward 6 Middle Schools Plan. Our neighborhood schools have become a community. Drawing a political line at 17th Street removes Eliot-Hine and Eastern from our community at the very moment that our success at the elementary level is poised to spread into Eliot-Hine and Eastern High School.

We strongly encourage the D.C. City Council to keep the close, successful community that is Ward 6 intact and look to other less drastic solutions to realign the city’s ward structure. This proposed redistricting undermines the democratic representation we deserve and expect, and jeopardizes the progress being made to attract families back to the DC public schools.

Signed by the following on 5/24/11

Suzanne Wells, Tyler Elementary School

George Blackmon, Maury Elementary School

Elizabeth D. Festa, Maury Elementary School

Sandra Moscoso, Montessori @ Watkins/Logan

Rachel Klein, Ludlow Taylor Elementary School

Sherry Trafford, School Without Walls

Isabella Harris, Brent Elementary School

Clayton Witt, Stuart-Hobson Middle School

Barbara Riehle, Montessori @ Watkins/

Logan Heather Schoell, Maury Elementary School

Shahna Gooneratne, School Within School at Peabody

Comments Off on CHPSPO Prevails on School Decision Despite Committee Plan to Divide Ward Six

Filed under Uncategorized

May 25, 2011 · 12:49 am

Scenes From The Rally To Save Ward Six

Councilmember Tommy Wells Addresses Crowd at Eastern High

To view photos, please visit our Facebook Page by clicking on the link, lower right.

3 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as

May 22, 2011 · 12:28 am

ANC6B09 Commissioner Flahaven Calls for Rally To Save Ward 6

ANC6B09 Commissioner Flahaven Calls for Rally To Save Ward 6

The following announcement was released Saturday by Flahaven.

For many years, our Capitol Hill community has united in an effort to grow, and has succeeded — developing from a few blocks in the shadow of the Capitol into a vibrant, productive neighborhood. Today, the Hill not only encompasses the foundations of our nation’s history, but also includes Eastern Market, many bustling restaurants and businesses, successful schools, and beautiful parks… stretching all the way to the Hill East Waterfront. Now, the DC Council’s redistricting plan is threatening to erase all of this hard work — by moving a significant portion of Hill East and its Waterfront into Ward 7.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SAVE WARD 6?

Join your friends and neighbors for the Rally to Keep Capitol Hill Together Tuesday, May 24, 2011. 5:45 p.m. — meet at Lincoln Park (plaza at 13th & East Capitol Sts. SE). Be ready to march to the Rally for Ward 6!

Contact DC Councilmembers on the Redistricting Subcommittee by Wed, May 25, 2011. Call or email the Councilmembers below to let them know your concerns:

• The schools, businesses, and community organizations on the Hill are tied together. Ward 7’s distinct neighborhoods have different priorities and interests.

• After all the work we have poured into improving schools (like Eastern High School), they will fall into the hands of a Councilmember who will struggle to represent them from across the river.

• Don’t let us become a community divided. If “contiguous” and “compact” are keywords to redistricting, Capitol Hill and Hill East fit the bill — keeping neighborhoods like ours intact should be a key part of the process.

Michael Brown (I-At-Large), Co-Chair Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Co-Chair.  Phone: 202-724-8105 Phone: 202-724-8058 Email: mbrown@dccouncil.us Email: jackevans@dccouncil.us

Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) Phone: 202-724-8064 Email: pmendelson@dccouncil.us

If you have questions, contact Brian Flahaven, ANC 6B09 Commissioner, at brianf6b09@anc6b.org or 202-658-9447.

To learn more about the redistricting issue, visit DC Council’s redistricting website for additional information on the process: http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/redistricting2011info. Keep Hill East united with the rest of Capitol Hill in Ward 6

6 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as

May 18, 2011 · 7:00 am

CHRS Board Moves to Help Establish New Historic Districts in Hill East – Will Consider Spending $25,000 to Complete “Beyond the Boundaries” Project

CHRS Board Moves to Help Establish New Historic Districts in Hill East

Will Consider Spending $25,000 to Complete “Beyond the Boundaries” Project

by Larry Janezich

At Tuesday night’s Capitol Hill Restoration Society (CHRS) Board meeting, the body agreed to a motion to consider adding to its 2011 budget, an amount up to $25,000 for a contextual study of the area south of H Street, NE, and east of 13th Street, down to the Anacostia River.  This is the Hill East area lying outside of the Capitol Hill Historic District.  The motion passed unanimously, by voice vote, with one board member, realtor Chuck Burger, abstaining.

This “context statement” would be the last step necessary to complete the CHRS “Beyond the Boundaries” project.  Volunteers have completed a survey of the area, compiling a huge amount of information including pictures and descriptions of every building in over 100 squares (square blocks).  EHT Traceries, the architectural history firm, was contracted to add archival information to the survey results and create a database of the information.

The process going forward involves hiring an architectural historian from a list maintained by the Historical Preservation Office, (Traceries?) who will pull together the cultural, demographic, religious, etc., data and write a “context statement” documenting how this neighborhood – or neighborhoods within the area – came about.  The estimated cost to produce the context statement is $20,000.

Once this is complete, any organization such as an ANC or a civic organization within the area which desires to set up a historic district can come to the CHRS and have, as Chair Beth Purcell put it, “a historic district in a box.”

Nomination for historic district status requires submitting extensive documentation to the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB).  CHRS will have the information needed, and while it will all be “in a box,” it will have to be reassembled in the form required for consideration by the HPRB.

The effect of agreeing to the motion will be to bring the proposed $25,000 expenditure before the board when it formulates its budget for 2011 in July.  The board will have to vote again on whether to recommend the expenditure to the full CHRS membership for approval at the September CHRS membership meeting.  The 2011fiscal year will begin October 1, 2010.

Earlier this year, Traceries recommended that an area in near-Northeast adjacent to the H Street commercial corridor, roughly between 2nd and 15th Streets, and from H to F Streets, NE, become part of the Capitol Hill Historic District.  (See 2/16/2011 posting below).  It seemed to be the consensus of the CHRS board on Tuesday night that it does not expect neighborhoods in the “Beyond the Boundaries” area to join the Capitol Hill Historic District, but rather, to form their own historic districts.  A majority of those within a neighborhood must support historic status for that area.  In 2010, the Barney Circle neighborhood seemed well on its way to becoming a historic district.  This became a campaign issue in ANC6B09, and when an ANC candidate who opposed historic district status for Barney Circle was elected by a large margin last November, the historic district nomination was put on indefinite hold by the HPRB.

13 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

May 16, 2011 · 11:45 pm

City Council’s Redistricting Committee to Vote on New Plan May 26 – Plan “Probably” To Be Made Public May 25

Redisticting Committee Members Phil Mendelson and Jack Evans Meet with Near SE/Navy Yard Residents Monday NightNear SE/Navy Yard Residents Meet with Councilmembers on Redistricting

ANC6B09 Commissioner Brain Flahaven (rear) at Monday night's meeting

City Council’s Redistricting Committee to Vote on New Plan May 26

Plan “Probably” To Be Made Public May 25

by Larry Janezich

Councilmember and Redistricting Committee member Phil Mendelson announced the schedule for consideration and voting on the new DC redistricting plan to about 80 residents of Ward Six Monday night.

The Redistricting Committee will meet on Thursday May 26.  Mendelson said, “at that point, there will be a plan the Committee can adopt.   Asked when the plan would be available to the public, Mendelson said, “probably on the evening of May 25.”  The three-member committee will vote to approve the plan.  That vote will be followed by a public hearing on Thursday, June 2, where public input will be solicited.  That testimony will be taken into consideration on Tuesday, June 7, when the City Council’s Committee on the Whole will vote on the proposal.  The City Council’s final vote on the plan will likely come on June 21, but could possibly come during the Council’s July session on July 14,

The Redistricting Committee is comprised of Councilmembers Michael Brown, Jack Evans and Phil Mendelson.  Mendelson, for the most part, repeated remarks he has made before in other Ward Six redistricting meetings.  He reiterated that the change is a change in political boundaries, with minimum effect on parking, no effect on school or historic districts, and no likely effect on city services.  Despite the crowd’s adamant opposition to changes in Ward Six, Mendelson stated, that “east of the river has to be moved to west of the river,” that is, part of Ward 6 has to become part of Ward 8.  The options are Rosedale, Near Southeast/Navy Yard, or Southwest.    Both Councilmembers emphasized that they are still mulling the options and they are not inclined toward any of them at this point.

Councilmember Jack Evans, also attending the meeting, explained that once the Ward map is redrawn, each councilmember sets up a Ward District Committee to get people in the ward together to redraw ANC single member districts.  The districts will be based on the 2010 census figures and contain about 2,000 voters each.  The wards will report back to the Redistricting Committee by October, and a final vote on ANC redistricting will occur by the end of the year.

Tonight’s meeting was held the Capper Seniors Building, south of Southeast Freeway.  Councilmember Michael Brown, co-chair of the DC Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting, will attend another meeting on redistricting in Hill East, Wednesday, May 18, at 6:00pm.  The meeting will take place on the DC General/Reservation 13 site at Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), Karrick Hall (Building 17), 1900 Massachusetts Avenue, SE.  Karrick Hall is the tall building. The closest Metro station is Stadium-Armory; use the south exit between C Street, SE and Burke Street, SE.  This meeting came about as the results of the efforts of ANC Commissioner Brian Flahaven and a group of Hill East Residents who visited Councilmembers last week to oppose moving any part of Hill East out of Ward Six.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as

May 15, 2011 · 8:27 pm

The Week Ahead

Tuesday, May 17. 

Capitol Hill Restoration Society Board of Directors Meeting.  Capitol Hill Townhomes, 750 6th Street, SE, second floor.  6:30pm

Watch for emmcablog report on Wednesday morning.

Comments Off on The Week Ahead

Filed under Uncategorized

May 15, 2011 · 3:47 pm

Scenes from Sunday’s Literary Hill Bookfest – Eastern Market

Mid-day crowd of browsers fill the North Hall

More of the scene

Capitol Hill author Louis Bayard signs a copy of The School of Night

Bonny Wolf, author of Talking With My Mouth Full

Spike Mendelsohn, Capitol Hill chef and author

Diana McLellan, author of The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood

Diana McLellan addresses Literary Hill Bookfest audience on her recent work - at right, Maggie Hall, Bookfest organizer

Inspired? Join Capitol Hill Writers Group. Send your name, genre, writing background, and what you hope to get out of the group to: writeonthehill@yahoo.com

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

May 13, 2011 · 11:45 am

The Fact of the Matter Is This – More ANC6B News

Commissioners Confer Before Meeting (L-R) Commissioner Campbell, ANC6B Chair Neil Glick, Commissioner Flahaven, Commissioner Green. Foreground: Commissioner Frischberg. Rear: Commissioner Garrison

More ANC6B News

by Larry Janezich

ANC6B Commission Grants Liquor License to DC-3

Patrons who have been grumbling that they need a beer to wash down the premium hot dogs served at DC-3 on Barracks Row will only have to wait a week or two for relief.  ANC6b voted to support DC-3’s application for a license to sell wine and beer by a vote of 8 – 0 with Chairman Neil Glick abstaining.  DC-3 will only serve beer, though the license allows wine.

Fusion Grill To Expand Outdoor Café Into Shakespeare Theater Space

ANC6B approved the addition of 12 tables to Fusion Grill’s outdoor café.  The tables will be located in the space in front of the Shakespeare Rehearsal Theater, adjacent to the restaurant.

Antennas on Hanes Building at 8th and Pennsylvania Avenue

The Commission requested HPRB to delay consideration of Verizon’s application for installation of 15 telecommunication antennas on the building until June because HPO failed to notify the Commission of the request in time for them to act on it.

Special Call Meeting Likely on New Eastern Market Governing Authority

ANC6b will likely sponsor a special call meeting with Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC) to deal with legislation to create a new governing authority for Eastern Market.  Councilmember Tommy Well’s office hoped the new legislation would be available by the end of April, but it appears to be behind schedule.

ANC6B  to Move Offices to Hill Center

The Commission hopes to move its offices into The Hill Center in early July.  ANC Chair Neil Glick has toured the new facility and surveyed the available office space.  The management of the new facility expects to take delivery of the building from the contractor by June 23.

ANC6B Transportation Committee Gets Geared Up

Chair Oldenburg of the new Transportation announced that Commissioner Garrison has agreed to be Vice Chair of the Committee.  The first meeting will be at the Southeast Library on May 31 at a time to be announced.  The second meeting of the committee has been scheduled for June 16, also at the Library.  Oldenburg said that the agenda for the May 31 meeting will be available by May 24.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as ,

May 11, 2011 · 12:10 am

National Community Church to Open Movie Theater on Barracks Row – The Peoples’ Church Sold

Lead Pastor Mark Batterson of National Community Church Tells ANC6B Commissioners of Theater Coming to Barracks Row

National Community Church to Open Movie Theater on Barracks Row – The Peoples’ Chuch Sold

by Larry Janezich

Lead Pastor Mark Batterson of National Community Church (NCC) announced to ANC6B Commissioners Tuesday night, that the NCC had purchased The People’s Church at 535 8th  Street, SE, and will take possession on June 1.

In the spirit of being a good neighbor and adding something to Barracks Row, Batterson said NCC will turn the space back into the theater it once was from 1910 until 1960.  The Church has seven other locations in the DC area; church members meet in theaters in six of them.  Services will be held Sundays, but at other times it will be an entertainment venue.

Upon taking possession, the Church will begin transforming the property immediately.  Batterson noted that the first movie was screened there on October 10, 1910 – and that “if we get to that point, it would be fun to show a film on the same date” more than 101 years later.  The façade and interior will be renovated to reflect the theatrical theme and, he said, the NCC is “committed to doing it right.”

The intent is to build it out to be a live performance space with lights, sound, and acoustics that can accommodate other types of entertainment.  There will be concessions to contribute to the theater atmosphere, though the concession area might have to be in the basement since it is not possible to increase the size of the lobby.

The genres of film the theater might screen include family, classic, and first run films.  Batterson is actively soliciting suggestions from the community and asks that any ideas be emailed to him at mark@theaterchurch.com

The purchase price for The Peoples’ Church was $3 million.  Batterson said they were willing to pay top dollar because it would help The Peoples’ Church move to Maryland where the majority of their congregation is. Most of the National Community Church congregation lives on Capitol Hill.  According to Wikipedia, NCC is focused on reaching emerging generations – about 70% of NCCers are single adults in their twenties.

Asked by Commissioner Brian Pate if this purchase would affect NCC’s plans south of the freeway, Batterson said it would – “We didn’t see this coming.”  NCC has purchased three parcels of land below the freeway, including the Miles Glass Company property.  The plan was to build the theater there and anchor the area with an Ebenezer’s Coffee House on 8th Street.  He said that a day care center and retail had also been planned.  Now, “we’re in a spin cycle” and have to rethink what to do there.

According to Wikipedia, NCC was recognized as one of the Most Innovative and Most Influential Churches in America by Outreach Magazine in 2008.  Batterson and the NCC staff are known for their use of new media – since 2005, sermons have been available via podcast.

8 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as ,

May 9, 2011 · 10:37 am

The Fact of the Matter Is …

The Fact of the Matter Is …

by Larry Janezich

Telecom Antennas for Hanes Building?

CHRS is reviewing the historical preservation application from a major telecommunications company to install 15 telecommunications antennas and a backup generator on the roof of the Hanes Building at 801 Pennsylvania Avenue.  The request will subsequently go to ANC6b Planning and Zoning Committee.

Eastern Market Metro Info Hub and Landscaping Update

The process for completing the final drawings for the Info Hub project for Eastern Market Metro Plaza has begun.  Additional features for landscaping being discussed include a rain garden watered by runoff from the Info Hub roof, installation of a number of half benches, consolidation of the news vending machines under a shelter, and possibly a new and expanded shelter for personal bikes storage.  Certain areas are being targeted for replanting with appropriate decorative plantings in demarcated beds.  The goal will be to make the Plaza a welcoming gate to the community for those arriving at Eastern Market Metro.

The Info Hub itself might include an ATM machine and interactive electronic information outlets allowing users to ask questions, call police, or hail a cab.

Part of the annual maintenance costs of approximately $15,000 a year may come from the sale of tee shirts and coffee mugs at the Info Hub.

In conjunction with the landscaping DDOT is considering expanding the bike share program with a larger bike rack and possible relocation to the east side of 8th Street.   DDOT is holding a public meeting to solicit input on expansion of the bikeshare program.

Date:  Wednesday, May 25, 6-8pm

441 4th Street, NW, Room 1107

More information is available here:  ddot.dc.gov/capitalbikeshare

Top Chef Tour Coming to Eastern Market

An event designed to promote Eastern Market will feature a competition between contestants from Bravo TV’s Top Chef Tour.  The date has been set for Saturday, May 28, according the the show’s website.  More information can be found at:  http://www.bravotv.com/thetour

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized