October 25, 2015

Notes from ANC 4D's October meeting

October 25, 2015/ Drew

ANC 4D’s October meeting was interesting for a number of reasons, least of which, but still important, was how calm it was in comparison to 4C. The two most interesting things that happened that night? 1) The commission delayed a vote on a variance to allow the audience time to review a developer’s plans and then asked for public feedback prior to the vote. And 2) the developer clearly heard the public concerns about parking, and came back with a way to increase available parking.

Read the full notes, after the break...

October 19, 2015

ANC 4D draft agenda for October 20th

October 19, 2015/ Drew

Not sure how I missed this in my email, but I overlooked posting the draft agenda for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 4D. Their October meeting is Tuesday, October 20 at 7pm at Truesdell Education Campus, 800 Ingraham St. NW

See the draft agenda, after the break:

October 19, 2015

Park View follow-up on parking issue at 3701 New Hampshire

October 19, 2015/ Drew

ANC 1A Chair and Park View blogger Kent Boese wrote a follow-up article about the parking issues around 3701 New Hampshire Avenue. I think it's a good explanation of the current parking situation. Kent walked around the area looking at where people are parking and what options were available.

The article is a good in-depth look at the issue. Ultimately, residents along 7th, Quincy, Rock Creek Church and other nearby streets will feel the stress from any new development, be it a restaurant or an apartment building.

Read more >

October 18, 2015

Thoughts on ANC 4C issues; facts & opinions

October 18, 2015/ Drew

I've heard from many readers about the events from the October 14th ANC 4C meeting, detailed in the article "This is what dysfunction looks like: Notes from ANC 4C October meeting." The article has been read by more than 2,000 people so far, and there are over 20 comments on the Petworth News Facebook page, and a few here on the blog article. (I always get more comments on FB than on the blog.)

The level of concern among residents is pretty high. People are concerned about belligerence, about arrogance, and about a lack of attention to the issues residents care about. There's confusion as to why there was so much anger at the meeting, and what it means for the effectiveness of the commission.

I thought I'd take some time to go over what happened and why (as best as I can tell), and give the commissioners a chance to weigh in, officially and off the record.

Read more about the events >

October 16, 2015

This is what dysfunction looks like: Notes from ANC 4C October meeting

October 16, 2015/ Drew

When I attend an ANC meeting and write up my notes, I try to be objective and capture what I can from the night. As this is my blog, I might throw some opinion in here or there, add a useful link or two and offer photos of those who spoke so readers can get a clearer idea of the meeting. After all, if you live in the ANC, you should care about what happens.

I’ve been watching ANC 4C slowly deteriorate over the past 10 months under the chairmanship of Vann-Di Galloway. Wednesday night was just a culmination of all the problems hitting at once.

Read the notes. They're long but there's a lot to say...

October 07, 2015

Draft agenda for ANC 4C October meeting

October 07, 2015/ Drew

The agenda for the October meeting of ANC 4C is below. It looks like a rather short meeting, compared to previous. Of interesting note, the ANC is hoping to establish a committee of residents and commissioners to address zoning variance issues in 4C.

See full agenda after the break:

September 23, 2015

Will new lane markings in Grant Circle increase pedestrian safety? (updated)

September 23, 2015/ Drew

A DC DDOT contractor crew was out today painting the new lane markings around Grant Circle. Pedestrian safety at the Circle has been a concern for the people who live around and need to cross the traffic circle. DDOT has finally responded to resident concerns by painting new lane markings as well as using the paint to denote turn lanes and parking lanes. But will these new lines actually make people safer?

Read more and see photos after the break >

September 18, 2015

Notes from ANC 4D September meeting

September 18, 2015/ Drew

While ANC 4D met a week ago during their special meeting, there were still agenda items to take of for September. At this meeting they discussed the new senior apartments coming to Kennedy Street, the new Zoning Comprehensive Plan for downtown, CareFirst Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Castello's restaurant and a few other items. Read all the notes and see pictures, after the break:

September 15, 2015

Brainstorming on grant ideas for Petworth ANCs 4C & 4D

September 15, 2015/ Drew

In my notes from the September ANC 4C meeting, I grumbled at how much money the ANC had and how few grants have been given out this year. It got me and a neighbor, Loren Schulman, thinking about why there weren't more grants and some ways the ANC could spend some of that money on behalf of the community. So we figured we'd ask our neighbors for ideas...

Read more about the idea and get the link to the brainstorming survey, after the break:

September 11, 2015

Notes from ANC 4C September 9th meeting

September 11, 2015/ Drew

This meeting looked liked a pretty tame agenda at the outset, but had some interesting moments with community concerns around requiring notice to ANCs about public space use permits, an argument about a grant for a block party, a long back and forth about a small deck and a few other items. You can read them all, below. Grab a drink, it's a long one (and truly a joy to read).

Read more about the meeting and see pictures, after the break:

September 04, 2015

A special September meeting of ANC 4D

September 04, 2015/ Drew

ANC 4D held a special meeting on Thursday, September 3rd in order to clear out some financial business. Basically, they didn’t have a quorum at the end of the August meeting, and were required to vote on expenditures (fiscal year closes at the end of September). Since all ANC expenditures have to be voted on in public, they had to do the meeting.

Since they were meeting… they decided to use the time to talk about the community’s concerns regarding the reinstatement of the liquor license of the Trinidad and Tobago Association (known as “the Club House”) as well as introduce a new affordable senior housing coming to Kennedy Street... Read more about the meeting after the break:

September 02, 2015

Agenda for September ANC 4C meeting

September 02, 2015/ Drew

Whooboy, which blogger gets excited to post an ANC draft agenda? This guy. (Ok, that might be overstating it a tad, but still.)

Here's the agenda for the upcoming Wednesday, September 9th meeting of ANC 4C, held in the basement meeting room of the Petworth Library. Starts promptly at 6:30pm. What's nice is that the ANC is now sending out small descriptions of the agenda items... Read more after the break:

August 31, 2015

Community meeting with owners of new Upshur restaurant

August 31, 2015/ Drew

ANC 4C07 Commissioner John-Paul Hayworth held a public meeting this evening with the three owners of the new southeast Asian restaurant coming to 845 Upshur Street, Marc Dosik, Alex McCoy and Hunter Thompson. The meeting was an opportunity to get resident input on a Community Agreement between the three owners and ANC 4C. Read more about the meeting after the break:

August 30, 2015

PSA 404/407 meeting highlights

August 30, 2015/ Drew

The combined Police Service Area meeting for PSAs 404 & 407 was Thursday, August 27th. Alas, only three residents attended (including myself). The property manager, Yvette, from the apartments at 4100 Georgia Avenue attended, as did ANC 4C commissioner Galloway and PSA 404 Lieutenant Raul Figueras and 4D Commander Wilfredo Manlapaz. The new PSA manager for 407, Lieutenant Anthony Washington, was not able to attend as it was his day off.

Read the full notes after the break...

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