15 Feb 2011

ANC 6A Meeting Recap

If you were to ask me for a headline to describe February’s ANC 6A meeting, I’d call it the, “We Pretty Much Agree on Everything Except Marathons” meeting.  Aside from the inconveniences of road blockages, the commission also discussed the renaming of the Rosedale rec center, pending snow removal legislation and heard from the owner of Homeslice, preparing to open on H St.

Commission Chair David Holmes started the meeting by sharing his impression of the February 7th community meeting to discuss renaming the Rosedale Recreation Center.  There was some confusion about this meeting when another publication described the meeting, facilitated by Councilmember Tommy Wells, as an actual ceremony to rename the rec center after a former long-time employee of DC’s Department of Parks and Rec.  The meeting was, in fact, only the first public meeting to discuss the possible renaming.

Rosedale community members, including Commissioner Gladys Mack, were a bit hot under the collar because the proponents of renaming the rec center apparently started their advocacy campaign without ever talking to community leaders or representatives.  Holmes said his impression of the public meeting was that though there is definitely a shared respect for the former DPR employee, the local community is strongly attached to the Rosedale name.  Instead, a compromise has been floated to dedicate a space inside the soon-to-be-built rec center.  The Rosedale Citizens’ Alliance has background on this issue.

In other Rosedale news, it was also announced that on March 8th, from 6-8PM at the temporary Rosedale rec center in Gibbs ES on 19th St at E St, NE, the results of an architectural survey of homes and buildings throughout Rosedale will be presented.  The survey was paid for by a grant from ANC 6A and should be an interesting review of the neighborhood’s history and evolution.

The discussion of the National Marathon began with a recommendation from the transportation committee to send a letter in support of the marathon to relevant city agencies.  Two commissioners had major complaints about the marathon’s impact on 6A.  For Commissioner Holmes, who has never supported the marathon, the route crisscrosses his SMD several times, trapping and inconveniencing his constituents.  Commissioner Alberti, who has supported the race in the past, did not support it this year because he doesn’t feel like the organizers have been living up to their commitments, such as opening intersections for cars to cross and picking up what one meeting attendee described as bags and bags of discarded clothes and garbage along the route.  Ultimately, though, the commission voted 5-2 in favor of sending a letter supporting the marathon.

The commission lined back up on the same side when the discussion turned to whether to send a letter supporting the Winter Sidewalk Safety Amendment Act of 2011 — the bill that puts teeth in the District’s requirement that sidewalks be cleared of snow within 8 hours of daybreak by imposing a minimum $25 fine for individuals and $250 for businesses.  The commission voted unanimously to recommend amending the legislation by explicitly adding non-profits and churches to the “business” category and then voted unanimously to support the legislation.

The meeting wound down with a discussion of Homeslice’s interest in using public sidewalk space for its dumpsters.  Due to what sounded like some turnover in the project team, the owner wasn’t adequately prepared to address questions during the February meeting of the commission’s Transportation and Public Space Committee.  He brought drawings directly to the commission showing dumpsters on the sidewalk next to the pizza shop, an idea that was not popular.  No official action was taken, but the commission suggested that Homeslice look into using vacant land behind their building or presenting a plan for screening the dumpsters if they must be on the sidewalk.  The owner said he hopes to open by the end of March/early April.  He still has a date pending to go before DDoT’s public space authority, so the lack of action by 6A shouldn’t be a factor that impacts the planned opening date.

Sharee Lawler is commissioner representing ANC 6A05.

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