Upcoming meetings listed at the bottom of this email.
Neighbors-
It’s spring, but I have to start with the sad news in our neighborhood this month.
Cobalt Closes
As many of you have heard or seen, Cobalt abruptly closed this month. As the media has covered (WaPo, Blade, DCist, WTOP), this is a serious hit to the community. I have been in touch with numerous former Cobalt employees, patrons, and the owner of the building. What struck me the most is how quickly people came together in support. I attended a goodbye party at Pitchers in Adams Morgan (pictured above) where they donated half the proceeds to Cobalt staff. In speaking with restaurants along 17th Street, all I spoke with offered to meet anyone from Cobalt looking for work, even if they weren’t actively hiring. Many have already found new employment, but there are still people who are struggling. I’m keeping in touch with people where I can and if you’re hiring, send me a note.
Scottish Rite Apartments
Thank you, everyone, who turned out for the neighborhood meeting on the Scottish Rite Apartments. Updated information about the building is now at their site, 173316thStNW.com. If you want to get into the details, look for the “HPRB Package” menu in the upper right. The more significant change outside of the appearance of the building is a new walkway that will be open to the public during daylight hours between S St NW and the alley, offering the ability to walk around all sides of the abutting Temple. While a lot did get answered last week, if you have any further questions please let me know and I’ll answer the best I can.
Parking Enforcement and 311
After discussions with the Edlavitch DCJCC, neighbors on Q Street, and the Department of Public Works, there is increased attention for parking violations near Q and 16th. Construction is also expected to be completed this summer, which should relieve some of the parking congestion in this area.
If you see illegally parked vehicles, use 311. While calling or Tweeting 311 requests works fine, my recommendation is to sign up for a free account on the 311 online portal. This way you can upload a photo, make sure it is properly categorized, and you can check your request history to see when cases are closed.
Neighborhood use of 311 recently helped with an abandoned car without a valid permit that had over $3,000 in citations. It had been stored on 15th St NW north of R since September 2018, and with some persistence, it was finally moved this week! If you’re not getting sufficient response after placing 311 requests, please let me know if I can help.
Ward 2 News
I have received a lot of questions about the status of our council representation in Ward 2. The bottom line for me is that I have no tolerance for the type of corruption that has been reported and I’m thankful federal subpoenas were swiftly served to investigate this broadly. We deserve answers and appropriate action to be taken quickly.
In latest developments this week, oversight of tax abatements have been taken away and placed with the Committee on Business and Economic Development, chaired by Ward 5 Council Member Kenyan McDuffie. If you are a neighbor who eyes abatements, this might be worthy of a lot of attention. Also as of recently, two 2B04 neighbors are part of a recall committee.
Vision Zero
I joined two other ANC commissioners from 2B at the Vision Zero Summit, meeting with regional transportation professionals and local District agencies on how to make our streets safer. WAMU’s Jordan Pascale has a good recap of the event. DDOT Director Jeff Marootian, in some of his public remarks, highlighted the work ANC commissioners in Dupont have done to make sure safety improvements match up with neighborhood needs. Looking forward to continued work to help improve the streets in our neighborhood.
Upcoming Meetings
- April 3: ANC 2B Zoning Preservation & Development (ZPD) Meeting (Scottish Rite Apartments slated to be on the agenda)
- April 10: ANC 2B Regular Meeting
- April 13: 20th/21st/22nd St NW Protected Bike Lane Public Meeting (hosted by DDOT)
- April 18: ANC 2B Special Meeting on the Scottish Rite Apartments
Locations and agendas for ANC meetings will be publicly noticed. Sign up in the right sidebar on the ANC 2B website to receive them directly.
As always, please keep in touch!
Aaron Landry 