Meeting Minutes – July 25, 2017

Tuesday, July 25, 2017 at 7 pm

Click here to download the July 2017 meeting minutes

Meeting was moved to the Elks Lodge (1844 3^rd Street NW) and began at 7:27 pm

Attendees wrote names down on paper for raffle to win Nats tickets.

Safety Report

Metropolitan Police Department

• Crime stats: robbery w/ guns is down compared to last year.
• We are down in all categories.
• Q: Do people who park poorly receive tickets? A: Not from MPD
• Q: Are you nurturing other police to have positive spirits and do good work? A: Yes
• An officer joins the community on safety walks.

Schedule Reminder:

1^st Tuesday: HH (Shaw’s Tavern)

3^rd Tuesday: Safety Walk

4^th Tuesday: LPCA Meeting

Community Updates from ANC

Anita Norman, ANC Commissioner, 1B01

• ANC Website: anc1b.org
• Committees: Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Committee, Economic Development Committee, Public Safety & Community Engagement Committee, Transportation Review Committee, and Zoning, Preservation & Development Committee
• Meetings are held the 1^st Thursday of the month. 6:30pm is informational session and regular meeting begins at 7pm at Thurgood Marshall Center
• V street: July 10^th project started; granite curb cuts, brick gutters are going on now; project will take 6 months, then they will resurface and repave that area
• Will 4^th street be repaved? Not on the agenda right now.
• The Park at LeDroit is waiting playground equipment and parts for things that are broken. No timeframe.
• Anita met with DDOT Deputy Director who came 2 months ago to civic association meeting with transportation packet. DDOT doesn’t want the ANC to make recommendations – they want it to come from residents, community members. If you have any suggestions to make things better write DDOT and then email Anita who can follow up with DDOT.
• Meeting with Councilwoman Nadeau: DDOT is looking at moving the bus stop across Georgia ave. The TCO (traffic control officers) are a bit loud according to neighbors, especially early in the morning.
• 6^th & Florida: there are signs that say stop here, do not block the box. The tree is blocking signs when it blooms. DDOT has been asked to prune the trees.
• Community member: Maybe we can get rid of the TCO’s?
  • Mayor’s office liaison comment: The issue with the intersection is the geographical shape. In order to alleviate it, they would have to change the geographical shape of the intersection. Residents did not want that so now we have TCO’s and we have them there, which have been helpful. They are there rush hour time, 7-9am.
• Anita talked w/ Howard University’s Maybelle Bennett about Terrell house. Howard did a walk through. A scope of work is under development. Contractor has been identified. They don’t have a use yet of the property. There is no info about the Walter Washington house.
• DDOT: Deputy Director asked for a resolution re: residential parking. Anita wrote one and presented to the transportation committee and now it goes to full commission. Usually whatever the committee recommends, the full commission votes and accepts it. Once it’s approved, all streets in LeDroit Park will have residential parking Mon-Sun, 7am-midnight. Also asked them to enforce parking.
• 625 T Street NW: T Street Cornerstone LLC have been given a 5 year lease to develop the area, with no permanent construction. They plan to have movie nights, film festival, fashion show, etc. They will have classes for seniors, for kids, live entertainment, food & beverage (they will get appropriate license for any alcohol). Community did not want it to be a parking lot. Mr. Hart is behind the project and owns the adjacent property at 631 T Street.
  • August 4 – they will have movie night to celebrate Obama’s bday. 8-10pm
• Howard Theater has a Howard Theater Restoration board. Former commissioner Myla Moss was placed on the board previously. Moss stopped living in the community and stopped representing us. Currently the community does not have a representative on the Howard Theater board. Myla Moss is now the chair of Howard Theatre Restoration board, which is comprised of her and two other people. Moss is tasked with getting a new board of 9 members. One member will be from ANC 1B. The person from 1B does not have to be from Ledroit Park or ANC1B01 – they can be anyone from 1B because the ANC votes as a full commission and weigh in on stuff from across 1B. Anita is working with Moss to identify who that person will be. By September 30, this person (if it’s not Anita) it will be someone else as the representative. Usually to be on a board you have to pay and agree to raise a certain amount of money.
  • What is your sense of how frequently the community will receive updates from the community representative? A: I’m not sure what the updates will look like. Depends on where in 1B the person resides. If they’re in 1B01 then updates would come through the civic association. Doesn’t know anything about how frequently updates will occur.
• Q: Was there any discussion about Kelly Miller?
  • A: There has not been but you can raise concerns.

Update on Alley Recognition

Ethan Arnheim

Alley bounded by Florida, T, 4th, and 5th Streets NW

• Ethan lives on 1800 block of 4^th; lived there for 6 years
• The alley enters between 1808 and 1810 on 4^th and 1837 and 1839 on 5^th. Residents back there can’t get mail because the alley isn’t recognized.
• Often stolen goods have been reported and it is difficult to get a response from police because the address doesn’t show up on maps
• Wants to officially designate the alley so it will show up on maps.
• Neighbors must sign petition stating we want this to happen. At this time Ethan has more than 50% of signatures required, he wants to make sure that we all knew about it and get additional signatures.
• The proposed name is: Ernest Everett Just Court. He was a Howard University professor and an important developmental biologist who founded the first black fraternity at a HBCU.
• Q: What is the adverse impacts of changing the alley into street? What other community consultation have you had?
  • A: Ethan has been looking for downsides, and hasn’t found any. Some residents have had to think about it and they couldn’t identify any downsides either. The city will pay for the signage and there is no cost to residents. One resident didn’t sign because they didn’t like the name.
  • Howard owns one of the properties. Ethan talked with Maybelle Bennet and Ethan presented to the transportation committee of the ANC.
• Q: Will the creation of the affect property tax in that area?
  • The act of creating the alley, doesn’t change any parcels. It could allow residents to subdivide their parcels because the units would then have an address and street access. But the process of subdividing does not automatically happen and frequently requires a special exception or a variance at a minimum.
• Q: Are those properties owned by people with the front address? Would that change?
  • A: Yes those properties are owned by addresses that front on the main streets. Nothing will change about their ownership.
• Alley w/ zipcar parking near the park concerns: Anita talked to DDOT about this. They decided not do anything for now. Maybe lease that lot to the Howard when they redo Slowe hall. They will look at the car in that lot that don’t belong there and try to get those car out of there.

Committee Reports

• Finance: we had a successful fundraiser at BKK Cookshop in June. We made $90. So total is $3780 right now.
• Block Party: August 26 this year. Permit has been submitted. WE are still looking for volunteers. There’s a sign up sheet here at the meeting. 400 block of T Street from 1pm-5pm.

Community Announcements

• Save the Date: Aug 26th – Block Party
• Q: What is the process getting community letter of support sent to housing so they can take seriously re: Kelly Miller structural concerns that affect living conditions, security of the building, health concerns, handicap issues, etc. A: Anyone can bring a letter up for a vote. Anita says she will work with her. Civic Association can help with drafting a letter. We can circulate draft letter by email first and then can bring to meeting to vote.
  • We should put in the effort to have more empathy and compassion for people who are having emergency housing issues (re: Kelly Miller housing)… Anita is working on and it will be taken care of it.
  • General letter of understanding or online petition. “We as a LPCA hereby agree that changes should be sought at the KM housing complex in an expeditious matter.“ We decided a letter is not what’s needed now bc we have Anita representing the community.
  • The ANC will address her issue, and ANC can work with the agency responsible and work with the Mayor’s office.
  • Cindy Paladines makes a motion that we as a CA community support our ANC Anita Norman’s efforts in resolving the immediate concerns at the Kelly Miller housing units.
    • Motion was seconded. Passed unanimously.
• Shika: presents initiative on speeding ticket reform. Those tickets are $150. She has a letter of recommendation in support to reform the ticket system. Shika wants to email it to the board. Georgia Ave. Task Force has signed on.
• Mayor’s office: grass is greener program. Older residents can get their lawn cut for free.
• Fiscal year for CA started June 1, if you haven’t paid your dues, Cindy will take your dues or you can pay online.
• Q: park on NE of 5^th and T – is that Howard owned? The fence has separated from the wall. A: Yes. Send Anita email and she will raise that concern.

Finally the raffle was held and meeting adjourned at 8:36pm.

This memorandum represents our understanding of the events that transpired and the actions that were taken. If they do not conform to a recipient’s understand, prompt written notice must be communicated to the writer. If no corrections or objections are made, this memorandum will be relied upon as a factual interpretation of this meeting.

Submitted on Monday, July 31, 2017 by Jeehye Pak.