Posts about Mount Vernon Square

Two public meetings later this month will guide the organization's future. "We want to hear from the community on how we can best engage them in our mission to continue to protect the history of Washington," said Julie Koczela, Chairman of HSW's Board of Trustees. The Meyer Foundation is bankrolling the creation of a strategic plan that will determine "what the community wants out of the Historical Society of Washington," according to Koczela.

Meanwhile, the Convention and Sports Authority will assume utility expenses and maintenance costs of the building and grounds while occupying the great hall, adjacent map room, basement, and upstairs office space. It will retain the ability to collect revenue from renting out the space, a popular venue for public and private events.

Koczela said an agreement with WCSA will help to stabilize the organization by ameliorating the restrictive operating and maintenance costs of the building, the old Carnegie Library at Mount Vernon Square. This summer Koczela told the Post's John Kelly, "The electric bills are $15,000 a month."

This operational transfer will allow HSW to focus exclusively on maintaining and making available its collection, growing organizational capacity, and once again becoming active in the community. HSW will maintain its space consisting of the Kiplinger Research Library, storage rooms, and office space of approximately 11,000 total square feet. Among other valuable documents, the library houses District real estate records and resident directories dating back over 125 years.

With the library director recently leaving for a position at a nearby college, HSW is searching for a replacement, but in the meantime plans are to re-open the library with a collection of dedicated volunteers and part-time staff.

With the District's living history evolving every day, its past often framing conversations about what is or is not authentic, those concerned with our city's future would do well to get involved with sustaining one of our city's most valuable institutions.

In the above map, thick yellow lines represent current ward boundaries. Medium burgundy lines represent tract boundaries. Wards are colored red (1), green (2), purple (5), and blue (6). Areas moved are dark blue (from 2 to 6), dark green (from 6 to 2), and dark purple (from 6 to 5).

To address population changes since the 2000 Census, wards 7 and 8 both had to grow and 2 had to shrink. The most logical change to Ward 8 reunited the Fairlawn neighborhood, and the committee chose that. To grow Ward 7, they made the widely-anticipated yet very unpopular choice to move much of Hill East from Ward 6 to 7. Residents of that area fought against the idea hard, and are expected to continue doing so at a hearing tomorrow.

The bigger surprise came in the boundary between Ward 2 and 6. To make Ward 2 smaller, moving Mount Vernon Square and/or Shaw to Ward 6 was the most logical change. But the committee also made substantial other changes, moving big chunks of the Penn Quarter and Judiciary Square areas from Ward 6 to Ward 2 and the southwest federal buildings from 2 to 6.

This is particularly odd since most of the changes directly contradict principles in the committee report. The report rejects the option of moving Carver-Langston from Ward 5 to 7 because it "draws new neighborhoods into redistricting" and is "not as compact" as the other option.

However, the proposed change draws many new neighborhoods into redistricting and is not as compact. Had the committee only moved the tracts east of 7th Street to Ward 6 and left downtown alone, they would have ended up with a more compact map. Likewise, they could have moved the western Shaw tract and just the Penn Quarter area west of 5th Street and again ended up with a more compact map that affected fewer neighborhoods.

The committee report pats itself on the back for several changes that reunite some split Census tracts. Moving the southwest federal buildings to Ward 6 does make sense, since those are in the same Census tracts as the neighboring parts of Southwest Waterfront and are in ANC 6D. Likewise, the plan moves the small piece of Ward 6's "chimney" northeast of New York and New Jersey Avenues to Ward 5. That also reunifies a Census tract and makes geographic sense.

Why do Census tracts matter? For one, the law requires redistricting to try to keep Census tracts together. The current committee seems to have ignored that dictate. Also, a great deal of data is reported on the Census tract level. When government agencies compute statistics for wards, they save time and money if ward boundaries primarily conform to tracts.

Yet the plan leaves 3 blocks from 9th to 11th between P and O in Ward 2 while moving the rest of tract 49.01 to Ward 6. It moves 2 other blocks from 7th to 9th between N and O into Ward 6 despite not moving any more of tract 49.02. And it grabs an arbitrary-seeming half of tract 59, around Judiciary Square, excluding the small triangle between 5th, H, and Massachusetts.

Jack Evans represents Ward 2, and was the only ward-specific member on the 3-person committee. He always has coveted having downtown in his ward, because of the many businesses in the area. Representing the region gives him fundraising power and some authority over more of the city's activity out of proportion to his ward's size.

Evans even admitted much of this at the markup on Thursday. The boundaries move most of ANC 2C and the Mt. Vernon Square Neighborhood Association (MVSNA) to Ward 6, but circumnavigate the Convention Center. Jack Evans said at the markup, "Nobody has done more for the Convention Center than me."

Convention Center Community Association head Martin Moulton posted this picture, advocating for the Convention Center to be kept with the Shaw neighborhood as it moves to Ward 6:

It seems that the other two members of the committee, at-large councilmembers Michael Brown and Phil Mendelson, simply let Evans draw his own lines. Evans even introduced two amendments during the markup the day after the map was released. Brown and Mendelson simply let them through without discussion or debate, even though one of the amendments as Evans explained it on the dais mistakenly moved part of Ward 1 into Ward 6. Mendelson is usually the most attentive to detail, but that day, he seemed to be napping.

On committees I serve on, such as the WMATA Riders' Advisory Council, many members are extremely careful to avoid doing anything that benefits one member in any way. Members have even been reluctant to do things that might benefit this blog, even though I get no remuneration from the blog and its goals are aligned with those of the RAC. There's just a strong aversion to even allowing an appearance of a conflict.

Having a ward member on the redistricting committee is already a dicey proposition. Members justified it because Evans is the longest-serving member of the Council and has participated in two redistrictings. But it should have been obvious to Brown and Mendelson that they must avoid an appearance, let alone the reality, of letting Evans manipulate the decisions for his own gain.

They should have identified some objective criteria for choosing the 2/6 boundary, whether that's keeping Census tracts whole, or neighborhood associations whole, or changing the fewest blocks, or maximizing the happiness of residents using the metrics in our own Redistricting Game analysis (which they used in the report to justify some changes while making other changes directly contrary to the data).

They should have kept Evans out of that part of it, and decided on the Ward 2 boundaries without giving him an extra voice. Instead, they apparently outsourced all decisions about the 2/6 boundary to Evans himself, oblivious or uncaring about the clear conflict of interest.

On the north side, OP wants to rethink the south entrance to the Convention Center. The building is massive and has the potential to host more permanent attractions like a "mini-Smithsonian" or something similar. To enliven the south façade more, planners envision the construction of small cafes or retail spaces at the southwest and southeast corners of the building.

Much as the old Convention Center site now hosts temporary events, 8th Street from the Portrait Gallery/Museum of American Art to the square could likewise become programmed into an active public space. The study team said that the owner of the adjacent Techworld Plaza is amenable to accommodating more events.

The section between the square and I Street is already closed to car traffic and forms a suitable space for outdoor seating and kiosks, though it just ends up as a large, vacant space most of the time.

DDOT will ultimately decide the traffic flow configuration, but the planners recommend a counterclockwise loop, much like the configurations at Stanton Park and Lincoln Park in Capitol Hill. The loop configuration will allow expanding the interior sidewalks of the square and would eliminate the terribly congested two-way stretch of 7th Street on the east side of the square.

The loop configuration will also accommodate extending the H Street streetcar line onto K Street from NoMA to Washington Circle. Streetcar stops along the edge of the inner square will enliven and activate the space throughout the day. If the streetcar uses "grass tracks" around the square as proposed by this video, the streetcar lane would also visually expand the park.

Under the recommended option, 7th Street south of the square would become one-way northbound, to match 9th Street which is one-way southbound. However, one-way streets have drawbacks. They tend to serve more as through highways than serving the local area, and downtown, especially on 7th Street, there is plenty of local activity. One-way streets force drivers to circle more to reach a destination, and reduce connectivity.

This study doesn't look at 7th and 9th farther south, but if such a plan were coupled with widening the sidewalks on crowded 7th Street, adding cycle tracks to 7th and 9th, and perhaps building bus lanes that aren't susceptible to the rampant violation the current ones experience, that could be beneficial; if it simply makes 7th into 3 or 4 lanes in the same direction and it becomes a high-speed northbound artery, it wouldn't be.

The other options the planners examined include making both 7th and 9th two-way, including through the square, while only turning the east-west roads into one-way roads, or making all roads two-way.

Finally, no lively public spaces project can work without permanent management. OP recommends something on the order of a business improvement district (BID) or a smaller management entity to clean and plant the square and adjacent triangle parks. This entity would also facilitate events on the square and manage leasing the Carnegie Library to a potential co-tenant of the Historical Society, which currently occupies the entire building.

To simplify jurisdictional issues, they suggest transferring the park and adjacent small spaces, like the "bow-tie" parks, to the District. Current NPS rules make it more difficult to enliven spaces, like their concession procedures which would greatly slow if not prohibit the proposed food pavilions.

OP will release its full draft recommendations next week, but you can view the 10 priority projects (PDF) now. What would you like to see at Mount Vernon Square?

ANC 2B09 covers the southwest corner of 14th and U, and Commissioner Ramon Estrada has formed one-third of the triumvirate exerting the most pressure against new restaurants and bars in the neighborhood. We support Sunit Talapatra, who is challenging Estrada.

Estrada opposed any increase in the ARTS Overlay's limitation of 25% restaurants and bars, and has had a hand in many a liquor license protest. He also has gotten himself into hot water on a few occasions with his flair for creatively interpreting the votes of his ANC. When he was chair of ANC 2B in 2008, he sent a few letters to zoning boards that other commissioners felt took a few liberties with the wording of the resolution they had passed.

Talapatra would represent the district in a more inclusive and collaborative way. He's not in favor of unlimited restaurants and bars by any means, emphasizing his desire to maintain peace, order and quiet, but he also recognizes that 14th and U is a growing neighborhood and that successful businesses, as opposed to vacant storefronts, is best for residents. He walks to and from his office at the Georgetown waterfront most days.

To the south, three of the four seats in Shaw's ANC 2C have contests. 2C has been split for many years between two clear factions. One, which dominated the ANC for many years, is led by former ANC chair Leroy Thorpe, who many charge ran the commission in an opaque way that excluded most residents and catered to the interests of very few.

In 2006, Kevin Chapple beat Thorpe in 2C02 on promises of greater transparency and inclusiveness, but he and ally Alex Padro only had half the votes on the ANC, leading to constant deadlocks. Thorpe has tried to reclaim his seat each year, and this is no exception, using alleged dirty tricks during this campaign and in the past.

The 2008 election unseated another Thorpe ally, 2C04's Barbara Curtis, and there was hope for a new day in ANC 2C. Unfortunately, for reasons that remain mysterious, the new Commissioner Theresa Sule allied herself with remaining old guard member Doris Brooks (scroll down), keeping Brooks as chair and again deadlocking the ANC.

Sule promised new leadership, a Web site, and conversations with the neighborhood, but has not followed through. Facing strong criticism from betrayed supporters, Sule has shut herself off from neighborhood events and email lists.

Rachelle Nigro is the best candidate trying to fulfill the promises Sule made two years ago. She is known as something of a stickler for rules, which this ANC sorely needs to move beyond the fast and loose days of Thorpe and Brooks. Derrick Barrett seems to be a Thorpe ally possibly running to try to split the anti-Sule vote, and Cary Shieh has not been present on the campaign trail or in neighborhood discussions.

Meanwhile, Rickey Williams is running to unseat Brooks herself in 2C03, and has been a very involved member of the Mount Vernon Square association. That district, which encompasses blocks north and south of the square including most of the Penn Quarter, has changed substantially in recent years, and it's time for more residents of the Penn Quarter to get involved in selecting the leadership of their neighborhood.

We hope ANC 2C will develop a clear 3-1 or even 4-0 majority in favor of cleaning up its act and embracing participation by the many new residents as well as longtime ones in this changing part of the city.

In between, in the oddly-shaped 2F06 district from the old convention center to Vermont Avenue northeast of Logan Circle, current commissioner Mike Benardo faces a relatively unknown challenger, Kate McMahon. Bernardo has a good record of responsiveness to constituents and is well liked, while McMahon has not submitted statements to area blogs and has little information on her Web site. We hope she will try to get involved in the neighborhood in other ways.

Note how at 1:34 it shows the streetcar approaching Farragut Square and dropping the pantograph to enter the wire-free zone, and then from another angle at 2:02. Another car then approaches from the other direction, stops at a station, and raises its pantograph back up.

At the streetcar technology meeting, officials showed this video. When asked whether the streetcar could really drop the pantograph while in motion, the technology experts said that some models do allow that. Of course, it can also just stop to drop the pantograph if that's not possible.

Mount Vernon Square would be another wire-free zone, and the designers envision a dedicated lane on the inside edge of the square. By using "grass tracks," the park could seem to extend out beyond the current edges. You can best see this in the video clip starting at 4:20.

The federal government's imperious re-appropriation of public resources is nothing new and the District government isn't innocent either. To stem the string of homicides afflicting the Trinidad neighborhood in the summer of 2008, the DC police set up checkpoints requiring anyone entering the neighborhood by car to provide a "legitimate" reason for entry. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled a year later that the checkpoints were unconstitutional.

In response to the Trinidad checkpoints, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, herself a professor of Constitutional law, told the Washington Post, "This is not Baghdad. It's the United States of America. People have the right to enter their communities without running through a police gauntlet."

Cars pass beside, in front of, and even below the United Nations headquarters in New York, yet this summit in Washington unleashes a hysteria of greater proportions, closing off streets for blocks.

Extra risk is the cost of living in a free society and public spaces, including streets, are by definition public. What makes city life unique, and in the view of many, enjoyable, is that much of it is conducted in public. City residents, because of our population densities and high rates of walking, biking and transit use, must share streets more so than suburban and rural residents, who rely more on enclosed private cars for traversing public thoroughfares.

Public spaces are not for the select few—appointed or self-appointed—to rule as their exclusive, private dominions. They rightfully belong to everybody.