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WARD REPORTS
(Published March 20, 2006)

WARD 1 REPORT

METRO ELEVATOR REPAIRS: Beginning March 22, Metro will provide free temporary shuttle bus service from the U Street Metro Station to the Columbia Heights station for disabled persons who require use of an elevator to access the rail system. Elevator modernization at the U Street station will include replacing a majority of mechanical parts and elevator cab equipment to ensure safe, reliable operation, according to Metro officials. The work is expected to be completed in early June.

Metro riders who require use of the shuttle service will be required to call (202) 962-1825 in advance of their trip to summon the shuttle.

WARD 2 REPORT

SUPPORTING DUPONT CIRCLE: The Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets program will hold its annual Spring Fling and Silent Auction March 21 to raise funds for enhancing the neighborhood's commercial corridors. The event, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Jefferson and Washington rooms at the Washington Hilton and Towers Hotel, will include a dinner buffet, music and cash bar. Tickets cost $35 and are available by contacting Spring Fling Gala Chairman Susan Taylor at suetaylor1@juno.com or (202) 667-6404.

The neighborhood's 3-year-old Main Streets program focuses on P Street NW between Dupont Circle and Rock Creek, Connecticut Avenue between Dupont Circle and Florida Avenue, and 17th Street NW between P Street and Riggs Street.

EVANS PROMISES CASTLE HELP: Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, has pledged to secure $500,000 in taxpayer funding from the District's fiscal 2007 budget to help the historic Brewmaster's Castle remain open for public tours. The money, which would become available after Oct. 1 if approved by the council and the mayor, would provide about a third of the $1.75 million that Heurich House Foundation Chairman Mark G. Griffin says is needed by December to "reduce interest costs so the site can be fully self-supporting."

More than $100,000 was donated by nearly 2,000 persons within six weeks to help the foundation save the 19th century Victorian mansion from foreclosure and sale. The foundation expects to refinance the $5.5 million mortgage on the New Hampshire Avenue NW mansion, which was the home of German-immigrant brewer Christian Heurich.

Publicity about the castle's plight also brought anonymous donations totaling more than $100,000 for roof and structural repairs, and attracted new docents to allow expansion of tours from two days to five days a week.

WARD 3 REPORT

VAN NESS GIANT TO REOPEN: Entertainment, food sampling, prize drawings and face-painting for children will be among activities celebrating the reopening of Giant Food's expanded store in the Van Ness shopping center at 4303 Connecticut Ave. NW on March 23. The store will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The remodeling, which had closed the store for five months, almost doubles the store's size to 33,576 square feet and adds several new features -- including a self-serve coffee bar and café with seating, expanded organic and ethnic food sections and several self-service checkout lanes. Company officials said the enlarged store also will provide 100 new jobs to the community in addition to the 35 existing staff positions.

TOWER TO COME DOWN: After more than five years of legal disputes, the partially finished communications tower in Tenleytown is coming down. City officials announced March 17 that they have agreed to settle the lengthy battle with American Towers Inc., which will tear down the tower, located just east of Wisconsin Avenue at 4623 41st St. NW, and drop all further legal proceedings in exchange for a $350,000 payment from the D.C. government.

"I look forward to the dismantling of the tower, and I have instructed my staff to facilitate the permitting process so that this can proceed quickly," Mayor Anthony A. Williams said in a written statement issued by his office.

Under the terms of the agreement, executed on March 16, American Towers must apply for demolition permits within 10 business days and the city must "make reasonable efforts" to pay the company within 45 days of the demolition's completion.

An American Towers spokeswoman said company officials would not comment beyond a "joint public statement" included in the settlement agreement. The statement said the agreement "strikes a fair balance between the good faith positions of the parties and is fair and equitable to all concerned."

The agreement will put an end to cases before the District's administrative Board of Appeals and Review, D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Court of Appeals. A lawsuit brought by the company in U.S. District Court early in the dispute, which began in September 2000, was dismissed as "quintessentially local."

Construction of the tower, which was halted after neighbors complained to city officials, was an early embarrassment to the Williams administration. The mayor had touted "neighborhood action" as his administration's hallmark, but city officials admitted that they failed to give proper public notice and seek public comment before issuing permits for American Towers to proceed with its plans, originally filed with the city in March 1999. In October 2000, city officials rescinded the permits and the legal battle began. About 280 feet of the intended $5.6 million, 756-foot telecommunications tower was erected before construction was halted. The tower was intended to hold a total of 169 television and other telecommunications antennas mounted on it and a 5,800-square-foot television studio was to be built at the site.

WARD 4 REPORT

CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN BRIGHTWOOD: While the National Cherry Blossom Festival is kicking off at the Tidal Basin, the District will celebrate the festival's beginning March 25 with the planting of three flowering cherry trees on the north side of Fort Stevens Recreation Center. The tree planting by representatives of the Brightwood Neighborhood Association will take place at 2 p.m. at the center at 1327 Van Buren St. NW.

Brightwood was one of eight D.C. neighborhoods selected – one in each of the city's wards – to receive a trio of cherry trees this year in a competition sponsored by the national festival organizers in partnership with D.C. Greenworks, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and Comcast. Neighborhood groups competed on the basis of their commitment to care for the trees and the appropriateness of the planting site they selected.

Other local groups that will plant trees during this year's national festival, which continues through April 9, are Anacostia Main Street, Adams Morgan Main Street, Fairlawn Citizens Association, Palisades Citizens Association, Logan Circle Community Association, Brookland and Michigan Park Community, and Group of Friendly Neighbors on the Hill.

WARD 5 REPORT

HONORING FORT LINCOLN'S HAGANS: The Greater Washington Board of Trade will present its 2006 Leader of the Years award to Michele V. Hagans, president of Fort Lincoln New Town Corp. and Fort Lincoln Realty Co., during a reception and dinner April 20. The annual award recognizes "extraordinary service by an individual to the business and community interests of Greater Washington." Hagans, a member of the Board of Trade, currently is active with the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, HEROES Inc. and the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington.

Tickets for the black tie dinner at the Capital Hilton cost $250 per person and may be purchased online at www.bot.org.

WARD 6 REPORT

MOBILIZING TO SAVE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A coalition of public education activists has scheduled a "Community Teach-In" from 6 to 8 p.m. March 30 in the library at Eastern Senior High School, 1700 East Capitol St. NE, to develop plans to stop what they call the "privatization of our public schools." Event sponsors include the Eastern High School PTA, Save Our Schools and the D.C. Congress of Parent and Teacher Associations.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A recently joined Eastern parents and others who have expressed concern over the lack of public involvement in D.C. Public Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey's announced plan to convert Eastern to a specialized Latin School modeled after the highly acclaimed Boston Latin School, which Janey attended. Education activists say they also are worried that the D.C. Board of Education's mandate to shed one million square feet of public school space before the start of the next school year will hasten efforts by charter school advocates to take over public property that may be needed for future expansion of the public schools.

The Teach-In event is being coupled with a membership drive for local schools' PTAs. Childcare and translation services for participants may be requested in advance by calling (202) 543-5456 or e-mailing daveourschools@yahoo.com.

WARD 7 REPORT

SPRUCING UP MARVIN GAYE PARK: Volunteers are being sought to help plant new trees, mulch others and generally clean up Marvin Gaye Park on April 1, the day before the park's official renaming ceremony on Gaye's birthday. Volunteers will meet at Riverside Center at Division Avenue and Foote Street NE to receive instructions and tools for the half-day event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Refreshments will be provided at the center for participants.

The event is being sponsored by Casey Trees, Washington Parks & People, D.C. Habitat for Humanity and the Watts Branch Community Alliance as part of its first NeighborWoods project, supported with a grant from the Alliance for Community Trees and the Home Depot Foundation.

Officials and community members will gather at 3 p.m. April 2 to formally dedicate the former Watts Branch Park to the late Motown singer, who played and performed in the park when he was growing up in the District.

WARD 8 REPORT

BARRY GETS PROBATION: Councilman Marion Barry has acknowledged a recent relapse into use of illegal drugs but vowed he is "not going to let my personal demons conquer me." Barry, D-Ward 8, made the admission in U.S. District Court and during a press conference outside the federal courthouse after he was sentenced March 9 to three years probation for failing to file and pay income taxes.

The councilman, who previously served four terms as the District's mayor, pleaded guilty last fall to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file federal and local tax returns for 2000 as part of a plea agreement. Barry, 70, has acknowledged failing to file tax returns for 1999 through 2004, when he did not hold public office.

As part of his sentence, imposed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson, Barry may be required to submit to periodic drug tests if required by his probation officer. He told the court that he completed a drug treatment program after failing a urine test for illegal drugs that was administered last fall as part of routine federal court procedures following his guilty plea. In response to reporters' questions outside the courthouse today, Barry acknowledged that he was required to submit to a urine test for illegal drugs for the court today and he is sure that he passed.

"It doesn't matter what they do with [the test sample]. It's fine. It's clean," Barry said.

Barry's attorneys said they are working with the councilman, who described himself publicly as having "meager resources," to see that his back taxes are paid in a timely manner, as required by the court. Barry owes about $250,000 in federal and D.C. taxes, plus interest and late penalties.

Barry said he plans to "do everything I can to use my own resources" to pay the taxes, but "as a last resort" would consider seeking help from his political supporters. The councilman's lawyers noted potential legal problems in a public official accepting cash donations for personal use.