NoMa & Old City Update

March 2019

NoMa Civic Association

I’m enthused about the first meeting of the NoMa Civic Association on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:00pm at Walker-Jones Education Campus, 1125 New Jersey Ave NW. Please spread the word by sharing this flyer:

K Street NE Road Diet

Per a DDOT handout distributed at a March 18 ANC 6A transportation committee meeting, “DDOT will advance the existing 65% design plans to 100% for bike lanes between 2nd Street and 6th Street NE and road diet concept east of 6th Street NE. Completion of the design is projected for Spring 2019. A Notice of Intent is required to remove the existing peak period parking restrictions and to remove the parking necessary for construction of bike lanes and eastbound left-turn lanes at 6th Street and 8th Street NE. The NOI will be issued in Spring 2019, which includes a 30 business-day public comment period. Implementation is proposed for Summer 2019.”

To encourage DDOT to fix this highway-esque street sooner rather than later, some neighbors and I are hosting a picnic, march, and bike ride tomorrow at noon at 800 K St NE. I also co-authored a Greater Greater Washington article on the project. Regardless of whether you agree with the current road diet plan, I would love to see you at the picnic.

Some neighbors who disagree with the current plan and I had an excellent meeting this morning at Old City Market (read more below):

Office Hours and Maximizing Transparency

I decided to experiment with hosting office hours and the first round was this morning at Old City Market. Many thanks to neighbors who came out and shared ideas/concerns, including:

  • Transparency: Many neighbors were unaware of the K Street NE Road Diet until recently, which is not ideal. I applaud and thank the activists who went door-to-door spreading information about this plan. To improve in the future, neighbors and I agreed that DDOT should have mailed notifications about the road diet to residents on that street. In April, I will ask whether DDOT is able to establish this as standard practice for similar projects.
    • Please contact me anytime with other transparency ideas. ANC 6C has limited resources and is 100% volunteers, but I want to do whatever I can to increase neighborhood awareness of local issues.
  • Parking and mid-block loading: The new 24-hour parking spaces in the road diet give me great hope for the success of this project. In addition, our ANC unanimously asked DDOT to “look into creative solutions for mid-block loading“.

My next office hours will be Sunday, April 7, from 4-6pm at Old City Market. Please don’t hesitate to also contact me and request a separate one-on-one meeting or a general best time for office hours (which can be almost anytime, such as Tuesday evenings or early Friday mornings).

Red Bear Brewing

Kudos to our new neighborhood brewery for a wildly successful grand opening! I look forward to many more neighborhood memories here. Board games stacked near the entrance and D’s Fish Truck operating out of the kitchen are lovely additions. On Monday, April 15 at 7:00pm, Red Bear will host ASL Trivia DC, which always includes voice interpreters.

Liquor License Renewals

In April, our ANC’s Alcoholic Beverage Licensing (ABL) Committee and the full ANC will vote on whether to support liquor license renewals for 116 Club, Le Grenier, Ethiopic Restaurant, Charlie Palmer Steak, and Union Pub as well as a new license for “Aroma” at 707 H St NE. We would appreciate neighbors sharing their opinions on these venues when ABL meets this Monday, April 1, at 7:00pm at Kaiser, 700 2nd St NE.

Additional Initiatives

  • Future park at WV Ave Spur: Our ANC is seeking assistance from Councilmember Allen’s office in creating a park at the closed portion of West Virginia Ave NE between 8th St and K St NE.
  • Better buses: ANC 6C passed a Greater Greater Washington-authored bus priority resolution that I proposed earlier this year.
  • Better biking: I testified at the DC Council (scroll down for transcript) about Mayor Bowser’s FY2020 request for $2.8 million for bike lane enforcement.

Upcoming Events

6C06@anc.dc.gov | 585-666-7364