Commissioners Call for Safety Beyond Speed Humps ANC 6C Report by Sarah Payne

• A special exception to construct a second-story rear addition to an existing, attached two story dwelling unit at 109 11 St. SE. • A two story addition with cellar under existing house and a two-story carriage house to replace one-story garage at 639 A St SE. • A two story addition to the rear of the house and one story addition on the garage at 135 Kentucky Ave SE. • A partial roof deck above an existing house, replacement of cellar windows, front windows and front steps at 510 9th St SE. • Send a letter of support for a notice of intent to make intersection improvements to DDOT regarding

Street, 14th Street and Kentucky Ave. • Send a letter expressing support for the work the Office of Planning (OP) is doing to analyze potential for increasing alley and accessory building housing units. • Send a letter to the DC Office of Zoning (DCOZ) regarding the rezoning of 1323 E St SE from PDR to residential. • Approve the nomination of Clair August as a resident member of the 6B05 Transportation Committee.

ANC 6B will meet again via WebEx on June 14 at 7 p.m. You can register for the meeting and read more about the commission at https://anc6b.org/.

Sarah Payne is a general assignment reporter for Capital Community News. She can be reached at sarahp@hillrag.com. u

Commissioners Call for Safety Beyond Speed Humps

ANC 6C RepoRt

by Sarah Payne

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6C met Wednesday May 11 via WebEx. Commissioners Christine Healey (6C01), Karen Wirt, Chair (6C02), Jay Adelstein (6C03), Mark Eckenwiler (6C04), Joel Kelty (6C05) and Drew Courtney (6C06) attended the meeting.

Traffic safety issues across the ANC prompted commissioners to vote unanimously to send a letter to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) regarding Second Street, Fourth Street and Sixth Streets NE to request a traffic safety investigation. The ANC Transportation and Public Space (TPS) Committee recommended that these streets be investigated for traffic safety related issues and traffic calming measures beyond the further installation of speed humps.

Commissioners agreed that the objective of the letter is safety on the streets. Commissioner Drew Courtney (6C06) said that speed humps need not be ruled out, but that alternatives need to be explored.

“I didn’t think we were going to say no speed humps, but we’re going to try to be really clear that you need to think beyond speed humps,” Courtney said.

Commissioner Joel Kelty (6C05) expressed frustration with the number of speed humps being implemented emphasizing that it appears to not solve the traffic issues nor is it “the best stewardship of the taxpayer dollar.”

“It wasn’t that I’m opposed to speed humps, it’s that I’m opposed to DDOT purporting to do an engineering analysis, refusing to share the analysis, refusing to share the data and then just saying the speed humps are the only solution,” Kelty said. “There are a lot of different things that could be done: additional stop signs, speed cameras, speed tables, there are a lot of different things in the toolbox.”

Eckenwiler proposed adding Second Street to the motion.

“If the focus is on Fourth and Sixth and doing things there, then if certain measures get taken, that’s just going to push more traffic over on the second street and make things worse,” Eckenwiler said. “I really think all three of these streets need to be looked at in combination, because they do serve fairly similar functions.”

Adelstein and Courtney expressed concern about adding Second Street and the potential for overwhelming DDOT with this request.

As proposed, the motion referenced only Fourth and Sixth Streets.

Commotion on H Street

Commissioner Kelty addressed concerns about drug dealing in the H Street corridor (between Sixth and Eighth Street) as several community members attended the meeting to raise concerns about observed drug activity in alleys near their homes.

“I think part of this has to do with the decriminalization of marijuana and the popping up of numerous weed shops on H Street,” Kelty said in response to the public comments. “My personal observation is that H Street NE has become the de facto mecca for illegal weed sales in the District, and, as a result, people who are not running the weed shops but are street dealers know that there are people coming to our neighborhood to purchase marijuana and other things that are sold there.”

Kelty encouraged residents to report all observed incidents to the police, and to take advantage of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) camera rebate program that will reimburse residents up to $500 for home security camera installation.

One resident emphasized a need for greater response from MPD regarding resident concerns and a greater police presence in the area in general.

“I think the additional police presence will be helpful,” Nicholas said. “I call 911 and stuff in the past, and they don’t really bother to ever come unless like one time somebody went crazy and started tearing down fences and things like that. They came then.”

Several residents of the H Street corridor also expressed concern about trash in the alleys. Commissioner Kelty spoke about wanting to organize an alley clean up for the neighborhood.

Another resident, Alana, said she is concerned about the uptick in both drug use and trash around the area where many people have children and pets.

Other Matters

The Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Committee chair Steve O’Neal shared the alcohol license renewals without objection from the committee including: • Hilton Washington (525 New Jersey

NW) • Café Fili (701 Seventh St NE) • Shake Shack (50 Massachusetts Ave.

NE) • Whole Foods (600 H St NE), Fare Well (406 H St. NE) • Streets Market (51 M St. NE) • Uncle Kenney’s Smokehouse (732

Maryland Ave. NE) • Nostra Cucina (320 D St. NE) • Hotel George/Bis (15 E St. NW) • Ethiopic (401 H St. NE) • Pho Viet USA (333 H St. NE) • The Monocle (107 D St. NE) • Le Grenier (502 H St. NE) • Charlie Palmer Steak (101 Constitution Ave. NW); and • 116 Club (234 Third St NE).