The CAAB has a new tenant

In November Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) moved out of the CAAB building to relocate in SW DC.

Predictably the homeless have found the sunken patio a nice place to crash. In fact, my condo has a direct, if distant, view of the stairs that lead out of the patio. I can safely state that in this case it is a homeless transvestite prostitute.




So much for the claim by those who support Single Sale Moratorium exemptions that vagrants don't drink Heineken. I don't doubt they prefer Steel Reserve 211's due to price but to suggest they wouldn't drink a Heineken has always seemed absurd to me.

Safeway, Shuttles and taking back the Libraries

Mount Vernon Square: Lifein MVSNA readers vent about the City Vista Safeway

H Street NE: Frozen Tropics reports that a new H Street shuttle service starts this month. The free shuttle will run between the Gallery Place station and the Minnesota Ave station each evening from 5pm until the Metro closes. Readers comment that the free nature of the shuttle could attract too much volume from the X2 line.

Citywide: WaPo's Raw Fisher reports on new policies aimed to discourage homeless encampment in our libraries. New rules will prohibit sleeping in the libraries or carrying more than two bags into the branches.

Trash Day

Kudos to the people who are spending their Saturday cleaning the trash off the empty lot at 4th and L.  It looks like they're doing a great job.  But with nothing to stop people from using the lot to feed the homeless, why won't their efforts be wasted?  

Park Improvements at 2nd and Mass (proposed)

Last night a meeting to discuss the park at the confluence of 2nd, Mass and H Street was held. Attendees included, but not limited to, residents from the Sonata, a representative from the office building at 251 H Street, our MVT CID executive director Bill McLeod, president of the MVSNA Cary Silverman, Thor Nelson from the Office of Planning and Sarah Moulton from the Department of Park and Recreations.

The park is presently an under utilized eyesore. The heavy traffic surrounding the park isolates it. Homeless sleep in the park with one often camped inside the center ring of bushes. There was also talk of a recent illegal BBQ (by homeless?) at the park. The park is not well maintained, safe or inviting.

Funding is not presently available to perform a major overhaul of the park. Long term this could be negotiated with the developer seeking air rights over I-395 but improvements are needed in the short term. The Office of Planning (OP) has identified a transportation funds grant program that could provide the modest funding needed for small scale improvements including critical irrigation. With this intersection being one of the busiest in the city it qualifies and has the visibility to increase likelihood to receive the grant. However the grant will require that ongoing park maintenance is secured. If this comes together the improvements could begin as soon as October.

Rendering from Dept or Park & Recs (DPR)

The Department of Parks and Recs (DPR) has developed a set of design guidelines for the site. These cite the short term objectives for the park to be primarily beautification of the space and creation of a marker for the surrounding neighborhoods and the immediate area on Massachusetts Ave. DPR has also identified materials and plants that could be relocated from the Art Walk at the Old Convention Center site to keep costs down.

From the Draft document distributed by DPR:

Short Term Scenario Implementations Guidance:

• Provide a minimal, but bold planting pallet to be both low maintenance and highly visible to passing motorists.
  
• Focus tree planting on streets edges and in areas with significant soil depth.
  
• Install focal artwork or monument to create a sense of place and draw for the area.
  
• Provide benches and other seating to allow lunchtime gathering and passive use of the park
  
• Preserve existing pavement areas and repair where needed
  
• Implement "quick fix" pedestrian safety measures like: new cross walk painting, adding parking lanes to Mass Avenue next to park

Discussion turned more towards the homeless impact on the park. The Central Union Mission is opening a 150 bed shelter at the Gales School within a year just a block from the park. DPR's position is that parks are an amenity for everyone including the homeless. It should be designed to be safe and engage all people.

Cary Silverman expanded upon his previous point of the Gales School shelter opening and pointed out that the isolation of the park is appealing to the homeless. He suggested the space needs a draw to bring surrounding residents across the busy streets to the park. There is no design for a prominent draw in the short term plans. An expenditure of a fountain or statue could be taken on longer term. A Sonata owner chimed in with the benefits of the park embracing dog owners. Dogs owners want green space to walk their pets and most presently walk to the Building Museum. She suggested the added benefit to the community that dogs tend to discourage vagrancy"scare people who know they are where they shouldn't be." I don't think she's suggesting anyone shouldn't be at the park. But people shouldn't be camping in the bushes . McLeod made note of this as he said "durable grass".

Lastly, an important message was put forth that this park would NOT be THE PARK for the Triangle. Both DPR and the MVT CID want a larger more central green space less isolated by heavy traffic. There are some alternative that are being studied regarding this but they were not shared in the meeting. One possibility I have previously seen in the Mount Vernon Triangle Transportation and Public Realm Design Project suggests a park along a new extension of 3rd Street built out over I-395.

Note: Cary Silverman has also covered the meeting on his blog. Cary is spearheading a "Friend of the (name TBD) Park" effort.

American Observer article on MVT

Via random googling I came across an article dated April 23, 2008 about the Mount Vernon Triangle in the American Observer. The American Observer is produced by the American University School of Communication’s graduate journalism program. It is an online magazine is a student publication that focuses on news from campus, Washington, and the world.


The piece discusses a spectrum of issues with ranging from homeless services, Section 8 housing, City Vista, and local small businesses. The auther chats with a spectrum of people including MVT CID Bill McLeod, Kristine Thompson of Calvary Women’s Services, Vera Watson, a resident of Museum Square for 25 years, and the owners of G & J Deli and Tunnel Wine & Spirits.

an excerpt:

Other, newer businesses are banking that the new residents of the neighborhood will bring new jobs and fresh dollars to the area. Already, recent upstarts like Tunnel Fine Wines and Spirits on H Street are awaiting the influx of wealthy patrons.

The dark-wood paneling and cobbled floors of the liquor store distinguish it from others in the area. In the back of the store, a wine cooler holds bottles of white from around the world and a small, decorated room stands ready for a community wine-tasting later in the evening.

Owner Feleke Girma, a 23-year resident of the D.C. area, started the business two months ago. Despite already having survived a robbery, he trusts that the new demographic of the neighborhood will appreciate his openness.

“I used to have to work behind bullet-proof glass,” he said, describing his experience at his former convenience store on Georgia Avenue, which was not part of the Triangle improvement district. Thinking back to the Triangle’s neighborhood 15 and 20 years ago, Girma acknowledged the whole demographic has changed. Before, many of the buildings were boarded up, he said.

“These changes were necessary,” he said. “It has been neglected for a long time.”

MVSNA/DNA joint meeting Q&A recap

I previously recapped the panelist discussion from the recent special joint MVSNA/DNA meeting on Homelessness and Housing issues. You can reference that recap [here].

The Q&A discussion between the community members and panelists also deserves a recap. I'm new to the area and am still absorbing the challenges for our community. I always learn much from the questions raised by experienced residents. Among the questions were:

• Homeless impact on the libraries
  
• Pathologies of the homeless
  
• Panhandling
  
• Locations of shelters
  
• Is the homeless 'burden' really being spread across the district
  
• Lack of communication with residents
  
• Perceived busing of the homeless to downtown
  

Homeless impact on the libraries: Due to the lack of day service centers for the homeless many homeless residents will congregate at libaries such as MLK Library during the day. The Department of Human Services feels that the scattered site housing first approach will help mitigate this. Large meal and mattress shelter facilities are often only open 7pm to 7am leaving their members to fend for themselves during the day. Housing First provides a home and local services.

Pathologies of the homeless: A community member raised concerns that while they do have compassion for the homeless they are worried that individuals with pathologies such as drug addiction, past criminal sexual offenders behavior are allowed to roam the streets unchecked due to their homelessness. For instance, a sexual offender would typically need to register their address into an offender database, notify neighbors of a community when moving in and stay a certain distance from schools. The perception is that the homeless sex offenders skirt by under the radar and avoid these same hurdles. The panel took the angle in their response that the pathologies you find in the homeless are also found in society at large. While true I'm not sure it adequately addresses the sex offender tracking issue.

Panhandling: I found the topic of panhandling to be the most interesting of the evening. Chet Grey wanted to stress to everyone that while many chronic homeless in the downtown do panhandle that conversely many panhandlers are not homeless. Mr Grey gave examples of panhandlers that make $100/day. Such individuals have perfected techniques to earn a living through panhandling. One panhandler sells free Smithsonian maps for $1 to tourists. Others position themselves near popular news stands to get change from pedestrians who buy newspapers. He told a story of one panhandler he knew on a first name basis who was not homeless but used his earnings to buy crack. A member of the audience chimed in that the tourist traffic in the downtown is a magnet for panhandling and that he's seen a tourist give a $20 bill to one before. While residents who see the same panhandlers on the same corners everyday do the smart thing and donate to an organization rather than a beggar - tourists do not. I myself have seen the same pan handler near my office in Rosslyn for years. Some days he even has a cell phone that he hides in his hat...

Location / Downtown Burden / Communication: Residents expressed concerns about the perceived clustering of homeless shelters within blocks of the intersection of Mass Ave and H Street NW. The Mitch Snyder Shelter at 2nd and D streets is privately run and has over 1000 beds. The Central Union Mission's relocation to the Gales School also places it nearby. Rumors in the Washingtonpost earlier this year also suggested new shelters could open at 4th and L Streets NW as well as 2nd and Mass Aves NW. The idea of four shelters clustered so closely made residents uneasy. The response from the panel was that the WaPo rumored new locations were erroneous. The Gales School had previously been a shelter and plans to reuse it in that capacity had been public for five years. What I inferred from their collective response is that the downtown does presently have a concentration of shelters. While new downtown shelters are not part of the plans we're more likely to see downtown shelters downsized over time rather than being outright relocated to other parts of DC. The commitment to permanent supportive scattered site housing will gradually shift the burden out of the downtown. Market forces (read: real estate prices) will naturally make other parts of the city better candidates for these housing sites. MVSNA president Cary Silverman took a moment to recap the anxiety that residents experienced due to the WaPo rumors surfacing at the same time as the public announcement that the Central Union Mission would be relocated to the Gales School. It was agreed that more ongoing communication between neighborhood associations and homeless service/housing entities would be mutually beneficial.

Perceived busing of the homeless to downtown: Residents inquired about the heresay that other parts of the city bus their homeless downtown. Chapman Todd fielded this question. He cited an example of homeless busing related to the closure of the Randall School Shelter in SW DC. This shelter was closed several years back with many of it's homeless shifted to another shelter south of the Anacostia River. Many of the homeless that stayed at the Randall School frequented the downtown during the day (some for jobs). Once shifted south of the Anacostia a bus service run by Park and Recs(?) was established. This bus service was meant to return the homeless to their shelter south of the river rather than bus homeless downtown. Of course bus trips by nature are round trips...

I'm particularly glad to hear the rumor of a new homeless shelter at 4th and L Street NW is false. I just could not see that as a compatible use with the one long awaited downtown grocer (CityVista Safeway) only a 1/2 block away.

MVSNA/DNA joint meeting speaker recap

I attended the joint MVSA/DNA joint meeting earlier tonight. This special meeting featured a forum on the homeless issues and housing plans.

This will be part 1 of 2 part post. I'll recap the forum speaker's talking points in this space and separate the highlights of the forum Q&A in a follow up post.

Miles Groves of the DNA assembled the follow panel for the forum:

Photo courtesy of CaryForCouncil.org

Participants included (from left to right above) Clarence H. Carter, Director of the District’s Department of Human Services; Jose Sousa representing the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development; Chapman Todd, Division Director of Housing Programs at Catholic Charities; Chet Grey, Director of Housing Services with the Downtown BID; and David Treadwell, Executive Director of the Central Union Mission.

The discussion:
Chet Grey led off the discussion. Mr Grey began by stressing that the homeless are people like you and I that simply lack the basic need of a roof over their head. He asked for a show of hands in the room of those who were lifelong DC residents. I believe only 1 or 2 hands were raised. Chet then stated that 85% of the homeless were longtime DC residents. At later points of forum discussion Chet further humanized the issues about both homeless that the BID has helped and notorious pan handlers he is familiar with by referring to these individuals on a first name basis with details of their stories. Chet also explained the Pathways to Housing program the downtown BID participates in, the success rate of the program (90%) and the head counts for how many people they have helped in the program and aim to help in the coming year.

Chapman Todd from Catholic Charities was next in the line of speakers. Mr Todd provided some definitions on the types of homeless and some statistics on the magnitude. Chronic homeless are those for whom homelessness has become their permanent way of life. Transitional homeless are those for whom homelessness is a temporary predicament. The transitional homeless may only experience homelessness a few days a year. The total homeless population in DC was estimated at around 6000. Of which 1840 are chronic homeless in the shelter system, 300 are chronic homeless not participating in the shelter system with the balance being transitional homeless. Mr Todd acknowledged that the Franklin School shelter was a Catholic Charities run emergency shelter. He openly suggested that the facility has not been successful. The Franklin School was not well suited for a use as a shelter. Rather it only became a shelter due to unfortunate past policy decisions of "what's available". He stated that this type of shelter was not what Catholic Charities wants to do going forward. The ideal goal of their organization is permanent supportive scattered site housing. They feel that is the strategy best suited to success. Mt Carmel House was cited as an example of permanent supportive housing from Catholic Charities that falls within the downtown area. Todd also appealed to the audience that this approach passes both the Human Dignity and Fiscal tests.

David Treadwell spoke about the Central Union Mission. The Central Union shelter will be relocating in Oct 2009 from 14th and R Streets NW to the Gales School at 65 Mass Ave NW. Mr Treadwell briefly mentioned reasons for the move. Chiefly his currently facility was inadequate with one cited example that heating the old building cost over $300K/yr. Treadwell described Central Union as a 'high barrier' shelter facility. This means that they have rules and structure such as no smoking, no cussing, meals and showers are only available at certain times of the day. Central Union also has nightly ministry services. Their plans for the Gales School are for the shelter to be a 125-150 bed facility with upgrades from their current facility including privacy dividers, improving dining area, computers and a day room.

Jose Sousa briefly/rapidly (he's a fast talker) explained the role of the Planning and Economic Development office. The main takeaway here was that they recognize supportive and affordable housing as being part of their development responsibilities. They tackle this objective by partnering with groups like Catholic Charities, Central Union Mission, etc and work with them to get them the facilities they need.

Clarence Carter of the Department of Human Services spoke the most of any forum panelist. His key points were to describe why the District must take the 'Housing First' approach followed by person centric services. The Housing First Initiative (HFI) primarily acknowledges two things 1) Warehousing the chronic homeless in big shelters isn't effective 2) It's difficult for anyone to focus on addressing the underlying causes of their homelessness if they don't have stability of housing. HFI supports the scattered site relocation of homeless in permanent supportive housing. The idea of person centric services is that a homeless person is best positioned to succeed if a program of services that they need, which may include food stamps, job training, substance abuse counseling, etc is individually designed for them. Carter's team will be responsible for mitigating the closure of the Franklin School so that none of the homeless currently served their will be forced to the streets. He cited that after the closure of the DC Village shelter last year that the District does now have a track record of making this work.

MVSNA/DNA joint meeting tonight

A joint MVSNA/DNA forum on homeless issues & housing plans is being held tonight (5/20) at 7pm in Mt Calvary Baptist Church (755 8th St NW).

Read the post on the Life MVSNA Blog for more details.

ANC6C Meeting, selective memory redux

[This post will be proofread and possibly edited later--I need to cook and eat dinner before the Daily Show is over!]

I just got back from the monthly ANC6C meeting, and what a meeting it was, albeit my first. Sadly--or stupidly--I managed to forget my pen and pad, so I'm making no attempt to offer any substantive redux. But there are some clear highlights, many of which I think survived in my memory for the full three hour length.

Here's what my memory offers. Apologies for any inaccuracies in my reporting or misunderstanding of procedure. This is roughly in reverse order of importance--but mostly because the 5th & I discussion is at the end of this post.

The majority of the meeting in a paragraph or two: The commission has use-it-or-lose-it money for community grants, so start making proposals. There will be a festival at the National Building Museum in the near future, which will close down a block of street and feature ballerinas dancing on construction equipment. Commissioner Silver (6C01, that's most of us) did a recent walk through of the CCNV shelter and was generally impressed with their operation, but noted that they are in desperate need of basic supplies--he urged them to put in a grant proposal. There will be a public art project, sponsored by DC and National arts organizations, installed at the corner of 5th and K, NW--the ANC doesn't have a say in whether this happens, but it looks like it will be a nice addition to the neighborhood.

The ANC will support Leeloo's application to put tables on the sidewalk--but only provisionally on the side of the street across from local residents, subject to Leeloo coming to an agreement with those residents. The ANC will support Jemal Douglas's agreement to lease 38 nearby parking spaces to provide residents of 704 3d Street, NW's with parking, in lieu of providing parking in building.

The two biggest points of the meeting were, by far, discussion about the proposed moratorium on the sale of singles and the 5th & I development.

The singles moratorium (single-serve alcoholic beverages) apparently has been on the agenda for quite some time, with the ANC making efforts to impose one on its own. This meeting, however, offered an urgent action item, with the prospect of Tommy Wells and Jack Evans introducing a bill to implement the same moratorium through legislative means. There is much to talk about here--which I can not fairly recount--but the key takeaway is that there is likely a bill to be introduced in the coming weeks that will impose this moratorium in parts of ANC2C and ANC6C. The ANC had to act tonight if it wanted to be covered by the bill, as it will be too close to final form by the time of the next meeting. From what I recall, ANC6C voted to request that 6C01 and 6C09 definitely be included in the affected area; with parts of 6C04 seeking inclusion (2d-8th, G-Florida?); and with 6C02 and 6c05 considering over the next days whether to seek inclusion.

Needless to say, this is a big issue, which required quick action which appears to have been taken. I expect there to be other coverage--please just take this summary as notice of the issues and forgive any errors on my recount.

And, drumroll please, the 5th & I project. Substantively, nothing happened--but I learned a lot. Most important thing first: there will be a special meeting probably Wednesday May 28 (location TBD) to discuss what the ANC should do, and to do it. This meeting might be moved up, based upon information to be had tomorrow about a potential best-bids evaluation that could eliminate two of the four proposals before a May 28th meeting could have any impact.

There was heated discussion about what the ANC should and could do. The ANC has basically been left out of this process by the Mayor's office. The Mayor's office will decide which bid wins, and plans to do so by June 8 (perhaps June 9--I've tried too hard to remember the date and have confused myself as a result). They have not sought out ANC input, and it is not clear whether it is welcome.

Discussion focused on whether the ANC should adopt a list to the Mayor of issues that we feel it is important that the winning proposal address; or whether it should specific endorse one or two of the propsals. This is a blog, so I will editorialize a bit, if only to say that the first idea is just silly: the list of issues appears largely duplicative of issues already aired, which were incorporated into the RFP, and would be enitrely non-binding. It's too weak an effort to offer too little direction too late in the game--a non-decision-making body can't sweep in at the 11th hour to make suggestions that should have been made in the 1st hour and expect to be taken seriously.

I am in the camp that believes the ANC should endorse one or two of the proposals. I do support the Donohoe/Holland bid--yes--but at this point it seems more important to take the bad bids (look at the poll!) off the table. And there was a strong 555 Mass presense at the meeting that showed stronger support than I had anticipated for Donahoe.

But that's enough editorializing.

All in all, it was an interesting and engaging meeting, if long.

--MLB

April MVSNA meeting - attended by Mayor Fenty

I attended my first Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association (MVSNA) meeting tonight. The agenda was had a wide range of items ranging from after hours club Sanctuary 84, Shotspotter implementation, DDOT and police issues regarding wrong way traffic and speeding on streets surrounding New York Ave, as well as a Q&A with Mayor Adrian Fenty.



Jeff Parke took meeting notes that you can browse [here]. ANC2C02 leader Kevin Chappel has video of the crime discussion [here].

Really, so much to talk about. I have a feeling many of the large issues will be addressed by the prominent posters on the MVSNA blog over the next couple days. So I'm going to focus on a few police & DDOT items from the Triangle and Mayor Fenty's discussion of the homeless shelters.

400 MASS CVS
Concerns about increased prostitute and gang presence around the the 24 Hour CVS at 400 Mass. Apparently a nearby 24-hour CVS at 1st & K closed down. That closing has displaced some of the late night loitering to this 400 Mass Ave location. The police are aware of the issue and will monitor it closely. From the back of the room I didn't hear what the full plan of action might be. But I did want to bring this up on our blog so our readers would be aware of the issue. Those 2 AM trips to the pharmacy may require greater caution in the short term.

DDOT comments on Mount Vernon Triangle
There was a big DDOT Q&A with Karina Ricks. Much of it focused on the intersections of New York Ave and the residual traffic issues. She did field one question that specifically asked about future improvements to the streets in the Triangle. She stated DDOT would be doing work on L Street along City Vista later this year and that improvements for 4th and 5th streets were slated for 2009.

Mayor Fenty on the Homeless Shelters
During the Q&A with Major Fenty inquiries about both the widely discussed move of the Central Union Mission to the Gales School at 65 Mass Ave as well as the rumor mill about additional shelter sites within the same immediate vicinity. Fenty confirmed that the Gales School had been used as a shelter in the past and was always earmarked to resume that use after renovations to the building were completed.

Members of The Sonata condo association also brought forth scuttlebutt about the park above the I-395 tunnel at 2nd and H Streets NW becoming a site for a construction of a new homeless shelter. It was suggested this information arose from Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells and a Washingtonpost article. Concerns raised included losing scarce green space and impact to the community that increased concentration of homeless services in a radius of a few blocks would yield (such as noise, litter, safety issues). Mayor Fenty went on to explain that the city wanted to reduce the number of homeless shelters rather than build more. The goal is to take a Housing First initiative that will put more of the chronically homeless in transitional housing units spread across the entire city. He admitted his administration may not have done a good job communicating this given how many concerns have been escalated by those who interpret the plan as filling apartment buildings with concentrations of homeless. To ensure that all concerns were addressed fully Fenty offered that the deputy mayor could provide answers regarding the specific park and lots that attendees inquired about for next month's MVSNA meeting.

image from Si Kailian

Homeless shelter relocating to edge of Triangle

It was announced today that the Central Union Mission homeless shelter has come to a new arrangement with the city government and will move from Logan Circle to 65 Massachusetts Ave NW. The mission sold their Logan Circle property for $7 million and intended to move in 2009 to a Petworth/Georgia Ave location they purchased two years ago.


Today DC Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) made the announcement about this shift in plans to Mass Ave. From what I've read, Graham and the members of the Petworth community did not feel placing a shelter of this size (170 beds) on Georgia Ave was a fit for their revitalization efforts. The mission management was agreeable to this change of venue as a greater concentration of homeless reside downtown.

The new Massachusetts Ave address is the old Gales School and is just outside the Triangle near the crossing of Mass and New Jersey Avenues. Google Maps suggested this was just 0.4 miles from my namesake intersection of 4th and Eye.


What does this mean for the Triangle? There is a substantial homeless population in the downtown area who need housing. On the otherhand, studies suggest that massive "meal and mattress" facilities are not the most effective approach. Mayor Fenty announced today that their new "Housing First" initiative is the preferred approach.

The website MissionDCFacts.com has a 2007 quote from the Senior Director of the mission, Barfonce Britton Baldwin, stating "I understand. If the Mission tried to move into my neighborhood, I would oppose it too."

Honestly, I've never been part of the solution to this particular issue. So I want to keep an open mind. But from a real estate perspective I'd be concerned if the Gales School was directly adjacent to my building. What is encouraging is the various comments I have come across on blogs from the mission's current neighbors in Logan Circle suggest that shelter has never created problems. What are the thoughts of others?

UPDATE:
Actually I did just come across a rather damning comment from a Logan resident:
http://www.princeofpetworth.com/?p=2158#comment-30561