This will be a Regular meeting and by law held in public at 3166 Mount Pleasant Street NW, "La Casa".
Typically 20 minutes, may be extended by vote of the Commission.
Individuals are limited to 3 minutes; those delivering written proposals from established groups, to 5 minutes.
approve minutes for 4 March 2008 meeting
Status of quarterly reports and dispersements, .
Education Committee Funding and Budget (Jane)
It is hereby resolved that $10,000 be allotted for funding public education, and local non-profit endeavors for enhancing the literacy, writing skills, and analysis of issues of concern to Mt. Pleasant.
Rationale: We support enhancing vital living skills in our community and this is one way to further that effort.
Tabled at the February 5 meeting
Resolved, that ANC1D advises the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Agency to reopen Mount Pleasant Street, even partially, as soon as possible. If the roadway cannot be completely opened, then the street could be opened on the west side only, for one-way southbound traffic, with northbound traffic rerouted via 16th Street.
Rationale: the closure of Mount Pleasant Street is causing great disruption of bus service, of delivery services to neighborhood businesses, and to access to businesses by patrons. While there is a need for a safety clearance zone around the fire-damaged apartment house, the consequences of the road closure for neighborhood businesses and residents are severe, and every effort must be made to restore vehicular access to this street. Even the opening of just the west side of the street, permitting one-way southbound traffic flow, would be sufficient to restore most bus service and truck delivery services to Mount Pleasant.
Resolved: ANC1D will develop and host an experimental informal community social event seeking to put aside controversial arguments between groups with informal socializing . The plan is to have local entertainment and a potluck dinner followed by short presentations by a few Mt Pleasant groups. The first community social event will take place on 15 April at La Casa. Mt pleasant business-oriented groups will be asked to give presentations on how and why they were organized and what they are doing now. If it is judged to be successful, other similar events may follow.
Rationale: Recent polarizing arguments about how to manage neighborhood affairs have generated animosity and distrust between some Mt Pleasant groups. Many Mt Pleasant groups and organizations don't know much about each other in spite of overlapping missions and goals. Mt Pleasant groups need to work together to meet the challenges from the many new stores and restaurants opening up in nearby Columbia Heights as well as predicted consequences of climate change and spiraling fuel prices. If Mt Pleasant groups learn about each other, better cooperation to achieve common goals may follow.
Resolved, that ANC1D advises DDOT to implement a program of visitor passes similar to that in Ward Four, permitting one visitor pass per household, whether resident on Residential Permit Parking blocks or not, said visitor passes to be valid for household employees and contractor personnel as well as visitors.
Rationale: The present visitor-pass program is inconvenient, requiring personal visits to police stations to obtain passes valid for only 15 days. The visitor-pass program recently implemented in Ward Four overcomes that inconvenience by issuing visitor passes to each resident household, valid until the expiration of the program.
Many Mount Pleasant households depend on part-time or occasional employees for after-school child care and home cleaning. The current visitor-pass program does not allow such household employees to park on RPP blocks, even though there is no shortage of daytime parking space in Mount Pleasant, due to the many residents who take their cars to work each morning. Extending the visitor-pass program to include people providing necessary services to residents will eliminate a great inconvenience.
The Ward Four program allows these visitor passes only to residents of RPP-zoned blocks. The effect of block-by-block zoning is only to concentrate non-permitted cars on the remaining unzoned blocks, imposing an unfair burden on the residents of those blocks. Mount Pleasant residents and their visitors should be allowed to park on any Mount Pleasant block, whether zoned or unzoned.
Resolved, that ANC1D advises DDOT to implement a parking permit program for employees of Mount Pleasant educational institutions and businesses. That program would consist of parking permits valid only on weekdays, and only during working hours, exclusively for employees of institutions and businesses in ANC1D, and valid only for parking within ANC1D, on blocks located a block or more distant from the commercial corridor. These neighborhood-employee parking permits should be issued at a significant cost, to prevent undercutting the public transit alternative, and the proceeds of the sale of these permits should be used to support a local transportation service, to provide inexpensive transportation to Mount Pleasant apartment houses, businesses, and public transit sites.
Rationale: There are no public parking facilities in Mount Pleasant, and none of adequate size within walking distance of Mount Pleasant. School personnel and employees of neighborhood businesses, many of whom come by personal automobile because public transit is not suitable, can find legal parking only on residential blocks not zoned for Residential Permit Parking. This causes heavy parking congestion on those few blocks, even as there may be ample parking space on zoned blocks. Residents of the unzoned blocks may then petition for RPP zoning, which exacerbates the congestion on the remaining unzoned blocks, and increases the difficulty for these neighborhood employees, many of whom are bringing essential services to Mount Pleasant.
There is curbside parking space available on Mount Pleasant residential streets during the day, due to the numerous residents who take their cars to work each workday morning. Permitting neighborhood employees to park on these blocks during the day will impose little inconvenience on Mount Pleasant residents, and will ease the unfair congestion imposed on the residents of the few remaining unzoned blocks.
These parking permits would be issued at a cost comparable to or exceeding that of public transit, to avoid undercutting that alternative. The proceeds of the sale of these permits could be used to support a local transit service, providing convenient transportation around Mount Pleasant apartment houses, to Mount Pleasant businesses, and to public transit sites.
Resolved: ANC1D supports the 3121 Mt. Pleasant Tenants Association, the 1636 Kenyon Tenants Association, and CARECEN (the Central American Resource Center) in converting two apartment buildings (3121 Mt. Pleasant St. NW and 1636 Kenyon St. NW) to tenant-owned coops.
Rationale: Mt. Pleasant, one of Washington DC’s most economically and racially diverse neighborhoods, has been experiencing a wave of gentrification for the last decade, which raises housing prices and threatens the diversity of the neighborhood. Buildings purchased for conversion as affordable owner-occupied housing are a strong component of a comprehensive program to promote the protection of tenants’ rights in existing rental properties, and the preservation of permanent affordable housing options for low-income residents in Mt. Pleasant.
Resolved, that ANC1D purchase four tables,* each 54L x 24W x 30H, with laminate top, from Highsmith Catalogue (page 68), item # S9A-66100 for Bancroft Elementary School.
Why: Providing these science tables will enhance the learning environment for students in our neighborhood school, and our ANC thereby provides an important and tangible role in helping the community.
*When purchasing four or more, each table costs $319.00, for a total of $1,276. In addition, there will be a freight charge of at least $60.
Resolved: ANC1D will determine the necessity and purpose of 2nd monthly meetings at the first monthly meeting by proposing a 2nd meeting with supporting rationale and deciding whether to have the 2nd meeting by a simple majority vote.
Rationale: ANC1D has established their primary monthly business meeting on the first Tuesday of each month unless otherwise agreed upon in a regular business meeting. ANC1D then established a second monthly business meeting on the third Tuesday of each month. These additional meetings were to be for informal meetings with the public for increased dialog with residents of Mount Pleasant, or committee meetings, or for pressing business that cannot wait until the regular monthly meeting, this second monthly meeting may also be a formal business meeting. To establish if a 2nd meeting is necessary and for what purpose, and to increase communication, understanding and participation among the commissioners and with the residents, ANC1D should clearly state why a 2nd meeting should be held and agree upon that 2nd meeting by proposal, discussion, and vote.
Resolved, that ANC1D advises the District Department of Transportation to increase the clear width of the sidewalk on the south side of Park Road, west of the 16th Street intersection, to at least the 36-inch clearance required by ADA Accessibility Guidelines.
Rationale: Currently the spacing between a no-parking signpost and the adjacent wall is only 31 inches. This can be increased to the necessary width by reclaiming some of the public right-of-way now taken up by the retaining wall.
Resolved, ANC1D advises the District Department of Transportation to plan for and implement a widening of the sidewalks bordering the 1600 block of Park Road so that they are at least eight feet wide (including signs, poles, and tree boxes), to remove all of the current nuisance trees and replace them with trees that will grow tall and provide good shade, and to install permeable pavement and water retention mechanisms to assure the good growth and continued health of the trees.
Why: This block is densely populated, with perhaps a thousand residents in buildings abutting it, heavily traveled with the cross-town secondary arterial of Park Road, and hosts two schools with substantial enrollment, Sacred Heart, and Stokes Charter. Yet the sidewalks are narrow and cluttered, and there are few trees and those are mainly nuisances next to and disrupting pedestrian traffic while offering little shade. The street is hot in summer, and windswept in winter.
With the opening of a billion dollar upgrade a block away - 14th and Park Road - the pedestrian traffic can be reasonably expected to greatly increase. Park Road, perhaps for most Mt Pleasant residents, is the easiest pedestrian access to the massive developments in Columbia Heights. It needs and deserves a strong upgrade to meeting the present and future needs of Mt Pleasant and the blocks residents.
These upgrades have been requested by unanimous resolution of a civic group, All-ways Mount Pleasant Neighbors Association, and by officers to two neighbors associations on that block: Lucille Coutard, President of the Park Fair Tenants Association, 1611 Park Road; and John Wade, President of the Park Row Residents Association, 1648 Park Road.
Resolved, that ANC1D advises the District Department of Transportation to support the development of a Columbia Heights - Mount Pleasant traffic circuit, facilitating traffic flow in a loop consisting of Irving Street, 14th Street, Park Road, and Mount Pleasant Street. Further, ANC1D advises the DC Taxicab commission to consider a pilot program for Mt Pleasant and the immediately neighboring ANC districts whereby a new level of service, without meters, would be tried for fixed fee service between several fixed points (apartment buildings, transport nodes like metro stops, major school or other government facilities) and either the loop or short strips like the commercial corridor of Mt Pleasant Street. In addition, ANC1D advises the Mayor and the DC Council to consider supporting the development of this program with a pilot program that would assure service to the various senior centers and residences in the same area.
Rationale:
The economic development of Mount Pleasant will be enhanced by integration with the retail development and condominium construction of Columbia Heights, and by linking with the Metro station at 14th and Irving. Existing one-way streets, Irving Street eastbound and Park Road westbound, favor a traffic circuit that joins the two business districts in a simple loop.
If traffic flow is optimized for this loop, and commercial transportation is provided around this loop, then Mount Pleasant will be naturally incorporated into the large developments and increased population in this part of Columbia Heights. This will promote patronage of Mount Pleasant's shops and restaurants by Columbia Heights residents and by Metro arrivals, and will promote patronage of Columbia Heights retailers by Mount Pleasant residents. Furthermore, inexpensive service to and from the Columbia Heights Metro station will be a great benefit to Mount Pleasant residents, for many of whom the walk to the Metro station is currently a significant deterrent.
Commercial transportation could be provided by a local shuttle bus, or by fixed-fee jitneys. The latter could be an alternative for taxicab drivers who do not want to upgrade to meter service.
The new level of service for the Taxi Commission to try in a probe could include extensions of current services offered by some apartment buildings.
Resolved, that ANC1D advises the District Department of Transportation to follow through on the advice and plans for eliminating the Pine Street roundabout for the left turn from northbound 16th Street onto westbound Park Road.
Rationale:
The Columbia Heights Traffic Study recommended in 2003 that this awkward roundabout be eliminated. Traffic observations noted that the merging of traffic making the roundabout to go west on Park Road into the traffic coming from 14th Street resulted in grade-F flow along this portion of Park Road. Traffic turning from 16th onto Pine does so at speed, resulting in a serious hazard to pedestrians attempting to walk along 16th Street. The risk to pedestrians is so great that barriers have been placed across the sidewalk to prevent pedestrians from simply walking straight north and south along 16th Street.
Eliminating the Pine Street roundabout will reduce traffic on Pine to very low levels, limited essentially to drivers intending to park along that little street. This will alleviate the traffic congestion on Park Road, and permit removal of the pedestrian barriers across the 16th Street sidewalk.
Furthermore, with the traffic on Pine reduced to negligible levels, the small park across from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart will become easily accessible by foot. The weekend mercado that operates along the 16th Street sidewalk could spread across Pine into that park, greatly expanding its area. That small park is very seldom used at this time, perhaps because it is surrounded on all three sides by traffic. Eliminating the roundabout, and consequently practically eliminating the traffic on Pine, will convert this automobile-dominated area into a pedestrian-friendly bit of parkland.
Traffic waiting to make the left turn of course interferes with northbound traffic flow on 16th Street. But there is already a left-turn lane, and traffic light with a left-turn cycle, from northbound 16th onto Argonne Place and Harvard Street, just a few blocks south. The left turn from 16th onto Park Road would be no different. Furthermore, buses currently make the left turn directly from 16th Street, as do a significant number of drivers who fail to notice the “no left turn” sign.
This was advised by this ANC in a resolution of March, 2007. ANC1D is concerned that the Columbia Heights Streetscape plans (December, 2007) show only a continuation of the present Pine Street roundabout, and show no indication of any plans for conversion to the left turn directly off 16th Street. It's been four years since the Columbia Heights Traffic Study recommended the change, and a year since ANC1D advised the change, yet current DDOT plans appear to contemplate only a continuation of the present, very unsatisfactory arrangement.
Resolved, that ANC1D rejects any claims that Mount Pleasant's ban on the sale of single containers of alcohol is a legitimate approach to the problem of indigent alcoholism, and advises against any suggestion that such a ban should be replicated in other neighborhoods.
Rationale:
No reasonable person would claim that a ban on the sale of single containers of alcohol causes indigent abusers of alcohol to reform their bad behavior. Either such people find other sources for their alcoholic beverages, or they shift their activities to places where singles remain available. The unfortunate activities which are blamed on the sale of singles, e.g., public drunkenness, public urination, littering, and disorderly behavior, no doubt continue, perhaps merely displaced into neighboring communities. Men who are dependent upon alcohol will, one way or another, obtain their alcohol.
Proponents of the single-sales ban cite certain statistics, such as a decline in disorderly-conduct arrests, as evidence of the benefits of the ban, in place in Mount Pleasant since the fall of 2000. Any such decline must have come about by the displacement of the troublesome population, not by the reforming of their troublesome behavior. If that displacement came about due to the single sales ban, then we take no pride in the transfer of our problem onto our neighbors. In fact, the displacement of the troublesome population may well have come about for other reasons, such as the moving of the McKenna's Wagon homeless-feeding station from Rabault Park to the Sacred Heart church in Columbia Heights. Mount Pleasant may now be better off, but our neighbors are not.
The ban on the sale of singles is not a valid solution to the indigent-alcoholic problem. Furthermore, the ban is a significant inconvenience to low-income residents who have perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to purchase single containers of alcoholic beverages. The ban does no real good, and does do harm, including the promoting of illegal, bootleg sales of singles. We reject any claim that the Mount Pleasant ban on single sales is a legitimate approach to the problem, and we reject any advice to other neighborhoods to replicate this ban.
Resolved that ANC1D request DDOT to provide a bus shelter with benches at the bus stop at the park located on Park Rd., NW, corner of Park Rd. and Mt. Pleasant Sts., NW. to provide shelter for people waiting to take the bus.
Why: It gets cold, windy, rainy and snowy and vulnerable patrons of the public transporation system are exposed to these elements while waiting, sometimes for extended periods of time, for the bus. This will provide protection for vulnerable patrons of mass transit and will also serve to encourage mass transit usage, rather than contributing to the increasing traffic problems in our area caused by excessive car usage.
Resolved, ANC1D requests the DC Department of Transportation and others to provide a bus shelter with benches at the site of the current stop on Park Road just west of Sixteenth Street.
Why: This shelter would serve the several thousand residents in high density apartment buildings nearby, plus two schools, Sacred Heart and Stokes Charter.
It has been requested by a civic group, All-ways Mount Pleasant Neighbors Association, and by officers to two neighbors associations on that block: Lucille Coutard, President of the Park Fair Tenants Association, 1611 Park Road; and John Wade, President of the Park Row Residents Association, 1648 Park Road.
Resolved, ANC 1D advises the DC Public Library System and Board to provide early and continuing information on plans for changes in the Mt Pleasant Branch Library. This is a legal responsibility of DCPL for all ANCs..
Specifically ANC1D reminds DCPL that this Commission has a legally required role to play, so that it can consider and comment on the renovation of our branch library prior to action being taken by the District government. Therefore, prior to development of construction documents; prior to closure of the branch library facility; prior to selection of an interim facility; and prior to the altering of library hours, the Commission requests notice and great weight consideration by the administration of the Library System.
This is the role set out in the DC Charter for ANCs, and has been reinforced by numerous further legislation and court decisions, including some recent ones with DCPL as a party.
The Public Library provides a fundamental service to our residents and it is imperative that their voices be sought as changes are proposed.
Resolved, ANC1D advises the DC Public Library System and Board , the DC Council, and the Mayor, to hold back on the currently planned "light" rehab of the Mt Pleasant Branch library until this Commission, and other groups served by the library, can consider alternatives, some that might offer far better use of the funds.
ANC1D believes that the renovation of the Mount Pleasant Library could complement a number of other public/private opportunities in the immediate vicinity including the potential relocation of the Department of Parks and Recreation Offices; the availability of several commercial properties for sale adjacent to and in the vicinity of the library; and the shared needs of other District Offices to reach residents in Ward 1.
This confluence of opportunities should position the District of Columbia Public Library System in a central role of bringing District Offices together and re-envisioning the Mount Pleasant Library and its role in serving the Midtown communities of the District of Columbia.
ANC1D would like to see joint planning and implementation by the Public Library System, Housing and Community Development, Planning and Economic Development, Public Schools and Parks and Recreation; the citizens of Ward 1 would like to see an approach to library services that places the resident first and eliminates the bureaucracy that plagues every interaction District residents have today with their government.
ANC1D realizes that such coordination, planning, and community involvement will take time. The Commission believes that reasonable delays in order to produce a better outcome would be worth the time and welcomed by the community. The Commission also feels the architecture and engineering work being contracted for at this time is needed and would contribute to an expanded project once those ideas are explored.
ANC1D feels the residents of Ward 1 deserve more than a gently restored branch library. The Commission sees great promise in this renovation and in the expanded consideration of the entire service area of this branch.
ANC1D asks that due consideration be given to the unanimous resolution of the All-Ways Mt Pleasant Neighbors Association, which reads:
1] A modest rehab will not empower the branch library to engage with the many potential partners across the ward.
2] A modest rehab might well disqualify us for a half century from getting the kinds of building changes that we strongly need, for example:
a) More and more flexible space, especially providing diversity and adaptability impossible in the old conception of grand reading rooms that require highly constrained behavior by isolated individuals;
b) A mechanical and technology module that can be cheaply upgraded as we go through major technological revolutions in energy and information systems;
c) An openness to the world and neighborhood, that while preserving the current grand entrance, also invites all to enter at the ground floor, without out a sense of stigma for seniors, toddlers, and the handicapped;
d) An opportunity to expand the space, or to better use the land nearby for future needs and revenue streams.
3] A modest rehab would preserve a conception of libraries that arose in the late 19th Century, and is increasingly at odds with the rapidly changing and broadening needs for the 21st.
Resolved, ANC1D requests the DC Department of Transportation and others to provide a bus shelter with benches at the site of the current stop on Park Road just west of Sixteenth Street.
This shelter would serve the several thousand residents in high density apartment buildings nearby, plus two schools, Sacred Heart and Stokes Charter.
It has been requested by a civic group, All-ways Mount Pleasant Neighbors Association, and by officers to two neighbors associations on that block: Lucille Coutard, President of the Park Fair Tenants Association, 1611 Park Road; and John Wade, President of the Park Row Residents Association, 1648 Park Road.
ANC1D may make grants once a year subject to the following conditions:
1. A grants program has been established with conditions approved by at least four commissioners. The program must be based on an open competition and selections made at one time among proposals submitted at least four weeks before selection; the proposals are in electronic form and are distributed to all commissioners at least two weeks before selection. The grants program be announced two months before the acceptance period is closed.
2. The program will be run by a paid grants manager whose impartiality is supported by being neither a 1D commissioner nor a current resident, nor an officer or board member of any established Mount Pleasant organization.
3. No more that 10% of the current year’s ANC1D DC allotment will be granted. Both the ANC1D books, and the books of any grant program within the previous two years has been approved within the previous quarter by an outside CPA audit.
4. The main purpose of the grants are to seed the search for outside grants based on small initial funding from ANC1D and the implicit commendation inferable from the receipt of such a grant. To this end, this purpose of maximum leverage, along with impact on a maximum number of ANC1D residents, is used in selection.
5. A grant of more that $500 requires the affirmative vote of five commissioners. Grants of more that $100 require the affirmative vote of four commissioners.
6. Grants are made upon the condition that all receipts and a final report (acceptable by the grants manager) be submitted within 90 days of the transfer of funds and four months of the announcement of the award.
Resolved, ANC1D asks the DC Department of Transportation and local civic groups to remove potential hazards from around tree boxes on Mount Pleasant’s commercial corridor. Any replacement should both be permeable to water so that the trees may prosper, minimize any hazard to pedestrians, and set no barriers higher than the curb that might block the door opening of parked cars..
Many of the current installations are dangerous because pedestrians can trip and injure themselves badly. Also, many installations now block the opening of car doors parked, or access the curb from buses and other vehicles.
Resolved, ANC1D asks the DC Department of Transportation, the DC Urban Forestry program, the Washington Water and Sewer Authority (WASA), the DC Department of the Environment, the DC Office of Planning, and the DC Department of Public Works to cooperate in a study of the requirements for providing large shade trees and the infrastructure to maintain them on and around Mount Pleasant’s commercial corridor.
ANC1D asks WASA to consider a pilot program that would redirect any fees for handling run-off water to a system that would retain that water for use in maintaining a green environment in and around this area of merchants, public facilities, and high-density residences.
Many of our residents and merchants have asked what it would take to provide large (50 to 60 feet tall) shade trees on Mount Pleasant and 16th Streets, and the side streets connecting them. Obviously, such large trees require much water in a reliable supply that will sustain healthy trees over several weeks without rain.
A neighboring jurisdiction, Prince Georges county, has instituted an award-winning program to retain and reuse run-off water, reducing substantially the scope of expensive central facilities. Given the small scope and relative isolation of Mount Pleasant, this area is worth considering for a pilot program that would redirect the proposed fees for central handling runoff to local uses, especially those that promote green natural and built environments.
Resolved, ANC1D advises the DC Council, the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, and the DC Department of Transportation to offer a pilot program that will invite venders back into Mount Pleasant’s commercial corridor in a way that is safe, clean, and encourages diversity of offerings.
Specifically:
(1) This pilot program should be based on regulations that are adjusted after one year of experience, evaluated after two years, and sunseted after three unless there are strong indications that the program is adding to the diversity of culture and quality of life in Mount Pleasant.
(2) Aside from a small administrative fee, the cost should be low enough to attract vendors wishing to operate cooperatively with an innovative and changing program. Venders should form themselves into groups that are relatively self-regulating, that will be rewarded with better spots or penalized by worse spots or expulsion as a group after warning if not self-correcting, including training for better quality and reliability.
(3) Vendors should be chosen on the basis of their contributions to the distinctiveness of the commercial corridor and to the program. They should submit proposals based on: (a) How their products or terms of operation will differ from those already available, particularly including offering low-cost products for local low and moderate income residents, or attracting diverse groups from the city or region and encouraging good order on the street; (b) Particular cluster of locations, where they will work with residents or other merchants to maintain a clean, safe, and culturally distinct milieu; (c) Specified standard of area cleaning both around their spot and at least half-way to the next spot or cluster of vendors.
Mount Pleasant once had a gloriously diverse array of vendors serving this area with a high density of immigrants and other distinctive urban sub-cultures. Yet, there were sometimes problems because the situation was generally unregulated, chaotic, sometimes unhealthy or even dangerous. Recently, some vendors have re-appeared, with the Farmers Market offering distinctive products of high quality that has notably contributed to the appeal of the corridor, particularly for the more affluent. Many of the vendors with substantially more affordable products moved a block away just over the boundary. There were reports of bootlegging, unhealthy products, and violence in the unregulated markets.
Self-regulating groups under outside evaluation and loose supervision has proven in many areas to be a cost-effective model that could be applied to revive and amplify the former diversity while avoiding the perils.
Resolved, ANC1D supports the following programs for expansion and renewal of Lamont Rec, the recreation center on the grounds of the current headquarters of the DC Department of Parks and Recreation:
1. The proposals by DPR Director Clark Ray (a) to add a children’s playground at 16th and Lamont Streets that will serve the many nearby apartment buildings, (b) to add permanent turf-grounds tri-marked for soccer, baseball and football; (c) to work with a consortium of local educational programs to equitably share these facilities with all collaborating institutions.
2. Provide a new headquarters for DPR, and convert the parking lot into more recreation space, plus a pedestrian gateway between Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights; the current building might then house offices of local ANCs, programs that would coordinate and leverage the facilities of rec and park space, government services, and consortia of educational, cultural, health, recreational, and social service programs within walking distance, or reachable by a mutually coordinated shuttle or jitney service.
Ward One has the highest concentration of residents, and the lowest availability of non-federal parks and recreation facilities in DC. DC educational programs, temporarily under the supervision of the Mayor, and library programs are also among the most meagerly equipped in DC. The areas nearby are undergoing swift and even radical changes in demographics and economic development, with both promise and perils for thousands.
The current moment offers an unusual and perhaps unique opportunity to integrate, synergize, and multiply the benefits of the above mentioned government and social programs. The time for planning, and even action is now. In a year or two, the opportunities may be lost, resulting in a permanent deficit of services for the residents of Mount Pleasant and nearby areas.
Last revised by Gregg Edwards, 2008-03-18