President's Message

By Eric Langenbacher, president@burleith.org

Hopefully by the time you read this, the weather will have improved and the crocuses will be blooming. But, while the snow lingers I would like to remind everyone of their obligation to shovel the sidewalks adjacent to their property (even if you are a renter) within 24 hours of a snowfall. Seniors and folks with disabilities are exempted from this requirement. DC Public Schools are responsible for sidewalks adjacent to their properties. There have been some issues with the Ellington site, as well as Ellington Field. The BCA has alerted the relevant officials about these issues, so we can hope for a speedier response in the future. Remember to contact Georgetown University officials (Cory.Peterson@georgetown.edu) if a student house has not complied with the law.

The first meeting of the Ellington Community Partnership occurred on February 11 with a construction committee meeting on February 27. Although work is progressing slowly at present, things will speed up very soon. Burleith is well represented on both groups by community representatives Ed Ohl, Dan Herlihy, Lesli Mangeri, Nan Coughlin, Kay Twomey, and myself. The meetings are ably chaired by our ANC representative, Ed Solomon. We are making sure that the new designs are acceptable and are flagging future issues, such as the importance of a parking plan.

One of the first steps will be to study the impact of construction vibrations on adjacent properties. A team from the city will visit each affected home on R Street, as well as a couple of homes on 35th and 36th Streets. Details will be forthcoming. I should also mention that the decision to locate the parking garage entrance on 36th Street is not completely finalized. A meeting of the Public Space Committee sometime in the spring will afford the BCA one last chance to represent our position. I think that the likelihood is quite low that Reservoir Road will be chosen, but the opportunity to formally voice our position is welcome.

This is the last hard copy issue of the Burleith Bell until early June. The BCA Board has tentatively decided to move to 4 issues per year (March, June, October, and December), from the old schedule of 10 issues annually. In the meantime, we hope that the new website (going live in the immediate future) will not just compensate for the reduction in issues, but will provide a variety of additional features and venues for community building.

There are various and sundry issues that the BCA is following. There may be slight changes to bus routes. For the D1, the plan is to eliminate the segment between Franklin Square and Federal Triangle and for the D2 to reduce Saturday, Sunday, and weekday peak and midday frequency of buses. There might also be an extension of the Circulator route up to the Cathedral. The BCA is looking into co-sponsoring (with Hillandale) a community shred event in the next few months. Details will follow. Finally, there may be some movement on the planned sale and/or redevelopment of the Fillmore School site. We will do whatever we can to ensure that the Tot Lot remains where it is. We will share information when we know more.