That’s why he created the annual concert series, Mozart in Jeans, which features an all-Mozart program in a casual setting.

Peled said he believes in a “dress down philosophy” in classical music.

“I really believe that we have to break the barriers between us performers, the music we play, and the audience,” Peled said.

Mount Vernon Virtuosi will bring its next D.C. performance to St. Ann Catholic Church in Tenleytown on Dec. 14, starting at 3:00 pm. The concert is free.

Peled said that he feels wearing a tuxedo creates more barriers and makes the audiences feel like they are in a museum. Peled said his group and other performers wear their “special shirts” that display the three pillars of which they perform upon: Concerts, Education, and Community.

Katherine Needleman, an oboe player and a member of the Baltimore Symphany Orchestra, will be joining Mozart in Jeans. This is Needleman’s first time working with Peled and Mount Vernon Virtuosi.

“I am also so happy that Amit has entertained my somewhat wild cadenza idea, which involves the orchestra, and can’t wait to explore that with everyone and see how it turns out,” Needleman said.

Peled said this program started years ago, wanting to make the musicians feel a little bit out of their comfort zones. Peled said the performers feel weird wearing jeans when performing Mozart on stage.

“It created this fun atmosphere with the audience,” Peled said. “I always tell the audience the concept before.”

Peled said this event brings more young people because it is such a casual event.

“You play the highest level, and you treat it the most serious way, the music, but you don’t have to create a barrier between you and the audience by wearing something that people wore 200 years ago,” Peled said.

Peled said he originally started his music career in Israel with a crush on a girl who was four years older than him.

Peled said his class only about six or seven students on average, so the relationships with the teachers were very personal. Peled said he chose the cello because that is what his crush played, but he had immediately fell in love with the cello.

Peled said he went to an art-type school in Tel Aviv, but his music career was slightly derailed. Peled was drafted to the army at 18 in Israel but was accepted into the only string quartet that represents the Israeli defense force.

“There are only four people who are lucky enough to win this position, and then for three years instead of fighting, you play music for soldiers and for the prime minister,” Peled said.

Peled said he could not really practice during his three years of service, but he was able to continue to play music. Once Peled completed his service, he received a full scholarship to Yale University. After Yale, he went to the New England Conservatory and finished his graduate studies in Berlin, Germany.

At 27, Peled had his Carnegie Hall debut recital. At this time, Peled had his first opportunity to teach a masterclass at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute. At 28, Peled then offered an official teaching position at Peabody.

“I got this opportunity to be myself, to be an artist, to be a teacher, and to get to know this area of the world, of America and to make it my own and to try to make a change in it,” Peled said.

In 2018, while teaching, Peled had noticed something that bothered him: extraordinary talents are brought here and the day they finish Peabody, they leave. Peled said he felt bad and wanted them to stay here.

“I wanted this area to be a cultivating ground for great artists to create a better environment,” Peled said.

Peled felt that students that leave universities are not ready for the professional world because they are trained in a classroom and are not truly trained to be performing artists. So, Peled said he created what he calls the “Cello Gang.”

In a professional setup, Peled does a program called Around the World in six cells. With current students and former students alike, they join together and get paid for it. Peled said the group started touring the world and making CDs.

“It promotes the ability to be on stage and not just to study with me in the classroom,” Peled said.

After seeing the success, Peled decided to transform the “Cello Gang” into a chamber orchestra. Peled wanted to expand his mission of keeping more musicians in the area and producing more concerts and professional opportunities for them. Peled also had another thought: keeping the concerts free.

“I don’t want these people to pay in order to hear this extraordinary young, talent,” Peled said.

Peled thought about equal opportunities for musicians but also equal opportunity for community members, especially underprivileged ones, to hear classical music. This was the start of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi.

“Everybody thought, and still thinks, I’m crazy, but I thought that if wealthy people in our area or in our world would actually know the mission,” Peled said, “you want this in your community for free.”

Peled said that now in its seventh year, they are able to maintain the group through donations. With 52 concerts a year throughout the D.C. area, the group plays nearly once a week. Peled said the goal is to spread the group and mission throughout the United States.

Needleman said the Mount Vernon Virtuosi’s involvement in the community combined with the opportunities for young musicians had caught her attention.

“I’m thrilled to share the stage with a curious artist who speaks out about the value of music and against the injustice,” Needleman said.

Peled said he is an actor when performing and that the script he plays is written in the language of music. Peled said music is the only language that forces you to listen while speaking.

“You cannot speak language of music without learning to listen to what happens while you’re speaking,” Peled said.

Peled said he is trying to be as approachable as possible. Peled wants people to have the opportunities that he was able to have because of his parents and upbringing.

“We are not the Beatles, and we don’t have thousands of followers and bodyguards,” Peled said, “I want to be there for the people.”

More events can be found at the Mount Vernon Virtuosi .

The post Amit Peled and his story to performing Mozart in Jeans first appeared on 91����.

Residents say they are relieved that DC Water finally fixed the persistent water leak, which festered just outside the entrance to Sutton Towers, a condominium complex not far from the American University campus.

Jeanette Stavely, assistant building manager at Sutton Towers, said she is excited that the repair finally happened. She said she was concerned for residents especially with the colder temperatures underway.

“It is affecting our community because it is our community that is walking their dogs and walking their kids to school. And we do have a lot of elderly people, and we worry about them,” Stavely said.

Chris Doheny, another Sutton Towers assistant building manager, agreed that the water leak was causing safety issues and that it needed to be repaired.

DC Water completed the repairs days after 91���� published article highlighting the leak.

Both Stavely and Doheny said the article was likely the reason DC Water finally came out to work on the water leak, putting the utility in a spotlight it did not want. Doheny said he had been calling DC Water on a weekly basis and never heard anything.

In a written statement to 91����, DC Water said several crews have inspected the water leak over time to determine what the cause was.

“Earlier inspections were unable to determine whether the source was groundwater or coming from our water lines, as no infrastructure failure or leak was found,” DC Water said.

During investigations yesterday, the utility said it was finally able to confirm the source of the leak and scheduled the repair for the next day.

One of the workers at the water leak who asked to remain anonymous told 91���� that the leak was an easy fix.

Stavely confirmed that the water leak is now fixed.

Locals are relieved that something has finally happened to address the issue.

Raysa Amador, a frequent walker in the area, said she is happy something has been done.

“I love the idea. It was an eyesore,” Amador said.

Adrian Varallayay, who frequently walks his dog Gustav on New Mexico Avenue, said he is relieved. Varallayay said that the leak would freeze over and become very dangerous. Varallayay also said that he would have trouble keeping his dog out of the mess.

“It was always kind of gross. I always try to pull [Gustav] away because there was algae and all sorts of other weird stuff growing on it,” Varallayay said.

The post DC Water fixes long-running water leak in Wesley Heights first appeared on 91����.

Residents of the Wesley Heights neighborhood say that, beginning in February 2024, there has been a persistent water leak just outside the entrance to Sutton Towers, a condominium complex not far from the American University campus.

According to building managers at Sutton Towers, located at 3101 New Mexico Ave NW, residents reported the issue to DC Water and DC Water confirmed that the leak was within their jurisdiction. Even with the confirmation, DC Water has not fixed the leak, the managers said.

The water leak is along the sidewalk on New Mexico Ave, part of a large mud pile with water then pouring onto the street. The leak is located between two crosswalks across the avenue.

With colder months approaching, residents voiced their concerns at a September Advisory Neighborhood Committee 3B meeting. The meeting minutes said that Commissioner Rob Rodriguez has reached out to a project manager and tried to get timeline on fixing the leak, but that has not been resolved.

Sutton Towers Building Manager Angela Apel said the leak is dangerous and causes many issues during the cold months. The water freezes and causes trucks to drive on the sidewalk to avoid the ice, which not only is dangerous for drivers but also pedestrians walking on the sidewalk, Apel said.

Apel said that the trucks have destroyed the sidewalk, but that damage was repaired, unlike the water leak.

Jeanette Stavely, Sutton Towers assistant building manager, said that many families and people walk on this sidewalk, including children walking to school. The leak causes icy and muddy conditions that are dangerous to those who are walking on the sidewalk, Stavely said.

“The Sutton Towers management would love to see this leak investigated and repaired by DC Water to ensure the safety of our residents and those in the neighborhood,” Stavely said.

Stavely said residents have reached out to both DC Water and the District government to report the water leak in hopes of it being resolved.

Matthew Frumin, the councilmember for Ward 3 which includes Wesley Heights, did not respond to a request for comment.

Apel said on several occasions DC Water has alerted the complex that the water would be shut off. Apel said they would ask if DC Water would fix the leak, but  were told it was unrelated. DC Water then said they would return but would not follow through, according to Apel.

DC Water did not return requests for comment.

Julia Khoury, who frequently walks her dog Lucy on this sidewalk, said the leak is unpleasant. Khoury said the leak is worrisome as the colder months approach due to ice possibly forming.

Khoury said the ice will cause problems for the people who walk to school.

“I feel like a lot of D.C.’s infrastructure is lacking these days,” she said.

Khoury said that she hopes for the issue to be resolved but does not have high hopes.

The post Wesley Heights water leak not resolved after two years; DC Water silent first appeared on 91����.

If you didn’t, you are not alone. It’s been 50 years since the first ANC elections, but D.C. residents are unaware that these neighborhood commissions administer community grants.������

While a lot of confusion remains about the role and power of ANCs in the District, the community grant program can have visible impact, if you’re lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that offers them.����

��According to the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions FY 2025 , the role of the ANCs is “to advise the District government on matters of public policy,” which range from planning and social service programs to health, safety, and sanitation.����

The ANCs provide advice and recommendations to the D.C. Council, the mayor, and various agencies, boards, and commissions of government. Some ANCs also award grants to help their communities.��

“ANCs do a tremendous amount of work,” says Executive Director, Kent Boese. “We are in a much better city because of them.”��

The OANC oversees each of the District’s individual neighborhood commissions. When it comes to grants, both the OANC and the ANC receive the applications.����

The OANC reviews the grant for fiscal compliance and makes a recommendation on if they feel it would be an appropriate expense. The ANC can then decide if it still wants to support it, Boese said. ��

For community members who want to apply for a grant, there are rules, of course. Grants can be as much as $3,000 and are available to organizations, not individuals, based on D.C.����

Organizations can’t receive more than one grant in a year.��

Can’t duplicate a city service.��

Also, for a group to receive a grant, it can’t be for a program that duplicates a city service. Boese said that line is clear, but there is nuance.����

“For example, the city has a program where you can ask for free tools during the fall for community clean-up. However, the city doesn’t operate a program for that during the winter,” he said. A grant for a winter program would be allowed, but the ANC would need to retain ownership of the tools, he said.��

Additionally, grants can’t be used for things such as food, must benefit the community (not a person or organization), and must be for a future event, Boese said. ��

Ward 1 resident Wendy Singleton, a board member and logistics coordinator for , has helped her organization get an ANC grant for the past five years. The organization, founded by Ransom Miller III, has used the money to support their annual Thanksgiving food distribution. This event, celebrating its 30th year, helps Project Giveback support over 5,000 families with bulk food distribution throughout the city.

“It’s not a hard process,” she said. “You have to get in early. The ANCs want to make sure their constituents are being served.”��

��Not all commissioners offer grants.��

Since the ANC’s have final say if an organization or event gets funded, single member district representatives can sponsor a proposal for an organization that is based outside of their ANC. This is important because not all ANCs offer grants.����

For example, Anna Krebs, commissioner and treasurer of ANC 6B06, represents one of those districts.����

“6B does not currently have grants available, but it is something that we are actively working on,” she said. ��

She said her neighborhood commission is working with the OANC to see what kinds of grants have been approved for other neighborhoods.����

Before becoming an ANC commissioner, Krebs said she hadn’t heard of the grants either. However, she added that she does see the value of them.

��“Part of why we want to bring back grants is so we can put money back into the community,” she said.����

So who decides if an ANC will offer grants or not? According to Boese, that’s up to the ANCs as well.��

��“It is important when reading the Code to pay attention to the words ‘may’ and ‘shall.’ ‘May’ means that a Commission is allowed, but not required, to do something. ‘Shall’ means that a Commission must so something,” Boese said.��

Boese is referring to section 1–309.13(l)(1) of the D.C. Code, which says “Expenditures may be in the form of grants by the Commission for public purposes within the Commission.”��

Some commissions have elected to start creating programs themselves, rather than issue reimbursements to organizations, Boese said.��

According to the OANC Annual Report for FY24, ANCs receive an approved allotment in the D.C. budget by the mayor. For the last two years, that amount was $915,688, which comes to $1.327 per District resident based on the 2020 census.����

The OANC can also recommend that the Office of the Chief Financial Officer withhold a portion of an ANC’s allocation if that commission has spent money for something that is not allowed (e.g. a committee luncheon) or is not in accordance with the procedures for spending money (e.g. the expenditure is not recorded in the minutes, or the check does not have two signatures). It is the OCFO that makes the quarterly allotments to the ANCs.��

ANC budgets are restricted to two main uses: administration and community support. Admin can be office supplies, business cards, signs, advertising, or rent for office space or community meetings. The commissioners themselves are not paid, however.��

A common theme is a lack of awareness. “Even if people don’t get involved, they should know we exist,” Krebs said.����

Singleton said she found out about the grants from a member of her church.����

“They don’t publicize,” she said. “You need to be active in the ANC, and you need to go to meetings.”����

Boese said his office is working to fix the lack of awareness of the grant program. In addition to improving individual websites, his office is working on an initiative in conjunction with local libraries to bring more attention to the commissions, and the work they do, before next year’s election.����

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He’s worked in Tenleytown for about a decade. His office stands out.��

He can be spotted in front of the Wisconsin Avenue CVS parking lot every weekday during working hours. A bike rack serves as his desk, and a crate replaces an ergonomic chair. His wares are unique. It’s not clothing nor food that he sells but a digital newsletter, “The Hobo.” It can be purchased for $5 and downloaded via QR code.��

Foster has spent much of his adulthood homeless. In his newsletter, he writes about life on the streets under the guise of the fictitious character Black Fields.��

Earlier this fall, Foster turned 50 years old. It’s an age he wasn’t sure he’d reach, but he feels it in his back, ankles, knees, his stamina and his outlook on life.

“It’s a lot of guys out here, man, in their 40s and 50s that’s passing, so each day is like man… this might be it,” Foster said, adding that aging involves “just constant awareness of your mortality.”

He first became particularly conscious of the fragility of his life and body on September 18, 1992, his golden birthday.��

He got into a fight with a college peer when the other student closed the door on his hand, slicing off his finger.��

Had the incision been a quarter inch deeper, it would have impacted his artery and led to severe blood loss, the emergency provider told him in the ambulance.

“That was my first kind of instance where it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m mortal. I could die out here,’” Foster said, gesturing with nine and a half fingers. “You start thinking about consequences.”������

Within days, he began using drugs for the first time in his life. The habit would persist for years. He wouldn’t understand the correlation between the events until about seventeen years later in a drug rehab program.��

As he ages, it becomes harder to contend with the challenges of homelessness, he said. Each year, it’s more difficult to bear through the cold, defend himself against adversaries he encounters on the street and compete with panhandlers. He said he feels “vulnerable” sometimes.��

Fortunately, others look out for him.��

On an October afternoon, CVS security guard William Jones stopped by to say hello and give Foster a fist bump. Foster broke into a smile.

“That’s the head of my security team right there,” Foster joked.

Jones said Foster adds a nice bit of variety to the suburban neighborhood, even as far as the local homeless population goes.��

“He’s different from the rest of the homeless people,” Jones said. “He has a product for sale and it’s actually a cool product.”

Jones said he enjoys having Foster around the corner every day and reading his newsletter every so often. It reminds him of “The Boondocks” TV show, he said. It’s fun and unique.

Homelessness isn’t ideal for Foster, but he isn’t ignorant of the challenges of participating in the housing market. In order to afford a comfortable, well-insulated and clean home in the Washington D.C. area, he’d need a much higher and more stable income than his business brings in now.��

“All the discomforts that I would experience outside, I’m going to experience in the type of place that I’m going to get,” he said.

Unless he stumbles into a fortune, the Tenleytown block where he’s become a mainstay will remain his makeshift office for the foreseeable future, and that’s alright with him. He feels lucky just to be waking up each day.

“The lifestyle I lived, I really probably should have been dead in my 20s or 30s,” he said. “It’s just God been walking with me the whole time.”

The post Tenleytown community staple Duane Foster reflects back on 50 years of life first appeared on 91����.

Instead of merely viewing it as a disturbance, community leaders viewed it as an opportunity.��

This area could be a mecca for cyclists and public transportation users with just a little bit of foresight, planning and money. Visitors can see whispers of this potential in the brick-laid sidewalks designated for bikes, mostly empty bike racks near the Metro station and signage for cyclists to better navigate the area.��

“This is kind of an important opportunity to transition the space when nobody’s using it,” said Tom Quinn, the region’s representative on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission.��

The only, but a large missing piece: protected bike lanes. They’re strips of asphalt offset by concrete barriers blocking drivers from veering into the cyclists’ territory. Cyclists say they’re the only real way to incentivize cycling in urban areas.��

Two small protected lanes are coming to downtown Friendship Heights in the coming months after receiving the go-ahead from both the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the District Department of Transportation this fall. A construction date has yet to be set but is anticipated in either the fall or spring, Quinn said.��

The lanes are planned for 44th Street NW between Harrison Street and Jenifer Street and for Jenifer Street between Western Avenue and 43rd. The completed design was published this month for the plan covering a third of a mile of road. DDOT officials did not disclose the price tag in time for publication.

The project is a bit of a gamble. It assumes there’s a demand for this kind of infrastructure. But if they’re not built, the community will never know what type of cycling potential the neighborhood could have and, in turn, the potential to reduce greenhouse gases, car accidents and pedestrian deaths.

“You don’t decide whether or not to build a bridge based on how many people are swimming across the river,” Quinn said. “People just don’t use something if it’s not there.”

However, evidence throughout the city and common sense suggest that protected bike lanes could draw cyclists to what’s currently “a pretty unpleasant intersection” to bike through, said Josh Rising, an active cyclist in the area.��

“They really give bikers that confidence that this is a place that’s safer. They really do a lot to encourage people to get on a bicycle who otherwise might be hesitant because they’re so worried that they might be struck by a car,” Rising said.

Rising co-founded Ward 3 Bicycle Advocates to organize the effort to better lobby for local cycling infrastructure. The fact the group has several hundred email subscribers may hint at the more widespread demand for this kind of work in the area.

And where better to start than near the Metro, Quinn added.

“You got to start building a network, he said. “We think this is a really important place to do it.”

The Friendship Heights neighborhood abuts Montgomery County, which has a more robust biking network. Quinn said the new lanes will allow cyclists to more seamlessly traverse between the two areas.��

As a cyclist, Rising has observed cars blocking bike lanes. It forces cyclists to make a snap decision about navigating around them.��

“As somebody who’s on a bike, you then have to decide, ‘Do I need to pull around this vehicle and into where the traffic is?” he said.��

These lanes are just the beginning for a planned larger protected bike lane network for the shopping center region, Quinn said, adding that lanes are planned next summer for Western Avenue, a larger thoroughfare dividing Maryland and D.C.

Friendship Heights is an ideal place to invest in this work, Rising said, partly because there are numerous schools around. Protected lanes could get kids out of school buses and onto the roads cycling to class.

“Kids 40, 50 years ago, the vast majority biked to school,” Rising said.��

To revert back to that, the city has to work through and around the built environment, which has thrown many literal and metaphorical roadblocks in the way of safely getting around the neighborhood on bike and foot. Namely spotty support from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and city administration officials, he said, who removed Connecticut Avenue from a bike lane project earlier this year.

“D.C. has set out so many goals for what it wants to achieve as a city – Vision Zero goals [reducing pedestrian deaths], climate change goals … the question is how do we actually reach these goals,” Rising said. “In so many of the cases cases, it’s making it easier and safer for people to bike.”

The post Friendship Heights to get a pair of protected bike lanes first appeared on 91����.

They convened to discuss a question the university announced it would begin assessing almost exactly a year ago: should American University campus police officers be armed or equipped with more enhanced weaponry?

An October 2023 letter from the university’s Chief Financial Officer, Bronté Burleigh-Jones, explained the school would be reassessing the weapons available to campus officers following a shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore.��

The first three sessions were intended to host only staff, faculty and students, respectively, in favor of arming the officers or enhancing the options of weapons available to them. Future sessions, starting today, are designed for staff, faculty and students against the change in practice.

Burleigh-Jones explained the goal of this format was, with such sensitive subject matter, to make as many campus residents as possible feel comfortable sharing their opinions.

“People need to feel safe to talk about it,” she said. “There are students who won’t talk freely in front of faculty and staff. There are staff who will not talk freely in front of faculty. We don’t want this to be a debate.”

The first October community forum we attended was the beginning of a sequence of events designed to solicit community feedback from staff, faculty and students at American. The meetings were organized so only like-minded people were speaking to each other.

Of the small group in the meeting room, only one person was a staff member there to voice an opinion. The rest were part of the team organizing the feedback effort.

Sam Sadow, visual resources curator at the Katzen Arts Center, was strongly against arming campus officers, but he was unable to make it to the anti-enhancing weapons event so he came to this one instead to share his thoughts.��

Organizers clicked through slides with discussion questions and listened intently as he conveyed his concerns.��

“In my own experience, guns add a level of menace and threat that is just unavoidable,” said Sadow, who is also an elected representative of the AU staff union.��

He and colleagues he’s heard from worry the guns would be used to hurt students, but, even short of that, he’s concerned just the presence of guns in holsters would change the campus climate and strike fear into the young adults that populate the university.

“I think the real threat of violence and harm is one thing,” Sadow said, but having armed officers could also “chill activism on campus, chill free expression on campus.”

“They’re students and shouting at a cop that’s unarmed is a lot different than shouting at a cop that is armed and I want them to be able to shout at cops,” he added.

The assistant vice president of university police services, Phillip Morse, explained that the department is currently trained to, in every way possible, reduce violence.

“We train deescalation so we do not train aggressive tactics,” Morse said. “Deescalation, deescalation, deesecalation. That’s everything we do starts with that.”

The following day, a large campus community space was again occupied by the same handful of organizers and a singular campus community member present to offer an opinion. Though the afternoon was designed to attract faculty members in favor of providing the officers more enhanced weaponry, this sole attendee, was, again, anti. He simply wasn’t aware the forums were organized by opinion, he said.

William Brent, a performing arts faculty member who teaches audio technology at American, has seen one too many horrific news stories to view guns as a good addition to campus.

“That kind of escalation could lead to a tragic outcome involving a firearm where it really wasn’t necessary,” Brent said. “That’s what I worry about the most.”

Over his 14 years on campus, the school has become his and his children’s home. The university community’s safety is paramount for him. He’s not convinced arming officers would better protect the school but imagines how it could do the opposite.��

“A lot of people I care about are here,” said Brent, the only person sitting in the right half of the window-lined conference room.��

The final session of the week was designed for students in favor of changing the practice around arming officers and adding more sophisticated weapons to their arsenals. This one was better attended, but the majority of the participants were, again, anti-arming officers, according to Joey Katzenell, an undergraduate student and March for Our Lives member. Most of the students had come with Katzenell, they said.��

During the event, other students with March for Our Lives sat on the other side of the meeting room’s glass walls handing out pamphlets featuring gun violence statistics and a list of student organizations that had come out against the change in practice.

“More guns doesn’t mean less gun violence,” Katzenell said. “I think it poses a huge threat to students, especially Black and brown students, especially disabled students.”

Katzenell and Sadow expressed concerns about not just the issue of arming officers but the way the university was conducting the project.��

“Where’s the problem that this is trying to solve?” Sadow asked.

According to Burleigh-Jones the question originated with a member of the Board of Trustees who inquired about the school’s procedure in the event of an active shooter on campus. The university’s 23-member Board of Trustees is primarily composed of people based outside of Washington D.C. and with work experience in education, media and weapons manufacturing.��

The policy around the use of weapons for campus police had not been assessed recently, Burleigh-Jones, so it seemed time to look into it and worth investigating all options in the process.

“That’s when we took a look at, ‘What is our current practice? What are the spectrum of practices? Let’s do an examination,’” Burleigh-Jones said. “Why would we take on the question and not consider the full spectrum?”

After the shooting at Morgan State, the Baltimore university announced it would have armed campus security around the residence hall near the scene of the incident.

George Washington University recently completed arming top officers. According to the school’s website, it announced it would receive community feedback on the topic in the spring of 2023 and started implementation around August of that year.��

Katzenell said the thoroughness and length of American’s process, which has now surpassed a year, gives them confidence that the school is trying to go about this in the most transparent way possible.��

However, the lack of dialogue across viewpoints worries Katzenell.

“If we had a forum where we could all just communicate and talk about what we think is right or wrong we could at least see where the other one was coming from,” Katzenell said.

In addition to the pro and anti events, the university has upcoming one for campus members “on the fence” about amping up weaponry for campus police and a forum for “impacted communities.”

Community forums will conclude Thursday, Oct. 17. After that will come a survey. Happening concurrently with all the steps so far, a feasibility study is being compiled which will, in addition to the feedback collected, inform a draft report sent to campus leadership. The process will end with a decision by the board and campus community.

Though Sadow and Katzenell appreciate the time and attention being given to collecting community feedback, they’re unsure it will be carried through all the way to the decision.

“We never interact with the Board of Trustees. They’re not in these forums. They are not available to talk to. It is almost impossible to reach them. I have no way of having faith that they’re going to listen to us,” Katzenell said. “Why do they need this privacy so bad that they want the community to investigate it but they don’t want to be part of the conversation?”��

Sadow expressed the same uncertainty about how this all ends.��

“That’s my concern and it’s not assuaged by that like nice, thought out community study process and the just ‘decision’ basically,” he said.

The Board of Trustees did not return a request for comment.��

Burleigh-Jones said she hopes to bring the findings to the board in February.

“The level of thoughtfulness that has gone into this project, when it is all said and done, I know that we will all be proud of,” Burleigh-Jones said.

Upcoming community forums are over the next two weeks.

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Its arrival would be beneficial for young families in Ward 3, which has no public school options for 3-year-olds or no public charter schools at all.

Apple Tree already leased the proposed site in June and engaged with local stakeholders like the advisory neighborhood commission. The Public Charter School Board has closed public comments for this school and will vote on Apple Tree’s application on Nov. 21.

Some question, however, if a public charter school in Ward 3 is the best way to solve the lack of capacity for young learners in the neighborhood and in the city as a whole.

“The demand is there,” said Jamie Miles, Apple Tree’s chief of schools, at a public hearing held by D.C. Public Charter School Board on Oct. 17.

Apple Tree, which operates six public charter schools for pre-kindergarten children across D.C., is seeking authorization to open a new facility next August in Spring Valley. It will have seven classrooms for 3-year-old (PK3) and 4-year-old (PK4), which will accommodate up to 154 students.

Public charter schools are run by nonprofits and have distinct curricula, in contrast to traditional public schools run by a central authority, the chancellor of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). Public charters are tuition-free and open to all D.C. residents. Currently, 48% of students attend public charter schools in D.C.

“Absent of facilities in the area, parents of preschoolers will have to continue to invest in private schools or travel outside their ward as access to public preschool for free,” Miles said at the hearing.

According to the Apple Tree filed to the Public Charter School Board,�� Ward 3 has eight public schools, but none offer PK3. The schools offering PK4 have a total of 326 seats, but “with an estimated 828 four-year-olds in Ward 3, that means there is a significant lack of capacity,” the document said.

DCPS , allowing all parents to apply for spaces, but individual schools are not required to offer preschool classes if they don’t have space.

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh wrote a to her constituents last July, saying, “Many principals—including those at Key, Stoddert, and Mann—have been forced to convert preschool classrooms to serve older grades” due to overcrowding. “As a result, families in the catchment area for these three schools are unable to send their preschool-age children to their neighborhood school,” she wrote.

The Apple Tree application document lists some private preschools in the area along with their respective tuitions. Spring Valley Montessori Academy’s morning-only program costs $11,800 a year, while Crestview Montessori School in Bethesda, Md., charges $19,365 a year for its full day program, according to the document.

Ward 3 is generally wealthier than the rest of D.C. The median household income is $128,670, versus $86,420 for all of D.C., according to the Apple Tree document. However, the document also points out that “7.6% of Ward 3’s residents are below the poverty line,” underscoring the need for a public-funded option.

Unanimous support from ANC

At the board hearing, Tom Keane, general counsel and chief of strategic initiatives of Apple Tree, said the advisory neighborhood commission 3D, which would host the new school, unanimously approved a letter supporting the new facility.

“The level of enthusiasm that was expressed by the commissioners was almost startling.�� There clearly is a strong, strong desire among a number of commissioners with young children to have this kind of option in their community,” Keane said.

Many parents in the neighborhood welcome the new school.

“There is a huge waitlist” to get into a public prekindergarten school, said Tatyana Cabrejo, mother of a 4-year-old son. Cabrejo’s family moved to D.C. about 6 months ago, and she immediately started looking for a preschool for her son.

“Every house in this area costs around 1 million. Parents want at least free pre-k.”

Cabrejo’s son was on the waitlist for two months before getting admitted to PK4 class at his neighborhood public elementary school, Janney, which is about 1 mile from the planned Apple Tree public charter school. Cabrejo said she applied to 12 public and public charter schools in D.C., and for most of the schools, her son was “around 120th” on the waitlists.

Kate Legidake, mother of three, also welcomed a new public charter school for prekindergarten students, saying “more options are better.”

However, there is a caveat. Legidake has a 4th grader and a kindergartener in Janney. Her youngest son is 1-year-old. She said it would be better if she could have all her children in one school.

“People want to send their kids to neighborhood schools”

“I am not against a charter school, but if most people here want to be in a DCPS school, open a DCPS school,” said Ruth Wattenberg, Ward 3 representative for D.C. State Board of Education.

Wattenberg pointed out that, if given a choice, most people in the area would send their children to neighborhood public schools. “It is much easier for the parents if the children are in the same school and have the same vacation schedules.”

In Ward 3, public schools are high performing and residents are generally satisfied with sending their children to neighborhood public schools. Currently, it is the only ward in D.C. that has no public charter schools. In school year 2020-21, about 440 students residing in Ward 3 attended public charter schools, representing only about 1% of the charter school population in D.C.

Wattenberg also pointed out that neighborhood, public schools have an important role in strengthening bonds in communities. “What you want is for people to be able to start building the community,” she said. Public schools are neighborhood-based and guarantee spots for all children in the area, while public charter schools accept students across D.C. through a lottery system.

DCPS announced a in May to build a new public elementary school in Ward 3. Foxhall Elementary School will be built in Hardy Park, in Foxhall Village, and accept students in PK4 to 5th grade. However, the school will not open until 2025 or later, “given procurement and construction timelines,” the announcement said.

Fair use of government money?

Some people question the decision to put government money into a new Pre-K school in the wealthiest ward in the city.

“Government resources are very limited,” said Abena Apau, who has a 4th grader and a kindergartner in Janney Elementary School. Apau sees it “unfair” that the government is financing a public charter school in the Ward 3, while other wards are in much greater need for investments in neighborhood schools.

Karim Marshall, a candidate running for a D.C. council at-large seat and who is endorsed by the Washington Teachers’ Union, pointed out that the public schools in wards 7 and 8 lack resources and many parents opt to send their children to public charter schools through the lottery system.

“The idea that the quality of your education is wholly based around chance is not equitable,” Marshall said.

Marshall points out that the lack of reliable neighborhood schools in walking distance has several negative impacts on children’s lives. They have to get up earlier, and they cannot participate in after-school enrichment activities as they spend time commuting back and forth to school. They also lose opportunities to play with classmates that live nearby, building and strengthening a community.

“If every neighborhood had a reliable school that was public or charter that was a by-a-right school, we would have a lot less of the conflict over placement of charter schools,” Marshall said.

The post First public charter pre-k school in Ward 3 slated to open next August first appeared on 91����.

After reading comments from other Cleveland Park residents on the internet, Lebert realized he was not the only one who wanted a cafe close by.

“I wanted to get out there and say there’s demand for a coffee shop,” Lebert said.

In September, Lebert started a called ‘Cleveland Park Needs a Coffee Shop.’ On it, he now interacts frequently with local Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, people who live and work in Cleveland Park and even the regional chain Compass Coffee.

“His Twitter account has really caught on because there’s such a high demand for [a coffee shop],” said Bob Ward, Cleveland Park Smart Growth chair.

Cleveland Park was once home to multiple coffee shops — including the first Starbucks on the East Coast, which .��

For Lebert, the closest coffee shop is a Starbucks in Van Ness. The trip is about 12 minutes one way, which Lebert said is not feasible when going out on his lunch break. The closest independent cafe to Lebert is further north in Van Ness, requiring an even longer bus ride.��

Alongside a convenient caffeine fix, Lebert said a nearby coffee shop could also offer an alternative workspace in a city full of teleworkers. As of August, over half of the District reported working from home at least part of the week, according to the .

Such a workspace would benefit Cassandra Hetherington, manager of the District Bridges Cleveland Park Main Street program. Hetherington does not have an office in Cleveland Park and said she works out of whichever business lets her stay and use its internet when in the neighborhood.

“Every person that talks about what Cleveland Park needs, [a coffee shop] is really the first thing that they say,” Hetherington said.

Lebert said he hopes the movement has started conversations on how to bring new businesses to Cleveland Park, which has seen multiple neighborhood shops close recently.��

“The coffee shop is part of this broader goal of bringing some growth and life to Cleveland Park,” Lebert said.��

The neighborhood has multiple available lots well suited for a cafe, partially due to said recent closures, according to Lebert and Ward. These spaces are all on Cleveland Park’s main street near the Cleveland Park Metro station.

A few examples include the recently closed Al Volo restaurant space with its large outdoor patio. The former California Tortilla shop inside the historic Sam’s Park and Shop also has both a patio and a large indoor seating capacity.

The lot once home to St. Arnold’s Mussel Bar is another potential location with its large windows and seating options both indoors and outdoors. The retail space currently being added to the Macklin apartment building will include a public seating area “perfect” for a coffee shop, Ward said.��

“We have no shortage of places to put a coffee shop,” Ward said. “We just need an intrepid investor who’s willing to take a risk on Cleveland Park.”

While the neighborhood is open to whichever coffee shop comes first, there is a preference for a local D.C. brand. Lebert said it would fit well in the neighborhood, which is already home to many locally owned shops and restaurants.

“So many of the best coffee shops in the city are run by people who come from the city, live in the city, and that would be nice to see,” Lebert said.��

While some of Cleveland Park’s restaurants do have coffee on their menus, Lebert said these offerings are not the same as a sit-down cafe. To him, the desire for a full coffee shop is also about “so much more than just the coffee.”

Lebert said a coffee shop is an important “third place” — a term in sociology referring to a social setting outside the home or work — where people can work, meet with friends and further connect to the community. Studies these third places increase civic engagement and establish a sense of neighborhood belonging.

“A coffee shop really is one of those things that can bring a community together,” Ward said.

These benefits may soon be coming to Cleveland Park, as local officials take more interest in the calls for a cafe.

Tammy Gordon, the ANC 3C06 candidate, is running on a platform that includes bringing a coffee shop to Cleveland Park. A resident of the community for over a decade, she wants a local cafe just as much as her neighbors.

“We’re all wanting to walk up the street and get a great latte during the day,” Gordon said. “That’s just not something that really is offered.”

Gordon said her approach to bringing a coffee shop to the neighborhood would be two-fold. She plans on working with ANCs and the broader District government to make Cleveland Park as “business friendly as possible.” This includes advocating for legislation and zoning that attracts business owners to the neighborhood.

Gordon said her experience in public relations and marketing within the restaurant industry could also help secure a coffee shop in the community.

“One of the best things I can do is be an evangelist for the Cleveland Park neighborhood,” Gordon said.��

This includes utilizing her contacts in the hospitality industry and publicizing how much the neighborhood wants a coffee shop. Gordon said she could connect business owners to landlords, the main street association or other ANC commissioners to “help make their entry into Cleveland Park easier.”

“We’re really looking for that kind of business to come in and invest in our community and we want to invest in them,” Gordon said.

The post ‘Cleveland Park needs a coffee shop’ movement gains steam first appeared on 91����.

Groups including Ward 3 Housing Justice and the Wardman Hotel Strategy Team are petitioning officials across District departments to further assess the project’s potential to meet community housing needs. The advocates have already done this themselves, developing independent housing concepts and architectural reviews of the former hotel.��

“We’ve talked about doing a presentation to the [D.C.] Council staff, to all the council members, to try and let them understand why we’re thinking this way,” said Robin Diener, a member of WHST.

Located next to the Woodley Park Metro station, the Wardman Park Hotel closed in January 2021 after its owners filed for bankruptcy. The property was sold at auction to real estate firm Carmel Partners for $152 million the following winter.

Carmel Partners plans to demolish the vacant hotel and build two apartment buildings with a total of 900 units. In accordance with district inclusionary zoning requirements, the developer will include 72 affordable housing units at the Wardman site — 8% of the total occupancy.��

The project has “incredible potential” to provide more affordable housing in northwest D.C., said Margaret Dwyer, convenor of W3HJ. Dwyer said affordable units are accessible to people earning up to 60% of the District’s median family income. That equals a family of four making .

“There’s really very little family housing [in Ward 3],” Dwyer said. “There’s very little housing for folks who work hard and […] can’t live at the Wardman with these luxury apartments.”

Ward 3 Housing Justice and the Wardman Hotel Strategy Team believe more affordable units can be added to the project through further government oversight.

This includes Large Tract Review, a process administered by the city’s Office of Planning to assess a project’s potential neighborhood, quality of life and environmental impacts. Dwyer said the review would help community voices be heard and promote additional affordable units at the Wardman.��

“It could only be good for the community,” Dwyer said.

While a Large Tract Review is required on a development site three acres or larger, it has not been conducted at the Wardman due to a dispute over the project’s eligibility.

“It seems to me that it is illegal not to have performed it,” Diener said.

A spokesperson for the Office of Planning said the development project covers just under 2.8 acres. Conversely, Carmel Partners’ to the Historic Preservation Review Board in January describes the work site as 9.5 acres. An independent review from architect Jim Schulman, provided to 91���� by Diener, estimated the project would impact at least seven acres.

“The building that is being torn down is 4.75 acres alone,” Diener said.

The Office of Planning said it would not conduct an LTR at the Wardman unless the work site grows larger than three acres or commercial use projects like offices or retail spaces are added.

While an LTR cannot require an increase in affordable housing units, advocates believe the process would bring more pressure from city officials.��

The Office of Planning said while it encouraged the developers to provide more affordable housing units, “Carmel Partners has consistently stated their intention” to provide the minimum 8%.��

“They never were really interested in looking at what the city needs in terms of affordable housing,” said Meg Maguire, chair of Northwest Opportunity Partners Community Development Corporation.

Carmel Partners did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

NWOPCDC previously developed an for the Wardman, which projected the site could have 500 affordable units. This would have met a fourth of the city’s goals for affordable housing in the area.

The District’s affordable housing goals

When Mayor Muriel Bowser announced citywide affordable housing goals in 2019, the Rock Creek West area had the highest at 1,990 units built by 2025. District officials believe they can add even more, up to 2,400 units, according to the 2021 .

Some members of W3HJ and WHST disagree.��

“The programs that we have now, the tools that we have now, aren’t up to that task,” Dwyer said.

Halfway to 2025, 69 affordable units — or 3.5% of the goal — have been created in Rock Creek West, according to a last updated in September.

“We’re going to need creative thinking and action [from the city] to seize [affordable housing] opportunities when we have them,” Maguire said.

The Rock Creek West roadmap estimates the largest share of affordable units will come from converting existing buildings. The Wardman is identified as an “opportunity site.”

“Why have a beautiful goal of basically 2,000 new units of affordable housing and then not do everything possible to reach that goal?” Dwyer said.

Interior demolition has already begun at the Wardman, according to the Office of Planning spokesperson. A Woodley Park Community Association newsletter from Aug. 28 stated Carmel Partners advised the group exterior demolition would begin in September. As of Oct. 9, exterior demolition has not begun.

The post Wardman site can still help city’s affordable housing goals, advocates say first appeared on 91����.