Northwest Georgetown February ANC Update

Welcome to the February Northwest Georgetown ANC Update!

Although I grew up in New England, I’ve been living in the DC area for over 25 years now. And in that quarter of a century, I’ve gotten a bit soft with regards to harsh winters. The nice thing about DC winters, though, is that just when you start to get sick of them, they’re already on the way out. And with that (and an eye on the extended forecast) I can say that spring is already on the way! Pitchers and catchers report next week!

Leaf Collection

Despite the fact that spring is right around the corner, for many of us autumn is still sitting on our curbs. The leaf collection this past year has been abysmal. In our SMD two over arching failings are evident:

1. DPW crews failed to collect bagged leaves

2. DPW crews didn’t collect just about any leaves north of Q St.

To the first issue first: the messaging from the city was confusing and conflicted on the question of whether residents should bag the leaves. Some sources suggested it was ok, others said they should not be used. (This is, of course, doubly confusing since for the rest of the year, DPW always insists you bag your leaves if you want them collected).

I was advising people to not bag the leaves since the primary way that the DPW crews collect the leaves is with this massive suction tube, which doesn’t really work with bags. But, again, some messages suggested the bags were fine. And, frankly, some people have no other choice but the bag the leaves given their house configuration.

So we ended up with dozens and dozens of bagged leaves sitting on the street for months now:

The bags are not designed to survive weeks and weeks of winter weather. And as a result many are breaking open, spilling the leaves on the sidewalk.

I walked the neighborhood taking photos of each collection of bags with the goal of submitting 311 requests to have them taken away. But the process is so cumbersome and the number of bags so high that I had to give up. The ANC is pushing DPW to come back and collect the bags en masse. But if there is a group of bags by your house, it would be helpful to file a 311 request to have them removed.

Which brings me to the second failing: that they simply missed many blocks. Walking around the blocks before the first snow storm hit (and supposedly after DPW had performed the first round of leaf collection) it was clear to me that they had not come through. Here are some photos from early January:

This is clearly not a case of mixed messaging. No crews even tried to clear these blocks. As far as I can tell, no blocks north of Q St. were addressed at all.

In fairness to DPW, the snow storms can at least excuse the fact that the second phase of leaf collection is being delayed somewhat. But it is starting now and I have been pushing them to make sure they don’t miss these blocks again. And, as discussed above, we will also push them to take the bagged leaves as well.

I’ll keep you updated on this!

WMATA Bus Changes

Last month I wrote at length regarding the forthcoming radical changes to the Metrobus network. I’ve since learned that the plans have been tweaked from the ones I discussed then. Please see this article detailing all those changes. In short, the tweaks are:

• The Wisconsin Ave. line will be like the current 30 Series, with one line ending at Foggy Bottom and the other going to Union Station

• The D2 replacement will travel through Dupont more like the current route does rather than the more circuitous route that was previously proposed

• The G2 replacement will no longer go to Union Station, as had previously been proposed, but will head to Howard University (like the G2 currently does)

These are smallish tweaks, but I want to reiterate that the overall changes coming to the Metrobus network are truly transformational. If you are at all a Metrobus rider, it is imperative that you start getting familiar with the changes now. There still is no clear timeline for when the changes will be literally and figuratively rolled out, but they are likely to be introduced sometime this summer.

AT&T Construction

In December I discussed how contractors for AT&T were ripping up 33rd St. to build a new trench, despite the fact that the street was repaved just one year before. I’ve since confirmed what I suspected, that this was part of a massive project across the city. Here is a partial map of the course it is taking through Georgetown:

If you’ve travelled up Wisconsin in the middle of the day recently and been forced into one lane: this is the reason. I don’t know how far up Wisconsin they are traveling, but it is a fairly massive project, all so one other telecom can sell people Internet service.

Beyond the hassle of the construction itself, the patch job they are leaving behind is completely unacceptable. It’s coming away in some places and creates a bumpy surface everywhere. It is particularly dangerous for cyclists and other two wheel vehicles as the uneven surface is often right where they tend to travel. The contractor is supposedly coming back to perform street “restoration” starting later this month. I am trying to find out whether that simply means a better patch or a complete repaving of the block. In either event, residents will have to put up with yet another disruption as a massive for profit corporation comes back to (maybe) clean up the mess it created.

The contractor is supposed to be at the ANC meeting Monday night and will hopefully answer these questions and give a better idea of what timeframe they are working with.

ANC Meeting

Speaking of that ANC meeting, it will take place at Visitation next Monday night at 6:30 PM (with a Zoom option). One additional item I want to highlight is that request from Romania for embassy parking along Wisconsin Ave. The eastern European country has acquired the former Long and Foster building at Wisconsin and Reservoir. It is in the process of converting it to provide consular services (the actual embassy will likely remain at Sheridan Circle). They are requesting about 2-3 spaces on Wisconsin to be reserved for embassy parking during business hours. I am disinclined to support this request since the building already has about ten parking spaces. Parking along Wisconsin this block does not normally get super filled up, but that’s all the more reason that they don’t need special treatment. It will be discussed at the meeting.

The agenda can be found here.

Have a great February and just remember that spring will be here soon!