Blog Archives
Advisory Neighborhood Commission Meeting March 8th
The next Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) meeting for 5D will be held on March 8th starting at 7:00 pm. The meeting, covering Trinidad, Ivy City/Union Market, and Carver Langston neighborhoods, will be held at the 5th District Police Substation at 1805 Bladensburg Road.
The agenda (see attached link) includes zoning issues for Holbrook Terrace and Gallaudet University, security camera rebate program, DC Public Charter School Board, community concerns and many other topics of interest to our community.
Upcoming Events in February
Trinidad Craft Salon: This first of three crafting salons will be held this evening, February 8th, at 7 pm at Capital Fringe (1358 Florida Avenue). See our previous post for additional details and come nurture your creative side.
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5D Meeting: The next ANC5D meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 9th at 7 pm. Meetings are at the 5th District Police Station on Bladensburg Road. The agenda is posted on the ANC5D website. There are two very important items for development variances on the agenda that impact Trinidad. These are the properties at 1258 and 1264 Holbrook Terrance NE.
Trinidad Neighborhood Association Meeting: February 23rd is the next scheduled TNA meeting. Presenters include the Department of Employment Services (DOES) covering jobs and job training programs, the Metropolitan Police Department, and representatives of the Mayor’s and Councilmember’s offices. The meeting will be held at 7 pm at the Trinidad Recreation Center (1310 Childress Street NE).
Ward 5 Young Professionals Networking Mixer: This event is being held at Union Social (100 Florida Ave NE) from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on Thursday, February 25th. This event is being organized by Councilmember McDuffie’s office.
Update on Liquor License Requests
TNA held a community meeting on December 17th to hear from two businesses that are in process of requesting changes to liquor licenses. Approximately 25 people attended, including Sarah Fashbaugh, Community Relations Officer at ABRA, the owner of Mike’s Market/Trinidad Market, a representative of Rose’s Queen Liquor, and three of the ANC 5D Commissioners including Commission Yvonne Buggs, Keisha Shropshire, and Adam Roberts.
There was a lengthy discussion with questions from the community on the process to obtain a liquor license, community input/concerns/protests, community settlement agreements, and laws and regulations. Ms. Fashbaugh provided the number for the ABRA complaint hotline (202-329-6347). This number should be used for issues that ABRA can address by law or to enforce a specific settlement agreement such as sales of ice cups, single sales if prohibited by a specific business, sales to minors, opening or closing times different than approved hours, trash outside the business, etc. Other issues may fall under the purview of the DC Police Department or city services, such as trash and persons blocking the sidewalk, and should be reported to 911 or 311 accordingly. Additional information on ABRA can be found on their website.
Both businesses presented to the community what they request to change in their license. In the case of Mike’s Market or Trinidad Market, they are seeking a new Class A Liquor License. Rose’s Queen was requesting to add Sunday hours (9 am to 7 pm) and to open two hours earlier and close two hours later Monday through Saturday. Community members at the meeting expressed opposition and/or strong reservation about both changes for a number of reasons including but not limited to noise and security issues as well as trash from patrons of the establishments.
On December 18th, the ANC 5D Commission met in a special session to review and vote on these licenses prior to the filing deadline for protests. They unanimously voted to protest both licenses. The representative from Mike’s Market/Trinidad Market was not at the meeting for discussion. The representative of Rose’s Queen Liquors noted that they were retracting their request and would resubmit a revised one to ABRA with a request for Sunday hours but not for extended hours during the week as in the previous request. It was noted during the meeting that the 5th District Police Commander may also be submitting a protest in the case of Rose’s Queen request for extended hours or additional days of liquor sales. This special meeting can be viewed on YouTube.
Any adjacent neighbor to a business or group of five citizens can also submit a protest letter per guidelines on the ABRA website. Residents can also contact Council Members to request that issues with loitering be addressed by the City Council. Currently there are no anti-loitering laws and that is cited by residents, police, and business owners as a factor in trash, police calls for service to address disturbances, and crime.
TNA hosts and sponsors discussions and activities aimed at:
· Building community;
· Promoting harmony among all cultural, racial, and economic groups;
· Maintaining cleaner streets, sidewalks, and alleys;
· Improving utilization of public and private properties within the neighborhood;
· Reducing neighborhood crime and increasing individuals’ sense of security; and
· Helping neighbors represent their interests in front of DC government agencies.
We appreciate the lively discussion at our meeting and the interest in issues related to these businesses in our community. We hope for more of the same in 2016!
ANC 5D November Meeting (11/10)
The Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting will be next Tuesday. Details, agenda, and minutes from the October meeting are posted below. This agenda looks very different from past meetings and outstanding business issues have been moved to the earlier part of the meeting.
___________________________________________________________
ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 5D
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT
OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
1805 BLADENSBURG ROAD, N.E.
WASHINGTON, DC 20002
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015
7:00 PM
ANC 5D 10-13-15 Meeting Video
Did you miss the A5D Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) meeting yesterday?
You can catch up on local politics and watch it on YouTube. There are four videos with sections of the meeting. The agenda is posted below so you can identify specific segments that may be of interest to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LM5xVzXa9Q Starts at the beginning of the agenda with call to order and roll call.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usCeAFQxNM Continues with presentation in process by Thornton Development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDUlLHRxEHA Continues with presentation in process by Pepco on the merger with Exelon at the beginning of this section and concludes with brief discussion on minutes and treasurer’s report (which were not addressed or voted upon).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49FBhS5AExk This starts with discussion on the past due phone bills (over $2,000) and the meeting devolves into fighting and abrupt adjournment while the Council Member’s Office representative and Mayor’s Office representative try to convey information to the public. Citizen Concerns and Announcements were not addressed.
The outstanding issue of the Chair attempting to move funds from the bank account was not addressed at the meeting. That is unfortunate as the Office of the ANC representatives were present at the meeting to observe the process and procedures and could have addressed citizen questions on this topic.
Agenda for the October 10th meeting and minutes from the September 2015 meeting.
ANC Recall UPDATE Round 2
News has been coming fast on the ANC 5D recall efforts. This morning ANC 5D03 Commissioner Adam Roberts provided an update on Twitter about the recall petition against him. The deadline to submit petitions was met but the DC Board of Elections determined that the required number of signatures was not met. His post is below.
October ANC Meeting
The next 5D Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) meeting will be held on October 13, 2015 at 7 pm. The meeting will be held at the 5th District Police Station located at 1805 Bladensburg Rd NE. While the meeting has been announced, the agenda has not been conveyed by the Chair. We will provide information on the agenda if that is available from the ANC prior to the meeting.
Minutes from the September 8, 2015 meeting were distributed via neighborhood list serves with the meeting announcement. The minutes can be accessed from the link below. Please note that the email referenced in the minutes (see link below) under the Treasurer’s Report section was from the Auditor’s office concerning a Commissioner, not named in the message, that was visiting bank branches to try and move funds from the ANC account. The Auditor’s Office noted that they froze the bank account and would keep the ANC checkbook until the matter is resolved. This potential theft, abuse, or misuse of ANC funds should be of concern to all 5D residents. Per the email read in the meeting, the banks would not allow the transfer of these public funds as the account cannot be accessed by one individual (two signatures required for transactions) nor can they be moved by one individual. The Chair noted in the meeting that this information came to light in an abuse of power by the Office of the ANC and she has filed charges with the Attorney General as a result but she was not concerned that someone tried to access and move funds as noted by the bank. Hopefully at the meeting on October 13th there will be discussion on resolution of this troubling incident or series of events.
September+8+Meeting+Minutes-+Draft
ANC5D September meeting video can be accessed here. The section on the attempt to move funds from the account begins at around minute 21. This is in the 3rd video of the meeting. You can watch the entire meeting (five total videos) if interested. Part 4 of the meeting includes discussion of an ongoing issue with past due phone bills. ANC5D pays for phone bills on at least two unpublished phone numbers for certain Commissioners. Bills from January to present, for over $2,000, have not been shared with the Treasurer.
A previous version of this was published during editing. Apologies for the inconvenience.
UPDATE: Zoning Cases on Bladensburg and Montello Ave NE
There are three updates to zoning cases for Trinidad properties that were scheduled in the September 15, 2015 hearing of the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).
- The review of parking variance for the proposed dialysis facility on Bladensburg Road was delayed until October 20th. This is case 19004.
- Review of the parking variance for the Thornton Development property at the corner of Florida and Montello Ave NE was delayed until October 27th. This is case 19061.
- Case 19062 for parking variance on the Thornton Development property at 1112 Montello Ave NE, between Eli’s Carry Out and the alley, was reviewed and approved by BZA. Thornton Development requested exception from the width of two standard parking spaces. The 9-unit building has to have 5 parking spaces to meet requirements. Based on lot size, 5 spaces only fit if 2 spaces are sized for compact cars to save 1 foot and 3 inches of space. Interesting points of discussion from the publicly available video of the meeting include:
- DDOT did not have objection if Thornton Development also installed 3 long-term bike racks and 1 short-term bike rack. They agreed to do so.
- ANC 5D did not submit a letter or attend the hearing. The project had been discussed in previous ANC 5D06 Single Member District meetings. There was discussion on ANC 5D, the current “situation with internal conflict”, and difficulties of getting zoning cases on the Chair’s agenda. The Zoning Chair also noted that “They are having some serious issues in ANC 5D.” The discussion continued and the case was voted on without input from ANC 5D.
- There was opposition from a resident in the 1100 block of K Street NE who cited Zone 6 parking issues. He noted that he has had to park as far as three blocks from his house as Maryland residents park on their streets, clients of H Street businesses park on their streets, and the additional parking pressure coming from new condos being built on Florida Ave NE in Zone 6 and Zone 5 will exacerbate the problem. He requested that ANC 6A be consulted on this issue with DDOT and BZA and that the case be delayed until such time and then heard in conjunction with BZA Case 19061. Mr. Anthony Hood, Chair of the Zoning Commission, noted that there has never been an issue with ANC 6A weighing in on projects that border two ANCs in the past. Mr. Lloyd Jordan, BZA Chair, noted that they would continue with the hearing as scheduled. What is important to note here is that ANC 5D, when better placed to react to zoning issues in the future, should also be consulted on projects in the neighborhood across Florida Ave NE.
The transcript of the hearing and other documents related to the BZA cases can be found on the Office of Zoning website. Case numbers cited above can be used to search for documents related to these specific cases.
Did you Miss the ANC5D Meeting this Week?
You can catch up on what you missed at the ANC5D meeting this week as it was all caught on video. Check out Edward Milton’s ANC5D 9-8-15 Meeting playlist on YouTube. The video is broken down into 5 parts.
Trinidad residents @FrozenTropics and @ker_dc also live-tweeted from the meeting so take a look at their feed from Tuesday night.
There is some good stuff here so grab some popcorn.
Here is the agenda:
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT
ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISION 5D
Public Meeting
September 8, 2015
7-8:30 p.m.
Fifth District Police Headquarters, 1805 Bladensburg Rd NE
AGENDA
1. Greetings Chairperson Kathy Henderson
2. Roll Call Secretary Yvonne Buggs
3. Citizen’s Concerns All
4. Public Safety Report Commander William Fitzgerald/Team
5. Bladensburg Road Development Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden
6. Administrative Matters:
a) Approval of Minutes
b) Treasurer’s Report
c) Motion to Pay Phone Bill
7. Garage Addition: BZA #19061 Alex Hastings, Homeowner
8. Announcements:
a) Tommie Jones Executive Office of the Mayor
b) Laisha Dougherty Ward 5 Councilmember
c) Citizen Announcements
9. Adjournment
Commissioners:
Petagay Lewis, 5D01
Keisha Shropshire, 5D02 Treasurer
Adam Roberts, 5D03
Bernice Blacknell, 5D04 Parliamentarian
Kathy Henderson, 5D05 Chairperson
Yvonne Buggs, 5D06 Secretary
Clarence Lee, 5D07 Vice Chairperson
ALL MEETINGS CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO ROBERT’S RULES of ORDER
ANC 5D September Meeting
The agenda for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting tonight at 7 pm at the 5th District Police Substation has been published. It is copied below as distributed by email.
______________________________________________
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT
ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISION 5D
Public Meeting
September 8, 2015
7-8:30 p.m.
Fifth District Police Headquarters, 1805 Bladensburg Rd NE
AGENDA
1. Greetings Chairperson Kathy Henderson
2. Roll Call Secretary Yvonne Buggs
3. Citizen’s Concerns All
4. Public Safety Report Commander William Fitzgerald/Team
5. Bladensburg Road Development Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden
6. Administrative Matters:
a) Approval of Minutes
b) Treasurer’s Report
c) Motion to Pay Phone Bill
7. Garage Addition: BZA #19061 Alex Hastings, Homeowner
8. Announcements:
a) Tommie Jones Executive Office of the Mayor
b) Laisha Dougherty Ward 5 Councilmember
c) Citizen Announcements
9. Adjournment
Commissioners:
Petagay Lewis, 5D01
Keisha Shropshire, 5D02 Treasurer
Adam Roberts, 5D03
Bernice Blacknell, 5D04 Parliamentarian
Kathy Henderson, 5D05 Chairperson
Yvonne Buggs, 5D06 Secretary
Clarence Lee, 5D07 Vice Chairperson
ALL MEETINGS CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO ROBERT’S RULES of ORDER
Trinidad Neighborhood Association 