Interview with Matt Abbruzzese, Candidate for ANC1B District 12

This is a written interview with Matt Abbruzzese, who is standing for election for Commissioner on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B/U Street. Abbruzzese is seeking to represent district 12. District 12 represents the most heavily commerical section of U Street. It is bounded by S Street NW to the South between 14th Street and 12th Street, then 13th Street to the east, V Street to the North, and then follows Florida Avenue, U Street, and 14th Street to the east (see lower left of map below).

District 1B12 is in the lower left corner

Abbruzzese's opponent in the election is John Green. Read an SALM interview with Green here.

ANC1B, in addition to U Street, includes all or part of the following neighborhoods: Columbia Heights, LeDroit Park, Pleasant Plains, Shaw, University Heights, and lower Georgia Avenue.
Don't know your ANC district? There are two search tools: one by the DC government, the other by Code for DC.

-- Where can potential voters go to find out more information about you?

My campaign website is a fantastic place for voters living in single member district 1B12 to check out. For quick hits about what’s happening in our community, voters should follow my Twitter handle and Facebook page.

-- What will they find when they get there?

My background, my passions, and why I want to work for the people in 1B12, ANC 1B, and the District as a whole. Potential voters will learn that my vision for the U Street corridor neighborhood is one in which increased community engagement achieves more, and how the non-negotiable values I lead by will guide us there.

-- What sets you apart from the other candidate?

My passion, energy, and strong commitment to excellence in public service will bring the integrity and accountability that ANC 1B needs from its Commissioners, and the effective, inclusive leadership that residents deserve from their elected officials.

Through volunteer efforts with ANC 1B as Chair of the Planning and Economic Development Committee and member of the Transportation Committee, I have become very knowledgeable of the local government process, and which policies and programs our next ANC for 1B12 should recognize based on the priorities reflective of our community. My service to the community doesn't end there. I’m a tenant advocacy leader who effectively fights for tenant rights and affordable housing in my capacity as President and co-founder of Geno Baroni Advocacy. From my role as an officer for the Ward One Democrats organization to involvement with civic affairs as member of two local neighborhood associations, my commitment to community service leadership and proven record certainly speaks for itself.

-- What is the biggest problem in the neighborhood?

As the neighborhood continues to develop—both with new residential units and as a destination night spot—it’s essential for us to ensure that a good neighborhood quality of life is maintained for long-term and new residents alike. 1B12 is the most active of all ANC 1B’s SMD’s for zoning, liquor, and development - it is the heart of the U Street Corridor. Over the next several years we will continue to face challenges in the areas of economic development, use of public space owned by DC, on-street parking, housing affordability, crime, trash collection, and balancing growth with preservation of the cultural diversity, history, and character of our Historic U Street Corridor neighborhood.

The following initiatives are necessary to explore together to maintain or improve the quality of life in our neighborhood community:

Bringing daytime jobs to the corridor;

Building stronger relationships with agencies to address the severe issues of trash build up on a weekly basis through improving trash collection efforts;

Promoting U Street as a tourist destination (i.e. – creating a cultural destination at the African American War Memorial and Grimke School with museum, dance, and the performing arts);

Lobbying key stakeholders to bring lodging for guests and visitors to stay overnight (for business, culture, university, hospitals); and

Balancing residential development in the northern part of ANC 1B.

-- What, if anything, should be changed concerning on-street parking for residents of your district?

There’s a need for better coordination and transparency related to the issuing of permits for construction, loading zones, and valet parking. Such a process must include the impacted ANC’s and take public safety, community input, multimodal transportation in concentrated areas (on-street loading and unloading, buses, bikes, two way restricted lane traffic), and valet stands into consideration. ANC 1B should continue working with DDOT to establish a transparent process of notification for all applications, schedules, and actions. The ANC as a whole should collaborate with DDOT, DGS, and all other DC Government agencies necessary to make parking garages available during evening and weekend hours. Another proposal to consider is requiring anyone from outside the neighborhood who parks on the street to use the pay-by-phone system (and provide alternative modes of payment for those who can’t pay from their mobile device) to pay a rate for parking. This concept may balance supply and demand, and should be considered as a potential pilot program administered by DDOT in the near future.

-- What’s your position on the new attempts to limit density in residential neighborhoods? 

Zoning regulations should be revisited to preserve the character of neighborhoods and to ensure we are zoned correctly. The R-4 Zone is a topic of heated debate. By preserving the original intent of R-4 we may actually expand family housing of 2+ bedroom dwellings. Some areas that are currently zoned R-4 may better be rezoned as R-5 to allow for block-wide high density structures. Most important is to ensure we can maintain the character of DC’s Historic U Street Corridor neighborhood and to provide housing options for everyone at all socioeconomic levels.

-- What is your opinion, generally speaking, about liquor license protests by the ANC?

The ANC1B ABC Committee has done an outstanding job engaging the community and bringing parties together. ANC1B was critiqued for a quorum at the July meeting. The end result was one protest was denied and it was for a minor issue of a smoking area and tardiness in submitting letters of support from adjacent neighbors. I think the question raises a bigger question of ABRA and their consideration of the ANCs and community groups in protests. The only power of the ANC is the protest, settlement agreement, and enforcement and when those are not upheld by ABRA the citizens lose confidence in the regulatory agencies.

-- Is there anything I should have asked you but didn’t?

What will you do to increase community engagement?

My main focus is to promote community engagement to address the priorities reflective of our community. Three initiatives I plan to introduce as ANC 1B12 are:

Host community forums during daytime hours over the weekend to include and appropriately accommodate the needs of the elderly population living in 1B12;

Host public meetings to be held every couple of months for the residents and businesses; and

Leverage technologies to accelerate innovation and transparency to increase awareness in a timely manner.

End of interview

The election will take place on Tuesday, November 4. Thanks to all candidates for responding to my questions.

1415 T Street: "This Is Essentially a Pop-up"

A committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle, at a meeting on September 3, heard a proposal to add an extra story on the roof of a row house at 1415 T Street NW. This was the first step on a long bureaucratic journey for the project -- after this meeting, it will be presented to the full ANC, and then to DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). After that, it will have to do the entire process over again -- first committee, then full ANC, before appearing before DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

1415 T Street

The plan is to add a penthouse and two roof decks to the top of the existing house. Architect Patrick Brian Jones told ANC2B's Zoning, Preservation and Development (ZPD) Committee called the addition a "small roof structure" and said that it would not be visible from any point on the sidewalk of T Street, because it will be set back more than 20 feet from the front of the building.

Commissioner Noah Smith (district 09) asked if the planned addition would be a condo unit. Jones said that it would be.

"This is essentially a pop up," Smith said.

"Yes," Jones said.

1415 T Street is in Smith's ANC district.

The project has a letter of support from an apartment building abutting the property to the east. This building is taller than the existing row house.

The abutting neighbors to the west are Ramon Estrada and Elwyn Ferris, who are, respectively, President of the Dupont Circle Citizens Association and Secretary of the Shaw Dupont Citizens Alliance. Both of these groups pay close attention to development in the area.

The home owner said she had sent an email to Estrada the previous week, but had heard nothing yet. In the absence of any reply, she was considering going ahead with the process.

Members of committee told the homeowner that Estrada and Ferris would almost definitely have an opinion about the plan and advised them not to proceed any further until hearing from them.

Commissioner Smith said he would recommend that the ANC support the project, because it was not visible from the sidewalk across the street and it was not out of character for the neighborhood. However, Smith's support was conditional upon the applicants providing evidence they had consulted with all the neighbors, including Estrada and Ferris, and that there were no objections.

Presenters also told the committee that the project will need to go before the BZA because the building is presently "non-conforming" (i.e., in violation of zoning code) with regard to lot occupancy, meaning the footprint of the building is larger than that envisioned by zoning regulations.

This case may be considered at the next meeting of ANC2B, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, September 10, at the Brookings Institution (1775 Massachusetts Avenue).

The project needs to go before the HPRB because it is located in the U Street Historic District. The HPRB case number is 14-633. It is scheduled to be heard by the HPRB within the next month.

1415 T Street has a placard from the HPRB on its front door, notifying the public of the proposed project. This is the first time I have seen HPRB placarding in ANC2B. Read more about placarding for historical preservation projects here and here.

Liquor License for Celebrity Chef Cedric Maupillier at City Market at O

At its regular monthly meeting September 2, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw unanimously endorsed the request for a restaurant-category liquor license for Convival, the new restaurant by celebrity chef Cedric Maupillier. The restaurant will open at City Market at O, at the corner of 8th and O Streets NW)

City Market at O (image credit below)

Restaurateur and co-owner Saied Azali appeared before ANC6E to support the request.

Azali told ANC6E Maupillier was a long-time fixture on the DC restaurant scene, working first at Central (1001 Pennsylvania Avenue) and the now-closed Citronelle. Azali and Maupillier are currently co-owners of the highly-praised Mintwood (1813 Columbia Road). In 2013, Maupillier was nominated Best New Chef by Food and Wine Magazine and also won a James Beard Award.

Azali told the ANC that one-quarter of the area of the restaurant will be devoted to the kitchen and "the emphasis is on food", including affordable "health food" (including vegan) and "portion control". The restaurant will have an outdoor serving area.

Azali said Convival will be the first restaurant that Maupillier owns, although online information says that Maupillier co-owns Mintwood with Azali.

ANC6E Chair Alexander Padro (Commissioner for district 01) said a standard settlement agreement for the area had been negotiated with the owners of Convival. This included standard stipulations for the outdoor area, i.e., that there would be no music played and outdoor service would end at midnight.

The restaurant will be Padro's ANC district.

Azali also said there would be underground parking below the nearby Giant supermarket for clients with cars, but the restaurant wish to be primarily a neighborhood place that people could walk to.

"Neighbors are the most important thing for us," Azali said.

Convival has previously been reported on by Washingtonian magazine and blog BadWolf DC.

The liquor-license request will now move on to DC's Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) for final approval.

(image credit: citymarketato.blogspot.com, image marked as "labelled for reuse" on Google Image search)

Cheater's Guide to Dream City -- Part 15 (Knife in the Heart)

This is the fifteenth installment of a series (see the first installment here) summarizing the 1994 book Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C.by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood. This book has recently been republished as an ebook and a paper book. HBO has plans to use material from the book to make a movie about the life of Marion Barry.

Chapter 14: Knife in the Heart

This is the chapter where Marion Barry is caught on video smoking crack at the Vista Hotel.

The operation that eventually snagged Barry started with former Barry colleague Charles Lewis, who was facing a potential 200 years in prison on drug charges in DC and the US Virgin Islands.

"Federal officers worried that someone would try to kill Lewis in the District, so they moved him to a more secure jail in Alexandria, Virginia, right across the Potomac River, and to [a secure FBI building in] Quantico for serious questioning" (Kindle location 4420).

"The prosecutor and FBI agents participated, but the [DC] police officers controlled the session. Lewis described his first trips with Barry to the Virgin Islands back in 1986, when they first used cocaine together. He gave them fresh details of Barry's visit in 1988 as part of the government-to-government personnel project, and he described the parade of women that he brought to the mayor's room" (l. 4435).

Lewis also identified Barry's longtime loved and cocaine supplier, Hazel Diane "Rasheeda" Moore, from a photograph. Moore had left the DC area and was living under greatly reduced circumstances with her children in New York and Los Angeles, addicted to alcohol and drugs. The FBI couldn't find her, so they put out a warrant.

On December 31, 1988, Moore was arrested in Los Angeles for driving under the influence of alcohol. FBI agents travelled to Los Angeles to speak with Moore.

"They gave her a choice: Cooperate with the investigation or face at minimum a perjury chrage, which was enough to send her to prison on a felony count that would probably cost her the custody of her children. Moore made no immediate decision, but ... agents brought her and the children back to Washington..." (l. 4505).

Barry's behavior was increasingly erratic, while insisting he was clean and sober. Some friends and allies tried to convince Barry not to run, but Barry planned to announce his intention to seek re-election on January 21, 1989 1990.

At the same time, Moore agreed to act as bait in an FBI setup to trap Barry. It was originally scheduled for January 15 -- Martin Luther King's birthday. Concerned about appearances, the FBI postponed the sting until January 18.

In the early evening of January 18, Barry was trying to convince a wealthy attorney to back his campaign. He received a phone call. Barry told the attorney he had to be at a political event that evening. But the caller was Moore, calling from room 727 of the Vista Hotel.

Barry arrived at room 727 at 7:35pm. In one adjointing room were FBI agents; in the other, technical equipment. He had said he didn't want to come to the room, but was eventually persuaded.

"Moore kept steering the conversation to drugs, but she was under orders not to specifically say anything about drugs unless Barry brought it up; Barry was focusing on her body..." (l. 4603).

"A minute left [Barry] said he didn't 'have anything' and asked Moore, 'How about you?' " (l. 4605).

An FBI agent posing as a drug dealer came with some crack cocaine. Barry said he didn't smoke crack, but, after several nerve-wracking minutes for the FBI, Barry changed his mind.

"In the back of his mind, Barry may have thought that he was being watched. But now he was breaking the crack into little pieces by the light of the table lamp. Moore coaxed him and coached him. They jousted and hustled each other for a full three minutes. Finally, he took the pipe and the lighter, put the pipe to his lips, lit the crack, took a long, slow pull, and drew the crack smoke into his lungs" (l. 4640).

At 8:27pm, Barry called for his personal security detail. Before they could arrive, the FBI burst in and arrested Barry.

"An agent told Barry of his right to remain silent and talk to a lawyer."

" 'Yeah,' he said. 'I know all that'."

" 'Bitch set me up,' he said, interrupting the recitation of his rights. He said it again and again like a mantra, as if understanding it could make it go away" (l. 4664).

The media found out almost immediately. One of the first reporters on the scene was Tom Sherwood, co-writer of this book. "But no one outside the hotel was talking" (l. 4675).

Up in room 727, police were talking to Barry.

"Standing now at the edge of the bed, Barry could fit everyman's stereotype, a caricature to fit any prejudice. For the white racist, he was a typical black man, dumb enough to walk into a trip because he couldn't resist sex and drugs. For many African Americans, he was a black leader hounded and investigated, and finally humiliated by a racist white society. For those who could see beyond the caricature, he was the sad civil rights leader who had risen to political power, and by his own devices, squandered his opportunity" (l. 4697).

"A few minutes later, amid the crackling of police radios, [the police] led Barry out the door, down a service elevator, out the hotel's basement door, and into a blue FBI Chevy Suburban with smoked windows for the thirteen-block ride. At the FBI offices, the mayor had his urine taken, his blood sampled, and his hair snipped to check for the levels of cocaine. The operation was so quietly done that even many hotel employees did not realize what had happened. But within the next hour, WRC-TV broadcast news of the arrest. Camera and reporters from the local, national, and international news media all arrived at the Vista to stun the city and country with the shattering news" (l. 4711).

See the unedited 87-minute video of Barry's visit to the Vista Hotel and arrest here.

Cheater's Guide to Dream City continues next week

Further installments will appear on successive Fridays. All posts will be cross-posted on the ad-hoc "Cheater's Guide to Dream City" blog.

Full disclosure: I have a commercial relationship with Amazon. I will receive a very small portion of the money people spend after clicking on an Amazon link on this site.

This is a great book and well worth reading in its entirety.

Interview with Daniel Warwick, Candidate for ANC2B District 02

This is a written interview with Daniel Warwick, who is standing for election as a Commissioner on Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle. Warwick seeks to represent district 02. This district is bordered by Florida Avenue on the west, Connecticut Avenue on the east, O Street on the south, and R Street on the north (see map).

Warwick's opponent is Jonathan Padget. An interview with Padget was published yesterday.

Don't know your ANC district? There are two search tools: one by the DC government, the other by Code for DC.

-- What is your daytime job? Will your daytime job experience help you as an ANC Commissioner?

My daytime job is on an analytics team at Navy Federal Credit Union. I help the real estate lending business unit identify, develop, and test new processes, and help the business run more efficiently. My day job is data driven and I hope to bring a data driven ethos and way of approaching problems to the ANC as a Commissioner, as well as advocating for data driven decisions in the DC government. I am also a student at The George Washington University where I have learned what it means to be a student commissioner from the three current ANC 2A student commissioners. Talking with the commissioners in ANC 2A as well as attending their meetings give me a unique insight into how ANC 2B can run our meetings to better incorporate neighbors and the community.

-- Is there any single ANC-related issue you feel needs more attention? What issue, and why?

Each of the commissioners on the ANC cares a lot about different issues and become experts on different subject areas and I hope to serve on the Zoning Preservation and Development committee and become well versed in working with neighbors to go through the DC development bureaucracy. More importantly, I believe a commissioner’s advocacy role to the District government is only as strong as our ethos of community involvement. Each ANC operates meetings differently, but I would like to see an increased emphasis on listening to the public during meetings rather than the public listening to commissioners. During the July meeting, commissioners talked a lot about the St. Thomas church development before listening to the neighbors on Church Street. I would have run the meeting with a short presentation from the developer, put neighbors and the developer in conversation, and then have commissioners introduce resolutions after neighbors were able to speak their mind. It’s a small symbol, but I believe commissioners should be in conversation with the public rather than the current system of commissioners in conversation with each other and inviting the public to speak at the end. I am committed to making sure meetings end with everyone in the room feeling respected rather than angry because commissioners talked too much for their voices to be heard.

-- The West Dupont liquor-license moratorium area is largely in your district. It will expire during the term of the next Commissioner. What is your position on its renewal?

Twenty years ago, the West Dupont liquor license moratorium area was created to limit the number of liquor selling establishments in our neighborhood, particularly on the P Street corridor.  The moratorium was last visited in 2011 when the ANC began relaxing the moratorium with the intent of seeing if it could go away this year. The moratorium zone calls out different types of restrictions for different types of liquor selling establishments and the establishment type which can cause the most noise and negative community impact is CT/DT (tavern licensees). Over the past three years, two tavern licensees have left the moratorium area and have not been replaced by new clubs. Right now, the moratorium is more about hindering commerce than protecting neighbors. Last month, the Heurich House came to the ANC to request a letter stating they are not part of the zone. If they were across the street, the museum would not have been able to apply for a license because the special events license they are requesting was not in place twenty years ago.  The moratorium has been around for twenty years, but it does not stop bad owners. When the old owners of Marrakesh Palace would not respond to the community, the ANC protested their liquor renewal application to scale back their hours, essentially forcing a change in ownership so they became more responsive to the community. The protest of Marrakesh Palace was reached independently of the West Dupont moratorium zone and is an example of using a scalpel to protect the community from the negative impacts of liquor selling establishments rather than a bludgeon to keep liquor selling like it was in 1994. I believe in using scalpels, not bludgeons, and will work to end the moratorium while being proactive in dealing with bad owners and negotiating settlement agreements for neighbors and with owners.

-- What can be done to make parking less of a hassle in the Dupont area?
 

Parking is a very potent and personal problem for everyone in the District, but is especially important in our Dupont Circle neighborhood where so many people live, work, and play. If the goal of making parking less of a hassle is that everybody is always be able to park on the street near their home, we will never reach that goal. The District government can do some things on the margins like make certain streets have one side resident only parking, but that only shifts the problem to the next street.  The basic fact of parking is that if you want to be able to always have a place to park with 100% certainty, you need to pay for a spot in a private garage. To me, making parking less of a hassle means making sure that if you want to park on the street you know there will be a spot near where you want to park. To do that will require trying new things, testing if they reduce the hassle, and then implementing solutions. The ANC’s Transportation and Public Infrastructure committee is working with the Department of Transportation to make the Dupont Circle neighborhood a testing place for innovation and I look forward to trying new things in our neighborhood to alleviate the parking issue. Even though my workplace in Vienna offers free parking, I do not own a car because I do not want to pay for a spot in a garage and parking on O Street is not consistent enough that I know I will always find a spot after work. We live in a vibrant neighborhood which requires making choices about the amenities we chose to access and for many residents—including me—that means not having a car.

-- Much of ANC2B is in one historic district or another. How can the DC government improve in its attempts to strike the right balance between historic preservation and the rights of property owners?

The DC government should work with developers to establish basic guidelines and principles for what changes will keep historic neighborhoods historic while also responding to the needs of property owners. The role of the ANC in this process is to make sure neighbors know what’s going on and working as a forum for neighborhood suggestions to the owner before the owner gets to the Historic Preservation Board. I believe the process should be less bureaucratic and tedious, but ANC commissioners can only truly impact the community engagement portion of development. No one on the ANC is an architect or historic preservationist, and the job is not to fight about the intricacies of historic preservation law. Rather, I believe the ANC needs to work within the guidelines of the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and offer a holistic perspective on developments to HPRB. We can help residents frame their language to appeal to HPRB code, but our primary job is community engagement, not the intricacies of HPRB regulatory code.

-- The DC government is considering new regulations to limit conversions of single-family homes into multi-unit dwellings. How will this impact the Dupont area? Do you think these new regulations are a good idea?

Limiting the conversion of single-family homes into multi-unit dwellings will reduce the property value of single-family homes which have not been converted to multi-unit dwellings and will raise the price to enter our neighborhood from an apartment unit to a single-family home. I do not support either of these objectives. As long as a conversion to a multi-unit dwelling passes zoning regulations and historic preservation guidelines, it is not my position to say an owner can't sell to a developer or that a developer can't develop a dwelling as they wish. Thousands of people are moving into the District and a lot of them want to live in Dupont Circle. We should not make it harder for them to live here by cutting off a supply of multi-family dwellings.

-- How are you different from the other candidate in the race?

I am uniquely qualified to be the Commissioner for 2B02 because I already know current commissioners, how the commission operates, and I understand the limitations of the position. This past year I served as the public policy fellow for the ANC and helped start the Transportation and Public Infrastructure committee. Working for the ANC, I saw how it can be better internally in order to focus on the mission of serving the neighborhood. After the resignation of former Commissioner Kevin O’Connor, the ANC unanimously appointed me liquor liaison for 2B02 and I have worked with the India Gate (P St and Hopkins) and Mission (20th Street between Q and Connecticut) on their liquor license applications. The ANC does not have a budget big enough to fix every problem in our neighborhood, but it can act as a connector between DC government staff and neighbors and Commissioners can and should provide guidance to neighbors on how to best deal with the vast bureaucracy of DC. I have worked with staff in the Department of Transportation and the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration and am eager to hit the ground running in January if elected.

For more information about Daniel Warwick, please see his web site and Twitter feed.

The election will take place on Tuesday, November 4. Thanks to all candidates for responding to my questions.

Interview with Jonathan Padget, Candidate for ANC2B District 02

This is a written interview with Jonathan Padget, who is standing for election as a Commissioner on Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle. Padget seeks to represent district 02. This district is bordered by Florida Avenue on the west, Connecticut Avenue on the east, O Street on the south, and R Street on the north (see map).

Padget's opponent is Daniel Warwick. Read an interview with Warwick here.

Don't know your ANC district? There are two search tools: one by the DC government, the other by Code for DC.

-- What is your daytime job? Will your daytime job experience help you as an ANC Commissioner?

I am an account executive with a progressive public relations firm that specializes in nonprofit organizations. My career keeps me attuned to issues — such as education, health care reform and economic justice for women and families — that provide important context for any kind of work that supports vibrant communities.

-- Is there any single ANC-related issue you feel needs more attention? What issue, and why?

I come to the ANC race out of an interest in how settlement agreements can be optimally used to promote neighborhood quality of life, but I am eager to consider the full spectrum of issues that are relevant to ANC 2B.

-- The West Dupont liquor-license moratorium area is largely in your district. It will expire during the term of the next Commissioner. What is your position on its renewal?

Having just been nominated in August to serve on ANC 2B’s ABRA Policy Committee as a neighborhood representative for west P Street, I am still learning about the moratorium and look forward to hearing the community input that will be necessary to shape ANC 2B’s moratorium strategy.

-- What can be done to make parking less of a hassle in the Dupont area?

Parking will always be a challenge in an urban, increasingly dense neighborhood like Dupont. Thankfully, we enjoy a wealth of transportation options that decrease reliance on parking, and I would love to see an expansion of resources such as car sharing, bike sharing and Circulator service.

-- Much of ANC2B is in one historic district or another. How can the DC government improve in its attempts to strike the right balance between historic preservation and the rights of property owners?

Historic preservation is an important consideration in community development. When there are instances of imbalance that call for ANC 2B’s involvement, I would be happy to consider those situations case by case. 

-- The DC government is considering new regulations to limit conversions of single-family homes into multi-unit dwellings. How will this impact the Dupont area? Do you think these new regulations are a good idea?

Neighborhood vitality generally benefits from increased residential density, so I favor policy that encourages it.

-- How are you different from the other candidate in the race?

My history as a Washingtonian goes back nearly two decades, and my husband and I have been Dupont homeowners for six years now, so I have a strong first-hand perspective on where the community has been, as well as a vested interest in its future.

For further information about Jonathan Padget, please see his web site, Twitter feed, and Facebook page.

The election will take place on Tuesday, November 4. Thanks to all candidates for responding to my questions.

Spotted in the Wild: Historic Preservation Placarding

The first example -- that I have seen -- of public placarding of a pending historic preservation case has appeared on a house at 1518 8th Street NW in Shaw.

The placard (see photo left) gives the case number, the applicant name, and a very brief description (five words, in this case) of the project.

DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) announced in March that a one-year "trial run" of the placarding requirement would begin at the end of April -- see SALM blog post of March 28. At that time, an HPRB representative said the placards would resemble the orange placards required on properties that were getting a hearing before DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

However, there are some differences. BZA placards give the scheduled date and time of the hearing where the property will be discussed. HPRB's placard states that "[t]his project may be scheduled for an upcoming public hearing", without giving an indication of when that might be.

BZA placards also show more detail concerning the nature of the zoning-related request.

For those interested in further information, the placard has a shortened URL (tinyurl.com/887zoy8). This URL, the placard says, will allow the viewer to know the name and contact information of the person assigned to this case, and information about upcoming public meetings. This URL leads to HPRB's home page. There are no instructions on HPRB's home page that might allow a lay person to easily figure out who is the person assigned to this case, or to find out if, or when, the case will be the subject of a public hearing.

The placard also says project plans are not available on line. Interested parties must phone or write, or come down to the office during regular business hours.

1518 8th Street is located in the Shaw Historic District. It is also located in district 01 of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw. ANC6E has a meeting scheduled for tonight, Tuesday, September 2. Zoning relief for several nearby properties is on the agenda for tonight, but the historic preservation request for this property is not on the agenda for tonight's meeting.

Publicly-available information shows that 1518 8th Street was built in 1900 and was sold for $890,000 in November 2012.