BCA Meeting Minutes – February 2016

Meetings

Bloomingdale Civic Association General Membership Meeting Monday, February, 22, 2016, 7:00 PM St. George’s Episcopal Church, 160 U Street NW   Minutes   Executive Board in Attendance: Teri Janine Quinn, Sherry Howard, Angela Prentice, Horacio Sierra, Derrick Jones, Bertha Holliday, and Serita Sanders. Meeting Commenced at 7:02 pm NON-VOTING ITEMS

  1. We received a Public Safety Report from Lieutenant Carlos Mejia. Comparing the dates of January 23-February 22 between 2014 and 2015, he said violent crimes were up from 8 last year to 9 this year. Property crime rates were down: 27 this month, 32 last year, for the same time period comparison. A burglary tactical unit was put in place for 10:00-6:00 PM shifts in areas 501 and 502 of Ward 5 to reduce the possibility of home burglaries. In respect to the entire calendar year differences between 2014 and 2015, there was an increase in violent crime rates from 83 to 104 and a drop in property crimes from 487 to 456. He suggested that all crimes, including package thefts, be reported to 911 so that they are recorded in the system and not just discussed on the online listserv.
  1. Sherry Howard provided the Treasurer’s Report. By the end of January there was a total of $19,188.38 in our account. Our BCA t-shirts and dog bandanas fundraiser profited us $710. There are still more t-shirts available for sale, particularly for larger sizes. Terri said we are considering submitting another order with a larger proportion of smaller-sized shirts.
  1. Terri announced that we need a new chair for the Scholarship Committee. Most of the work last year was done over the phone and via email. One of the first things that needs to be done is revising the application process and considering the recommendations made by last year’s committee. Once the information has been relayed to the BCA the next step is advertising the scholarship so we can get a good slate of candidates.
  1. Beautification Day is set for Saturday, April 23, which is also Earth Day. DC Water has voiced interest in assisting us with our efforts on that day. Chris Rodousakis said it usually starts around 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. We’d like to get the businesses and churches to help out with the tree boxes and the common areas. He suggested that we offer two shifts for people to volunteer. Teri said that Bacio’s has usually been generous enough to donate pizza for the volunteers. Teri informed us that ANC5E voted for each commissioner to have a $1,500 budget for beautification. Teri said we usually have had 20 volunteers so we want to ensure that we continue to have enough. Bertha said the event’s time frame is usually decided by the time in which DPW come to pick up trash.
  1. Teri said we are in a new financial year and that our membership has decreased from the 150s to 21 right now. We need to attract new members and retain old members. Thus, we’d like to reinvigorate the Membership Committee. Some past membership recruitment events included Membership Happy Hours.
  1. Bertha said all the Bloomingdale Village Square (BVS) materials are available on our website thanks to the work of Derrick Jones. She then showcased some of the publications of the BVS project. The latest publication of the BVS should be on the website today. The publication offers a vision of how we want to refurbish and beautify Bloomingdale’s public spaces. This project is a preview for a one-day Community Forum in March about the BVS’s goals.
  1. Teri hopes to have more information at our next meeting about how much we raised during the five-night Dine Out Bloomingdale event. She discussed what the event entails and said we raised nearly $3,000 last year, so she hopes we will have ended up raising more this year. Boundary Stone, El Camino, Pub and the People, Big Bear, and Grassroots Gourmet participated in the event.
  1. Sherry, who is our BCA representative with the DC Water/First Street Tunnel Forum, updated us on the tunnel’s progress. There will still be heavy construction through April. The next forum will be March 24, wherein they will discuss landscaping and restoration. There will also be discussion of the small-diameter water main project, which will keep 1st and V Street NW until October. 1st Street North of Channing will not open again because it will go from this project to the McMillan Project. If you have property damages due to the construction please report it to the hotline. Teri talked about DC Water’s commitment to help plant trees outside of the construction area. We suggest that we get the list of authorized vendors and then have DC Water cut the check to us so we could directly pay the vendors for the trees and their planting.
  1. Teri said she was excited about our “Get Fit Bloomingdale” effort. Chris Rodousakis talked about his and Teri’s discussion with Mayor Bowser’s office about initiating a health-related program in Bloomingdale. We could use pedometers donated from the city. We have permission from St. George’s to use their space to offer health classes. We’d like to start as soon as possible even while we work out the kinks. Chris imagines the classes beginning in mid-morning on Saturdays once people have gotten out of bed. Teri is not confident that this pedometer will be a Fitbit; it will most likely be a generic pedometer. The city wants to register 1,000,000 steps and this is a way we can participate in this city-wide program. Teri acknowledged that although this work is right up Chris’s alley, it is a big initiative so we should try it as a three-month test pilot. At 6:05 on Tuesdays and Thursdays the Big Daddy running club meets on the corner of 1st and V Street, which is a group that we can coordinate with for this effort. Bertha suggested we could also get pedometers for dogs and create a competition amongst dog owners.
  1. Mark Mueller, from the Bloomingdale Historic Preservation Coalition, which is in favor of historic designation, provided us with an update on their work. They received a grant for $5,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately-funded non-profit organization. They have a goal of $21,000. They raised $13,000 from the neighborhood.

VOTING ITEMS

  1. The 2026 North Capitol Street proposal will be delayed because the attorney for the project had a heart attack. We are thankful he survived the heart attack.
  1. We heard an RPP proposal for the 100 Block of Thomas Street NW. Teri gave us background on the different variations of RPP restrictions. She also reviewed the process that RPP requests undergo from the petitioning from residents to the approval from DDOT. This is a request to support their imitative for restricted parking on this block. Chris Ferro said this petition began several years ago because parking has become difficult even though there are two-hour parking restrictions in place. Oftentimes there are cars parked on the street with Virginia and Maryland plates. The petition has two pages’ worth of resident signatures. They are requesting for one side of the street be for residents only until Midnight. Angela said that this request is differentiated from the pain other blocks’ residents feel about a lack of parking because they are so close to the commercial corridor on Rhode Island Avenue. Bertha concurred and said this reason should be listed in the cover letter.

A motion was made by Sharon Burns to support the request. The vote was approved unanimously.

  1. We heard about the ABRA application license for 251 Florida Avenue NW. We hope to vote on it next month. We couldn’t vote on it this month because the notification placards just went up today. Matt Weiss, who owns the business asking for the license, discussed the plans for the cocktail bar that will go in the unit next to Meats & Foods. They met with all the unit owners who are excited about the bar and support it. The requested hours of inside operations will be from 11:00 am to 2:00 am Sunday-Thursday and 11:00 am to 3:30 am on Friday and Saturday. The outside operation hours will be from 11:00 am to Midnight Sunday-Thursday and from 11:00 am to 1:00 am on Friday and Saturday. Teri asked him to flyer the homes that will be most impacted by the parking needs related to the business. The working name for the bar is “Truxton Inn.” Bertha suggested they hold a meeting wherein neighbors can voice their concerns.

RETURN TO NON-VOTING ITEMS

  1. Serita updated us on the Historic Preservation Committee. There was a meeting in November where new regulations about pop-ups were discussed as well as how the permitting process works. The next public meeting will function as a workshop to address issues that people want to discuss based on their input at the meeting and via email. Serita invites people to send questions as to how Historic Preservation will impact their blocks by emailing her at BCAHistoric@gmail.com. Serita discussed the importance of property rights and how some people are opposed to historic preservation. There is a plan to have a meeting next month. Bertha clarified that it is a discussion about a historic district but not necessarily a neighborhood, so that if some areas of Bloomingdale do not want to be part of the historic district they can opt out. Angela expressed concern about the lack of education about what historic designation entails. Thus, we need to educate more people about the process and the consequences of becoming a historic district so that we can bridge the gap for those who do not know enough about the process.
  1. ANC 5E Commissioner Barnes talked about the desire of North Bloomingdale residents for the G2 bus that goes down 2nd Street and turns on Bryant Street to be restored. DDOT said a new resolution needs to be written because of the cars that currently park where the bus stop was located. The Parcel 4 hearing will be heard on March 4.

13. ANCE 5E Commissioner Holliday said she would champion the 100 Block of Thomas Street petition. She also mentioned the 1314 proposal of the McMillan project because she is concerned about the racial and economic segregation of these plans with its different entrances, elevators, and designs for different residents.

14. Teri reminded us that the McMillan Advisory Group meetings are on the second Thursday of each month. The next one will be at Inspired Learning. There is a vacancy for the BCA representation on the McMillan Advisory Group.

15. ANC 5E Commissioner Terri notified us of the death of former ANC5A Commissioner Ransom on Sunday. ANC5E meetings have moved to the Friendship Charter Public School cafeteria, which is on the corner of 1st and P Street NW, nearby Dunbar High School. The meetings are now being videotaped and can be viewed online. There were new officer elections and Commissioner Barnes is corresponding secretary, Pearl is recording secretary, Holliday is treasurer, and Quinn is president.

Meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m. Minutes recorded by Horacio Sierra