by Ariel Feldman | GW Hatchet Reporter

Foggy Bottom residents are hungry – for a place to buy groceries. Community members expressed their desire for a new supermarket and other retail options, like casual restaurants and nail salons, as part of a community poll held online over the summer. The results of the consumer-retail survey were explained at a community meeting Tuesday.

“Our mission is to create a long-term retailing development plan as well as market area retailers effectively within the neighborhood”, said Greg Snyder (shown above left), chairman of the Committee for Foggy Bottom and West End Neighborhood Retail.

The Foggy Bottom Association chartered the committee earlier this year to gather input from the community on its preferences for the future development of retail goods and service offerings in the area, according to a news release about the meeting.

The survey comes as the retail fates of several development projects, including the Stevens School site, the West End Library and Square 54 are in various stages of development.

The most popular request put forth by the survey was the addition of a conveniently located grocery store. A total of 122 people out of the 233 surveyed mentioned the need for another grocer besides Trader Joe’s in Foggy Bottom. Attendees also expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of a grocery store to be included in the upcoming Square 54.

The second-largest concern among the surveyed Foggy Bottom and West End residents was over the lack of mid-priced casual eateries. Also discussed was the need for additional service retailers such as nail salons, yoga studios and pet care/supply shops.

A few residents voiced their desire for a “nice hair salon” in Foggy Bottom, but many sought other mid to low-level priced services, including a Curves health studio and “affordable yoga classes.”

The committee plans to finalize the survey results – which will remain available online until Friday – by early January, and compile the data and present it to various organizations including the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership, the Foggy Bottom Association, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, and the D.C. Mayor’s office.

The committee hopes to partner with various local organizations to improve the retail atmosphere of Foggy Bottom and West End, and to better market and promote already existing retailers in the area to increase consumerism.

In response to comments about the state of the economy and the difficulty of adding new retail at a time when retail areas, including The Shops at 2000 Penn, have vacancies, Greg Snyder said, “We’re just trying to be proactive here.”

Sites Unseen
In November 2007, when then-newly-appointed Chancellor Michelle Rhee, never having set foot in the building, unceremoniously announced the closure of Stevens School, any protocol seems to have been put aside. After 149 years of continuous operation, Stevens—begun as a school for freed black slaves by PA Congressman Thaddeus Stevens—closed with the city demeaning the parents, the principal and teachers, distinguished graduates, and our community, all of whom fought long and hard to reverse the decision.

For a decade the District had no funds for routine maintenance, much less repair, of this beloved and historic school. Once Stevens closed for good in June 2008, “miraculously,” money appeared to replace EVERY window in the building and new light fixtures in the ceilings. The new windows were cheap replacements and, predictably, do not meet the standards of Stevens’ historic landmark status. Had this been done to a private building, the owner would have been fined.

From Insult to Injury
In a sop to those folks who hinted at improprieties in the process, officials added Stevens (at the 11th hour) to the list of schools that were included in a Request for Proposals requiring a charter school. One applicant was the District’s own highly-lauded Living Classroom Foundation (LCF). LCF’s grant-making successes enabled 20,000 District youth to participate in the foundation’s own awardwinning after-school and vocational training programs. In Baltimore, its charter high school’s track record easily exceeds across the board most of the District’s public schools. But LCF, along with the other Stevens’ applicants, received rejection letters, that and no more. After being repeatedly ignored and disheartened, the neighborhood deferred to the District. Who knew that the community would rally behind a proposal from Peebles Corporation, one of OPED’s finalists, with solid backing from both the FBA and the ANC? So here we are full circle. We offered up our passion, came back with excellence, and were rebuffed. With Peebles, we again chose excellence, and OPED is silent. Is the “other shoe” poised to drop?

During the run of the exhibit, artist-led tours will be offered on the 2nd Saturday of each month at 11 a.m. Brochures may be picked up at each sculpture site for a self-guided tour — they provide photos of sculptures on display with a corresponding map of the neighborhood. “We are so proud of the caliber of DC area artists on exhibit in our neighborhood,” says Shirley Koller, curator of the exhibit and a Foggy Bottom resident. Ms. Koller has curated exhibits for the Art and Science program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the DC Headquarters building for the past ten years. She has also curated sculpture shows for the Tri State’s Sculptors Education Association at Washington Square in Washington, DC for the past 20 years.

“This exhibit brings sculpture to a much larger and more diverse segment of the viewing public than if it were in a museum or gallery,” says sculptor Mike Shaffer. “I think people can relate more personally and intimately to modern sculpture when they see it against an interesting backdrop of historic homes and their surroundings.” Sculptors selected include Alan Binstock, Pamela Burris, Robert Cole, Alonzo Davis, Nancy Frankel, Craig Kraft, Philippe Mougne, Sam Noto, Ethan Rochmis, Craig Schaffer, Garrett Strang, and Mike Shaffer. All of the artists live or have studios in metropolitan Washington area.

Educational programs and lectures will be announced during the span of the exhibit and special tours for groups will be available upon request. For more information on events, participating artists, and to download a brochure, please visit the Foggy Bottom website at http://savefoggybottom.com/.

About Arts in Foggy Bottom

Arts in Foggy Bottom is a special initiative of the Foggy Bottom Association — a 501(c)(3) community organization in existence since 1959. The objectives of the Foggy Bottom Association are to further the civic, cultural, social and economic welfare of the Foggy Bottom/West End community, preserve and enhance the residential character of the community, and promote historic preservation in the area. Arts in Foggy Bottom will be holding more events in the near future to include a juried photography exhibit, and a painting exhibit in partnership with Miriam’s Kitchen. ~ Alishia Frey Lifestyle.com 6|17|2010

The Stevens School is located at 21st and L Streets NW and was built in 1868 serving as the first modern school in the District built for African American students and named after Thaddeus Stevens—the motivating force and major abolitionist pushing Lincoln on slavery. (See FBN 2/09 archives on this website for additional information)

The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development announced a short list of three teams’ plans that include various combinations of new housing, office space, hotels and neighborhood-serving retail. The short-listed teams are led by:

o EQR (Equity Residential) / Neighborhood Development Corporation
o Moddie Turay Company
o Peebles Development LLC/The Walker Group

The Francis-Stevens Campus is located at 2425 N Street NW and is where the teams will discuss their proposals, starting at 6:30 p.m. The District will collect public comments.

In times of great change, having a symbol such as Stevens reminds us of our roots, of those who came before us. It serves to strengthen our resolve for difficult tasks and our will and determination not just to endure but to prevail. It reminds us of the strength we have to draw upon, the duties we gladly undertake and the gifts we pass along to others.

Stevens Elementary School

Even more surprising to Mrs. Obama might be that, just blocks from her temporary FB/WE home, is an equally and elegantly significant threefold history. And that is of staunch abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, and his namesake Stevens School founded to educate freed slaves, and the numbers of Stevens graduates whose professional contributions have multiplied benefits to the community, our nation, and the world.

This year as we celebrate Black History Month with Lincoln’s 200th birthday, we are paying special notice to our own neighborhood hero, Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens pressed Lincoln for the abolition of slavery and insisted that freed blacks be given the tools, through education, to preserve and prevail as free men. Stevens understood they had to be twice as good, and had four times the obstacles to proving themselves. We also celebrate the graduates of Stevens School – each a pillar of the community and uniquely representative of the teachings and traditions that Stevens conveyed.

In this profoundly unique Black History Month, it will be the symbols such as the will of Rep Thaddeus Stevens, the education of Stevens School, and the will and contributions of its graduates that remind us that no matter how hard things get, we Americans can overcome obstacles and prevail. FBA/ ANC and the community come together to celebrate and perpetuate this history: legacy with the aspiration of youth and community training, programs in keeping with the ideals that Stevens fostered, and honoring and dignifying the history with community involvement.

Mrs. Obama’s reported words neatly paralleled our own regarding Stevens (FBN Feb.13, 2008. “Stevens School: The Intersection Between Black History and a World Class Education”) encouraging her young audience “to look beyond the names in the history books and to think about the extraordinary people who live in your own world, like parents, grandparents and teachers, all those folks who play important roles in black history and American history every single day.” We hope to share our grand and special FB/WE legacy of Black History with our new neighbors in this auspicious year of American History.

For more information go to HISTORIC STEVENS COALITION

Among the outstanding men and women whose beginnings are attributed to Stevens we share the lives of Rayford Logan, Petey Greene Jr., and Dr. Charles R. Drew.

Dr. Rayford Logan (1897-1982) – Eminent black historian, editor and civil rights activist-was born in Washington D.C. He grew up in Foggy Bottom at 818 22nd St NW. He graduated from Williams College and served in WWI with the all-black 93rd Division. For five years after the war, he lived in France and became active in the Pan- African Congress movement, working closely with W.E.B. Du Bois. The movement called for black equality, an end to colonial abuses in Africa, and full civil rights for African Americans. It is considered an important precursor to the U.S. civil rights movement.

He completed his Harvard PhD in 1932 to work with his long time colleague and friend, Carter G. Woodson, (founder of Black History Month), in the writing of Woodson’s Journal of Negro History.

As an activist, Logan helped organize voter registration drives and citizenship schools in the 1920s and 1930s. He rallied African Americans to demand their inclusion in the U.S. military and drafted President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order prohibiting the exclusion of blacks from the military in World War II.

In 1938 Logan joined the history faculty of Howard University, where he taught until 1965. Like W.E.B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson, colleagues and fellow Harvard-trained historians, Logan wrote for both scholars and the general public. Among other works, he wrote The Betrayal of the Negro (1954 and 1965). His groundbreaking Dictionary of American Negro Biography is the field’s standard reference, which continues to be revised and updated. Rayford Logan attended Stevens Elementary School and was awarded a Spingarn Medal.

*Biography from American National Biographies and Wikipedia

Charles Drew

Dr. Charles Richard Drew (1904 –1950) was a physician and medical researcher who attended Amherst College in Massachusetts on a scholarship, named all- American halfback and won the Thomas W. Ashley Memorial Trophy as the Most Valuable Player on Amherst’s football team, graduating in 1926. Drew received the Howard Hill Mossman trophy for his outstanding contributions to Amherst sports. After college, he became Director of Athletics and biology instructor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland where he worked two years and led the football and basketball teams to championship levels.

Drew was always interested in science and wanted to pursue a medical career. He attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada where he was captain of the track team and won the all-time top score at McGill in intercollegiate track competition.

One of Drew’s instructors in anatomy was Dr. John Beattie, a Brit studying the techniques and problems of blood transfusion. Patients often died from a loss of blood after accidents or surgery before the 1930’s and researchers were investigating ways to replace the lost blood through transfusions. Although Dr. Karl Landsteiner had discovered the four different blood types and found that the body would not reject a donor with the same blood type, the problem of finding a compatible donor in an emergency was unsolved. Drew was interested in solving that problem.

Drew graduated from McGill in 1933. That year he won the annual prize in neuroanatomy—the study of the structure of the nervous system—and the Williams Prize, passing an examination and scoring in the top five in his class. He interned at the Royal Victoria and Montreal General Hospitals. In 1935, he became an instructor in pathology at Howard University Medical School in Washington, DC. In addition to teaching, he was assistant surgeon at Freedmen’s Hospital.

In 1938, he was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to continue his studies at Columbia University in New York City. He began a residency in surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and devoted his research to studying blood transfusions and the storing of blood. During his research he discovered that plasma, which is the liquid portion of blood that does not contain cells, could be dried and stored for an extended period of time without deteriorating. This great discovery was noted worldwide. In 1939, he received a grant from the Blood Transfusion Association and opened a blood storage bank at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

In 1940, Charles Drew was the first African American to receive the Doctor of Science degree. His thesis was “Banked Blood.” During World War II, Drew’s former instructor, John Beattie, became Director of Research Laboratories at the Royal College of Surgeons in London in charge of blood transfusions for the Royal Air Force and asked Drew to assist him in providing blood. Drew took thousands of pints of dried plasma to England and was named medical supervisor of blood for Great Britain.

He organized a system of volunteer blood donors and centralized the collection of donated blood where he processed the blood and separated out the plasma. His research in the field of blood transfusions, development of improved techniques for blood storage, and his expert knowledge in developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II saved thousands of allied lives. The project was later taken over by the American Red Cross and Drew became director of the blood bank in New York. He also became assistant director of blood procurement for the National Research Council for the U.S. Army and Navy.

In 1943, Drew’s distinction in his profession was recognized when he became the first black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery. While his life was tragically cut short at the age of 46, the techniques Drew developed for storing and transfusing blood continue to save lives.

Charles Drew was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the National Medical Association in 1950. In 1966, the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School was incorporated in the State of California as a private, non-profit, educational institution. A United States postage stamp was issued in his honor in 1981.

Charles Richard Drew attended Stevens Elementary School and was awarded a Spingarn Medal.

*Biography notes from www.essortment.com and wikipedia.

Ralph Waldo “Petey” Grene, Jr

Ralph Waldo “Petey” Grene, Jr. (1931-1984) was an African-American television and radio talk show host. A two-time “Emmy” award-winner, Greene overcame drug addiction and a prison sentence for armed robbery to become one of Washington, D.C.’s most prominent media personalities. On his shows he often talked about subjects such as racism, poverty, religion, sexuality, recreational drug use, government issues, and current events of that time.

 Aside from being a radio personality and talk show host, Greene was also a community activist, joining the United Planning Organization and founding The Ralph Waldo Greene Community Center and Efforts for Ex-Convicts, an organization devoted to helping former prisoners succeed in legitimate ways and to advocate prison reform. He rallied against poverty and racism on his shows and on the streets, participating in demonstrations during the height of his popularity, such as speaking at Georgetown University in 1968 about his opposition to the Vietnam War. “Petey” Greene, Jr. attended Stevens Elementary School.

By Jonathan O’Connell | January 12, 2009

Despite the real estate slowdown, D.C. seems to be attracting interest in some of its vacant school buildings, but members of the D.C. Council aren’t so enthused.

More than 150 people crowded into a “pre-bidder” meeting Jan. 9 to hear details on 11 former D.C. school buildings that city wants to put to new use in partnership with private developers. In the crowd were representatives from a bevy of developers, including Donohoe Development Co., Four Points LLC, PN Hoffman Inc. and William C. Smith & Co. The meeting also attracted charter schools looking for new space, including some that asked for room in empty schools last fall.

The schools, some of which were closed last year as Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee restructured the school system, are scattered across the city and range from plots of land just under 1 acre to more than 5 acres, with buildings up to 131,000 square feet.

Officials from the office of the deputy mayor for economic development asked developers to submit creative ideas for re-use of the schools and told them they could bid on more than one property or bid with multiple teams on the same property.

With the difficulty in financing new development, interest has waned in bidding for some D.C. projects, such as the Park Morton housing development. But Corey Lee, the city’s project manager, said only one deposit of $50,000 — smaller than usual — is required for an unlimited number of bids. Lee also said the city will consider the difficult lending environment, which he called “extremely unique, to say the least,” when making selections. One of the city’s frequent requests, asking developers to build below-market-rate housing, is not listed in the solicitation.

Fenty’s plan to develop the properties still faces multiple hurdles. Although he solicited interest in the buildings last fall from charter schools, as required by law, none has yet received space, and charter school advocate Friends of Choice in Urban Schools is arguing that the mayor is eschewing his duty to consider charters for former school buildings.

Leaders from a number of charter schools, including Capital City Public Charter School and Washington Yu Ying Public Charter, a new Chinese language immersion school, attended the meeting.

Members of the D.C. Council are also unhappy with the prospect of selling off old schools.

Councilman Tommy Thomas, D-Ward 5, whose district has lost more schools than any other ward under Rhee, submitted legislation that would tighten the process of selling or leasing city property.

The vacant school solicitation “highlights the importance of establishing a rigorous process for determining whether District-owned properties are no longer needed for public purposes,” Thomas said in a statement.

Similarly, a new bill by Councilman Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, calls for the State Board of Education — not the deputy mayor’s office — to control vacant schools and establish a process for giving charter schools the first opportunity to bid. The mayor’s office says it offered the buildings to charter schools first and that charters are still free to partner with developers.

Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, backed the mayor in trying to return life to the empty buildings. Ward 2 is home to one of the most valuable and discussed properties on the list, Stevens Elementary School.

“I think the process is working fine,” Evans said. “I don’t agree with Council member Barry or Thomas as to why they would want to slow these things down.”

His preference for Stevens, on 21st Street NW, would be a use that activates the neighborhood outside of 9-to-5 on weekdays.

“Putting corporate offices in any of these buildings is not something I would be supportive of,” Evans said. “Residential, hotel, retail, any combination thereof, is really important, particularly in these downtown areas.”

He added, however, that there may be enough sentiment on the council against selling the schools to disrupt the solicitation process.

“It’s going to be a challenge on where the votes are,” Evans said.

Bids for the schools are due Feb. 27.

By Harald Olsen Hatchet Staff Writer Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008

Among the hundreds of protests and political rallies that take place in Washington regularly, the march to keep the Stevens Elementary School open ranks as one of the smallest. But what it lacked in numbers, it made up for in energy.

Foggy Bottom children, teachers, parents and GW students marched Monday night to a meeting with school officials at St. Francis Junior High School to protest the planned closure of their building. The largely empty streets of the business district rang out with cries of “Keep Stevens open!”

In mid-November, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Mayor Adrian Fenty announced a plan to close 24 public schools in the District, a move the mayor said would save the city $23.7 million. Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School, located at 21st and K streets, is one of the many slated for closure. The students would attend St. Francis.

Freshman Whitney Ewing was one of many students in attendance Monday who volunteers at Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School. Several times a week, Ewing walks the short distance to Stevens and helps with after-school programs and tutoring sessions. On Monday, she stood before Rhee and asked that she not close the school and move them into another school.

“I do understand the reasons. However, it comes down to: are you really doing a better service to kids by overcrowding them?” Ewing said. “My fear is that students at GW will be less likely to tutor with the program, one of the reasons that students at GW choose to tutor at Stevens is because it is so close.”

Rhee said Monday night that the money saved would bring her closer to the goal of providing full-time art, music, and physical education teachers at each D.C. public school.

Discussion of the proposal between Rhee and parents became heated at times, especially regarding the integration of younger children at Stevens with the older population at St. Francis.

Selena Brown, whose daughter travels to Stevens from the District’s Southeast quadrant, spoke about of concern.

“If I wanted my child to be in an unsafe environment I could take her right back to Ward 7,” Brown said.

Professor Jay Shotel of the GW Graduate School of Education and Human Development said school closings are not uncommon in urban areas in the U.S. where enrollment is dropping.

“The problem (Rhee) faces is that many students are leaving the system for charter schools,” Shotel said. “From a business perspective she needs to make sure she has a critical mass of students in buildings.”

Parents and community activists in Foggy Bottom have defended Stevens Elementary as a school that produces high quality students and as an invaluable resource for parents who work in the nearby business district.

Some protestors of the school closure see the move as an attempt to develop property close to K Street.

Nathan Saunders, the general vice president of the Washington Teacher’s Union, who marched with parents from Stevens Elementary, emphasized the need for parents to be aware of what is going to happen to the schools and to have a voice.

“I don’t believe the community or any of the teachers are taking an unreasonable position in trying to be involved … Stevens is on a valuable piece of real estate,” Saunders said.

Erika Mercer Epps, a parent who organized the march, came away disappointed from her discussion with school officials.

“It was very frustrating and in fact, insulting that they would not have materials prepared to address our school transition,” Epps said. “It’s as if they are leading us blindly, by faith, when we don’t have a relationship with this mayor.”

Media Credit: Joshua Wolf/Hatchet photographer
Foggy Bottom children, teachers, parents and GW students marched Monday night to a meeting with school officials at St. Francis Junior High School to protest the planned closure of Stevens Elementary School, located at 21st and K streets.

Neighbors in Foggy Bottom are outraged that they’re losing a popular police lieutenant who they say is being punished for his good deeds.Lt. Phil Lanciano has been a fixture in the upscale neighborhood for years but he was recently — and suddenly — transferred to the ultraviolent 6th District, east of the Anacostia River. It’s a move that’s outraged neighbors, who say that police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Adrian Fenty are asset-stripping their neighborhood.

“Another Fenty hatchet job,” resident Marilyn Rubin told The Examiner. “The neighborhood is shocked and outraged.”

Lanier announced the transfer in an internal memo that went out Oct. 24 — while Lanciano was in Florida attending a training conference. The lieutenant didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Lanier has told neighbors that she thinks highly of Lanciano but that he’s desperately needed elsewhere.

“We have to make a real concentrated effort in the few persistent areas over the next few months, and that will take strong leadership and experience at all levels,” the chief said in an e-mail to neighbors. “So I ask that u please bear with us with that in mind.”

For many, Lanciano is the idealization of Lanier’s promised “community policing” approach. He routinely briefs the neighborhood about crime trends, deploys his officers quickly and is constantly talking with residents to stay ahead of the bad guys.

Neighbor Ron Cocome, who is leading a letter-writing campaign to city leaders, told Lanier he was angry that Foggy Bottom’s “needs never seem to come first.”

“Lt. Lanciano is needed in this community,” he said.

Police union chairman Kris Baumann said he doesn’t blame neighbors for their anger. Lanciano wasn’t given a chance to mentor a replacement and Baumann said he’s not satisfied with Lanier’s explanation.

“How can they claim to be following the community policing model?” he said. “Here you had your poster boy and they uproot him and send him where he’ll have to start all over.”

Efforts to reach Lanier were unsuccessful.

The Examiner Article By Bill Myers

Beloved Officer Moved After 11 Years
By Nick Marell • GW Hatchet Reporter

University and local leaders banded together this week to protest a decision to transfer Lt. Phillip Lanciano – the Metropolitan Police Department officer assigned to the Foggy Bottom area – to another police district.

Lanciano served as a local Police Service Area lieutenant, working frequently with community members and the University to alleviate crime in the area. GW’s Government and Community Relations office, the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Foggy Bottom Association drafted letters to MPD Chief of Police Cathy Lanier, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, asking that they reinstate Lanciano to his post in the 2nd District, where he has served for the past 11 years.

“Everybody agrees – the community, the University, everybody,” ANC Commissioner Asher Corson said. “I hope this is one of those times when they try to make everyone happy instead of making everybody angry.”

While on vacation with his family in Florida last week, Lanciano was notified via e-mail that he would be transferred from the 2nd District to the 6th District in Southeast D.C. effective immediately upon his return.

“We’re very upset about it and we really think it is the wrong decision and that it has not been handled well,” said FBA President Joy Howell.

University Police Department Chief Dolores Stafford also said she was disappointed with MPD’s decision.

“The relationships that he has built over the years at GW and in the community have been invaluable to this PSA,” she said.

It is the second personnel shake-up in the 2nd District this week, after District Commander Mark Carter was replaced by MPD Inspector Matthew Klein after less than a year on the job.

MPD officials have yet to release an official explanation behind Lanciano’s transfer or the other shake-ups in the 2nd District.

One MPD officer, who said he knew Lanciano, said the lieutenant is a victim of a personal vendetta from MPD.

“You have got to piss someone off to get transferred to the 6th District in Southeast – the murder capital of the nation,” said the officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Corson and Howell said one possible reason for the transfer was because Lanciano’s experience in Foggy Bottom could be an asset in the 6th District. Howell said a recent increase in crime in the 2nd District could be another explanation for his relocation.

Lanciano is still on vacation and was unavailable for a comment. His replacement, Lt. Alesia Wheeler-Moore, also could not be reached for comment.

This past Friday, the DC Office of Property Management (OPM) held an informational meeting for charter schools’ representatives at the Reeve Center to answer questions about the Sept. 25 release of “Request for Offers for the Reuse of DCPS Excess Space.” First preference will go to charter schools, which are allowed to have teams for mixed-use development. Those not attending the meeting will most likely miss the scheduled one-time school walkthrough this week.

Stevens School was newly added to the existing list of schools scheduled for reuse. Attendees asked what would happen to the properties if the OPM rejects the applications or there are no development offers made. No answer was forthcoming. It was also noted that even if there is an offer made, it is non-binding. Offers are due by October 27. — FBN

D.C. to Offer 8 School Properties for Private Use

By Jonathan O’Connell Staff Reporter

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty plans to seek private partners for reuse of eight former school buildings.

The eight buildings include four that are among the 23 being closed under his restructuring of the District’s education system. Condominiums are not likely to be an option for the buildings, however, because Fenty said the schools would be leased, not sold.

“We hope to identify a reuse option for these public properties that allows us to both preserve and revitalize our communities,” Fenty said.

The properties are:

Backus Middle School, a 126,800-square-foot building on 2.91 acres, at 5171 South Dakota Ave. NE. A portion of the building is already being used by the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles.

Clark Elementary School, a 53,800 square-foot building on 5.51 acres, at 4501 Seventh St. NW.

Grimke Elementary School at 1923 Vermont Ave. NW, which had been used as government offices.

J.F. Cook Elementary School, a 43,500-square-foot building on 0.76 acres, at 30 P St. NW.

M.M. Washington Career Senior High School, a 89,700-square-foot foot building on 2.14 acres, at 27 O St. NE.

Randle Highlands Elementary School, at 1650 30th St. SE.

Taft Center, at 1800 Perry Street NE.

Two additional schools, Hine Junior High School near Eastern Market and Stevens Elementary School on 21st St. NW, are already under the control of Neil Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development.

On June 20, Fenty announced that seven other closed schools would be used for charter schools, nonprofits and government offices.

Preservation League Releases Endangered Historic Properties List

By Tierney Plumb Staff Reporter

The D.C. Preservation League announced its list of the 10 most endangered historic properties and places in D.C. on Tuesday.

The annual list, compiled by the nonprofit since 1996, names at-risk infrastructure in the city’s historical transportation, education and housing systems.

The D.C. Public School Buildings collectively made the list, reflecting last year’s announcement by the Mayor and the new Chancellor of Public Schools, Michelle Rhee, that several would close. Of the 165 public school buildings, 86 are eligible for listing on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites, but only 21 have so far been acknowledged.

The site of the DCPL announcement was at Stevens Elementary School at 1050 21st St. NW, one of the schools closing its doors this June.

Brenda Johnson, a first grade teacher at the school for 30 years, recalls the days when President Jimmy Carter’s daughter was a student and a limo was a popular mode of transportation to the school.

Among the deteriorating transportation systems on the list include: The Georgetown Streetcar Tracks at O and P Streets NW, the last visible conduit track in the world; and one of the two remaining bridges along the former trolley line linking Georgetown to Glen Echo, Md., called the Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle.

For the second consecutive year, entire row house neighborhoods were included in the list. Barney Circle Neighborhood in Southeast, a triangular-shaped neighborhood of single-family brick row houses built during WWI, face “development pressures to build larger residential structures and to enlarge existing ones, such as by the addition of a third story,” claims the league.

Falling victim to demolition and inappropriate infill are the Judiciary Square Clusters at the 300 block of E St. NW, a string of apartment buildings that have narrowly escaped the federal government’s expansion into the neighborhood.

A repeat on the list this year is St. Elizabeths Hospital — in 2007 for its vista of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers — and this year for its 176-acre west campus at 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, threatened by “the pressure to develop the vacant property for use as the proposed consolidated headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security.”

DCPL’s education and landmarks committees evaluate the nominations from individuals and organizations throughout the city and advise the board of trustees in making their final selections.

Also on the 2008 list are:

-Joseph Taylor Arms Mansion, 1800 New Hampshire Ave. NW

-Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. NW

-Third Church of Christ, Scientist, 900 16th St. NW

-Barry Farm Frame Houses, 2700-2800 block of Wade Road, SE

By Harald Olsen Hatchet Staff Writer
District will save $23.7 million from 22 school closings

The Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools visited Stevens Elementary School Wednesday night to relieve concerns over the impending closure of the 140-year-old Foggy Bottom school.

Amid a tense atmosphere, Chancellor Michelle Rhee explained that the closure of Stevens – first opened as a school for freed slaves – was in the best interest of D.C. students.

“My job is to make sure every single child in this city is getting an excellent education,” Rhee said.

Many parents said they see the school’s closure as result of its prime location on K Street, and questioned the benefits of moving Stevens’ students to a new school. Stevens is one of 22 schools in the District that will be closed next year to save the city $23.7 million.

Bernard Hackett, a parent, spoke about the support system that Stevens provided to his young son when his mother died last year. He said the larger classes and student body at a new school would harm the students.

“It’s like our children are being sacrificed for dollars,” Hackett told the chancellor. He said the city is just looking at the future plans for the property.

“You can change this building to a Stevens Condominium, used-to-be-a-black-kids’-school, and it changes everything,” Hackett said. “How do you address these issues when you’ve never been inside to talk to these kids?”

Stevens, located just two blocks outside GW’s campus, has hosted many GW students as volunteers and tutors through the D.C. Reads program. At another meeting with D.C. parents at the end of last year, Rhee heard the pleas of a GW tutor who argued that a relocation would make it difficult to continue the program.

Rhee has promised D.C. residents that the school closures would save enough money to put full-time librarians and music, art and physical education teachers in every school.

Nathan Saunders, vice president of the Washington Teacher’s Union, said he attended Wednesday night’s meeting representing the teachers dissatisfied with the school closure.

“The teachers are against applying for a job they already have,” Saunders said. He explained that Stevens teachers will have to reapply for teaching positions if they want to follow their students to another school. Rhee responded that her office is urging as many teachers as possible to transfer with their students.

Gail Bell, the secretary of the Parent Teacher Association at Stevens, spoke about the parental concern that few teachers will make the transition to a new school.

“I have three children here. Some I do plan on moving to Francis, but I’d like to see some familiar faces,” Bell said. “If it’s inevitable that the school closes, I want that the teachers can come over with ease.”

Bell and a number of other parents formed the Stevens Stars Concerned Parent Partnership at the beginning of the closure process to lobby for Stevens being removed from the list of doomed schools.

As Rhee insists that Stevens will be closed, some opponents have resigned themselves to the transition.

Bell said the promises of new permanent teachers and renovated facilities at Francis are encouraging.

She said, “I just hope that what they say will come to fruition.”


Media Credit: Josh Wolf/Hatchet photographer
Stevens Elementary School parent Selena Brown speaks out against the impending closure of the Foggy Bottom school.