1) Mr. Garry Clark spoke to those attending about North Capitol Main Street, Inc. This a relatively young, non-profit organization that is working for the commercial revitalization of the North Capitol Street corridor, which forms the western boundary of Eckington. They are seeking volunteers to serve on their board, committees, and to assist with various projects they have ongoing. If interested, please see their website above or contact Mr. Clark, the Executive Director at:
Washington, DC 20002
202-905-6039
2) Next, Ms. Mai Fernadez, the Acting Director of the Latin American Youth Center spoke about their project taking place at the old Cook School, located at 40 P St. NW, which is not really in Eckington (eastern tip of Shaw). Apparently, this has been quite contentious for those communities around the former school. The ANC Commissioner for that area, Ms. Sylvia Pinkney, also happens to represent a portion of Eckington and was there to provide counterpoint to Ms. Ferandez's presentation. The primary crux of Ms. Pinkney's argument were...too much social services are coming into the neighborhood and the communities want real development. The way this project is structured though, I don't believe you could call it pure social service. LAYC is proposing that the first floor of the former school be utilized as a charter school (which the city required) with both academic and vocational instruction...the vocation element being construction. The other two floors would be utilized as low-income housing for students and those gainfully employed. Ms. Fernandez was quick to point out the economic potential of this project, noting that LAYC moved into a blighted area of Columbia Heights and today the area is widely considered to be thriving. Now obviously, LAYC cannot take full credit for revitalizing an entire neighborhood but it does sound like they played a key role. Further discussion was tabled to allow persons to check out LAYC's other site and determine whether this is something folks really want in their community. A resolution will be offered at the next ECA meeting on whether to express support, disapproval, or espouse a neutral position with respect to this project. I will definitely try to do my due diligence on this so I can make an informed vote although I won't generally discuss it any further on this blog as this falls outside of our purview here.
3) Finally, Mr. Richard Norwood, introduced himself as the Outreach and Service Specialist for Ward 5 from the Mayor's Office for Community Relations & Services. Accompanying him was his brand-new partner specialist for Ward 5, Ms. Beersheeba Phillipe. They were both seemed young and responsive to the requests from the community. A variety of issues were discussed, traffic, graffiti, and trees and tree boxes. I was particularly happy the last was mentioned is it seems several trees have been cut down in our neighborhood over the past weeks and then we have plenty of places where there used to be trees and there are now none. Tree cover in a city is really important both aesthetically and ecologically as it helps keep urban places cooler than they would be otherwise. To reach Mr. Norwood or Ms. Phillipe, please see below:
Richard Norwood > email: richard.norwood at dc.gov or phone: 202.340.7038
Beersheba Phillipe > email: beersheba.phillipe at dc.gov or phone: 202.340.7141
The Ward 5 Help Desk is 202.671.0726
For more information of Mayor Fenty's Office of Community Relations and Services, please click here.
That was the gist of the meeting. Next one will again be at the North Capitol Main Street offices at 1703 N. Capitol St. at 7pm on Monday, December 7th.
I just wanted to get this out, with the meeting still fresh in my mind. I will have a 'Flashback' post related to this weekend tomorrow.
You are such a worker bee! :)
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