Category: Public Safety

BLOG: Report on first meeting with Pedestrian Advisory Council

[Cross-posted at www.willstephensanc.com]

I had my first Pedestrian Advisory Council (PAC) meeting as the Ward 2 representative on Monday, March 24th in Capitol Hill.  The meeting was chaired by Jason Broehm, a former 2B08 resident (from the Meredith).

I learned some interesting details about how the District handles pedestrian safety and enforcement (and traffic safety  and enforcement generally):

  • Traffic Captains:  While the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) doesn’t have traffic safety division, each police district does have a designated “Traffic Captain.”  The traffic captain from the 7th District attended the PAC meeting.
  • Major Crash Division:  The MPD also has a special division covering “major crashes,” which is defined as crashed which result in a fatality (or may result  in a fatality).  Sergeant Terry Thorne of the major crash division reported at the PAC meeting indetail on the 4 fatal pedestrian-related crashes so far this year – one on the Sousa bridge, one at 13th & I Streets NW, one on I-695, and a construction worker that was killed by falling construction equipment and material when a driver crashed into the construction site.
  • Special Prosecutors:  The District has two special prosecutors for traffic enforcement, paid from grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The PAC is split up into two committees, a “Walking Environment Committee” and an “Enforcement and Education Committee.”   The report from the Walking Environment Committee had some interesting items:

  • Sidewalk Repair Backlog:  The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has an $18 million backlog of sidewalk repairs, which the Mayor covers in his FY 2015 budget.
  • Traffic Signal Optimization:  DDOT is going to be posting a new PowerPoint presentation on traffic signal optimization, including data collected at hundreds of intersections (# of pedestrians, # of right turns, etc.).  The report will not deal with Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs), where pedestrians are given a few seconds to begin walking before turning cars are given a green light.
  • ANC / DDOT / PAC Collaboration.  The Committee Chair, Marlene Berlin, would like to focus on collaboration with ANCs.  There is an ANC in Ward 6 that has a particularly good relationship with DDOT, and representatives from that ANC and DDOT representatives are going to talk about this at the next meeting.

Regarding the PAC itself, there were a few items of note from the March meeting:

  • The full PAC meets every other month, with Committees meeting in the off months.
  • The last PAC vacancy (Council Chair Phil Mendelson’s appointee) should be filled shortly.
  • The PAC has access to some limited funding through DDOT.
  • The PAC just hired a part-time program/administrative associate.

I’ll be joining the “Walking Environment Committee,” which is going to be discussing ANC collaboration and outreach at its April meeting.  If you have any comments or questions related to pedestrian issues, please let me know (willstephensanc2b08@gmail.com).

NEWS: Public Safety Meeting 3/10/2014 7pm

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B and the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District will host a public safety meeting Monday night, March 10th at 7pm at the Embassy Row Hotel, 2015 Massachusetts Ave NW.

The meeting is in response to a series of violent crimes in the area south of Dupont Circle and other nightlife areas in DC. Residents and officials will be briefed on recent incidents and steps being taken to ensure public safety.

Representatives of the Metropolitan Police Department will take part, along with the Director of the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. Other District officials will also be there.

The primary focus of the meeting will be public safety, but there will also be an update on steps being taken to enforce the District’s noise laws.

NEWS: Changes to Signal Timing at Dupont Circle will Help Keep Pedestrians Safe

This week, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) made changes to the pedestrians signals at Dupont Circle that will help protect folks as they cross in and out of the circle. This is an enormous safety improvement for pedestrians that the Dupont ANC has been working on for almost 9 months! 

The new signals allow pedestrians to cross the entirety of the four lane intersection at once instead of being trapped in the median, as the picture shows.

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Last year, we held several public safety meetings and the idea came directly from a Dupont resident. Noah Smith and Kishan Putta  contacted the city and asked for the changes to be made. To DDOT’s credit, we were never turned away or told ‘no’. They did say it would take a while to program new signals and make sure vehicular traffic could still flow relatively easily (maybe just not make it worse?). The signaling folks at DDOT did a fantastic job, though it took almost weekly calls to make sure the project remained on track. 

Please let us know if the new signal timing is an improvement or if there are any small changes that need to be made. 

NEWS: 17th Street Moratorium

On September 24, 2010 the District Council approved final rulemaking continuing the 17th Street moratorium. The moratorium, initially established in 1990, creates a set of restrictions on the number and types of alcoholic beverage licenses that can be permitted within its boundaries.

These boundaries are defined in the statute as:

“the area bounded by a line beginning at New Hampshire Avenue and S Street, N.W.; continuing east on S Street, N.W., to 17th Street, N.W.; continuing south on 17th Street, N.W., to Riggs Place, N.W.; continuing east on Riggs Place, N.W., to 16th Street, N.W.; continuing south on 16th Street, N.W., to P Street, N.W.; continuing west on P Street, N.W., to 18th Street, N.W.; continuing north on 18th Street, N.W., to New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.; and continuing northeast on New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. to S Street, N.W.”

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Within that area the following license restrictions are in place:

License Type

Number Allowed Under Moratorium
Class A (liquor stores)

2
Class B (grocery stores)

2
Class CR or DR (restaurant)

16
Class CT or DT (tavern)

2
Class CN or DN (nightclub)

0
Class CX or DX (special purpose)

0

Since it’s creation in 1990, the moratorium has been renewed four times: in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010.  It is currently set to expire September 2013.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B is currently soliciting feedback about the future of the moratorium. Ultimately the Commission may take one of three courses of action with regards to the moratorium: take no action and allow the moratorium to expire, propose a continuation of the existing moratorium, or propose a new moratorium with different conditions.

To make help in our decision, we are soliciting public comments on the moratorium. There are several ways to share your thoughts with us.

We are holding several listening sessions:

All meetings are held at the Chastleton Ballroom (1701 16th Street NW) at 7pm

Additionally, you may submit your comments via email to: 17thStCommissioners@dupontcircleanc.net

Resources:

East Dupont Circle Moratorium Zone Final Rulemaking (2010)

Update:

For community reference and deliberation, ANC2B has compiled a list of all current licensees in the existing Moratorium zone.

The document can be found here.

 

BLOG: M Street Bicycle Lane Public Meeting

Bikes and controversy on M Street.   The District’s public meeting May 15 on its plans to build a protected bike lane on the north side of M Street brought out crowds on both sides. About 100 people packed the West End meeting room to hear the Department of Transportation’s plans and then make their views known. A large group of Metropolitan AME Church members (in 2B05) described how the bike lane would disrupt arrivals and parking at the church. Metropolitan complained strongly about not being told of the pending plans earlier. DDOT will meet with the Church to see what better arrangements can be worked out, but Sam Zimbabwe from DDOT was clear that there will be a bike lane. Church members asked about routing around their block of M. Another 2B stakeholder identifying himself as owning a restaurant –bar in the 1800 block of M street complained that he’d lose business because of access problems caused by the bike lane. Many – less clearly identified by residency – spoke in favor of the bike lane and even argued that it would increase business as bicyclists became aware of businesses along their new routes. DDOT is committed to raising the percent of trips by bicycle from 1% in 2000 to 5% in 2015.

Submitted by Abigail Nichols ANC2B05.