{"id":1611,"date":"2012-06-30T17:59:14","date_gmt":"2012-06-30T21:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/?p=1611"},"modified":"2012-07-11T17:59:34","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T21:59:34","slug":"news-dupont-circle-anc-hosts-successful-public-safety-listening-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/30\/news-dupont-circle-anc-hosts-successful-public-safety-listening-session\/","title":{"rendered":"NEWS: Dupont Circle ANC Hosts Public Safety Listening Session"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">On June 20<sup>th<\/sup>, the Dupont Circle ANC and their Public Safety Liaisons, Noah Smith and Kishan Putta, hosted a listening session on public safety hosted by the Jewish Community Center.\u00a0 The meeting was a forum for community members to communicate concerns about neighborhood safety issues and to influence the public safety agenda of the ANC moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Over 45 residents, business owners and government officials attended to hear those concerns and form relationships to address them in the future.\u00a0 The ANC was very pleased to have Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans speak at the opening of the meeting, and also to have many representatives from the Meteropolitan Police Department &#8212; including Commander Reese (2nd District), Commander Kishter (3rd District), Lt. McDonald (PSA 208), Lt. Lindsay (PSA 301), and others.\u00a0 Representatives from the District Department of Transportation also attended.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">A majority of the discussion was focused on either traffic safety concerns or crime in the area. Here is a roundup on the topics that were voiced:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety <\/span><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Bicyclist and pedestrian safety were of chief concern to many neighbors. Cycling is growing quickly throughout the city and safely <strong>sharing the road and sidewalk<\/strong> is a top priority.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Concerns were raised about the <strong>15<sup>th<\/sup> St<\/strong><strong> cycle track<\/strong> and how it can sometimes be dangerous when cars cross the bike lanes in the middle of a block and when driver park their cars and need to get to the sidewalk.\u00a0 There was a great suggestion to <strong>increase signage<\/strong> on the cycle track to better warn cars and bikers about other road users. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">The rules for how and where it is legal to bike on the sidewalk were discussed and it was agreed that more biking <strong>infrastructure and education.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><strong>Construction projects<\/strong> on major roadways, such as 14<sup>th<\/sup> St, often use sidewalk space, forcing pedestrians to either cross the street or walk in a traffic lane. This can last for a year or more depending on the construction project. Options for how to address this issue should be explored with city agencies.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Vehicular Traffic Concerns <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Several people voiced concerns about how dangerous it is to walk and bike in and around the Dupont traffic circle\u2019s lanes:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">The <strong>timing of lights and pedestrian signage is off<\/strong>, often forcing pedestrians to stand on small medians in the middle of traffic. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Drivers may be confused about which lanes will take them to which streets and they often illegally turn, putting pedestrians at risk. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">One suggestion was to add more helpful signage in the circle. Another\u00a0 suggestion was to add traffic cameras to the circle and in the neighborhood<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Crime and Law Enforcement <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There was initial discussion about the timing of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/mpdc.dc.gov\/mpdc\/cwp\/view,a,1239,q,543336,mpdcNav_GID,1523,mpdcNav,%7C.asp\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #0000ff;\">Police Service Area<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"> (PSA) <strong>meetings<\/strong>. There are two PSAs in two separate police districts that service the Dupont Circle neighborhood (208 and 301 in the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> and 3<sup>rd<\/sup> districts respectively) and leadership from those areas meet on a regular basis with neighbors.\u00a0 The timing of those meetings was of concern to some neighbors, especially those concerned about crimes that cross the PSA\/district borders.\u00a0 The police Lieutenants in charge of those PSAs understood the concerns and are discussing the best ways to address the issue \u2013 they stressed that they are always available by email or phone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Residents asked about how best to <strong>report suspicious activity<\/strong> or crimes in progress. MPD provided some fantastic information to help:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Reporting Suspicious Activity<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Text to 50411<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Call 202-727-9099<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"file:\/\/\/C:\/Users\/noah.smith\/AppData\/Local\/Microsoft\/Windows\/Temporary%20Internet%20Files\/Low\/Content.IE5\/KHM933BI\/iwatchdc.dc.gov\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #0000ff;\">iwatchdc.dc.gov<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Citizen Reporting Tools on MPD Website for Specific Property Crimes <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mpdc.dc.gov\/mpdc\/cwp\/view,a,1242,q,568970.asp\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #0000ff;\">http:\/\/mpdc.dc.gov\/mpdc\/cwp\/view,a,1242,q,568970.asp<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">If there is ever a question about who to call \u2013 <strong>Call 9-1-1 <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">There was interest in <strong>Community Impact Statements<\/strong> to influence the sentencing of people found guilty of crimes in the neighborhood. A Community Impact Statement is a description of how a crime or series of crimes have affected our community.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">The neighborhood was encouraged to submit one community impact statement on behalf of the entire community, which could be coordinated through the ANC.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On June 20th, the Dupont Circle ANC and their Public Safety Liaisons, Noah Smith and Kishan Putta, hosted a listening session on public safety hosted by the Jewish Community Center.\u00a0 The meeting was a forum for community members to communicate concerns about neighborhood safety issues and to influence the public safety agenda of the ANC &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/30\/news-dupont-circle-anc-hosts-successful-public-safety-listening-session\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;NEWS: Dupont Circle ANC Hosts Public Safety Listening Session&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,31,42,41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1614,"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions\/1614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dupontcircleanc.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}