By Peggy Sands and Robert Devaney
Huge Art Show Coming to Rose Park
Washington-based fine artist Kiril Jeliazkov is bringing more than 90 pieces of his outdoor art exhibition — “The Orange Step” — to Rose Park for the month of May. The artwork, its fifth installation, will be mounted on public space with the assistance of the District Department of Parks and Recreation, which approved the permits.
Jeliazkov calls it “one of the first-ever large format style art experiences allowed to be displayed in its entirety across the streets and parks of the nation’s capital.” The panels — 22 feet high and 11 feet wide — will be fixed to poles anchored into the ground.
Beginning May 1, the imposing pieces will line the outfield of Rose Park’s north field, from P Street near the parkway entrance to 26th Street. On the south field, the art pieces will proceed from the tot lot to M Street. Completing the installation, about 30 pieces will stand in a green space on Massachusetts Avenue near St. Nicholas Cathedral.
In 2006, Jeliazkov introduced “The Orange Step,” his first large-scale project, in a park near his hometown of Yambol, Bulgaria. Its second mounting was in Savannah, Georgia, where he completed his bachelor of fine arts and master of fine arts degrees in painting at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2007. The third exhibition was in Palm Beach in 2008 and the fourth in Tiburon, next to San Francisco, in 2013. Now, it’s Washington’s turn.
“The world has become my gallery,” said Jeliazkov, who wants people “to paint their life” and added, “My project unites everyone.”
Working from a studio near Dupont Circle, Jeliazkov has been in Washington for the past 10 years. He told The Georgetowner that an April celebration and a virtual-reality experience of his outdoor art will take place at Artechouse, 1238 Maryland Ave. SW, in April. An opening ceremony in Rose Park is planned.
He got early encouragement for the exhibition from Joshua Lopez of the Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser, enthusiastic support from the Friends of Rose Park and now interest from the Michelle Obama Foundation.
Why the name, “The Orange Step”? “The passionate and hot color” is his favorite, said Jeliazkov, who put his footprint on all 128 pieces. See these pieces for yourself as they transform a small D.C. park.
Dumbarton Oaks Park Opens for 77th Anniversary
Those who walk down Lovers Lane near 3060 R Street on the morning of Saturday, April 14, will see and be able to participate in a work of love. At least that’s how volunteer leaders and park rangers of Dumbarton Oaks Park see their cleanup and stewardship activities celebrating the 77th anniversary of the 27-acre park.
During “Park Stewardship Volunteer Hours,” from 9 to 11:30 a.m., volunteers of all ages will bag debris near the stream banks. Tools, snacks and training will be provided. At the same time, landscape architect Liza Gilbert will conduct a hands-on tour of the park, explaining the process of revitalizing the urban woodland garden designed in the 1921 by Beatrix Farrand, the sole female founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., an activity fair and a partnership exhibit will include music, strolling tours of the Secret Garden, interactive exhibits, art in the park and children’s nature activities.
The nonprofit Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy was established in 2010 to care for what is considered one of the country’s 10 greatest garden landscape designs.
Georgetown House Tour: Saturday, April 28
On Saturday, April 28, between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., neighbors and visitors can tour eight of Georgetown’s most impressive homes during St. John’s Episcopal Church’s 86th annual Georgetown House Tour and Tea.
The tour houses — all lived-in homes — are located within a few blocks of St. John’s at 3240 O Street, where the tickets and tour packets can be picked up. The homes can be visited in any order during the day. A traditional parish tea of sandwiches, cakes and cookies also is offered to tour guests between 2 and 5 p.m. in Blake House, next to the church.
The annual event is organized, hosted and carried out by volunteers. Funds raised are “an important part of enabling the mission of St. John’s in the greater Georgetown community for ministry and outreach,” according to the church, benefitting such programs as Jubilee Jobs and the Georgetown Ministry Center.
Three of the tour homes are located on Q Street (numbers 2823, 2905 and 3029). Two are next to each other on P Street (3128 and 3130) and two are on Dumbarton Street (2613 and 3009). One home is located on N Street (3107).
Tickets are $50 and can be reserved online at georgetownhousetour.com or by calling 202-338-2287.
Feds Deny Plane Noise Complaint
On March 27, a federal appeals court threw out the petition by the Citizens Association of Georgetown — representing the DC Fair Skies Coalition, which comprises a number of D.C.-area organizations — to halt and redesign flight paths causing increased noise. The annoyance to area residents began in 2015, when the new flight paths were implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The court determined that the residents’ argument ran into “procedural and substantive obstacles,” namely, it was not filed in a timely manner. “Federal law requires that petitions seeking review of FAA actions be filed within 60 days of the agency’s final order,” the court said. “Because petitioners failed to challenge it within the 60 day statutory time limit and had no ‘reasonable grounds’ for the delay, we dismiss the petition as untimely.” The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit noted that the FAA’s “final order” came in late 2013.
The petition did not qualify as one of those “rare cases” in which there are reasonable grounds to excuse the failure to timely file a petition for review, according to the court decision. One of those cases was a successful suit in January to revert flight paths over Phoenix, Arizona, back to the previous, less noisy ones.
In effect, the FAA made the 60-day period for complaints much earlier than even the implementation dates in 2015, lawyer and Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Rick Murphy told The Georgetowner.
“Unfortunately, the court did not reach the merits of the case. The FAA made diligent efforts to ensure no one in D.C. was aware of the new flight path we challenged until it was an accomplished fact,” said Richard Hinds, general counsel for CAG. “We need to consider what if any steps we need to consider taking at this point, but pursuing our administrative petition with the FAA is one possible alternative to further litigation.”
District Council member Jack Evans, who represents residents in Georgetown and other affected neighborhoods, called the decision “terribly disappointing.”
The FAA’s NextGen system uses satellites instead of old-fashioned radar to guide airplanes. These more direct flight paths allow for more planes in the air, safely spaced closer together and burning less fuel. The unintended consequence in many areas: more noise for residents.
French Market Returns April 27 to 29
More than 40 Wisconsin Avenue merchants, restaurants, salons and galleries will be proclaiming “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” on the last weekend in April, when Georgetown’s French Market returns to Book Hill, just south of the public library. In addition to sidewalk displays and discounts up to 75 percent for shoppers, there will be French food items, live entertainment including French and Gypsy jazz and children’s activities such as face-painting — all to conjure up an April-in-Paris, outdoor-market ambiance along the blocks from O Street to Reservoir Road.
French Market hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. More information about the 15thannual event, presented by the Georgetown Business Improvement District, is available at georgetownfrenchmarketdc.com.
Outdoor Furniture Faces Permitting Process
Street furniture — colorful metal chairs and tables set out along Georgetown’s widened sidewalks and canal pathways and in its plazas and parks — have been provided by the Georgetown Business Improvement District over the past year for public use. But now the endeavor has run into permit issues with the District Department of Transportation.
“The issue is mainly about placing tables and chairs in public areas next to restaurants and cafes,” explained Jamie Scott, the BID’s economic development director. “The furniture is meant to be used by everyone anytime — to rest, read a book, stay as long as they want. They are not meant to provide exclusive outdoor table service for a restaurant or café. The permit from DDOT is for public use.”
If a café or a restaurant wants to enhance its business with outdoor service, it can rent public space in front of its establishment from DDOT, Scott explained. But standards for pedestrian and traffic safety have to be followed.
Recently, two popular Georgetown restaurants have been required to stop providing outdoor furniture on the sidewalk directly in front of their establishments. Both Booeymonger, on the corner of Potomac and Prospect Streets, and George’s, a falafel restaurant on 28th Street between M and Olive Streets, will have to go through the permitting process for their outdoor eating areas, which have been there for years.
The BID has a private agreement with the National Park Service to provide furniture at Georgetown Waterfront Park and with Dean & Deluca to furnish the small plaza behind the market overlooking the canal, arranging with various businesses to store the furniture overnight.
