ANC Report: Christmas Trees, Jelleff Delays, Theft From Autos, Classroom Phone Ban
By • February 10, 2025 0 471
“They’ve forgotten us!” the usually cool Commissioner Paul Maysak lamented loudly — half tongue-in-cheek — toward the end of the Feb. 3 meeting of ANC 2E, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission for Georgetown, Burlieth and Hillandale.
The “they” was the District Department of Public Works, which admitted to Maysak that no old Christmas trees had been collected from Georgetown, though residents had placed them in street tree boxes in January as instructed. “You can drive anywhere in Georgetown and see the dried-up trees,” said Maysak.
His complaint might well have applied to other District departments, agencies and services mentioned during the meeting. The need for transparency, communication, quick follow-up and especially accountability was a constant in ANC reports this month, now that all the big distractions — inauguration events, various rallies and protests, historic cold and snowfalls — are over. Local focus has turned to keeping Georgetown residents in the loop about ongoing disruptive projects, such as excavations along Wisconsin Avenue, M Street and certain side streets for AT&T’s fiber optics project.
A tipping point of exasperation may have been reached over the Jelleff Recreation Center renovation. Planning for the project at 3265 S St. NW began around 2019, when a $700,000 mandatory ADA upgrade was budgeted. In the “flush” 2020s, as former Council member and longtime Georgetown resident Jack Evans used to call them, the project expanded into a $28-million full renovation. After nearly a dozen town hall meetings and numerous conferences with community groups, a feasibility plan was approved, contractors announced and a spring 2024 construction date proposed.
Other projects, such as a renovated baseball field at Volta Park at Q and 34th Streets NW and a renovation of the field houses, track lighting and bus parking at Ellington Field at 1600 38th St. NW, were in late planning and construction start-date stages as well. However, at the Feb. 3 ANC meeting, city officials could not provide any updates nor any reason why the projects were “still in the permitting process.” One exasperated commissioner exclaimed: “After over a year!”
The only definitive news was that Jelleff was scheduled to be closed this summer, with no plans as to where the city would provide space for its popular summer programs. “Parents are already planning their summers and are ready to sign up for Jelleff. Will the facility close before or during the summer camp period?” asked Burleith Citizens Association President Eric Langenbacher. “I’ll have to get back to you with that information,” responded Tommie Jones, chief of external affairs at the Department of Parks and Recreation.
“Our main concern is that with each [unexplained] delay, the budgeted funds that have been promised and secured for several years now may be withheld in a new budget,” said ANC Chair Gwen Lohse.
“I am fed up!” Commissioner Kishan Putta told the Georgetowner in an interview later. “And here is what I am going to do about it. I will testify personally at the D.C. Council oversight hearings of the DPR on Feb. 14 and at the Feb. 21 hearings for the Department of General Services, the two key departments we have been dealing with for over five years on these projects.”
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson recently combined the two committees under the same oversight Committee on Facilities, according to Putta. “That should bring about a much more coordinated response,” said Putta, who has already contacted the new committee about the delays. It has expressed concern about them, he added.
In other ANC news, Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Darren Haskis and the Georgetown Business Improvement District’s new public safety expert Charles Young reported that crime overall in Georgetown has fallen, except for thefts from autos.
Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto reported that new technology, a badly needed upgrade of D.C. juvenile services and the approved recertification of D.C.’s forensic laboratory should all help in the investigation and detection of criminals involved in those thefts. “There are many ways for the public to help and collaborate in crime stopping,” Commissioner Mimsy Lindner said. “Contact me about that.”
Pinto also announced that the District was moving ahead with legislation to ban mobile phones from classrooms during the school day. “It is hoped that details of the ban will be agreed on quickly, so it might begin by the fall of 2025,” she said.
In addition, Pinto said that hearings for next year’s D.C. budget are already being scheduled. Commissioners were urged to share top priorities. One will certainly be the final approval and scheduling of a long-promised cafeteria for Hardy Middle School at 1819 35th St. NW. Closely entwined is the increasingly urgent need, according to Commissioner Putta, to build at least two new classrooms at Hardy, the gateway to MacArthur High School.
