New Traffic Signal Timing Begins Friday for Downtown, Georgetown
• May 11, 2015

The District Department of Transportation has announced that it will implement new traffic signal timing plans for almost 650 intersections in the greater downtown Washington, D.C., area. The so-called timing optimization will be start 8 p.m., Friday, April 24, and continue throughout May.

This is expected to reduce motorist travel times and reduce emissions and fuel consumption, DDOT says. It will improve traffic flow, reduce transit running times and optimize pedestrian crossing times. The citywide signal optimization initiative started in 2012, and it will enhance D.C.’s entire traffic signal network of more than 1,650 signals by the end of 2016.

The project will be done in various downtown areas. A few intersections in Georgetown along M Street and Wisconsin Avenue are included in the effort. The project area boundary also includes 23rd Street NW to the west, North Capitol Street to the east, U Street and Florida Avenue NW to the north and I-395 to the south.

DDOT says it will be monitoring and making adjustments to the traffic signal timing operations, throughout April and May. DDOT advises motorists to use caution in these areas as drivers become acquainted with the new signal timing patterns.

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The Second District’s New Commander
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Melvin Gresham was promoted to commander of the Second District on April 6. He formerly served as a captain in also in the Second District under Commander Michael Reese.

Gresham has previously served in the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Patrol Districts, as well as the Narcotics Branch and the Special Operations Divisions.

He joined the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in October 1984. Commander Gresham is originally from Prince George County, Maryland and attended the University of Maryland’s University College, where he majored in Criminal Justice.

“I am an advocate of community policing and believe that the police should know the citizens in the community that they serve,” Gresham said. “It is the only way for the police to become part of the fabric of the community.”

The Second District neighborhoods include Chevy Chase, Cleveland Park, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Palisades and Spring Valley. Several embassies are also locating in this region.

While total violent crime has decreased in the last year, Commander Gresham faces increased levels of other crime, including burglary and theft as he begins his new role.

“I believe that the Georgetown area will continue to be a very vibrant community,” he said.  “The police have to work with the community in problem solving and working together to make the community safer. I have always believed that the citizens are the eyes and ears of law enforcement.”

Hillary Clinton Finishes April Fundraisers in D.C.
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Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton visited the home of Elizabeth Frawley Bagley on 29th Street in Georgetown for an afternoon fund-raising luncheon April 30.

Previously in New York City for three receptions, Clinton visited the homes of Milly and Arne Glimcher, of Lisa Perry and of Doug Teitelbaum, according to the New York Times.

Bagley, a former ambassador, and her late husband Smith Bagley have supported both Bill and Hillary Clinton and their national campaigns. The Bagleys are known to have given more than $1 million to the Clinton Foundation, the Times reported.

Clinton also paid a visit to Frank White Jr., who was a member of Barack Obama’s 2008 national finance committee.

The ticket price for the Clinton fundraising receptions is $2,700. The money raised is to used for the Democratic primary campaign.

Mika Brzezinski Wants You to Know Your Value
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Mika Brzezinski may be the co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and a New York Times best-selling author, but she’s also leading a conversation about empowering women in the workforce. And she’s bringing that conversation to D.C. this May.

“I developed the message for 40-something women like myself,” Brzezinski said.

However, the dialogue created by her book, “Know Your Value,” has captured a far wider audience. “This message is universal,” she said. “It’s for women of all ages, stages and choices.”

Brzezinski is bringing a “Know Your Value” conference to town next month, with appearances by her “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Brooke Shields and others. The event will take place May 15 at the Marriott Marquis at 901 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Brzezinski encouraged women to enter in the “Grow Your Value Bonus Competition.” Participants must submit a video pitch explaining why they deserve a bonus in one minute or less. Videos can be submitted at msnbc.com/know-your-value. Deadline for submissions is Sunday, April 19.

“I got so much response. Women were coming up to me everywhere,” she said. “I knew there needed to be more to the conversation.”

Her next book called “Grow Your Value: Overcoming Roadblocks to Women’s Success” will be available May 12.

The “Know Your Value” tour will continue through November, making stops in Boston, Chicago and Orlando. Check msnbc.com/knowyourvalue for details and tickets to the May 15 D.C. event.

Watergate Evacuated After Parking Garage Collapse
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Updated 5:30 p.m.

A three-story, partial collapse of a parking garage occurred around 10 a.m. Friday, May 1, at the Watergate complex, prompting evacuation of buildings and a large D.C. Fire Department response, shutting down Virginia Avenue from 25th Street to Rock Creek Parkway.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held a 4 p.m. press briefing after visiting the site of the accident and said that rescue dogs indicated no human activity at the three levels affected by the collapse but that a cadaver dog made “a possible hit.”

Two persons were hurt, and earlier Bowser said, “Not everyone is accounted for,” according to NBC News.

“The building shook a little bit and we saw a sinkhole growing in the courtyard,” said Tom Wall of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is headquartered on the 10th and 11th floors of the Watergate office building at 2600 Virginia Ave., NW. A tree and foliage fell down into the hole, as water sprayed up from broken pipes, the witness said.

A main part of the collapse was at the underground pathway to the public garage and between the office building and Watergate East. “Thank God it happened at 10 a.m.,” Wall said, “and not around lunchtime,” when the area would be more traveled by office workers and visitors. “With rubble spilling out,” the area “looked like footage from a war zone,” he said.

Office workers and residents are used to noise and construction activity, as the Watergate Hotel is undergoing a $125-milllion renovation, due for completion by the end of summer. The garage was also under construction at the time. All construction workers have been accounted for.

“Rescue crews are using dogs to search the rubble of the garage,” NBC News reported. “Special Ops and a local collapse team are searching the garage in the 2600 block of Virginia Avenue NW for any other possible victims. The D.C. Fire & EMS Department’s only search dog has been deployed to Nepal to help in the aftermath of the earthquake there. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue sent their dogs to aid at the Watergate.”

The cause of the collapse is undetermined at this time.

The Watergate complex, known for the 1972 burglary that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, lies along the banks of the Potomac River next to another Washington landmark, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

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Ben E. King: His Songs Stand by Us
• May 7, 2015

You never forget the songs of your youth—that time in life somewhere between sixth grade and the junior prom and the end of football season—when everything in the air fills you with longing, sadness and a kind of simmering something.

For the baby boomers that time ranged from the 1950s through the harrowing and sublime sixties—which went from Elvis through the Beatles and every song was a kind of earthquake of revelation.  The music was the background and foreground in a time in which young people went from being emotionally and sexually ignorant to learning way too much way too quickly and soon.  And the music punctuated that dizzy journey. 

You forget most of the songs—what did “The Purple People Eater” ever do for anybody anyway? If I never hear “Candy Man” again it will be too soon.

But Ben E. King and the Drifters. They had some songs you never forgot, not then, not now, not ever.   This is where white kids from the Midwest met the safer aspects of black pop rock music which would eventually lead some of us to the blues and beyond.  This was the time of Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, the Platters, even Jimmy Reed and Little Richard and Chuck Berry.   Wild stuff and soaring sweet stuff.

King and his Drifters, and later by his lonesome—had a voice that was clear and soaring,  he sang inspirational song and  breaking up songs—“There Goes My Baby—moving on down the line.” That word “on” connoted that she was moving miles down the road, and she wasn’t coming back—“I wonder why she left me,” he sang, punctuated by violins before Freddy Mercury and Queen put the strings into anthem rock.

King’s songs and the songs of the Drifters—all were the same white jackets, snapping their fingers like streetcorner singers were the songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and they were great songs—part of rock’s great American songbook, like “Spanish Harlem,” “Up on the Roof,” “This Magic Moment,” “I Count the Tears” and “Save the Last Dance For Me.”

Then, there was “Stand By Me,” surely one of the greatest inspirational anthems ever sung or written—it ran through the same-titled Rob Reiner-directed movie in in 1986.   It’s one of those pop songs—“Sweet Caroline” comes to mind”—that you might want to karaoke even with only two beers under your belt, because you loved it so.: “When the night has come/and the land is dark/and the moon is the only light we’ll see/No, I won’t be afraid/Oh, I won’t be afraid/just as long as you stand, stand by me.”

King was working at his father’s luncheonette, where he would often sing to himself.  A fellow by the name of Lover Patterson heard him and got him to sing in a group called “The Crowns.” They played at the Apollo. So did a group called the Drifters, led by Clyde McPhatter who joined the army. Patterson reformed the Drifters with King as a lead singer, and Stoller and Leiber writing songs. The rest is history.

With all the hits, King kept on singing, and sometimes touring—the past is hard to shake, but he also lived a life.  He was married, had two daughters, a son, four sisters, three brothers and six grandchildren.

King died at the age of 76 in Hackensack, New Jersey, at a hospital not far from Teaneck, where he lived.

Helping to End Human Trafficking: Two Women, Two Organizations
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April 16 was the 153rd anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C. More than 3,000 enslaved persons were freed in the District on that date in 1862, eight months before the Emancipation Proclamation called for the end of slavery on Jan. 1, 1863. To mark the anniversary, a fundraising event dedicated to preventing child trafficking was held in Georgetown at M29 Lifestyle.

Human trafficking – the trade in human beings, mostly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others – is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world today. It may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy.

Every day, young women and children are being bought and sold, used and tortured. In Washington, D.C., alone, trafficking innocent children is a $100,000 business. Two individuals, and the organizations they founded to help prevent human trafficking, are described below.

Deborah Sigmund
Founder, Innocents at Risk

Deborah Sigmund is the founder and director of Innocents at Risk, a nonprofit organization established to help stop the trafficking of women and children. Its mission is to educate citizens about the issue of global and local human trafficking. “We are dedicated to protecting children from all forms of abuse, and work to end child exploitation and child trafficking everywhere,” Sigmund says.

Officially launched in 2005, Innocents at Risk has been working since then to raise awareness about child trafficking in America. The organization regularly presents at seminars nationwide. Sigmund believes that people need to know that children are being targeted, kidnapped and abused.

In addition to their seminars, Innocents at Risk launched a Flight Attendant Initiative program in 2008. “Through this program, many lives have been saved,” Sigmund said.

Because many people don’t know what actions they can take – some aren’t even familiar with the term human trafficking – Innocents at Risk has partnered with the Department of State and Homeland Security to make the public aware of this issue. “In every single aspect, we need people to create awareness,” Sigmund said.

Dr. Ludy Green
Founder, Second Chance Employment Services

Dr. Ludy Green is an expert on U.S. domestic violence and human trafficking issues, as well as an internationally acclaimed speaker. Green founded Second Chance Employment Services (SCES) to help women at risk find stable employment and assist them in achieving financial independence.

SCES was founded in February 2001. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the organization educates, trains and places women in meaningful long-term careers, providing them with the financial independence and confidence they need to take care of themselves and their children.

Green has created an alternative approach to survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and other forms of extreme oppression. In her book ”Ending Domestic Violence Captivity: A Guide to Economic Freedom,” the link between financial independence and freedom is drawn. A tool to help victims of domestic abuse, the book details Green’s volunteer experience at My Sister’s Place, which led her to a better understanding of the importance of economic independence. Her next goal is to have the book included in university curricula.

SCES’s placement program specializes in helping clients from shelters, faith-based organizations and other nonprofits. The organization works with companies that are interested in offering priority placement to SCES’s clients, such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Macy’s, SunTrust Bank and IBM. SCES also provides comprehensive employment services throughout the community.

Freddie Gray Rally
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On April 29, DC Ferguson led a rally for Freddie Gray, the unarmed black man who died after his spine was severed while in police custody in Baltimore.

The march began on the corner of H and 7th Streets NW around 7 p.m. Protestors gathered around the Friendship Archway and the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro entrance, where they listened to Bridzette Lane speak. Lane is the mother of Rafael Briscoe, an 18-year-old who was shot and killed by Metropolitan Police Department officers in April 2011.

The group, which grew to about 500 people, continued on to the John A. Wilson District Building, chanting “No justice. No peace. No more racist police.”

Other mantras were “Black lives matter. All lives matter” and “All night, all day, I will fight for Freddie Gray.” The march caused several street closures throughout the city. D.C. police were along the marchers’ route, ending at the White House, from start to finish. The peaceful protest was allowed to go on without interruption.

Protests took place all around the country on Wednesday night to show solidarity with Baltimore, including New York City, Boston, Houston, Albuquerque and Indianapolis. Several demonstrators in New York City were arrested.

Thirty-four D.C. police officers were deployed to Baltimore to provide assistance during the protests and rioting that began on April 27 after Gray’s funeral. D.C. protestors demanded the recall of these officers.

A city-wide curfew has been lifted in Baltimore and the National Guard is developing a plan to withdraw from the city as of May 1.

Board Votes No to Historic Status for Heating Plant
• May 6, 2015

In a 4 to 3 vote, the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board voted April 23 not to grant the West Heating Plant on 29th Street extra landmark status.

The D.C. Preservation League had nominated the building for landmark status within the Historic District of Georgetown, arguing that the 1940s heating plant deserved such protection. League representatives made a presentation to the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission in March. The commission disagreed with the league and said it believed that the building at 1051-1055 29th St. NW did not warrant landmark status. Even, the Citizens Association of Georgetown — known for its advocacy of historic preservation — held that the building was undeserving of special protection.

While Georgetown is a federally protected neighborhood in terms of historic preservation, the board vote makes its easier for the owners of the one-time government property to alter it, including partial demolition. (Most residents of 29th Street agree with this approach.) There are many more reviews and approvals the owners must obtain for the project.

The developers of the heating plant property, the Levy Group, the Four Season Hotel and the Georgetown Company of New York plan to make the structure into Four Seasons condominiums and dedicate some of the land as public space. The property is due south of the Four Seasons and adjacent to the C&O Canal and Rock Creek.

D.C. Group Marches in Support of Freddie Gray
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D.C. Ferguson led a rally on April 29 evening for Freddie Gray, the unarmed black man who died after his spine was severed while he was in police custody in Baltimore.

Last night’s march in Chinatown began on the corner of H and 7th Streets NW around 7 p.m. Protestors gathered around the Friendship Archway and the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro entrance, where they listened to Bridzette Lane speak. Lane is the mother of Rafael Briscoe, an 18-year-old who was shot and killed by the Metropolitan Police Department in April 2011.

The group, which grew to include around 500 people, continued on to the Wilson Building, D.C.’s equivalent of city hall, chanting “No justice. No peace. No more racist police.”

Demonstrators had multiple mantras: “Black lives matter. All lives matter” and “All night, all day, I will fight for Freddie Gray.”
D.C. Ferguson led the group toward the final location on the path, the White House.

The march caused several street closures throughout the city. D.C. police were along the marchers’ route the whole time. The peaceful protest was allowed to go on without interruptions and with no arrests.

Protests took place all around the country on Wednesday night to show solidarity with Baltimore, including New York City, Boston, Houston, Albuquerque and Indianapolis. Several demonstrators in New York City have reportedly been arrested.
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