Secret D.C. government meeting to cancel Grant Circle Safety

Back to Basics on Canceling the Grant Circle Traffic Safety Proposal

Update: A commenter says that at least one of the two ANC commissioners with Signle Member Districts on Grant Circle has been supportive of this safety project and transparent: Brittany Kademian from 4C05. I'm wondering if the other SMD representative of Grant Circle, Karen Livingston, has also supported this project. ANC Single Member District Map here - https://openanc.org/a Livingston represents the 4200 Block of IL Ave, where the homeowners have been repeatedly opposing safety stuff in the Circle and the CaBi station proposed on IL (that ended up on Upshur because of CM Brandon Todd). These ANC elections matter!!

Major props to Petworth News, a well-reported neighborhood blog, for reporting that D.C.'s transportation department met secretly with Grant Circle-area residents who oppose the research-supported safety changes opposed for that traffic circle.

I am enraged specifically by this news because these are the same handful of residents on the 4200 Block of Illinois Avenue NW that fucked around with the ANC for years to get a long-awaited Capital Bikeshare station moved to a less safe location at the last-minute intervention of then-Councilmember Brandon Todd.

This is nearly the same situation as 2016-17 when many of these same residents and Mayor Bowser's senior advisor Beverley Perry killed Grant Circle's more robust safety vision back then.

Let’s Go Back to Basics, this is nearly the same situation: the same residents having the same secret daytime meeting with the DDOT Director at the time. It's just a few years later. It's the same neighborhood and people being the same secret deference from our city agency. And DDOT would be backing away even further from their well-researched plan if Lisa Gore had won the Ward 4 Council primary. Most of the Grant Circle safety opposition were Gore supporters.

If you are as angry as I am that D.C. is giving a tiny group of residents special deference when their elected leaders (ANC and Council) have decided to support it, please email DDOT and tell them you support the proposed road diet and protected bike lanes with other pedestrian safety changes. Please email these folks ASAP:

• Kornelius Anderson, Ward Engagement Lead - [email protected]

• Zhibo Zhang, Project Manager – [email protected]

• Neelima Ghanta, Administration Chief – [email protected]

A second shoutout to Drew Schneider for his reporting at Petworth News. Drew lost a race for ANC Commissioner several elections ago and channeled his civic energy into that blog. This is the kind of local reporting that D.C. needs more of and that, sadly, the newer, digital-first outlets rarely do: put a person in a local meeting room and report what happened for folks who can't be there. (see also: Next Stop Riggs Park, TheHillIsHome, Georgetown Metropolitan, and several others)

Virtual Meet and Greet with D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson July 17, 2024

I’m hosting a virtual meet-and-greet with D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, at 7 PM ET. Henderson is running for re-election in November of this year for one of the At-Large seats representing the entire District.

Registration is required for this Zoom conversation: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtfuCqpjwrH9SMpySbqCpEfXc50KL9uGyY