No doubt you've probably noticed that the construction on H Street is pretty extensive, and covers most of the Corridor. You may have also seen some comments here relating to that very issue, and expressing concerns that having construction so spread out might really hurt businesses on H. First I'm posting a letter sent by Joe Englert to select Councilmembers and staffers. Many of you will recall the discussion to which Englert refers. Those unfamiliar with the P Street issue can Google it, but just know that the street construction wasn't as well executed as many would have liked. As a result, it put a lot of pressure on local businesses because potential patrons avoided the torn up strip. Now many business owners on H Street are anxious because the construction on our own Corridor isn't going quite the way it was planned. Some promises were made that haven't been kept. Below Englert's letter you'll find an update on the Streetscape project from one of the organizations working on the Streetscape.When I first posted it I referred to it as a "response." I
m actually not sure if it was meant as a response, or is just how they always send out the regular update. Either way, it is related enough to the letter that I think it belongs in the same post. I also think the project needs to, um...get back on track.
Dear D.C. Councilmembers and Staff,
Where did it all start going wrong? Remember about two years ago, we had a community meeting where we professed that we had learned what NOT to do when it came to streetscape constructions in the city?. We had business people from P Street N.W. tell their horror stories. We had MacTech and DDOT saying that there would never be any more than three blocks under construction at any given time. They would house vehicles in sheds and off-site instead of blocking buildings. There would be great pains made to make sure no intersections would ever be blocked, etc., etc.
However, we now have EVERY block from 2nd to 15th on H Street Northeast under construction.
There is scant parking, jersey barriers everywhere, orange fencing on every street, no parking signs everywhere, equipment blocking sight lines every day and every weekend. Communication with businesses is non-existent. The D.C. government now seems to be unaware of the current plans, schedules and completion dates for segments of the street or the length of the street.
Can we please get the many parties of this project together as soon as possible. As we are all well aware, the economy is sputtering. The recent blizzards have been costly and cruel. Now, on top of these hardships comes a construction project that has come untracked. It looks uncoordinated, sloppy and unsupervised from our viewpoint. How can we get this back on track and organized once again?
We are looking forward to getting back on track and soon!
Thanks for your attention to this important issue!
Sincerely, Joe Englert, Atlas District "BID"
Good afternoon….On behalf of the District Department of Transportation, we want to bring you up to date on the impact of the snowstorms and the efforts that all parties have made – and continue to make – to resume significant construction activities.
Construction activities were suspended about mid-day on Friday, February 5, as the snowstorm moved into the city and remained suspended throughout the following week as the Round Two snowstorm hit and snow mounted to historic depths. Monday, February 15 was the President’s Day holiday, observed by the DC and federal governments and many private companies, including the project contractor, Capitol Paving of DC. On various occasions during the work-suspension period, DDOT, MACTEC, and CPDC personnel assessed conditions in the work zone and had discussions about when and what types of major construction tasks could be re-started – always with the emphasis on the urgency of resuming work quickly and safely.
On Tuesday, February 16, CPDC had a full complement of workers back on the job, with the principal task of repairing potholes and removing snow from the work zone. On Wednesday, February 17, additional construction activities resumed, installation of the Verizon manhole at the 5th Street intersection was completed, and significant progress was made on the installation of storm drains in the 1100 and 1200 blocks. The pace of construction has increased each day since, as more and more of the snow accumulation was removed and ultimately melted when temperatures warmed.
Because many H Street area residents and merchants have asked, we are well aware of the widespread community interest in receiving an updated, long-term schedule of the work activities planned in the various blocks of the project area, and the target start dates and completion dates for work in each area. All parties are devoting our intense attention and best efforts to produce a reliable schedule for you as soon as possible.
As always, we are grateful for your patience, cooperation, and support as we work toward the goal of making H Street the “Great Street” this community has worked so hard to achieve.
Our Construction Manager’s Weekly (in this case, covering two weeks) Status Report is attached.* The complete library of status reports is available on the DDOT website, http://www.ddot.dc.gov/. Please continue to call on us whenever you would like additional information or assistance.
Margaret Gentry
Community Relations Specialist
MACTEC Engineering and Consulting
1322 H Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
Tel/Ofc: 202.388.3081
Cell: 202.320.8534
FAX: 202.388.3083
magentry[at]mactec.com
*The report mostly consists of photos, and detailed accounts of the precise activities for each week. You can get it from the website.
46 comments:
We had MacTech and DDOT saying that there would never be any more than three blocks under construction at any given time. They would house vehicles in sheds and off-site instead of blocking buildings. There would be great pains made to make sure no intersections would ever be blocked, etc., etc.
However, we now have EVERY block from 2nd to 15th on H Street Northeast under construction.
Does anybody ever answer the question asked?
Thanks Joe for writing this letter and Inked for posting it. It is always discouraging to see signs that the DC government is living up to its poor reputation for management, execution, communication, etc. Do we ask the impossible? The things listed in Englert’s letter (sheds for trucks, limited construction disruption…), or lack of, predate the snow storm. Thanks for the bullshit response MACTEC.
On a related note, whats up with the Streetcar planning and implementation?
-- Didn't DDOT promise to give the community quarterly updates on their progress? I haven't heard anything from DDOT on the streetcars since last October.
-- Will streetcars be running in 2011 as promised by Fenty?
-- Will H St. be getting the streetcars ahead of Anacostia as Tommy Wells has promised?
I think if thinks continue to meander (seemingly without coordination between streetscaping and streetcars) were going to see DC truly f-up on both.
CM Wells needs to put his full attention on H Street for the next year and stop messing with chicken coup issues...
I am glad I am not the only person calling bullshit on that response from Mactec. The entire project (benning and H St) hit a brick wall right around mid december. I dont think I have seen a square foot of concrete poured, or rails being laid for 3 months now. My only guess is that money has dried up now that there is a $204M fiscal budget gap in 2010.
Whooheee... that's a canned, awful response akin to blaming the Feb. snow fall for a car accident that happened in December.
Can we request a follow up response from the Council that actually answers the questions asked? While the response from MacTech was, umm, enlightening, it answered absolutely nothing.
Wow. What a great response from mactec. I began the week concerned but everything seems to be under control. Awesome. Maybe i'll sell beer from the tractor in front of my place.
Tonyt
the pug.
I have been to Argo's, H ST CC, Sticky Rice, Rock n Roll and the Pug a few times this month. Each time I went it has been packed with people. Enough to a point where I had to give up and go somewhere else a few times. I fail to see how this construction will have an impact on businesses along H ST. I have actually seen an increase in patrons since the construction started.
I do not care if construction is happening on every single block, at least it is happening!! I have waited years and years for this to start. I'm so grateful it's under way that I really don't care how it's done..I just want it done.
tommy wells' office seems pretty responsive when i send emails. what do they have to say about this?
CM Wells is terrible. Don't look to him for leadership on H St.
disagree with Anon 4:28. Tommy has been very involved and helpful, from everything that I can tell. I do agree though with JJ. Tommy, you got the bag bill passed... now let's focus on H Street, not chicken coups!
Joe Englert said:
Tommy Wells is ALWAYS responsible. I think this is a very complex issue dealing with numerous agencies and very stubborn utlities companies. If anybody can do anything about it, Tommy will make things work. I am really heartened about many matters when I talk to him and his office. And I also like the fact that Tommy quickly tells me when I am wrong or pig-headed about an issue. Trust me, he will try and find a solution and something good will eventually transpire. We just have to hold everyone accountable for the promises they made to the neighbors and businesses. We will be figure this out..........
I agree with anon at 4:26 in that all of Joe's business' SEEM to be thriving lately, of course we don't have privy to his books.
Maybe he can comment on this.
Joe: while I'm happy for you that your experiences with Councilmember Wells have been positive, the experiences of others in the neighborhood with Councilmember Wells have not been.
Never had anything but a good experience with Wells. But I also haven't seen any of the H Street estb's packed in while. Last few weekends we've been able to walk right into GM and get a booth at The Red & The Black. They're busy, but not packed. Also, for a resident's perspective, now you have to drive the whole way to 11th street (going East from downtown) until you can make a left. So unless you bail onto K before the Hopscotch Bridge, you either need to make an illegal left to go north off of H St, or you're pushed to 11th, then a left on K and then ...well you get the picture. That shouldn't impact folks driving in to go out for a drink, but it's def. pissed off more than a few cabbies over the last month.
If the pug provides the cider, my wife will provide the bobby pins, and we can play bulldozer vs. compactor down H St. Could be a new sport to add to the bojo olympics.
To follow onto Anon at Feb 25, 2010 5:40:00 PM, you can turn left immediately after the Bridge, but for the last 10 days or so, it's been reduced to a one lane only when you turn left w/limited visibility due to the parked construction equipment. So, definitely not just the three blocks we were promised.
Gabe Klein gives an update on streetcars on DCMud: http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2010/02/future-of-washington-dc-transportation.html
Another question, are they still putting in metered parking south of H st in the neighborhoods?
I'm trying not to be naive and optimistic, but the specifics the Klein mentions are encouraging. Not just a bunch of generic "everything" will be great statements. The battery part seems to indicate that people are at least looking into things
First, in full disclosure, I BITCH about everything.
Tommy Wells STAFF is awesome. If I ran against him, my plank would be that I am keeping all his staff. They are truly responsive, professional and quite frankly, the best council staff that their is. I let those accolades go to TW, but his flipping bag tax has me so pissed I will likely vote against him. I spend about 6 days a week on the anacostia and potomac. Plastic bags aren't the problem. How about a 5 cent per condom tax? 5 cents per tennis ball? 5 cents per 2 liter bottle tax? 5 cents per tire tax? 5 cents per 16 oz bottle tax? 5 cents per six ring tax? I don't see plastic bags, I see all the above. Tommy Wells lost all vision, didn't look at the river and passed a San Francisco tax grab legislative bill. Why also tax paper? Ain't seen one of those on the river in a long time.
I have seen more of the aforemetioned items than plastic bags.
So don't commend him on bowing to the bullshit agenda.
That being said, small (g) god bless his staff, they are awesome.
He is also the one that allowed the incumbant Stanton Development Group to get the Hines School, a completely spineless development group that relies on political contributions to steal projects from much more qualified developers from getting a toe-hold in DC. So we screwed a great developer due to campaign contributions. I might add that Tommy skipped the IGU Charter School Meeting that is paramount to Hill East...... because Stanton was running a fundraiser for him that night.
@ Love Tommy's Staff - How do you get information like this? I'd love to know about who's holding fundraisers for whom, etc. Is this on some listserv or hillrag or something. I've always wondered how politics work for council members on that level.
Off topic, but does anyone know more about this shooting? From the DC Fire and EMS twitter feed:
dcfireems
shooting - 1300 blk Florida Av NE - assisting MPD about 4 hours ago via mobile web
D.C. is preparing to conduct a master land use plan for 37 miles of proposed streetcar routes to determine how the system could best maximize transit connections and economic development, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Planning Director Harriet Tregoning told a D.C. Council committee at Wednesday hearing that she planned a two-year, $2 million study of the three blocks on either side of the 37 miles of proposed tracks in order to consider what land uses, ownership patterns and transit options would line the tracks on either side of the proposed routes.
Yet another study and strategic plan to give $$$ to consultants and put on the shelf... So it will be at least three years before we see any movement for a streetcar on H.
The project management for the H street Construction has been poor, sorry but I don't think that a dozen blocks of any street in upper northwest would have been torn up with the utilities disruption like H Street has been. Tommy Wells may be nice, his staff nice but he has dropped the ball on this, and would not have, if it had been Eastern Market.
Joe Englert said:
Well, I really do think Tommy is different because he cares and follows through. Jack Evans has never once taken one of my phone calls in 12 plus years even though I employ over 100 people in his District and paid millions in taxes over the years.
So many people on the council simply do not care about business people. They think money mystically drops into the city's bank account. They could care less what happens to business owners or their employees. But I believe Tommy does.
And when I had to reach out to Tommy as a member of the schoolboard, he was very effective. I think Tommy really has a good heart and he will make some good improvements on the streetscape plan.
@ anon 7:09 -- on your point about how this wouldn't happen in upper northwest, several years ago when i lived up by AU, the city resurfaced Nebraska Ave. between wisconsin and massachusetts in 3 days. 3 days! started friday morning. shut the street down on sat. and sun. and it was reopened for the monday morning rush hour.
obviously the h st. project is much more elaborate than repaving, but it's been 2 years of construction now and we've got at least 6 more months to go, perhaps longer. this would not be tolerated in upper northwest. period. I was on the X2 on Tuesday morning and the bus got a flat tire after hitting one of the hundreds of potholes along H. i refuse to drive my car down any stretch of H until the streets are finally paved correctly and trying to cross H on foot has gotten very dangerous and complicated in many spots because of all the barriers.
im actually surprised the H st businesses have held up so well. i live 3 blocks from H and i go up there a lot less frequently because of the condition of the street and several of my neighbors feel the same way. in fact, whether driving, walking or taking the bus, i go out of my way to avoid H st.
I'd also like to know what happened last night on the 1300 block of Florida. Was someone shot? Elise- any insights?
Sorry, I was at work all day, and didn't hear about it until now.
I also hate the bag tax. i'm buying my groceries from Virginia now. This is ridiculous.
Out of 95 H Street Development projects DDOT is doing I only see 23 that are completed, if I counted correctly, with roughly a third of the amount budgeted for construction already spent. I'm far from a math major, but this seems to raise the inference that unless the uncompleted projects are significantly cheaper on average than the completed ones, I don't see how this thing can get finished without a few more million bucks getting poured into it.
Sigh.
LOL @ "bag tax"
Just get a freaking cloth bag like everyone else. Why are plastic bags that important to you?
We live in a city where we pay federal taxes without a vote in Congress and you're up in arms about paying a nickel for a plastic bag? GOH.
Love the bag tax, love Tommy Wells, construction issues don't bother me, H St. establishments have seemed as full as ever and will likely be even busier once the street work is done. I have nothing but praise.
When I lived in upper NW, I remember the reconstruction of Reno Road... no streetcar tracks, far less streetscape improvement, but it took a LONG time with seemingly no work going on most days.
H Street is absolutely packed with workers and equipment, and I think they're doing a great job. Future streetcar corridors are not all going to take this long, because with this job the tracks are almost an afterthought. The big stuff is in the utility relocation, sidewalk widening, etc. It wasn't long ago that H Street was a 6 lane highway during rush hour. Even with all the construction, I think it's more pedestrian friendly than it was back then!
@Anon:
I let those accolades go to TW, but his flipping bag tax has me so pissed I will likely vote against him. I spend about 6 days a week on the anacostia and potomac. Plastic bags aren't the problem. How about a 5 cent per condom tax? 5 cents per tennis ball? 5 cents per 2 liter bottle tax? 5 cents per tire tax? 5 cents per 16 oz bottle tax? 5 cents per six ring tax? I don't see plastic bags, I see all the above.
As soul searcher said, "boo-de-hooty-hoo." Get a cloth bag.
And since your provably wrong about the facts when it comes to pollution sources in the Anacostia, we'll assume you have the same level of credibility on Wells and the Hine development issue as well.
"I stopped eating because I hate the bag tax!!1!" Time to grow up.
Anyone interested should check the tributaries & Anacostia section.
http://ddoe.dc.gov/ddoe/lib/ddoe/2009.01.29_Trash_Report_1.pdf
Another great way to avoid all that trash in the Anacostia is to pick up the litter you see on your block. Have you every looked in those storm drains?? They are filled with trash. IMO, using cloth bags and picking up a few pieces of other people's trash is totally worth it.
H Street Mom
Ok so once you tax bags, and people stop littering the river with plastic bags, do you really believe that the river will be clean? No! The problem is that the people littering have no home training - they throw wrappers, empty bottles, half eaten food, etc. on the ground because they're heathens with no respect for communal or other people's property.
I'm not going to call out those complaining about the bag tax as idiots. They're obviously misinformed.
The fees are collected for a fund aimed at cleaning up the Anacostia. So actually those folks bringing their own canvas bag to stores are contributing nothing to the cleanup of the watershed.
to anon 3:37,
This is why encourage gentrification and push them out to PG county.
Class, tact, and wealth moves from west to east.
Class, tact, and wealth moves from west to east.
Actually, its an education thing. Too bad we can't do anything about getting our ignorant trolls to move somewhere.
I think its combination of a lack of education, economic status and lack of parenting.
They're just angry at the white man this is how they show it
Ok, the bag tax; a cosmetic bread and circus act or an important first step towards cleaning the anacostia? probably both. i've kayaked the river and any step is a good step. here literary turn around. Even though income at the pug is down 25 % and i can still afford the nickel when i forget my cloth bag.
yep 25 %. this past week. could be the weather, or it could be that instead of a rotating the block closures, they just keep expanding the closures and cutting into parking. it didn't evolve a trolley that can't turn around, but the streetscaping on 12th through brookland took about 2 months. certainly every project is different, but the businesses on h can't help cut into the 200 million dollar deficit if we keep getting our income cut into because the construction leaves h street too chaotic to deal with.
tonyt
the pug
Typing in the car. Please excuse the butthat typos.
tonyt
Businesses along the commercial corridor on H Street NE don't have to pay their most recent real estate property taxes until September 15, 2010, thanks to a bill passed by the D.C. Council on Tuesday. Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells (D) introduced the measure to help small businesses in his ward that are struggling to stay afloat during the ongoing H Street Streetscape construction. The bill was passed unanimously.
I guess the letter worked!
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