ANC Member Meg Roggensack The 2B0 ONE Newsletter
May 7, 2021

Finally...Spring!

What a difference a year and a season makes. Our long “winter” of quarantine is ending as it started, in spring, but this time with the promise of more carefree days, of breaking free of COVID’s grip. Billy Collins captured it perfectly, in “Today”:
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
IMG_0127 short
I’m working to shatter that metaphorical snow globe, and bring us into the spring sunlight, in these ways:

COVID Emergency Task Force

Getting people vaccinated: I participated in the Department of Health’s May 1 outreach session. Please help me by encouraging your friends, family and neighbors to Take the Shot. Our closest walk up site is the Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW. The schedule is here: vaccination. If you or someone you know needs an in person vaccination, call 855-363-0333.

Supporting our small businesses: On April 23, DDOT’s Kim Vacca briefed us on the Streateries program and what’s next as part of our regular webinar series. Fellow Commissioner Kyle Mulhall ( ANC 2B09) organized and hosted this session, to discuss current guidance: Streateries 101 This program has given our restaurants an important lifeline in the face of indoor seating restrictions. Food establishments can share their views on how this program can best be adapted post pandemic, here: DDOT survey.

I continue to work with small businesses to obtain rent relief. Please contact me for more information, and see additional resources here.

Safe Transit

DDOT’s pilot Slow Streets initiative ends this month. It has been an especially dangerous year, with traffic fatalities at 16 as of May 4, representing a 78% increase over last year. I’ve joined the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s Vision Zero Caucus, a city wide, cross-ANC collaboration to advocate for full funding of Vision Zero policies and more robust executive level attention on traffic safety issues. I also signed on to this joint ANC letter calling for improved response to traffic safety requests. Thanks to Erin Palmer (ANC 4B02) for her leadership on this, and on convening fellow female ANC commissioners last week to discuss these priorities and collective action.

Of note: The 20th anniversary of Washington’s Bike to Work Day is Friday May 21. Even if your commute remains within your four walls, you can join in this initiative by registering and biking to one of the pit stops for a t-shirt and a healthy start to your day: Bike to Work!

Street sweeping, and attendant parking restrictions, resume June 1. Meantime, we can all do more to keep our streets clean. Have you organized a Spring Cleanup for your block? Let me know & I’ll join you for an hour of raking and bagging; let’s try to get every residential street covered this month.

Rat Riddance

On April 22, several neighbors joined me and the Department of Health’s patrol team for the first of regular sweeps of ANC 2 B01. These sweeps are part of a three-pronged strategy that also includes reducing trash in our alleys, and helping restaurants improve their trash management. This strategy has worked before, and can work again, if we all pull together. Find out how you can help at this link.

Signature Lounge Application

I continue to work with the applicant to try to negotiate a settlement agreement that addresses peace, order and quiet concerns. Dupont Circle Citizen’s Association is a party to our ANC 2B’s formal protest of this application.
Our next monthly ANC meeting is Wednesday May 12 at 7 PM. You can find the agenda here. We’ll hear from DDOT on their plans for the future of Black Lives Matter plaza. This was previewed Wednesday May 5 at a joint meeting of our Land Use and Mobility Committees. Among central questions are whether this space should continue current traffic usage patterns in some form, and how to plan for and facilitate BLM Plaza’s emerging importance as a community gathering spot.

In addition to regular business the ANC will consider resolutions to accelerate DC replacement of lead water service lines using federal funds, and to support the recently released DC Police Reform Commission recommendations.

Budget Planning: The mayor’s draft budget is due to the DC City Council by May 27; there is still time to register your priorities with Ward 2 Council Member Brooke Pinto.

Comprehensive Plan: The Council is now considering this landmark revision to the city’s zoning and planning policies: Office of Planning. The plan’s proposed changes are profound, and have triggered extensive discussion within our community.
I hope this short newsletter is informative. Please remember to connect with neighbors, and show support to one another, including our small businesses. Please feel free to share this newsletter with your neighbors. If you aren't already subscribed, you can add your name to the list with the handy button below.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions for building a stronger neighborhood.

We are ONE Dupont.
Meg Sig (small)
Meg Roggensack
2B01 ANC Commissioner
2B01@anc.dc.gov
202-935-2405
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