The LeDroit Park Civic Association will meet tomorrow night, Tuesday, May 22 at 7 pm in the basement of the Florida Avenue Baptist Church.

Tomorrow’s agenda includes the election of officers, an update on the JBG development for the 700 and 800 blocks of Florida Avenue, and a public safety update.

Please remember that only paid members may vote for officers or any civic association motion, so be sure to bring your $15 if you need renew your household’s membership.

Come meet Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D – DC) at Tuesday’s meeting of the LeDroit Park Civic Association. The meeting will be on Tuesday, March 27 at 7 pm at the Florida Avenue Baptist Church (enter at U and Bohrer Streets NW).

Ms. Norton is this month’s guest speaker.  We’re inclined to ask her about National Park Service (NPS) stewardship of the many parks and reservations in DC. The NPS runs Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, Farragut Square, and other parks within the L’Enfant Plan, but does a poor job of programming and managing these parks.

We will also hav e representatives from Progression Place, the construction site at the Shaw Metro, update us on the progress of their project.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr

Come for drinks, free appetizers, and chat with your neighbors Monday, March 19 from 5:30 to 7 at Nellie’s (9th & U Streets NW).  The LeDroit Park Civic Association organizes occasional happy hours at Nellie’s, whose owner is a LeDroit Park resident.

Your favorite neighborhood blogger will be there, too!

Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr

Come for drinks, appetizers, and chat with your neighbors tonight from 6 to 8 at Nellie’s (9th & U Streets NW).  The LeDroit Park Civic Association has started organizing monthly happy hours at Nellie’s, whose owner, a LeDroit resident, has kindly donated appetizers and space at the upstairs bar.

The civic association has reached out via Twitter to residents in Bloomingdale and Shaw to join us.

Mark your calendars. The LeDroit Park Civic Association’s final meeting before the summer recess is Tuesday at 7pm at the Florida Avenue Baptist Church (enter at the rear on U St).

This month’s agenda:

• Ward 1 School Board member Patrick Mara
• Representatives from Metro. Police and Fire to discuss safety/crime
• A discussion on the Howard University project, and how it will benefit our neighborhood
• A discussion about the living conditions at Kelly Miller and our call for action to DCHA
• An update on the new Park

Howard University will present details of its draft campus plan at Tuesday’s meeting of the LeDroit Park Civic Association. The university is required to submit a plan every ten years and the university is currently finishing its draft that it will submit to the Zoning Commission in the coming months. This is your chance to learn about the future of Slowe Hall and Diggs Hall, as well as future dorms on 4th Street and buildings along Georgia Avenue.

Tuesday, April 26 at 7pm in the basement of the Florida Avenue Baptist Church, 623 Florida Ave (enter on U street)

Also on the agenda:

• Park update— it’s nearly finished!
• Vote to support the liquor license application of Shaw’s Tavern
• Nominating committee for the coming civic association elections

All neighbors are encouraged to attend.

Howard University wants to add 1,300 beds on 4th Street, a new restaurant is coming to 6th St and Florida Avenue, the neighborhood watch seeks your input, and the conclusion of park construction are all agenda items at tonight’s Civic Association meeting.

The meeting is open to the public and all neighbors are encouraged to attend.

Tuesday, March 22 at 7 pm
Basement of the Florida Avenue Baptist Church
(enter on U Street)

The civic association will also take open comments from neighbors who wish bring up anything of neighborhood concern.

Last month Howard University’s Board of Trustees agreed to proceed the planning process to build 1,300 beds of student housing in two new dorms on campus. This marks a 28% increase from the current 4,609 beds the university controls.  This is smart move that will aid academic success and reduce commuting pressure through the surrounding neighborhoods.

View Howard University’s future development in a larger map

The university’s goal is to create a “Freshmen Village” on 4th Street just north of LeDroit Park.  Ms. Maybelle Bennett, Howard’s community outreach director, said that enhancing academic performance and graduation rates is the university’s motivation for concentrating housing and services for new students in Freshmen Village.  Since a student’s first year is critical to a student’s success during an undergraduate career, the university wants, as Ms. Bennett adoringly put it, “to bring our babies home.”

The university will add these two new buildings to their forthcoming campus plan proposal that they will submit to the Zoning Commission in the coming months.  Each university in the District is required to submit a campus plan for the commission’s approval every ten years.

We think this is a smart move on the university’s part and will benefit everyone.

National social benefits

Universities serve a unique social mission: they exist to educate America’s youth.  As such, we must remember that a university’s success is in the national social interest.  The university’s goal of improving academic performance is laudable and its reasonable measures should be supported on social grounds.

Traffic and environmental benefits

Furthermore, by bringing more students onto campus, the university reduces the commuting pressure currently placed on students and the surrounding neighborhoods. More students walking from bed to class means fewer students driving from home to campus.

As it stands today, hundreds of students commute from housing in Prince George’s Plaza alone.  Though most of them probably take the Metro, many will undoubtedly drive on occasion, thus adding traffic and pollution to surrounding neighborhoods.  Carpooling in a Prius still has a greater environmental impact than walking, which is mankind’s oldest, cheapest, cleanest, quietest, and most universal form of transport.

Economic development benefits

With 1,300 more people within a short walk of Florida Avenue, the new dorms will increase the economic viability of the commercial spaces along LeDroit Park’s southern edge.  All of the properties along Florida Avenue are zoned for both residential and commercial use, even though most are solely residences at the moment.  In fact a century ago the 400 block of Florida Avenue (across the street from the Post Office) hosted numerous prominent black-owned businesses and doctors’ offices.

What do you think? Are you supportive of the university’s desire to add more housing on campus?

Ms. Bennett will present the plan for Freshmen Village to the LeDroit Park Civic Association. The meeting is open to the public and residents are encouraged to attend. The meeting will be at 7 pm on Tuesday, March 22 in the basement of the Florida Avenue Baptist Church (enter through the back at U and Bohrer Streets).

Park construction is underway, but when the park is ready in the coming months, what should we call it? The ultimate decision is up to the DC Council, but Councilmember Jim Graham (D – Ward 1) has assured us that the Council will strongly consider any three names that neighbors finally settle on.

You can submit your suggestions online. Anyone may submit names and you may submit as many as you like. The LeDroit Park Civic Association will gather the names and allow the public to vote for the names. The top three winners will be forwarded to the Council.

What would you like to call the park?

If we want to honor notable residents, here are a few famous figures from the neighborhood’s history:

• Walter Washington – 408 T Street – First elected mayor of DC.
• Paul Laurence Dunbar – 321 U Street – Notable poet.
• Mary Church Terrell – 326 T Street – Notable civil rights activist.
• Oscar De Priest – 419 U Street – First black Congressman elected since Reconstruction.

We have excluded Duke Ellington since he lived here for only one year and since he already has several civic works dedicated to him.  We also excluded living people since their histories are still being written.  We also left out Anna J. Cooper since she already has the circle park named after her.

One other deceased person who might merit distinction is Theresa Brown, who died in 2009.  Ms. Brown was instrumental in establishing the LeDroit Park Historic District and protecting the neighborhood’s unique architecture from the wrecking ball.  Without her, the neighborhood we know today may have been turned into parking lots.

Most parks operated by the Department of Parks and Recreation end their names with “Recreation Center”,  a suffix with as much charm as the tax code.  Perhaps Playground, Gardens, Park, or Field would set off our park from other projects.

What would you like to name the park?

The LeDroit Park Civic Association will meet on Tuesday, September 28 at 7pm in the basement of the Florida Avenue Baptist Church (623 Florida Avenue NW – enter on U St). All neighbors are welcome and encouraged to attend.

During first week of September, we saw groundbreaking ceremonies for both the park and the Howard Theatre. Construction managers for both projects will present at the Civic Association meeting to detail the construction timeline, address neighborhood questions, and discuss job opportunities for residents.

Also learn about the upcoming LeDroit Park Community Day and the Howard University Homecoming, both set for late October.

Don’t forget to renew your annual membership (or join for the first time) if you haven’t already. Dues are $15 per household ($5 for seniors). You can even pay online!