Posts by Nick Sementelli — Board of Directors
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On this year’s Walk to School Day, #EveryBlockCounts for street safety
This Wednesday is the annual Walk to School Day, celebrating the joy and independence of families choosing non-car modes for their school commutes. Keep reading…
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A historic district nomination presents another test for DC preservation law
A Park View historic district nomination stretches recent historic board precedent.
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Community leaders documented over 375 sidewalk repair requests during “Sidewalk Palooza.” Here’s what we learned.
Last month, we organized the first-ever “Sidewalk Palooza” to draw attention to pedestrian infrastructure and pedestrian safety issues in DC and the disparity between the city’s response time to these problems versus road infrastructure like potholes. Keep reading…
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How can DC preserve history that’s more than a building?
DC’s historic preservation system is well set up to preserve historic buildings and properties, but ill prepared to formally recognize other types of history. A simple reform could go a long way to resolve that. Keep reading…
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DC residents create “Sidewalk Palooza” for pedestrian safety
A group of Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners and community leaders are hosting a series of pedestrian safety walks dubbed Sidewalk Palooza to draw attention to discrepancies in the District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) scheduled response times for potholes versus broken sidewalks and similar pedestrian needs. Keep reading…
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What exactly are we trying to preserve Eckington’s industrial land for anyway?
Last week community leaders in Eckington made the case for restoring the Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use Map Amendments that would allow housing on the industrial land near the metros and along the trail in their neighborhood. But according to DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who removed these amendments from his draft version of the plan, the issue is not anything about these specific parcels, but rather a concern with our city’s limited supply of Production, Distribution and Repair (PDR) land overall. It’s not an irrational concern, but it doesn’t appear to hold up to closer scrutiny. Keep reading…
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How Cleveland Park’s historic district cost the neighborhood 42 homes in one project
Cleveland Park is one of several places in the District where the Office of Planning has proposed amendments to the Future Land Use Map to enable the potential future development of more housing in desirable neighborhoods. Even after navigating the zoning process to appeal for a higher-density allowance, new projects in Cleveland Park will still have to conform to the limitations of the neighborhood’s historic district, which, in addition to its goal of preserving history, was designed specifically to limit that exact kind of density. Keep reading…
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How DC can reduce traffic deaths and make real progress on Vision Zero
Six years in, DC’s Vision Zero program can only be described as a failure. While there have been some marginal improvements to the city’s transportation infrastructure, it has been nowhere near enough to slow the number of deaths on our streets — in fact, they’ve been increasing. If we are going to engage in a genuine effort to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries, we need bold, system-wide solutions that tackle the District’s biggest safety concerns. We must disrupt an inequitable, environmentally unsound, and car-centered status quo. Keep reading…
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After six years of failure, it’s time to start over on Vision Zero
Six years after Mayor Muriel Bowser committed DC to the goal of ensuring that “no lives are lost on our streets or at our intersections,” DC is on pace for its deadliest year of traffic violence in over a decade. Keep reading…
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What will it take to finally fix North Capitol?
For all the grandeur of its name, North Capitol Street falls far short as a prominent gateway to DC. A wide, fast road connecting periphery neighborhoods and out-of-state suburbs with downtown, the street largely functions as a pass-through rather than a destination in and of itself. What will it take to fix it? Keep reading…