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Sidewalk Rubble Earns an F

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The DC flag. Photo by María Helena Carey, via Instagram.

Photo by María Helena Carey, via Instagram.

As residents of DC, we are often frustrated by the slow response on behalf of the District’s agencies to solving problems that threaten our basic quality of life. Many of us may have wished for a chance to bend the Mayor’s ear and tell her what we’d fix around our neighborhood. ANC 6B10 commissioner Denise Krepp was recently afforded such an opportunity; however, no long-term results have taken place around her single-member district. Read on and feel free to add your local frustration in the comments section. –MHC

 

Two months ago, Mayor Bowser’s office contacted me about a community walk. Mayor Bowser wants to visit Hill East, I was told. She wants to learn from residents about problems they’re having. The neighborhood is full of broken sidewalks, missing parking enforcement signs, and Maryland drivers who view our roads as the Indy 500 so I welcomed Mayor Bowser’s visit.
On a sunny September day, Mayor Bowser walked the streets of Hill East. She climbed our yawning sidewalks that threatened to trip her and the other participants who joined in the community walk.  Each time she side-stepped or clambered, Mayor Bowser directed her folks to fix the problems. So I thought her folks would. Instead, the sidewalks were ground into rubble and were left in that state for neighbors to haphazardly crunch across. When I questioned Leif Dormsjo, the Director of the DC Department of Transportation, about the poor state of repair he was astounded that I expected a finished product. “Sidewalk replacements are scheduled over a longer period of time,” he said.

Oh, I get it. Residents shouldn’t expect DDOT to fulfill Mayor Bowser’s promises in a timely manner.

We should also not expect DC Department of Public Works to install proper signage. During the walk, Mayor Bowser and I talked about the need to install signs indicating to Maryland and Virginia drivers that their cars will be ticketed if they park on Hill East streets instead of in dedicated partings lots during RFK and DC Armory events. Nodding her head in agreement, Mayor Bowser told me that DPW would fix the problem. What was DPW’s solution? Post signs that prohibit everyone, including Hill East residents, from parking their cars on the street during event days.  After DPW installed these jaw-dropping signs, I spent 30 minutes begging parking enforcement not to ticket my neighbor’s cars. Please, I said. My neighbors shouldn’t be ticketed for parking their cars in front of their own houses. “Ok,” they replied. “But you know that we are bending the rules for you.”

Meanwhile, East Capitol Street continues to be a speedway rife with violent Maryland drivers who don’t give a fig for those of us who live in the neighborhood. In a fit of road rage, one female driver stabbed another one on October 4th. The injured individual was sent to the hospital and the road was closed for several hours all because Maryland drivers get upset when they cut each other off when driving on our local roads. During the walk with Mayor Bowser, I specifically requested traffic calming measures on East Capitol Street, 17th Street, and 19th Street. There have been multiple accidents on these roads because drivers are wildly gunning their engines in futile attempts to beat the traffic lights. Some of these impatient Maryland drivers also like to drive around cars who have politely stopped to let pedestrians cross streets that lack stop signs.

As with the other promises, I expected results.  And as with the other promises, Hill East residents are still waiting for DDOT to deliver.

Now I’d like to say that DC agencies will figure out how to be fully functioning entities in the next couple of years but I don’t think that is going to happen in the absence of more oversight. Leaving rubble where a sidewalk used to be equals an F grade. I want DC residents to live amongst infrastructure that rates an A.

K. Denise Rucker Krepp, ANC Commissioner for 6B10

The post Sidewalk Rubble Earns an F appeared first on The Hill is Home.


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