A local governing body heard updates on The Aston unhoused shelter’s first two months of operations and presentations about local construction projects at its first meeting of the term, which was marked by the group’s inability to take official action due to a lack of quorum.
The Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission on Wednesday held its first “community meeting” since losing its ability to conduct official business in the 2025-26 term because only four of the body’s nine seats were filled in November’s election, falling short of the legally mandated five-person quorum. D.C.’s Office of ANCs on Jan. 10 posted notice of the body’s vacancies and on Monday allowed residents to begin collecting signatures to run for the open seats, with two locals at the meeting voicing their intention to run for spots in single-member-districts 2A01 and 2A09.
2A03 Commissioner Trupti Patel told community members that if they bring presentations to the ANC before vacancies are filled, the group cannot legally take official action, like endorsing construction projects or liquor licenses.
“We want to at least make sure that the community knows that we are still here,” Patel said. “We are still trying to represent you in the manner, in the capacity that we can.”
Community members also voiced concerns about trash and recycling collection in the historic Foggy Bottom neighborhood, and the ANC heard a law firm’s presentation on an office building conversion.
Here are some of the meeting’s highlights:
Aston shelter admits 50 residents; officials to consider doubling occupancy
Courtney Cooperman, one of the ANC’s appointees to the community advisory team overseeing The Aston, said 50 residents have moved into the shelter, up from the 39 that moved in during its first month of operation.
“This is during a time when we’re experiencing such freezing cold temperatures and snow,” Cooperman said. “So it’s just really, really heartwarming to know that 50 residents are living in The Aston and all is going well.”
The Aston can admit up to 50 people, per the 50-person move-in system that District officials agreed to, but officials have said they will evaluate how residents adjust to the facility after two months of operation and potentially raise the capacity to 100 people. Cooperman said Department of Human Services officials will give a presentation at an ANC-organized community forum on Jan. 27 before the CAT votes later that day on whether to increase the shelter’s capacity.
Cooperman said officials over the next few weeks will evaluate The Aston and its residents’ needs so they can implement donation and volunteer opportunities for community members. Cooperman added that case management schedules for The Aston’s residents are in place.
Residents voice concerns about trash collection in Snows Court
Will Crane, the vice president of the Foggy Bottom Association, said the Department of Public Works has not collected trash or recycling from the more than 40 homes in residential alleys in Snows Court since Jan. 4, despite hearing that trash collection has been normal for the rest of the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Crane said garbage piles are stacked within 10 feet of the front doors of 23 homes that face the alley, and that rats have chewed through nearly every trash and recycling container.
“To go for two weeks, over two weeks, without collection vehicles, is just insane,” Crane said.
2A08 Commissioner Jim Malec said residents have voiced concerns about a lack of trash collection in Snows Court since January 2023, but Crane said the area has never gone this long without trash collection.
Crane said he testified to the D.C. government in 2023 and 2024 in hopes that officials will create a residential alley designation, because he said the District identifies commercial and residential alleys as the same. The Department of Public Works only collects weekly trash from single-family homes and apartment buildings, and commercial buildings must hire private trash collection services.
ANC hears presentation on office building conversion
Representatives from law firm Holland & Knight presented plans to renovate an office building at 2401 Pennsylvania Avenue, converting its fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors into residential spaces and its ground floor into a space for retail use. The presentation stated that the conversion will bring 60 new housing units, including six units that will be part of D.C.’s Inclusionary Zoning Affordable Housing Program.