A local governing body heard updates on vandalism at a local restaurant and a District plan to upgrade neighborhood bridges at the second, and likely last, community meeting where the body was unable to take action due to a lack of quorum.
The Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission announced at a Wednesday community meeting that Sean Youngstone and Keaton Dicapo were the sole candidates to fill vacant seats for single-member districts 2A01 and 2A09, respectively, and thus the default winners in the special election. Their appointments, pending certification on Feb. 28, will restore the ANC’s legally mandated quorum, ending a two-month period of inaction that started when the governing body’s term began in January.
The ANC lost its ability to conduct official business after the community elected fewer than the legally required five commissioners in November, leaving the commission unable to take official action — which includes passing resolutions to send to the D.C. Council and endorsing business applications — until the vacancies were filled. 2A03 Commissioner Trupti Patel said the governing body will have a quorum at its March meeting, which will be the first official meeting of the term.
“I’m looking forward to when we can have a quorum and a full meeting,” 2A04 Commissioner Ed Comer said.
Commissioners also heard from local police on an investigation into vandalism at a kosher restaurant bordering GW’s campus and criticized the D.C. government for failing to notify community members of an open house at a local homeless shelter last week.
Here are some of the meeting’s highlights:
MPD lieutenant says local restaurant received hate speech note
Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant Michael Howden said that the owner of Char Bar, a kosher restaurant about a block away from campus, received a note with hate speech about a week or two after the restaurant faced vandalism in November. MPD officers opened an investigation into the vandalism, in which two of the business’ windows were smashed on the evening of Nov. 9, which was the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass — recognized annually as the day Nazi soldiers vandalized Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and homes in Germany in 1938.
Howden said the note with hate speech “doesn’t immediately link or seem linked” to the vandalism, adding that Char Bar has faced hate or biased events but that police are unsure if the shattered glass was an instance of hate.
2A08 Commissioner Jim Malec said there is reason to believe that the business and its staff were targets of a hate crime and asked if MPD is taking additional precautions to safeguard Char Bar employees and patrons. Howden said he didn’t have specific information about additional protection measures but said the location is on their “radar” because MPD’s Special Liason Branch is notified and works with any individual or business that they believe could be a target of hate or biased events.
Commissioners criticize District’s inadequate notice of Aston unhoused shelter’s open house
Commissioners voiced concern that D.C. officials didn’t adequately provide notice of a walkthrough they hosted at The Aston, a former GW dorm that the District opened as an unhoused shelter in November. The walkthrough, held Feb. 13, allowed community members to tour a unit and community room in the shelter, and six locals attended.
Malec said the District only notified community members of the walkthrough at a meeting of the Community Advisory Team, a group overseeing The Aston, three days prior, meaning those who did not attend the meeting couldn’t have been aware. He added that District officials didn’t notify the ANC of the walkthrough and that despite being a co-chair of the CAT, he was unaware of the walkthrough because he couldn’t attend last week’s meeting.
Malec said the Good Neighbor Agreement — a non-legally binding document that outlines what communication about The Aston community members should expect from the Department of Human Services, CAT and Friendship Place, the shelter’s provider — stipulates that the District offer an open house of The Aston to the community. But he said the lack of notice surrounding last week’s walkthrough meant it didn’t “satisfy the spirit of the agreement,” which was meant to give the public the chance to visit the facility.
“I’m disappointed with our government partners for how they handled this, and I’ve expressed this to them,” Malec said.
Comer said the ANC should ask the CAT to organize a second open house at The Aston with proper notice so that it can be done “in a right way” for the community, while also not disturbing those who live in the facility.
DDOT presents plans to rehabilitate neighborhood bridges
Kendry Contreras, a civil engineer for the District Department of Transportation, presented information on a three-phase rehabilitation effort to extend the lifespan of the Interstate 395 HOV bridge, also known as the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge and the Rochambeau Bridge.
Rehabilitation began on Dec. 9 and is expected to be completed in Summer 2026, with at least two lanes of traffic remaining open during the day, as will the Ohio Drive pedestrian underpass, Contreras said. Complete closures in 30-minute intervals will occur between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. during the final phase, which Contreras said is expected to take place in Winter 2025.
According to the presentation, key project goals include improving existing safety features, ensuring the bridge remains in aesthetic harmony with adjacent bridges and preserving the good condition overall.
Contreras said DDOT will set up message boards two weeks prior to any changes in traffic flow.
Commissioners request broadened community benefits in meeting with Granberg
Malec said that he and Patel met with University President Ellen Granberg and members of GW’s government and community relations office a couple of weeks ago to discuss the relationship between GW and the ANC. Malec said he raised a desire for the University to provide more community access and broader community benefits to locals, which was well-received by officials.
He added that the groups haven’t had specific talks yet about what the community access or benefits might look like but that he encourages community members to send him ideas for the kinds of benefits they would like to see from GW.
